Blackstar has added a new Bluetooth-bolstered 10-watt to its ID:Core V4 series. The Britsh amp builders at the start of the year, with this the second 10-watt amp to join the family. The fourth-generation amps have received some new features, with two standouts.
The series also sees Blackstar leaning further into the notion that, primarily, these amps are for guitarists at the start of their playing journey, with Bluetooth capabilities the headline here. That allows players to connect their phone to the amp via Bluetooth so they can effortlessly jam along to their favorite songs, or simply use the amp’s inbuilt wide stereo speakers – made up of two three-inch, five-watt speakers – for listening to music. Like the rest of the range, it serves up six amp voices: Warm, Bright, Crunch, Super Crunch, and two Overdrive channels.
These sit alongside 12 built-in effects: delay, reverb, phaser, chorus/flanger, envelope filter, and tremolo, with six slots available for saving patches. These presets can be edited and shared via Blackstar’s Architect app, which is available on Windows and Mac, but noticeably not phone devices. However, the app does allow a deeper dive into the tone and effects parameters than the amp itself.
Extra tone-shaping comes via an in-built tap tempo feature, available for all but the reverb and envelope filter effects. Other features include power bank compatibility for plug-free jamming, Blackstar’s ISF feature for dialing a more British or American f.
