aleclee
Major General GAS
I ordered a Blackstar ID:60 from Sweetwater last weekend. As I attempt to purge the glowing bottles from my home, I wanted something to replace my Hod Rod Deluxe as a 1x12 combo that could serve as a "houseguest amp". Sweetwater offered a nice package deal with the foot controller and Blackstar is offering a $75 rebate.
It got delivered while I was at work on Thursday and I didn't get a chance to unpack it until after a late-ish dinner (Thursday is my kid's choir practice). I couldn't do much with it while Mini Me was doing homework and not long after homework was done, it was his bedtime. I was reminded of why I stopped using regular amps in the first place. Without a proper headphone output, I can't do much while the house is sleeping (or watching TV, etc.). I didn't realize that the amp didn't have a headphone jack. It's definitely not a deal breaker but something to keep in mind.
After work on Friday, I finally got to put it through its paces. Not a bit of buyer's remorse here. It sounds quite good, is lighter (but about the same size) as the HRDx it's replacing and is easy to dial in. The foot controller isn't going to make me miss the MFC on my AxeFx but it works for running through presets and turning FX on/off.
At this point, you probably want me to get into the tones.
I can get most of my go-to tones out of this thing:
In two respects, this is very different from most modelers I've played dating back to the Digitech RP-1. First, the timbral response to playing dynamics is quite good at least until you get to face melting gain levels. Speaking of face melting gain levels, the ID seems to be most in its element with cleanish to moderate drive (think AC/DC). If I was living in high gain land, I might pull out my G5 instead but this modeler seems to run against the trend of being weak when it comes to mildly driven sounds.
Speaking of weak, I'll echo the complaint others have made about having to max out volume on clean presets. It's workable but it makes it harder to match volumes across presets.
Effects are basic but usable. You get four flavors in each effect category (modulation, delay, reverb). No built-in drive or compression FX are available. Front panel controls are limited. Each category has an on/off button. There are the (probably) familiar knobs to select type and intensity for each category and a tap tempo button. The tap tempo button applies to both speed for modulation FX as well as delay time.
That brings us to the PC editor: "Blackstar Insider". It's useful and I daresay necessary if you're using effects. It allows you to control some effect parameters not available on the front panel. I suppose that's the downside to having traditional aesthetics and no LCDs/menus: you're limited in what you can control. Insider lets you tweak things like delay time, feedback, and mix level.
A couple irritations about the Mac version worth mentioning. First, the installation is a bit cumbersome as it requires both Silverlight and the Mono Framework. I found myself doing additional installs when trying to start the app. Second, there's an irritating "Insider has quit unexpectedly" when exiting the app. I suppose it's better to get a "quit unexpectedly" message while quitting than to actually have it quit unexpectedly while trying to do something but it's annoying.
I'm getting together with a drummer on Tuesday. Because of schedule issues, we only have an hour so this is the "grab 'n go" scenario that a combo fills better than a rack unit. We'll see how it holds up. It seems about as loud as my Fender so unless there's some digital/SS wimpiness, I don't expect any unpleasant surprises there.
Bottom line is that the device isn't perfect but it is a very usable and enjoyable option in a value-priced combo. It won't make me abandon my AxeFx (DUH!) but for a rig that only cost about 15% of my AxeFx / MFC / CLR setup, it's a solid value. If my kid expresses more interest in guitar, I'll probably let him use it as a starter amp. I'd have to come up with a viable headphone solution at that point but I should be able to run the emulated out into a headphone amp easily enough.
It got delivered while I was at work on Thursday and I didn't get a chance to unpack it until after a late-ish dinner (Thursday is my kid's choir practice). I couldn't do much with it while Mini Me was doing homework and not long after homework was done, it was his bedtime. I was reminded of why I stopped using regular amps in the first place. Without a proper headphone output, I can't do much while the house is sleeping (or watching TV, etc.). I didn't realize that the amp didn't have a headphone jack. It's definitely not a deal breaker but something to keep in mind.
After work on Friday, I finally got to put it through its paces. Not a bit of buyer's remorse here. It sounds quite good, is lighter (but about the same size) as the HRDx it's replacing and is easy to dial in. The foot controller isn't going to make me miss the MFC on my AxeFx but it works for running through presets and turning FX on/off.
At this point, you probably want me to get into the tones.
I can get most of my go-to tones out of this thing:- Fendery Cleans
- Voxy Grit
- Marshall Crunch
- D-style Smooth Overdrive
- Brown Sound
- Modern High Gain
In two respects, this is very different from most modelers I've played dating back to the Digitech RP-1. First, the timbral response to playing dynamics is quite good at least until you get to face melting gain levels. Speaking of face melting gain levels, the ID seems to be most in its element with cleanish to moderate drive (think AC/DC). If I was living in high gain land, I might pull out my G5 instead but this modeler seems to run against the trend of being weak when it comes to mildly driven sounds.
Speaking of weak, I'll echo the complaint others have made about having to max out volume on clean presets. It's workable but it makes it harder to match volumes across presets.
Effects are basic but usable. You get four flavors in each effect category (modulation, delay, reverb). No built-in drive or compression FX are available. Front panel controls are limited. Each category has an on/off button. There are the (probably) familiar knobs to select type and intensity for each category and a tap tempo button. The tap tempo button applies to both speed for modulation FX as well as delay time.
That brings us to the PC editor: "Blackstar Insider". It's useful and I daresay necessary if you're using effects. It allows you to control some effect parameters not available on the front panel. I suppose that's the downside to having traditional aesthetics and no LCDs/menus: you're limited in what you can control. Insider lets you tweak things like delay time, feedback, and mix level.
A couple irritations about the Mac version worth mentioning. First, the installation is a bit cumbersome as it requires both Silverlight and the Mono Framework. I found myself doing additional installs when trying to start the app. Second, there's an irritating "Insider has quit unexpectedly" when exiting the app. I suppose it's better to get a "quit unexpectedly" message while quitting than to actually have it quit unexpectedly while trying to do something but it's annoying.
I'm getting together with a drummer on Tuesday. Because of schedule issues, we only have an hour so this is the "grab 'n go" scenario that a combo fills better than a rack unit. We'll see how it holds up. It seems about as loud as my Fender so unless there's some digital/SS wimpiness, I don't expect any unpleasant surprises there.
Bottom line is that the device isn't perfect but it is a very usable and enjoyable option in a value-priced combo. It won't make me abandon my AxeFx (DUH!) but for a rig that only cost about 15% of my AxeFx / MFC / CLR setup, it's a solid value. If my kid expresses more interest in guitar, I'll probably let him use it as a starter amp. I'd have to come up with a viable headphone solution at that point
but I should be able to run the emulated out into a headphone amp easily enough.
