I'v bought the Blackstar BEAM-Solo to see if it could replace my Fender Micro Mustang for home practicing... it will not.
The device is very well built, it feels qualitative and it's a bit bigger than the Mustang. The sounds were really good, I love the fact that you can add effects, change the types of cabs or mics you want, it gives you full control of the sound you want. This was super easily done thanks to the phone application. Sounds are better than the Fender Mustang Micro.
But, there are 2 main painpoints that made me send it back
- The bluetooth connection is messy. Your first time you connect your device to your phone it's all fine. But after that, sometimes it connects, sometimes it doesn't. I had to unpair / pair again the device multiple times.
- The audio playback volume when you stream on bluetooth is way too low to be useful. I typically use such small device to practice playing our songs: I play the music on my phone, which stream via bluetooth to the device and i play on top of that. With the Fender Micro, the streamed audio volume is plenty enough... but on the Blackstar it is way too low, it's impossible to practice some rock or metal songs for example.
Total deal-breaker, it's going back.
I'll keep my Fender Mustang Micro, the sound is decent enough, no bluettoh connection issue and they know how to manage streamed audio properly.
