Blackstar Venue Series HT Club 40 40W Tube Guitar Combo Amp Black

I use this in studio and on various gigs. The depth of sound, controls, and quality allows me to transition quickly from jazz blues to grungiest rock sound I think I need to freak my audience out a little.

I mostly use it in my home studio, excellent sound quality.

Short with input 90 days in. Guitar Center says sorry can't help points me to Blackstar, then Blackstar says go back to Guitar Center forget it never again

So prior to this amp I'd only ever played on digital and solid state because it's all I could afford. Finally I got an all valve amp. I tested out other valve combos in its price range the dsl 40c from marshal and the peavey 6505. And this was the better one in my opinion. So the 6505 has much better distortion no one will argue this however horrible cleans. The dsl 40c and this amp are really similar the dsl has 4 12ax7(aka ECC83) tubes as opposed to the 2 in the blackstar so it's capable of more gain but the gain time sounded off to me. Could've been the particular one I played but I wasn't disappointed with my choice in the black star. The cleans are great. Has a single tone nob on the ht40 version but that doesn't hold it back. Both clean settings (boutique and modern) sound great. And the gain sounds great you can dial in a good crunch time and a good high gain tone. However I've found you get better high gain tomes by dialing back the gain on the amp a bit and pushing it with an overdrive pedal. The gain cam be a bit flubby or lacking and the OD tightens it right up and gives it that extra spark and really makes it nice. I will say if you can manage the ht 60 which I believe is 1000 that one is better. However if you're willing to spend a 1000 might as well just save a bit more and go for a 5150 head.

Home recordings and playing with group occasionally

The Blackstar HT Club 40 is by FAR the best amp in this class that I have ever used. I also own a Marshall DSL40c and, in my opinion, I feel the Blackstar sounds much better. The versatility of the different voicings makes it a very good amp for ANY genre you play. The OD channel is one of the smoothest sound on-board distortions I have heard from an amp in this class; as is the reverb. One thing that makes it a great amp for something in this class and power range, is it has a master volume control: you can saturate, set it for whatever breakup you please, and then adjust the master volume for how loud you want it--great for a bedroom amp, believe it or now. Now, the negative, is it's HEAVY; this is NOT an amp you are going to move from place-to-place and enjoy it. Also, there is no 3-band EQ for the clean channel (only a tone knob), which limits it's capabilities as-is, in this regard. I use a multi-effects pedal with an EQ, so it's not a big deal for my application. And, the amp sounds amazing on the clean channel with only the tone knob, anyway. If you want to blow away the competition--in this price, class, and power range, the Blackstar HT Club 40 IS the amp you want. Into a 4x12, there isn't too many venues you cannot play; into the stock speaker, it's good for anything from your bedroom, to a church setting, or even a small club.