Blackheart Little Giant head blown.

[Duffy]

Zman - I am beginning to see your point. I'm thinking it over and I think it might be better to use the money to buy another Behringer GM110 thirty watt solid state amp, the copy of the Tech21.

My GM110 was stolen and sold by a relative I took in when no one else, apparently, would. Burned. That's when I had the Gibson SG and the Fender Hwy One stolen by the same character. You don't forget these things.

I collected on the insurance and got a USA Std strat new and a Michael Kelly Patriot Custom flammed cherry burst. Still haven't gotten a new Gibson.

So, you move on.

On the other hand repairing nice things, when efficient, is a good thing.

The challenge is to decide what is more interesting.

I know what you mean Eric, but this fix is beyond my capabilities to diagnose.
I'm fairly good within my limits, but don't like to chase a wild goose.

 

[ZMAN]

I wasn't trying to say anything about your comment -- it was just to offer up a possible explanation.

I try to remind myself when I see people modding the life out of a piece of gear and sucking any resale value out of it that they are probably doing it to hone their skills, not to increase the value of the item. It's a different way of thinking.

I understand completely and I am only saying that I usually only try to make a comment that can help. If I can't help I usually don't say anything.
Duff: I can't really comment on SS amps. I have only owned two. A Fender Champ 110, which was a great little practice amp, and my travelling amp a Vox Pathfinder 15R. My take on this would be to pick up a Blues Junior. I am not sure if you have one, but they are an excellent choice. 15 huge watts and you can set this baby up to get just about any tone you want.
In a really compact format, and as Duhvoodoman has shown, very moddable. IF that is a word LOL

 

[Duffy]

Little Giant

It's a word, Zman, and that would be a good amp, especially now that they are getting discounted.

 

[jim p]

A short at power switch?

I was re reading your early post about toggling the pentode/triode switch to get the power to come up and you could have a broken or shorted wire at the line power switch. The power switch and the triode/pentode switch are right next to each other so toggling that switch may have been enough to rattle the wire connected to the power switch. Also if the plate supply was shorted the power light would probably light because it is connected to the heater supply so a short on the plate supply would probably cause it to be dim at most but still light. Also the power switch is on the primary side (line) so a short there would only blow line fuses just like it is doing now. If the short is to chassis at the power switch if you ohmmeter at the line input on the back to chassis the two out side prongs of the IEC connector (three prong AC connector on back panel) should be open with the power switch in either the on or off position. You will need a good fuse in the line fuse holder when you test this.


If you were going to replace the head a new head out is the VHT Special 6 http://www.vhtamp.com/vht-special.html the head is 180 bucks on e-bay the combo 200 bucks.

 

[jim p]

what the problem was

Just to add to the story I have Duffy’s amp and the problem was a short inside of the transformer one of the 275 volt taps was shorting to the center tap. It was poor assembly on manufacture. I cleaned out the carbon due to arcing, moved the tap away from the windings and added high voltage RTV and the transformer is now fine. I had to use the TV repairman trick of using a light bulb in series to help find the short without going through a stack of fuses.

 

[duhvoodooman]

Nice that the transformer wasn't damaged by the shorting. Looks like the fuses were doing their job.... :thumbsup

 

[marnold]

That's really good news. Yet another fine display of Fretherness.

 

[Duffy]

Blackheart head

I really appreciate Jim P's help and expertise in saving my Little Giant head. I couldn't have saved it myself. Sometimes when things seem hopeless there are people that appear, get involved, and turn things around. It isn't costing me much and shipping is low because Jim lives only a few hours from here. That Blackheart is a great looking and sounding little head. Super glad Jim could save it.

Crate pretty much "has a brand new bag" and it's the Blackheart line they are promoting.

I'm looking forward to getting it back in even better form than it was when I bought it. It is one of the original ones from when they first came out.

Thanks a lot for offering to help out Jim!

 

[jim p]

On the way home

I sent an e-mail but just to make sure I thought I would post here the amp is on the way home. It should be dropped off today 10/12/10. If you hear a rattle that sounds like a loose screw when playing that is the EL84 it is microphonic so if you notice it you will need to replace it. The amp is cathode biased and was at 11 watts when I measured it so you can just plug a new one in. Also if you dial the VVR down just a bit it will make certain that the plate dissipation of the tube is less than 12 watts.

 

[Duffy]

Rebuilt and moded Blackheart Little Giant head

I got my Blackheart head back from Jim P a couple days ago and have had some time to check it out.

I'm playing it thru an Epi one twelve cabinet for the V Jr, loaded with a 75 watt Eminence Lady Luck speaker.

The amp never sounded nearly this good. It sounds real real good.

Jim installed a replacement "Classic Tone", Magnetics Components, 15 watt single ended output transformer, no affln, in it. This new transformer has made an incredible improvement in the tone of my Blackheart Little Giant.

Jim also installed a VVR, variable voltage regulator, that is a dial that allows you to turn down the voltage to the power tube; enabling you to turn down the voltage and turn up the volume and get a great overdrive sound a very low volume levels. This is really nice to have and sounds very very good, even at four in the morning, especially in the dark where my senses seem to be more sensitive and I can groove on the sounds of my amps. Last night I played it with my new Agile AL 3100 in the dark and it sounded incredible, different, of course, from my new Egnater Tweaker head, but very great sounding indeed - as well as the Agile. I will definitely buy another Agile.

These repairs, mods, and shipping costs were very modest and Jim was able to save my otherwise perfect, non-workable Blackheart that was in pure mint condition.

I'm glad I made the modest investment in having the amp fixed and thank Jim P for figuring it out and coming up with some great modifications and improvements to the already very good amp.

This amp is really nice now.

Some of you other guys might want to consider getting the "Classic Tone", Magnetic Components, no affln, transformer installed in your Blackheart. Definitely worth the ten or so dollar very modest cost. I also installed a new Groove Tube EL84 power tube, #6 and that may also have improved the sound as well.

Many thanks to Jim P.

 

[kiteman]

I'm glad you got your baby back and better than ever. :dance

I'm glad My Handsome Devil has been a terrific amp and I was surprised that yours went down. I guess it was all in a manufacturing defect even though they were supposed to be overbuilt. That's the reason I bought mine.

EDIT: oh yea, kudos to Jim P. :dude

 

[oldguy]

Yeah, Jim P.'s da man! (and a seriously nice Fretter to boot.):applause

 

[Duffy]

That Little Giant went down with just a flicker of the red light when I powered it up one day. Blew the fuse right away.

Sat there in perfect condition and there wasn't anything I could do with my level of ability, since I couldn't check anything without power to the amp and I didn't know which points to check for continuity and I didn't know what continuity levels to expect. It was beyond me.

The amp was in brand new condition with very few hours on it, mint. Relegating it to the junk heap wasn't what I wanted to see happen to it.

I really appreciate one of the fretters, Jim P. offering to help figure it out. It's an awesome amp and again this morning, about four AM I played it in the dark with more adjustment to the VVR and got some very nice tones out of it using first my Agile AL 3100, a great guitar with chunky neck, and not long ago with my Fender Nashville tele, stock thru my Bad Monkey and digital reverb to great effect. The Nashville really sounded great and clear with a little overdrive and reverb but still real clear sounding with the note separation and beautiful chords. All this at low volume, quite undisturbing and actually relaxing to Charity, my fiance; me playing in bed. I have the Tweaker and the Blackheart stacked next to my bed with a couple other amps and some nice homemade Pacific Redwood stained shelves. Each head is connected to a separate cabinet to eliminate the accidental chance of powering up one of them while not connected to a load. I also have my new Vox AC15c1 below my laptop shelf in front of my bedside amp peninsula.

So having a couple real low volume, quality sounding, amp heads next to the bed makes late night grooving a real pleasure.

 

[jim p]

It is good to here how well the amp turned out. It took me 2 to 3 hours to figure out what was wrong with the power transformer and with a little dissection and clean up it was as good as new. I was not certain how big of a difference the output transformer would make glad to here it is a big improvement. The stock transformers can be too small and low in inductance which will mean poor bass response. At a quick look the stock transformer and the ClassicTone looked to be about the same size but maybe the iron (higher permeability) and the amount of turns in the ClassicTone are better and more turns for higher inductance. The two transformers may be wound differently also but I did not check to see if a common bobbin or split bobbin was used on either one. For tone the manufacture can play with adding defects that are similar to the original transformers in say an old Champ, but being this is a 15 watt transformer on a 5 watt amp I don’t think that is happening here at least as far as core saturation. Regarding manufacturing the version 1 Valve Junior transformers were junk they should have had an air gap to prevent core saturation and they were interleaved E and I sections with no gap. I think some of your high priced transformers such as Mercury do design in defects such as core saturation at high current levels (SE) and unbalanced turns ratios on push pull transformers which should increase second harmonics near full power. Anyway you got a good deal on the labor cost figure I made about 50 cents an hour on the deal but I did it to help out and see how the amp was built and to see what went wrong so thanks.