The compact battery-powered amp natively loads NAM captures and packs serious tone into a weatherproof, Bluetooth-connected package.
Blackstar has announced the Beam Mini, a compact battery-powered smart amp that reframes what a desktop amp can be, with a feature set that goes well beyond what the form factor usually offers.
Designed for Bass, Electric, Acoustic and Music – hence the B.E.A.M. name – the Beam Mini is the first amplifier to natively load Neural Amp Model (NAM) captures. Through a partnership with Tone 3000, players can pull from a library of over 200,000 community-created NAM profiles and load them directly onto the amp. For anyone who’s spent time chasing authentic amp tones, it’s a great inclusion.
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Beyond NAM support, Blackstar’s UK engineering team has built in 12 electric guitar amp models: six original Blackstar designs and six Ampton recreations of iconic amplifiers. Alongside this is bass and acoustic voices, an acoustic simulator and more than 35 studio-quality effects. The company’s patented ISF control lets players dial in anything from American to British voicings without getting buried in settings.
Control runs through the Beam app on iOS or Android, where you can edit tones, build custom patches, access artist signature sounds, jam to curated backing tracks and share patches with the broader Beam community. Connectivity covers USB-C audio interface functionality, Bluetooth audio and a headset mic input for recording guitar and vocals simultaneously – all housed in an IP66-rated, dust-tight and weatherproof enclosure.
Blackstar’s IR-based CabRig speaker simulation includes their In The Room technology, bringing lifelike cabinet presence to direct playing and headphone use. Ableton Live Lite is bundled in, so you’re recording-ready straight out of the box. Battery life runs to over 12 hours, with super wide stereo playback rounding things out.
Moises AI stem separation is also on the way for a near-future update, which will allow you toi isolate or remove individual instruments from any track to practise, learn or play along.
The Blackstar Beam Mini is available to order now in limited quantities. For local enquiries, head here.
