bassbiscuits Posted March 29, 2016 Share Posted March 29, 2016 (edited) Have found myself with one of these lovely little amps - they are marketed as being the latest in "desktop music" and basically have the range of guitar sounds from the regular ID Core range, but with the addition of bass and electro acoustic voices for recording and practice, plus Bluetooth connectivity the link up to computer tablets/smartphones etc. It's cool. I only picked it up yesterday so haven't had the chance to explore all its capabilities, but even the preset guitar sounds in it are great, and the delay/reverb effects particularly are head and shoulders above the other stuff I've used before. I play guitar and bass, and want to do some recording, so in theory it covers a lot of what I need. The bass sounds are loud enough for home jamming / playing along to stuff I'm learning etc, and are very clear and convincing, especially for recording, as well as sounding great thru headphones too. It isn't loud enough for gigging on bass, but clearly that's not really what it's for. The guitar sounds are the real gems tho - with one toddler and another baby on the way I don't get to switch on a valve amp at home anymore, but this has some killer, realistic and very usable guitar sounds and enough volume to give it some welly when the family is out! There's a lots of stuff online at the Blackstar website about the more complex functions it does, but even as a 'plug in and go' practice amp I'm really impressed with it so far. Edited April 2, 2016 by bassbiscuits 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GarethFlatlands Posted March 31, 2016 Share Posted March 31, 2016 Nice, those look very cool. Glad to hear there's usable bass sounds in there too, seems like it would make an ideal all round home practice amp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassbiscuits Posted April 1, 2016 Author Share Posted April 1, 2016 (edited) It does seem that way yeah! I'm happy with it so far - once i get my head around using it with a computer etc i'll be a happy chap. I actually won this amp at a recent Blackstar event at my local music shop (Music Junkie in Leicester) where I'd gone to try it out in the first place. I was rather surprised to say the least! They have a lot of the Blackstar range there if anyone fancies trying one out too. Top result. Edited April 2, 2016 by bassbiscuits Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassbiscuits Posted April 12, 2016 Author Share Posted April 12, 2016 (edited) Just a quick update to say that a few weeks into owning this, it's rapidly become the most useful and versatile piece of kit I've got. I've been practising different stuff for guitar and bass and I haven't needed to go near any other amps at all - the sounds in this little beauty are spectacular, and the sound from the two speakers is large and wide. The two standard bass sounds are great too - one more vintage and one more modern, but both full throated and satisfying. The whole thing is smaller than a shoe box and sits perfectly on my sideboard at home, and looks really cool and neat too. A very pleasing, versatile bit of kit I can't recommend highly enough. I'll be bringing it to the Midlands Bass Bash on May 7 if anyone wants to try it out. Edited April 12, 2016 by bassbiscuits Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
basskit_case Posted May 19, 2016 Share Posted May 19, 2016 (edited) Sounds like a useful home practice solution, did you take it to the bash? Are you experiencing the background noise that others have spoken of? Edited May 19, 2016 by basskit_case Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassbiscuits Posted September 24, 2016 Author Share Posted September 24, 2016 [quote name='basskit_case' timestamp='1463636758' post='3052923'] Sounds like a useful home practice solution, did you take it to the bash? Are you experiencing the background noise that others have spoken of? [/quote] Hi basskit case - sorry man I only just spotted this reply on the thread. I did take it along to the bash. I've not had any problems with background noise at all - what's the issue people have raised? On guitar I tend not to use mega gain - more just classic rock levels, so haven't had any problem with noise from uber distortion (if that's what people have found). Picking up this thread four months later, I can safely say I've been using it happily since spring and all good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MoonBassAlpha Posted May 27, 2018 Share Posted May 27, 2018 I picked one of these up from Maplins when they were closing down, for £120, and so will add some thoughts. For use in the house, it has some very appealing sounds, the guitar tones with effects can sound amazingly spacious, they use some clever processing to get a very wide stereo effect. Likewise, the bass sounds are surprisingly solid for such a small unit. You can tell there is a lot of compression and d.s.p. going on to keep the tiny speakers under control, but it's really well done, and you can't get them to fart out. It also means that you can't get the bass sounds to go as loud as the guitar ones, but it never sounds nasty. Playing music through it via Bluetooth or mini jack works fine, but has a decidedly bass-heavy bias, which I fix by having a custom eq profile on my phone. Things I would like that it doesn't have: 1: a small strap handle for carting it about 2: built in rechargeable battery, this would really extend its use as a Bluetooth portable speaker of reasonable volume and quality 3: most of the bass effects are ok, but the envelope filter is pretty rubbish 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassbiscuits Posted June 6, 2018 Author Share Posted June 6, 2018 On 27/05/2018 at 08:04, MoonBassAlpha said: I picked one of these up from Maplins when they were closing down, for £120, and so will add some thoughts. For use in the house, it has some very appealing sounds, the guitar tones with effects can sound amazingly spacious, they use some clever processing to get a very wide stereo effect. Likewise, the bass sounds are surprisingly solid for such a small unit. You can tell there is a lot of compression and d.s.p. going on to keep the tiny speakers under control, but it's really well done, and you can't get them to fart out. It also means that you can't get the bass sounds to go as loud as the guitar ones, but it never sounds nasty. Playing music through it via Bluetooth or mini jack works fine, but has a decidedly bass-heavy bias, which I fix by having a custom eq profile on my phone. Things I would like that it doesn't have: 1: a small strap handle for carting it about 2: built in rechargeable battery, this would really extend its use as a Bluetooth portable speaker of reasonable volume and quality 3: most of the bass effects are ok, but the envelope filter is pretty rubbish I must admit i use mine more for guitar than bass, tho it works as a nice little all in one practice station with headphones and iPad etc connected. I agree tho - a carrying handle would be good, as would the option of battery operation (both of which were in my Boss Cube amp) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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