MI Pro

When a group of former Marshall employees decided to make a go of it themselves, the concept behind the latest contender to the British amp manufacturer throne was born; Blackstar has been steadily raising eyebrows and impressing the industry since its launch at Frankfurt earlier this year, and is set to kick down the door to success.

Sales and marketing director Paul Hayhoe, and his trusty band of brothers make for a determined bunch, and with years of combined experience and industry know how behind them look certain to make 2008 a Blackstar year.

“The company was started nearly three years ago now by four of us who all worked at Marshall previously,” enthuses Hayhoe. “There was myself, Ian Robinson, Bruce Keyer and Richard Frost. About two and a half years ago, we realised we all worked very well together, and were mates, and felt we’d gone as far as we could where we were. Marshall is a fantastic place to work, and there’s no better place to learn the ropes. We knew how we wanted to do knew things, and we all liked working together, so sat in the pub one day we decided to do something for ourselves.”

Shortly after those days of careful pub-based plotting, the work began in earnest to bring the dream into fruition. “We spent two years doing technical research before we set up the company,” he continues.

“We had some idea of what we wanted to do, but converting that idea into an actual working amplifier or product is a long process. We launched the company at Frankfurt, and we’ve been out and trading as an official company for about six months now. It’s been going pretty well, and it’s been a hell of a ride.”

With the technical planning well under way, Blackstar quickly established a strong ethos to back up everything the company aspires to achieve.

“There are three basic areas to it,” says Hayhoe. “Firstly, whether it’s a low end practice amp or a high end boutique product, we always want to make sure we’ve got something on there that no one else is offering. Secondly, it absolutely has to sound the best on the market. Unlike a lot of companies, we extensively a/b test what we’re doing, in order to ensure we are ahead of the pack.

"For example, with the overdrive pedals, we made sure that we got hold of the absolute best valve overdrive pedals on the market, and made sure ours sounds best. The last part is to make sure that it’s affordable, and extremely good value for money.”

The state of the industry and the rash of manufacturers happy to emulate rather than innovate is certainly a chip on Blackstar’s shoulders, and one that has driven the company towards achieving above and beyond the average. “There are a lot of ‘me too’ companies out there,” says Hayhoe.

“There’s not really a huge amount of innovation in our industry. That’s something we really wanted to change. The big thing for Blackstar is that we always want to innovate with everything we do. We were very conscious early on that we didn’t want to be a really high-end boutique manufacturer where the amps are so expensive no one can afford them. We wanted something that was going to innovate and give people new and exciting features and sounds that they hadn’t heard before, but make it not dirt cheap, but so that within each sector it’s affordable.”

With the products shaping up nicely, Blackstar has gone a long way towards setting itself up internationally, building a broad distribution base worldwide. “ We’re not just a UK company,” adds Hayhoe.

“We have already got distribution set up across the world, including the US, Europe and Japan, so we’re getting lots of exposure. The products have already picked up a lot of excellent reviews and awards, and we’re working hard to build the brand up both at home and abroad.” With an eye on the prize and a hunger for wide-ranging success, it’s not a case of whether Blackstar is ready to take to take on the industry, but whether the industry is ready for Blackstar.