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?
Comments
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.
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.
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
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.
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?