lolstillshane's Reviews

Awesome home-use amp

I'm an intermediate metalcore guitarist, and I really needed a working combo amp that had good built-in distortion and effects. That's when I got my hands on a second-hand Blackstar ID:30TVP. Even though it has been fairly used, it still felt solid and sturdy. It is pretty heavy for its size, and can be a hassle to hand carry (somehow even more so than a Fender Champion 100), but it makes up for it in features and quality.

I won't go through all the features, but I really love the Infinite Shape Feature (ISF), lets me "model" the sound to mimic my favourite amps. All the voicing options are really great, and the True Valve Power (TVP) really adds to the amount of customisation and control you have over your tone. Now, I've never used a true tube amp outside of the Fender Twin Reverb, so I can't comment on how closely it mimics an actual tube amp, but I would say whether you need a low gain progressive metal tone, a high gain dirty metalcore tone, a grungy tone, whatever distorted tone you need, this amp has you covered.

But my favourite feature of all has to be the built in noise-gate. I'm someone that's been looking to get the Horizon Devices: Precision Drive for a while, and this amp satisfies my desire for a good cleaned up tone. The noise gate is AMAZING. It feels really smart.

Now I do wish it had mid control, feels like it's lacking in that department. A thru input for pedalboards or multi-fx would be great as well. Other than that, complete love for this amp.