A decade into its existence, the British amplifier company Blackstar has already garnered major praise for its ability to blend compelling and usable tube-generated tones with impressive versatility and...
A decade into its existence, the British amplifier company Blackstar has already garnered major praise for its ability to blend compelling and usable tube-generated tones with impressive versatility and affordable price points. Given that premise, the new HT Venue Series MkII aims to play to the company’s strengths, and the example on review this issue, the HT Club 40 MkII 1x12 Combo, looks to be the sharpshooter of the bunch for its eminently utilitarian size/features ratio.
Like all amps in the range, the HT Club 40 MkII uses EL34 output tubes—a pair, in this case, generating 40 watts, with a switchable 4-watt power-reduction mode for home and studio use. There are two ECC83 preamp tubes (Brit-speak for 12AX7), which are reconfigurable for two gain stages in the Clean channel (gain, EQ), and two cascading gain stages in the Overdrive channel. In addition to the OD channel’s secret weapon—Blackstar’s patented ISF control (Infinite Shape Feature), which dials the lead voicing progressively between American and British—each channel also has two core voices: High Damping and Low Damping on the Clean (think “glassy and tight” vs. “warm and resonant”); Medium Damping and Low Damping on the Overdrive (“classic OD” vs. “modern lead”). The two-button footswitch included allows easy on-the-fly selection of all four, while the optional five-button unit also provides a Boost mode for each channel, and reverb on/off. The latter effect comes courtesy of a digital unit, with a traditional control for reverb depth, plus a Dark/Light voicing switch.
In addition to the effects loop with Level switch and speaker outs for 8Ω and 16Ω, the amp includes a speaker-emulated DI out via either XLR or TRS, with a switch to select between 1x12 and 4x12 cab voicings. To top that, the MkII Series also now includes USB audio out, for tracking