Back in the fold - Heartbroken!

I have been Boogie-less for a couple years now since I let my MKIIC+ go to a new home. I have been missing the punch that the MK series brought to the table, and found a suitable replacement today I think in the form of a Heartbreaker combo. I thought that I would be happy with a 20 watt el84 combo and while it was soooo much easier to tote around it still lacked something. I will call it "balls" for lack of a better term.

It was really a no-brainer for the price the local GC was asking. It had been marked down to $499 from $899 due to the "Bold/Curvaceous" switch being broken, but when I showed up to test it it would not fire up and only emitted a loud hum. The sales guy and I took a peek in the back and he declared it needed a set of power tubes - how I will never know. The manager came over and asked how much a new set of power tubes would be and sales dude said "$100". Manager guy said "blow it out for $399 then".

I happened to notice that the V1 preamp tube was not glowing at all and was about to say something, but then decided to just take a chance on it. I traded a bunch of cheap crap I never use and walked out with the amp and a fresh Mesa 12ax7. Got home, dragged it inside, popped in the new tube and "wham!" - it roared to life! It has el34's in the output section currently, and had no other noises or strangeness going on. The only potential issue is a slight lag in the switching between channels, but as it will be a studio tool/jamming rig this should not be a huge issue.

I spent a couple hours tweaking knobs and exploring what this amp has to offer, and I must say I am really impressed by the flexibility of this thing. I really like that each channel can be either clean or not so much, and the fact that one can use 6l6's or 6v6's too. I did notice it was a tad dark-sounding, but that is fine with me as my Laney with el84's can cover the super-bright, chimey realms. Seems like a really wide tonal buffet is at hand, which is perfect for the studio environment. It took me no time at all to get that fat, singing tone that I missed so much.

I feel extremely fortunate to have stumbled upon this fine amp. I was in no way looking to buy anything, but have been curious about this rig for over a decade now and have just never had the chance to sample one. They seem somewhat uncommon and I was surprised there was not even really a mention here in the categories! I assume that these were never a huge success, and recall that they were released at a time when many different Boogies were being tossed out there - some to survive and others not so much. Is there not much love for the Heartbreaker, or is it just too far from the "typical" Boogie categories to have ever found a big following, loved fiercely by those who clicked with it and looked at with puzzlement by the masses?

My new mini switch is on order from Boogie (less than $5) and should be here next week. The tolex is a tad funky in spots but really, I couldn't care less about cosmetics. I'm just stoked to have a "real" amp in the house again, and glad that it was made by my old friends in Petaluma. Thanks for listening and sharing my joy! It's great to be back in the family again.

Great score, man! I have the head version and have never been happier with any other amp. It definitely *does* have balls! To really sound good, you have to turn it up. Like that's a bad thing or something.

later

As I understand it, the Heartbreaker is the predecessor to the Electra Dyne, which is another oft overlooked gem!

HAve fun!!

Holy awesomeness! Great buy! I've always liked the Heartbreaker. I went over to Rudy's in NYC this past summer and there was one in mint condition for about $900. I plugged a Les Paul in, and WOW. The thing roared!

You suck. I'm jealous. I was stoked when I got mine for $600 + shipping last year. I still can't get over how many sounds it has on tap.
I had mine modded by Andy at Thomas Ampworks but stock it was still pretty excellent. Word to the wise: try different speakers/cabs!

First impressions after a few hours of spinning knobs and scaring the cats tells me that this is a real gem. I have owned a TON of Boogies, including the fabled MKIIC+ and this thing gets me everywhere I might want to go. Cleans can be warm and spongy or sharper and spiky with plenty of chime depending on channel and rectifier selection, output settings, and line voltage (Tweed power!). The lead tones are pure Boogie, with all the sustain I remember so fondly, plus that that unmistakable "heft" behind the notes that I missed so much with the little 20 watt pea-shooters. There is even a pretty fair approximation of the elusive "M" sounds, although it doesn't quite capture that last 10% of upper-mid grind that makes a good Marshall untouchable. Maybe the semi-open 2x12 configuration and lack of Greenback magic keeps it from going there, I dunno.

The thing that really surprised me though was the quality of the "just breaking up" tones - something that always was a bit elusive with previous Boogies. I don't know if it is the tube rectifier coming into play, but this amp seems more responsive dynamically than previous Mesa's I have owned, allowing me to really exploit this region by controlling the grind with picking dynamics. The feel can be made really spongy and full of "sag" if desired. I was able to cop a very convincing Any Timmons tone with my H-S-S Hamer Daytona. Really a treat to have that kind of expression available again. I had that going on with my MKIIC+ until the original Sylvania STR415's died and it was never quite the same with modern tubes.

I think the only danger really is that there are so many options and varying tones that it will always invite tweaking. I suppose that also suits the studio well and prevents boredom though. REALLY digging this amp a lot in case anyone didn't get that from my gushing.......

Natman said:

Word to the wise: try different speakers/cabs!

Click to expand...

What would different speaker get me? It sounds pretty fine as-is but I'm always open to suggestions for improvements!

The stock speakers have their own thing going, but maybe are a little scooped or dark for some tones. I went with Celestion Golds and like them.

I have the head version of this, had it for 5 years in a closet. Five wasted years....so sad. However, I never bonded with the stock amp at all with 6L6's in it, and a change to EL34's got me closer to what I wanted, but ultimately have found that 6v6's are exactly where this amp shines. (Tungsol RI's to be exact, using the EL34 bias setting). The 6v6's make both the Fender side AND the marshall side of the amp sound great. Can't believe it, but I like the dynamics and crunch of a 6v6 better than an eL34.

If your heartbreaker has the stock transformer, you should mismatch your output for EL34's and 6v6's. Mismatch twice if you're running half power (a single pair of output tubes). eg. run a 16 ohm cab from the 4 ohm output.

I'm using greenback voiced speakers, and agree that the mC90's just don't do this amp justice.

My first foray into speaker options outside the MC90 was an Eminence Reignmaker (greenback clone) with the attenuation dial. Helped me take the volume knobs up a ways to where the power tubes cooked a little.

For gigging I'm using a Scumback m75-100 in a 1x12, and that's a great fit with this amp. The Scumback is a vintage 60's greenback voicing but without the notchy 'crunch' that typifies the modern greemback tone, its a open dynamic speaker that is velvety smooth on top. The fender channel loves this speaker too. I'd love to run Gold's as above, as they would be a great match for this amp, but with the amount of power at disposal with this amp, my thinking was to go low sensitivity on the speakers.

I fully agree this amp shines on the edge of breakup tones, particularly Ch2 Low. I clone that tone into the Fender channel as best as possible, because I still love a mid gain Marshall crunch tone more than a Mesa Mk Lead tone.

Another inexpensive but significant improvement was putting a 12AT7 in the reverb driver position.

One final word. This amp will give back what you put into it - not all amps will. Genre correct NOS tubes, etc., take this amp up yet another tier.

Tommy_G said:

I have the head version of this, had it for 5 years in a closet. Five wasted years....so sad. However, I never bonded with the stock amp at all with 6L6's in it, and a change to EL34's got me closer to what I wanted, but ultimately have found that 6v6's are exactly where this amp shines. (Tungsol RI's to be exact, using the EL34 bias setting). The 6v6's make both the Fender side AND the marshall side of the amp sound great. Can't believe it, but I like the dynamics and crunch of a 6v6 better than an eL34.

If your heartbreaker has the stock transformer, you should mismatch your output for EL34's and 6v6's. Mismatch twice if you're running half power (a single pair of output tubes). eg. run a 16 ohm cab from the 4 ohm output.

I'm using greenback voiced speakers, and agree that the mC90's just don't do this amp justice.

My first foray into speaker options outside the MC90 was an Eminence Reignmaker (greenback clone) with the attenuation dial. Helped me take the volume knobs up a ways to where the power tubes cooked a little.

For gigging I'm using a Scumback m75-100 in a 1x12, and that's a great fit with this amp. The Scumback is a vintage 60's greenback voicing but without the notchy 'crunch' that typifies the modern greemback tone, its a open dynamic speaker that is velvety smooth on top. The fender channel loves this speaker too. I'd love to run Gold's as above, as they would be a great match for this amp, but with the amount of power at disposal with this amp, my thinking was to go low sensitivity on the speakers.

I fully agree this amp shines on the edge of breakup tones, particularly Ch2 Low. I clone that tone into the Fender channel as best as possible, because I still love a mid gain Marshall crunch tone more than a Mesa Mk Lead tone.

Another inexpensive but significant improvement was putting a 12AT7 in the reverb driver position.

One final word. This amp will give back what you put into it - not all amps will. Genre correct NOS tubes, etc., take this amp up yet another tier.

Click to expand...

Tommy-G, thanks for the feedback. A couple questions if I may:

Is there a functional treason to mismatch when using other than the 6l6 tubes? Weak tranny on these or just a tonal thing?

What does the change to an at7 get you in the 'verb driver slot?

It seems lots of folks recommend speaker swaps. I'm open to that, but kinda like the darker tone I'm getting. That said, something a little less "stiff" might be an improvement. I DO have the luxury of cranking this beast up a bit here at home, so discovering the improvement in tone as the master goes up was immediate. It really does like to bark with a loud voice better than being reigned-in.........

I agree that if you have the time it's great to get into the classic RCA and Western Electric circits we get with this amp. With enough cabs and tubes you can cover so many things- like a 4x10 loaded with Jensens on lust, curvacious, tweed, tube rectifier driving a pair of 5881 types to cop a Bassman, or a nice 2x12, quartet of 6l6's in bold, love, full power, solid state rectifier to have a blackface Twin.
I don't really get into the tube and cabinet tweaking so much. If the Heartbreaker was my main or only amp and I only had money for a simple set of tubes I'd use the 6v6's. Mine stays loaded with El-34's since I am leaning a little more on the MonstaTone jcm800 tones. I think Andy takes a great amp and makes it sublime. The only downside to working with this tech is his location being in the middle of the Pacific...
http://www.amps-tubes.com/Mesa.html

Impedance mismatching: Yes, there are technical and tonal reasons in play.

Basically, 6L6 tubes have an output impedance (eg. the optimum operating point of current and voltage production from the tube) that is matched with the input impedance of the speaker as coupled through the output transformer. From this, you can understand that the transformer must be designed/wound in such a way t(primary vs. secondary winding ratios) that is specific to the power output tube type and number of tubes in play....eg....half power also similarly changes the optimum impedance match in a quad of 6L6's vs a pair of 6L6's thus you should also impedance match (errrr....nominally mismatch) a pair of 6L6's such as using the 8 ohm output jack into a 16 ohm speaker when on half power with 6L6's.

EL34 and 6v6 tubes have similar output impedances to each other, but greatly different than 6L6's. Its a coincidental and a relatively happy one, that to make these tube types operate within their optimum tonal and power efficiency range thru a 6L6 transformer design that you nominally mismatch them by half using a quad (8-->16), and then half again if you only use a pair (4-->16).

I'm pretty sure Mesa's new manuals, (for instance the Lonestar manual) address this tubetype-driven mismatch issue forthright, and the Heartbreaker manual I think does as well to a more limited extent, and certainly was pretty vague and glossed over.

But as far as I know this is the good and proper standard practice and electrical theory behind it. In fact, in terms of effect on tone, its there and its noticable, you will loose definition with EL34's and 6v6's may start to "fart" or splat out at lower than normal levels.

If you are unfamiliar with electrical theory, a rough analogy to the mechanical world would be how you would have to change your gear ratios to get simlar performance between a gasoline engine (at 2500 rpm) vs. a diesel engine (at 1250 rpm) even if both were rated at similar power outputs. The two engines (call one a 6L6 and the other an EL34) deliver the same power just with greatly different operating points as marked by torque and rpm (aka voltage and current). You would need to couple a diesel engine 2:1 differently than the gasoline engine into the same transmission in this case.

While I pulled this analogy out of my arse, hopefully it helps a bit.

Well, I got the mini-switches from Mesa and replaced the busted one so I can now switch between the Bold/Curvaceous modes. I guess it was stuck on "Curvaceous", because when I flipped that sucker over to "Bold" it **** near tore my head off! :shock:

There are now 2 switches that I need to be very careful with on this amp. Engaging either unleashes a volume boost that is simply overwhelming. "Bold" is an understatement, and hitting "Boost" on the Love channel with high gain engaged is a scary thing too. Time to download the manual I think.....

This thing is insanely loud. I used to think my old green stripe MKIII was frightening due to the note attack and sheer mass of the tone, but this thing can be pretty scary too in its own way.

Poor cats/dog/guinea pigs. :lol:

$200 should get you a single pair of 6v6's and an Eminence Reignmaker (get 16 ohm) and don't give up on the speaker till you break it in. That will knock the power down to the equivalent of a 5W amp and sound wayyy better than stock.

try it on 60 watt setting, bold, lust channel, low gain setting, and the gain knob set to about the 3 o'clock position, treble 2-3 o'clock, mids 11 o'clock and bass 8-9 o clock, tube rectifier. volume 2 o'clock and master about 9 o'clock. rock on dude!

I'm having fun wth Andy's jmp channel on full gain with a high master, but with tweed and curvacious. It's the opposite of crunch... Like a gain pedal with a bad battery.