 Hello everyone and welcome to Blackstar Potential. My name is Lee Fuge and I'm here today with MusicTeacher.com and in this video I'm going to be talking to you about how the response control on the Blackstar Amp2 reacts with different overdriven rock sounds. So the response control allows us to select between three different power amp tube types on the Amp2. We've got EL84, EL34 and 6L6. Each of these tube types are really common across all of the industry standard amps and each one of the three is very much represented by one of the major amp companies. So in this video we're going to be exploring how each of those three responses affects your guitar tone. So all the tones you're hearing in this video are coming directly from the Amp2. I plug straight into the unit and I'm going out of the XLR output on the back straight into my audio interface and I'm running all my cabinet and room simulations with the built-in abrig. So I'm not going to change cabric at all through this video. I'm just going to use the response control to show you how that affects the tone. So I've got a standard rock tone dialed in. As you can see I've got the EQ all set to about one o'clock with a slight lift on the treble and the gain I've got to sort of just below three o'clock. I will move the gain control slightly as I'm talking about different things and the only other thing I've got on is I've got a room reverb as you can see here that's going to be on through the whole video. So we're going to start with EL84 right at the top. So EL84 tubes have been used in a ton of different amps. The most common type of amp that EL84 tubes have been used in is a British manufacturer that you may recognize the sound of from Queen guitar player Brian May. Now these amps are hailed for their sparkling crystal clean tones but they also make great rock amps. So the EL84 amp kind of has a slightly boxy sound to it. It's very mid-pushed but it doesn't have a ton of low end but it's great for cutting through the mix. These amps are known for their cut. So when you play with an overdriven tone with this kind of sound it's slightly boxy sounding but it does have a really interesting character. It sounds a bit like this. These also react great to single coil tones. If you want to get into that Brian May ballpark an EL84 response with a single coil is a great way to go. If you're a fan of the 60s British blues invasion you're probably going to want an EL34 response. This is going to give us a much fuller sound with a really smooth mid-range. While the EL84 has a little bit more poke in the mid-range the EL34 is much more mid heavy but it's a much smoother response. So this is going to give us a great 60s and 70s British rock sound. This sound also really likes single coils so if you're playing that 60s strat heavy Hendrixy kind of thing this is also a great sound for that. Then we come over to the 6L6 response. So the 6L6 tube is very much an American style tube. A lot of the big American tube amp manufacturers use 6L6 power tubes. Now what this gives us is a tighter low end much more pronounced highs and more of a scooped mid-range. So even in the same settings what you're going to hear now is a cleaner tighter tone while the EL84 and 34 British style sounds are a little bit more saggy and compressed and very kind of vintage feeling. The 6L6 is tighter more responsive it's great for heavier music or more precise music where you really want your cleans or your drive sounds to hit and not have any of that kind of compression. It's great for heavier stuff like I said it's great for metal and rock where you just want the chords to really ring and everything be really clear. Now with the 6L6 we can really crank the gain and it doesn't get muddy in the low end. So if you're playing really high gain music or you just want a lot of punch and attack and clarity 6L6 is definitely the way to go. So to recap EL84 is a British sound with a really pokey mid-range and it gives you that slightly collapsing amp sound in the right settings. EL84 is your smooth mid heavy mid to late 60s early 70s British blues invasion tone and then 6L6 more American scooped mids tighter lows and more pronounced highs. Let me know in the comments what your favorite tube response is and what style of music you're playing with your amp to. Don't forget to hit the subscribe button on the Blackstar amplification YouTube channel you can find a bunch more free videos just like this over on the channel and if you're looking for a guitar teacher don't forget to check out MusicTeacher.com there's a great network of music teachers all around the country waiting to help you guys out. Thanks so much for watching I'll see you very soon.