Billy Blades Update

[TrueTone500]

- I've never played the JS JVM.
- Mike Himmel never claimed his YT clips were pre-production, so no proof was needed.

you should
it proved it to me, who actually likes the firebolt amp but now is convinced that there are other options for the VH tone

I'm checking out the JS JVM clips now...

Too many knobs, too many channels, three modes per channel, noise gates... It's not my thing, but it is thorough. as far as options are concerned. I prefer a single channel gain amp that cleans-up to a nice crunch, and a separate amp for clean tones.

 

[charveldan]

What are billy's sales like I wonder? There are what, 4 or 5 firebolts on ebay now plus this abomination combo? I'm thinking sales are likely slow. Might be a great bargain amp when the price drops to 999$ though!

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Blades-Custom-A ... 2a423c9cda

2K .....lol.

I'll take two.

If i were a bettin man id say sales are -0.00 at that ridiculous price.

Ridiculous price for comical amps, thats all that makes sense to me about willie.


[ebay listing quote] :



Portable Holy Grail of TONE !
Dynamic FEEL , Ultimate Iconic TONE & Built like a TANK in the USA

Legends , RockStars and People around the Planet are Gravitating to the Undisputable tone of the Blades Amplifier line !

We went thru the History of the Best Amplifiers in the World that made their Mark on the Platinum RocknRoll Hits and put it all in ONE AMP,,,, The Firebolt !

By Now we are positive most people have seen the Video
"Best Amp in the WORLD" by Mike Himmell on YouTube.
We are hearing from all around the Globe that this is "the AMP" !
From Brown sound to beyond ,,,, its in there!

The Circuitry within the Blades line was developed from amp designs once reserved for Rock Royalty !

Handmade in America !

Features;
*100% American made !
* Point to point Military Spec Wiring!
*Marine grade Baltic Birch head cabinet
*Heavy Duty 12 g. Aircraft Aluminum Chassis
*Reverse engraved plexi faceplates
*Ceramic tube sockets / Tubes ( JJ el34 & 12ax7)
*G10 turret board loaded with Choice Heavy duty caps & resistors
*Teflon Topcoat wiring & Belden cable
*Cliff jacks & switch craft & Carling switches
*Steel Corners
*Blades Handi-Tray™ steel handles. Offset for balance and doubles as tray for picks , slides , keys , change etc ,etc.
*Blades Cup-Grabber™ cupholder . Holds small can to Super BigGulp. Can be used for writing utensils and digital recorders too!
*Master Volume design with push pull Attenuator for low volume thump
*Passive effects loop
* ClassicTone Transformers Made in the USA !
*100% love and care goes into every build !

Front panel;
Double gain controls for Plexi to Mean and everything in between!
Standard presence , bass , middle , treble and master volume controls.
* OD select , (L) light saturation (M) no saturation (R) heavy saturation


Rear panel;
Depth Control let's you fully fine tune the low end and low mids !
Master , push pull attenuator /ppimv allows low Volume while letting the power section heaviness come thru to simulate a RipRoaring full Blast tone at talking volumes.

Each Blades Custom Amplifier is built custom for each Client.
Please allow between 6-8 weeks for shipping . Sometimes as low as 4 weeks depending in finishing touches.
Each amp is hand engraved with Signature and serial number upon completion?
Standard Colors are White or Black Polyurethane waterproof coating for durability band longer lasting great looks.
Custom Tolex & color add $150

Built to Last and Made to BLAST !

 

[mooncobra]

All drama aside, this is hands-down the best Van Halen tone I've EVER heard! The Blades Firebolt is a must have!

I like the VH tone I got on this better:

Romeo Delight (the full song)

or this:

Jamie's Cryin' (snippet)

Streve

what amp is that?

AxeFx Ultra.

Steve

sounds great, and so does your playing!! by the way, how is your hand?

 

[FourT6and2]

Is "Military Spec" just a random buzz word that's thrown around now? Because it used to mean something. For something to be "Mil-Spec" it needs to comply with a lengthy list of specific criteria. Here's an example:

http://www.everyspec.com/MIL-STD/MIL-ST ... 010935.PDF

For example, cut leads protruding from a solder joint must not exceed a certain length. And there must be a certain gap between the tinning on a wire and where the insulation starts. And that when wrapping a lead around a turret, there must be a certain degree of coverage around that turret. Or that when soldering, there needs to be a certain amount of of wire still visible through the fillet.

I doubt a lot of builders claiming their work to be "mil-spec" have read through that entire US DoD document and apply those standards to their builds.

 

[ejecta]

For the price.... I were to take a risk on a small time builder I'd probably buy one of these before I'd buy a Bladez. Better tone all the way around.

 

[charveldan]

 

[Anonymous]

All drama aside, this is hands-down the best Van Halen tone I've EVER heard! The Blades Firebolt is a must have!

I like the VH tone I got on this better:

Romeo Delight (the full song)

or this:

Jamie's Cryin' (snippet)

Streve

what amp is that?

AxeFx Ultra.

Steve

sounds great, and so does your playing!! by the way, how is your hand?

Thanks. Hand is still eff'd up bad. Right now, I'm waiting for approval for the botox shots by my medical insurance... the parts needed by the dr. for the EMG/muscle stim machine are in and ready to go...

In the meantime, still playing what I can with whatever weird techniques work and also playing lots of slide. Tell you one thing, no way I could play Romeo Delight right now like I did in that clip with this screwed up hand/brain connection... sure hope I can get the treatments soon and see where the chips fall...

Steve

 

[November5th]

For the price.... I were to take a risk on a small time builder I'd probably buy one of these before I'd buy a Bladez. Better tone all the way around.

That amp sounds killer. Thanks for posting. Yet another amp on the radar.

 

[MORIANO]

1. Moriano and Himmel...who in the hell are these people? No offense. but i never even heard of them until now! lol. ...well its true.

2. Billy IS just cloning others designs. It's already been proven. He conned Mensur out of the schematics and is reproducing them verbatim, adding some add-ons like switchable 10k/39k slope resistor, etc. and badging it as a Firebolt (Cameron Jose) and Venom (Cameron Aldrich) and marrying it to whatever power section to make it a 20 watter, 50, or 100w. How do we KNOW....well, he's boasted about it in postings on forums for years. Further, we...me/Steve have had amps MODed or completely built by him. Once reverse-engineered, it as determine they were exact duplicates of others designs! Again, due to his limited engineering aptitude, we also concluded he did not know how to scale the power section appropriately.

I'm sorry you guys are getting sucked in like some users to a drug dealer due to his bullshitting ability. Yes, the amps sounded well, but when you compare a boutique amp or modded amp to a low-gain plexi or stock 2204 provided...duh, you answer your own question!. It's gonna "sound" significantly better! That doesn't mean as good as it could or built well, only what you're used to.

In any event, this thread is going nowhere n things being rehashed. Either folks are listening or not and it appears a couple refuse to listen and with vested interest and i dont think have the years of insight and background we have.

Never heard of you either Bob, but you got an amp modded by Billy off eBAY and loved what he did, now your

 

[MORIANO]

Heres a Iphone clip of Mike Himmel, slight delay and its ALL PHONE….raw

man the satch JVM will sound every bit as good as that. those other himmel clips were all post production and this cell phone clip proves it.

Now the JVM sounds "just as GOOD as a FIREBOLT", hey thanks guys, Love Marshall, love the FIREBOLT. My friend sold the Satch JVM months back, he's chasing still….I told him to try the VENOM cause he wants lots of gain and bottom. And ShovelDan is "KING of SPAM". Cracks me up, all this post production bla bla bla…
Himell played the Friedman at GC after he bought the FIREBOLT, he smiled huge leaving GC NOT buying the Friedman BE100 as he KNEW he made the right decision. The rest is history….watch.

 

[MORIANO]

Ignore him and he'll go away. He get's off on the drama and stated so himself...

Listen to this dick-twizzler... He just despises drama.

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=157944&p=1791481#p1791481

??????

Ignoring him will be like torture.

Billy ignores you daily, (what you resist persists) and you look like you LOVE resisting….your the hypocrite that truly wants this thread to keep going. In fact your the furthest guy out of all posting here that really knows Billy at all
Billy is focused on building amps and taking care of customers like anyone else starting out trying to make their new company work and succeed. But you won't like my reply cause Im trying to keep it positive.

 

[mdc1mdc11]

Billy is focused on building amps and taking care of customers like anyone else starting out trying to make their new company work and succeed.

Well said. Something very basic that is lost in this weird thread of rock throwing, almost like a witch burning. After this thread you may not want to ever build an amp and try to take it to market as you have to listen to this stuff. At least folks have choices.

 

[LP Freak]

Ignore him and he'll go away. He get's off on the drama and stated so himself...

Listen to this dick-twizzler... He just despises drama.

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=157944&p=1791481#p1791481

??????

Ignoring him will be like torture.

Billy ignores you daily, (what you resist persists) and you look like you LOVE resisting….your the hypocrite that truly wants this thread to keep going. In fact your the furthest guy out of all posting here that really knows Billy at all
Billy is focused on building amps and taking care of customers like anyone else starting out trying to make their new company work and succeed. But you won't like my reply cause Im trying to keep it positive.

Yep, you've got me all figured out.

 

[glip22]

Heres a Iphone clip of Mike Himmel, slight delay and its ALL PHONE….raw

man the satch JVM will sound every bit as good as that. those other himmel clips were all post production and this cell phone clip proves it.

Now the JVM sounds "just as GOOD as a JVM Satch", hey thanks guys, Love Marshall, love the FIREBOLT. My friend sold the Satch JVM months back, he's chasing still….I told him to try the VENOM cause he wants lots of gain and bottom. And ShovelDan is "KING of SPAM". Cracks me up, all this post production bla bla bla…
Himell played the Friedman at GC after he bought the FIREBOLT, he smiled huge leaving GC NOT buying the Friedman BE100 as he KNEW he made the right decision. The rest is history….watch.

Can you explain the differences between the Firebolt and Venom? Can you list what the amp functions are on the front panel from a technical standpoint? Is the mid shift two or three different treble caps or something else like pot vale changes on teh mid pot? Is one of the other switches diode clipping with middle being off, low being a higher voltage diode, and hi being a lower voltage diode? Are these zeners or are these transistors like Jose used. How much of a volume drop is there between them? The last switch on the right does this change between three different cathode bypass caps? The power section controls: Is the depth a .0047 cap on a 1 meg pot? Is the other just a change in the NFB of the amp? Anything else as well. I assume the amp is four gain stages ala Aldrich? If so, is the first cathode resistor unbypassed at 1.8K? Is the switch changing the bypass caps attached to the second cathode or V2B? Where in the circuit do the diodes hit? Or which cathode? Also is the master pre or post tone stack. I know Jose is pre tonestack? I know the amp cannot be a combo between a Jose circuit and Aldrich circuit as the tube configurations are so different, one being cathode follower three gain stages and the other being four stages no CF.
Thanks for your input. I assume you can ask Billy if you are not sure. I will need to know these things before considering one of your amps. I'm sure many others are curious as well.

 

[Tone Merchant]

Heres a Iphone clip of Mike Himmel, slight delay and its ALL PHONE….raw

man the satch JVM will sound every bit as good as that. those other himmel clips were all post production and this cell phone clip proves it.

Now the JVM sounds "just as GOOD as a JVM Satch", hey thanks guys, Love Marshall, love the FIREBOLT. My friend sold the Satch JVM months back, he's chasing still….I told him to try the VENOM cause he wants lots of gain and bottom. And ShovelDan is "KING of SPAM". Cracks me up, all this post production bla bla bla…
Himell played the Friedman at GC after he bought the FIREBOLT, he smiled huge leaving GC NOT buying the Friedman BE100 as he KNEW he made the right decision. The rest is history….watch.

I still cant figure out who Mike Himmell is.

 

[Bob Savage]

I still cant figure out who Mike Himmell is.

He's the son of Mr. and Mrs. Himmell.

 

[MORIANO]

Heres a Iphone clip of Mike Himmel, slight delay and its ALL PHONE….raw

man the satch JVM will sound every bit as good as that. those other himmel clips were all post production and this cell phone clip proves it.

Now the JVM sounds "just as GOOD as a JVM Satch", hey thanks guys, Love Marshall, love the FIREBOLT. My friend sold the Satch JVM months back, he's chasing still….I told him to try the VENOM cause he wants lots of gain and bottom. And ShovelDan is "KING of SPAM". Cracks me up, all this post production bla bla bla…
Himell played the Friedman at GC after he bought the FIREBOLT, he smiled huge leaving GC NOT buying the Friedman BE100 as he KNEW he made the right decision. The rest is history….watch.

I still cant figure out who Mike Himmell is.

Rob really, he's a guy who loves tone, he is a guitar player, a great one. He dosent know who you are either.
He recorded with Bret Michaels did an American Idol tour and more things cooking as we speak.

 

[glip22]

Can you explain the differences between the Firebolt and Venom? Can you list what the amp functions are on the front panel from a technical standpoint? Is the mid shift two or three different treble caps or something else like pot vale changes on teh mid pot? Is one of the other switches diode clipping with middle being off, low being a higher voltage diode, and hi being a lower voltage diode? Are these zeners or are these transistors like Jose used. How much of a volume drop is there between them? The last switch on the right does this change between three different cathode bypass caps? The power section controls: Is the depth a .0047 cap on a 1 meg pot? Is the other just a change in the NFB of the amp? Anything else as well. I assume the amp is four gain stages ala Aldrich? If so, is the first cathode resistor unbypassed at 1.8K? Is the switch changing the bypass caps attached to the second cathode or V2B? Where in the circuit do the diodes hit? Or which cathode? Also is the master pre or post tone stack. I know Jose is pre tonestack? I know the amp cannot be a combo between a Jose circuit and Aldrich circuit as the tube configurations are so different, one being cathode follower three gain stages and the other being four stages no CF.
Thanks for your input. I assume you can ask Billy if you are not sure. I will need to know these things before considering one of your amps. I'm sure many others are curious as well.

 

[rlord1974]

^ yes, I had the exact same questions and am anxiously awaiting answers.

 

[MORIANO]

Heres a Iphone clip of Mike Himmel, slight delay and its ALL PHONE….raw

man the satch JVM will sound every bit as good as that. those other himmel clips were all post production and this cell phone clip proves it.

Now the JVM sounds "just as GOOD as a JVM Satch", hey thanks guys, Love Marshall, love the FIREBOLT. My friend sold the Satch JVM months back, he's chasing still….I told him to try the VENOM cause he wants lots of gain and bottom. And ShovelDan is "KING of SPAM". Cracks me up, all this post production bla bla bla…
Himell played the Friedman at GC after he bought the FIREBOLT, he smiled huge leaving GC NOT buying the Friedman BE100 as he KNEW he made the right decision. The rest is history….watch.

Can you explain the differences between the Firebolt and Venom? Can you list what the amp functions are on the front panel from a technical standpoint? Is the mid shift two or three different treble caps or something else like pot vale changes on teh mid pot? Is one of the other switches diode clipping with middle being off, low being a higher voltage diode, and hi being a lower voltage diode? Are these zeners or are these transistors like Jose used. How much of a volume drop is there between them? The last switch on the right does this change between three different cathode bypass caps? The power section controls: Is the depth a .0047 cap on a 1 meg pot? Is the other just a change in the NFB of the amp? Anything else as well. I assume the amp is four gain stages ala Aldrich? If so, is the first cathode resistor unbypassed at 1.8K? Is the switch changing the bypass caps attached to the second cathode or V2B? Where in the circuit do the diodes hit? Or which cathode? Also is the master pre or post tone stack. I know Jose is pre tonestack? I know the amp cannot be a combo between a Jose circuit and Aldrich circuit as the tube configurations are so different, one being cathode follower three gain stages and the other being four stages no CF.
Thanks for your input. I assume you can ask Billy if you are not sure. I will need to know these things before considering one of your amps. I'm sure many others are curious as well.

Pretty sure the description is on Billy's FaceBook Blades Custom Amplifier page. Search August 11th post