Genz Benz Black Pearl-30 2x12" Combo

Very basic layout, single channel but oh so many tonal options. Reverb, and the very useful 'Boost' function. Effects loop is pretty much useless unless you have a line mixer to get your levels right.

Wow, what an amp. LOVES single coil guitars. I generally lean towards the Les Paul through a Marshall camp. I have several vintage Gibson, Gretsch, Epiphone guitars. I am stunned at how delicious this thing is with a Strat or Tele. I NEVER gigged without a humbucker equipped guitar before, and NEVER played a Strat for more than a song or two over the course of the night. This amp made me rethink that. Recently filled in with my brothers classic rock band, played a Strat ALL night long. Only need a pedal or two, can cover all styles of music easily and with a very pleasing tone that cuts through. All I can say is it really inspires you to play, and I have several vintage amplifiers as well, INCLUDING an old Vox. This amp is a very good choice for anyone who needs a simple amp that is versatile and toneful. Looks cool as well.

Well, I bought it second hand and it needs tubes. The reverb send and return are tube driven. Had an issue with a feedback problem in this area, get the 'verb over 12:00 and it howled like a mother. Otherwise no problems. Built like a friggin' tank. By the way, see below on the reverb issue.....

Emailed Genz-Benz and within a week they emailed me back on how to correct the problem, including a little warning about the tube guards/retainers on the tubes. Seems they 'loc-tite' them in when they ship them, and if you don't use a correct size phillips head on them they easily strip out, leaving you with the very serious problem of 'how the hell am I going to get this out of here'. Nice guys, very knowledgeable and not condescending at all. They care. Try that with just about any modern manufacturer. These guys are in the business of satisfying customers, not selling you another amp. Although I would buy another one of their products in a second...

Great amp. Great sounds. Reliable. What else is there? Try this kind of satisfaction with the current crop of Fender or Marshall gear out there...

This is a single-channel amp, but for being what it is, the features are excellent. Decent 4-band EQ; the Treble & Top dials are pretty good at sculpting your higher frequencies. The Middle is the most versatile of the EQ's - it has a broader shaping capability on the tone, which can be scooped-out to give you more chime, or rolled on heavy for alot of 'in your face' presence. The 5-position Voicing dial is good for EQ'ing the guitar; brighter guitars benefit from the bottom 3 positions, while a darker guitar can benefit from the top 2 positions, which enhance the highs. The reverb is okay - nothing special. I keep it around 9-10 AM...any more & you're playing in Lurray Caverns. You've got a Channel and Master Volume; lower the channel vol, crank the master, and you've got alot of headroom. You've got an ADJUSTABLE-dial boost too, that's foot-switchable....this is GOOD. (It pisses me off that so many of these "boutique" amp makers just throw in a simple fixed switch boost...a total rip-off.) On the rear panel, you've got two power switches ... one for 2 tube/4 tube usage, and one for pentode/triode useage. You can run 30 watt/15 wat/8 watt AND at either 2 or 4 power tubes in the lower settings! Power section has 4 EL84 tubes. 1 rectifier tube. 12AX7 phase inverter. FX loop (no Level dial....BAD.) My model is the 2x12" combo, with two Eminence Red Fang's - great speakers.

This amp has sweet harmonics. It's got ALOT of headroom, for 30 watts. The overdrive comes on smoothly, and there's alot of adjustability here, with the gain/master vol, adjustable boost, and power switches. The sound doesn't have that typical two-channel "Brit" / "Tweed" texture that alot of the other higher-end tube amps have; it's less chunky, and more smooth. (Because of this, i feel the amp's better suited for blues, jazz, country.) If you want Brit chunk, you can try running different OD pedals through the front end when the amp's clean; like any amp, some pedals work better than others....it's more what you're looking for, 'cuz this amp can take pedals pretty well, in general. BUT, having said this, there's no real "chunk" here. The reverb sounds just so-so. If you need some background reverb, keep it at 9 AM or so. The pentode/triode switch is VERY nice .... it brings the loudness down, and gives you an alternate texture to the sound. The Voicing dial gives you quick eq'ing for your guitar. I steer clear of the FX loop in this amp; it seems to suck tone too much. When i've tried to boost the signal via the outboard device, the tone can get too fizzy. It really needs a Level dial to help compensate. If you've got modulation or delays, they're best through the front end.... IMO.

Solid, heavy, well-built, with quality components. I haven't had it on the road, but i'd say from my experience, it'd hold up pretty well. BUT .... my amp has a noticable "buzz" when playing loud. I've looked over the tube retainers, and they all seem tight, but they may be vibrating on the EL84's. To tell you the truth, i haven't pursued this problem to a solution yet, because my situation with this amp isn't overly demanding - no live performance or recording standards to meet right now. But i'll definitely have to resolve this ringing/"buzzing"/"rattling" issue if/when my needs become more stringent. ALSO -- when i first had this amp, i had extreme fizziness when moderately cranked. Later....the fizziness WENT AWAY. Tech support and I concluded that it was tube-related (i think a pre-amp tube was borderline seated.) I've never had an amp "correct" itself before ... maybe i should give high marks for this :-)

They're responsive via e-mail; and they offered to replace my tubes - which i didn't follow through with because my fizz issue cleared up. Beyond this, i can't say.

I'll give an "8" because the amp is well-built, and pretty versatile....primarily for the price. At $1,500 for the 2x12", i think it's a pretty good buy. Frankly, you're be hard-pressed to find a better deal in the 2x12" class-A tube amp field, even though you've got only one channel here. The variable boost feature makes up for some of that, because alot of players use their 2nd channel primarily for a boosted lead, which is covered here. (An alternative would of course be a good OD pedal.) But, if you need to move between a separately-voiced clean and an overdriven tone, this amp won't do it.

In a nutshell: one of the best amp's i've ever owned. This is a class-A, all-tube fiesta in a box. The 2x12" combo gives a rich, full-bodied stereo-like sound. Equiped with 2 12" "Red Fangs" ... one of THE BEST 12" speakers you can play. Never muddy; always clear, tight and smooth. The amp is feature-laden ... but WELL-designed, with carefull thought put into the USEFUL features that players need for gigging. The max wattage is more than adequate for rehearsing and live play .... ALOT of clean headroom @ 30 watts, which is crucial for sculpting tone. (Just roll-back the channel vol and dime the master, and you'll see.) Two rear-panel switches provide multiple-wattage settings, as well as the "pentode-triode" feature, which allows all four power tubes to run at lower wattage (nifty). The front panel is simple yet very functional: (channel) volume/gain + master volume; FOUR-band EQ - Bass, Mid, Treble AND a "Top" dial, which gives the player more flexibility with the higher-Mid's and lower Highs than the typical 3-band layout; a 5-way "Voicing" switch, which gives the player more flexibility when fitting different guitars to the amp; a foot-switchable "Boost" circuit that's fully adjustable - can be used much more flexibly than a typical "on/off" pre-set "boost" button (footswitch included); rear-panel speaker connection via a JACK ... so the player can use the BP-30 as an extension cab as well as a combo; Pre-amp OUT / Power amp IN. The ONLY drawback one MAY see in this BP-30 is that it's a single-channel amp. But that is up to the individual and how they construct their rig. I have most of my flexibility in my stomp chain; that, coupled with the BP-30's Boost ftsw, really doesn't end up as a drawback at all for me.

In a word - EXCELLENT. The harmonic content in this baby is to die for. It's a true class-A design, and will deliver-up the sweetest, smoothest tones that any player in the Blues/Rock/Jazz/Country genre's will need. The amp serves me as the perfect back-end complement to my front-end stomp/effects chain. The clean, smooth, fat tones are what you need. When you're more into playing straight into the amp, to eccentuate the qualities of your different guitars, the BP-30 is THERE. You can coax your single-coils to ring and chime as sweet ear-candy. Your 'buckers will snarl and grind to sweet perfection, at a variety of gain levels. This baby covers both coasts with equal zeal.....the Fender lover will savour their chiming Strat's, and the Vox lover will sing & grind to tonal orgasm.

So far, so good. I've only had it a few months, and am VERY careful with all my gear. I will say this: i had an initial problem with high-"Fizz", which i chalked-up to a bad v1 pre-amp tube; swapping it out solved that. Oh yeah .... here's something else you can try for variations in tone ... try swapping the 12AX7 in the v1 position with a 12AT7 or 12AY7. This amp seems to be particularly sensitive to its first tube in the circuit, so you may be able to come up with something even more to your liking than the stock tube. (To Genz-Benz's credit, they use JJ power tubes too. I continue to be surprised at how many high-end amp makers use inferior tubes in their TUBE amps ... go figure ?!?!)

Genz-Benz was very responsive while i was dealing with my "Fizz" issue. They have a reputation for good support.

I have to give high marks to this amp, thus far. It's well-built, sounds excellent, and uses quality components throughout. Oh, one thing you might run across on the forums....the amp's design using PCB's. To me, this is a PLUS, not a minus, as it increases reliability, and eliminates the dreaded "component drift" issue which has always plagued manufactuers.....AND players. (I don't get how some people would consider all this "point-to-point", HAND-WIRED stuff to be more reliable than a consistent, milspec-designed PCB. THINK ABOUT IT ..... do YOU really want to buy an expensive amp from an amp-wirer who just got divorced and is battling his ex over alimony ... not ME ! I've got enough problems to worry about, without THAT one....)