Blackheart Engineering’s new BH100H Hothead is a full-featured 100-watt workhorse amp head design for plug-and-play ease and versatile tone. It has two power modes (Class AB and Class A), each of which is divisible by pentode (full-power) and triode (half-power) operation to create four powerful voices:

  • Class AB/Pentode: 100 watts of unhinged power
  • Class AB/Triode: 50 watts, tighter headroom, crisper gain
  • Class A/Pentode: 60 watt, plenty of headroom, nice and plucky
  • Class A/Triode: 30 watts, less headroom, more responsive to attack
The Hothead has two channels — Loud and F’n Loud — each selectable by a mini toggle on the faceplate or remotely via the included footswitch, and each voiced through its own dedicated EQ section.

The Loud channel is voiced to range from crisp cleans to classic rock and heavy blues tones. Its controls include drive, level, treble, middle and bass.

The F’n Loud channel is voiced to capture classic crunch to sweet overdriven lead tones, all shapeable via pots for gain, level, treble, middle and bass.

In addition, the Hothead has controls for master volume and master presence.

Both channels share a tube-driven effect loop that can be run in Series or Parallel modes (selectable by mini toggle on the amp’s rear panel) and then hard bypassed, doubling as a footswitch-activated boost. Send and return controls act as expected.

Other Hothead amenities include a solid-state rectifier; DC-powered filaments (preamp) for solid, quiet operation; 16-gauge, 1.5mm rugged chassis construction with folded and welded corners; one 16-ohm, two eight-ohm and two four-ohm output jacks, plus a 1/4-inch line out; and a rugged cabinet constructed of durable 15-ply, 18mm, void-free plywood.

To accompany the amp, Blackheart Engineering is introducing its BH412 Slant (SL) and Straight (ST) cabinets. The cabinets are loaded with four 12-inch Blackheart by Eminence BH1216B Speakers, British-voiced and specifically designed for closed back cabinets, Each features 15-ply, 18mm, void-free wood cabs, classically joined and glued.

Both cabs are rated for 300 watts and have an input impedance of 16 ohms. They sport parallel 1/4-inch input jacks to daisy-chain multiple speaker cabinets from a single source.

The Hothead starts shipping in May. Street price is $649.99. The cabinets also ship in May, with a street price of $449.99 each.