Low-watt amps have become quite popular over the past few years as people have tried to find great tone at lower volumes. Low-watt amps are not new, though. Fender introduced the 5-watt Champ amp in 1948, and many other manufacturers have offered low-watt amps since. However, it seems that more companies are offering low-watt amps than ever before. Blackheart Engineering is a company that I started hearing about a year or so ago that is making a line of popular low-watt amps. They make a 1-watt amp (Little Ant), a 5-watt amp (Little Giant), and a 15-watt amp (Handsome Devil). Additionally, if you’re looking for a 100-watt head, Blackheart makes one of those too, called the Hothead.

I have the 5-watt Little Giant Combo*, which includes a 12-inch Eminence speaker. The Little Giant combo is a single-ended, class A amp that uses one EL84 tube and one 12Ax7 preamp tube. The amp includes a volume control and three tone controls: Treble, Middle, and Bass. Also included is a Pentode/Triode switch that switches the amp from 5 watts of output to 3 watts. The street price for the Little Giant combo is about $350. The Little Giant is available as a head for about $200. Blackheart amps are distributed by Crate.

First Impressions

After opening the box, I was impressed with the quality of the construction of the amp. Truth be told, I wasn’t expecting much from a $350 amp, but I was pleasantly surprised. The amp is well put together and seems to be well designed. The cabinet seems solid and there aren’t any tears in the covering.

Max Headroom

Many complaints about low-wattage amps center around the fact that many of them don’t have much clean headroom. In other words, the amp begins distorting earlier than desired. However, the Little Giant has much more clean headroom than I expected. In fact, I was actually hoping for a little more distortion at lower volumes! I can’t get natural tube distortion at volumes low enough to be played for long within my home. That being said, when you can turn it up loud enough to get natural distortion, the distortion is very smooth and warm sounding; a very satisfying tone.

Tone

The amp is very warm sounding. I have a Fender Blues Jr. amp, and the Little Giant seems a little darker and warmer than the Blues Jr. However, it’s a very pleasing sound. A Strat sounds very clean through the amp, but not quite as bright as when played through the Blues Jr. The 3 tone controls are fairly responsive on the amp, so it’s easy to adjust the tone to suit your tastes. I prefer a bit of midrange from my amps, and the Little Giant sounds very good with a bit of midrange. One of my favorite settings so far is putting the Treble on 5, the Midrange on 6, and the Bass on 4. This setting works well with my Strat and my PRS SE Singlecut, although I tend to roll off the tone on my Strat a little.

Pentode/Triode Switch

While I like the option of being able to switch the amp down to 3 watts, doing so cuts out some of the top end from the amp. That is, there is a noticeable difference in tone between the 5-watt setting and the 3-watt setting. Other amps that utilize the Pentode/Triode switch combination also suffer from this cut in frequency. There is also an audible pop when switching the wattage. Because the amp is a warmer-sounding amp to begin with, I tend to use the 5 watt setting more than the 3 watt setting. But, if you want to get to the distortion sooner, the 3 watt option helps you get there earlier than the 5 watt setting.

Conclusion

If you’re in the market for a low-watt tube amp, there are a lot of options available to you. However, I think at $350 the Blackheart Engineering Little Giant combo amp provides a good value with a solid construction, well thought-out engineering, and, most importantly, good tone. However, even though it’s only five watts, it’s a loud five watts, so you might need pedals if you want good distorted tones at low volumes. The three watt switch can be used to get to the distorted tones a little faster, but you do lose a little top-end by switching to the three watt setting.

Here’s a video demo of the Little Giant head and cabinet. You can get a feel for the clean and the distorted tones, which are quite pleasing:

* Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a Little Giant combo amp review unit for free in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Last year, Page Hamilton released a guitar instructional DVD titled Sonic Shapes. I’ve mentioned before that I was a big fan of Hamilton’s and his band Helmet when I first started playing guitar in the 90s. He was one of the first musicians I knew of who tuned to drop-D.

On Sonic Shapes, Hamilton illustrates some of the concepts and approaches he takes when writing music for Helmet. Hamilton is a long-time student of jazz and avant-garde guitar, and it’s interesting to hear him talk about how he builds the chords for Helmet music, which seem deceptively simple at first. However, the chords and scales he uses are fairly atypical for the type of music he plays. Throughout the instructional portion of the DVD, Page plays an ESP guitar without distortion so you can really get a feel for how the chords sound without the effects that he normally uses.

In addition to demonstrating how he goes about composing some of Helmet’s music, the DVD features a section of Hamilton’s tips on practicing. He mentions a routine called “Super Chops,” which was developed by Howard Roberts, that he has adapted for his own use. Hamilton suggests always having material on hand so that you can utilize your time wisely. For example, when he’s on the road, he always has a folder of material that he’s working on. He also suggests keeping a practice log so that you can keep track of your progress and of what you want to work on.

As a bonus, the DVD features some live footage of Helmet, where you can see some of the concepts Hamilton discusses earlier in the DVD in action.

Tommy Emmanuel recently released an album with jazz guitarist Frank Vignola titled Just Between Frets. This album is volume 11 in the Groovemaster series, which has featured many other excellent guitarists including Phil Keaggy, Laurence Juber, Preston Reed, and John Jorgenson. This collaboration between Emmanuel and Vignola pairs Emmanuel’s inimitable acoustic guitar style with Vignola’s jazz guitar style, which yields a very pleasing result. In the duo format, Emmanuel seems to be able to stretch out a little bit more than he might usually do in a solo environment.

The track listing for the album is:

01 – Tenderly (3:53)
02 – Clouds/Nuages (4:57)
03 – How High the Moon (4:23)
04 – I’ve Got a Crush on You* (1:00)
05 – Young at Heart* (3:23)
06 – Swing 39/Swing 42 (6:18)
07 – Sweet Dreams (3:33)
08 – Paper Moon (5:36)
09 – Django’s Castle (4:20)
10 – Swing 09 (3:29)
11 – NatureBoy (4:31)
12 – Just Us 4 All (7:34)

Here’s a video of Emmanuel playing with Vignola:

Gibson recently introduced the Keb’ Mo’ signature Bluesmaster acoustic guitar. The guitar is loosely based on Keb’s Epiphone Bluesmaster, which was a popular parlor-sized guitar that Gibson discontinued about 10 years ago. The Keb Mo’ Bluesmaster features a spruce top, mahogany back and sides, and a bound, rosewood fingerboard. It is available in a natural or sunburst finish. Gibson has recently posted a video of Keb’ Mo’ discussing the guitar.

As a fan of both parlor-sized guitars and Keb’ Mo’, I’m glad to see Gibson come out with this model. However, I’d also like to see them reintroduce the Epiphone Bluesmaster.

One of the most popular posts on this site is “Build Your Own Pedalboard“, where I link to Rob Hampton’s detailed description of building his pedalboard. It seems that a lot of people are interested in building their own pedalboard. However, not everyone has the time or tools to build their own pedalboard. Enter Pedaltrain.

Pedaltrain makes a series of professional-quality pedalboards used by many guitarists. Pedaltrain’s pedalboards come in various sizes. The largest is the Pedaltrain Pro; the Pedaltrain 1 and 2 are slightly smaller than the Pro, but still hold about a dozen pedals; the Pedaltrain Jr is several inches smaller than the 1 and the 2; and the Pedaltrain Mini is the smallest unit that Pedaltrain sells.

I’d heard about Pedaltrain through the message boards, where many people were praising them, but I’d never used them myself until recently. I had a chance to meet the president of Pedaltrain at last summer’s NAMM show, and he told me more about his company’s products. After looking at the displays, I came away very impressed with the quality that goes into their pedalboards.

I have the Pedaltrain Jr, which is a good size for someone who has about six pedals or so. The Pedaltrain Jr measures in at 17″ x 12.5″ x 2.5″. My initial impression at the NAMM booth have been confirmed by being able to spend some time with the pedalboard. It is built rock-solid and seems like it could hold up to extensive gigging, although I have not gigged it yet.

A few of the nice things about Pedaltrain’s pedalboards are the fact that they are angled and open, making access to the pedals on the top row easy so that you don’t accidentally step on a pedal on the bottom row instead of the intended pedal. Additionally, this design makes cable management fairly easy and leaves room on the bottom of the pedalboard for a power strip or other power supply for your pedals. For example, many people use the Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2 to provide power for their pedals, and there is room underneath the pedalboard for this power supply.

Another nice touch by Pedaltrain is the inclusion of all the velcro you’ll need to start adding pedals to the pedalboard. The velcro seems very durable, and instructions are included to help you get started.

You can get Pedaltrain pedalboards with a soft case or a hardshell flight case. My pedalboard came with the hardshell case, and it seems like it could really take a beating. Because the cases were so well received by musicians, the president of Pedaltrain created a sister company called ProStageGear, which makes gig bags and flight cases for instruments and amplifiers. I had a chance to look at these on the floor at NAMM, and they look to be of the same quality as the pedalboard cases, but I haven’t used any of the guitar cases myself.

If you’re looking for a pedalboard and don’t want to build your own, I highly recommend taking a look at Pedaltrain’s pedalboards. If you want to see how your pedals will work on one of Pedaltrain’s pedalboards, you can design your pedalboard at PedalboardPlanner.com. You can select among each of Pedaltrain’s products, and there is a large list of pedals that you can add to the board to see how they’ll fit.

Kevin Frazier from Grid1 recently let me know about his company’s new product: a 60 watt lithium battery-powered tube amp called the G1 BPT212. The amp was launched at the Winter NAMM show in Anaheim about a week ago. It features 2 12″ speakers, a lithium rechargeable battery, two footswitchable channels, and your choice of wood cabinet. The company claims to get 4-6 hours per charge. Frazier recently demoed the amp for Guitar Player magazine. The G1 is expected to ship in February.

You may have heard by now that Joe Bonamassa is teaming up with Glenn Hughes, Jason Bonham, and Derek Shirinian to form Black Country. They’ve recorded about six tracks already and will be reconvening in March to finish an album to be released later in the year. I’m looking forward to hearing what they come up with; with these guys, I bet it’s going to be a rockin’ album. Here’s a video of Bonamassa and Hughes playing together last November at Guitar Center’s King of the Blues competition:

Six Strings is a documentary project about our favorite subject, guitars. What’s interesting about this documentary is that they are looking for six guitarists from around with the world with an interesting story to tell about playing the guitar. You can submit your pitch to be included in the documentary. They ask that you have a video uploaded to your own website or to YouTube with an example of your playing.

Eric Johnson, from a recent conversation with Music Radar about his upcoming album, discussing why it takes him so long to complete an album:

“In the end, though, the finished product is what matters, and I just can’t lower my standards. I can’t go, ‘Oh well, I’m not in tune – whatever.’ That isn’t what turns me on. What turns me on is hearing a guitar with a great sound and played really, really great. That’s what gets me up in the morning.”

Johnson says he has about 12 songs completed for the album, which he expects to release soon. The album is being mixed by Andy Johns and is tentatively titled Up Close. Special guests on the album include Jimmie Vaughan, Jonny Lang, and Steve Miller.

(Thanks to GL reader Darren M. for the tip about the interview.)

Seattle-based guitar instructor and founder of Heartwood Guitar Instruction Rob Hampton has recently written a book titled Rob’s Totally Awesome Guitar Teaching Handbook. In the book, Hampton provides hard-earned insights into setting up and running a successful guitar teaching business.

I’ve thought several times about becoming a guitar teacher, but I’ve always had questions that have held me back. Rob’s book helps answer many of those questions. For example, one basic question I’ve always had is whether I was a good enough guitarist to start teaching others. Rob had this same question before he started, and he provides some good advice about how good you have to be. Furthermore, he learned that teaching made him play more, which helped him improve as a player himself. Another question he discusses is determining whether you’re a good enough teacher. He provides some good insight into helping you determine that for yourself.

Many people get into guitar teaching because they like playing guitar and they think it’s an easy way to make money. However, when you teach on your own, you also need to be aware of the business side of guitar teaching. Rob’s handbook breaks down many of the details about running a guitar-teaching business. For example, should you rent a studio or teach from your home? What kind of teaching space do you need? Should you make housecalls? Do you need insurance? These are just a few examples of the types of questions that Rob discusses in his book.

Another aspect of guitar teaching is marketing yourself. Rob talks about how to brand yourself and then advertise your services to your community. Rob has a unique perspective on how to market his business, as he’s been able to get his business on the first page of Google when searching for “seattle guitar lessons” and he has a five-year waiting list of students. Suffice it to say, he has some helpful strategies for marketing a guitar-teaching business.

If you’ve been able to answer all of these questions and you still want to be a guitar teacher, Rob provides some guidance on how to teach guitar. He helps you determine the type of teaching philosophy that will be successful for you and your students. He also provides advice on how to structure your lessons to get the maximum benefit for the student. The book even includes detailed information about how to teach a new concept to a beginning student. Rob really spends quite a bit of time in this section providing details and examples about teaching guitar concepts and how to approach lesson planning. He even provides a list of easy songs to teach beginning and intermediate players. This chapter is full of excellent content about the actual act of teaching.

At $30, Rob’s Totally Awesome Guitar Teaching Handbook is a treasure-trove of information for anyone thinking about teaching guitar. It’s really opened my eyes up to a lot of things I’ve never even considered and made me really think about whether or not I’m ready to teach guitar. I highly recommend Rob’s book to anyone thinking about teaching guitar.