Is It love amp settings — Blackstar ID:Core 20 V3

The Whitesnake guitar tone for “Is It love”, dialed in for a Blackstar ID:Core 20 V3 with a Jackson X Series Kelly KEXT. Studio version, Whitesnake (1987) — John Sykes on lead

Original rig

Gibson Les Paul Custom (neck pickup, volume rolled to 8, tone 8) → Marshall JCM800 2203 at medium gain (5-6) → Boss CE-2 Chorus (slow rate, moderate depth) → studio reverb (Alesis MidiVerb, large hall)

Warm, singing lead tone with 80s shimmer — almost-clean arpeggios building to full saturation on the solo, neck-pickup vocal quality, wide chorus, long reverb tail

Amp settings — Blackstar ID:Core 20 V3

CHANNELCrunchBOOSToff

Knob	Setting (0–10)
Gain	4
Bass	6
Mid	7
Treble	5
Reverb	6

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Guitar

PICKUPneck TONE8 VOLUME8

Signal chain

01Blackstar ID:Core built-in Chorus (MOD section)

Enable the MOD button, select Chorus type — slow shimmer, not fast wobble

Rate 3 · Depth 6

02Blackstar ID:Core built-in Delay

Enable DELAY section — subtle slapback supports the ballad sustain

Time 5 · Feedback 3 · Level 4

Why these settings

The ID:Core's Crunch voice approximates a JCM800 at medium gain — gain 4 here lands in the warm-breakup zone Sykes used. Your Jackson's high-output humbuckers are hotter than Sykes' PAF-style Les Paul, so I dropped gain by 1 and treble by 2 vs the original to avoid ice-pick highs. ISF set slightly CW (British side, around 2 o'clock) adds the Marshall-like midrange bark. The ID:Core has no presence knob — that's correct, not missing.

PRO TIPRoll your volume knob to 6 for the verse arpeggios (cleaner, more touch-sensitive), then kick it to 10 when the chorus hits for full barre-chord punch — Sykes rode his volume knob throughout the track. Neck pickup is non-negotiable for that vocal sustain quality.

Get this tone on your amp

These settings are for a Blackstar ID:Core 20 V3. ToneAdapt matches any song to whatever amp, guitar and pedals you own — first match is free.

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Song, artist and gear names are used to identify the tone being matched; ToneAdapt is not affiliated with or endorsed by the artists or manufacturers mentioned. Settings are AI-generated starting points — trust your ears.