Blackstar Beam Mini

[Jthompson48]

I mostly practice in my apartment with headphones and also travel a good bit, so I decided to look into extremely portable options. I first checked out the Yamaha THR10ii and Spark equivalent in person at my local GC. I thought the both sounded pretty good for their size, but preferred the clean tone on the THR on the "bass" setting. Pretty portable, but no battery power without stepping up to the next model up which was more than I wanted to spend.

So I was looking at used models for around $250. Then I got a targeted ad and started looking at the Blackstar Beam Mini. There are plenty of review videos, so I won't go into the specs. I will say that I was very quickly able to dial in a clean tone from a deluxe "neural capture" that I like. The headphone out sounds as good as my Bud 10 to me. It doesn't sound as good as the Yamaha in a room and the Bud ,of course, sounds the best. But this thing is tiny and fits in a gig bag with excellent battery life. I'm impressed. I have linked a quick recording I made with the beam with my Eagle Classic. Several less than stellar moments, but I think it represents the sound of the beam pretty well. The app is very intuitive and the recording one button nearly dummy proof. I have zero knowledge of interfaces, DAWs, recording, etc.
From Now On.wav - Google Drive

[Jim Soloway]

Very nice playing.

[GuyBoden]

It has Neural Amp Modeler (NAM) file compatibility too.

But, no XLR out.

Seems like a good home practice amp.

NAM file available free here:
TONE3000 Official . Neural Amp Modeler (NAM) Profiles and Impulse Responses (IR'''s)

[TheGentleTone]

I really wanted to like the Blackstar Beam Mini. I like the form factor. The sound volume is great for the size. I was excited about the native NAM integration.
when trying it out however I was underwhelmed by the actual tones I managed to get out of the modeled amps that it comes with - I am only referring to clean tones that I tried. And regarding NAM I was disappointed that the volume levels are all over the place between the different captures with many barely audible if not cranked up fully at both input and output levels. I imagine Blackstar and Tone3000 will still be fine tuning this but I was surprised this wasn’t fully fleshed out upon launch.

In the end I ordered myself a Positive Grid Mini and am finding the clean tones for Jazz much more inspiring than those on the Beam Mini. I know it is an older product than the Beam and I really liked everything on paper about the Beam and applaud Blackstar’s move to integrate NAM but as of now the Spark Mini has the edge in terms of tone for me.

[Jthompson48]

I really wanted to like the Blackstar Beam Mini. I like the form factor. The sound volume is great for the size. I was excited about the native NAM integration.
when trying it out however I was underwhelmed by the actual tones I managed to get out of the modeled amps that it comes with - I am only referring to clean tones that I tried. And regarding NAM I was disappointed that the volume levels are all over the place between the different captures with many barely audible if not cranked up fully at both input and output levels. I imagine Blackstar and Tone3000 will still be fine tuning this but I was surprised this wasn’t fully fleshed out upon launch.

In the end I ordered myself a Positive Grid Mini and am finding the clean tones for Jazz much more inspiring than those on the Beam Mini. I know it is an older product than the Beam and I really liked everything on paper about the Beam and applaud Blackstar’s move to integrate NAM but as of now the Spark Mini has the edge in terms of tone for me.

I also haven't been satisfied with the included built in clean sounds, but I have found a couple of NAMs I like. If the integration gets better with time, that will be an added bonus for me.

[GuyBoden]

I also haven't been satisfied with the included built in clean sounds, but I have found a couple of NAMs I like. If the integration gets better with time, that will be an added bonus for me.

The Polytone NAM file is good, just EQ to fine tune your sound.

Here Polytone NAM File:
Polytone Mini Brute III 15" (Jazz Only) NAM Profiles