Blackstar ID Core Stereo 150 or 100 ,opinions ???reviews ???

mark123

As title

Guitarist and Guitar and Bass give it rave reviews,high marks ,light as a feather ,giggable ,sounds near as godammit valve ,anyone tried or owns one ??? sounds too good to be true ??

skunkwerx

I've seen em get great reviews too on the Andertons channel. 

I have the id:core 20, for a small portable amp, and that sounds great, but I think they have remastered the voicing on the newest 2 as well (the 100 and 150), so should be even better. 

The superwide stereo effects are really pretty cool. Does indeed sound like they are coming out of the walls, really surprised at how 'surround' sound some of the effects can be. Just a cool feature mind! 

Voxman

Not these particular ID's but having played the ID60 1x12combo (which is supposed to be big brother of  the Core's) I was a little underwhelmed.  Perhaps it was just the hype that raised my expectations. 

Danny1969

Did a gig a couple of weeks back with a guitarist who had one. Sounded a bit harsh at gig volume to me. Not my cup of tea

ecc83

I shall be very interested to follow this thread.

I was very surprised to find that the ID 100/150s do not allow the use of external speakers. I think I know WHY they have done that but suspect it might be a deal breaker for some people?

I think they will find favour more as a lightweight backup amp rather than many player's main rig.

Dave.

monquixote

I find these a bit puzzling.

I have a little ID:Core 20 watter and the ID TVP amps sound better IMO certainly more something I would consider for gigging. 
I'd probably be looking at the Katana over either of them at this point though.

ecc83

monquixote said:

I find these a bit puzzling.

I have a little ID:Core 20 watter and the ID TVP amps sound better IMO certainly more something I would consider for gigging. 
I'd probably be looking at the Katana over either of them at this point though.

Puzzling how chap? AFAICT the new amps are essentially the ID Cores but with "guitar" speakers in them. I assume something with close to a 100dB/W sensitivity?

The other Core  amps had more "mid-fi" speakers in them and were never intended for full fat gigging.

Dave.

mark123

bump to the top

 thinking of buying one of these but have seen spider v has hit the shops ,am I right thinking these are more for bedroom guitarist and with the blackstar you get the best of both worlds ???  i.e ok in the bedroom but you could take it out and do a gig with it ? anyone gig either or heard it in a band live ? guitarist magazine and guitar and bass magazine both gave it glowing reviews and both said you could gig them no problem ..

EricTheWeary

I'm not sure if a Guitarist let alone an Andertons review is a dependable source of analysis. Having said that it might be worth your while watching the recent modellers shoot out by Andertons ( we've a discussion on it here somewhere as well)with both Blackstars, Marshall, Line 6, Boss, Vox and Fender .
For me if you like the convenience of the built in fx then they make sense as a convenient all in one package. Otherwise I'd be looking at other options. 

mark123

just seen the boss katana 100 so that's in the mix now ha !

KrisGee

My mate has the 100 stereo. He's a beginner player and he likes it quite a lot, plenty of features and sounds decent to him.
Personally tho I wouldn't buy it, despite being a full size amp with the latest (I think?) modelling technology it still sounds like a multi fx unit through small studio monitors, both my axis and les paul sounded lifeless and similar when I tried the amp. It definitely performed worse than an old flextone 3 I used to use for home practice.

mellowsun

Yep, sounds too bright and harsh to me. Seems like a step backwards in modelling tbh.

if you want stereo and don't want the cheap digital FX the Roland JC40 or JC 22 is a better option imho

mark123

KrisGee said:

My mate has the 100 stereo. He's a beginner player and he likes it quite a lot, plenty of features and sounds decent to him.
Personally tho I wouldn't buy it, despite being a full size amp with the latest (I think?) modelling technology it still sounds like a multi fx unit through small studio monitors, both my axis and les paul sounded lifeless and similar when I tried the amp. It definitely performed worse than an old flextone 3 I used to use for home practice.

How can guitarist and guitar and bass magazine both give these amps rave reviews ? Is it you scratch my back and i'll scratch yours ? with a years advertising in your mag ??

robgilmo

Pretty much.

monquixote

I just played a Christmas gig with a singer using my ID core 20 into the pa. Worked really well but I'm not sure I'd use one for a rock band.

The ID TVP is surely a better choice. Personally I'd have a Katana.

EricTheWeary

They deny the back scratching although won't review anything they think is rubbish.
As I understand it if something is 5/5 then it's for that type of product at that price, it's not saying that a £500 modeller is comparable to a £2k valve amp ( which in turn of course can't do lots of the things the modeller can do). 

mark123 said:

KrisGee said:

My mate has the 100 stereo. He's a beginner player and he likes it quite a lot, plenty of features and sounds decent to him.
Personally tho I wouldn't buy it, despite being a full size amp with the latest (I think?) modelling technology it still sounds like a multi fx unit through small studio monitors, both my axis and les paul sounded lifeless and similar when I tried the amp. It definitely performed worse than an old flextone 3 I used to use for home practice.

How can guitarist and guitar and bass magazine both give these amps rave reviews ? Is it you scratch my back and i'll scratch yours ? with a years advertising in your mag ??

ecc83

I have been reading hi-fi*/audio/guitar/recording magazines for over 40 years and the question of review "integrity" has come up scores of times and never, to my knowledge and satisfaction been resolved.

*gave up hi fi mags years ago. Taken over by subjectivist, Russ Andrew's arse licking twats.

Dave.

jpfamps

Someone I know who worked for G&B magazine told me that they've now  been instructed to give everything a good review.

Essentially magazines are on their beam end and they don't want to jeopardise any potential source of advertising income.

KrisGee

mark123 said:

KrisGee said:

My mate has the 100 stereo. He's a beginner player and he likes it quite a lot, plenty of features and sounds decent to him.
Personally tho I wouldn't buy it, despite being a full size amp with the latest (I think?) modelling technology it still sounds like a multi fx unit through small studio monitors, both my axis and les paul sounded lifeless and similar when I tried the amp. It definitely performed worse than an old flextone 3 I used to use for home practice.

How can guitarist and guitar and bass magazine both give these amps rave reviews ? Is it you scratch my back and i'll scratch yours ? with a years advertising in your mag ??

Honestly I dunno, possibly yes? I don't pay attention to mag reviews anymore really, dunno how someone who gets paid for reviewing gear could influence me enough to buy it?

xchrisv

jpfamps said:

Someone I know who worked for G&B magazine told me that they've now  been instructed to give everything a good review.

Essentially magazines are on their beam end and they don't want to jeopardise any potential source of advertising income.

For the record, this is bollocks and certainly hasn't been the case since I took over last year. 

xchrisv

Having reviewed and demoed both of these amps I think that they are incredible value for money. For the price of a boutique overdrive pedal or what you'd earn from a decent gig, either model could comfortably handle the kind of functions that lots of real world gigging guitarists play these days and there's a mind-boggling array of functionality onboard. It's the type of product that simply didn't exist at the entry level when I was a teenager in the nineties but I really wish it had - spend some time dialling these things in and don't overcook the effects and you can get some really good tones.