Blackheart Handsome Devil Combo Amp

It's time for my second GC review. Up this time is my latest amp acquisition, the Blackheart Little Giant combo. It is a small 1x12 combo featuring an Eminence speaker (60 watts, 16 ohms), a dual el84 power section and two 12ax7 tubes in the preamp.

FEATURES:

• single channel
• Drive (gain), Level (master),Treble, Mid, Bass, Presence,
• multiple ohm speaker outs (4, 8 and 16)
• Pentode/triode switch for 7 or 15 watt operation
• sub $500.00 price tag
• TONE!!!

Despite the simple layout, this is far from a one trick pony. Crank up the master and gain and you have classic rock tones like you hear from Black Crowes and Big Sugar, crank them down and you have very nice clean sounds. In between there is the woman tone, leave the Drive down and crank the Level and you can get some great shimmery and gritty "almost clean" tones reminiscent of VOX and Matchless. In addition to this, the amp takes pedals extremely well, in particular it loves my boost pedal and Danelectro Transparent Overdrive.

In use as a practice or rehearsal amp it is never anemic, always has enough bass and can handle different pickup configurations with aplomb. The Presence knob is one of the most effective I've used. The tone does not change dramatically when switching from 15 watts to 7 watts, making this amp a very effective bedroom amp as well. In full band situations, it benefits from the use of an extension cab to move more air, but there is adequate volume to keep up with drums on its own.

Modifications are expected and encouraged by Blackheart Engineering. They have provided a layout and components that make mods easy. BITMO has a series of mods available for the novice amp guru, other web sources have schematics available for many different mods. I chose to install a Jensen Alnico speaker and some different tubes. In doing this I saw that the box is slightly too tight for the chassis, making removal difficult. There is just barely enough room for the dustcap of my speaker in the cab as well. Unfortunately, the screws used by the Chinese assembly line are very cheap. I stripped several of the Phillips heads using my cordless drill.

All in all I would recommend this amp to anyone wanting a Voxy and/or classic rock amp for small gigs and rehearsal. It's my new "grab and go" due to small size and moderate weight, but it's also my go to practice amp for the tone.