Maverick/Blue Angel/Heartbreaker comparison - please help

[jgk723]

I'd like to know if anyone here who has experience with any or all of these could describe how they differ, or provide some answers to what I'm very curious about:

Blue Angel - This was the first one I was interested in, but seeing that it has no gain knob, does this have to be CRANKED to get it to break up well? How hard is it to get a creamy mid-rangey Kevin Eubanks sound?

Maverick - Does this have the same el84 tone as the Blue Angel, but with an added clean channel?

Heartbreaker - How does this compare in tone to the other two above? Is this basically a Mark I reissue with an added clean channel? Is it a similar animal? I assume its a little "bigger" sounding because its 60/100 watts instead of 35.

 

[MrMarkIII]

I haven't played through an Angel or a Heartbreaker, but I own a Maverick.
Eubanks used a Blue Angel (or was it a Subway Blues?) when he first joined the band, but I'm not sure if he still does. You could probably get closer to the "Eubanks Tone" with any of the above amps except the Heartbreaker, unless you load it up with 6V6s. A Heartbreaker with 6L6s is going to be a LOT bigger sounding than the EL-84 or 6V6 amps. More highs, more lows, more clean headroom. Think Fender Twin vs. a Princeton or Deluxe.
Yes, the Blue Angel gots ta be cranked.
The Maverick's Rhythm Channel can also be gained-out, plus it has a "Fat" switch for a low-mid boost.
The Heartbreaker has a bunch o' switches so you can use 4 x 6L6s, 4 x EL-34s, or 4 x 6V6s (no, you can't mix them), so it's even more versatile.

 

[Monsta-Tone]

The Blue Angel is incredible if you play Blues or Jazz, and even country.


It does have to be cranked to at least 10:00 to get some breakup.

I loved the amp but hate pedals, so in the end, I sold it and bought a Heartbreaker.



I've never played a Maverick, but really would like one.



Heartbreaker:
I use channel 1, the so called Mark I channel, for cleans. It really comes alive when you get the Output Volume up a bit.
I use channel 2 for distorted tones. I've hot-rodded it to be almost exactly like a Marshall JCM-800. This only took 10 minutes and 3 or 4 parts, but was well worth it.

I use JJ E34L's in mine. I had one before, but did not like the tone. I think this amp just shines with the EL's much more than it did with the 6L6's.




The Reverb on the Heartbreaker is weak in comparison to the Blue Angel. The Angel's Reverb is almost exactly like the one in my 66 Fender, same circuit, slightly different voltages.

I plan on modding the HB this weekend to get better Reverb. I have board revision 2, which has better Reverb than the other HB that I had with board revision 1.



If you like pedals, and want a seriously beautiful sounding amp, get the Blue Angel. I'm an amp tweaker (not a real tweaker), so I like the HB much more.

As for Kevin's tone, I have small kids and don't get to stay up that late yet, sorry, can't help you there.

 

[Murphy Slaw]

The Blue Angel is all about cream. It's NOT a high gain amp. It will not do fizzy distortion. I mean, what you might consider "cranking it" and what I might consider "cranking it" might be two different things.

On 2;6V6's, it's only using 15 watts. When I gig with it I only use that setting on a few songs. It's "cranked". I mean wide assed open. 1991 Fender Telecaster w/single coils. Unmiked, (we play small clubs, 200/300 seats). That setting gives you a very overdriven sound, like an amp with a gain channel, but it's REAL power tube distortion like they did it on the albums everyone wants to sound like, and pedals were designed around, not preamp distortion. It's the sound modeling amps, pedals, ect., TRY to be.

On 4;El84's it's running 30 watts class A. Like an old Vox AC30. Not a Chinese one. A real one.

This is where I live most of the time, cranked to about 1:00, and if I need a tad more crunch I step on a Tube Screamer.

The mid control is sorta involved in this process too, but it sounds like you are looking for a high gain amp, and the Blue Angel is as far as you can get from a high gain amp. You wouldn't like it.

Best of luck.

Murph.

 

[Monsta-Tone]

You might think about a DC

 

[jgk723]

Actually I'm not looking for hi-gain. Sorry if I was misleading in my original post.

Though I still have a soft spot for rock and metal, I'm mainly and jazz player now. I have a Roland JC-120 for my cleans, but I don't have any means of getting a creamy-mid-rangey-power-amp-saturated fusion lead sound. I can get close with my 92 Dual Rec on the orange channel w/ an od pedal, but I really want to explore the amps that were designed for that sound like these low wattage tube combos.

Murphy Slaw - when you gig with it, what do you do for a clean sound?

 

[Monsta-Tone]

Roll back the guitar's volume. The BA cleans up really nicely.

 

[Mincer]

I have a 1x12 Blue Angel, and yeah, you use the volume knob on the guitar. I tend not to crank mine up that much for gigs- maybe 9:00, 9:30...it breaks up when you hit the guitar hard. I use a Bad Monkey pedal for more dirt. This amp sounds great with other pedals too- I regularly use delay, chorus and compression too.

 

[Murphy Slaw]

Yea, you simply back off your attack and it's clean. (well, not with the 6V6's cranked, like I said I only do that on a few tunes for the lead breaks)

You would be surprised how little gain is actually used on classic recordings, it was all little (non master) tube amps cranked back in the day, and that sound still sounds great today.

I find my tone getting cleaner all the time.

Best of luck.

Murph.

 

[212Mavguy]

Never owned a Blue Angel, would love to...but have a bad case of modded or boutique amp GAS and it probably won't happen. Have a Maverick, in one word, versatile. The clean channel in the bright setting has a fair amount of clean headroom if so desired, in the fat you can dial in a surprising amount of dirt or walk the fence between clean and dirty, wonderful reverb if you like reverb in your tones. Lots of Jazz tones found in that amp, IMHO. Then there's the dirty channel, I did some tube and speaker rolling in mine to get it the way I like and still love the clean one too after finishing.

Sixveesix owns both a 1/12 Maverick and a 1/12 Blue Angel. Maybe if someone prods him with a PM to toss his two cents in here it would be interesting to read. He's played through many, many guitars and amps over the last 35+years as a lead guitar player and sometimes guitar tech. And for what it's worth, I have enjoyed reading the posts found here in this thread, all of them. Nice folks here. Peace.

 

[Scorch]

+1 on the Blue Angel. Great small gig amp that ramps up in headroom as your change the output tube settings. It loves OD pedals! I can get power tube roar at sensible volumes.

I gig with a Blue Angel and a Mark IV with 6V6 tubes on the outside sockets. That way the Mark IV is about 20 watts and the BA is around 15 to 18 watts. If I need more headroom, I just kick in more tubes! The BA can go up to about 38 watts with all tubes combined and the Mk IV will run about 45 to 50 watts with the center Winged C 6L6's added. Tons of tone and they compliment each other really well.

 

[MrMarkIII]

Cool! I thought you had to run all four 6V6s to use 'em in a Mark IV. Have to try that.
Anyone have experience with the Maverick reverb only working on one channel? The rhythm on mine. Is it an LDR, or a relay of some kind? My schematic reading talent is rudimentary at best. Thanks!