Blackstar HT40 1x12 Combo Club 40 Venue Series

I was looking for a good all valve and amp and, after reading numerous positive reviews, decided to go for a Blackstar HT 40. Good choice. This is an excellent amp - nice clean sounds and OD channel also does good brit and US sounds. Very happy with Andertons. Amp arrived with broken kettle lead which they replaced (with a longer/better one) and they also threw in 2 sets of strings as compensation. Good stuff :-)

Very pleased with this - the (non-Boutique) clean tone is beautiful, sparkling yet also warm. A very wide range of distortion tones are also to be had. It's perhaps not quite as versatile as I might have hoped - my digital Vox AD50VT amp modelling combo does a much broader range of tones, but each one is perhaps a 6 or 7 out of 10, whereas the narrower range of tones from the Blackstar are 9 or 10 out of 10's (hope this makes sense). The vox is the jack of all trades, whilst the Blackstar is the master of two or three!

It's also a great-looking product, well screwed together. The sound from it really cuts through a mix without ever being harsh or boomy, so I'm anticipating it being good for live work (not gigged with it yet though). You can also get a good tone from it without having to turn it up loud, and the f/x loop is useful for putting delay in the best place, i.e. after the amp's distortion in the chain.

In view of all the 5 star reviews of this amp, it would seem almost disrespectful not to fall in line and also give it 5 stars. However I believe a review should be objective.

This is without doubt a well built amp and as a result, very heavy (24.5 kilos).

At one stage I would not consider anything other than Peavey, made in Mississippi, but life moves on. The Blackstar has the tones, but my previous amp a Laney VC30 2 x 10, also delivered the goods and perhaps had a little more "bite".

I bought this amp as I wanted a little more wattage, plus I like the 1 x 12 option in a combo.

I have only gigged this amp twice and rehearsed with it several times, so time will tell.

There is no such thing as a perfect amp as everyone has their own idea of the unique sound they want to achieve, however I am hoping my amp will deliver the goods for me when gigging.

The handbook could be a bit more informative, especially regarding the valves and their layout.

If you're reading this that means that you're thinking about buying this amazing product. All I can say is buy it now! I play in a rock covers band and when I first brought this amp to practice the rest of the band were blown away. The other guitarist is now selling his Mrashall and buying one. Plenty of power for all situations and the tone is simply awesome, everything you could possibly want and then some. The ISF function is no gimmick and makes a real differnce to the tone doing exactly what it says on the box, taking you from one side of the Atlantic and back again. (And anywhere in between!) The clean channel gives plenty of headroom for ringing cleans or that classic crunch. While the dirty channel has all the filth you could ask for, even for metallica!!

I bought on the 18 month interest free deal and it arrived the next day. Brilliant!

I have bought a number of amps of the years I have played. All of which have been combo's. From Marshall to Hughes & Kettner. The Blackstar outshines them all. I don't think I've been that impressed with a combo amp in all the time I've played. Simple, but effective. Great tones and enough gain to take your teeth out without losing the clarity. I was close to buying another make/model, but I'm really glad I went with my gut on this.

Fantatsic amp the range of tones and versatility is amazing. Fender style clean channel is a great sound. Fantastic service from andertons. I will definatly shop here again :)

Got this amp yesterday From my local music store. Best shop ever.

This amp is the most versitile amp ive ever had the chance to play. ITS ORGASMIC!!!!!!!

Boutique cleans are very nice and full of mids

Push a button and you've got yourself a Fender clean....IT IS HEAVENLY!

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Drive- More gain than you'll ever need and an amazing crunch

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EQ - I literally dialled the tone i wanted in less than 10 minutes.....so easy to use!

Reverb ( Its footswichable!) - Its good for what i need ( Lots! for tremolo picking...listen after the first chorus of '2 trees by foals)....Its very spacious. Its not as good as somehing you might get from a pedal....but all amps in this range with reverb (vox ac15 fenderhotrods etc) generally dont have really amazing reverb. But this does the trick. I couldnt be happier

Isf ( instant shape feature) - Very cool feature on the amp! Great idea

Very loud, but amazing a bedroom levels also!!!

Plenty of clean head room.

BEST AMP FOR THE MONEY!

YOU WILL NEVER LOOK BACK IF YOU BUY THIS AMP!!!!

ive spent ages looking for a versatile valve combo and i have tried most, the VOX AC30, Fender Twin, Mesa Boogie, they are all priced higher,especially the mesa's and they each had something but it wasnt setting me alight.

I tried the Blackstar just on the off chance, i hadnt read any reviews but i thought it was worth a try and thank god i did! I play an american Tele which to be honest has never sounded so good. I wanted tone and i got it by the bucket load, i wanted that slightly overdriven clean punch and i was delivered a first class wonderfully thick crunchy clean tone that really inspires your playing. The Drive channel is great too, using the ISF on UK setting for a superb hi gain overdrive. The Smartest thing about this amp is the simplicity of its settings which allow you too set a plethora of multiple sound palettes. It sounds classy and for the money its an absolute steal. This is a best kept secret, an invaluable tone machine.

I think the BlackStar HT club 40 is an amazing amp, I was going for a HT60 before i tried out the HT40 and somehow i liked the tone of the HT40 more, the clean channel sounds uber nice, really warm yet bright especially with the voice switch turned on and the reverb is also very subtle for a built in reverb, with the option of going from bright to dark. The overdrive channel is my favorite though, so many variations you can get out of it - from a slightly clean crunch to a maybe more of a bluesy feel all the way to gain heaven sounding more rock/heavy metal, depends on how you set your settings and the ISF feature(which i have at the brittish side atm), use the overdrive channel whith the voice switch turned on in combination with an ibanez tube screamer and you have a lush soloing lead tone at your disposal. so yeah i have no regrets of buying this amp, and would suggest it to anyone who is conscious about their tone and doesn't want to spend mega bucks.

A splendid clean channel, a warm full bodied drive channel, reminds me of a vox,cornford,marshall and mesa all mixed togethor.

In isolation the drive can seem overtly smooth, but it's never too compressed sounding and cut well at it's first rehearsal.

A keeper, not as brash and fierce as my marshall (old 2205) more polite and refined but it works, and that's the main thing.

Well built & not too heavy, the cabinet is surprisingly deep and it's a closed back design, while this may be a budget speaker, again.. it works very well at all volumes.

Great Amp. More than loud enough for gigs and very very versatile. Likes both Humbuckers and SC pickup styles.

this is a fantastic amp. the range of tones are brilliant, blackstar have done it again. i dont know how they can sell these amps for the price they do. they are unbelievable for the money

The amp looks good, with a nice black leather finish, and white Blackstar logo on the front. Unfortunately, it is quite heavy; I had to help the delivery man carry it into my house...

I really like the ISF and the voice buttons, which gives it so much more versatility than any other 2 channel amp.

Both the clean channel and the OD channel sound great however you set them up, except on the clean channel with the tone down low; I just dont like the way it sounds, and I can't think of a time when I would need a sound like that...

I have only had the amp for about a month, so I can't comment on reliablility or customer service, but it looks so strong that if you smashed a guitar into it or anything else hard for that matter, the damage, if any, would either be dealt to what you hit it with, or would only affect the outside, and not stop it working in any way.

I previously had a Vox DA10, which was a great practise amp, but it was a bit limited in the full on clean and the full on distortion areas; not enough clean headroom, and not enough gain at the distortion end, but the Blackstar is brilliant at both of these, and handles everything in between brilliantly. I thoroughly recommend this amp to anyone!

After using a freinds solid state for about a year at band practice, I can saftly say this is a masive improvment. I can easly keep up with the volume of the drums bass and the lead's 100w stack Marshall just at half volume.

The sound difference is amazing, can't quite get over how good it sounds over the solid state.

Only con is that it's heavy but even that isn't much of an issue.

Thanks Andertons

I had already read how good the Blackstar HT series of amps were, but I wasn't expecting just how good.

I purchased the HT Club 40, all tube combo.

I was blown away by the performance of this amp.

Sparkling cleans (which you don't often get outside of my Fender Hot Rod Deluxe), and the gain/overdrive channel is something else. From crunch to hi gain lead, this amp does the lot. Throw in a reverb, footswitch and effects loop and you don't get much better for the price.

I play in a covers band and this amp is loud and versatile enough to cover all my needs. Both single coils and humbuckers shine. I couldn't praise the Blackstar gang enough (ok no cover, but you can't have everything).

Ray Faulder.

I guess there aren't going to be many negative reviews from people who buy the products, but I geniuely think this is a fantastic amp. I won't add much to the other two more comprehensive reviews up above, perhpas other than to say what fantastic value for money this thing really is - tonally it is in the same ballpark as amps costing much more, and you get two channels, 4 voices, the choice of american vs british style voicings and a decent reverb to give a really versatile amp. Plus 40 valve watts make it a good choice for small to medium size gigs.

I don't really see that it has any real cometition in its class - comparible Fenders do wonderful cleans, but won't do the overdriven stuff anything like as well, mesas are twice the price for even the base models, cornfords are wonderful but much more expensive, and marshalls at the same price point haven't really knocked me out.

Terrific value for money, and a great little amp. Try one - suspect you'll be as impressed as I was.

Hi, I've been looking for a great valve rock combo for a while. I had a Blackstar HT Dual pedal and tried the HT5 but they did not quite do it for me.

I tried the Studio 20 but felt it was a bit limited, OK if that is your tone, but a little too modern for me.

The voice options on both the clean and O/D channels of the Club40 really add variation to the amp, especially on the O/D channel when combined with the ISFcontrol.

Cleans are either modern class A or F style, both are wonderful and organic, really bringing ou tthe tone and feel of your guitar. The fact that the master volume works with the clean volume (unlike many other amps) means you can drive the clean into a wonderful breakup tone but still control overall volume. The clean works really well with your guitar giving an almost 3D tone.

The O/D chennel is fantastic with real organic valve tones from breakup to mega saturation. Using the ISF and tone controls you can shape the tone to match any music and any guitar. I own a Feder American Deluxe and tried the Blackstar with a PRS Custom 24 both sound great!

The Line out is good but I tend to add EQ from my mixer to get the right tone through headphones for practice, another great plus point. I run a POD X3Live in front for wah and various O/D boxes and then back into the effetcs loop for mod/delay effects and reverb (the onboard reverb is good but limited).

Overall, this is one fantastic amp which with a bit of tweeking can deliver fantastic tones regardless of your guitar, your techneque or your muiscal preferrences.

This amp is built to the highest quality and is fantastic value for money, OK it does not come with a lot of effects aka Line 6 but is so much better than the'F' amps for rock music whatever your rock tastes.

Buy this amp, you will not be disapointed

I know what you going through! Which amp should you buy?

With so many on the market it's a fun and a perplexing decision!

Ok,i'm going to read your mind.....

You would like an Ac30, a Marshall stack,and for good measure a Fender Twin?? (And so would I)!

Little pricey maybe? Bit heavy? Too load for my local pub?

Alas,all of those things?

What about a modelling amp? 'Don't do it' I say!You'll sound ok in your bedroom,and bland on stage!

You need valves,it's simple!

Now here it is....

The Blackstar Ht club40 will give a range of ballpark sounds from all of the top brands,but it delivers them in a Blackstar kinda way!

How many companies have come on the market and challenged a fifty year domination and succeeded?

There is nothing that can touch this amp in it's price range,and some of it's features punch way above its weight class.

I can tell you that their customer service is excellent,from personal experience also.

Go try one,fight hard to get the top names out of your head,weigh up the realities,of what you want against what you need!Forget,About Overdrive pedals,and Rock till ya drop!

Ps I forgot to tell you.....

It sounds great!!

After spending many hours selecting a valve combo i awaited with baited breath for my Blackstar to arrive, i had not seen any reviews of the HT 40 but i liked what i had read about Blackstar. i have to say it sounds amazing, beautiful clean tone witch has a great rock/blues tone. the overdrive really meaty too. I cant recommend this amp enough.