My Hot Rod Heartbreaker

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Natman

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I guess I might as well show off my amp. I don't have many hours on it yet and I haven't been able to crank it, but that's life with 3 young kids. Background note: I have wanted this amp for about 15 years! It was WAY overpriced when new, and living in Montreal, Canada they just don't show up used, so I was very excited to finally get one.

After watching ebay over a few years, I got it this July for a very good price. It just happened to be at a time when Thomas Ampworks (Andy, aka Monsta Tone) was having a sale on mods. The little hamster wheel in my head was turning...

In transit from OR to NY, UPS was kind enough to drop the amp, breaking the cab along 2 joints, shattering some preamp tubes and putting a small hole in 1 speaker. It's the exact same damage Monsta Tone had a few years ago on one that he shipped. Since I had to remove the chassis to rebuild the cab, I decided to ship it to Andy for mods. That's a very significant distance to ship back & forth, but the sale made me decide to go for it. On top of that, Andy had a used Mercury Mags OT selling for cheap so I had him install that too.

Public Service Announcement: If you think retolexing might be a fun project to tackle, think again! It's very time-consuming and can be frustrating. I could not find an efficient way to do it. A variety of scrapers and my underpowered detail sander took more hours than I wanted to devote. Ask my wife. However, I had some flashy tolex that was begging to go with a hot rodded amp like this and some gold jute grille cloth (my favorite!).

Without further ado, here's the finished product:

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Overall, I couldn't be happier. The mods let a good amp off the chain. I was drawn to the tweakability of the amp from the start and I can say that it does not disappoint. A quick rundown of features:

-JJ 6V6's for 40 watts
-Assorted current production 12AX7's, soon to test NOS
-Andy's High Gain mod (check website)
-MM output tranny
-Fane AXA12 and Scumback XH55 speakers

I may experiment with some other speakers as these are pretty loud! Pics taken before the black corners were installed. The clean (love) side is great, very usable and organic (just slightly less responsive than a good handwired amp), dirt side (lust) is mighty. That's the best word for it. Like any good Marshall, it's barely under control and wants to be run full up. It's killing me to wait for a chance to run up the master volume. The dirty side prefers humbuckers, no question. Using the boost on the love side in high gain adds the 5-way mid switch which is cool for tailoring the tone. I've used eq pedals and onboard filters (like Varitone) which do almost the same thing, but it's cool to have the option. I don't know what else to say, Andy did an awesome job tailoring these mods to this model. The only thing cooler than the amp is his customer service! He spent loads of time with me, answered all my questions (usually by email due to the time difference) and I couldn't ask for more. I now have the amp of my dreams. Well, the last 15 years worth of dreams anyway...
 
Wow dude. That's a fine little noise maker you've got there. Time well spent on the tolex IMO. Looks wonderful. Congrats! Your wait paid off!
 
The Tolex looks great.

Did you use a heat gun to remove/loosen the old tolex?
 
:mrgreen: Man I love that color!!!! :mrgreen:

I'm starting to think my amp should not be tan anymore........

Glad you like the amp!
Don't forget.....better reverb.....better cleans mods too! :lol:
 
What a beautiful amp!!!!!

The losers at UPS smashed a red HB I bought on ebay,(ups= mesa killers)
Finally got a black one a friend found on CL.I'm more about the tone than cosmetics
but there's a red hardwood HB pic somewhere on the forum that is gorgeous.
This one is right up there for the cool factor.

Fane speaker looks interesting ,bet it nails the Hiwatt tone w/EL34's

Noticed you have a JJ rectifier tube in there,I would recommend getting a Mesa
tube asap.Had big problems when my JJ GZ34 blew.Save yourself ALOT of trouble.
There's a thread about this somewhere in the forum.

Congrats+ enjoy!
 
I'm just starting to appreciate my Heartbreaker for what it can do for classic tones. Its very easy to dial in during soundcheck, and takes pedals well. Fender and Marshall (and Mk1 Boogie) in one box. Hard to beat that setup for gigging classic country, blues and rock.
 
Tommy_G said:
I'm just starting to appreciate my Heartbreaker for what it can do for classic tones. Its very easy to dial in during soundcheck, and takes pedals well. Fender and Marshall (and Mk1 Boogie) in one box. Hard to beat that setup for gigging classic country, blues and rock.

I really didn't know much about this amp when I found it. I have read the manual alot and then more. :shock: Most everyone who hears it likes it much better than any of my other amps. Just so h e a v y ... Thank God I only lift it onto the handtruck and off the handtruck 8)

I am waiting for my HB to return from the shop. I am getting mercury magnetics power, output, and choke transformers as well as a few resistors replaced with better quality (not really techie so I just said O.K.) :lol: The PT was bad so I figured what the heck.

Dennis
 
Tweeked said:
Noticed you have a JJ rectifier tube in there,I would recommend getting a Mesa
tube asap.Had big problems when my JJ GZ34 blew.Save yourself ALOT of trouble.
There's a thread about this somewhere in the forum.

Noted! I'll look into it. I'm surprised the amp is so bloody loud for only 40 watts. Generally speaking, my favorite tone is the all-out Marshall setting with full power, SS rectifier, Lust channel on Hi and Bold voicing. It gives me pinch harmonics and just rips. It's vicious, like any good Marshall should be. Still considering speaker swaps, but I'm in no hurry. Thanks for the compliments guys!
 
:mrgreen: Try the Mojotone BV30H & BV30V combination! You will be amazed! :mrgreen:

The only time I had a rectifier fail was when I was using JJ E34L's. I immediately put in a Weber Copper Cap GZ34 and never looked back!
 
That looks badass! I finally stopped looking for the right Boogie when I got my Heartbreaker. I'm sure the mods make it even better.
 
Monsta-Tone said:
My old Heartbreaker is up for sale on the bay right now. I should have kept it!

Or converted it into a head! The circuit looks to be an interesting opportunity to try almost any mod you ever wanted to the classics, without actually customizing a classic.

One of these days, you'll have to teach us everything you know about this amp.
 
I just had to post this:

Using JJ 6V6's, I had an upper mid ringing sound that would not go away. I asked Andy about it, he suggested a cap somewhere but I wasn't ready to open the amp up any time soon (very little free time lately, even for playing guitar). Out of curiosity I dropped 4 Tung Sol 6V6 in it to see how they compare and the noise was GONE and better (warmer) tone. Happy camper!

Then I finally swapped the Fane and Scumback out of my HB for a WGS Blackhawk (50W) and Green Beret. I wanted to get a more authentic vintage Marshall flavor with this as the Bluesbreaker tone is among my all-time favorites. I figured a greenback clone + gold clone (which is much like a Blue) should get me there. I tried the new speakers out in an extension cab and could not believe how alive the sound was so in they went. Way more highs (and less bass) but harmonics galore. I was concerned about the cleans on Ch1, but again no big compromise. I have done lots of speaker swaps in my time but you don't always get amazing results. This time the decision was EASY!

Then my last discovery, which is nothing new, was just how much better this beast sounds when turned up. I live in apartment, and the only time I get to play guitar is after work but I have 3 young kiddies who go to bed pretty early. This means I am playing awfully low on the masters most of the time. But now and then I get the place to myself and pretend I'm playing to a stadium. Yeah, don't look at me like that... You know you do it too.

My point? These WGS speakers have real good tones! These same speakers did not impress me much in other amps including a Blue Angel, and 2 tweed style clones. I am mostly using a Voodoo Les Paul with Duncan El Diablos and a parts tele with Pearly Gates Jr. and SM-1 as well as a parts strat. I had to adjust the TMB controls for the new speakers, but love what I hear! Just enough juice from the alnico combined with ample mids form the GB, but in a much more lively, responsive package then the previous 2 speakers which were more bass-heavy (something I normally like but slowly learning it's not ideal for guitar to cut through a mix).

I love this stuff and am SO glad I went for Andy's mods 7 months later.
 
Hey Mark,
I don't currently have a website. I was an electrical contractor in Hawaii for many years and didn't really have time for working on amps.
I now live back in Mainland US and have been thinking about starting the amp repair/mod business back up.
Send me a PM if you like
Thanks,
Andy
 

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