Retubing A Blackheart...Please Help Me Understand What I Want

Eddie from Eurotubes said:
We've been retubing a lot of the Blackheart amps lately and a JJ EL84 in a grade anywhere between a #24 to a #34 are quite nice, with the #34 getting a bit less headroom and the #24 staying cleaner, and a matched triode ECC83S that is between 90 to 95 in gain. This makes them grind real good when you crank them but also has a good clean.

Another option is using the ECC803S which is a slightly lower gain tube with a real thick mid and a little brighter high end so if you choose to use one of these I would recommend a matched triode ECC803S that is at 90+ in gain.

Using one of the Gold Pin tubes would also be an option. The main difference with them is that they are smoother in the top end and a little richer in the mids. They are however expensive, the ECC83S matched triode Gold Pin tubes run 22.00.

If you want maximum breakup from the amp then you can use one of the high gain ECC83S’s.

One other way to go if you want a bit more headroom is to use an ECC81 which will drop the gain in the front end by about 40%. This will allow you to hear more power tube distortion from the amp. The matched triode ECC81’s are the same price as the matched triode ECC83S’s.

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I don’t know the difference between tube distortion and speaker break-up. I do know that I hate Eric Johnson style cleans. If I had to choose a tone that I’m after, it’s something like ZZ Top or Vivian Campbell (His Dio stuff, not his Def Leppard stuff). I’m a bedroom player, so I generally keep the volume on the amp between 5 and 7 on the dial. Does that mean I want higher gain or lower gain in the preamp?

Can someone help me match my tastes with the tube descriptions the guy from Eurotubes sent me?

What's wrong with the stock tubes? I know I like the stock tubes myself and haven't been able to really improve on the sound by replacing them. Many other BH owners have stated the same.

I don't have any personal experience with the Blackheart amps, but it would seem to me that if you're a bedroom player, you probably aren't going to be cranking the amp up enough to get power tube saturation anyway, unless you use an attenuator. That would tend to lean toward preamp gain as your most useful means of generating distortion through the amp. If so, I'd go with a mid-range pair of EL84s and the ECC83S he recommends. The ECC803S would be worth a try if you lean toward a heavier midrange in your sound. But I should also mention that they have a fairly long plate vs. the ECC83S and so would probably be a bit more prone to microphonicity in a combo amp.

Hopefully, Tung will weigh in on this question....

To add to what DVM said, the BH is a single-ended class A amp, so it isn't going to sound like a push-pull class AB amp. I would aim for getting a decent clean sound out of the amp and using pedals to get close to the desired tone.

I liked the stock Chinese tubes the best in my BH head, but one consideration is that Chinese tubes are not known for their reliability. You may want to replace as the JJ/Slovak tubes are better than Chinese in the reliability department.

If you have the stock BH speaker in your cabinet, you're not going to get much speaker distortion from a 5W amp like the BH, so cranking it will only get you power tube distortion. The preamp remains clean as the three band (bass/mid/treb) tone stack robs a lot of gain from the preamp tube. So again, any distortion out of the amp will be the power amp variety.

I have a 1 x 12" cab with a Green Beret (Greenback Clone) from WGS.

I don't know what a push-pull class AB is supposed to sound like. I just know that I like my Fender SS amp way better than my Blackheart and that doesn't seem right.

Commodore 64 said:

I don’t know the difference between tube distortion and speaker break-up. I do know that I hate Eric Johnson style cleans. If I had to choose a tone that I’m after, it’s something like ZZ Top or Vivian Campbell (His Dio stuff, not his Def Leppard stuff). I’m a bedroom player, so I generally keep the volume on the amp between 5 and 7 on the dial. Does that mean I want higher gain or lower gain in the preamp?

Can someone help me match my tastes with the tube descriptions the guy from Eurotubes sent me?

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Well, when you're playing at less than quite loud, the power tube has little effect really. It's all about the preamp.

An 83S - I've used a lot of JJ's - is somewhat darker and has more of the warm distortion thing going on than normal 12AX7. It's great for, like, Santana or Slash sounds for instance.

It's confusing with the denominations but they're all the same tube with slight variations. 81 and other lower gain tubes (AT, AY in 12's) are cool for cleans...and cool also as in usually they sound a lot colder as well as cleaner in the pre, plus they probably make it harder to get the 'tube' sound out when playing low volume. I've tested them extensively with my setups, and I always end up back with regular 12AX7 (ECC83).

BUT I would recommend you to get a 'NOS' tube for the first tube.

Get a Mullard 12ax7 or basically any 60's style tube, or at least a Tung-Sol mullard reissue copy. Those are great pre tubes. I have a couple of 60's Siemens pre tubes I really like and try to not wear out

NOS tubes cost something like 20-30 euros at least, so 2-4 times the regular cheapo tube, but it's worth it to have one. It might make a big difference.

I started with some JJtubes. I ordered four tubes:

1 EL84 rated #34 (for the least headroom) for the power tube
1 ECC83S (12AX7) High Gain
1 ECC82 (12AU7)
1 ECC81 (12AT7)

I went ahead and swapped in the 12AX7 High gain, and the EL84 #34. It definately tightened up the bottom end, to the point where I can put the bass knob at 12-O'clock. Now with e BHLG on the triode setting (3 watts) and the volume at 12-O'CLock I get a really nice warm sound with some break-up (distortion?) that I really, really like...and a nice loud, but still bedroom acceptable level.

I'm well pleased with the upgrade. The Blackheart is very easy to work on. The PCB board looks like it has lots of room too in case I want to try my hand at some other mods. I'd also like to get my hands on some NOS-type tubes to see what they are all about.

I do have a somewhat related question...at this time I have no way to record clips and post them. What is the easiest way for me to get this capability?

PS: Just Strum, if you you'd like to give a 12AT7 or 12AU7 a test drive in your BHLG, I'd be happy to loan them to ya.

Glad to hear you like the results, Comm.
Tube amp owners often spend lots of money chasing the "perfect valves" based on reviews and marketing hype. It's always good if you can speak to a vendor (as you did) who understands your needs and selects them accordingly.
As a hobbyist/bedroom player, I built quite a stash of new and older tubes, swapping this, that and the other.
It's fun but it can get quite expensive.