Blackheart Handsome Devil + Fender Blues Junior Shootout

[fotillas]

The Blackhearts have a really great speaker as well.... I tried the little giant a few months ago and then plugged it into a marshall 4x12 cabinet.... I liked Blackheart's a lot more

[St9ler]

Haha.. you thumb, I laughed.

[derosa504]

the blackheart sounds like a70's marshall jmp50 combo i had years ago. not much like a blues deluxe at all. Try running the blues junior with less master vol and more regular volume, walk that fine line between clean and dirty, it will round out the highs and that's where the bj sound the best to me. If that doesnt work for you, Return the bj and try a peavey delta blues 1x15. big beautiful clean sound, usable dirty sound, a little more power, no boxiness at all. for the same price as the bj.

[jay2rocks]

i just got a blues junior, and was sadly dissapointed the cleans with a strat sound much too trebly for my taste, and i was looking for the open sound of my blues deluxe, i was wondering if the blackheart can give that nice open sound i love?

[Ilovemyfender2]

Handsome devil is more open sounding, but with some mods the blues jr could sound a lot better than it.

[hugoalfa]

@Ilovemyfender2 But I would like to remind you that the blackheart got more mods that the jr, and some of them are totally badass, as the bitmo triple bypass : )

[bladerunner12]

I was digging the Blues Junior until you whacked in the OCD. The Handsome Devil sounds great boosted.

[JesusWorship7]

Fender blues by far the best!!!!!

[eduf93]

How much costs the blackheart? It can handle some smaller gigs right?

[derosa504]

@eduf93 about 300 bucks on ebay , it will handle smaller gigs if your band doesnt get carried away, it keeps up with a moderate rock and roll drummer.

[Shaharazad221]

@derosa504 I realize this post is a year old, but for posterity: I own the BH 15 halfstack and it can easily hold up to a drummer with sheer volume, even at 7 watt settings if your drummer isn't a madman. The ultimate issue though is that the speakers are closed back enclosures, so this means that the bulk of the volume will be sent in one intense cone. So, yes, this amp can hold it's own, but ideally I would want to mic it in a club, or use multiple cabs to spread the sound.

[GuitarRock6]

@Shaharazad221 Can we change the valves and put something that stay clean more longer ?

[chibisven]

@eduf93 if you moniter your amp, you could gig with a 5watt. This is a technique I use a lot when I don't want my amp to be seen like when I play at my church. Old School mentality says never monitor guitars, but I say put it behind a sound wall and monitor away

[goyatley]

@chibisven What do you mean by "put it behind a soundwall"? Do you literally mean keep the micd amp speaker away from the monitor speakers so the outputs don't mix in the audience's ear? Or am I missing a veteran in-crowd piece of knowledge? Nice demo by the way, I like the handsome devil.

[socccero]

@goyatley A soundwall is very usefull when you gig. i put my amp behind a plexiglass "wall" and mic them so the sound of the amp goes directly to the PA. and so it is not important that the amp is loud.

[chibisven]

@chibisven yeah, the big boys (not talking about me) often will put amps that are either too loud or too quiet in a separate area or behind sound dividers. If you're using a Dual Rec in a small club you'll blow it up and if you're playing a stadium no one is going to hear that AC30 anyway.... I know it seems less "true" but if you have even a decent sound guy your audience won't be missing any of your killer tone.

[satjathamma]

so which one you think sound best?

[derosa504]

@satjathamma currentrly i use my bluesjunior live. they are both real nice, guess it depends on the needs. little more clean headroom on the blues junior in my experience. less low volume boxy tone with blackheart. , but the boxyness is gone when i play with the blues junior at gig volume.

[popomczowzow]

@derosa504

great demo! I had to subscribe

Anyways, quick question- how high do you turn the volume/mastervol for "gigging volume" on the blues jr? also, how do the amps handle fuzz pedals?

[eukicos]

what overdrive pedal is that?

[TheLuEx]

Hey :)

What are you playing in 5:20 - 6:11 ? It sounds very cool.

It´s a song?

Tank you ;)

[derosa504]

@TheLuEx i was hackin zztop (lagrange ) great tune! especially when billy gibbons plays it. check it out. i remember reading an interview with billy g and he mentioned that the borrowed that riff straight out of an old blues tune. cant remember which one. ill try to look it up.

[TheLuEx]

@derosa504

thanks :)

[jimmy5634]

Thanks for the demo. Blues Junior has better"cleans and is more ballsy on the distorted side. Blackheart is still a nice sounding amp.

[Gray2Serge]

What settings on the blackheart?

[4tomhenry]

true!... but I am pedal heavy now... I like 'color' to paint with, but dont want to go broke buying paint ... would rather get the painting finished ... :) Nice amp anyhow and nice demo you did here..Thanks!

[rrippp]

The OCD is a quality dirt-box judging by this demo.

[4tomhenry]

I like the sound of the blackheart BUT I gottsta have reverb??

[rrippp]

@4tomhenry U could always get reverb from a pedal. Thats what i plan to do when I get my blackheart

[hendrixvsslash]

Can you make clean demo of the BH12 ? I'd like to know if he has a good clean.

[derosa504]

I grabbed some video at rehearsal and posted it . blackheart bh15 clean

[coughlintm]

how is the handsome devil for gettin a hendrix tone?

[derosa504]

it's basic tone is voiced closer to an old marshall. more mids and highs, with a few pedals and a strat youll get close. a uzz, a wah, a delay, and maybe a coolcat vibe pedal. good luck!

[derosa504]

i posted a hendrix hack video with the bh15 it's real rough, but you can get an idea what it sounds like.

[derosa504]

yes, a little bit , more clean headroom too. but they both perform well next to a moderate drummer.

[derosa504]

bedroom levels the amp has separate volume and gain controlls. if you're familiar with the way the master volume jumps on the blues junior,(gets loud quick) the blackheart does not do it. you can dial it in easier, and with the 7 watt setting it will hit the sweet spot sooner. nice for recording. the tone reminds me of the early marshalls ( jmp) think acdc. to get to hair band marshall type you need a pedal. enjoy

[derosa504]

i want to post another vid now that ive spent some time with the blackheart.

I feel i could have made it sound a little better. Had it screamin at a gig too with my other guitar player playing the blues jr. i missed the sound of a larger cabinet when my bass player stopped playing, but both amps sat in the mix beautifully,

[dyrupita]

thanks, quite useful to me

[Gsimmons9]

Hey thanks for this demo, i think it will help a lot of beginners getting their first tube amp. Aaaand its the Blues Junior winning hands down (even stock), and after modding it even with new tubes and a new speaker its a REALLY good amp.

[derosa504]

i agree Gs , i should have shown the amps gain with no pedal. the blackheart does a better marshall impersonation. it gets a real nice crunch especially on the seven watt setting. other than that, the blues junior seemed shine overall.volume + reverb (if u like reverb)

[Fouterosholygrail]

how loud do you need to get the blackheart to do those marshall sounds?tell me about the volume knob please.thanks

[derosa504]

to get acdc type driveout of the blackheart, you dont need much volume. think classic 70's marshall jmp. heavier hairband 80.s rock will need a pedal. with both volume and gain knobs you can dial it in early, + 7 watt gets you to the sweet spot at a lower volume.

[BassRacerx]

so the blues jr is louder?