I purloined the title from Deep Purple but this post is about the Blackstar ID Core BEAM amp I posted about last month and subsequently purchased.

It does fit the bill for what I wanted. Small and lightweight, it is convenient for home practice and quieter rehearsals. It has a wide range of modelled guitar tones (for both electric and acoustic guitars), can cope with bass and also does duty as a well-voiced Bluetooth speaker.

Downsides? It has a few. I don’t understand why Blackstar failed to include a handle, I’d like the amp to be able to turn down the Bluetooth input rather than having to turn my sound-playing devices down to almost minimal output and it would be a real benefit if you could clip it to a stand to get the output closer to your ears in a larger room.

That said, it remains an impressive little package. It doesn’t meet all my amplification needs but for things like my rehearsals with Mudslide Morris, playing my Variax guitar at church and home rehearsal (and listening to music or watching films) it earns its keep in my house.