Blackheart Engineering BH5H Head

2008 Blackheart BH5H head. 5 watt Pentode 3 watt Triode.
Controls are as follows from the left side of the head: On/Off switch, 5 watt/3 watt switch, Bass,Middle,Treble,Volume.
It's all easy enough and allows you to shape your tone depending on what kind of cabinet and speaker configurations you will be using.
I did not purchase the matching cabinet yet (I soon will) so I have only played it through my pre-cbs Showman cabinet with 2 JBL D-130's and a late 70's Mitchell 100 watt 212 Sand Amp. (Watch for my review of that shortly).
The Mitchell cabinet was recently loaded with new Celestion V-30's and all I can say is "WOW" !!!!
The head sounded okay through the Showman but through the Mitchell it was smile,giggle,laugh and euphoria!
Now the only down-side for me is why they put the controls in reverse. Every amp I have ever owned is-Volume-Treble-Middle-Bass and this thing is just the opposite.
I've been playing for 40 years and am set in my ways and a creature of habit so when I am not thinking about it I go to turn up the volume and am cranking the bass instead. No big deal though. That is what volume pedals are for.
But because of this I can only rate it an 8 for features.

When I first got it I did what all tube-tone junkies do. Plugged it into a cabinet and let the tubes burn in for a good half hour or so, turned it off,let it cool awhile and came back to it with guitar in hand.(first guitar through it was a 1976 Les Paul Deluxe).
I first tried it through the Showman cab and like I said above it was O.K. but sounded flabby and grainy and it had quite a bit of hum to it.
Next was through the Sand Amp and it was a little better but not much so it was on to what men do best,take it apart and see what it is all about inside.
Just to let you know that I do read the reviews posted on this site, I remembered what several have said about untwisting the wiring and rerouting them where they were not all touching together.
Thanks to all of you who give us this positive input and just don't use Harmony Central to brag about their equipment.
Now the next thing for me was to try a different 12AX7 in place of whatever brand of Chinese tube they shoved in there so I went through my box of tubes and found a brand new Mesa Boogie (the one that has the black rubber "condom" around it.
I do have many NOS tubes,new and slightly used JJ's,Svetlana's,Sovtek's,E.H.'s etc. (Oops,there I go bragging about my tube collection but at least it's not about my guitars!)
Anyway I tried the amp with the Mesa (I didn't chage the EL84 since I did not have one)and that was when the euphoria set in.
I set it at 5 watts and with the volume at 9 o'clock started playing. I gradually turned up the volume until it was dimed and all I could do was laugh. One of you referred to this as a Mini Plexi and how right you are! I couldn't put the guitar down until my son came in and screamed "TURN IT DOWN" I could hear you three blocks away. It really is louder than you can imagine.
So as for volume,tone and build I give this a ten plus.

As I said I took it apart the day I got it and outside of the Chinese tubes and the bundled up wires it is an incredibly well built amp.Good heavy printed circuit board and decent components.
Don't expect it to be like a Dr.Z because you will not get point to point wiring and a Mercury Magnetics tranny for $189.00 but it will last as long as it lasts. (5 year warranty).

I have not had contact with them in over 7 years but when I did they were always very helpful.

Outside of the backwards controls,tubes, and the cheesy wire hold down for the EL84 (which I did order a spring type hold down along with some good quality EL84's from Mojo Musical Supply) I find no ticks or fleas on this puppy.
If it were lost or stolen I would not hesitate to get another and I really plan to Get another shortly to turn it into a PTP with the Bitmo mods and a Mercury tranny just to hear what that will do!

Simple as tube amps come.
5watts, 1 preamp and 1 power tube. Volume, bass, middle and treble controls. Dial up the volume for a creamy distortion and season to taste. It could have been fine without the 3 band eq, like the valve jr., but i love the fact that it has it.

Out of the box the sound quality is okay, it's lacking a bit in headroom and makes a bit of hum if you run it past 5 or so. I was a bit disappointed at first but after changing out the tubes and rerouting and twisting the wiring, I was blown away. Just by rerouting and twisting the wires I was able to reduce the hum from an annoying buzz to a quiet whisper and after new tubes... wow. The amp also takes pedals very well which is a good thing, considering that you won't be able to get any distortion from this unless you get pretty high in volume, which will be plenty loud. Don't forget that 50 watts is only twice as loud as a 5 watt amp, not 10 times as loud.

I opened it up to reroute the wires and, i must say, this thing is built pretty well for a 150 dollar head. I'm sure I can lug it around with me without too much problems, but tube amps are tube amps, I wouldn't throw it down the stairs either.

haven't had to deal with it yet.

For a tiny price tag of 150 dollars for the head and little under 300 for the stack or the combo, this really can't be beat. The only real competition in it's price range may be the Epi valve jr. but I found that I could squeeze a wee bit more headroom out of the blackheart, which is really what I needed.

Brand new BH5H. Single channel single ended Class A 5 watts tube amp head.

Plexi in a 5 watt box... 'nuff said... Sounds amazing for vintage tone freaks. Also, 5 tube watts is f'ing loud, so if you're looking for the ultimate crunch at night and want to keep it quiet, it won't happen... On 10 ( which is necessary for the amp to distort in a creamy, bluesy kinda tone ), people will hear you from 5 blocks away... Get a distortion box for this purpose and plug it in, in the 3 watt mode, volume on 2. It will work fine... The amp takes pedals incredibly well.

Built very well. Should stand up to road abuse...

Wrote an email, got an answer fast. Super cool people as well...

Love it, and I've ordered the 1 watt AND the 15 watt heads. I'm a marshall man, and it sounds so close to a plexi it's scary. I'm a convert. For recording purposes, it's killer, for live sound, as long as you like a slightly dirty clean, and mostly need overdrive and distortion sounds, it's more than enough...

basic is good

I like this amp with a jj power tube and a sovtec 12ax7lps over stock. now this amp is great with more headroom and better distortion at break-up.

i'm sorry, if your input jack or something equally simple craps out on any electronic device breaks, stop crying!!! open it up and connect the two wires. it's not worth going through all customer service bull-****, and remember, if it exists it will break.

haven't had problems with it

Can't beat it for the price. Actually i like it better than some more expensive amps. gear played: esp ec-400, esp m150, peavey predator with fender noiseless electroncs, peavey bandit 112, blackheart 5w head w/ 2 1x12 custom made cabs with texas heat speakers.

1 channel. 5 watts. 1 ax7 1 El84. 4, 8 and 16 ohms. bass mid treble.
switch for 3 or 5 watts.

Who doesn't want loopreturn and double mastervolumes?

I use both humbucker and singlecoil guitars on clean sounds. When I wanna go higain I prefer humbuckers. I play in a coverband and in two other bands. It covers just about anything from Beatles to Black Sabbath. I played it through v-30 celestion 1*12 and 2*12 and some old vintage 4* 12 box also celestion.

This amp is cheap. To begin with I played it at home and was really content with the clean and the halfdistorted sounds. When you crank it all the way up it is really terrible! The top is sharp as a razorblade and the bottom is loose and boomy in a bad way. After I changed the preamptube to an ecc 81, 12at7 (an old one 30 years, no name on it I took it from an 70ies amp.) it changed dramatically and the dist became bareable. But the clean folks, mummelimumma! An old sweet vintagesound smooth and sweet. And high! The volume on the clean
went up dramatically! Up to eleven it stays clean then it goes dirtier and finally nasty allmost crappy and digital. with Blackstar Ht dual in front at volume 11 or twelve o'clock it performs very well and with a booster I think you can get through in a band. I tried it with one of my "hobbybands" where the drummer doesn't hit the **** out of the drums and it worked quite well. The bassknob must be set to a minimum though or the sound will break like tor himself was riding his wagon.
If you want a good distorted marshall- like sound you will be dissapointed. Then you better try Tiny Terror!

Built like a tank!

I've been playing for thirty years. My first amp was a Carlsbro 100 twin chanel. My god that was loud! The best amp I ever played. I always compare with this one. I also got a 50-top evolution. It has this good british crunch and higain sound. The tiny terror is one of the best sounding amps if you are after the good old tubeoverdrive but it lacks good clean.

If you have some money over, spend it on a blackheart. It is worth the money. Swap the preamptube and you'll get a really nice sparkling clean, lean machine!

Amp Head with two valves... one pre amp.... one power amp ...vol... bass.. mid.. treble ..switchable 3 and 5 watt output....very basic.....but very good....simplicity....

I love this litttle critter...i play it through a 1975 marshall 4x12 cabinet and it sounds terrific a little bit thin till you get to 3 or 4 on the vol pot and then pure valve tone!!!!
and at practice levels and as you turn her up she gets better and better !!!....

so far so good .....seems well built as far as i can see.

so far so good

I was looking for a little valve head that i could use at home and play at my club ..... with a good tone that would overdrive without breaking the windows.... and i've found it ...and it looks pretty cool too ...well worth every penny ......i've only had it for a week .....but can't recommend it highly enough...if that's what you're looking for you'll have a great time!!

features are standard bass,treble,mid and volume. not much bass but at high volumes it comes through.

this amp is very basic but if you chain a couple of overdrive pedals this thing will sound beastly.I have several different overdrive
pedals and i use them in any configuration and the amp turns into a beast.i thought about doing a mod on the amp but the cost and trouble
changed my mind.if you use the amp this way you can play all the rock and blues you want and sound gigantic,fat thick i will punch you
in the face tone.

Really straight forward, volume, bass, mid, treble. Input jack, 5 speaker outputs, 3/5 watt switch, and on/off. Single channel, so basically, it is what an amp is supposed to be, before all those idiots jumped in and added stuff.

I use it with Strats, a Snarling Dogs wah and a Univibe, and into an Avatar 2x12 cabinet with Electro Harmonix speakers. I play buttoned down 60's rock with a little bit of modern jam band influence. This amp really has a great tone, amp responds perfectly to pick attack and changes with my guitar's volume and tone knobs. It's very clean in both wattages up until 5 or so, and then it slowly becomes more ragged and overdriven. I leave everything on 10 and have at it.

Well, I've had it for 46 days....how do I know it's 46 days? Because Musician's Friend covers it for 45, and today the input jack went out. The amp has not been moved, and in fact I have left the cable plugged into it since day one, and it has not been touched, pulled or otherwise messed with; yet, the input jack is loose and cuts in and out when forcefully strumming. I guess the idea of "affordable boutique" is a pipe dream, because here was the perfect tone, destroyed by ***** Chinese craftsmanship. Of course I can't use it now, so on to the next section.....

Musician's Friend's customer support isn't worth a damn. Anytime I have called with a question about a product, all they can do is recite the description from the website. I'm dreading how this amp will be handled, as they have been useless for anything else I've ever had to deal with them about.

I've been playing for 12 years, and I bought this as a replacement for a Silverface Pro Reverb that was just too loud. I chose this over an Epi Valve Junior for the tonestack, and at first, it was perfect. This amp was definitley the ticket for a small, class A amp until it farted out. If it had been stolen, I would have replaced it. Since it broke, I'm not so sure.

Single-channel, straight-forward tube amp, with 3-band tone adjustments and master gain, switchable between 3W and 5W. Kinda cheesy styling, but kinda cool, too; chicken-head knobs. Sounds great, lots of volume, and a nice full sound for a 5W amp. I'll be using this as a practice amp, and maybe for easy transportation to jam sessions.

I'm playing this with Strats (one with texas specials, and one with text mex pups) and a Tele (stock US pups). Music styles all over the map, but typically cleaner, and not many effects or distortion. Nice warm, clean sound from this amp. Basically gives what I put into, but loud and warm. Breaks up gently and warmly. What more could you ask for from an amp?

I have not had it long enough to know whether or not it will last...

Never dealt with the company before... Most companies have dreadful customer service, so it's not like I'd expect much...

I've been playing for 30 year, and have owned, and own, lots of amps, although mostly solid state. I also have a Fender '59 Bassman reissue, and I must say I'm really enjoying this Blackheart amp, and a much lower price... So far, I'd probably buy another if this were lost or stolen...

this is a 5-watt tube head with no real "features" other than it's sound. It has more power than one might expect and responds VERY differently to preamp tubes of different gain levels making it posible for just about anyone to find a tone they like. It is very light and pretty well built. I am a full-time musician who plays the role of a musical whore and will do whatever I am asked to do. I would say my playing is based more on contemporary jazz studies and displays elements of Scott Henderson, Robben Ford, Pat Metheny, Joe Pass and Mike Stern (this is cool as long as I am not doing a country gig). With a change of the preamp tube I can get gigable levels with good clean sound to cover my jazz-based style

As the amp showed up it had a very early breakup (at about 3) and was very similar in tone to classic Aerosmith or AC/DC. It did this well but wasn't really right for me. I then experimented with the tube selection. First I put a 5751(about 70% the gain of a AX7) and got better headroom but didn't really like the tone, then an AU7(about 20% of an AX7) and it sounded like my beloved Fender Princeton but had no output volume to speak of, then I put an AY7(about 60% of an AX7) and became very happy. It now has a very musical breakup when floored but has enough headroom that I can run a old ART MR-1 reverb in the input and not create a wash. It loves drive pedals but don't give it cheap ones cause it will let you know. Using my BH-5, a 1x12 3/4back Mesa cab (with V30), the MR-1, Keeley Bluesdriver, Hermedia Zendrive and my Washburn X-50 with a PAF joe in neck and Air Norton in Bridge I have been playing a steady house gig with tunes ranging from Duke Ellington to Aerosmith and other than my volume knob have needed to adjust nothing. Havent had to mike it either. With the AY7 I can use all of the amps juice without making it strickly a rocker. The closest things in this things class are usually over $1,000 and while they aren't worse they aren't really any better. This thing kicks ***

Brought my Princeton the first couple of times I used it but now just keep a spare fuse and some tubes. Really haven't had it long enough to say but seems well built.

I have been doing this (playing professionally) for a long time (30 years) and have owned alot of stuff. I really love my Princeton Reverb and it will not easily be replaced but I needed a new toy and am very happy with this thing. It is soooooo much more than just a toy and is pretty damn loud. Obviously it isn't as loud as a twin or something like that but how often can you turn a twin up past 3 or 4. This thing maxes out at the twins 3 or 4. Plenty for most aplications.