Blackstar ID:Core 100 2x10" 100-watt Stereo Combo Amp with Effects Reviews

Ok so the title isn't totally true. I started playing 7 years ago in my 40's. Like a lot of beginners I wanted to make sounds like the bands I listened to. I did the tabs thing and could play songs but they never sounded like the those bands. I was labeled a "tone chaser" and bought several guitars trying to get that sound. As you do right? I stopped playing for a couple years and recently decided to pick it back up. I had sold all of my original gear so I was starting fresh. I grabbed a guitar and a little practice amp and was immediately frustrated. That is until my teacher showed me the Blackstar ID and Silverline. He brought them into our practice booth and I played a couple songs I liked and the teacher made some adjustments and I was playing the songs my favorite bands were playing. I am now learning chords and the like. I practice a couple hours a day every day! I got my chops back and I am loving and looking forward to playing again. I say to beginners get a guitar you like and then get this amp. Watch some long YouTube videos on it where the deep dive into it. A foot switch is included. You'll progress faster if you hit notes that sound like the real thing. Rock on!

great amp.

I love this amp! It blows my mind. I haven't bought an amp for over a decade. I sold my gear years ago when I cashed out of my rock star dreams. I owned, toured, and recorded with a Marshall jcm 800 and a jcm 900slx for reference. I don't play out anymore. At most I jam with a drummer and bass player for fun. This amp is great for home practice and to keep up with a band!

What first blows my mind about this amp is the modeling interface. This is the first time I ever had a an amp that can change the sounds to so many amps with built in effects. I'm giddy like a school girl! My wife said I'm having to much fun, but the loop pedal… cmon! I know none of this is new, but it's new to me and… WOW! It's sooo much fun! I use to have multiple pedal boards to do what this one amp can! Do I really have to go over the features? They are all listed above in the description and all work flawlessly! The built in tuner is an awesome touch too. With the ability to save patches and then plug into the computer is just… I'm in awe. This amp just rocks! So many tones!!!

Honestly, I'm not the guy to get into the semantics of amps beyond the fact this serves and exceeds my expectations! I can get all the sounds I use to play out of my Marshalls and waaay more. I mostly play various types of metal, hardcore, and punk these days. My main guitar is a Jackson Rhoads REX24 with Seymour Duncan blackouts for reference. This amp compliments all of those things very well! And for the price!!! Don't hesitate and order this amp. Mind blown!

My first new amp in 40 years. After a week or so reviewing amps on YouTube (Boss Katana, Marshall fox series and a few others with and without some of the same features as the Blackstar. I decided on it also a great pice for my budget. I have had it a few weeks and have not tried all the settings yet, I'll find win I like and I'm stuck there for a few days when I change the settings I will take picture so I can get back there. I am a play at home for me guitar player that's all and this well exceeded my expectations. The ordering process With Rep Josh Kitchen all the way to delivery was A+++ Will definitely order from Sweetwater again.

Very pleased with the amp for the money. Big sound and awesome range of sounds.

Great amp, very versatile.

Thank you Ruben and all the gang at Sweetwater, this is an amazing little amp. I bought this primarily for practice and studio work and it fits the bill perfectly. I can not believe the huge sound that comes from such a small rig.

I'm new to guitar and amps, so I took the recommendation of my teacher and got something "loud enough for gigs when I'm ready, but versatile for home play, and also has a bunch of cool features" That is exactly what I have. I'm not 100% knowledgeable about all of the features. But playing around with the different tones, the looper, reverb, delay, etc, is certainly a ton of fun.

Blackstar doesn't disappoint. In fact, the sound and the ability to create or find your own sound is amazing and "too much fun." That is, I find myself playing guitar so much more, even when I should be "working" so much more. Oh well, it feels great to be a kid again. Thanks Blackstar for the rewind.

I was sceptical at first.....but when I plugged in a was carried away in a cordal voicing with harmonic overtones!! She completely captured my strat 54 pups and then some. Then came the Jackson, Ibanez, and Charvel
again rich sounds and a dreamy delay This amp is definitely a great value with loads to spare. Great addition in my studio!!

So far so good. Great amp at a great price and the cat likes it too

I have so much fun with this thing. Still learning my way around as it has a lot of tones available. So far my favorite is the clean bright with a dash of reverb and gain. It's paid for itself in the short time I've owned it. Stoked

The amp is more than I thought it could be. I have an older Fender Bassman and compare everything to that sound. This amp sounds pretty good. I have it running through a mixer to separate the stereo effect even more. The effects of the mixer combined with the amps effects really create a different sound. If you play a 12 string you should try this amp. Thanks: Brent Leuthold

This amp is a breakthrough. Big wins are:
-solid state amp that goes to live volumes and keeps tone
-super light
- built in effects with saved patches = no pedalboard needed (saved my best ever VH1 tone!)
-super easy to work with - recommend the 5 button footswitch for live use
-the stereo is unbelievable - creates a huge surround sound effect - I wasn't a fan of stereo until now
-best value
-these Blackstar guys have it figured out - kudos!

Im a tube amp guy but wanted to try something different when i saw The Blackstar id core on Sweetwaters site and the 48 month free fianancing i took a shot Got a few other accessories the gear came 3 days later all intact totally correct with some other swag along with it love it i really like the amp and clip on tuner i really like Sweetwaters catalog very pleased with the entire experience plan on buying more in the future

I was looking for an amp that was small in size but big in sound. This was perfect.

This is an amazing sounding small amp with loads of power! The sound is almost too much for my living room. I have to run the main volume set at its minimal setting or my ears start to ring.

This is my second purchase of the same amp that I bought last January. I'm now running my 2 stereo amps in stereo. Maybe not quite quadraphonic, but throw in some delay or reverb and the sounds are phenomenal; they fill the room and you can't tell where it's coming from. The modeling settings have quality sound and covers pretty much all styles of music you might play and the effects, especially the delays and reverbs are as good or better than any pedals that I own. It even has an octaver to make the guitar sound like a 12 string. Had I purchased this first, I could have saved myself a pretty penny on a pedal that I had already purchased for that reason. Throw in the low price and you can't beat it!

This combo has great tone, and has enough volume to keep up with the drummer. It's a definite upgrade from my line 6. And the customer service of sweetwater is the best! Thanks guys!

GREAT SOUND

Can't believe all the great sounds and power out of this amp

Tried a more entry level practice amp from a reputable British maker with modest wattage and 8 inch speaker. Dynamic range suffered accordingly and more than modestly. This amp is a different story. It may be more than twice the price but it provides my rosewood the quality assurance of reproduction to meet or exceed my expectations. The Boss 2x12 was a contender for the purchase (out of the park amp for bang for the buck); however, ID Core 100 baseball hits the out field wall - still a home run for my use at home and savings. ID Core 150 or Boss 2x12 would be better fit for bar and grill encounters.

This amp is perfect for my use. The built in effects are much better than some pedals I have used for the same effect (reverb, delay). It also works well with pedals that I use before inputting into the amp. Though a lot of patches are available via the amp itself the additional foot switch is a must! You can access all 36 patches and more via the 5 button switch connected to the included 2 switch button it comes with. I currently use 3 switches for patch selection, delay on/off, delay tamp tempo, reverb on/off and the last one I alter from mod on/off to all effects on/off. I normally run it at about 60% volume and its plenty loud especially when using volume pedals or boosts. For this price I could not have purchased a better amp.

I've been very excited about this amp for months, and i finally got it! Instantly plugged it in and jammed! This amp blew my expectations! The stereo speakers really capture a 3D sound. The built in effects are really good, and are easy to adjust, and you can apply more than one effect at a time. The octaver effect is very cool, you can make a 12-string effect happen, and you can turn your guitar into a bass guitar! then the included looper switch.. That's where the magic happens. you can do infinite loops. you can apply your octaver effect to your looper to have a bass line, which is really cool. the looper is a great songwriting tool! the switch is easy to use, with only having 2 buttons. the voicings are very good, and the EQ on the amp is very good, and i love the ISF control. Thank you Sweetwater for shipping it out quick and safely!

I've owned an ID:Core-20 since they came out with this award winning series, and have loved every minute of it's use. I pre-ordered this ID:Core 100W 2X10" and have waited for it like a kid waits for Christmas. I've had this now for 22 hours & 17 minutes, and had to break away from playing it to tell everyone who might be wondering, what a great, affordable amp it is! This is my latest purchase from James Masterson at Sweetwater, and as is his habit, James has taken great care of me. He is very knowledgeable and always helpful and informative. You can't do better than dealing with James Masterson!

If you're familiar with the initial, smaller ID:Core amps, then you'll feel right at home with the new 100 & 150 models. It's just that now that "right at home" feeling has you moving into a bigger home, with all those bigger-home features. These amps include not only the obligatory bass, mid, & treble, but also bass-resonance & presence dialability. A minimum of 9 custom presets are possible through the amp alone, and can also be used as a starting point for any of the 6 amp models as well. Up to 36 presets are available through the soon-to-be available FS-12, 5-way footswitch, which is daisy-chainable with the included 2-way FS-13 footswitch. All ID:Core amps & footswitches support a wealth of customization & recording through USB. The built-in looper sounds fantastic. And the built-in octaver that's included in the effects section is very trippy, and a real treat that I'm sure I'll be exploring as long as I live. Incredible tonal possibilities lurk within that octaver, from the sublime to the outrageous. Just scratching the Octaver's surface, I had my Strat sounding like an organ/guitar! It's very easy to get great tone out this amp. And you haven't lived until you've heard the award-winning Stereo-Wide effect in the delay section! Team Blackstar really puts a lot of thought into their designs, and their quality control is excellent. Call James Masterson, and he'll fix you right up. Thanks James! ...signed, The Little Kid At Christmas

This amp sounds amazing. A little hard to figure out and I have a lot to learn about it. However, just the sound clean and distorted is amazing!

This amp sounds great, which is the most important thing, right? I first got the 2x5 watt little practice amp(with two 3" speakers although they don't admit the speaker size in their advertised specs which is a slight demerit) and was so impressed with it that I got this, its big brother. The emulated output sounds great straight into the PA, but it does put out noise when you power the amp down, so that's something that could be fixed in future models. I shelled out $... for the additional five button footswitch so that I could set-up and switch between 3 channels: clean, crunchy rhythm and fat leads. This works, HOWEVER, if you accidentally press two buttons at the same time (which isn't hard to do) it changes banks and sends into some factory pre-set and you've just screwed yourself. This is my biggest complaint with the amp. Does anyone know if this can be defeated somehow? Because of this I'm forced to use it in manual mode set-up clean as a single sound amp with distortion stomp boxes in front which is a pity.

After 20 plus years of not playing, I unloaded nearly all of my gear and soon thereafter was talked into playing and arranging some music at church for Easter. Arrrghhh!! So, I perused the internet and visited Sweetwater at least five times to tinker and get some hands on with several different amps. My first inclination was a Blackstar and after turning dials and pushing buttons on other amps, I decided on the ID Core 100. Great voices, old school knobs that do what the label says -- hard to believe how many tube like nuances are here and touch sensitive to boot depending on your gain settings and pick attack.

The stereo effects sound amazing, and the amount of sounds you can dial in can give you overload. The Octaver effect is very cool and tracks well even though chords. The Looper function gives you unlimited overdubs to get creative, or to jam on leads without another guitar player. If you want to simply plug in, twist some knobs and play it is that easy. If you want to connect to the computer interface and go techno wacko you can do that too. Through the computer you can program 36 different sounds, basically setting up twelve 3-channel banks which means you can sound search forever. Or you can also download sound patches others have saved into the Blackstar interface.

This amp can get very loud, but sound you dial in doesn't change. Definitely loud enough to gig with. It has stereo direct out to go into a board (1/4 inch instead of balanced XLR unfortunately) and you can use the amp on stage as your own guitar monitor when hooked into PA.

I went with the additional FS-12 5 button footswitch which can daisy chain with the included 2 button switch for a 7 button unit -- yes a company actually provides a functional footswitch with purchase. You can program 4 of the buttons to perform exactly what you want -- it's as simple as scrolling through a drop down box and clicking.

Kudos go to Sweetwater techs Norb Berninger and my own tech Drew Foster. Knowledgeable guys who really want you to have a positive experience. Top notch all the way. And they take the time to actually talk with you like a person instead of a sales call. Couldn't be happier.

Simplicity, I can't stop playing with some of the many features to explore the vast number of posibilities this amp has to offer.The octaves function will more than.keep me busy trying to find my sound. Got the FS12 footswitch also, maybe all the other effect pedals in my inventory wont get to rusty. Having a blast with this thing.
The stereo fullness of bright highs, clean lows and real crunchy mids more
Than amply-fi my bedroom,neighbors don't much care for AC-DC but I know some Duane Eddy stuff also. A really big
Booyah to Josh Strid on this one. And only Sweetwater delivers, thank all you guys for helping me plan my retirement.
"There is no such thing as,nothing to do in Texas". D.

I absolutely love this amp. It is lightweight, sounds VERY good and has lots of built in effects to play with. I'm not a huge fan of modeling amps, and that isn't really what this is. It has a handful of styles to choose from but it isn't really trying to model specific amps. The cleans are crystal clear and with the built in reverb sound great. The distortion is very good for a solid state amp. The direct out for silent recording sounds better than several others I have tried and also works well for the bass if you want to have a simply recording set up for quick demoing. My main knock on the amp is that you have to pay so much for the extra footswitch. While it does come with a two button switch you really do need the other one to maximize the amps full capabilities. At least they did make it so you can daisy chain the 2 button to the 5 button so the other footswitch doesn't become obsolete. That is the only reason I didn't rate this 5 stars though.

For an inexpensive lightweight guitar amp this thing is a great option.

I am so impressed with this amp after having used it at just a few band practices. I no longer use many of my stomp pedals such as my Boss BD2 Blues Driver, CH1 Chorus, Delay, and Tremolo pedals with this amp!!! I get great tones that are built right in....including reverbs. Great tone from the 2x10" speakers and plenty of power/volume to compete with acoustic drums, etc. I highly recommend this amp and would have given a 5star rating but left room for their next generation of this amp......oh, BTW...the looper is also a bonus for practicing and easy to use!! The amp is quite affordable and Sweetwater was great to work with as well.

I found it easy to use with great sounds voices

I've had this amp for a year. Switched from a fender classic blues tube amp. The amp is simple but has some flaws. To get the tones I want I turn everything off n hook up the pedal board. Boss of course. I find I have to turn the volume n master volume almost to 11 after I hook up the pedals to get what I want. Just plugging in n playing with the onboard effects is quite surprising.

It's good to see more manufacturers realize that humans have TWO EARS. Our brains process sound in STEREO. That's why EVERY modern recording has stereo psycho-acoustic effects. Blackstar is ahead of the curve in recognizing those facts, and this amp delivers true stereo processing in a convenient lightweight package.

Guitar players may have talent, but are steeped in traditional fantasies about amps and guitars. That's why we still see heavy monophonic tube amps with little or no effects. Sure, tube amps can sound great, but they need to be cranked to reach that gorgeous potential.

Don't get me wrong, I still love my old Marshalls, Hiwatts and other tubes amps. But even if I had another big-time tour ( unlikely) I would not carry those amps myself.

How many gigs have YOU played where someone asked you to turn UP? (I hear crickets chirping )

For those of us who still get real-world gigs, smaller, lighter, STEREO amps with effects are the best path. This amp delivers all of that, plus recording interface AND a convenient one-cable footswitch. It's plenty loud enough as-is. And if I ever need to play outdoors for a thousand people or more, this amp has STEREO OUTS to go FOH.

And if you know in advance that you are going direct to FOH, why have an amp at all? Then you're better off with a stand alone self contained multi-effect like A GT1000 or Helix device. But for most of MY gigs, I'll need a real amp with speakers, and this thing has everything I need for any style of music.

Sweetwater's edge in competition is their sales staff. My dedicated "sales engineer" is Brian Lemert. Brian is knowledgeable, experienced, honest and VERY helpful. I can't thank him enough for all the advice and service. I also trust his opinion because he is so talented. But even when Brian is not available, Guys like Mitch Frasier, Mike Quinlivan, and basically EVERYONE there has been very helpful.

I have been playing guitar since I was 11 years young. I'm 62 now. I have seen amps come and go.
Ran DiMarzio shipping department for a few years. I figured out a long time before playing with double amps would give me a pin pong effect. And a more ambient sound. So I went threw my half stack years. A double amp face. Have always played with two amps. To have a stereo amp is truly great for me. To have effects like this amp has is a blessing. To have a looper ? Wow Ok I know there could be some improvements. But for the price and the sound. This is a great amp. And I will get me a second one anyway. Love my first Blackstar. And it wont be my last. Bravo. Need some more tips? Call me

I bought this amp for home use simply because of the features and it being Stereo, and it does exactly that. The features are great, especially the octaver. The amp is user friendly and the included pedal very functional. This is a great amp for people who have been playing guitar for a little while and is ready for a upgrade. Just remember, if your a seasoned guitar player who expect quality sound while on the stage and enjoy the tonal characteristics of a premium tube amp, such as Mesa, Marshall or Bogner, it's not that..... It is a modeling amp, quick and simple and is great for practicing, as the price reflects that. That is what I have bought it for AND use it for, so I am satisfied. I recommend this amp to anyone who understands true value, loaded with features in a small package.

Picked this up as my first real amp and it is doing the job just fine. The wide stereo sounds three dimensional and really opens up in certain settings. Occasionally, depending on setting and pedals used, it breaks up just a tiny bit which is annoying, otherwise I would have given it 5 stars. All around a great value.

My only issue. I wish the effects controls, were a little bit more fluid as a stand alone. Add some buttons! You have better manipulation through the software. Not everyone needs that complexity. Otherwise, another STELLAR product from Northampton. Loud as hell, as always. If you can't get a Marshall, this is equal footing. In my opinion. I also have the HT Stage 60 2X12. It shakes my house. The CORE, let's me bring it down to acceptable level. Without sacrifices to tone or feel. HIGHLY RECOMMEND.

I sold my Katana 100 because I wanted to try something different. So I gave this a shot.

Overall it's a very nice amp. The stereo effect fills up the room and gives it a nice full sound. However, there are a few things about this amp I don't really care for.

The gain section comes with 6 different gain types. The OD1 and OD2 channels are made specifically for metal and are insanely high gain. If you don't play metal, these channels are worthless. The noise gate on these channels are set really high to the point you won't be able to use dynamics when playing. Anything under a certain level will get muted.

Next is the software. It does the job but compared to software like Katana's Boss Tone Studio, it's utter junk. The interface looks like something coded in the 90s and the "dials" on the pedals on screen are small and difficult to read. The Boss Tone studio allows you to add many different style pedals (Blues Driver pedal, OD1, DS1, etc.) to the signal chain to help build you sound. This software does not offer any such functions, so you're stuck with what you're given which limits your options.

I do like how you can get directly to the Insider community to download new patches. Importing the new patches into the software is clunky too. But once you figure it out, it's pretty simple moving forward.

The amp is very well constructed. When you pick up the amp, it feels solid but lightweight and manageable. I like the fact it comes with the footswitch, but they also should have included a USB cable for quicker access to your computer. You'll need to purchase it separately (mini-USB connection).

As mentioned, the amp sounds very good with most presets and channels. However some of the patches sound thin and uninspiring. Blackstar boasts about the ISF function as being a huge thing. But I'm not finding anything revolutionary about it. Sounds more like a tone knob to me than anything else.

After looking around at other SS amps in the same price range as the Katana, I gave this one a try. After messing around with it for about 2 months, I've come to the conclusion this amp is geared more for high gain players. Sure you can get cleans out of this and there are patches which will do blues and classic rock pretty well. But compared to the Katana, it just doesn't measure up.

I'm probably going to end up selling this and going back to the Katana.

It's a great sounding amp. But the support for it with blackstar insider especially patches is non existent. If it doesn't have the TVP then blackstar insider is not for you. They rid do an update however that now will allow to actually select the amp.

I own the Blackstar ID:Core 150 150-watt 2x10" Stereo Combo with FX. I deducted 2 stars because the control panel is impossibe to see and change while playing. You have to be standing right over the amp and turn your back to your audience to make any adjustments while playing. Simple fix: put the controls on the front (top) of the amp. Also, I bought a Blackstar 2x12" speaker cabinet but there is no way to connect a 2x12" external cabinet. User is stuck with 2x10" speakers. Great FX, great power, excellent sound and stereo features. Designed for manufacturing efficiency more than the user.

I loved this amp until it failed prematurely. A few months after the warranty ended the volume suddenly cut out. I tried a factory reset and a firmware update to no avail. Only 3 yrs. after purchase it is in the amplifier cemetary!! Loved the warm cleans and how my Boss Blues Driver sounded. Also really loved the swirling stereo effect. Blackstar Support is limited to email responses and ended by suggesting sending out a repair service center. Not worth it though... Anybody know what may have caused this failure?? Seems like something is overheating! Any help is welcomed.

I bought the id core 150 thinking I could load and create custom patches with the Blackstar insider software, but I can't use it because Blackstar does not support the Mac OS High Sierra and Mojave, so if you have a newer Mac you cant use the software to store and create new patches.
I contacted Blackster but their response was they have no time table if the software will be updated to work on a Mac.
The software is years behind the current Mac OS, so if you plan on using the id Core to create custom patches and store them you will have to use Windows.
The Amp itself is OK, but if I were to buy again, I would not buy Blackstar, Line 6 and Roland offer way better support.

I bought this online through Sweetwater and wanted to like this amp but there were too many issues with it. Thanks to Sweetwater for making it a non issue for return. What I wanted was an amp that sounded similar to my Black Star Id Core 20 but louder so that I can gig with it. The first thing I noticed was that it was much different sounding. That wasn't a deal breaker since the speakers were different and power rating higher. So, I brought it to practice. The idea I had was to control voicing through the provided pedal and switch between 2 voices. The amp at higher volumes actually did not sound bad but not great. Also, effects seemed to turn off and on without prompting at times. A few times I lost signal altogether. Perhaps a chord got uncoupled or guitar jack was the problem but I don't know. The nail in the coffin was I picked up radio signal regularly which is a sign of shielding not being altogether effective.

I'm not reviewing this amp against Sweetwater at all. They did a fantastic job for me! But I was really excited to get this amp. After receiving it, I realized it wasn't the right amp for me. Then, it just took a s*** on me after 1 year of light playing on it. It works when it wants to. I seriously hate solid state amps!

Did a lot of research on this amp before I got it and was excited when it came but was let down when I plugged in.The amp is cold and sterile no matter how hard I tried to dial in a decent tone just couldn't do it.