“It reacts like a guitar amp”: Blackstar’s Polar 2 USB audio interface has been designed specifically for guitarists – and it could be the solution to all your guitar-recording woes
The Polar 2 features two FET inputs for recording versatility, and a special Enhance feature that promises the touch, feel, and response of a tube amp
(Image credit: Blackstar)
Blackstar has just released the Polar 2 – a potentially first-of-its-kind audio interface that has been designed specifically for guitarists.
The guitar amp specialist feels its latest device delivers “many of the much-requested improvements” it wanted to see in other audio interfaces, with its research highlighting three major market-wide pitfalls: poor feel and response, issues with how input levels are set, and difficult operation.
The Polar 2, then, “answers all of these challenges and excels beyond those hurdles” to create what it feels is the perfect all-in-one recording solution for guitarists. And it all hinges on one nifty feature.
The interface offers two line inputs – which can accommodate XLRs and instrument jacks – that have their own gain dials, as well as Enhance and Line/Instrument switches.
There’s also a headphone jack with a dedicated volume control, with the interface offering 48V of Phantom Power and USB Type-C connectivity. However, it's that unassuming Enhance feature that holds all the aces.
Field Effect Transistor (FET) instrument inputs are used to fix pitfall number one, and are in place to offer ultra-low noise and high-headroom tracking. These are enhanced by the, erm, Enhance switch, which engages a circuit simulating the input stage of real valve amps – a feature that offers a trio of benefits.
Blackstar POLAR 2 Overview | The USB audio interface designed by guitarists for guitarists - YouTube
Chief among them is its ability to emulate tube amps, with Blackstar saying the Enhance function includes all of the “non-linear behaviors” those amps possess. On paper, it should give recording guitarists the touch, feel, and response of playing through a real amp straight into their DAW.
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Then comes the fix to pitfall number two: Blackstar’s answer to digital clipping issues that guitar players often suffer from.
With the Enhance mode activated, the Polar 2’s input stage “will never digitally clip”, cutting out the “hassle and confusion around setting the correct levels”. The Polar 2 therefore allows musicians to treat the interface like the preamp section of a tangible tube amp.
(Image credit: Blackstar)
Furthermore, Blackstar says the Enhance feature also “gently lifts the top end of your signal to add just the right amount of air and clarity” to make recording much easier.
All of this results in a product designed to “empower musicians to achieve studio-quality recordings in any environment” with no need for external hardware.
“The Polar 2,” Blackstar concludes, “was created through the processes of Human-Centred Design, to help create a user-friendly solution to get musicians back to focusing on the most important part: the music.
“Polar will never digitally clip, it reacts like a guitar amp, has high headroom FET inputs, and comes with a complete software bundle.”
The Blackstar Polar 2 costs $199.99 and is available today.
A freelance writer with a penchant for music that gets weird, Phil is a regular contributor to Prog, Guitar World, and Total Guitar magazines and is especially keen on shining a light on unknown artists. Outside of the journalism realm, you can find him writing angular riffs in progressive metal band, Prognosis, in which he slings an 8-string Strandberg Boden Original, churning that low string through a variety of tunings. He's also a published author and is currently penning his debut novel which chucks fantasy, mythology and humanity into a great big melting pot.
