help----heartbreaker question

[jake2105]

hey guys,
i'm new to the board. so wasup? i'm thinking of buying a heartbreaker combo. a local guy is selling his at a good deal. here's my deal: i've always been a fender guy who used pedals to get overdrive/distortion. i seek a boogie to end the use of pedals. i want to have an amp that is capable of getting both great clean and dirty tones via the amp w/ it's footswitch. i'm not looking for anything high gain...just good bluesy, classic rock type of o.d. and distortion tones. (w/out using pedals)---will the heartbreaker sufficiently do this. any advice is much appreciated.

thanks,
jake

 

[boogiemon]

heartbreaker. aka "backbreaker".

if you can afford it, i think you'll be happier w/the LSC.

 

[jake2105]

thanks for the reply...can't afford the lsc. the heartbreaker is at an excellent deal though. so can you elaborate on why you say no on the heartbreaker and yes on the lsc

 

[boogiemon]

any boogie is going to be good. The LSC will have a better fender sound i think. i have an LSC & it's fantastic: blackface cleans, even brownface cleans, great gain options. Never had a heartbreaker, but i know they're heavy, pretty sure they outweigh a LSC.

good luck

 

[jake2105]

boogiemon: as far as clean tone goes, i'm trying to get away from fender for this amp. i've got a 73 twin w/ev's for that. i want an amp that i can take to a gig and not have to set up a pedal board in order to get boost and o.d. tones. any idea how the heartbreaker would do for that. how is your lsc as far as that goes?

 

[boogiemon]

Can't really comment on the HB: pretty sure it's got at least two channels, one of which will be capable of high gain.

the LSC smokes: like a cross between a fender & a marshall but w/less noise & more gain.


regards

 

[Mick]

Check out the Harmony central site. I didn't look but there're probably a whole bunch of reviews written by folks like us.

 

[Sardocasm]

I'll comment in here since I own a Heartbreaker. It has great cleans and very pedal friendly just incase you still want to use them from time to time, but you definitely don't need them to get into the dirty distored or overdrive territory. If you want tweedish sounds, flip the switch to 60 watts and flip full power switch to tweed. It's nice since it has two channels to choose from and either can be clean or distorted. Each flavor is unique. The distortion doesn't get anywhere near high gain distortion scooped mids and doesn't like to be. It's right at home doing anything from blues to classic rock. Channel 1 in distorted mod is a replicant of the Mark I's and channel two gets closer to the Marshall tones. I paid $970 for the head version and am very pleased. Each time I think about maybe getting a different amp, the thought perishes once I turn it on. I think this amp would definitely do what you're looking for. Happy hunting.

 

[Micah]

I dont know much about the heart-breakers but what about a Mark IV combo with an EV? That might do exactly what your looking for and even possibly eliminate the hassel of you having to tote around 2 amps! The cleans on the Mark IV are so fendery its scary and the leads are screaming as well--maybe give one a shot in your local music store if possible- :wink:

 

[Guitarzan]

The Heartbreaker with 6V6's sounds killer. You can swap between 6L6's or EL-34's as well. Not to mention the heartbreaker comes stock with a GZ34 rectifier tube. It's a very Fenderesque amp. Get it you'll be happy.