Blackheart Engineering BH5H Head

Actually a lot of features for a little amp like this. Bass, Mids, Treble & Volume. One Input. It also has a switch to change from 5 watts to 3. I like the options on the outputs for cabinets. Simple controls and easy layout. A standby switch would've been nice though.

Here's the thing. This is a $150 head. You can buy it together with a 12" closed back cabinet for $250 total. That's cheap. However, the sound is anything but cheap. It's very warm and responsive. It also breaks up really nice when you get the volume past halfway. I like to crank it to really overdrive the tubes and then back of the volume of my guitar to clean it up. It's very responsive to my guitar's volume. It has great harmonics and feeds back really nicely. But it's quiet too. No discernable hiss at all. I may try changing the tubes to sweeten up the sound a little, but honestly this thing sounds great. Probably one of the best buys I've ever made.

Only had it a week. But it seems pretty solid. We'll see.

Hven't had to deal with them yet.

Been playing for 18 years. Right now I'm playing a '72 Tele Deluxe and an Ephiphone Dot, another great buy. I usually play through a '78 Twin with a number of effects, Morley Bad Horsie Wah, MXR Phase 100, Durham Mucho Boosto, Fulltone Distortion Pro, Digitech Whammy, Fulltone Choralflange, EB Volume & Line 6 DL-4. I've got a lot of great gear and I just wanted a low watt practice amp. I got a whole lot more. You definitely get bang for your buck on this one. Where else are you going to to real overdriven tube sound for this price? Plus you have a lot of options for upgrades on this amp. Just buy it and you'll really like it. If this were stolen I'd buy another in a heartbeat.

I think the features have been covered fairly well already in previous reviews so I won't rehash them. But really, this amp isn't about features, it's about tone.

When I bought this amp, I just had some money kicking around and thought that it would be nice to have a tube amp to leave at home to practice with so that I can leave my Rivera KR100 at my band's practice space. I really wasn't expecting a whole lot out of it because of how cheap it was but I have been very pleasantly surprised. It's just got a really great tube tone. They did a fine job of engineering this amp. You have to crank it all of the way up to get overdrive out of it and it really tops out at about a classic crunch amount of gain. To do hard rock or metal you need an OD pedal in front of it. I'm actually running a Genesis 3 into it and it sounds surprisingly good. Just a warning, other reviews have stated that you can crank this think up and it's not that loud, that's not what I've found in my experience. In order to get even a bluesy style overdrive, you have to crank it to at least 5 and once you're up that loud, you're way beyond bedroom volumes. This thing is definitely loud enough to gig with.

Seems to be built solid. I have no opinion as of yet.

No experience yet but I like their website.

This is a very nice amp and I am very glad that I bought it. I keep getting tempted to say that it's a very nice amp "for the money", but that is a little misleading because while that statement is true, it's really just a nice amp period. You just need to remember that this amp doesn't have a lot of gain on tap but it does have a very good core tone which is the most important thing. You can always add OD pedals to achieve the amount of gain that you like. This is the same reason why I love my Rivera KR100, it just has a great core tone. The only thing I wish this had is an effects loop but oh well. I'm definitely going to be watching this amp line and checking out their new releases, especially the 100 watt they've got coming out that you can switch to lower wattages. If that thing sounds as good as this amp with more gain and an effects loop, it could definitely be my dream amp. But I guess we'll have to see.

Made in 2007
I play mostly Rock and Metal, and with its 12AX7 and EL84 tubes, it's got a great Marshall tone.
Only has one channel, but there's a boost footswitch mod available on my website which was designed by Pyotr Belov, the guy who actually designed the amp http://blackheart.rowbinet.co.uk
Great amp for home rehearsal and very small gigs... or mic it through the PA for larger gigs.

I use mostly humbuckers in various guitars, les pauls, SG and Ibanez RG's... It suits my playing style (rock and metal).

As a stand alone amp it rocks... for my style I needed an OD pedal in front of it, but on its own it gives a creat crunch tone!

Clean tones are available, but as there's no master volume, you don't have enough clean headroom to gig with, unless you mic it... but clean is not what this amps about!

My use for this amp was to amplify my Line6 POD X3 Live. for this, I did not want the blackheart to add any more distortion, and I did not want the blackheart speaker in the BH112 cab I got, to colour my PODs sperker simulations... All I wanted the blackheart to do was to add a little real tube tone which I find helps finish off the great tones I get from my POD X3L in a live situation. http://blackheart.rowbinet.co.uk is where you can find out about the simple mods I did, which can be carried out in only a couple of hours. Here's my video demo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebjKIG5-YO8

I gave the score of 9 for tone, as it needed a boost/OD pedal to sound good for my style... But for what it does, it does well. but with my mods and a POD it would be a 10... but of course I can't judge the amp on that for this review.

Blackheart had modifications in mind when they designed this amp. that said, it's really well built inside and out and I doubt many people will ever have an issue... I'd gig with it without a backup, for very small pub gigs.

but I've contacted tech support and they replied quickly and gave me a copy of the schematic for the amp, which is handy for after the amp's warranty has run out, as any amp tech could then service it.

Also after asking a couple of questions, Pyotr Belov (the amp designer) started emailing me with info about modding the amp! great service above and beyond what other companies would give.

Been playing on and off for 11 years, had a few tube amps in my time, and this one is great. good value, definately would replace it is it got stolen... seems a better buy than Epiphone Valve Juniors which are the same price with less features.

Has a single 12ax7 tube, and a single el84 tube, Volume, Bass, Treble, And Mid controlls, single input, a 5w to 3w switch, and 4 speaker inputs in the back, two 4 ohm, one 8 ohm, and one 16 ohm.

This amp sounded suprizingly good. I have allways liked using small amps, but hate crate amps...so i was a little scared, but i plugged into it thinking "what the hell?" and was blown away! even with the cheap chinese made tubes, it sound awesome, but i quickly replaced those with a single fender el84 groove tube, and a jj electronics ecc 803s tube. after doing this, the amp really came alive, I play mostly classic rock, and new age rock, and this amp does it very well. I use a electro harmonix metal muff pedal in front of it, and it sounds awesome. I paid $280 for the head and the matching single 12 cab, and i think it was probably one of the best gear purchases i have made. I use a carvin 100b all tube head for gigging, and this little monster for studio work, and i tell ya, its well worth it.

Well, i've had it for about a week, and so far so good, its been banged around a lil, just from moving it around, and so far so good!

Havnt had to call them, but i do like how they encourage you to mess around with, and mod the amp, so thats cool.

I have played thru many amps, one of my favorites being a 69 fender twin reverb, and also my carvin 100b, and this little guy could hang in there with them, not gonna say that it sounds as good as them, but its right up there. In my opinion, one of the best purchases i have made.

Front -> On/Off, Pentode/Triode, bass, middle, treble and volume. Just right for tone shaping. The only thing missing is a standby switch.

Back -> 2 * 4 Ohm, 2 * 8 Ohn & 1 * 16 Ohm jacks. This is a great feature! The jacks are wired in parallel, so it is a little confusing, but if you have two 16 ohm cabs they plug into the 8 ohm jacks or if you have two 8 ohm cabs they plug into the 4 ohm jacks. No messing with splitters or Ys! Changing cabinets and speaker combinations takes all of 10 seconds.

Pentode - The Little Giant sounds very good. The clean sweet spot is at about 4 or 5 and the crunch comes on as you turn up the volume.

Triode - Sounds muffled and needs to be turned up past about 7 to get bloom and harmonics.

I am still running the OEM tubes, but I bought the BH5 as a platform for EL84/6BQ5 tubes where one of a pair rattles or is micro. I have dozens of pairs for a Vox AC15CC1 and Dr Z Maz Jr that have been set aside because one of the pair rattles.

The Little Giant has nice rich full tone that is comparable to much more expensive amplifiers and it produces the tone a lower volume than either the Maz Jr or AC15.

I have been playing it through an Avatar Vintage 112 open back with a Celestion 12H30 70th Anniversary. Great bottom end, nice sparkle/chime, spacious room filling sound and a an agressive blues rock growl when turned up.

The BH5 is designed as a hot rodders platform. I first heard of the amplifier when I saw a P2P upgrade kit on the Mojo web site. Additionally, I have had very good expieriences changing to Mercury Magnetics transformers in a a Fender Champ 12 and Fender Pro Junior. When I bought the BH5, I figure another ~$100 for a MM output transformer and maybe the Mojo P2P kit (its all wired except the controls). After playing through the BH5, I am happy with the stock amplifier for lower volume playing at home. The only thing I will change is putting in a couple of NOS tubes.

Considering the price, the sound quality is a bargain.

No issues. Even with a screw up. I turned on the BH5 and when it was ready to go realized the cover was on the cabinet. While taking off the cover, I inadvertantly pulled out the jack. The BH5 had no load for about 20-30 seconds before I realized what was going on and hit power off. It does not seem to have affected the amp.

I have not tried to contact Blackheart Engineering. Their web site is very irreverant and entertaining with some good sound clips. No user manual in the box. I had to go to the web site to get a PDF of the user manual and verify how to use the output jacks. Good thing I looked, plugging two 8 ohm cabinets into the two 8 ohm jacks would have been a mistake.

I was always intrigued by the Epiphone Valve Junior, but dissuaded by the lack of tone controls and component based Mercury Magnetics upgrade kit. Soldering on circuit boards is not my cup of tea. When I saw the Mojo P2P assembled upgrade kit and a description of the BH5, I did a little research. I found a review describing the design process where the amplifier was orginally built and optimized as a P2P. Once the design was complete, it was migrated to a printed circuit board using high quality components and robust PCB traces. It was design specifically to facilitate tweakers and hot rodders and supposedly the designer is involved in setting up the production process. This all made sense to me and sounds like a very well executed plan.

I was hooked. For $150, I had to have one. Apparently, a lot of other people had to have one also because I ordered one in late November. The original shipping projection was early December, then it moved to early January. In the most serendipitous of events, it arrived Christmas Eve. There is a Santa Claus!

I am very happy with my BH5. It is off the scale when it comes to the bang for your buck.

The Blackheart Little Giant BH5H is a 5 watt, single-ended, class A amp sporting a 12AX7 preamp tube and an EL84 tube power tube. It comes in both head and 1x12 combo versions. The amp has a full 3-band tone stack, a Pentode/Triode switch and PLENTY of gain (maybe too much - see below). The output transformer is beefy enough. I even like the stock Chinese EL84 tube.

Out of the box - 7. After a few mods - 9.

The amp was designed by Pyotr Belov, the same guy who designed the Epiphone Valve Junior so I know many people will want to know how they compare. I think the Blackheart sounds a bit better out of the box.

A lot of people (without yet hearing the amp) have conjectured that the full tone stack probably sucks too much gain. I am here to testify that it does not! In fact, I think there is a bit too much level going into the 2nd stage of the preamp tube and the amp sounds better with a lower gain preamp tube like a 12AT7. I have tried several different new and NOS EL84 tubes but I actually like the stock Chinese tube. It is loose and greasy when overdriven. Even with a 12AT7, there is still plenty of guts to overdrive the power tube.

The only other negative is that the treble is a bit ???hard??? sounding (but not ice picky). The high end can easily be sweetened by changing the treble cap to a lower value silver mica. Like most subtractive filters, the tone stack imparts a subtle ???phase shift signature???. This is not necessarily bad but even set relatively flat, you know it is there.

I like the Triode/Pentode switch. In the Triode 3 watt mode, the amp has less gain, more compression and is a bit more ???tweed???. I would not trade this function for a standby switch.

I haven???t tried the matching Blackheart Eminence speakers. I am told there are two different ones - one Britished voiced for a closed back cab, and one American voiced for the open back combo. I did try several other speakers including some of my current favorites ??? 12??? ceramic Weber Blue Dog, and an EVM12L Classic reissue (great speaker!)

Seems very well built with a sturdy cab, circuit board and output transformer.

I have exchanged emails with various support people and even had a nice phone call with Pyotr Belov. They supplied me with schematics and layout diagrams. They seem very supportive of the modding community.

The circuit board is a great platform for modding with decent components, wide spacing and robust traces. It has more, firmer bass. The output transformer is about twice the size of the EVJ. If you intend on modding, you will probably not need to replace the OT.

I have modded both of the EVJ and Blackheart amps in the direction that I think they naturally want to go. The EVJ tends toward Vox, while the Little Giant leans more toward Marshall. The EVJ is mahogany and the Little Giant is Swamp Ash.

What a great value! Can't wait to try the combo and other Blackheart amps to follow.

I won't rehash the features, but I'll note that I boughtthe Blackheart to replace an Epiphone Blues junior that has nice crucnh, but was kind of limited base don the lack of any tone controls. The full bass/middle/treble controls plus the 3/5 watt swicth make this amp very versatile.

Great sound, particularly for $149! I use mine with a Strat as well as a couple of humbucker equipped guitars. I love the clean, brilliant tones you can get at moderate volume with the 3 watt setting, and cranked, it has the real tube mojo. Very flexible, and enough volume for any small setting, especially with an efficient 12" speaker.

Well... the first unit I bought died very quickly. I sent it back to Musician's Friend, and received a replacement that I'm burning in as I type. Seems pretty good so far. I suspect the other one may have had a shorted transformer winding.

Been playing off and on for 30+ years. I love this little amp for its style, sound, and versatility. I think if it was stolen I'd replace it, even if I had to sell my old Fender Champ!

I own two Epiphone Valve Junior heads (version 2 & 3) and decided to have Santa deliver me one of these new heads from Crate. My main reason was the addition of tone knobs and the 5/3 switch (no standby switch--bummer). This amp fits well in my collection of small-wattage amps/heads.

I play blues-rock and she works great. Like I mentioned above, the thing has a tone that makes her a great companion to the Epiphone Valve Junior.

So far so good.

I have not had to go this route yet.....

A few minor goofs on the white piping (uneven) is all that I can rag on this amp. I play music that wishes to be in the same veign as SRV, Page, Rhoads, etc....All guitarists should own a small head like this or the Epiphone or both (so reasonable on $ and EASY to mod). I use a Marshall 4X12 140-watt cab with Celestions in a 900 square foot apartment and she sounds like heaven. I plan on buying the Epiphone 1X12 cabinet as well as the Blackheart 1X12 cab sometime next year. This will give me two small half-stacks for my home studio.

The features are limited, but very well done. It's switchable between 3 and 5 watts; has bass, middle, and treble tone controls (along with a single volume); and, it has FIVE speaker outputs (2x4ohm, 2x8ohm, and 1x16ohm) making it compatible with just about any speaker cab.

This thing sounds great! I bought it on a whim, fully prepared to be disappointed given that it cost only $150. I like lower-powered amps and I own some nice ones, including the THD UniValve, Soldano Astroverb, Dr.Z Carmen Ghia, and Gibson GA-5. Now, I'm not saying the Blackheart is as good as these amps, but I have to tell you, tone-wise, it's right up there. The overdrive is very smooth and musical, perfect for blues and classic rock. Even when fully cranked, it cleans up nicely, while retaining overall volume, simply by turning down the guitar. IMO, it would be loud enough to gig with at smaller venues. I've experimented with different 1x12 and 2x12 cabs, and various guitars and effects, and so far, it's handled everything equally well.

It's hard to believe you can buy something like this for only $150 (geez, a lot of my pedals cost more than that), so you gotta wonder?! However, the Blackheart looks and feels well constructed. The transformers are hefty, the tube sockets are chassis mounted, the jacks and pots feel secure. I'm not crazy about the overstated logo and piping (kind of garish IMO), but it certainly does not have a "cheap" appearance.

I've been playing 30+ years and own all kinds of amps and guitars. At this price, you can't afford not to buy a Blackheart. Suffice it to say, I'm blown away by this little amp -- it's really cool, sounds great, and is just loads of fun to play!

This is a small tube amp with great features. made in 2007 5watt and 3watt, 3 band EQ, a choice of 16 ohm, 8ohm, or 4ohm output. 1 channel and one volume control.

I have been playing 30 yrs classic rock and blues and this is the best sounding amp i have ever played. I been trying to find that overdrive tube tone at bedroom volumes and this amp does it. At the 5watt it can get very loud but at the 3 watt you can get that tube sound at suitable bedroom volume. I also use a blackstone mosefet overdrive pedal and the combo real makes the best sound I ever had.

it look very well made but have not had it long enough to tell

never have used it

If lost I would go buy another one ASAP.

Looks good in the ad Custumer service is HORRIBLE

Looks like it sounds good in the ads customer service is HORRIBLE

Would never look for any kind of service from theese clowns.

The customer service is TERRIBLE HORIBLE BAD. I Tried Emailing to find out where I could buy one and got no reply, so I called and got put on hold way too long and like a dummy I called back and was transferred to a lady who said she was with Blackheart. I asked her where I could purchase one or two of these cool looking little half stacks? and I was told buy her that they don't have records of what dealers they where sent because they just come from china and to go back to the web page and put my zip code in the dealer locator. I did and I called everyone in my area plus a couple others and 100% of the dealers did not even know they where Dealers.Music& Arts in Mclean Va and Rocketeria in Md did offer to try and order one for Me Imagine that a bit of Customer service at Two Dealers yea to them. There Dealer locator also includes no Dealer phone numbers or links to there web site. When somebody get's these amps I hope they are great $250.00 throw away amps cause I doubt you will get any help from these people.

Single ended 12AX7/EL84 Class 'A' 5w pentode/3w triode switchable tube amp head, manufactured in 2007. Similar in size and cabinet design to the Epi Valve Jr., but with the addition of low/mid/high tone controls, and the switch for selecting 5w or 3w mode. Rear apron outputs include dual 4 ohm, dual 8 ohm, and single 16 ohm 1/4" jacks. The rating compares it to other amps in its class.

The head is driving a single 12" Eminence Wizard (103db sensitivity) in a closed-back cabinet. Guitars include single coils, P90's, and humbuckers. The inclusion of the tone stack greatly increases the amp's usability with an entire spectrum of guitar and pickup types, with plenty of high end reserve to compensate for muddy humbuckers. The amp breaks up evenly and predictably as volume is increased. The resulting distortion is warm and smooth, and easily controlled by pick attack and guitar volume changes. It reacts magnificently to my Digitech Bad Monkey pedal, especially when the pedal is used at minimum gain with an increased output level, effectively acting as a clean boost, pushing the amp into singing sustain territory.
If there is any weakness, bass output is somewhat less than expected. To be fair in this regard, though, the Wizard is far from a bass-heavy speaker, and the cabinet it is housed in is of minimal size. The bass output may come alive with a larger cabinet.

Everything about the build of this little amp seems top-notch. All controls and jacks are 'pro' quality and feel. There is every reason to think it will fare well. The rating is speculative.

Marketed by Crate/Loud Technologies. No experience with them.

This does not generate monster sound levels... and that is not its intended purpose. It is designed to create the tone that only a tube can create... at a volume that is usable in a home or recording environment. It does that VERY well, indeed. Having said that, 5 "tube watts" is loud enough to use the amp by itself in an intimate, "less-than-full-out" rehearsal or small gig situation, and I look forward to having a chance to mic the cabinet in a 'live' situation, as the QUALITY of the tone is outstanding, and should mic up very well. There are many low-wattage amps out there, but probably none that combine the sound, features, and quality of the Blackheart... and provide them at the Blackheart's street price.