Blackstar Amplification was founded in 2004 by four former Marshall employees—Paul Hayhoe, Richard Frost, Bruce Keir, and Ian Robinson—with a combined 50 years of experience in amp design. This team set out to create a line of products with unprecedented tonal flexibility, allowing players to discover the sounds in their heads, to paraphrase the company’s motto. Blackstar made a big splash with the HT-series of tube-based effects pedals, followed in 2008 by an amplifier line that includes the HT-5 combo and HT-5 head—studio and practice amp versions of an HT pedal.

Distributed in the U.S. since 2009, Blackstar has a stunning range of products, everything from the HT-series tube- and time-based effects to the HT Venue medium- to high-powered amps and the Artisan hand-wired boutique amps. For this review, I checked out the HT Stage 60 ($899.99 street), a 60W, 2x12 combo amplifier.

With a street price below $900—a fraction of the price of a typical boutique combo—the HT Stage 60 is a lot of amp for the money. Its tube section includes two ECC83s, one EC82 and two EL34s. For starters, there are three footswitchable channels, each with a number of voicings. (A 4-button footswitch for accessing all three channels, plus reverb, is included.) In addition, the amp has a master digital reverb, an effects loop, twin 12-inch Celestion speakers, and a comprehensive selection of speaker outputs including one that emulates 1x12 or 4x12 configurations. And 60W of power gives the amp enough headroom for medium to large venues. However, just as you would expect from an amp with all of these features, the HT Stage 60 is heavy, weighing in at 67 pounds—more than some guitarists will feel comfortable carting around.

The HT Stage 60 boasts a handsome, traditional appearance. It is extremely well built, with a heavy tolex covering and top-notch hardware. I was initially intimidated by the amp’s busy front panel, with its numerous dials, switches, and buttons. From left to right are the clean channel and its controls; overdrives 1 and 2 stacked atop each other; a set of EQ controls shared by overdrive channels 1 and 2; reverb level; master controls including Resonance, Presence, and Volume; a power indicator; and standby and power switches. However, it didn’t take very long to figure out how to get the tones I wanted.

To put the HT Stage 60 through its paces, I plugged a Gibson 1963 ES-335 Historic with factory BurstBuckers directly into the clean channel, which has three standard controls—Volume, Bass, and Treble—along with a button labeled Voice. When the button is in the out position, the Voice control causes the clean channel to sound like a traditional Class A amplifier. At a lower volume, with the bass and treble set midway, this setting was perfect for jangly arpeggiated chords—crisp and not overly bright. When I cranked the volume, the tone broke up nicely just as one would expect from a good tube amp—perfect for some warm-toned blues-rock soloing. With the Voice button pushed in, the amp sounded more like a modern Class AB model, tighter and with a slightly more pronounced bass response.

A button on the back of the HT Stage 60 switches the digital reverb between dark and light tonalities. Although it lacks the flexibility found on Blackstar’s HT-Reverb pedal, the reverb on this amp added a shimmering lushness to the sound without the noise that is sometimes associated with spring-based units. However, I would prefer to have this button on the amp’s front panel.

No Pain With Gain
Next up are overdrive channels 1 and 2, each of which includes Gain and Volume controls and a Voice button that yields a classic sound (button out) or an edgier, more modern one (button pushed in). Like other Blackstar amps, the HT Stage 60 has an ISF (Infinite Shape Feature) control, a unique feature that changes the behavior of the EQ controls and the resulting tone quality. When the ISF control is turned fully counterclockwise, you get a sound that guitarists attribute to American amps, featuring aggressive mids. When ISF is set fully clockwise, the amp has a British sound.

By fiddling around with various combinations of these controls, I was able to get an uncommonly wide range of sounds as promised—everything from a gentle crunch perfect for shuffled rhythm patterns to saturated leads and scorching distortion suited for down-tuned modern metal. And regardless of the overdrive setting, the HT Stage 60 sounded excellent—not quite as magical as a vintage tube amp, but rich and musical nonetheless.

To see how the HT Stage 60 paired with effects, I daisy-chained a few pedals—a Frantone Brooklyn overdrive, a Boss DD-3 digital delay, and a Pigtronix EP-2 Envelope Phaser—into the effects loop. The HT Stage 60 provided an excellent platform for these units. Although the amp has plenty of gain options, the clean channel sounded great with a little grit from the Brooklyn pedal, and all of the channels sounded more vivid with the time-based effects.

The Bottom Line
With its HT Stage 60 combo amplifier, Blackstar has provided a sturdy tube amplifier with tons of headroom. While it wouldn’t necessarily replace a fine vintage amp or a modern hand-wired boutique combo, the HT Stage 60 excels in a staggeringly wide range of contexts and should reward its owner with many years of good service.

Pros: Excellent value. Highly versatile. Durable.
Cons: Heavy.

Adam Perlmutter in a New York City-based guitarist/transcriber/arranger/music writer. He contributes articles to Acoustic Guitar, Guitar Aficionado, Premier Guitar, and other magazines. He is the author of several Hal Leonard guitar method books including Jim Hall Signature Licks.