"Black Pearl Posse"

[Tommy Biggs]

Originally Posted by ruger9

A point of information: I had several conversations with... Scott I think?... at GB, one of the techs on the Voicing switch, the DARK position is the one with the least amount of tone filtering, i.e., the "truest" voice of the amp. I had thought Natural was it (naturally ) but no.

Apparently, using DARK as the "flat EQ" jumping off point:

Thick adds bass
Natural adds highs
Bright cuts bass & adds highs
Deep adds bass & highs (most scooped)

Interesting - who'd a thunk it ?? Thanks for passing it along.

[KidArchitect]

Hey guys.

Had another thought.

Let's say, hypothetically, I want to get a 2nd amp. Either another BP30, or an AC30, or something.

And I just want to get the head version cuz its cheaper.

But I dont want to buy a cab, and just want to use my BP30 2x12 combo speakers. But still use my BP30 amp.

Is there a way to hook up a separate Head into my 2x12 combo, but still use the combo? Would it have to be A/B, or would it be possible to ABY?

Even just A/B would be fine, but ABY would be really cool too.

Anyway, thought I'd ask, see if there's a way to do so.

Thanks!

[John Thigpen]

A Radial Headbone is supposed to do exactly what you are looking to do, but I've never tried one. It does not allow for ABY as far as I can tell.

[amphog]

Split your 2x12 and use one speaker for each head, then do your switching on the front end.

[John Thigpen]

I was thinking through the issue of using the BP for clean and another lower powered head, such as a Vox Night Train, for dirty sounds, whether with a switcher like the Headbone, or splitting like amphog suggests. Using effects such as delay and reverb can be problematic, as you would have to use the effects on the front end which could sound kind of nasty into an power tube overdriven amp. However, if you're after classic tones such as Cream era Clapton, there was no reverb or delay on that either, other than room sound, so it might sound inauthentic. You could use the overdrive head for unaffected classic tones, and use pedals into delay and reverb into the clean BP for a different flavor (should we say more modern?) tones.

[amphog]

The head switcher seems like a complex solution to a simple problem, especially when using low watt amps and 1 or 2x12's, much more practical with 4 or 8x12's and higher power heads. The benifit of a bigger soundstage gained with a second cab should also be considered, especially with a wet, dry rig.

[KidArchitect]

Yeah it was a cool idea I had for a minute, but good points on the Effects going through the front - i use a copious amount of delay, so switching to a dirty amp with the delay in the front would be pretty nasty.

However, I am considering a Wet/Dry set up with a separate combo - something a bit cleaner (fender maybe?) for all my effects (whammy, HOG, Phaser, Tremolo, various delays)

Any ideas for a pretty clean that would handle lotsa of effects well? I'm guessing a high wattage fender to keep the headroom high, so maybe something like a vibrolux? 40w should be enough clean maybe?

Also - I've kinda noticed that I'm having a hard time getting a really good clean tone out of my BP30. I LOVE the edge of breakup sound, but to go clean sounds sterile to me. I think I might try bumping her back up to 30w to see if I can get a nicer clean sound without any breakup but not too sterile/boring sounding. Hard to describe I guess.

Might be my pickups too - but even with then set on 2/4 (strat with humbucks) positions, I still get a bit of distortion but its not what I'm lookin for.

Anyway, not a big deal I guess. I think it might help tho if I blend with a cleaner amp!

[Thinline_slim]

Wanted to pull this back to the top mainly because I had a chance to really open it up at a gig this weekend. And I was extremely pleased!

It was an outdoor gig and it was a blues/roots rock set list that was just a lot of fun to play. I really like the cleans it has and I threw on an OCD, which was recommended in this thread some time back and it sounded killer.

I had originally bought it as the 1x12 combo, but I decided that was too heavy, so I built a head cab for it and matched some grill cloth on a 2x12 I have now loaded with Red Fangs. Great setup.



So, now that I've owned this well past the honeymoon period, I will say that I absolutely love this amp. Wow!

[zzmoore]

I am glad you posted a picture. As popular as these are, I have never seen one before. They are a handsome looking head. Wish I could go to a club/bar sometime and see/hear a decent player using one of these amps......
Best

[Tommy Biggs]

OCD is spectacular with the Black Pearl - especially with a nice Les Paul.

It looks to me like you've got some real skills when it somes to building amps and cabs - Good luck with the rig!

[guitarz1972]

Yeah, thanks for posting that, Thinline slim. I am still, in the back of my head, entertaining the idea of converting my 112 into a head-cab. I know it's been mentioned that GB can do a head case for it, and it turns out I have a contact here locally who does this kind of work too.

My wife's been on me about not carrying the Black Pearl to and from my church gigs, up and down flights of stairs from my lessons room. I assume something like this'd split up the weight pretty well.

Anyone else got thoughts on head-cab conversions?

[Thinline_slim]

Originally Posted by zzmoore

I am glad you posted a picture. As popular as these are, I have never seen one before. They are a handsome looking head. Wish I could go to a club/bar sometime and see/hear a decent player using one of these amps......
Best

Me too!

Thanks for the props guys. The head cab was pretty fun to build. Dovetail joints and 5/8" ply made it somewhat lighter.

I'm relatively young (32) but I injured my back about 3 years ago so I need to watch what I'm doing with weight pretty carefully. I think I weighed it and it came out to 34lbs. Just a shade lighter than the GB head.

I did contact Genz Benz direct about building or selling the head shell for the BP. They quoted me $200 + shipping, which isn't horrible but I'm pretty handy and felt like a project was in line. I would say I only spent about $45 in parts for it. It's not perfect by any stretch but it's very passable in the dark, dank places I play.

[firebrand]

I have owned both the head and combo versions of this amp. I just sold off the combo, and still own the head. Bought both used. Love them both. Having a head only is much easier with gigs. I found a single 12 "custom" cab loaded with a Red Fang online for $250.

Unfortunately, I went to fire up the head today, and went I switched it from 2 to 4 tube mode something blew and now I get a hum and very low signal output. Does this sound like a transformer? I have traded out all the tubes and it did not solve the issue. Is there any way to get a transformer besides going through Genz Benz?

[KissTone]

I'm in . . . and Crowder's out.

I just bought his combo---and it arrived yesterday. You know, you guys are right: this is a great sounding amp. I've owned dozens over the years, but this one has made the best first impression of any of them. (Well, that Tone King Comet was pretty salacious when I first got it . . . but the love never formed.)

Heck, just some of the suggested settings from the manual have been enough to keep me happy all day.

I've read through most of these Posse posts and have to agree that an OCD sounds great and grindy in front of the BP---especially when the BP is running deep and clean.

I don't know if anyone has made this comparison, but the BP (to me) sounds similar to a friend's Marshall 1974x combo when both are set thick and clean. And that's a sound I can really get used to.

[gusinc]

How do I set the ohm when connecting a BP30-112 to a BP30-212 cabinet?

The back of the BP30-112 amp has the impedence switch with 4, 8, 16 ohm settings. On the back of the BP-30-212 cabinet the is a 4 ohm connection and a 16 ohm connection.

And I read that the BP30-112 is a 8ohm. What do I do?

Help!!!

Gordie