Blackstar Amplification has squared the circle and created an all-inclusive wireless guitar amp rig bundle, offering the Beam Mini amp with the all-new Beam Control footswitch, and the Airwire i58 system that allows you to ditch the guitar cable for good.
Or just for those occasions when you want to a clutter-free setup, and to run about the front room practising your stage moves without tripping over anything.
But the British amp brand is as good as its word; you have everything you need hear for a wireless guitar rig, and it all comes inside a faux-leather carry case.
We should talk about the Beam Control first, because this has been the missing element, and as per the Beam series, there is more than meets the eye. It has three modes: Patch, FX and Custom.
In Patch mode, you can switch between the five stored patches on your Beam Mini. FX mode allows you to select and turn various effects within the patch on and off.
Hook up the Beam Control to the app for the Custom mode and you can map the footswitches to your liking – e.g. setting up one switch to activate the Beam Mini’s onboard guitar tuner, another switch for tap tempo, or a particular effect type, and so on.
The footswitch operates via Bluetooth. Turn it on and it’ll connect to your Beam Mini without much further ado, and if you have remembered to fully charge the unit via USB-C you should get up to 12 hours of continuous playing time.
Blackstar says it is compact and ultra-lightweight, and unless it hired the BFG to model for the press shots, then we can conclude that the Beam Control is indeed compact and ultra-lightweight, just a little wider in profile than the amp itself.
The Beam Control is available to buy separately and is priced £44/$74. The full bundle is priced £369/$459.
This gets you the Beam Mini, which is a superlative little amplifier that is tiny and yet sounds improbably huge thanks to the Super Wide Stereo tech. Blackstar’s component-level amp modelling is top class. You get more than 35 effects.
Blackstar’s patented ISF feature is present and correct, but the Moises stem separation technology and NAM A2 neural amp capture support makes it a really serious tool for practice and writing.
Oh, you can use it as a guitar audio interface, too, and yes you’ve got to use the app for the deeper editing but that’s always going to be the case when you’ve got all this digital firepower under the hood.
You can read MusicRadar’s five-star Beam Mini review here.
You can get more details on the Beam Mini Wireless Rig over at Blackstar Amplification.
