Blackstar Debut 15E 2 x 3-inch 15-watt Combo Amp Reviews

I wanted something small for practice that I could easily over-drive at a very low volume. (So as to not get the wife all worked up while she watches her reality TV shows.... lol). This little amp fits the bill quite nicely! I like the built in delay. It sounds really good for such a small amp and it can get pretty loud, too. My collection of effects pedals work great with it. It looks nice, too. At a little over $ this amp is a very good buy in my opinion!! And Sweetwater shipped it fast, as usual. Love it !!!

When my uncle gave me a tele, I knew I needed to get a Amp, and after looking around at Sweetwater, I found this one. It has an excellent sound, and can get quite loud.

Es un excelente amplificador por el precio. Un pequeno monstruo. Muy facil de utilizar.

I like the Amp it's nice and compact the two speakers sounds great!!! Thanks to ty from sweet water I have everything I need to start my Lil hobbie

I bought one of these amps and they are incredible for the price. So many great vintage tones that you can get out of it. The problem is not the product it's the people buying it because they don't know what they are buying. I see constantly in the reviews of this amp "no good tones, "no gain" etc... That's not true in the slightest. Yes it's not a heavy metal amp but it in all fairness it doesn't even look like it is. It's a vintage styled amp that has about as much gain as classic rock. It cleans up well, the ISF control makes it unique in dialing in an American amp sound, a British amp sound, or something else entirely. The other thing that is commented on in the negative reviews is the built in delay. The built in delay option just adds presence to your sound. It's not a delay pedal so of course it's limited, it's not perfect by any means but it sounds fine to me and many others. The amp gets rather loud for a 15watt solid state amp while still sounding good which I was impressed with. It handles pedals okay, not the greatest not the worst, certain pedals better than others. This amp is great if you want it as a practice amp not your main amp. If you want something that you can play at room volume or a little louder to practice and get nice sounds out of this amp is just that. The last thing I see people giving negative reviews over is the headphone jack... If you're buying a $ practice amp for the purpose of headphones, look somewhere else. The headphone jack is useless and sounds like garbage but that's genuinely my one complaint with this amp and it really doesn't bother me in the slightest. If you want a practice amp to play at night with headphones get a different one but if you are like the other 99% of the population who will buy a practice amp to play at lower room volumes then this amp is perfect...! I don't understand how people even find something to complain about for that price. You get what you pay for. Don't let the negative reviews deter you from buying this amp if you are considering it because those people are unrealistic and didn't know what they were buying. This amp is great as long as you go into buying it with realism of what your buying and for $ I doubt you'll be disappointed.

A roaring little beast in a tiny little cabinet.
Can't find a bad tone.

The Blackstar Debut 15 is much louder than I thought it would be and gives a wide range of tones. Love it! Looks very classy and covers everything you need in a practice amp.

Got this originally as an amp to keep in the car and just have with me between home, work and friends places. I've come to really enjoy it and now use it more than my Boss Katana MkII 50. The delay feature is great. Plenty of tone in the small enclosure. Easy setup. I would highly recommend.

I like it a lot and it looks great in the living room.

Like this little amp .It's simple yet can get various tones. I gotta knock off a half star for the really short power cord.I wish blackstar would just make this amp with some real speakers. Forget the tubes or the excessive modeling crap...just build this amp in a bigger version...keep it affordable ...and watch'em sell like crazy.

I think I have only written reviews on two products in my life as I'm not excited enough to do so and there are usually plenty of other reviews that cover my thoughts. In this case, there are no reviews out there for the Blackstar Debut 15 and I am loving this amp!

Here is my quick background to give context to my thoughts. I am a bedroom player who enjoys playing purely for the fun of learning and making music with my family in the house. I have a Boss Katana 50, a VOX Mini G3 2 and have used to have a Fender Champion 20.

So, how is the Blackstar Debut 15? It's great! I like my Boss Katana 50, but found that the cleans don't inspire me to play and hooking it up to a computer a tweaking was fun, but mostly detracting from my time to actual play/practice. With the Blackstar, I found several fun tones instantly. Want a nice bright clean? Move the ISF counter-clockwise, increase the tone brightness, and set gain at or above half. Play with Delay and you have a solid clean tone for my sake. Looking for crunch? Either crank the gain on the clean channel and dig in with your playing, or go to the OD channel and set gain around 9 o clock.

Ultimately, I find myself playing more and fiddling less. The bit of tweaking I do make has instant results and usable tones for my sake. Some complain about the ISF, but I find it neat to freshen up or make something sound new/different. I also quite like just a single tone knob because it is dead simple and fast to adjust.

What are the cons to the amp? Not many if you consider the price point and intent. One thing is that the power cable included is very short (3 feet?). Fortunately, the back of the amp uses a standard connection and I just grabbed an old PC or monitor power cable that was 6 feet. Also, the high gain OD tones simply aren't as good as something like the Katana with a big 12 inch speaker. That said, they are perfect for me for late night QUIET practice while my children sleep. Lastly, there isn't a specific reverb. That said, I find that if I set the delay time to 8-9 o clock, it adds space to the sound without a delay effect. On a clean tone, I really like the delay though and playing with the timing.

Overall, this is an amazing amp for $... Portable, good usable tones, fun tweaking without the need to use a computer or an app. It puts the focus back on playing and moving music from your fingers through the guitar and out the speakers.

There is nothing remarkable about this amp. It's neither extremely bad nor extremely good, considering what is out there for a little more money. However, it's a cut above most of the tiny, tiny practice amps these days, and it's way better than most of the stuff you can get used in a pawn shop for less.

It's a proper amp, none of your external-power-supply, molded-plastic-cabinet stuff here. It's made of something definitely wood derived and covered in a nice-looking Tolex sort of wrap. The dual speakers are 3" drivers, and while they're not overcoming the laws of physics here, it's easily up the the task of home practice and one-on-one lessons. It's a little lacking in character, but you can milk it for greater range with the ISF control, which dramatically overhauls the whole EQ balance as you move it. I was a little disappointed in how it handled my Strats and my LP with PAF-type pickups; there's no mistaking it for a good tube amp or even a high-end modeler. However, active EMGs can wake the thing up and get it to sing. The 81 bridge and the 89R neck in my Ibanez really push the front end of the amp nicely and get some cool metal tones.

The amp doesn't really do a lot. The only effect is that digital delay, which is rather limited in flexibility as it has only a knob for delay time, with no level or regeneration control. You can certainly get some use out of it, but it's no substitute for a good delay pedal, those being in no short supply these days.

I bought a few of these a while back. They're the smallest amps I have right now that actually don't sound like toys. I keep them around to loan to friends and take out to living-room jams, and I have one set aside for mods. I think it will be fun to see how it does driving my ported 2x12 cab with metal-head Eminence speakers.

I bought this little Oxblood combo for office practicing and to take on trips. It is way better than it has any right to be for the price. It's compact, it has cool features, it sounds awesome, and looks great. The stereo delay through the 2x3" speakers really puts it over the top. The clean tone is lush and crisp and gets gritty when you turn the Gain up. The Overdrive is a bit of a one trick pony but it gets the job done. Reminds me of Marshall solid state combos. The line out to MP3 was an added bonus and the amp sounds massive with headphones. A longer cord would have been nice and the EQ is a bit confusing/limited but it's an $89 amp. Overall you can't beat it.

First,a word about dealing with Sweetwater. The first Debut 15 I ordered was a demo unit and kept cutting out on new right out of the box. I called Sweetwater and spoke with Jason in their tech dept. He determined that the unit was not user repairable, so he sent me a new unit. Sweetwater paid for the return shipping and my new unit arrived the next day. I was not charged for the difference in price between the demo and the new unit. Sweetwater's reputation for great customer serve is well deserved!
Now, the amp. I didn't expect much from such a price point, but I was pleasantly surprised. First, it is a great looking package. Second, it is versatile without being complicated, and the big sound belies it's size. The OD and delay features are excellent, but the clean channel blew me away. Even at max volume and gain this baby beast sings. Twin 3" speakers are surprisingly unboxlike, and the ISF control gives one a decent range if sounds. If you are looking for that small practise amp for your bedroom or practise room, I highly recommend the Black star Debut 15.

Nice looking well made amp. Without a headphone outlet no way to direct inject for recording.
Also the controls are nice but jammed so close together that you can't adjust one without moving another.
I bought another amp from sweetwater they make an effort. Amaya rocks

I get that it's just a practice amp but was not aware that it contained two 3 inch speakers. So with that in mind how good can a 3 inch speaker sound...not very good!!

I wanted something that I could throw a few EHX pedals in front of and use headphones. I have a muff, Germanium OD, DOD Gunslinger. The headphone out sucks really bad. So bad to the point I thought it was defective. the replacement was just as bad. I used 3 different headphones ranging in price from $15 to $200. It really is just a 1 trick pony. And it's not even a very good trick.

sorry but i hate this amp. either my brand new guitar sucks or this amp but im pretty sure its the amp. do not buy for the delay. ita *** as hell. sounds terrible if cranked @ll the way up. i cant find a setting i like on this @mp.its been @ dissapointment since i took it out of the box. my gf wont let me hear the end of it. how stupid i @m for spending... dollars on this rather than going to a pawn shop and getting a better one for half the price and yada yada yada. blackstar shame on you.