Specifications

Manufacturer:
Blackheart Engineering, blackhearteng.com

List Price:
BH100H, $899.99; BH412SL Slanted Cabinet, $549.99

Originally published in Guitar World, February 2010

Blackheart's Hothead 100 offers an absurd number of useable and satisfying British-inspired gain and response styles by way of Class A and AB power alongside pentode or triode tube utilization.

Blackheart Engineering shocked the music world a few years ago with its line of “budget boutique” combos and mini stacks. The very idea that an Asian-built amp could perform on par with expensive, hand-built instruments was anathema to everything held sacred by the high-end amp community. The amps’ attributes were no “happy accident”; they’re the result of specialized manufacturing and design concepts from amp guru, Pyotr Belov, who models many of the Blackhearts after his own point-to-point masterpieces.

Now the company has entered the high-wattage division with the all-tube, 100-watt Hothead 100 amp. This flagship model couples the Blackhearts’ established aural charms with power options and voices that make it suitable for any venue and stylistic requirement.

FEATURES

Blackheart designed the Hothead 100 to produce the sound and feel of a huge range of tones—from vintage cleans and crunch to modern rhythm tones and hot leads. It accomplished this with brilliantly applied power options that allow the Hothead’s sound to remain organic and pure.

Users select any combination of either Class A or AB power along with triode or pentode tube operation. Depending on the setting, the power output can be 30, 50, 60 or 100 watts. Additionally, each permutation delivers its own dynamics, feel and harmonic spectrum. The preamp is divided into two comically, but appropriately, named channels: Loud and F’N Loud. Each channel has its own gain, volume, bass, middle and treble controls, and the amp has global controls for volume and presence.

The Hothead 100’s quartet of JJ brand EL34s is supported by six JJ 12AX7s and gives the amp decidedly British flavors. Everything used to construct this amp is high quality, from the 13-ply void-free 18mm-thick plywood, to finger-jointed cab construction, to the 16-gauge chassis, perfectly applied black Tolex, white piping, double-woven grille cloth, and top-shelf switching, pots and jacks. Blackheart even uses double-sided PCB boards and heavy copper traces, because they want the amp to be easily modifiable, should owners want to. As a bonus, the Hothead ships with a two-button footswitch that offers channel select and effect on/off.

The effect loop is tube driven and can be switched between Series and Parallel modes. Send and return level controls are placed beside their corresponding jacks. Blackheart has cabinet connections covered, too, with two four-ohm, two eight-ohm and one 16-ohm output. And if you run the head into the matching Blackheart 4x12, you’ll be treated to the barking brilliance of Blackheart’s codesigned Eminence speakers.

PERFORMANCE

The Hothead can sound like a number of vintage, modified vintage and contemporary British amplifiers. There’s no real difference in tonal character between the two channels, but the F’N Loud side makes more gain and compression available.

Using the Loud channel at half power in Class A, the Hothead delights with sparkling treble, while the feel remains loose and spongy. Switching to full power introduces a juicy layer of overdrive and allows notes to sing and compress easily. This channel will even mimic an American-style clean tone with the mids on zero and the drive below nine o’clock. When the Loud channel is in full power in Class AB, top notes become rounder, response time quickens and lows punch with serious authority. This channel’s definition, note imaging and authentic British voices alone warrant the amp’s price.

With the F’N Loud channel, you can dial in some Class A sweetness and squishy triode feel but also push the gain so that it sustains almost infinitely and introduces blooming swells of harmonic feedback. F’N Loud is also capable of becoming a vicious modern metal channel when set to full power and the Class AB setting.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Blackheart's Hothead 100 offers an absurd number of useable and satisfying British-inspired gain and response styles by way of Class A and AB power alongside pentode or triode tube utilization.

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