The Blacker The Heart, The Badder The Amp

The Blacker The Heart, The Badder The Amp

Tone junkies rejoice and prepare to kick out the jams: Blackheart’s Little Giant has entered the building! Blackheart Engineering may be a new name in musical instruments, but with the rollout of its all-tube, vintage-styled Little Giant models (BH5H head, BH112 cabinet, and BH5-112 combo), Blackheart proves that it’s old-school all the way, baby.

Guitar amplifier super-genius Pyotr Belov, whose own hand-built amps have been highly acclaimed by artists and gear freaks worldwide, is the man behind every detail of Blackheart’s product line. Pyotr’s classic designs begin as hand-wired, point-to-point masterpieces tweaked in his infamous two-car garage until they ooze attitude and sing like little glass and metal cherubs. Every component is hand-picked to create the best possible amplifier tone and performance, and then engineered to be manufactured in quantity, giving guitar players access to a tasty sounding, durable, and sexy little tube amp without the snobby price tag.

Pyotr personally selects a very small number of qualifying offshore manufacturers and stands over their shoulders to make sure that nothing gets lost in translation. He specifies every tube and component, and approves everything one piece at a time, right down to the piping and tolex. It’s a very straightforward process that no other manufacturer of high-end tube amps can say they undertake. That’s no surprise when considering that Pyotr sometimes spends weeks away from home and out of the country teaching others how to handcraft amplifiers to his expectations.

The crowning jewel of the new line, Blackheart’s Little Giant head (BH5H, £120 RRP ) is a five-watt, single-ended Class A design powered by an EL84 and voiced through a 12AX7 preamp tube. With a switchable pentode (5W) / triode (3W) selector and three-band EQ controls (plus volume), guitarists get the only amp in its class to deliver true tonal range from instantaneous punch to deliciously greasy overdrive, and with precise control over output volume. Every feature of the Blackheart Little Giant head represents zealous dedication to true quality in tone, looks, and tank-like ruggedness. Under its übercool exterior guitarists will find a 16-gauge steel chassis, 1/2-inch corner radiuses and meticulous tolex work ensuring years of reliable performance. Other noteworthy BH5H amenities include: 4, 8 and 16 ohm speaker outs, solid state rectifier, double-sided PCB (for durability and to withstand handling for mods), DC power to filaments for super quiet operation, 2 oz. copper tracers and 1W resistors (carbon film) in signal path, 2W and 5W resistors in power supply, and 15-ply (18mm) thick void-free plywood construction.

Built around a single 12-inch Blackheart by Eminence speaker in an 11-ply (18mm), classically joined, void-free plywood cabinet, the BH112 (£79 RRP ) creates the perfect half stack when paired with the Little Giant head (in fact, the Little Giant half stack, designated as the BH5HS, is offered at an extra nice package price of £199 RRP ). Sporting two parallel 16 Ohm speaker jacks and handling 75 watts (RMS) of power, the 1x12 enclosure can also be used to maximize the tone of other amps in guitarists’ arsenals. From its incredibly well crafted construction to its similarly ultra-clean tolex work, the BH112 is a great value in a portable, powerful and boutique-quality extension cabinet. The closed back tuned design and Blackheart by Eminence speaker are the fruit of extensive research involving Crate and Eminence, and the result is a very tight and responsive cabinet. Furthermore, all of the BH112’s cabinet joinery is based on classic, proven design for maximum tone and roadworthiness.

For those guitarists who prefer having their electronics and loudspeaker shacked up in the same cabinet, the Blackheart Little Giant combo (BH5-112, £189 RRP ) offers all of the features and controls of the BH5H head with the addition of a built-in 12-inch Blackheart model 1216A by Eminence speaker. This particular loudspeaker has an American voicing and is specially optimized for the BH5-112’s open back tuned cabinet.

The complete range of Blackheart amplifiers will be available from mid-December exclusively through Sound Control stores ( Tel ; 08700 67 29 22 ) and to find out more, plug into the dark side at Blackheart:

www.blackhearteng.com.

About Blackheart

Blackheart Engineering is a new guitar amplifier company benefiting from both the design expertise of Pyotr Belov and manufacturing muscle of Crate/LOUD Technologies Inc. Dedicated to delivering the best old-school, all-tube tone at price points within any guitarist’s reach, Blackheart truly embraces the camaraderie, attitude and spirit of irreverence that is rawk!