The Double Cream edition of Blackstar's hugely popular combo is ideal for those looking for a fresh aesthetic
(Image credit: Blackstar)
If you love your guitar amps like your cakes – that’s with double cream – then today is your lucky day: Blackstar has introduced a Double Cream finish to its ID:Core V4 digital amp family.
The cream-colored variant of Blackstar's best-selling 10-watt amp boasts a fresh new colorway, which is “designed to look great in any practice environment”.
The British gear firm unveiled the latest generation of its highly popular practice amp – described by Guitar World as “ideal first amps” – during NAMM 2024, and this version packs all its beloved features. Those include a super wide stereo image via two three-inch speakers and power reduction down to 1W for low-volume but high-definition practices.
It also offers a TRRS 3.5mm input/output for connecting to mobile devices for live streaming riffs in crisp quality.
Blackstar’s signature ISF feature, which lets players find their preferred sweet spot between British and American tone voicings, is here, and is further bolstered the firm's CabRig Lite IR-based speaker simulation.
The amp has six different voices hidden beneath its creamy exterior – a collection that's made up of two different flavors of overdrive, crunch, and clean, respectively.
Tone tweaking comes via controls for Gain, Volume, and EQ and is further augmented by built-in effects. Choose from delay, reverb, an envelope filter, and modulations consisting of phaser, flanger, and tremolo.
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(Image credit: Blackstar)
Tapping into the free Architect sister software, which is available for Windows and Mac, allows even more opportunity for tone fiddling and fine-tuning for patches. These can be backed up and synced to the amp via the app.
Finally, its four-channel USB-C audio assists users with low-latency recording and re-amping, essentially turning the combo amp into an audio interface.
(Image credit: Blackstar)
However, it isn’t quite as intuitive in Blackstar’s new Polar 2 interface, which it says was forged via human-centric design to fix all your audio interface woes.
The ID:Core 10 V4 Double Cream is available today and costs $159.99.
A freelance writer with a penchant for music that gets weird, Phil is a regular contributor to Prog, Guitar World, and Total Guitar magazines and is especially keen on shining a light on unknown artists. Outside of the journalism realm, you can find him writing angular riffs in progressive metal band, Prognosis, in which he slings an 8-string Strandberg Boden Original, churning that low string through a variety of tunings. He's also a published author and is currently penning his debut novel which chucks fantasy, mythology and humanity into a great big melting pot.
