Blackheart killer ant stack
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Silly_Sam
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I have the head and i'm playing it through the speakers of my peavey 2x12 combo. Even with the stock tubes it sounds killer. But the thing is, it's almost impossible to get a clean sound from it. And the only knob that it has is not really a volume, but its more like a gain control.
singlecut
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cool, my kind of amp.
i'm trading a chainsaw i rebuilt for 1 tomorrow.
i'll be into it for $45.00
Silly_Sam
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Awesome, I'm sure you won't be disappointed by it...oh, I forgot to tell you that it's made in china
LedR
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I have the Blackheart Little Giant and although I love it, it's too loud. I'm a student and live with my parents at the moment, so I have to be quiet. But when they leave home, I ALWAYS crank it up. 
I saw the Blackheart Killer Ant and it seems to be perfect for my needs.
http://www.thomann.de/gb/blackheart_killer_ant_head_bh1h.htm
What do you think of it?
Has anyone here compared it with it's bigger brother, Blackheart Little Giant BH5H?
I saw the Blackheart Killer Ant and it seems to be perfect for my needs.
http://www.thomann.de/gb/blackheart_killer_ant_head_bh1h.htm
What do you think of it?
Has anyone here compared it with it's bigger brother, Blackheart Little Giant BH5H?
NSCS
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I have one, works great for me. At max vol I can talk over it, about as loud as a TV.
With the stock tubes, there is basically no clean headroom, starts to break up early on the vol, and just got harsher with any more vol. I replaced V1 (first 2 preamp stages) with a NOS RCA 12ax7 and V2 (last preamp stage and power amp) with a NOS Phillips 12au7. Now there is lots of clean headroom, breaks up around 3:00, and overdrive is much smoother. Putting a clean boost pedal infront of it nets a bit more volume and more crunch.
Most of the time I just leave it dimed and use the guitars vol to go between clean and overdrive tones. Its also very responsive to picking dynamics, with the amp and guitar dimed, it will clean up with light picking. Also, with the guitar/amp set to clean, really digging in with the pick nets some nice crunch.
I like that it only has 1 knob, it's really helped me learn to use my guitars controls, and use picking dynamics. I'd like to get a pedal that would add good reverb tho.
EDIT: I forgot to mention I have the matching 1x10 cab.
With the stock tubes, there is basically no clean headroom, starts to break up early on the vol, and just got harsher with any more vol. I replaced V1 (first 2 preamp stages) with a NOS RCA 12ax7 and V2 (last preamp stage and power amp) with a NOS Phillips 12au7. Now there is lots of clean headroom, breaks up around 3:00, and overdrive is much smoother. Putting a clean boost pedal infront of it nets a bit more volume and more crunch.
Most of the time I just leave it dimed and use the guitars vol to go between clean and overdrive tones. Its also very responsive to picking dynamics, with the amp and guitar dimed, it will clean up with light picking. Also, with the guitar/amp set to clean, really digging in with the pick nets some nice crunch.
I like that it only has 1 knob, it's really helped me learn to use my guitars controls, and use picking dynamics. I'd like to get a pedal that would add good reverb tho.
EDIT: I forgot to mention I have the matching 1x10 cab.
LedR
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Thanks for the review!
I found a nice cabinet for this little baby.
Harley Benton G212 Vintage Gitarren Box
2x12" Celestion Vintage 30 for 198 EUR - that's perfect for nailing those old school rock sounds.
LedR
I found a nice cabinet for this little baby.
Harley Benton G212 Vintage Gitarren Box
2x12" Celestion Vintage 30 for 198 EUR - that's perfect for nailing those old school rock sounds.
LedR
eddy999
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I have one of these little fellas too. Great for classic rock at low volume levels, and I mean low... The power tube being a triode means you don't get that pentode sound (like you'd get from a larger tube such as an EL84 etc), however the amp does a great job at what it's designed for - overdriven sounds. As mentioned above the clean headroom is very low indeed - it starts to break up at around 9 o'clock on the dial, at which point the volume is very low. But then again no-one buys these for clean sounds.
I play mine through the blackheart 1x12 cab which is surprisingly good (and cheap), with a custom eminence speaker (stock).
I found the amp to be a little dark with humbuckers, so I bought and installed the 'ant eater' mod kit available from Bitmo.. This adds a tone control (very useful), a boost (not much use) and a late stage line out (good for recording or feeding another amp). The mod was worthwile for the tone control which lets you brighten the amp up a bit. Also there's plenty of room on the front of the chassis for the extra control and output jack so it doesn't look out of place at all. The mod is also fairly straightforward to install, and is installed in parallel with the existing circuit so you can easily remove it later if you wish without messing around with the original components.
My only issue with this amp is the low volume.. I find that even playing at home (with neighbours) the amp could do with being a bit louder than the 0.25 watts provides. I don't really play on the amp much anymore after picking up a Vox Night Train which provides that extra volume, and great overdriven tones of it's own.. I've only played it through a 1x12 though - having a 2 or 4x12 could resolve this by adding extra depth.
I also notice the price has gone up on these - i bought mine new in the uk for £89, it looks like thomann has them for £122 now.
I play mine through the blackheart 1x12 cab which is surprisingly good (and cheap), with a custom eminence speaker (stock).
I found the amp to be a little dark with humbuckers, so I bought and installed the 'ant eater' mod kit available from Bitmo.. This adds a tone control (very useful), a boost (not much use) and a late stage line out (good for recording or feeding another amp). The mod was worthwile for the tone control which lets you brighten the amp up a bit. Also there's plenty of room on the front of the chassis for the extra control and output jack so it doesn't look out of place at all. The mod is also fairly straightforward to install, and is installed in parallel with the existing circuit so you can easily remove it later if you wish without messing around with the original components.
My only issue with this amp is the low volume.. I find that even playing at home (with neighbours) the amp could do with being a bit louder than the 0.25 watts provides. I don't really play on the amp much anymore after picking up a Vox Night Train which provides that extra volume, and great overdriven tones of it's own.. I've only played it through a 1x12 though - having a 2 or 4x12 could resolve this by adding extra depth.
I also notice the price has gone up on these - i bought mine new in the uk for £89, it looks like thomann has them for £122 now.
needlespauls
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Thinking about one of the killer Ants as well, would naturally go great with my BH112 that I have and give good apartment drive.
Chilli
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I got one with the 110 speaker, Stock out of the box its just great fun. It can be used with practically any speaker and now i only use it with an old Celestion 12" as it sounded better. True it only has one sound. True it only has distortion not clean.
Now its a year old I'm going to operate on it with a tube transplant and Bitmo mod. Id love to put it thru a 4x12 to see how that sounds.
I missed not having any reverb and had to get a peddle.
The thing with these low wattage valve amps is the big sound at low volume, just like the big boys use in the studio (sometimes).
Id recommend it, its the price of an effect and if you`v got another amp, run it into that speaker.
The fugly badge on the front is easily removed, 2 screws, then it even looks cool.
Now its a year old I'm going to operate on it with a tube transplant and Bitmo mod. Id love to put it thru a 4x12 to see how that sounds.
I missed not having any reverb and had to get a peddle.
The thing with these low wattage valve amps is the big sound at low volume, just like the big boys use in the studio (sometimes).
Id recommend it, its the price of an effect and if you`v got another amp, run it into that speaker.
The fugly badge on the front is easily removed, 2 screws, then it even looks cool.
Grand Pappy
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GP mag gave the Killer Ant a good review, but didn't like the price.
They listed the price at only $20 (US) less then the Little Giant 5-7watt head.
I had an L.G. that I installed a Bitmo 10-uator on. I worked great, was cheap and easy to install. Great tube OD at low volume, plus balls to the wall @ 7 watts.
IMHO it'd be worth the extra $20 to upgrade to the L.G. head and $60 for the 10-uator.
Much more tonal and volume variation becaue of L.G. a tone stack.
They listed the price at only $20 (US) less then the Little Giant 5-7watt head.
I had an L.G. that I installed a Bitmo 10-uator on. I worked great, was cheap and easy to install. Great tube OD at low volume, plus balls to the wall @ 7 watts.
IMHO it'd be worth the extra $20 to upgrade to the L.G. head and $60 for the 10-uator.
Much more tonal and volume variation becaue of L.G. a tone stack.
