[Musikmesse] Blackheart BH100H

According to Blackheart, the new BH100H “Hothead” ($649.99 U.S. street price, shipping in May) from Blackheart Engineering takes the basic plug-and-play attitude of a world-class, 100-watt workhorse head, then shoves in enough jaw-dropping features to make it the most flexible amp in its class, not to mention several classes up.

Two power modes (Class AB and Class A) divisible by pentode (full power) and triode (half power) operation.

Two switches — Class and Power .

• Class AB/Pentode: 100W
  
• Class AB/Triode: 50W, tighter headroom, crisper gain,
  
• Class A/Pentode: 60W, lots of headroom before overdrive
  
• Class A/Triode: 30W, less headroom, more responsive to attack

And a tuned EQ section, master volume and master presence controls.

Hothead has two channels (Loud and, ahem, F’n Loud), each selectable by a mini toggle on the faceplate or remotely via the included footswitch, and each voiced through its own dedicated EQ section.

The Loud channel (aka “One”) is voiced to range from crisp cleans to classic rock and heavy blues tones. Its controls include drive, level, treble, middle and bass. The F’n Loud channel (aka “Two”) is voiced to capture classic crunch to sweet overdriven lead tones, all shapeable via pots for gain, level, treble, middle and bass.

Both channels share a tube driven effects loop that can be run in series or parallel modes (selectable by mini toggle on the amp’s rear panel) and then hard bypassed, doubling as a footswitch-activated boost. Send and return controls act as expected.

When the effects loop is on, the blue LED on the footswitch lights up. When using the effects loop as a boost, use the hard bypass selection. Then, when you turn the effects loop on (the blue LED lights), decrease your send and/or return level to create a non-boosted level.

Other Hothead amenities include: a solid state rectifier; DC powered filaments (preamp) for solid, quiet operation; 16-gauge, 1.5mm rugged chassis construction with folded and welded corners; one 16-ohm, two eight-ohm and two four-ohm output jacks, plus a 1/4-inch line out; and a rugged cabinet constructed of durable 15-ply, 18mm, void-free plywood.

With power handlings rated at 300 watts, both cabs have an input impedance of 16 ohms and sport parallel 1/4-inch input jacks to daisy chain multiple speaker cabinets from a single source.

For more information, visit their web site at http://www.blackhearteng.com/.