Blackstar announces HT Club 40 MkII Black & Blue Edition combo guitar amp

How does Blackstar improve on the HT Club 40 MK II? After all, it's the combo we said was possibly the perfect guitar amp in our five-star review. Well, read on because they might have actually done it with the new Black & Blue Edition.

The big news here is the valves; the standard version has a pair of EL-34s. Absolutely no complaints there. But this has Blackplate RCA 6L6GC valves AKA catnip for vintage tonehounds and great news if you're hovering over buying a new combo.

(Image credit: Blackstar Amplification)

TAD's (Tube Amp Doctor) recreation of these valves promises the hallmarks of "smooth breakup, deep bottom-end and crisp highs". And that's not all.

Review

(Image credit: Future)

Blackstar HT Club 40 MkII

The classic Celestion Vintage 30 12" speaker is added too. Rich midrange and harmonic detail delivered. And of course, you'll get the special baby blue, tan and cream livery.

Playing at home? Obviously, we all are right now and the HT Club 40 accommodates with Dynamic Power Reduction down to 4-watts while still delivering its great range of tones. 

(Image credit: Blackstar Amplification)

The Blackstar HT Club 40 MkII Black & Blue is priced at £799 and available now. 

For more info head over to blackstaramps.com

Rob Laing
Guitars Editor, MusicRadar

I'm the Guitars Editor for MusicRadar, handling news, reviews, features, tuition, advice for the strings side of the site and everything in between. Before MusicRadar I worked on guitar magazines for 15 years, including Editor of Total Guitar in the UK. When I'm not rejigging pedalboards I'm usually thinking about rejigging pedalboards.