I feel like these underdogs would have really sold if they had just made a few design changes.
I've owned 2 so far. 1 combo and 1 head. I couldn't get the combo to sound like the head does, I'm pretty sure that it was a speaker choice. I decided to sell my 1st one and get a Mark IV. :lol: I own another Heartbreaker now and no Mark IV's. Feels like I'm going in circles! :lol:
Here is a list of some of the mods that I made to my Heartbreakers.
Combo:
Adjustable Bias: I wanted to be able to use any power tubes on the market.
Better Reverb: This was an early one and the Reverb was crappy. I could turn it to 3:00 and still not notice it. I increased the signal that was going into the circuit.
Less mud on Channel 2: I lowered the overall bass frequencies in channel 2. It had a real tendency to get muddy if the bass was above 9:00. I changed the Cathode Bypass Capacitor on the 1st gain stage.
Re-Tolex: UPS destroyed it, so I rebuilt the cab and re covered it in a brown lizzard skin tolex with cane wicker grill cloth. It looked really cool.
Here are some pics:
Head:
Adjustable Bias: I planned on doing this, but the quad of JJ E34L's (the blue ones of course) that I put in were perfectly biased. If I decide to change tubes (should say when I decide to), then I will do the adjustable bias mod.
Cathode Bias: I will most likely decide to do a Cathode Bias mod with a switch to toggle between adjustable and cathode. I really like the depth that the cathode bias adds. It adds tons of warmth and sustain, but takes headroom away (which I probably wouldn't notice in this amp).
Reverb: This amp, board revision 2, has much better Reverb, so I've left it alone for now. I kind of like it.
Channel 2: I really think this channel should not have been advertised as a Marshall style channel. It was just way too dark.
It looks like they tried to emulate a JCM 800, but changed a few parts so that they wouldn't get sued. I changed all of the parts that I needed to so that the circuit was as close as it could be. Now, this channel shines on the distortion settings.
The cleans were always nice on this channel, and I think they sound a little more lively now.
Channel 1: This channel perplexes me because it seems to really sound incredible with a Strat, but not my PRS. I plan on making it more Twin Reverb like in the sense that the cleans will jump from the amp.
I also plan on removing a lot of the mud that happens with humbuckers.
Other than that, these are great amps. I think they would have gotten better sales if the Rectifiers had not been so prolific and if the Nomads had not come out around the same time. I had a Nomad for a few weeks and this is definitely a much better amp. It's built better and has real tube reverb and better potential.
Just some thoughts that I thought I would share! :lol:
I've owned 2 so far. 1 combo and 1 head. I couldn't get the combo to sound like the head does, I'm pretty sure that it was a speaker choice. I decided to sell my 1st one and get a Mark IV. :lol: I own another Heartbreaker now and no Mark IV's. Feels like I'm going in circles! :lol:
Here is a list of some of the mods that I made to my Heartbreakers.
Combo:
Adjustable Bias: I wanted to be able to use any power tubes on the market.
Better Reverb: This was an early one and the Reverb was crappy. I could turn it to 3:00 and still not notice it. I increased the signal that was going into the circuit.
Less mud on Channel 2: I lowered the overall bass frequencies in channel 2. It had a real tendency to get muddy if the bass was above 9:00. I changed the Cathode Bypass Capacitor on the 1st gain stage.
Re-Tolex: UPS destroyed it, so I rebuilt the cab and re covered it in a brown lizzard skin tolex with cane wicker grill cloth. It looked really cool.
Here are some pics:
Head:
Adjustable Bias: I planned on doing this, but the quad of JJ E34L's (the blue ones of course) that I put in were perfectly biased. If I decide to change tubes (should say when I decide to), then I will do the adjustable bias mod.
Cathode Bias: I will most likely decide to do a Cathode Bias mod with a switch to toggle between adjustable and cathode. I really like the depth that the cathode bias adds. It adds tons of warmth and sustain, but takes headroom away (which I probably wouldn't notice in this amp).
Reverb: This amp, board revision 2, has much better Reverb, so I've left it alone for now. I kind of like it.
Channel 2: I really think this channel should not have been advertised as a Marshall style channel. It was just way too dark.
It looks like they tried to emulate a JCM 800, but changed a few parts so that they wouldn't get sued. I changed all of the parts that I needed to so that the circuit was as close as it could be. Now, this channel shines on the distortion settings.
The cleans were always nice on this channel, and I think they sound a little more lively now.
Channel 1: This channel perplexes me because it seems to really sound incredible with a Strat, but not my PRS. I plan on making it more Twin Reverb like in the sense that the cleans will jump from the amp.
I also plan on removing a lot of the mud that happens with humbuckers.
Other than that, these are great amps. I think they would have gotten better sales if the Rectifiers had not been so prolific and if the Nomads had not come out around the same time. I had a Nomad for a few weeks and this is definitely a much better amp. It's built better and has real tube reverb and better potential.
Just some thoughts that I thought I would share! :lol:
