Blackheart Little Giant 5 User manual

Little Giant 5
Guitar Amplifier Head
User’s Guide

2
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction ..........................................................................3
BH5H Special Features ...................................................4
The Front Panel ....................................................................5
The Rear Panel .....................................................................6
Important Information About Tubes and Tube Products ............7
A Brief History of Tubes ..................................................7
Tube Types and Usage....................................................7
The Nature of Tubes: Why (and When) to Replace Them ....8
The Importance of Proper Biasing....................................9
Survival Tips for Tube Amplifiers ....................................10
System Block Diagram........................................................11
Technical Specifications.......................................................12
Service Information .............................................................12
IMPORTANT SAFETY INSTRUCTIONS
•READ, FOLLOW, HEED, AND KEEP ALL INSTRUCTIONS AND WARNINGS.
•DO NOT OPERATE NEAR ANY HEAT SOURCE AND DO NOT BLOCK ANY VENTILATION OPENINGS ON THIS APPARATUS. FOR
PROPER OPERATION, THIS UNIT REQUIRES 3” (75mm) OF WELL VENTILATED SPACE AROUND HEATSINKS AND OTHER AIR
FLOW PROVISIONS IN THE CABINET.
•DO NOT USE THIS APPARATUS NEAR SPLASHING, FALLING, SPRAYING, OR STANDING LIQUIDS.
•CLEAN ONLY WITH LINT-FREE DAMP CLOTH AND DO NOT USE CLEANING AGENTS.
•ONLY CONNECT POWER CORD TO A POLARIZED, SAFETY GROUNDED OUTLET WIRED TO CURRENT ELECTRICAL CODES AND
COMPATIBLE WITH VOLTAGE, POWER, AND FREQUENCY REQUIREMENTS STATED ON THE REAR PANEL OF THE APPARATUS.
•PROTECT THE POWER CORD FROM DAMAGE DUE TO BEING WALKED ON, PINCHED, OR STRAINED.
•UNPLUG THE APPARATUS DURING LIGHTNING STORMS OR WHEN UNUSED FOR LONG PERIODS OF TIME.
• THIS APPARATUS HAS BEEN DESIGNED WITH CLASS-I CONSTRUCTION AND MUST BE CONNECTED TO A MAINS SOCKET
OUTLET WITH A PROTECTIVE EARTHING CONNECTION (THE THIRD GROUNDING PRONG).
• THIS APPARATUS HAS A DETACHABLE POWER CORD THAT IS CONNECTED TO THE IEC SOCKET ON THE REAR PANEL AND
SHOULD REMAIN READILY ACCESSIBLE TO THE USER.
• THIS APPARATUS HAS BEEN EQUIPPED WITH A DOUBLE-POLE ROCKER-STYLE AC MAINS POWER SWITCH. THIS SWITCH IS
LOCATED ON THE FRONT PANEL AND SHOULD REMAIN READILY ACCESSIBLE TO THE USER.
•ONLY USE ATTACHMENTS, ACCESSORIES, STANDS, OR BRACKETS SPECIFIED BY THE MANUFACTURER FOR SAFE
OPERATION AND TO AVOID INJURY.
•WARNING: TO REDUCE THE RISK OF ELECTRIC SHOCK OR FIRE, DO NOT EXPOSE THIS UNIT TO RAIN OR MOISTURE.
•SERVICE MUST BE PERFORMED BY QUALIFIED PERSONNEL.
•OUR AMPLIFIERS ARE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING HIGH SOUND PRESSURE LEVELS. CONTINUED EXPOSURE TO HIGH SOUND
PRESSURE LEVELS CAN CAUSE PERMANENT HEARING IMPAIRMENT OR LOSS. USER CAUTION IS ADVISED AND EAR
PROTECTION IS RECOMMENDED IF UNIT IS OPERATED AT HIGH VOLUME.
• WARNING: THIS UNIT REQUIRES A SAFETY GROUNDED OUTLET WIRED TO CURRENT ELECTRIC CODES HAVING THE
LINE SUPPLY VOLTAGE, POWER, AND FREQUENCY IDENTIFIED ON THE REAR OF THE UNIT. THE OUTLET MUST REMAIN
ACCESSIBLE TO DISCONNECT THE UNIT IF A FAULT SHOULD ARISE WHILE IN USE. THIS UNIT SHOULD BE UNPLUGGED WHEN
NOT IN USE.
CAUTION
RISK OF ELECTRIC SHOCK
DO NOT OPEN
WARNING: TO REDUCE THE RISK OF FIRE OR ELECTRIC
SHOCK, DO NOT EXPOSE THIS APPARATUS TO RAIN OR
MOISTURE. TO REDUCE THE RISK OF ELECTRIC SHOCK, DO
NOT REMOVE COVER. NO USER-SERVICEABLE PARTS INSIDE.
REFER SERVICING TO QUALIFIED SERVICE PERSONNEL.
"IT IS NECESSARY FOR THE USER TO REFER TO THE INSTRUCTION MANUAL"
“ES NECESARIO QUE EL USUARIO SE REFIERA AL MANUAL DE INSTRUCCIONES.”
"REFERREZ-VOUS AU MANUAL D'UTILISATION"
EXPLANATION OF GRAPHICAL SYMBOLS:
EXPLICACION DE SIMBOLOS GRAFICOS:
EXPLICATION DES SYMBÔLES GRAPHIQUES:
"DANGEROUS VOLTAGE"
“VOLTAJE PELIGROSO”
"DANGER HAUTE TENSION"
==
PRECAUCION
RIESGO DE CORRIENTAZO
NO ABRA
PRECAUCION: PARA REDUCIR EL RIESGO DE INCENDIOS O DESCARGAS
ELECTRICAS, NO PERMITA QUE ESTE APARATO QUEDE EXPUESTO A LA
LLUVIA O LA HUMEDAD. PARA DISMINUOIR EL RIESGO DE CORRIENTAZO.
NO ABRA LA CUBIERTA. NO HAY PIEZAS ADENTRO QUE EL USARIO PUEDO
REPARAR DEJE TODO MANTENIMIENTO A LOS TECHNICOS CALIFICADOS.
ATTENTION
RISQUE D'ELECTROCUTION
NE PAS OUVRIR
ATTENTION: PROTÉGEZ CET APPAREIL DE LA PLUIE ET DE L'HUMIDITÉ
AFIN D'ÉVITER TOUT RISQUE D'INCENDIE OU D'ÉLECTROCUTION. POUR
REDUIRE D'ELECTROCUTION NE PAS ENLEVER LE COUVERCLE. AUCUNE
PIECE INTERNE N'EST REPRABLE PAR L'UTILISATEUR. POUR TOUTE
REPARATION, S'ADRESSER A UN TECHNICIEN QUALIFIE.

3
Introduction
Congratulations! You have just purchased what we believe to be one of the most significant
objects that you’ll acquire in your lifetime—a tube amp. If that’s not enough, you’ve gone and
gotten yourself a Blackheart Engineering tube amp. So let’s take a big picture view of this for
a second: You’re a guitar player that could have bought anything to bring your mind-bending
chops to life, to unleash upon the masses the wrath of your otherworldly, mad riffin’ skills. Did
you settle? No, because you’re more than just “whatever.” You’re like, “hear me roar!” so you
go tube. Not “hybrid,” not “solid state,” but all tube—from when you scream “jump!” until your
speaker wails “how high sir!”
We like you. You’ve got style. Speaking of which, take a look at the way this amp is built. 16
gauge steel, ½" radius corners in a void-free birch ply cabinet that looks like Michelangelo
covered it for you personally. How about double-sided PCB with 2 ounce copper tracers so
your big fat sound has lots to hold on to traveling through a classic boutique circuit path
designed by none other than Pyotr Belov himself. The guy’s got a soldering iron in his hands
most hours of the night so if he says make the thing like a tank, everyone agrees real quickly.
Who knows, you might be in some sort of edge band; knock the thing around a bit. That’s a
Blackheart thing. We make rock-solid, no compromise music gear that sounds like choruses
of angels that sing in big, beefy power chords. We work with glass, metal and wood just like
the powers that be intended when they created rock and roll. We take every amp personally
and we do it assuming you worked hard to get it and we’re not letting you down. That fancy
tattoo logo was inspired by one of our test animals.* He said a great amp leaves a perma-
nent mark on your tone and shapes how you play, write, perform, etc. So, when you laid
down coin for a Blackheart, you kind of got hitched.
And it didn’t set you back much, especially when you consider what you got. Every Blackheart
design starts as a hand-built masterpiece with no thoughts about cutting cost or going for
it on the cheap. Pyotr picks every component one by one and tweaks until his ears hear the
tone. Once he’s given birth to the prototype (ouch!), he personally works with offshore manu-
facturing to translate that exact tone into the most affordable piece of gear that won’t let you
down. Literally, he works in the factory, training other people how to build boutique-quality
amps and sits on the QC line before anything gets into a box. Blackheart isn’t the cheapest—
plenty of other amps are cheap and you can have your pick. We prefer to be ultra-high quality
and performance for a price that anyone can afford.
So thanks for laying down your hard earned cash for a Blackheart Engineering product. We’re
not going to disappoint you. You’ve got, in your hands, one of the best sounding, best quality,
old school inspired amps that’s ever been made.
Vous avez notre coeur,
Pyotr Belov Kevin Van Pamel Walter Hsu
Blackheart Engineering
* We don’t test on little furry helpless animals of course. We call our artists animals because, well, we’ve
eaten with them. They give their time and opinions to us on a regular basis and have a lot to do with how
good your Blackheart is.

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BH5H Special Features:
• Single-ended Class A circuit
• All tube signal path
• One 12AX7/ECC83 dual-triode preamp tube and one EL84/6BQ5 pentode output tube
• Pentode (5W rms) Triode (3W rms) switch
• DC filament power supply for all tubes
• 3-band EQ
• 16-gauge (1.5 mm) thick, folded and spot welded steel chassis
• Double-sided custom color PCB with 2 oz. copper
• 15-ply, 18 mm thick, void-free birch plywood construction
• 16 ohm, 8 ohm, and 4 ohm speaker outputs

5
The Front Panel
1. ON/OFF SWITCH: Use this switch to
turn the amplifier on and off.
2. 5 WATTS/3 WATTS: This is the
Pentode/Triode switch. It allows you
to operate the amplifier in two distinct
modes of operation and output power
rating. The Pentode is the aggressive
setting that gives you full output power
of 5 watts rms. The Triode is a gentler
setting with more head room that reduc-
es the output power to 3 watts rms.
3. Indicator Lamp: This illuminates when
the amplifier is turned on (power, that is).
4. BASS: Use this to adjust the output
level of the low frequencies. The adjust-
ment range is 11 dB at 100 Hz.
5. MIDDLE: Use this to adjust the output
level of the mid frequencies. The adjust-
ment range is 7 dB at 1 kHz.
6. TREBLE: Use this to adjust the output
level of the high frequencies. The adjust-
ment range is 20 dB at 10 kHz.
7. VOLUME: Use this to adjust the output
level.
8. INPUT: Use this jack to connect your
guitar to the amplifier using a high-quality
shielded instrument cable.
BASS
5 WATTSON
3 WATTSOFF
MIDDLE TREBLE VOLUME
INPUT
L
I
T
T
L
E
G
I
A
N
T
010 010 010 010
1 2 3 5 6 7 84