Blackstar ID Core 150 - The Best Digital Amp?

[@TobysGuitarGearDemos]

🎸FAQ🎸 How do the ID:Core 150 and 100 compare? Very similar, they have the exact same feature set. The 150 has a little more low end and significantly more volume. If your playing live and need super loud cleans I’d go for the 150, if you play primarily at home and play live occasionally I’d go for the 100 👍 You can watch my demo of the 100 here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/q4nVnJRpdrSpg6M

[@AnthonyChhan]

It's been a while since you demo'd this amp. How do you think it stacks up to a typical tube amp?

[@FranciscoYosores]

I know it's a different class but I'm curious, in terms of tone how is this compared to the Orange CR35RT or the Rocker 15? I'm hooked on the signature Orange growl/distortion. I'm wondering if it can be found on other amps.

[@2ShadesOfGray]

I have the 150 and running a helix through it 4 cable method (5 for stereo). Match made in heaven

[@jaredhind]

Have the 100 and love it! Brilliant amp!

[@ferramirez4570]

Dig in! great riff!

[@TobysGuitarGearDemos]

🎸 Time-codes 🎸 0:16 - Voice 1 Clean Warm + Looper Demo 1:01 - Voice 2 Clean Bright 1:33 - Voice 3 Crunch 2:02 - Voice 4 Super Crunch 2:25 - Voice 5 OD1 + Octaver 2:53 - Voice 6 OD2 3:23 - Dirty Sounds 4:34 - Clean Sounds 7:28 - More Guitars + Blackstar

[@phantomtearsca]

Toby's Guitar Gear was that Muse at 2:25? Hell yeah.

[@TobysGuitarGearDemos]

Yeeh 👍

[@elkemm1]

Gives me a good idea of possibilities.

[@perthguitar5160]

Great demo man. Totally love this amp.

[@PedroParamo1984]

THE BEST DEMOS

[@3th1k]

Huge fan of the Eternity Forever and Ben Rosett riffs for the clean stuff on various videos.

[@TobysGuitarGearDemos]

Absolutely love them, the Eternity Forever EP is incredible 👍

[@njmccafferty]

This is a great demo video, thank you very much!

[@TobysGuitarGearDemos]

Thanks mate 👍

[@Bellon_am]

Like for incubus, and great sound btw

[@nathanc6611]

magicpotato16 I totally "dig" the incubus tones!

[@Bellon_am]

Its not common to see people playing incubus when doing demos. I love them

[@lightotaku4545]

I wish he would've used the looper for it xD

[@akediord]

The ID:CORE 100 was dropped off at my house this weekend after a lengthy search for a bedroom amp that would inspire me to play in other areas of the house without having to fire up the big rigs. It delivers and the super-wide stereo is no joke. If one were to simply do nothing else with this amp but plug in a comp, phone, or tablet to the MP3 jack and wail away on leads to backing jams, it is STILL worth the price of admission. Don’t forget to mention the hidden controls for depth/resonance and presence by holding the TAP button while adjusting the bass and treble to taste. Really does a number on improving the sound even further. Great demo and playing!

[@TobysGuitarGearDemos]

Yeh it's a great master of all trades, the super wide is very cool. Probably the best digital amp around 👍

[@alfianbanjaransari4096]

does the super wide stereo thingy make a difference? also, if I only have a single mic interface can it capture the stereo depth?

[@user-gj2qb8de1e]

184 likes- 0 dislikes. The way it should be.

[@boboala1]

This is how you demo a guitar amp - like you'd do in a music store showroom where you have more than a few specific pieces of gear you want to audition in a thorough way yet not dwell too long on any one of them. And usually voiceless demos are pretty bad. Just earlier this evening I watched part of a voiceless demo with the guy noodling around showing off his guitars/technique. Only heard 3 patches in 5 minutes. My dilemma: this amp used for $200, a new Fender LT50 $250, or Mustang III V2 used for $250

[@TobysGuitarGearDemos]

Thanks, I'd go ID Core out of them, it's one of my favourite amps 👍

[@powerparty6]

Very good video,but i miss a little bit solo lead sounds!What about these solo sounds?

[@robertogrady2798]

:D Proud owner of the ID260, ID60H, and HT20 (versatile, small, valve, awesome ) :D ID floorboard... the idea being to get rid of the speaker box, and offer the ID Core or TVP engine in a more transportable format. ID Core floorboard?... light, hardy chassis, dual inputs, stereo out, dual expression pedals, loop, tap tempo, freeze/hold effect on the reverb...all the super, super, extra super cool stuff a working muso can use... I'd pay for, and would love the support of the ID features in a floorboard, that let's me DI to the desk, and decide on how big (if any) an on-stage speaker box I need. Rock on Blackstar

[@Lone_wolf_31]

That reverb was pure heaven. I’ll couple it with my chorus pedal. I’ll make it double layers of heaven 😋

[@TobysGuitarGearDemos]

Yeah the stereo reverb on these is gorgeous 👍

[@Lone_wolf_31]

@@TobysGuitarGearDemos hey please help me. I live in a small to medium size apartment. Will this be okay for daily practice ? Or will it blow the neighbours mind ? Please help please help I’m confused but I just can’t resist how awesome this amplifier is.

[@TobysGuitarGearDemos]

@@Lone_wolf_31 If you don't gig I'd recommend you go for the ID core 100 which is smaller with less volume. It has a good volume knob and is digital so you can run it quiet and it sounds good. One thing to consider is it is quite big so if you don't have the space you could go ID 40. If you have the space go ID Core 100 👍

[@Lone_wolf_31]

@@TobysGuitarGearDemos thanks a lot brother.

[@franklespaul7150]

I really don't like the button at the back, hard to setup when in stage

[@alessiobuffa3038]

i have one...great clean sound to me....but very thin and plastic distortion.especially high volume. the distortion you hear on youtube is not real. with overdrive and distortion pedals... i'm happy

[@nathanc6611]

Loving this and all your demos! Am I going crazy though, or is the panel in the second shot above the amp in the first couple of minutes a different amp model? The effects have their own dial, and yet they don't in the overhead shot at the end of the demo. Am I missing something?

[@TobysGuitarGearDemos]

Thanks mate, The earlier amp settings pics I made by uploading the settings from the amp into the free Blackstar Insider software on my computer then screenshoting the software 👍

[@nathanc6611]

Oh cool! Bit of a bummer in that I feel that having independent dials for each effect class would make this amp even better, but the good news story is that you put that effort into your production! I'm a bit of an Orange fanboy, so I love how you compare Orange with pretty much everything! Having said that, you've demonstrated that there's a lot to like about this Blackstar options too. Thanks for all your hard work on your channel, I spend way too much time watching rather than practicing, but whatever!

[@TobysGuitarGearDemos]

Cheers, keep shredding 👍

[@musicandthewalk]

I had a few black Stars before and haven't been anything but happy. Have you tried the Katana amps? I wondering if you have any opinion on comparing the 2

[@TobysGuitarGearDemos]

Here's my Katana video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qIibnKeYj8uqoLs I slightly prefer the Blackstar to the Katana. Sounds more natural to my ears, but the Katana is super versatile 👍

[@musicandthewalk]

Have you tested it with pedals?

[@TobysGuitarGearDemos]

Yeh, both take them pretty well

[@MilobossTV]

Hi!, I have a mooer ge250, how do you connect the pedal board into the blackstar? I know if you connect it into the boss katana, there is the "power amp in" option in the back of the amp.@@TobysGuitarGearDemos

[@timwoodruff]

​@@MilobossTV there is an effects loop

[@nospam276]

Anyone know how the ID Core 100/150 stacks up to the ID TVP 260? Interested in tone, depth, and the stereo effects

[@stevehammer781]

I own both the ID Core 150 and the TVP 260 amps. They are outstanding amps and essentially the same EXCEPT: 1. Watts (120 vs 150) 2. TVP has 12" speakers, 150 has 10" but there's no difference in sound) 2. TVP has a digital tube setting labelled with 6 different tubes; its really more of a soeaker dampener/tone control really 3. The 150 has an extra digital effect (Octaver I think) that the TVP does not have. You can dial in every sound with the 150 that the older TVP "tube settings" provide. Blackstar online community has thousands of patches users have created. Most are for the TVP however, the 150 will download them. The patch will look for the TVP setting in the 150's software but just ignore it and tweak the tone controls appropriately then Save (program) into the 150 amp. Here's Nugent using his id:core 150 - he plugs in all his favorite Byrdlands and his all original 1959 Les Paul with original pickups kut of his guitar collection (plus valuable guitar playing tips too) : m.kzbin.info/www/bejne/rHTTfaSZoLunqMU

[@nospam276]

@@stevehammer781 Thanks Steve! I got the TVP 260 a couple years ago (old post) but I never realized the ID Core was so close to it. The TVP is still going strong two+ years later. I'll check out the nuge link!

[@hmirza]

I own both TVP260 and ID150 and can safely say I very much prefer the ID150. The footswitch on the TVP is just horrible to use with a massive latency between switching patches. The ID Core 150 footswitch on the other hand is perfect and gives you way more options. The ID150 also sounds better out of the box in my humble opinion. The above is based on many live gigs BTW.

[@nospam276]

@@hmirza Thanks for the reply! I've had the TVP 260 for nearly six years, still working! Glad to hear your experiences with the ID Core 150. I haven't checked out the Blackstar product line since before COVID, I ought to catch up!

[@shyganlegend3040]

Blackstar or Katana or Marshall code? Which one you prefer? Usage.. Bedroom studio.. Guitar - strat and esp Ltd M330R

[@TobysGuitarGearDemos]

I really like the ID Core, sounds really organic with the ISF set high. The code's model of a bluesbreaker and JVM clean sound fantastic. And the Katana is the standard by which everything else is judged. All are good choices, but the ID Core edges it for me 👍

[@syduzzamansyd4530]

Amazing demo, what do think about this as a pedal platform amp... does it have a lot of headroom in the clean settings? does it handle high distortion well?

[@TobysGuitarGearDemos]

Thanks, I think it would be good as a pedal platform, the 150 especially can get loud clean, really like these amps 👍

[@syduzzamansyd4530]

@@TobysGuitarGearDemos thank you for responding... I'm gonna go for this one then

[@olocin]

@@TobysGuitarGearDemos hello, quick question, i just got the amp, but I'm wondering how can I get the looper to stay on the effect i looped it with, because when i play the looper and switch to some overdrive to solo over the top, the loop playback switches to overdrive too, is there a way to stop it from doing that? thanks.

[@TobysGuitarGearDemos]

Hmm not sure, might be worth emailing Blackstar to see if they know 👍

[@mikekemp7664]

Can you stack th8s on a 2x12 cab?

[@ricksguitartv973]

Hey! Great video, i went and got one of these after seeing the great reviews on it.. I can't seem to work out how to save and store my custom sounds though, especially with volume. When i make a nice clean tone and save it, i can't seem to change the volume as when i switch then to distortion the volume is so much louder.. Im not a great reader of manuals and was wondering if you had any advice? Thanks in advance!

[@TobysGuitarGearDemos]

So from my understanding it will store where the channel volume (not master) is when you save the preset. If you max out the clean volume then save it, it should be comparable. If the distortion is still louder what you need to do is adjust the distortion volume knob down and save that on the distortion channel so when you switch back to it the volume is lower 👍

[@ricksguitartv973]

@@TobysGuitarGearDemos thank you so much for this ill give it a good try later hopefully i can get some good sounds! :)

[@ricksguitartv973]

Still cannot work out how to save the stored sounds, spent an hour reading the manual, an hour fiddling about but whenever I switch back to distortion channel on the footswitch it just goes really loud again. Shame that there's a hundred videos showing how the thing sounds but no videos showing how to use it 😕

[@ljkj63]

does anybody know how to mic this amp playing live ..because it is true stereo anyway thanks for your time

[@TobysGuitarGearDemos]

You can take a line out from the back with one of these: amzn.to/2prxr4x (Engineer will plug XLRs into this then into the stagebox/mixer) For micing you can put a mic on each speaker to have the true stereo effect. If your band has 2 guitars then the engineer will often pan each of you left/right so then there is little advantage to stereo micing as you'll be coming out mono anyway 👍

[@armandoreyeselrayo9309]

@@TobysGuitarGearDemos Hi. i try the link to amazon for the conection of line to XLR mixer but doesn´t work. Can you put the name of the product for me to search?

[@ShadowAssassin7]

Hey do you know how to use headphones with it? Do i need a special type of extension cord or will any headphone do? Because im not getting sound through my headphones when i plug them in and the sound continues to come out of the amp speakers instead.

[@TobysGuitarGearDemos]

The way I did it was plug into the "Em.Out + Phones Socket" with your headphones. Then turn the master volume off (if you want nothing coming out of the amp), and control your volume with the channel volume. If your getting nothing out after that there may possibly be some deeper settings in the ID software if you plug the amp into your computer and go into the preferences; it's super adjustable in there. Hope that helps mate 👍

[@ShadowAssassin7]

Toby's Guitar Gear im confused. The port that is "em out & phones" is the size of the guitar jack, way too big for headphones

[@TobysGuitarGearDemos]

Lots of pro gear + some headphones come with the big jack, you'll need a converter like these ones below: 👍 goo.gl/ioERVc

[@ShadowAssassin7]

Toby's Guitar Gear thanks, i appreciate it. Nice vid btw

[@riescopratama7441]

How to activate tvp on blackstar insider software? I used id core 150

[@MrGlasstech]

Wrong amp line for tvp

[@stevehammer781]

There is no TVP built in with the 150. Just tweak your tone settings and internal amp's presence and resonance settings. When downloading patches off the Blackstar online community, ignore the tvp settings and again, use your other tone settings to fine tune to sound lije the tvp tone control.

[@riescopratama7441]

@@stevehammer781 well thank you

[@carlosclaptrix]

Uh, this delay is terrible! Basic sound great.

[@timwoodruff]

The delays sound much better when mixed lower. Not sure that the sampled playing was really appropriate for delay. I've been using this amp for 6 years and the effects are all fantastic and pretty configurable.