I own one and it holds up in a rehearsal room and live on stage. And if you would have had a peek at the manual, you would know that you can save presets by holding the channel button until the led in the upper left corner blinks. I'm totally happy playing this amp.
I’m completely happy with mine as well! Just tested it with some cabs yesterday. I also like their Can Rig…those sound great, especially the UK Classic 4x12
@@Jarrodpimental don't bother ..the amped 3 is a great sound but it's just not loud enough to play live . I used a mesa boogie nomad 45 previously and it blows it out of the park . It's predominantly for bedroom guitar players I think ..
Silly question but can I plug this pedal straight into a cab? Or would I need something like an orange baby? I’m looking at this to purchase. Sorry if it seems a silly question I’m not that great with technology 😂
When I was in my teens and the ISF feature was first being marketed I was so excited - the idea of blending between Marshall and Mesa tones sounded too good to be true. Rushed out to a store and… it was too good to be true haha. It’s just a mid freq knob. Damn good marketing though!
Not exacly. The ISF changes the whole frequencies of the tone stack, not just mid frequencies, but also bass and treble. Now whether it sounds good is another matter. I think it is a usefull feature but nothing like a real modern tube amp. For me makes more sense something like have a tonex pedal + power amp pedal to load the cabinet for portable rigs
I would have killed for one of these 25-30 years ago when I was actually gigging and lugging around my tube amp that weighed and cost as much as a Honda Accord.
I had one of these and I really liked it. It was pretty easy to set up the presets and it definitely had enough gain on the OD channel. However, it developed a problem after a couple days and I had to send it back. I've had a bunch of different Blackstar amps over the years and felt like this was the one that I would hold onto.
Great review! Awesome to see the solid state amps make crazy headway in the past few years. Would LOVE to see an Ola review on the Laney Loudpedal! 🤘 Rock on Ola!
I loved the main boosted tone you had with the lighter gain. That's exactly the kind of tone I could settle into if I was playing live. And the kind I'd want on a record if I ever finally got around to it. Crank everything to 10, mid gain boosted and go. Those ringing chords were perfect for modern gazey black metal tones.
I completely understand why people are bringing less gear on the road w them, there are a ton of reasons why, but I still appreciate when bands use real amps (at least a half stack) on stage. I've noticed bands who go DI, if you are up front, you don't hear a lot (if any) of the guitar cause it's all coming through the PA and the side fills. I like being right up front banging my head and getting blasted away by the entire band!
@@subjectt.change6599 my thoughts exactly. It's better to stay out of the bassists range. I've heard they are extremely territorial... if they're not to drunk to come to practice (according to that chubby metal producer guy here on RU-vid whatever his face is named, maybe it's DILLIGAF)
Blackstar has been one of my fav's for the last 7 or 8 years ! They always perform well . They need better Gain on some Models but a OD or Active pups usually gives ya enough !!
You know, this Blackstar portable/ mini rig piece is really DECENT sounding! I was surprised. These are nice modern tones that it's putting out! The "Clean" is a very nice clean tone, and the dirtier tones are good! In response to a viewer's comment about the level of bass it offers, -to have this unit produce really strong bass, would consume a big chunk of it's audio amplification capability, as bass audio amplification is notorious for requiring a lot of energy. When Ola cranked the unit's bass control briefly, I thought it's bass, tonally, was decent sounding. I imagine Blackstar deliberately tailored in just enough bass to keep the unit's size & price point where they wanted it (again PORTABILITY).
Seems like you can get perfectly good and usable tones out of this. It’s the cost of a secondhand HX Stomp XL, but probably infinitely easier to dial in a tone you like in under 5 minutes if you don’t like staring at computer screens forever
Thanks for doing this one Ola. I have been curious about it but it is hard to drop that much on one without hearing it in action. I definitely like it. Rock on brother.
I saw this coming many years ago. The Korg PX4 Pandora Modelling Processor was the peak around 2003-2004 i think and was expecting the updates and improvements would allow to have an amp in your backpack! Everything getting smaller and smaller what i was not aware of was the options of Apps on your phone
Tried this Blackstar pedal and Victory Kraken V4 amp pedal (180W). I agree with Ola's concern about the usage live and in rehearsal room. In the end I chose the Kraken as it is generally sounding more natural and "tubeish" to my ears. I have almost the same sound and feeling as my all tube head and also CAB sims are wonderful (Kraken has Torpedo Two Notes CAB suite, which is awesome!). Blackstar had more features (more channels, more switches and more power amp voices) and it sounds really good, but high gain distorsions are a bit flatter and harsher than Victory (especially at high volume, I prefer the fatter and punchier distortion of the Kraken). Of course they have totally different price tags and, if the "tubeish" sound and feeling is not a must, Blackstar has a great value for money.
Sounded great to me. I'm considering getting one now. I've been using an old HT club 50 head for a few years. I'm surprised you didn't try a boost/o.d. pedal into it like you usually do with other amp demos. 😊
This was a nice surprise. I have the Dual Distortion pedal and I'd like to combine that with the Amped 2 and have delays and modulations. That would be fun.
Boosted crunch sounds fabulous. Big chords sound chunky but still with note definition. Impressive. Being able to completely program the settings for each "channel" is smart. You sure you're sending this back?
Wow, I am super impressed with that unit. Sounds fantastic and I love the fact that it has an FX loop with power for the pedals. If I didn't just buy a new amp I would definitely get this. Great video.
Hey Ola... not trying to say anything negative here, cause I love you man, but I think you should have maybe looked a bit more into the manual before you did this review. And I think you should have shown the back of the unit, because Black Star packed a lot of flexibility into this thing, and you didn't cover it all. I don't own the Amped 3... but I do own the Amped 2. You should do a review on the Amped 2 also... because it is a different beast. Amped 2 doesn't have the 3 separate channels like this one, but it has several flavors of Modulation, Delay, and Reverb. It does Chorus, Flanger, Tremolo, Phaser, and Echo, etc. The difference between the two is interesting. I do LOVE my Amped 2 though... think it's bad to the bone. It has a display on it, and whenever you turn a knob... it temporarily shows you the level of the setting. You can modify the settings in real time with a MIDI foot switch. But it looks like the Amped 3 is more for providing the ultimate channel switching Amp, and not focused on the effect side of things. That being said... the Amped 2 offers a lot more, and might be all that you need to show up to a gig. Rock on dude!!
Very cool. Love Blackstar. Everything they make is awesome. I use a Blackstar HT100 stage EL34's 100watt head myself and love it. I know it is to small of a unit for that, but would be much cooler if the actual tubes were in there. Nothing to me sounds and gets the warmth and power as an actual tube head. Good demo though. Jam on brother.
I have one of these and let me promise you, you need a decent cab with decent speakers if you want this sound, the IR arent the greatest. Passive pickups also sound much better as well, i use the Nazgul in my Jackson and it fits the pedal so much more than EMGs.
@@ItsSauIGoodman I mean, run the direct line out into a computer but with the internal IR turned off. No cab, no IR, just raw signal out so you can add an IR further down the line.
That crunch tone is begging for a 7 or 8 string. Can we get a direct comparison against the BluGuitar Iridium? Maybe a deeper dive into the cab sim they have? Thanks Ola!
Very cool and tempting to buy but I’d have to sell gear I have and already enjoy to buy one. It’s about $600 on sweetwater for anyone interested. I can definitely see it working well for a traveling musician
No, this one will color the tone of your modeler cause even at all noon settings, the tone is affected by the amp circuit. I asked Blackstar’s customer support about this. You should check out the Amped 1, as it has a neutral setting. That’s what they recommended to me and I got it, pretty good!
It sounds ok but there's a certain harshness that I imagine has something to do with the unit lacking tubes. Even the nano tube in the Iridium you mentioned must help somewhat in this regard. That pedal simply sounds better to my ears.
Hey Ola you should really demo a Marshall 2555X with a SD-1/TS-9. I know you demoed the little silver jubilee(2525H) but the big one is much meatier and meaner Chug machine. Make sure you turn the bass to 8 ;)
This is like the Fender Tonemaster's series but instead of modeling a specific amp it has a broader range but is minus a cabinet. Its less then the Tonemaster modeling pedal or HeadRush and the like of those modeling effects pedals,
I have a DOD FX7 digital effect pedal, I love it but the pedals are a plastic and I sadly don't have access to a machinist to create a new body and add more durable switches - I wish there was something more heavy duty like my DOD FX7, like the Blackstar Amped 3 appears to be.
Don't worry about the bass side of your guitar when you play with a band, that's the bassist area anyway., ironically, you'll hear your gitar better I the full mix if you eq a lot of that out and your bassist will thank you
Sounds awesome. Probably among the best solid-state high-gain amp tones I've heard! Would be interesting to hear a shootout between the Amped 3, the H&K BlackSpirit Floor and the BluGuitar Iridium (I know it has a "nano" tube in power section, but it's still basically a solid-state amp). The Amped 3 is easily the cheapest out of them, but if the videos and audio examples I've heard are anything to go by, I think I prefer the sound of it more than the BlackSpirit. The BluGuitar Iridium probably sounds better than this one though.
So i do remember a demo where they showed saving settings. I been thinking about getting something in that atyle fir my bedroom (u have have a cab in the closet with my clothes) but maybe not cause there are some good pedal platform pedal amps to
yeah el34 mode sounds best the others are too harsh but how could it not hold up with a drummer it’s 100w maybe if the ohms of the cab is way more it wouldn’t be
Sick video man. This pedal can do it all. On a side note, do you think you'll ever have Fredrik or Mårten from Meshuggah on Coffee with Ola? I enjoyed last episode with Wolfgang VH
Give me this, my battleworn Tu-2 tuner, and my Jerry Cantrell Crybaby, and I would consider myself well-armed for almost any rock/metal gig that I might play (either as a professional hired gun, or just rockin' out with my friends). 🤘
@ColtonBeasleyMusic I've used it to record rhythm tracks and I have my first gig with it in July. It's so nice having basically my entire rig on one small pedal board
@ColtonBeasleyMusic very cool. I don't know if you like to boost your amps with an OD or not but if you do it seems to like the built in boost better than having another boost pedal in front of it. Also people bash the built in IR but the manual says it's meant to be eq'd to taste in your daw or soundboard. Since I don't have a dedicated sound guy I'm running it through a Two Notes Cab M so I get the sound I want.
Hey Ola, just saw a press release of the Revv Chatbreaker pedal. Apparently its product design is aided by ChatGPT and they're pretty proud of that judging by the design and marketing. Will you be able to make it chug? 😈
Modern tones like this demonstrate the real limitations of actual tube amps. Ghost notes made the power chord a necessity for decent distorted tones. Modern solid state gear doesn’t ghost, and thus full chords become a live playing option, even in heavily distorted genres.
