Blackstar – Ht Stage 100H Mkiii – 100W Head – Blackstar

Blackstar’s HT Venue line is famous for class-leading clean and overdrive tones, all in a single gig and studio friendly unit. In 2023 Blackstar introduces the next generation of HT Venue valve amplifiers to inspire your performance.

This HT Venue MK III is a highly versatile amplifier suited to a wide range of playing styles and situations. The Clean Channel has two voices; one based on a classic American circuit and the other based on a classic British tone. The Voice switch reconfigures the preamp voicing, EQ and valve gain structure, as well as the power amplifier damping. This produces a clean, bright, solid bass response for the American tone and a highly responsive ‘chime’ with looser bottom for the British tone that can be pushed into a midrange overdrive when driven hard. The Voice setting can also be selected via footcontroller.

The HT Stage MK III has two Overdrive channels which share a common EQ section and, like the Clean Channel, each of the Overdrive channels has a Voice switch which allows the character of each channel to be changed, providing a broad palette of overdriven tones.

As with the Clean Channel, each of these voices can also be selected by footcontroller. When switching between channels, the amplifier will recall the specific Voice setting last used on that channel.

The Overdrive channels are characterised by a tone which is high in gain, but avoids any of the detached top-end ‘fizz’ often found in other designs. This is a result of unique preamplifier and power amplifier shaping techniques, which also benefit the player in the way the overdrives clean up beautifully as the guitar volume is reduced. Even at the most extreme settings, the Overdrive channels remain natural sounding.

The patented ISF (Infinite Shape Feature) control is unique to Blackstar Amplification and represents a major step forward in tone shaping flexibility. The ISF control shifts the response of the three control tone stack between, a US type response at one end, and at the other, a UK type response. Importantly, in between the two extremes lie an infinite number of alternative tone choices that would be otherwise unavailable.

The amplifier features naturally sounding digital reverb that can be adjusted via the Reverb control on the front panel or turned on and off via the optional 5-way footcontroller. A switch on the rear panel selects between ‘Dark’ and ‘Light’. The Dark setting is based on a room reverb and the Light setting is based on a plate reverb.

The reverb decay times can also be adjusted differently for each channel by connecting via USB to our proprietary Architect software.

A Power Switch is provided on the front panel to switch the amplifier between full power and 10% power. This means that the full tonal depth of the valve power stage can be enjoyed at any volume, retaining the distinctive sound of power valves working hard.

A USB connector allows for sending up to 4 channels of the guitar signal (dry, preamp out and stereo emulated out) into a computer for recording purposes. It also enables the connection to the previously mentioned Architect software for deep editing of not only the reverb, but also extensive control of CabRig parameters for power amp/speaker/cabinet/mic/room emulations from the USB, balanced DI and stereo headphone/line outputs, for practicing, recording and live use.

HT Stage 100 MK III Features

• Innovative 100 Watt valve head
• 2 x ECC83 and 4 x EL34 valves
• Three footswitchable channels (2 voices per channel)
• Six footswitchable voices
• Boutique clean channel with expanded tone controls
• Two high gain overdrive channels
• Patented Infinite Shape Feature (ISF)
• Power Reduction down to 10% of full Wattages
• Presence, Resonance, Master Volume
• Digital Reverb with Dark/Light switch
• CabRig outputs (1/4″ unbalanced, XLR Balanced and USB C)
• Effects loop with effects level switch
• USB C for recording and connecting to Architect & CabRig
• 2-way footcontroller included
• Compact size for ultimate portability
• Modern Boutique styling

Specifications

Power (RMS): 100 Watts
Valves: 4 x EL34, 2 x ECC83
Dimensions: 591 x 245 x 225 mm
Weight: 17.8kg