Blackheart Killer Ant BH1H - With VIDEO!

Specifications

• » <1 Watt RMS, Single-Ended, Class A
• » Outputs: 1 x 16 ohm jack, 1 x 8 ohm jack, 1 x 4 ohm jack
• » Preamp Tubes: 2 x 12AX7
• » Solid State Rectifier
• » Volume (the rest of the tone is in your hands)
• » DC Power to filaments for super quiet operation
• » 15 ply, 18mm thick-void free plywood construction

Features

From the Blackheart Website:

The followup to Blackheart Engineering's Little Giant 5, the Killer Ant is the first attainable, boutique quality fractional tube amp. Featuring Class A, Single Ended circuitry, it delivers the complete, classic, touch responsive tube tone you need but at more manageable volumes for apartment dwellers and recording sessions.

Review

I live in a flat in San Francisco. For most that statement means nothing more than he may or may not eat a lot of sourdough bread. But for those of you who have had the chance to visit San Francisco (don’t call it ‘Frisco!) you’ll have noted that real estate here is at a premium and we apartment dwellers are packed together like sardines. In these cramped quarters you and you neighbors get to hear everything louder than 5db that the other does. For example, the guy below me is a HUGE Star Trek fan; I know this because I hear his home theater every time he watches a movie. I believe “Wrath of Kahn” to be his favorite based on the number of times I have heard “KAAAAAAAAAAHN!” coming up from the floorboards.  This makes playing a Marshall Plexi on 10 not even close to realistic, so you can imagine why I’d be so excited about the Blackheart Killer Ant.

The Blackheart Killer Ant BH1H is a sub one-watt guitar amplifier head that was designed and prototyped in Austin, Texas. The Blackheart amps are the brainchild of Pyotr Belov and are made in China to allow for a reasonable price point, here is some information from a Blackheart Press Release:

Guitar amplifier super-genius Pyotr Belov, whose own hand-built amps have been highly acclaimed by artists and gear freaks worldwide, is the man behind every detail of Blackheart's product line. Pyotr's classic designs begin as hand-wired, point-to-point masterpieces tweaked in his infamous two-car garage until they ooze attitude and sing like little glass and metal cherubs. Every component is hand-picked to create the best possible amplifier tone and performance, and then engineered to be manufactured in quantity, giving guitar players access to a tasty sounding, durable, and sexy little tube amp without the snobby price tag.

Pyotr personally selects a very small number of qualifying offshore manufacturers and stands over their shoulders to make sure that nothing gets lost in translation. He specifies every tube and component, and approves everything one piece at a time, right down to the piping and tolex. It's a very straightforward process that no other manufacturer of high-end tube amps can say they undertake. That's no surprise when considering that Pyotr sometimes spends weeks away from home and out of the country teaching others how to handcraft amplifiers to his expectations. 

There is only on control available to you on the Killer Ant, but it is also the only thing you need – a volume control. Being only one watt you can turn that volume right to ten without worrying about imploding your ear drums or having an eviction notice stapled to your front door. What I found was that there really is no point having the volume set to anything below five (12 o’clock), and I just end up leaving the volume at ten and using the volume knob on my guitar do the rest. 

The tone of this amp is awesome for something so inexpensive – it cost the same as most effect pedals! I tried the Blackheart Killer Ant through a 2 x 10, 2 x 12, and a 4 x 12 cab, and it sounded awesome no matter what combination I used. By far though the best sound came from my Mesa Boogie 2 x 12 Recto sealed back cab. It gave the tone a deeper low end and a warmer sound overall. The 2 x 10 (from Ugly Amps) was also very, very good and that was the cab we ended up using in the video demo for the head. I don’t know what it is about that Ugly Amps Cab, but it sounds HUGE.

For guitars, I used just about everything I had around: an LSL Tele, Custom Shop Strat, ’58 Les Paul VOS, Warmoth Flying V, and Anderson Drop Top T. [Editor’s Note: OMG that’s what you have just lying around? Dies.] Each guitar imparted its own unique signature through the Killer Ant and all of the tones were very good. But, the best sounding pairing was the Killer Ant and the ’58 Les Paul VOS. I found that the bright tone put out by the Burst Buckers was a perfect complement to the Killer Ant. Solos sounded clear and raw and rhythm work was full and chunky – this is the perfect combo if you want to do some Led Zeppelin style playing. The lower output guitars still sounded badass, but the richness of the Les Paul really won me over.

The best thing about this amp is that I was able to turn it on and play it at anytime through out the day. The overall volume of the amp, when set to ten, it low enough that you don’t ever have to worry about upsetting anyone who is sensitive to noise (read: the rich and pleasing roar of an amplifier set to an appropriate level). So what you have here is an amplifier that is near perfect for all apartment dwellers and for people who want to keep their hearing intact.  The Blackheart Killer Ant would also be very useful for recording purposes. You can get a very rich and full tone from the amp at a very low volume (check out the review video to see what I mean). You can also add a boost pedal into the mix if you want to add a little more gain, but you will need to experiment to see what pedals will work. For example, I played an Analog Man Sunface through it and I could not really hear any difference in the tone. Those of you who are familiar with the Analog Man Sunface know that it has a searing tone that could never be unreadable, so it was weird indeed. I found that the boost side of my Fulltone GT500 also worked well, as did a Keeley modded TS-808.

I am very hopeful that Mercury Magnetics will product an upgrade kit for the Killer Ant. I would love to be able to get a little more volume out of the amp and see what Mercury parts would do to the tone (I can only guess that it would make a great sounding amp even better). I’m not looking for this to become a five watter or anything; I would just like to get a few more db out of it! There are some after market mods available for the Blackheart Killer Ant, most notably is the kit from Bitmo Music called the “Ant eater” that adds a tone control, pull boost, and a line out for $39. I will be looking to mod the Killer Ant with the Bitmo kit and let you know how it all works out. The only other thing I wish this little beast had was a handle, the amp is small but it can be a little awkward to carry.  

The Final Word

So in the end, what is the Blackheart Killer Ant? To me, the Killer Ant is a near perfect amp for those of you who want real killer tube distortion at a volume that will not cause you permanent hearing loss. The amp is not only apartment friendly, but it is wife and kids friendly as well. This is not an amp that you can take to a gig or to a jam session, but it would do very well for recording and is perfect for practicing. The Killer Ant’s price point is a very reasonable $180 (street) but you will also need to have a cab for it as there is no headphone jack. But it does provide you with a great way to have a 4 x 12 cab in your apartment and continue living there without the fear of the law paying you a visit!