3rd Power Lyra vs Blackstar ST. James 100 Head
The 3rd Power Lyra and the Blackstar ST. James 100 Head are both amplifiers sharing dynamic, transparent, crunchy. The 3rd Power Lyra leans spring and warm. The Blackstar ST. James 100 Head leans tight and bright. Current prices: $2399 vs $1777.83.
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Blended from circuit-archetype lineage, dynamic feel, tone-signal overlap and tone-vector distance — the tone vector itself is derived from editorial description text, not a measured acoustic signal, so this reflects how similarly the catalog copy describes the two, not a lab measurement. Shown only within a gear class, and only where there's enough evidence to be meaningful.71% — moderately similar
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Genres both listings are associated with.- Blues
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Derived from overlapping tonal signals across both listings.- dynamic
- transparent
- crunchy
3rd Power Lyra
3rd Power · amplifier
Blackstar ST. James 100 Head
Blackstar · amplifier
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Citation/mention fame — how often this gear is cited across artist rigs and gear discussion.$2399via Reverb
$1777.83via Reverb
The 3rd Power Lyra is a handcrafted 20-watt 6V6 boutique tube guitar amplifier built in Minneapolis that combines the voiced characters of two iconic Fender Deluxe amplifiers: Channel 1 is voiced after a 1962 brown-panel Deluxe, delivering warm, woody, naturally breaking tone, while Channel 2 captures the clarity, headroom, and expanded response of a 1965 black-panel Deluxe. Both channels are American-voiced, open, expressive, and touch-sensitive throughout the gain range. A built-in power attenuator scales output from 20 to 12 or 5 watts while preserving player-amp responsiveness, and built-in tube-driven spring reverb is standard on all configurations. Available as an amp head or 112 combo.
The Blackstar St. James 100 is a two-channel EL34-powered tube guitar amplifier head combining American-voiced clean tones with British-voiced overdrive, designed as a lightweight handcrafted valve head with features including a sag control, effects loop, and reverb. Channel 1 delivers big, open clean tone with clear black-panel-influenced headroom; Channel 2 produces British crunch that leans toward Vox chime and articulation rather than Marshall darkness, making it unsuitable for saturated high gain but excellent for chimey, cutting rock and blues. Reviewers describe the EL34 version as combining world-class British crunch with US-sounding clean tones in a design notably lighter than comparable valve heads.
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Genres this gear is documented as being used in.- Americana
- Country
- Rock
- Alternative Rock
- Jazz
- Funk
- Classic Rock
- spring
- warm
- tight
- bright
- saturated
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Occasions this gear suits — judged per model, or derived from its wattage, connectivity and category.- Live
- Studio
- Worship
- Live