Rockin' the Heartbreaker: The Lust Channel

[Tommy_G]

I'm getting pretty close or have just crossed the line where the Heartbreaker Lust Channel is into that tonal bliss zone where it makes you want to rock out like a teenager with his hair on fire.

I want to share what I've discovered for a preliminary blueprint:

Guitar: Humbucker..Burstbucker-ish...into a buffered pedal ("off") - NOT true bypass - in order to better impedance match pickups with amp input, thus retaining the highs coming off your guitar. This configuration is a core part of making this work - this amp's input impedances are all over the map depending on what's going on: hi or low gain, etc.

Amp: Head, Stock; 1/2 Power Switch; Rectifier, EL34 bias; Bold Switch; Hi Voltage setting (not Tweed)
Power Tubes - Outside Pair: Mesa STR-447's (Yellow Rated); Inside Pair: None
Tone Shaping Preamp Tubes - (Lust Channel Only): Tungsol RI --> ANOS Raytheon Long Blackplate (generically, a mid-forward chimey tube feeding a smooth and lively tube for articulate and dynamic yet smooth preamp breakup)
Reverb driver/recovery - EHX 12AT7, the extra current from this tube makes the reverb lush and awesome.
EFX Loop Send/Return tube - oops...forgot...important though...will edit later to add.
Phase Inverter - EHX 12AY7 (no fizz or clip when driving power tubes hard....nice ! )
Speaker Config: 1x12 Ext. Cab. c/w Eminence Reignmaker at 25% attenuation
Ohmages: 8 ohms output into 8 ohm speaker (note: I am not cutting the ohm output in half as per usual recommendation)

Hi or Low - switch between them with great tone each way
Gain: 10:30 - 1:30 depending on how much you use your gtr volume pot.
Treble: 1:15
Mid: 9:45
Bass: 9:15
Presence: +/- 40%
Fat & Bright switches on
Channel Volume: Full (eg. non-master volume amp...bringing in those sweet EL34 power tube OD)
Main Output Volume: 9:30-11:00, depending on your relative loss of hearing to date. This has to be loud to get into the power tube saturation zone to make the sweet silky part of the midrange spectrum come forward. 125 db at 6 feet pointing at feet with Yellow rated Mesa power tubes into a 95db speaker configuration. Double everything if you have 100 db speakers....OUCH.

This is a forward hard hitting ballsy tone with those sweet vintage mids. The Lo Gain setting works great for blues to rock rhythm, and the Hi gain from rock to hard rock leads.

Just enough mid scoop to make playing feel easy, but sufficient enough that all the mids you need to rock are there.
There is a ethereal, open quality to this tone. The touch-sensitivity from power tube saturation is right there at your fingertips.

This is straight ahead Marshall tone ala mid 70's to early 80's rock.

Small Deficiency: As indicated in my Heartbreaker Meets Reignmaker thread, the voicing of this speaker is just a hairwidth light in the part of the spectrum that brings pick attack forward.

This is pro-gig worthy blues, rock and hard rock tone.

PS: When you turn the power amp down with the Hi Gain switch on, you are after a tubescreamer-ish tone...a smooth scooped tone with some fizz on the top. That's what you're aiming for with your preamp controls - a tubescreamer tone without the tubescreamer....then, you nail the powertubes hard with that tone, and you've got Golden Classic Balls to the Wall Rock tone. Makes sense, hey! A Secret of the Tonegods!

PS2: When you turn the power amp down with the Low Gain switch on, you are after a chimey (but not over the top chimey) voxy style tone with a hint of breakup and a whisker of fizz. Push that hard into the power tubes, and you've got a touch sensitive yet smoooooth bluesy-rock tone with tons of character and how do you say it??? TONE...TONE...TONE....

 

[babow2]

Nice review and detail. Thanks.
The only thing better than a HB is a HB that's been modded by Monsta-Tone. I love mine.

 

[Tommy_G]

Thanks Babow, it wasn't just the effort with writing the review....it was the 50 or 60 hours it took to get this thing smokin' with awesome tone. Preamp tubes rotating through, power tubes, speaker, tone stack and gain, master and level settings, not to mention all the other whatnots on this amp. I'm really thrilled with what I've done here. I went away for 3 days, and I had separation anxiety. Came back, and it was better than I remembered. I don't feel a need to tweek. Now, THAT's accomplishment!

Curious to know if you have some tricks and tips, given you've played yours quite a bit longer than i have.

 

[babow2]

Well, as to tricks and tips, since mine is a JCM800 mod on the lust channel, we have two different animals. A couple thoughts though-
I 6V6's are a great way to get tone at a much lower volume. I am running them now and can crank the amp harder with less volume, as the amp is LOUD.

Don't forget low gain on Lust. There are some great Vox type tones there is you can work it.

Lastly, I found this amp just loves the Recto 2x12 cabinet with V30's. I don't know why, but it just pairs nicely.
Good luck.
Brent

 

[Tommy_G]

The recto cab works great with anything. When I bought my Nomad head at the store, I'm sure it was plugged into a Recto cab with v30's. When I got it home it was like....gosh...this sucks. I'm going to get a Rectocab one of these days.

I actually play my heartbreaker mostly on Lo Gain Ch2. If you get to my PS2 in the original post, you will see that I fully agree there is a voxy chime to ch2 lo. And man does that sound sweet when it gets pushed through EL34's.

 

[babow2]

+1 on EL34's. The funny thing is, it has been years since I used 6L6's in it. The lust channel rocks hard with EL34's and I don't notice any real loss in Fender/MarkI vibe on the Love channel with EL's. So, I agree.

(The saddest part is that I might be selling my modded HB head. I am getting an RA-100 and it does everything the HB does (except Mk 1) but better. Since I have a Mark V, I've got the Mk I tones covered. Don't tell anyone, though, because I am an HB lover. But, I can't keep it and the RA)

 

[Analog Kid]

EL-34's, at the moment on a high gain Monsta Tone. I like other tubes just as well and I am running the stock speakers which suit me ok. I think the early MC-90's are fine for this setup, although you might want something else if you were pushing the blackface vibe.

I like Love and Lust about equally. Love boost has a tad more gain than the hot rod jcm sound on Lust.

 

[Tommy_G]

Had a Studio jam with a pal with a great ear and great gear. (eg. Dr. Z. Maz 18 and an assortment of les pauls, fenders, etc., the good stuff, not the cheap stuff).

At easy listening volumes (80-95 db), I found I was getting better tone in the two-amp mix with the fat switch on the "trim" setting, and boosting the treble to about 2:00, and dropping the bass well below 9:00.

He had a Les Paul with 57's and gave my rig a whirl, and it didn't sound as good as my Yammy with burst-bucker oriented pickups. He was able to balance his volume settings on the combined pickup selector to get close. Of course, my settings are optimized around my guitar and pickups, not his. The 57's are too warm and smooth, and the recommended settings prefer a sharper tone with more clarity than 57's deliver - so that's why I'm talking "burstbucker". I started finger picking my (rather standard) blues solos and geezus did that sound pro....articulated, expressive, rich and present. In fact, I may very well do all my low gain stuff with fingers from now on...

There is no question in my mind that the Heartbreaker shines best with EL's. The JTM (lust) channel on lo gain was so perfect, all I needed was to be immersed in cigarette smoke and the smell of beer drenched carpets, and the set would have been real.

 

[Tommy_G]

A bit of an edit to my blueprint above:

The Groove Tubes 12ax7 in V3 (eg the V1 of the Lust channel) had great articulation and grit, and sounded great at home, but the amp didn't quite have the forward mids to cut through in a band mix.

I substituted a Tungsol RI in its place, and it has similar chime and maybe not quite as nice of transition from clean to dirty as the Groove Tubes - but the mids are very present in the Tungsol.

My tone cut through tonight with a sweetness this amp has never delivered before. I had the least expensive rig, and for the first time in my life, I think I had the best tone in the room, beating out even a Class A EL84 amp, in my opinion. The amp chirped like a song-bird is how I described it. Absolutely beautiful.

Right now, I'm running lust channel on the edge of breakup (using guitar dynamics / string attack to control amount of OD) and switching to a mid-hi gain MK1 lead tone on the Love channel. The MK1 tone is a much more refined tone for bluesy and rock leads.