COMPARISONS
DESIGNED, NOT MODELLED.
Introducing the St. James plugin. Designed by the same UK R&D team responsible for our valve amps, it is the most authentic guitar amp plugin available.
ST. JAMES SUITE - WHAT'S INCLUDED
THE ST. JAMES AMPS
EL34
The St. James EL34 is the choice amp for Classic tones combining world- class British Crunch and jaw-dropping US cleans. This amp delivers the warmth, chime and squash that define the sound associated with icons from the 60s. It is the perfect pedal platform and comes alive when the power stage is pushed hard.
6L6
Where the EL34 model elicits an atmosphere of vintage character, the 6L6 model contrasts with the detail and clarity of contemporary designs. The 6L6 version has the same clean headroom, but this is coupled with our highest gain overdrive circuit yet. The design for Channel II Voice I is incredibly faithful to its award-winning valve amp counterpart, with “modern” preamp gain with a British style passive tone stack, whereas Channel II Voice II shifts the design tight, articulate modern metal sounds.
PRE-FX
The Pre FX draw inspiration from revered vintage effects pedals, capturing the unique interactivity and character that make them truly special.
Bridge the gap between hardware and software with unrivalled touch sensitivity and dynamics carefully designed into these pedals.
POST-FX
Add space and depth to your tone with Post-FX that deliver the personality of classic effects units.
Countless hours of critical listening and development has resulted in effects that are both immensely accurate and inspirational to the player.
EQ
The Dept. 10 Equaliser is based on a renowned analogue rack unit famed for its organic sound and effectiveness in finessing electric guitar recordings. It features adjustable high and low cuts as well as four semi-parametric EQ bands with selectable centre frequencies.
CABRIG + CUSTOM IR
CabRig is our next-generation DSP speaker simulator that reproduces the sound and feel of a mic’d up guitar cab in incredible detail.
Our new advanced algorithm simulates a speaker, cabinet, mic and room with incredible detail with effectively zero latency. No phase mismatch and ultimate flexibility.
Featuring 9 iconic Blackstar cabinets and 6 studio-standard microphones, Cab Rig gives you all the tone-shaping power you need—plus effortless customisation with the new IR Library. Load your own IR files for seamless results, zero hassle.
EFFECTS
COMPRESSOR
The Compressor pedal is oozing with the character, offering the two main types of analogue compression. In addition, the blend control allows you to mix in your dry signal, for parallel compression.
DRIVE
The Drive pedal provides two distinctive modes. TS mode features a classic midrange bump, perfect for pushing an amp into overdrive or tightening up a high gain sound. Overdrive provides a more balanced, but characterful distortion, adding colour and saturation to lower gain amp sounds.
CHORUS
Lush and vibrant, the Chorus pedal is based on a legendary unit responsible for iconic sounds from the 80s. An additional Width control provides dimension to your sound and Sync allows tempo matching within your DAW.
PHASER
The Phaser pedal takes inspiration from the effect unit synonymous with a guitar icon. Selectable resonance adjusts the resonance of the filter sweep from smooth to aggressive and Sync allows tempo matching within your DAW.
REVERB
The Reverb pedal offers two unique algorithms. Switch from dense and warm to smooth and airy using the Hall/Plate switch, with full control over Size and Tone. Expanding your sound is as easy as flicking the Wide switch.
DELAY
The Delay pedal is a one-stop-shop for iconic delay sounds. Glide effortlessly from studio tape to analogue warmth and crunchy saturated soundscapes by adjusting just two simple controls: Tone and Saturation. Increase stereo space with the Stereo/Wide/Ping Pong switch and Sync allows tempo matching within your DAW.
FLANGER
The Flanger pedal is a refined version of a staple four knob flanger unit, offering outrageous sweeps to subtle movement. A Manual switch offers contrasting sounds and Sync allows tempo matching within your DAW.
TREMOLO
The Tremolo pedal achieves classic valve bias style tremolo or subtle frequency based modulation using the Standard/Harmonic switch. Add stereo movement with the Width knob and Sync allows tempo matching within your DAW.
WATCH VIDEO
When recording my own material I’ve still generally fallen back on putting a mic in front of my favourite small combo. Having tried the St James Plugin, though, I suspect that this will be my first port of call in future.
Paul White
Sound on Sound
This is such a cool, versatile and user-friendly plugin. You can dial in a great tone in seconds, but also have a lot of fun by digging into the CabRig customizations and the effects. Blackstar’s done it again!
Gus G.
Firewind
Holy Sh!t! This thing sounds fantastic! After a while I began to forget that I wasn’t even playing through an ‘amp’. I think this will be hailed as the ‘Players Plugin’
Tom Gittins
Monochrome Productions
I’ve been using the St James 6L6 amp as my live rig since it came out, and this plugin completely nails that tone. It’s awesome to have it in a software format
Nick DePirro
Night Verses
I’ve been using the St James Plugin for over a year now, it’s great to pull up a great sound quickly and get some ideas down. For me I use it as a tool for writing and having lots of great sounding Pre and Post FX to use quickly is great.
Amy Woodall
Crawlers
I love the St. James Plugin because it doesn’t try to be a thousand different classic amps but delivers a huge range of tones that will serve you well in many styles. It is straight to the point, gets the job done and sounds great on top of it. You just make music and don’t get lost in menus!
Henning Pauly
42 Gear Street
The Blackstar St. James amplifier is famously lightweight, but the St. James Plugin takes it to a whole new level—it’s practically weightless! I can take my favorite amp tones everywhere, from the studio to the couch, without breaking a sweat. It’s convenience and tone perfection in one.
Danilo Vicari
I have been using the St. James Plugin since the very first day it launched, and I’ve had so much fun with it. The sound is incredibly rich, and it responds to my playing with precision. It behaves better than I could have ever asked for!
Ugur Cikintas
HEAR THE PLUGIN
The following samples were created using the St. James plugin. Listen up.
Blues in a room
Blues Rhythm
Blues Lead
Low Gain Crunch
Jazz Guitar
Ambient Clean
Crunch Double Track
Funk Guitar
Anarchist Punk
Desert Fuzz
Ethereal
USA Punk
VERSATILE
Use as a standalone unit or in favourite DAW
as a VST, AU or AAX plugin.
Runs native on Apple Silicon.
OVERVIEW
Our UK R&D team has decades of experience in designing some of the best, most innovative valve and digital guitar amplifiers in the world. Now that same team and experience has created the most authentic plugin experience. Hear your guitar tones come alive with the dynamics and touch sensitivity normally only found in physical amps.
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
WINDOWS
For all of the below requirements, iLok License Manager and an internet connection are required to activate your plugin license.
Minimum
- AMD Quad-Core Processor (R3 2200G or higher) / Intel Core i3 Processor (i3-4130 / i5-2500 or higher)
- 8 GB of RAM
- Windows 8
- 350 MB of drive storage
Recommended
- AMD Ryzen 5 Processor (R5 1600 or higher) / Intel Core i5 Processor (i5-6600 or higher)
- 8 GB of RAM or more
- Windows 10
- 350 MB of drive storage
MacOS
For all of the below requirements, iLok License Manager and an internet connection are required to activate your plugin license.
Minimum
- Intel Core i3 Processor (i3-4130 / i5-2500 or higher).
- 8 GB of RAM
- Mac OSX 10.15 (Catalina)
- 700 MB of drive storage
Recommended
- Intel Core i5 Processor (i5-6600 or higher), also runs native on M Series Apple Silicon.
- 8 GB of RAM or more
- Mac OSX 11 (Big Sur)
- 700 MB of drive storage
