Blackheart Little Giant

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famous beagle

famous beagle

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Anyone else tried these?

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Blackheart-BH5H-and-BH112-Half-Stack?sku=483078

Holy crap!

For $249 brand new, this thing has got to be the best bang for your buck I've ever come across on a piece of music gear. It's got serious tone! Granted, it's 5 watts (switchable to 3 watts), so it's kind of a one trick pony, but it does that trick very, very well. It's blues tone heaven, and it's awesome for gritty riffs.

At the 5 watt setting, it'll get loud enough to play a small-to-mid-sized club (and you could mic it of course too).

I'm just stunned at how good it sounds, and it seems very well built too.
 
Looks like about the same thing as an Epi Valve Jr. (which I have and like a LOT!) but with tone controls!
:)
Man ..... I'd have bought one of those instead of the Epi if they'd been around.
Too bad I just bought a couple more amps or I'd get one for sure.
 
Lt. Bob said:
Looks like about the same thing as an Epi Valve Jr. (which I have and like a LOT!) but with tone controls!
:)
Man ..... I'd have bought one of those instead of the Epi if they'd been around.
Too bad I just bought a couple more amps or I'd get one for sure.
Click to expand...

Yeah I was thinking the same thing about the Epi Valve Jr., except, like you said, this one's got EQ too!

I'm reviewing this one right now for a magazine, but I've already spoken to my contact to see what kind of deal I can get to hang on to it. :)
 
...there was a thread here about that.. Someone noticed it says "Crate" in it...:D
 
Yeah, it's pretty much the Crate knockoff (rebadging?) of the Epi Valve Jr. My ValveJr sounds pretty great with different tubes in it.

Personally, i can own something that says epiphone on it......but Crate........not so much. :D

(even if it's reaaaaaaaaally small and tucked in a not readily noticible spot :p)


cheers,
wade
 
Yeah I don't know if it's distributed by Crate or if it's something more. The Crate name is tucked away very small on the front panel. You really have to look for it to see it; it's definitely not noticeable from offstage.

I agree the Crate name is not something I'm fond of. But, to be honest, I really wouldn't care if it said Radio Shack; this amp smokes, period.

I haven't tried the Epi Valve. I'm sure it's sweet too. I wish these 5-watter SE amps were around years ago when I was first wanting to get into tube amps.
 
I was looking at one of those in the MF flyer the other day and thinking about
ordering one. I wish it had reverb built in it makes it a lot handier as a practice amp. As far as recording what kind of noise level ie.. hiss does it put out?

I think they are part of Crate's elite line, if their can be such a thing. I just bought a little vox 15r which sounds great plugged into a 2-12 cab but the
noise level makes my epi jr and special sound like custom hand wired gems.
 
RandyW said:
I was looking at one of those in the MF flyer the other day and thinking about
ordering one. I wish it had reverb built in it makes it a lot handier as a practice amp. As far as recording what kind of noise level ie.. hiss does it put out?

I think they are part of Crate's elite line, if their can be such a thing. I just bought a little vox 15r which sounds great plugged into a 2-12 cab but the
noise level makes my epi jr and special sound like custom hand wired gems.
Click to expand...

In my opinion, the noise level is excellent. When it's totally dimed out, there's just a bit of noise, but it's not bad at all, especially compared to the volume at that point. And regarding the reverb, I honestly don't miss it one bit. And, in my opinion, this isn't just a practice amp. You could play a small blues club with this thing and bigger if you miked it.
 
ya' know ...... I hate the idea of a Crate badge on my gear too and that Blackheart logo is a little cheesy looking BUT......
That Crate V5 which I think is the same thing as the Palomino 5 at MF flat out smokes!! I would have bought one of those except it was like, 4 times as much as the Epi when I bought it.
But if it's based on the same amp that the V series used then I know it's probably bad ass with out even hearing it 'cause that Palomino shocked the hell out of me.
And I've used my Epi for several gigs. If it's my single or duo then it gets it done but louder with a drummer ..... well, personally, I don't like to have to have to hear my amp thru the monitor. I want my amp to at least be loud enough for me to hear clearly and the Epi got a bit strained sounding for that.
so I moved up to a Tiny Terror for those gigs .... and then, of course, I use my big amps whenever I get a chance to drag one out!:D
 
I saw it in the store last weekend. Thought it looked cute and a bit of a gimmick. I jacked into it and put a grin on my face. It was a useable little amp. I too was suprised. Dimed it for a few minute or two and I have to say, the tube broke up like a big boy. Not too shabby. Blues to classic rock sounding. Didn't have a lot of time to screw around but I'd have liked to put an OD pedal in front to see if we could get some crunch out of it.
 
Lt. Bob said:
ya' know ...... I hate the idea of a Crate badge on my gear too and that Blackheart logo is a little cheesy looking BUT......
That Crate V5 which I think is the same thing as the Palomino 5 at MF flat out smokes!! I would have bought one of those except it was like, 4 times as much as the Epi when I bought it.
But if it's based on the same amp that the V series used then I know it's probably bad ass with out even hearing it 'cause that Palomino shocked the hell out of me.
And I've used my Epi for several gigs. If it's my single or duo then it gets it done but louder with a drummer ..... well, personally, I don't like to have to have to hear my amp thru the monitor. I want my amp to at least be loud enough for me to hear clearly and the Epi got a bit strained sounding for that.
so I moved up to a Tiny Terror for those gigs .... and then, of course, I use my big amps whenever I get a chance to drag one out!:D
Click to expand...

I too been looking at the Crate V series tube amps or Palominos. I actually own a 65watt RetroFlex ss Crate amp and have grown to really like it, especially the clean channel. How is the gain on the tube amps? can you get a good distortion out of those? Not like metal heavy distortion, but a little less.
 
famous beagle said:
Anyone else tried these?

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Blackheart-BH5H-and-BH112-Half-Stack?sku=483078

Holy crap!

For $249 brand new, this thing has got to be the best bang for your buck I've ever come across on a piece of music gear. It's got serious tone! Granted, it's 5 watts (switchable to 3 watts), so it's kind of a one trick pony, but it does that trick very, very well. It's blues tone heaven, and it's awesome for gritty riffs.

At the 5 watt setting, it'll get loud enough to play a small-to-mid-sized club (and you could mic it of course too).

I'm just stunned at how good it sounds, and it seems very well built too.
Click to expand...


are you serious? its that loud with 5 watts? Can it be loud enough for your average bar/restaraunt type venue? How's the bass response?
 
rockabilly1955 said:
are you serious? its that loud with 5 watts? Can it be loud enough for your average bar/restaraunt type venue? How's the bass response?
Click to expand...
Don't know about the bass response of that cab but as for the 5 watts Class A being loud enough ....

Lt. Bob said:
I've used my Epi (5 watts class A like the Blackheart) for several gigs. If it's my single or duo then it gets it done but louder with a drummer ..... well, personally, I don't like to have to have to hear my amp thru the monitor. I want my amp to at least be loud enough for me to hear clearly and the Epi got a bit strained sounding for that.
so I moved up to a Tiny Terror for those gigs ...
Click to expand...
 
BTW, Blackheart is going to be coming out with a small, no-frills head for 2008, similar to the Epi Valve Junior. It's going to be referred to as "The Killer Ant."

It looks like this....
 

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Buck62 said:
Ummmm, I posted a thread about the Blackheart over a month ago.

We got this thing called the function over there on the right side of the page.

https://homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=253008&highlight=blackheart


.
Click to expand...
I doubt that anyone ever thought ... "Hey .... let me do a search on the Blackheart Little Giant"

That head looks like it's the same thing as an Epi so that's not attractive to me.
The whole thing that makes it interesting to me are the tone controls.
 
Buck62 said:
Ummmm, I posted a thread about the Blackheart over a month ago.

We got this thing called the function over there on the right side of the page.


.
Click to expand...

Lots of stuff gets discussed in here more than once. It's no big deal.
 
ggunn said:
Lots of stuff gets discussed in here more than once. It's no big deal.
Click to expand...

You're right.

We should just totally eliminate the search function so we can discuss the same stuff over and over every few weeks.

And BTW, the Blackheart was not designed by Crate. It was designed by an amp guru named Pyotr Belov, who originally built this amp in his garage. Belov went to Crate because they have the money and factories for mass production and a huge distribution network for national and international sales.
 
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