I am an Enthusiastic Guitarist who does not Want to Overspend on Amplifiers. What can I Get?

If you are an aspiring guitarist at the beginning of your artistic career, you might not have deep pockets for spending on an expensive amplifier. Yet your amplifier should be of reasonable quality to help you practice and keep you motivated. After all, if you are going to harass your neighbors, you might as well do it properly.

What to look for?

The factors you should consider when buying an amplifier are pretty straightforward. Your amplifier should guarantee a good sound quality as much as possible. Sound quality is difficult to judge at first glace, as it depends on your configurations and what you play. However, having a variety of amp voices and effect helps achieve that on a wide front. Connectivity to other devices and application for recording, editing and streaming is essential, especially for practice. Lastly, physical compactness is of interest so it does not hamper your mobility as you move it from one studio to another.

Our Product Recommendation

Plenty of amplifiers come to mind, but not at the price of the Blackstar ID:Core V4 Stereo 10. We consider it to be among one the most value-for-money amplifiers one can get, given the multitude of features it offers at a very competitive price. For a start, it has 6 different amp voices complemented by 12 different effects. The amplifier is known to be somewhat 'aggressively louder than expected'. As such it comes with a power reduction feature that drops its 10-watt output to 1 watt for quieter practice sessions. In contrast to lowering the master volume, this feature preserves tone quality while enabling more control.

Connectivity-wise, a 3.5 mm TRRS cable allows bidirectional (input & output) connection to a smartphone for recording and live-streaming. Editing is done using the Architect software which provides CabRig Lite speaker simulator controls for cabinet and microphone emulations. This gives an alternative for recording and streaming without the need for external plug-ins. In particular, the 4-channel USB-C output can be used to connect to devices operating the Architect app as well as other devices. The USB-C connection can also be used for low-latency recording and professional re-amping.

As a final display of its virtues, the ID:Core V4 comes with a portable design that is suitable for transportation, but more precisely for home use as it does not occupy a lot of space. All this for a very decent price of about 160 US $ (~150 Euros). That said, you should definitely check it out if not buy it on the spot. And if 10 watts does not do it for you, there are also versions of the ID:Core V4 with 20 and 40 watts!

Interested? Click on the bottom below to check it out.

For more information on this amplifier, check out the following product reviews here and here!