Got around to cranking out with this puppy this afternoon finally; all comments based on running the head through a pair of the Blackheart 1X12 cabs with the Eminence "Blackheart Special Design" 12s, which I'm still trying to figure out relate to which "regular" Eminence model; definitely "British-voiced" 12s....
1.) Much like the 5 watt head that Blackheart puts out, the stock no-name "China" tubes that come in it are barely adequate; they're loud, but dimed out the EL84s oversatuarate and personally I don't care for the way that distortion sounds, although some people (Metalheads?) might. A GrooveTube EL84=S duet set fixes this issue.
2.) Have played around with a number of different preamp tubes, thought I was going to wind up using the Sovtek 12AX7WBs I use in the 5 watter, but after auditioning those, some different flavors of GT 12AX7s and some vintage GE Fender OEM 12AX7s, what I left in the head before putting the back panel back on is a pair of GT ECC83s. The ECC83s seem to work best in both triode and pentode mode at max volume to my ear, you get all the balls out of the amp, but all "crunch" without any breakup.
3.) Bass/Mid/Treble controls all work as usual, nothing to note there.
4.) The Presence control is great, but at max volume rolls a little too much treble into the tone for my tastes if set above the 1 o'clock position; if you're into "icepick in the ear" you can dial that up until you can't stand it anymore.
5.) I was expecting the Level/Drive controls to work somewhat like a "Gain/Volume" or "Volume/Master" setup. but it's really a lot different than that. Level is simply Volume, you can just permanently leave that in the dimed position. While the Drive control DOES add some additional volume, maybe like 3-5 dB going from the 5 to the 10 position, it really should be more accurately labeled "Balls" and seems to up the saturation of the EL84 power tubes. No one has posted a copy of the schematic of this amp yet, but it should be pretty interesting.
6.) Corollary to item 5.) above, and true of most all tube amps, leave the the Level on 10, dial up max "Balls" as desired with the Drive control and actually control your volume level from your guitar volume pot(s).
7.) Like it's predecessor, it's solidly/heavily built like a tank and should stand up to years of hard gigging.
8.) At $349 ($299 if you were smart enough to pre-order) it's buck for buck the best value out there, hands down, even when you factor in another $40 bucks for the tubes upgrade. Played through the same speaker setup, you can get the same PLUS a wider range of tones given the controls, than you would with "boutique" amps like the Dr. Z Carmen Ghia/MAZ-18 Jr. NR or even the Marshall 18/20 watt "handwires" or their clones all of which will run you at least a grand or better MORE.
9.) It often gets overlooked, but you CAN dial the amp controls back and get some real nice clean tube tone as well with this amp; with the 7/15 watt triode/pentode mode switching and voicings available, there's damn near nothing you couldn't do in the studio with this amp, and in 15 watt mode it's loud enough for most smaller clubs if plugged into efficient speakers.
10.) The ONLY thing it doesn't have is reverb, and that's why God invented pedals....
Note: Although the above might sound like an ad,I DON'T work for Crate/Blackheart, if I did I wouldn't have had to be on backorder for 8 months.....
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