Blackstar St. James 50 6L6 Head vs Orange TH30
The Blackstar St. James 50 6L6 Head and the Orange TH30 are both amplifiers sharing mid-forward, transparent. The Blackstar St. James 50 6L6 Head leans warm. The Orange TH30 leans tight. Current prices: $896.37 vs $947.84.
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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.35% — somewhat different
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Derived from overlapping tonal signals across both listings.- mid-forward
- transparent
Blackstar St. James 50 6L6 Head
Blackstar · amplifier
Orange TH30
Orange · amplifier
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Citation/mention fame — how often this gear is cited across artist rigs and gear discussion.$896.37via Reverb
$947.84via Reverb
The Blackstar St. James 50 6L6 Head is the head version of the St. James 50 6L6 all-tube amplifier, weighing approximately 13 pounds using a patent-pending switched-mode power supply instead of a conventional heavy mains transformer. Fifty watts from 6L6 output tubes powers two channels: a high-headroom American-voiced clean with warm, mid-scooped character and a modern high-gain overdrive with a voice switch that reshapes midrange from full-throated lead tones to a scooped rhythm voicing. Power scaling switches between 50W, 2W, and SAG mode for vintage compression feel at low volumes. The head format lets players pair it with their choice of speaker cabinet, maximizing tonal flexibility at unusually low weight for an all-tube 50-watt head.
The Orange TH30 is a 30-watt, twin-channel all-valve head running 4xECC83 preamp tubes and 4xEL84 power tubes in Class A, with switchable output power (30/15/7 watts) for matching volume to the room. The footswitchable Clean channel offers Volume, Bass, and Treble controls for articulate, sparkling cleans that hold up at higher volume, while the Dirty channel adds Gain and a Shape control sweeping between all-midrange and scooped bass/treble voicings, driven by a four-stage gain circuit capable of tight, modern distortion. A valve-driven effects loop rounds out the feature set.
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Genres this gear is documented as being used in.- rock
- blues
- alternative
- Rock
- Indie
- warm
- tight
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Occasions this gear suits — judged per model, or derived from its wattage, connectivity and category.- Live
- Studio
- Live
- Studio
- Worship