Blackheart BH15-112 Handsome Devil Guitar Amp Combo, 15W All Tube with Attitude

I own the Handsome Devil & the little Giant and a ton of vintage tube amps. These amps are great for the studio and I'm willing to bet they will perform flawlessly live as well. They are very basic, (just like my vintage amps) but for the money, they sound incredible. I play "Classic Rock" mostly and depending on how much distortion you prefer, you can either use a pedal or not. Most times in recording, I haven't needed a pedal to get the right sound.

I wanted a low-volume tube amp on a limited budget, and the Handsome Devil fit the bill perfectly. This isn't an apartment amp -- look at the 5W  Blackheart BH5-112 Little Giant Guitar Amp Combo  if that's what you need -- but you can get that sweet tube break-up at levels that won't drive your spouse or your neighbors mad. The 12" speaker sounds good once broken in, and it has that unmistakably warm, smooth, honey-sweet tube sound, clean or overdriven. With the drive turned up it still cleans up nicely when you roll back the volume on your guitar, and it responds well to use with pedals. With the volume turned up, this thing can get very loud -- loud enough for a gig at a small venue, and certainly loud enough to compete with a drummer during practice sessions.Its tone is definitely more toward the bluesy end of the spectrum than the metal end, but you can easily get some excellent alt-rock tones out of it, especially with the addition of an OD/distortion pedal. I've played a Gretsch hollowbody and a Washburn solid body into it, both with humbuckers, and both sound brilliant. I've been able to get a range of tones using a digital multi-FX pedal, and I just got a ProCo RAT that sounds excellent through this amp -- again, it won't get you into heavy-metal territory, but hard rock tones are easily achieved.The main downsides are it is certainly tube-heavy (just shy of 50 pounds), and it lacks both headphone-out (no small point in a practice amp) and an effects loop (not as big a deal to me as it is to some). The last two points are why it gets 4 stars instead of 5; other than that, it's a great amp with sweet tone for those on a budget who don't need tremendous volumes.

Not mine . My sons / best amp out of a limited number of test amps .

Pete Belov, who is behind this product form the beginning to the end, is probably the best in business. I got 5 combos - Legend rock'n'roll 50, Laney vc30 212, 200W Peavey VTX212, some old Carvin 200W... and they are all lined up in my studio - this one gives me the best sound.

I've had this thing for about 9 months or so, and I love it. But it has its flaws like everything else. The Pros: The tone has such a sweet character to it, although you have to crank the bass control, I think because of the semi-open back. It is so super durable. I gig almost every week and it already has its share of marks on it from being hauled and bumped. I'm careful on the way in, but usually stumbly on the way out, so it does get its knocks. It is great for rehearsal and for a live show in a club. On bigger stages where you're not RIGHT next to it it does need some monitor. Don't know what the efficiency of the speaker is, I haven't really compared. The gain is so sweet, I crank the master and put the gain to about 1/2 and have plenty of dirt for rock, but no too much so I can back of and get some really nice just-about-to-lose-it cleans. For heavier parts I use a pedal. Some cons: No bypass. After 9 months, I am having to put new power tubes in it (But it does get turned on more than once every day). Going to mod it for a bypass, as this is bad for tube life. Also, it is a bright amp. NOT A CON per se, tone is subjective. IT DOES HAVE BASS RESPONSE, you just have to set that all the way and adjust accordingly. All in all, I am in love with this amp. Even with the "cons" I listed it sounds great and it's my go-to keeper. Here's a video of it in action, The red stratocaster on the left. [...] The buzz is from my un-shielded strat.Cheers.