Blackheart Engineering 112 Combo

Not much to this amp at all. You have a volume, treble, mid, bass, 3 or 5 watt switch, and on/off. It has a 12" Emenice speaker. It is tube. It looks nice too. No frills.

This amp has a nice clean sound. It gets cleaner on the 3 watt setting. No reverb. They say it distorts nicely with the volume turned up, but that is not my experience. As a matter of fact I really did not like this amp when I bought it over a year ago. It has grown on me since then. I started useing it to record the clean sounds when I would record my songs. The mic really liked the clean tones from this amp. Then I would use it here and there for other stuff. And little by little over time I love the tone from this amp.I use it with my '78 Les Paul. It has DiMarzio pick ups. They were in it when I bought the guitar in '86. I have an MXR phase 90, a Vox sactharator,and a Vox Time Machine delay. This my main set up lately. I have tons of gear but I love the tone I get with this combo. Not all pedals sound good through this amp. My tube sceamer was not good. But my curent combo is very cool. I get lots of cool tones. it is very simple. And yes it travels easy. The true class A design has a quality to it that is subtle but cool. However I do use those stompboxes alot.

Amp has not broken down or had any problems. It does not have many features so not much can go wrong. One power tube will not require biasing. It seems well built.

I could'nt give an opinion here. The web site have links for you buy kits to mod the amp.I think that's cool. But I have not had a need to contact the company at all.

I have been playing for 25 years and I'm a gear slut. I have a really cool Marshall and a Metaltronix M-1000. I bought this amp thinking I use it to practice. I figured at 5 watts I could crank it up, get that power tube distortion at low volumes and not bug my wife. Not the case ( sorry honey ). This amp gets loud. Not so much you can use it with a full band. When I use it with the gear I listed above I love this amp. At $250 brand new it is aa steal. I dont know these things are not popular. I would recommend this amp to anybody.

This amps controls are really basic, volume, treble, mid, bass, and a 3 watt/ 5 watt selector switch. It would have been fine with me if it had a dirty channel, but with modern effects pedals I dont really guess that makes much of a difference. An effect loop would have been nice too. The power of the amp is perfect for me, I play at home and occasionally with a drummer. It does both well, but if you want to get any breakup out of it you have to turn it up louder than would be reasonable in an apartment. I use a digitech rp500 with it to get distortion at a quite level. I am also sold on the cathode biasing. Change the tubes and you dont have to bias it or pay to have someone else do it. Not too heavy.

I use a couple of strat copies, all single coils. This amp takes pedals well, so I can play anything I want through it. I never have any problem with the stock speaker farting around or anything like that. If you keep the volume below the 12 oclock position it has a sound similar to a fender, not quite as shimmery. Turned up you could play most classic rock with it. It wouldnt work for metal without pedals. It can be louder than you think. My ears will be ringing after playing it in 3 watt mode with the volume up for a while. I would classify 3 watt mode as a smoother or warmer sound- kind of fender-ish, and 5 watt mode as more brittle and scratchy kind of British.

Bought it used off of ebay, when I first got it the treble knob was messed up. If you pressed down on the knob it would be fine, but when you let off the treble would die. I took it apart, couldnt find anything wrong with it and then put it back together, and it worked fine. I suppose this was from shipping??? It has never acted up again in the last 6 months that I have used it.

No clue, never called them.

Been playing for about 2.5 years. Have owned a Marshall VSR 65, and a Silvertone Mark2, amps. Peavey predator strat copy, Silvertone strat copy, Digitech RP150,250,a nd 500 effects pedals. If it ended up missing I would either buy another one of these or a used traynor ycm40. When I buy something I consider the long term cost of operation. I dont want to pay someone to bias my amp, I didnt want to pay allot for replacement tubes. This amp was the perfect one for what I do. If I need more volume, I can mic it into a PA.

Blackheart bh5-112. 5W 1x12 Class A tube amp. (1) 12ax7 and (1) el84. Speaker is an Eminence 12" custom design in a closed back cabinet. 1 input, 1 channel. Volume, treble, middle, and bass controls. Also has a pentode/triode switch.
No gain control, nor any reverb, presence, tremolo, or effects loop. But it cranks out real tube tone, and plenty loud. I play blues and blues rock so this fits the bill perfectly.

I use a Squier Telecaster with Fender Nocaster reissue pickups, a MIM Fender Stratocaster with Fender '57/'62s, and an Oscar Schmidt oe-30 Dl semi-hollow with a Duncan Alnico II Pro neck and a Custom Custom bridge.
For blues and rock n roll, this amp is perfect. With the volume low you get really warm and full clean tones. With the volume at about 5 and up you start to get more saturation. At 10, you get great power tube saturation. Heavy overdrive with awesome sustain and enough volume to rattle windows. With a pedal and high-output humbuckers you can get into metal territory.
This amp can sound a bit "boxy" or midrange heavy, but you can control it with the tone knobs. Worse comes to worse I have an EQ box I keep around.
Stock speaker is great. Stock tubes are... yeah I put in a Tung-Sol 12ax7 and a JJ el84 and now it sounds a lot better.
I use a Weber Low Power Load Dump attenuator and so I can crank it and not get evicted.

I've had intermittent problems with the amp's volume dropping out but I got it fixed.

Otherwise I think this thing is built pretty solid. I've had mine for about 6 months.

They dont seem to answer emails from AOL addresses. A lot of people don't, so I can't blame them.

I've only done repairs on it myself, just basic stuff. never needed anything warranty related.

I'm a hobbyist of 7 yrs. I've owned some solid-state Fender and Crate amps. I've played through a few tube Crates, and a Fender Deluxe Reverb reissue.
If it were lost, I might save up and get something else like a Fender Hotrod or something.
I love the ease of use and the warm tube tone. I kind of dislike the lack of standby switch, reverb, and effects loop, but for the price I don't mind.
Overall, even if only because of the full sized 12" speaker, this amp beats all other 5W tube amps in it's price range.

5 watts or 3 watts, switchable. The 3 watts sounds cleaner. Tone controls B,M,T. Multiple speaker outputs. A nice design which is easy to modify. Nice 12" Eminence.

Wonderful vintage style tone. Breaks up real nice. I like to crank it all the way up, then control distortion with the guitar. In this manner I can get great cleans and then simply turn up for a rippin solo.
Great distortion colors. I prefer the natural amp distortion to any of my pedals. But with a pedal in front it still sounds superb. The EQ is responsive, and different "modes" are available.
I've used this at home, at rehearsal, at gigs. It just puts out great tone. I have put JJs in it, and they made a noticeable difference.

Never failed me yet

They answered my questions promptly.

Some of the best money I've spent on gear.

Very simple design. 5 Watt all-tube amp with Volume, Treble, Mid, Bass, 3/5 watt switch, and Power. On the back it has 16, 8, and 4 ohm outputs in case you want to run it to an extension cab.

One thing that is very nice is that even though its a combo, you can disconnect the speaker cable that runs from the amp to the speaker. I use it as a 1x12 cab for my Mesa Dual Rec whenever I leave my 4x12 at my drummers house. Its got a 12" Eminence rated at 75 Watts/16ohm.

Even though its not loaded with features it still gets a ten because its a 5 watt tube amp. Its not supposed to have tons of dials and gadgets!

I took the Blackheart logo off, but other than that this amp looks awesome.

I use it with either a Schecter C-1, Epi Les Paul, or a Strat. I use this amp to practice and for blues or classic rock type stuff.

Take Strat or LP in the neck pickup position and you can achieve tonal heaven with this amp. It has such a warm, sweet vintage tone to it. If you've ever had a modeling amp that tries to replicate a blackface, this is it, but the real thing. When cranked you can get real close to the "Sunshine of your Love" sound.

Take the volume past noon and it will start to break up and give you a sweet natural overdrive. At that point I like to put a boost such as a Bad Monkey or TS9 in front to make a crunchy ACDC kinda rock tone. Also, with a TS9 type pedal you can achieve a SRV or Hendrix sound. This amp loves pedals.

Some people say the stock speaker is not great. I disagree. Besides why would you want to buy a $250 amp, which is a steal, and then spend another $100 right of the bat to put a new speaker in?

I have only had it a couple months, but in that time I have had no problems with it.

Its a great value. All tube amp for $250. I compared it to a Peavey Valveking. The Valveking was a little cheaper, but with the Blackheart you definitely get what you pay for in tone.

However, if it were stolen I would probably wait and get the 15 watt version.

Feature wise, it's a tube amp. No preamp. no effects, just an amplifier with outstanding sound. It's all I need and want.

I am not an audiophile, my shorts aren't in a wad all the time, so I am content with what I have. The amp sounds great out of the box, I'm sure improvements could be made but for me, I like it just the way it is. I use a Digitech RP350 for my effects, EMG 81 bridge position pup in my guitar. The sound of the amp is full, warm, fat with very liitle distortion. It reproduces picking articulation and dynamics wonderfully. The thing packs plenty of volume and the build quility is excellent. For $279.00 shipped, it can't be beat!

I've not had any problems, very reliable.

Excellent!

One word best describes this amp; INCREDIBLE! This amp sounds fantastic right out of the box. I have owned other tube amps, paid a lot more for them. If you???re an audiophile, you???ll find fault with this unit. But if you???re a regular person, you???ll love it! The sound is fat, full, warm and lush and it???s LOUD. It keeps pace with any 65-watt solid state. If you like that ???Marshall??? overdrive, you???ll need a pedal. This is by far the best value in amplifiers available. I soooooooo happy I bought the Blackheart!
I've owned Marshall tube amps, solid state amps and have played/lived long enough to know what sounds good to me. This amp floats my boat, does what I need it to do, works all the time and all this for a fraction of the cost of the other guys. Yea, it's all that and a bag of chips!

2008 model. Volume, treble, bass, mid controls;. 5-watt or 3-watt power mode; single channel, 12-inch Eminence speaker; output jacks for 4, 8, or 16 ohm speakers. For rehearsal, recording, and small gigs, it's a perfect package -- everything you need, and nothing you don't.

Great sound. Cranked, you get a nice crunchy power-tube saturation that has very different qualities depending on which power mode you choose. At quieter levels, it cleans up very nicely. This is a very simple amp, circuit-wise, so it has an "immediacy" to the sound that only a single-ended class-A can deliver. It's responsive to pick attack, takes pedals well, and forms the basis for a classic tube-amp tones. The 12-inch speaker gives you plenty of low-end thump without the fartiness of 8" or 10" speakers. To my ears it sounds better with a JJ tube replacement, but what amp doesn't?

Super solid construction. Real plywood cabinet, heavy, folded steel chassis, great tolex. The rear panel is connected by about 12 screws; there's nary a rattle or wiggle in any of the components. Like a brick.

Unbelievable. My emails have been met with immediate responses. These guys are very passionate about their product, and it shows. Check the website to get an idea of the attitude at Blackheart. My kind of people!

In my quest for a perfect low-watt tube amp, I've owned a Gibson GA-5 Goldtone, a Fender Champion 600, and a Fender Super Champ XD. The Blackheart kills them all, with its adult-size speaker, switchable wattage, and full battery of EQ control. For the price, it's a genuine steal. Tone for days, in a really well-built wood cabinet, all for well under $300. Nothing can touch my Blackheart!

Brand new. Bass, Treble, Mids, Volume, 5 watt, 3watt switch, One channel. That's it! No frills! 112 speaker, 1 EL84 power tube, 1 12ax7 preamp tube. I use it at home.

Sounds good to me, I use it at home and at practice. I will mike it for stage use. It's got a great AC15 type sound to it.
I play rock, country, blues, slide guitar. It overdrives well, and accepts pedals well

Don't know, just got it- Will report back later

Hope I never find out! Thier page is pretty good, but who knows?

For what I paid, it's great! I can et great tones and sounds at a low volume and that's all I need it for. I may gig it, use a mike and run it into the board. Tube amp-low price, good looks, sounds great