Blackstar is stepping into the world of valve pedals with their new Dept. 10 series. The series offers Dual Drive, Dual Distortion, and the Dept. 10 Boost pedal, all of which operate off an ECC83 triode valve and run like a valve amplifier at more than 200V internally. So expect some crunch.
So what are the three pedals, exactly? There’s the Dept. 10 Boost, which of course is a valve-based boost pedal that offers a passive James-Baxandall EQ and built-in buffer and line driver. Then there’s the Dept. 10 Dual Drive, which gives two channels (and two voices per channel) of crunchy overdrive and an ISF tone stack EQ; and the Dept. 10 Dual Distortion, which brings the same as the Dual Drive, but with house-destroying distortion instead.
Both the Dual Drive and Dual Distortion pedals also include the Cab Rig feature. Cab Rig is Blackstar’s DSP speaker simulator that uses Blackstar’s free-to-download software and emulates the feel of a real guitar cab. Basically, you’re allowing the pedals to take an even deeper dive into their already deep tones with plenty more options.
The Dept. 10 Boost runs $219, while both the Dual Drive and Dual Distortion run $299. Grab all three here.
