Black Spirit 200 - 200-watt Head Review

Incredible Amplifier

I had some hands-on time with this amp at Winter NAMM 2019 and decided that I needed one shortly after. The Black Spirit 200 sound like and reacts like a tube amp...and I have a wealth of those at my disposal. I have been on a solid state journey for the past few years, buying products like the Seymour Duncan Powerstage 700, Matrix GT1600FX and Matrix VB800 and they were all sold… read more or returned. I don't know what the Tone Generator is, but whatever it's doing fools me every time I plug into it. This amp is incredibly versatile, small and light enough to fly with and takes pedals like I would expect. The RedBox sims are okay but I don't use those (not a fan of IR's). If you want reliability, compatibility (with products like Helix) and great tone, look to the Black Spirit 200. You won't be disappointed.

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Great amp, Big sound.

Great lightweight amp. It isn't an exact match for the tone of an actual tube amp but very close. The effects are great quality. Something that really surprised me about this amp is the Redbox DI with cab sim. I didn't expect to use it and bought a very popular brand cab sim. To my surprise some Redbox settings sounded more natural and full while running through a full range passive… read more speaker from the full range speaker setting on the amp. (Full range,Which is what any house system actually uses. I set it up so I can actually hear the same sound and tweak what an audience hears through a PA system) One speaker cab sim setting did not fit all my presets and sound interest, but selecting through the different options I found what works the best for each and with a little EQ tweaking. BAM. Better sound through a 12" full range speaker with appropriate settings than through one of the most popular cab sims out today. Wasn't really expecting that! No more lugging around big heavy amps and cabs. With the options given on this amp, it delivers a BIG sound, although it's lightweight. Even when used along with a single 12" full range 33 lbs. speaker of good quality

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Blown Away

I have chased guitars tones seems like my whole life.This little amp just blew me away..I received it just in time to take it to the gig I had that same evening.Played some traditional , old school country and I was completely satisfied with the way this amp performed, exceeding every expectation. The sagging control gave me the bite I was after, but still had the sweetness I need… read more for that Telecaster twang.

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Versatile amp with really usable features

I primarily play heavy music (tech death, metalcore) but wanted an amp with a really good clean sound and an amp that could potentially eliminate the need for pedals (except for amp's MIDI controller). The Clean and Crunch channels are very good with subtle delay, reverb, modulation effects. I use the sagging feature for the Clean and Crunch channels and use lowest level for heavy… read more rhythm tone. For heavy rhythm, it took some tweaking of both the Ultra and Lead channels to get what I was looking for so I can understand the review from November 26, 2018 by Eli. For my 6 string heavy rhythm with HK 2x12 cabinet (Celestion V30s), presence at 100%, resonance 75%, treble 95%, mid 100%, bass 5%, gain at 15%, Boost engaged, sagging at 1 (values in percentage due to digital readouts of each pot as shown in iPad app). This gave a tone similar to tech death rhythm with fairly decent picking articulation. With the Lead channel you get get something similar by increasing resonance, bass, and gain with some reduction in treble, mid, and presence. With my 7 string, I still use an overdrive pedal in front to boost (Horizon Devices Precision Drive). The range of potential sounds between Lead and Ultra channels makes it difficult at first to choose which channel to utilize but the flexibility added by the voicings of these channels is what makes it great. On top of the sounds from each channel, there is the ability to play from 2-200W, RedBox DI for recording, cabinet selection options, Bluetooth (iPad app control or streaming music through amp line-out), headphone/line-out jack, etc. I'm coming from a Peavey 6505MH and think the HK BS 200 sounds phenomenal and very close to a tube amp with so many settings available to tweak.

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I Already Broke My New Year's Resolution...and Bought This

About two weeks before Christmas, I asked my engineer Chris Ishak if I could demo this amp head; I liked what I'd heard in all the videos I watched (given that the audio quality is what it is online), and wanted to hear it compared to my GrandMeister 40. Like everyone else, I wanted to see if I could hear a difference between the tube head and the analog (solid-state) head. Chris… read more & I exchanged a few e-mails, and when he suggested I could return it once I'd tried it out, I half-jokingly repliaed and said I'd probably end up keeping it... Chris got it shipped out and delivered to me in just a few days, and it arrived the day before I had to travel for the 2018 holidays. I discovered one of the nicest features of this amp is its lunch-box size and light weight (like a 15" laptop). I was able to pack this amp head in my Osprey Ozone 46 backpack with very little effort, and enjoyed my first few days of the amp using headphones. The amp is simple to set up and use. The iPad app makes it easy to control and manage unlimited presets. Very similar setup to TubeMeister/GrandMeister series amps, so if you've used those amps, you'll be twiddling knobs and getting your tone dialed in very quickly. New/Nice touches: - Bluetooth control of the amp using the iPad app - Bluetooth audio streaming in (cannot be used if the iPad app is connected to the amp via Bluetooth) - front panel 1/4" headphone jack - "Spirit Technology" window exudes 60's/70's era Lava-lamp vibe - Sagging control - Updated RedBox cab sims After spending a week with the amp, I'm quite impressed. To my non-professional ears, the amp sounds like and gives me the feeling of playing through my GrandMeister 40, only much louder. At just the 2 Watt setting, it gets really loud using any of the H&K Crunch presets (I haven't unleashed any Ultra presets yet). I don't know if I'll ever find myself in need of 200 Watts of pure power, but I know it'll be there when I do. Pro Tips: In order to control the GrandMeister and TubeMeister with an iPad, you had to buy the WMI-1 MIDI network device. To control the Black Spirit 200, turn on Bluetooth on the amp, and connect an iPad that has the app installed. To stream music, connect to the 1/8" stereo line in on the back panel. (NOTE: owner's manual states that you cannot connect the app via Bluetooth and stream music simultaneously) To control the Black Spirit 200 and stream music via Bluetooth, you will need the WMI-1. The iPad app will connect to the amp using the WMI-1, and music will connect via Bluetooth. (NOTE: owner's manual does not discuss connecting the same iPad to the amp using both the WMI-1 and Bluetooth) It does what I need/want it to do, and frankly - that's all that really matters. I don't need to convince any but my own ears that what I'm hearing sounds sweet, dirty, thick, crunchy, soaring, crying, wailing...tubes, nothing but tubes. This will be my go-to gigging amp for its weight, stability, power, flexibility; I'll reserve my GrandMeister 40 for those truly "special" events.

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