Blackstar’s HT Venue MK III brings modern recording and connectivity its popular gigging valve amp

Blackstar has revealed the generation of its popular HT Venue lineup, the MKIII, offering new updates to the UK brand’s hugely popular valve amp design.

• READ MORE: “We ended up saying, ‘It’s not what we want on there, it’s what can’t we take off’”: Nuno Bettencourt says Extreme had three albums worth of material for Six

The Mk III brings modern recording and connectivity to a traditional valve amp, including Blackstar’s CabRig IR tech, and various connectivity options such as USB-C, XLR, DI, and a ¼ jack.

Each member of the HT Venue family has two distinct voices on each channel, each with independent EQ controls.

Clean Voice 1 is a US style high headroom, bright clean tone, while Clean Voice 2 is a ‘Class A’ chimey British tone. On each OD channel, switching to Voice 2 will add more gain and overall change the overdrive from a classic drive to a higher gain, more contemporary tone.

There is also Blackstar’s patented ISF control, which shapes the mids to offer both US and UK tonal characteristics.

The MKIII also has an all-new two-mode reverb – with ‘dark’ room and ‘light’ plate settings – and edit other parameters via the Architect software which is free for users.

In addition to this is CabRig – Blackstar’s DSP speaker simulation software. The newest amp allows users to pick from hundereds of microphone and cabinet combinations. There is also the option to store three CabRig presets directly in to the amplifier.

The release includes the HT Stage 11H MKII 100W valve head, two 60W valve combo amps, the HT Stage 60 212 and 112 MK III, the HT Club MK III which is a 50W valve head, and finally a HT Club 40 MKIII which is a 40W valve combo amp.

There are also four HT Venue MK III cabinets: the HTV 412B, 412A, 212 AND 112 MKIII.

For more information, you can head to Blackstar’s website.