Take the stage with Blackstar's versatile HT Club 40 MK II, and you'll have all the tones you need. The HT Club 40 MK II's updated clean channel sings with a truly boutique tone. Kick in the overdrive channel, and you're able to conjure inspiring British edge-of-breakup grit to tight and punchy American high gain, thanks to Blackstar's Infinite Shape Feature (ISF). And around back, you'll find two different textures of reverb and a speaker-emulated output that makes direct recording easier than ever.

Revoiced channels for top-tier tone

When Blackstar hit the drawing board for their HT Club 40 MK II, not only did they reference their own amps' popular tones, but they wanted to match or beat the tones of electric guitar amplifiers costing up to five times more. Take it from the guitarists at Music Experience, they nailed it. The clean channel has a clarity and note definition that is rare on amps in the MK II's price range. Move over to the gain channel, and you'll take note of how great the sound is throughout the whole range of overdrive. The original HT Club 40 is an incredibly popular amp. With the MK II, they beat it.

Patented Infinite Shape Feature

The Blackstar HT Club 40 MK II is packed with a massive variety of tube tone, by virtue of Blackstar's Infinite Shape Feature (ISF). This exclusive feature shifts the EQ curves of the amplifier's Bass, Middle, and Treble controls. When turned fully counterclockwise, you'll lend an American characteristic to your voice with a tight bottom end and aggressive middle. Turned all the way to the right, you'll enjoy more of a British vibe. Beyond that, four different operating modes can be accessed via a pair of Voice switches, unleashing both vintage and modern voicings for each channel.

Loaded with player-friendly additions

The tone of the HT Club 40 MK II is well worth the price of admission. But Blackstar knows what players want. And they loaded this already great-sounding all-tube combo with enough features to ensure it quickly becomes your go-to gigging and recording amp. The revoiced reverb offers more depth and detail than ever before. Nailing cranked tones at appropriate volume levels is easy thanks to the onboard power reduction circuit. Beyond that, the emulated line-out and USB audio output will make you your sound engineer's best friend.

What Blackstar Says...

The stunning HT Club 40 MkII Kentucky Special captures all the sweet tones from the Deep South. Uniquely for a HT Club 40 MkII this amp is powered by a pair of 6L6 valves, driving an Eminence Screamin’ Eagle built in Kentucky, USA. With its striking blood red covering, tan basketweave fret, ‘Kentucky Special’ metal plaque, cream chicken head knobs and boutique-style no-corners cabinet, the Kentucky Special oozes American Blues and Rock styling and is sure to stand out on any stage. The 1×12″ Eminence Screamin’ Eagle loudspeaker is voiced for soarin’ solos and tight rhythm. Add in bright and articulate tone with screaming top end and tight bass and you have the perfect speaker for the HT Club 40 MkII’s incredible versatility.

Ground-breaking New Clean Channel

After more than 3 years of intensive R&D and market research, HT Venue MKII flaunts its new ground-breaking clean channel. Housing two unique voices, one voice based upon classic American circuits and the second based on a timeless British tone.

Professional USB Recording Output

The simplest way to get valve character and tone in your recordings. USB connection on the HT Venue MKII allows for sending up to 4 channels of guitar signal, dry, preamp out and stereo emulated out into your DAW. Two further outputs on the rear, a stereo jack socket and balanced XLR, also allow the speaker emulated signals to be connected to external devices, perfect for practicing or live usage.

Richer More Responsive Overdrives

Outputting two lavish, punchy and reactive voices on its Overdrive channels, the high gain voices encapsulate a tight, focused tone borrowing from its predecessor. These two voicings help to supply the player with everything they need from an overdrive channel, creating a broad and diverse palette of overdrive tones.

What’s New? – Cleans

The MKII’s clean channel offers two unique voices for the ultimate clean tone quality and flexibility. One based on classic American circuits and the second based on a classic British tone. The Voice switch reconfigures the preamp voicing, EQ and valve gain structure, as well as the power amplifier damping. This produces a bright, tight and clean but solid bass response for the American tone and a highly responsive ‘chime’ with a looser bottom for the British tone that can be pushed into the midrange when driven hard. All clean channels now include Bass, Treble and a Voice switch.

What’s New? – Overdrives

Richer, Fuller and more responsive, HT Venue MKII boasts two voices on its Overdrive channels with high gain voices being tight and focused, drawing on the original award-winning HT Venue Series. These two voices provide a broad palette of overdriven tones. When switching between channels, the amplifier will recall the specific Voice setting last used on that channel. The Overdrive voices are characterised by a tone which is high in gain, but avoids any of the detached top-end ‘fizz’ often found in other designs. This is a result of unique preamplifier and power amplifier shaping techniques, which also benefit the player in the way the overdrives clean up beautifully as the guitar volume is reduced. Even at the most extreme settings, the Overdrive voices remain natural sounding.

What’s New? – Pro Features

The patented ISF (Infinite Shape Feature) control is unique to Blackstar Amplification and represents a major step forward in tone shaping flexibility. The ISF control shifts the response of the three control tone stack between, a US type response at one end, and at the other, a UK type response. Importantly, in between the two extremes lie an infinite number of alternative tone choices that would be otherwise unavailable. The amplifier features naturally sounding digital reverb that can be adjusted via the Reverb control on the front panel or turned on and off via the optional 5-way footcontroller. A switch on the rear panel selects between ‘Dark’ and ‘Light’. The Dark setting is based on a room reverb and the Light setting is based on a plate reverb.

Power Reduction

A switchable power reduction circuit has been included with the HT Venue MkII models giving reliable, transparent attenuation down to 10 percent of the amp’s rated power. This means that the full tonal depth of the 6L6 power stage can be enjoyed at any volume, retaining the distinctive sound of power valves working hard, making the HT Venue MkII perfect for any live or recording situation.

Footswitch Flexibility

All modes are footswitchable, resulting in the widest possible selection of stage accessible valve tones and footswitchable boost on all channels. The supplied 2-way footswitch enables the selection of the Clean and Overdrive channels, and the two voices on each Channel. The optional 5-way footcontroller enables instant access to all channels and voices, plus the global boost function and Reverb switching for maximum control.

Compact & Portable

All the HT Venue MkII products have been reengineered to make them more compact and portable with the regular gigging guitarist in mind.