5W is LOUD! BlackHeart Little Giant

kayDUB

For detail specs etc: http://www.blackhearteng.com/bh5112.html

In a nutshell; 5w/3W switchable, 1x12" eminence, volume control, bass, mid and treble controls and of course on/off and input jack!
I got this amp to use at church and practices. The style I favour is U2/Coldplay/Delirious. But also like to jam Hendrix, John Mayer, Blues, etc all be it not very well. :'(

I was surprised at the size of this amp, its not that much smaller the the Fender Hotrod Deluxe, but it is slightly easier to lug around. It looked small in the big shop surrounded by bigger amps!
It is a loud critter however! I don't think its a bedroom level amp!
3W mode seems to stay cleaner for longer than the 5W setting, I was quite surprised by this.

So I used it at a church meeting the other night, was very impressed. I should have bought one of these long ago, instead of lugging around a 2x12" Marshall Valvestate! But no, I wanted the nice big Marshall... dumbass (Walter voice) >☹
I used the 3W mode and it stayed clean enough at a loud enough level with a loud drummer (all be it behind a drum screen).
I use my pedals to do more dirt as I like to play off a cleanish sound.
If you want to get the natural amp overdrive, it still needs to be pretty loud, louder than I think a worship team will appreciate! But you can get a nice overdrive out of it.
One thing that does happen is it pops when you switch from 3W to 5W. Also, no standby switch.
A good thing is it only has 1x12AX7 and 1xEL84, so re-tubing shouldn't dig the pockets too deep. Read that you will to re-bias the amp when changing out power tubes.
And its good looking!

Overall impression: I really like this amp, it is perfect for what I am using it for! Simple enough with a good sound at reasonable levels, it should keep the peace in the worship team and with the sound engineers! ?

I've never done a review before, so hope this is helpful! Feel free to ask questions! ?

MoJo-JoJoe

themanthatwalks

just played one today

Nice.
loud.
like the overdrive
.
I read that they all pop(including the one i played). I was a bit disappointed at the price tag. but when I thought about it(shipping/customs/dealer profit) it made sence. but it is still cheap for what you get.

Hope they also get the Little giant head and Handsom devil in SA

AlanRatcliffe

The first question most people ask: What is the retail price and how much did you pay?

How well does it take pedals?

I see a lot of other people say that even the 3W setting is loud for low volume settings like home, so you're not alone. Blackheart have a 1W "Killer Ant" head too, which might make sense to some where volume is the overriding concern.

Switching the output from Pentode to Triode will pop. AFAIK, not something you should do on the fly anyway.

I see they also do a head version for $300. Just listened to a few clips of one through a 4 X 12 and it's pretty impressive. Surprising amount of gain for only a single 12AX7 preamp tube:

Werner-Carstens

Hi KayDUB, after reading this I dug up the Guitarist magazine that had the review of the Blackheart. They said the following "Tonal quality that belies the price, a useful addition...5 Valve watts kicks out plenty of level". It got 4 starts in their review.
Congrats, even they agree it is a good buy. Enjoy.

kayDUB

MoJo JoJoe wrote: If you got yours from Marshall in Cape Town, I was there when it came in and was unboxed. I got to try it and I have to agree - a really nice amp. Congrats. In valve amp terms, 5W is only half as loud as 50W assuming the same speaker is used.

Thats when I first played it too. Then I ordered another one. ?

Alan Ratcliffe wrote: The first question most people ask: What is the retail price and how much did you pay?

I payed 4500, not too sure what the retail is, i think its 5000 - 5500.

How well does it take pedals?

It seems to do well with my pedals, fulldrive sounds really good, haven't managed to get a good sound out of my maxon SD9 (distortion pedal) but I haven't tweaked it much. It is quite a harsh pedal so it might not suit the amp.

Switching the output from Pentode to Triode will pop. AFAIK, not something you should do on the fly anyway.

So probably something I should do when the amp is off then.

themanthatwalks

Prob wont be difficult to put in a bypass switch? There are already some mods available
http://www.blackhearteng.com/mods.html

Mr-M

Awesome amp! I was after the BH15H 15-Watt Head the other day (still am but I don't like waiting so I might buy something else or end up buying a pedal or something instead) - I was told that they haven't brought that one in yet. If you paid R4500 (retail being R5500 and US retail at $530), the 15-watt Head is going to be the same price, because it has the same US retail. Good news if I do end up buying one.
Did you see any larger Blackheart amps there? Maybe the guys here in JHB haven't given me the right info RE:availability of the 15?

themanthatwalks

Mr M wrote: Awesome amp! I was after the BH15H 15-Watt Head the other day (still am but I don't like waiting so I might buy something else or end up buying a pedal or something instead) - I was told that they haven't brought that one in yet. If you paid R4500 (retail being R5500 and US retail at $530), the 15-watt Head is going to be the same price, because it has the same US retail. Good news if I do end up buying one.
Did you see any larger Blackheart amps there? Maybe the guys here in JHB haven't given me the right info RE:availability of the 15?

they are distributed under crate, And I have only seen the Little giant combo in there catalog. maybe sometime later this year?? :-\

kayDUB

I only saw the little giant. You can always contact Marshall in CT and ask Graham if they are getting the 15W head in.
Or you can mail Kevin van Pamel (LOUD technologies who are the agents I think), he should be able to tell you.
PM me if you want his email. He was really good response wise when I was first looking into the Blackheart amps about a year ago.

Mr-M

I'll give Marshall CT a call. Thanks.

Sean

Sounds like a cool little amp. Congrats KayDUB ?

kayDUB

Mr M wrote: retail being R5500 and US retail at $530

Did you mean $350 rather? ?

Thanks Sean!

Mr-M

No, the MSRP is $530.86 on the the US sites for both the Little Giant Combo and/ or the Handsome Devil 15 Watt Head.

themanthatwalks

Mr M wrote: No, the MSRP is $530.86 on the the US sites for both the Little Giant Combo and/ or the Handsome Devil 15 Watt Head.

i also saw them for $350 ???

toastyrat

Great Amp... Love the vibe.

Mr-M

$350 is the Street price, $530 is the retail price. Most overseas retail outlets list the manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP) smaller, next to the big red sale/ street price - basically the lowest you'd pay at a store here when you ask for a discount, except that there they state it right from the outset. The street/ sale price is basically as low as it goes. Sort of a gentlemans agreement as to the lowest all the stores will sell a given product at. Things are usually only cheaper at one store tahn the rest when there is a special sale on. It works the same in a lot of overseas retail industries.