I effing love pawn shops.

Metal89

Metal89

Ambassador of Orchestral Brewtality
Country flag
Especially when people in my area don’t really know what’s on the shelf. So I’m in the process of basically rebuilding my recording rig and debating if I want to use the same line6 guitar port and it’s sims. I go to check out a pawn store to see what they have and low and behold, for $150 I see this!!!

You bet I nabbed it, I mean it’s on layaway, but I couldn’t pass this up!!
 

Attachments

ibmorjamn said:
I agree , good find.
About 2 weeks ago I found a hard shell guitar case that fits one of my “V”’s made in USA . He couldn’t move it so I got it for $90.
Click to expand...
Nice!

Now my question is…what exactly did I get? I know it says id100 tvp but this head seems different, one and it’s what caught my eye was the open metal grill, two inside you can see large tubes in it and everything that I see on the series is that its supposed to be solid state, not a hybrid. Makes no difference to me, I’m just curious if I got some sort of limited edition, because anything I find on the 100 tvp it’s got a cloth grill… controls seem to be the same
 

Attachments

Metal89 said:
Nice!

Now my question is…what exactly did I get? I know it says id100 tvp but this head seems different, one and it’s what caught my eye was the open metal grill, two inside you can see large tubes in it and everything that I see on the series is that its supposed to be solid state, not a hybrid. Makes no difference to me, I’m just curious if I got some sort of limited edition, because anything I find on the 100 tvp it’s got a cloth grill… controls seem to be the same
Click to expand...
Did you end up with someone’s homebrew amp project? Like…someone gutted it for the chassis/head cab? Maybe pull it apart, and post some gut shots when you have a chance?

edit: I have a “Valve Jr” that really isn’t a “Valve Jr”….but I made it that way.
 
Thatbastarddon said:
Did you end up with someone’s homebrew amp project? Like…someone gutted it for the chassis/head cab? Maybe pull it apart, and post some gut shots when you have a chance?

edit: I have a “Valve Jr” that really isn’t a “Valve Jr”….but I made it that way.
Click to expand...
That’s an interesting thought. Unfortunately the pawn shop didn’t have a cab for me to test it on, we plugged it in and it powered up, buttons were responsive. Doesn’t mean you are wrong. Either way I paid 5 dollars for a peace of mind. Basically when I take it home, I got 15 days to decide if I like it or not.
 
Metal89 said:
That’s an interesting thought. Unfortunately the pawn shop didn’t have a cab for me to test it on, we plugged it in and it powered up, buttons were responsive. Doesn’t mean you are wrong. Either way I paid 5 dollars for a peace of mind. Basically when I take it home, I got 15 days to decide if I like it or not.
Click to expand...
Doh! I missed the “layaway” part! Well….it will be interesting to see….
 
Congrats! Great find!

I used to be a huge Blackstar fan and from what I remember, it looks like one from the "Metal" line - so this would be an HT Metal 100 if that's the case. IIRC, it was limited to only a 2-3 year run and they had 5, 20, 50(60?) & 100 Watters and had cosmetic changes several times in the run... but they do/did weird stuff so I might be wildly wrong. Or someone could have pulled the facade and replaced it with the metal grill.

The "TVP" stands for "True Valve Power" and I always thought that was their modeler lines - but like you said that's clearly not a modeler.

My wife has an ID:60 TVP and it rips - especially with an SD-1 in front. No matter what it is, a 100 watt head that works for $150? Score! Wish the Pawn shops around here had deals like that... they're all busy trying to sell $300 beat up guitars for $450...

If you're on Facebook, there's a Blackstar Amp Appreciation group and a woman named Michelle Taylor in it who is a walking Blackstar encyclopedia. Killer guitar player too. She could identify this for you, if you're curious.
 
I've worked with tube Blackstar heads. Most were the Series 1 and Stage 100 Mk II variants.

This is interesting. I see a couple of pieces of plexiglass that appear to be blocking off an area where we would expect the transformer to be.

Perhaps a hybrid of sorts as already suggested???
 
Robert Herndon said:
I've worked with tube Blackstar heads. Most were the Series 1 and Stage 100 Mk II variants.

This is interesting. I see a couple of pieces of plexiglass that appear to be blocking off an area where we would expect the transformer to be.

Perhaps a hybrid of sorts as already suggested???
Click to expand...
I’m not sure, I was starting to think I got some sort of limited edition and the tubes aren’t actually functional, but no clue.
Iron1 said:
Congrats! Great find!

I used to be a huge Blackstar fan and from what I remember, it looks like one from the "Metal" line - so this would be an HT Metal 100 if that's the case. IIRC, it was limited to only a 2-3 year run and they had 5, 20, 50(60?) & 100 Watters and had cosmetic changes several times in the run... but they do/did weird stuff so I might be wildly wrong. Or someone could have pulled the facade and replaced it with the metal grill.

The "TVP" stands for "True Valve Power" and I always thought that was their modeler lines - but like you said that's clearly not a modeler.

My wife has an ID:60 TVP and it rips - especially with an SD-1 in front. No matter what it is, a 100 watt head that works for $150? Score! Wish the Pawn shops around here had deals like that... they're all busy trying to sell $300 beat up guitars for $450...

If you're on Facebook, there's a Blackstar Amp Appreciation group and a woman named Michelle Taylor in it who is a walking Blackstar encyclopedia. Killer guitar player too. She could identify this for you, if you're curious.
Click to expand...
I’m going to have to hit her up, thanks for the heads up! In truth as long as it handles metal well that’s all that matters to me, what really sold me is that there seems to be two ways you can record directly to a pc, either through a usb or cable going from the emulator in the back to a interface. Ill report back with my findings.
 
Metal89 said:
I’m not sure, I was starting to think I got some sort of limited edition and the tubes aren’t actually functional, but no clue.

I’m going to have to hit her up, thanks for the heads up! In truth as long as it handles metal well that’s all that matters to me, what really sold me is that there seems to be two ways you can record directly to a pc, either through a usb or cable going from the emulator in the back to a interface. Ill report back with my findings.
Click to expand...
I've only ever tried the emulated out on an ID:Core, and it totally sucked. :ROFLMAO: But, what you have is vastly superior to an ID:Core so hopefully your results are much better as well. When are you picking it up?
 
Iron1 said:
I've only ever tried the emulated out on an ID:Core, and it totally sucked. :ROFLMAO: But, what you have is vastly superior to an ID:Core so hopefully your results are much better as well. When are you picking it up?
Click to expand...
I know on most amps they do tend to suck, so I don’t have my hopes too high on that, I did hear a track a reviewer did plugged into the USB port, he played some punk rock riff but the tone was not bad. He didn’t use any effects on it either so time will tell.

If my money situation goes ok I’m hoping to pick it up no later than next month. Maybe end of the month if I’m lucky.
 
Good to see the folks in the Blackstar FB group got you some answers. Didn't see that coming at all. But, either way, the TVP 100 is a killer amp - for $150 hopefully the model didn't gank anything up and the actual amplifier part works as designed.
 
Iron1 said:
Good to see the folks in the Blackstar FB group got you some answers. Didn't see that coming at all. But, either way, the TVP 100 is a killer amp - for $150 hopefully the model didn't gank anything up and the actual amplifier part works as designed.
Click to expand...
And they answered quick too! Ok to get everyone in the loop I posted my question and pics in the Facebook group recommended by iron. The quickly stated someone modded it to look like a tube amp.

They did a clean job because I could swear it came from the factory that way. So I’m hoping they knew what they were doing
 
Metal89 said:
And they answered quick too! Ok to get everyone in the loop I posted my question and pics in the Facebook group recommended by iron. The quickly stated someone modded it to look like a tube amp.

They did a clean job because I could swear it came from the factory that way. So I’m hoping they knew what they were doing
Click to expand...

Do they tubes light up???
 
Metal89 said:
That’s an interesting thought. Unfortunately the pawn shop didn’t have a cab for me to test it on, we plugged it in and it powered up, buttons were responsive. Doesn’t mean you are wrong. Either way I paid 5 dollars for a peace of mind. Basically when I take it home, I got 15 days to decide if I like it or not.
Click to expand...
Tell em it is broken but if they give you $2.50 off, you can keep it and see if it will be fixable.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top