So. I bought a Blackstar ID60 head

axisus

....... and I'm loving it!

OK so I'm pretty inexperienced on amps in general, and I'm probably only going to be using it at home using modest volumes - so I can't really give any kind of useful review, but for me I have found the ideal sounds that I was looking for. If it records well I can see me offloading the trusty AxeFx!

The only downside is that the wife doesn't like it - too big for her likes! I have to admit that I didn't even tell her about it until it was in the car - I rang home on the mobile "Blah blah, oh yes, and I traded my amp for another one ...."

ThePrettyDamned

They're fantastic.  Congrats on the GAS, man.

I think it might have been @ICBM who said it's actually a fairly compact unit, so rehousing could be a possibility.  Perhaps someone else can elaborate?  That said, I don't think you should jump into doing that, there may be a reason why things inside are spaced as they are...

I'm assuming you've hit the TVP button?  Otherwise known as the 'why is this even an option, just leave it on' button?

ICBM

ThePrettyDamned said:

I think it might have been @ICBM who said it's actually a fairly compact unit, so rehousing could be a possibility.  Perhaps someone else can elaborate?  That said, I don't think you should jump into doing that, there may be a reason why things inside are spaced as they are...

The head could be rehoused in a box half the size without modifying the chassis layout in any way. There is nothing at all in the space above the chassis, not even a transformer sticking up like there is on some solid-state heads. I suspect you could easily reduce the size of the chassis quite substantially too, but that would be a job for Blackstar since it would need a redesign of the PCB.

ThePrettyDamned said:

I'm assuming you've hit the TVP button?  Otherwise known as the 'why is this even an option, just leave it on' button?

That's one of the major design mistakes in the amp - a button that you have to press in order to make it sound good, but which reverts to off when you power down... doh. I'm pretty sure they could reprogramme the default setting to be on with a firmware update, too. Hopefully they will if they get enough feedback about it.

Drew_TNBD

axisus said:

If it records well I can see me offloading the trusty AxeFx!

That is a pretty serious statement B-)

ThePrettyDamned

What speakers are you going through mate?

Grumpyrocker

I'm interested in picking one of these up. What I'm hoping is that they put it in a smaller head at some point but retail all the features - as has been said there's no reason for such a big case. A smaller unit - or even a floorboard version would be really welcome. 

Fortheloveofguitar

Drew_fx said:

axisus said:

If it records well I can see me offloading the trusty AxeFx!

That is a pretty serious statement B-)

Will be keeping tabs on this to see if the AxeFx really does get the chop!

Please keep us updated axisus.

axisus

ICBM said:

That's one of the major design mistakes in the amp - a button that you have to press in order to make it sound good, but which reverts to off when you power down... doh. I'm pretty sure they could reprogramme the default setting to be on with a firmware update, too. Hopefully they will if they get enough feedback about it.

Actually, mine stays on all the time. Whenever I power up it is still on - so I guess they did fix it!

@theprettydamned - I bought a Blackstar 1x12 at the same time. It is lovely and light to move about, and it seems weird not having to plug it in like an amp! (not had a cab/head before). On the downside, it is not powerful enough for the full potential of the ID60, and will probably choke it down to about 30W, but to be honest, it may not even leave the house so I wasn't too bothered about that. Certainly couldn't have brought something bigger home!

The Axefx is real cool, but I have simple tastes and only used a few sounds. I already have them covered with the blackstar. GAS money is very hard to come by these days so I don't have the luxury of keeping items around that I'm not using.

and yes ......... in a smaller box would have been good!