Blackstar HT club 40 mk2

billando

I decided to get a Blackstar HT club 40 mk2 since i have never had a Blackstar and i also got the 6l6 version since i have a few EL34 amps already. It has Vintage 30 speaker.

There is a clean channel and an overdrive channel. Both have a switch to change between "US" and "UK"  tone stack and there is also the ISF switch which again is supposed to make it more American or British....First play yesterday i thought the clean channel on the British voicing with the ISF more to the British side sounded really good. Even being the clean channel there was plenty gain to get to where i wanted. 

The overdrive on the same UK voicing i found almost unusable. Gain at 10am the amp was squealing at me with too much gain. Weirdly on the American voicing it doesnt do this.

Normally i wouldnt be happy with this but the clean channel overdriven sounds so nice im going to try it at our gig tomorrow. If it sounds great it will be a keeper.  Other good points for me is it seems like it will be more controllable at lower small gig venues than my jcm marshalls, it has a efficient V30 speaker to match the V30 my other guitarist has so i shouldnt lack punch, it is reducable from 40w to 4w which is great for quieter practices and although i thought i would regret it i actually like the baby blue colour.

Anybody else have these and have any thoughts or the same issue with the overdrive channel? 

ecc83

Any guitar/amp/speaker system with enough gain will start to squeal at some point but I would expect the Club 40 to be controllable?

Where did you buy the amp?

Dave.

billando

I got it brand new on ebay. Dont want to really name the company they were really helpful to me when sorting out the wrong address i provided. If i had to put it back i would.

ecc83

billando said:

I got it brand new on ebay. Dont want to really name the company they were really helpful to me when sorting out the wrong address i provided. If i had to put it back i would.

Not quite understanding...can you not control it AT ALL on the OD channel?

Dave.

billando

If its on american voicing it seems ok but uk voicing at 10oclock gain and 9ocklock volume it starts to feed back lots. Thats pretty much rendering the whole of the overdrive channel unusable. As i said im loving the clean channel with the gain up to the extent that if it goes down well at our gig tomoro i think it might become my main gigging amp so this isnt as such a bitch about the amp, more to see if anybody else has one, has same issues or just comments about it in general. 

Im leaning towards amps that are more usable at pub gig levels. This is certainly more usable at lower volume that my jcm 800. By usable i mean you dont get the good out of a jcm 800 until its far too loud for a pub gig.

ecc83

I'll see if I can dig out a spec' for the 40 but it will be a very early one so may not tell me much. The combo was once Blackstar's best seller and so it is odd that this problem has surfaced after so long. There could be a fault? 'Itappen when PCBs are stuffed and there might be a wrong value or missing cap' or resistor which might make the amp super hairy! I had a Series One once with a cracked diode around an op amp and it caused horrible sounding distortion.

Might be worth letting B's have a look at it if not too much bother?

Dave.

billando

Who should i show it to? Do you mean take it to someone? Im not after a high gain sound. Tbh even if the overdrive channel worked im sure id still prefer the clean channel with the gain up high. Really impressed with it just what i think im after. Wont know until ive tried it in band context though so will do that tomorrow. I do have a (retired) tech that helps me out with stuff i could ask him to look at it but i suspect that would only be if i was going to sell it.

ecc83

billando said:

Who should i show it to? Do you mean take it to someone? Im not after a high gain sound. Tbh even if the overdrive channel worked im sure id still prefer the clean channel with the gain up high. Really impressed with it just what i think im after. Wont know until ive tried it in band context though so will do that tomorrow. I do have a (retired) tech that helps me out with stuff i could ask him to look at it but i suspect that would only be if i was going to sell it.

I meant talk to Blackstar but if the problem is  not bothering you there is no harm to the amplifier so just carry on using the clean channel.

Dave.

HAL9000

I’ve got an HT20 sitting around somewhere. I’d agree that the clean channel is far more usable than the gain channel, and that the ‘American’ voice is more useful than the ‘British’ one. I wouldn’t go as far as to say the more gainy sounds are unusable but, like the OP, feel I could get by using just the clean channel.

impmann

Is it the amp that’s squealing or is it the guitar that’s plugged into it?
The Club 40 mk2 has quite a lot of gain on tap (probably more than a mk1) but is voiced so that the amp is stable at all levels of gain. 

However if the pickups aren’t potted and you are playing at higher gain settings in an enclosed environment (such as a bedroom) you can get microphonic feedback. The fact you are finding the ISF can have an effect leads me to suspect this - as this will boost/cut certain frequencies.

I would try a different guitar or playing environment (larger area) before blaming the amp. If it’s still misbehaving, then if it was sold by a Blackstar Authorised Dealer (and it was sold as ‘new’) it will be covered by a 12month warranty - but it will need to go back to the store you bought it from (assuming you are UK based - other territories have different rules).

If in any doubt drop Blackstar a line at service@blackstaramps.com 

ecc83

I agree with Impman, pickup feedback. One of the series of tests I did on all Blackstar amplifiers was to have 'all the taps open' and the amp must be stable. N.B. Not all makes and models of guitar amps can by any means pass that test!

Dave.

billando

Ok thanks im going to gig with it tonight on the clean channel to see how it does in a band context then take it from there. 

Btw i was in a big hall and it was the same with two guitars. Both les pauls one had low output humbuckers and the other had p90s.

billando

It performed well last night. It was a quieter gig so master volume was only around a quarter. Really punchy. Hoping to hear some vids back that the crowd took to see how it was out front.

One crazy thing happened ive never seen before. During the last song the amp cut out. I noticed the cable jack going into the amp wasnt in fully so i thought i mustv pulled it by mistake. I put it back in and it worked for 30 seconds then same thing happened. This time when i tried to put the cable back into the amp there was resistance....it wanted to pop out when i put it in...we had been playimg for 3 hours so the amp took a bit of punishment especially being new but is this a thing? Or am i going crazy?

ecc83

All the HT range (except the Five but maybe now?) have an interlock such that you need a plug fully home both in the input jack and one of the speaker jacks otherwise the OP valves are biased hard off.

You might have a damaged jack that is effing with this function?

Dave.

billando

Possibly but to be physically pushing back when i was trying to put the cable in? That was so weird.

snowblind

Sounds like a bent connector in the jack. Probably want to open 'er up and inspect.