Blades - Firebolt - Let's set the record straight! GREAT AMP

[mooncobra]

who cares?
why you trying to sell us on Blades amps?
People here have played them and said they sound good.
I don't think anyone has said they don't sound good.

Its BILLY that people seem to have a problem with, his attitude, and approach.
Also, all of his shit talking about other amp builders etc. ESPECIALLY WHEN there are PICTURES of the SHIT build quality of some of his amps out already.

And his cosmetic choices are fucking horrendous. I mean REALLY FUCKING HORRENDOUS>!

If he had toned down his approach socially, not talked an endless stream of nonsensical defensive and OFFENSIVE crap about all the other brands and builders...

AND designed a palatable aesthetic, I don't doubt he would be much more respected and even considered anything but the BUTT of MANY jokes around here.

now to be fair, I don't know the guy, haven't dealt with the guy except the one time he Private Messaged me to beg me to stop making fun of him.

And I did, but I am friends with some of the folks he talks so much shit about, so I don't really have any love for him or his amps.

If you really think coming on here with such a declarative stance that is entirely coming from a defensive posture and expecting to erase his sins in one fell swoop. Or to create YET ANOTHER FUCKING SHIT STORM thread so his hits on his website and videos get a bump...you just may get it.

billy ripped pretty much every builder out there for "ripping off jose." yet he did the same thing, not only did he rip all these guys and bash them, he then went out and did the same thing. some of his builds are undependable and treacherous. billy is lucky he hasn't killed anyone yet. Last time I saw his amps one said FORTIN BASED. not only does he steal their designs he openly says next to each amp which design he stole for that amp.

 

[steve_k]

I have always stayed out of Blades threads because I wish all builders well. However, I will chime in at this point because I just saw some detailed gut shots at slocloneforum last week. I have no comment on aesthetics or tone, since that's not for me to evaluate (and I haven't played one myself). My only comments have to do with safety. To keep it short, I will make only three comments concerning the Firebolt:

1. The cup holder is probably a fire hazard, as it would promote spillage and likely condensation. I can't confirm the latter, because I haven't seen one tested.

2. The most important connection of any tube amp is its earth (safety) ground from the power cord's (or IEC connecter) ground to the chassis. This needs to be a separate, unbreakable connection so that a fuse will blow if high voltage comes into contact with the chassis. In the Firebolt, the IEC ground lug is attached not to the chassis but to a can cap. This is a HUGE safety hazard because the can cap itself can break away from the chassis.

3. Given point 1 and 2, there is no way the Firebolt would ever pass electrical certification or inspection.

Point #3 might not appear important for the end user, since there are probably many safe amps that haven't been certified (from the bulk of the smaller boutique builders). I consider it a big deal, however, and I'm actually thinking about "hanging it up" so to speak unless I can get my own (safe) amps inspected and approved.

I mean no disrespect here. I don't know Mr. Blades and I wish him well. I would urge him to correct the three safety issues noted above, and I would caution potential or current customers of these safety shortcomings.

good observation. and yes, there are many boutique builders guilty.

question - would a builder be liable in an injury or wrongful death suit, selling a product that hasn't received some sort of electrical inspection by an approving authority?

 

[mooncobra]

I have always stayed out of Blades threads because I wish all builders well. However, I will chime in at this point because I just saw some detailed gut shots at slocloneforum last week. I have no comment on aesthetics or tone, since that's not for me to evaluate (and I haven't played one myself). My only comments have to do with safety. To keep it short, I will make only three comments concerning the Firebolt:

1. The cup holder is probably a fire hazard, as it would promote spillage and likely condensation. I can't confirm the latter, because I haven't seen one tested.

2. The most important connection of any tube amp is its earth (safety) ground from the power cord's (or IEC connecter) ground to the chassis. This needs to be a separate, unbreakable connection so that a fuse will blow if high voltage comes into contact with the chassis. In the Firebolt, the IEC ground lug is attached not to the chassis but to a can cap. This is a HUGE safety hazard because the can cap itself can break away from the chassis.

3. Given point 1 and 2, there is no way the Firebolt would ever pass electrical certification or inspection.

Point #3 might not appear important for the end user, since there are probably many safe amps that haven't been certified (from the bulk of the smaller boutique builders). I consider it a big deal, however, and I'm actually thinking about "hanging it up" so to speak unless I can get my own (safe) amps inspected and approved.

I mean no disrespect here. I don't know Mr. Blades and I wish him well. I would urge him to correct the three safety issues noted above, and I would caution potential or current customers of these safety shortcomings.

good observation. and yes, there are many boutique builders guilty.

question - would a builder be liable in an injury or wrongful death suit, selling a product that hasn't received some sort of electrical inspection by an approving authority?

I am sure they would have to be.

 

[V2a]

I have always stayed out of Blades threads because I wish all builders well. However, I will chime in at this point because I just saw some detailed gut shots at slocloneforum last week. I have no comment on aesthetics or tone, since that's not for me to evaluate (and I haven't played one myself). My only comments have to do with safety. To keep it short, I will make only three comments concerning the Firebolt:

1. The cup holder is probably a fire hazard, as it would promote spillage and likely condensation. I can't confirm the latter, because I haven't seen one tested.

2. The most important connection of any tube amp is its earth (safety) ground from the power cord's (or IEC connecter) ground to the chassis. This needs to be a separate, unbreakable connection so that a fuse will blow if high voltage comes into contact with the chassis. In the Firebolt, the IEC ground lug is attached not to the chassis but to a can cap. This is a HUGE safety hazard because the can cap itself can break away from the chassis.

3. Given point 1 and 2, there is no way the Firebolt would ever pass electrical certification or inspection.

Point #3 might not appear important for the end user, since there are probably many safe amps that haven't been certified (from the bulk of the smaller boutique builders). I consider it a big deal, however, and I'm actually thinking about "hanging it up" so to speak unless I can get my own (safe) amps inspected and approved.

I mean no disrespect here. I don't know Mr. Blades and I wish him well. I would urge him to correct the three safety issues noted above, and I would caution potential or current customers of these safety shortcomings.

good observation. and yes, there are many boutique builders guilty.

question - would a builder be liable in an injury or wrongful death suit, selling a product that hasn't received some sort of electrical inspection by an approving authority?

Yes. The only protection mechanisms are electrical inspection/certification and a good lawyer to combat other good lawyers. It would be the builder's onus to prove that he/she did everything possible to prevent injury.

 

[magh8]

laughable

 

[Equ1nox]

Is there any interest in seeing a "production" Blades Firebolt??

After this fat fuck tattoo artist gone amplifier and musical equipment supplier (lol) sucked information of off everyone and real technicians and vowed NOT to go in business, did so anyway, he recently posted selling his 100th Firebolt!! There are a lot of stupid people out there and whether or not he's sold even that many can not be authenticated, but his pricing, even for a 50-watter, has skyrocketed from $1200-1500, to currently $2500!!

I've seen many people offing his amps since purchasing them. Recently one went on Rig-Talk for $900-$975! - http://www.rig-talk.com/forum/viewto...lades+firebolt I looked on Reverb the other day and a guy had a 2015 from NAMM he is sellling for $1500 (good luck with that). - https://reverb.com/item/2664119-blad...015-snake-skin

I purchased one last week to evaluate it in-person. Below are my conclusions along with:

Attached is a full layout of the Blades Custom Amplification Firebolt 50 so anyone can build it themselves along with the full review and photos!

ASTHETICS
U-G-L-Y, you ain't got no alibi!! Just like Billy's nothing short of horrible tattooing skills, his amps are just as hideous!

The cupholder is stupid and encourages liquid inside an amp...brillant..ly dumb. The carry-over cabinet handle...useless. A single-strap does just as good a job. Likewise, the handle is orientated NOT-ergonomically. Your wrist is rotated 90 degrees and although "balances", the union-boys would have a field day with this!! The chicken knobs...ugly and tacky.

How many times can you count the name "Billy Blades" on the fucking amp?!? I count FOUR!!! You know a psycologist told me about this one time...it's the Cliff Clavin syndrome. It's an introverted self-importance act...like a mailman in a bar that carrys a keychain with 100 keys on it. Must be good or important to have soo many keys, right?!? I had an old boss that did that. I'm sitting in his office in the 90's and I look around and I literally see 12-20 places within his cubicle with his name on it (business cards, office plaque, computer screen, etc)! Pretty disgusting. There should be NO MORE than TWO names on the amp and company, not your personal name!

The spray painted of whatever that is font and rear looks like someone made it in their garage after school (or tattoo parlor)!

The power and standby utilize "on" as DOWN!! Umm, that's what Marshall and they may do in the EU, but BB pawns this off as being American-made...um, in America, "on" is UP!!

DESIGN
A complete copy of the schematics out there on the internet and put together (guesses) from Mensur! The base is the complete Cameron Jose HG, but includes things like mid slope resistor shifting, gain level selection via changing the plate resistor values on the first triode.

Since the Blades has no real techinical skills nor his crew, it utilizes a passive serial loop (probably ripped off of Ceriatone! lol For some reason, he put in some sort of PPIMV, but not in the tyopical fashion with dual ganged pot, so it's funky and doesn't really appear to do anything past about 50%! The amp already has a master volume and everyone knows having a PPIMV can play on the NFB loop, so sort useless especially in this design/application!

Blades again stole the "Voicing" and "Depth" MODs from the schematics on the internet including the duplication of components (stupid). There are errors in the schematic and thus amp and are NOT to Jose/Cameron spec, which sound MUCH better than this (laughs) holy grail amp! lol

The amp is single-channel only, no dual master and so likewise is not suited for everyone and limited use.

There is no bias control and set and no tube selection. Likewise he just throws tubes in for that "grail tone". lol I measure the power tubes with a Amp-Head Dual Bias Tester with a variac set to 120.0VAC and one tube measured a fair 33.1mA which is about 33%, but the other tube measured 52.9mA (105%)! That is way off and I just did quick checks of the voltages and bias, but it was steady, so unless the battery in my meter was compromised or there was a loose connection in the amp, that's what I read and that sucks and in that....tone!!

CONSTRUCTION
Oh boy, this is worst part (even worse and compromised design)...the soldering and general layout is better than the abortion of Steve's #1 20-watt Firebolt, but there are a myriad of issues...The "custom" (laughs) chassis doesn't have sides and no structural integrity is compromised. As you can see in the photos, the nut tabs are bent in and are not even symmetry. There some tabs are bent inward to locate the holes appropriately! There are flying leads exposed, as well as bare wires for heaters!

TONE
The amp is fairly quiet as well as his "MODed" amps in the past. Pretty amazing really given the horrible construction, layout and lead dress. The tone...good, but NOT great. The clips on the net are heavily processed and with FX. He copied schematics as everyone thought and those designs were all compromised (wrong). There is not one or two things that could make this amp sound better but a myriad (maybe 20 things)!! It is FAR from "grail tone". The FX loop is the most remedial (probably copied from Ceriatone), so pretty much useless for any "profession" guitar player.

VALUE
Well, in the beginning it may have not been TOO bad and ~$1500 cost, but now that cost has crept us to $2500 today for a 50-watt Firebolt model!! From the price of this slightly used, but mint Oct 2015 model to actual sales I've seen online, they are selling for $900-1000, so anyone purchasing a new one is a sucker and will not be able to recoup their costs and eat a significan $1500!!

SUMMARY
The physical appearance is hideous, the design flawed, the construction sub-par, the cost WAY too expensive and lose money on, finally the tone is good, but not great and compromised do to a neophyte stealing compromised designs from the internet and thinking it is 100% accurate and that they can go in business with no real formal technical education or experience or engineering background. Blades Custom Amplification is FAR from "custom" and "grail tone" and do to the above should be passed up for more reputable amp designers and manufacturers that make the designs he's trying to clone. This until goes back to the store for a full refund today!

LAYOUT:

Attached is a link to a slideshow of the photos. Let me know your thoughts and comments:

SLIDESHOW:
http://s934.photobucket.com/user/rr...ades Firebolt/Blades Firebolt 50 - Production

POOR QUALITY:
Bare Heater Wires

Bent Chassis

Look at this quality thou!...at Blades Custom Amplification, Quality is Job NONE!!! :roll:

Let me/us know YOUR thoughts. The photos speak for themselves.

 

[steve_k]

Is there any interest in seeing a "production" Blades Firebolt??

After this fat fuck tattoo artist gone amplifier and musical equipment supplier (lol) sucked information of off everyone and real technicians and vowed NOT to go in business, did so anyway, he recently posted selling his 100th Firebolt!! There are a lot of stupid people out there and whether or not he's sold even that many can not be authenticated, but his pricing, even for a 50-watter, has skyrocketed from $1200-1500, to currently $2500!!

I've seen many people offing his amps since purchasing them. Recently one went on Rig-Talk for $900-$975! - http://www.rig-talk.com/forum/viewto...lades+firebolt I looked on Reverb the other day and a guy had a 2015 from NAMM he is sellling for $1500 (good luck with that). - https://reverb.com/item/2664119-blad...015-snake-skin

I purchased one last week to evaluate it in-person. Below are my conclusions along with:

Attached is a full layout of the Blades Custom Amplification Firebolt 50 so anyone can build it themselves along with the full review and photos!

ASTHETICS
U-G-L-Y, you ain't got no alibi!! Just like Billy's nothing short of horrible tattooing skills, his amps are just as hideous!

The cupholder is stupid and encourages liquid inside an amp...brillant..ly dumb. The carry-over cabinet handle...useless. A single-strap does just as good a job. Likewise, the handle is orientated NOT-ergonomically. Your wrist is rotated 90 degrees and although "balances", the union-boys would have a field day with this!! The chicken knobs...ugly and tacky.

How many times can you count the name "Billy Blades" on the fucking amp?!? I count FOUR!!! You know a psycologist told me about this one time...it's the Cliff Clavin syndrome. It's an introverted self-importance act...like a mailman in a bar that carrys a keychain with 100 keys on it. Must be good or important to have soo many keys, right?!? I had an old boss that did that. I'm sitting in his office in the 90's and I look around and I literally see 12-20 places within his cubicle with his name on it (business cards, office plaque, computer screen, etc)! Pretty disgusting. There should be NO MORE than TWO names on the amp and company, not your personal name!

The spray painted of whatever that is font and rear looks like someone made it in their garage after school (or tattoo parlor)!

The power and standby utilize "on" as DOWN!! Umm, that's what Marshall and they may do in the EU, but BB pawns this off as being American-made...um, in America, "on" is UP!!

DESIGN
A complete copy of the schematics out there on the internet and put together (guesses) from Mensur! The base is the complete Cameron Jose HG, but includes things like mid slope resistor shifting, gain level selection via changing the plate resistor values on the first triode.

Since the Blades has no real techinical skills nor his crew, it utilizes a passive serial loop (probably ripped off of Ceriatone! lol For some reason, he put in some sort of PPIMV, but not in the tyopical fashion with dual ganged pot, so it's funky and doesn't really appear to do anything past about 50%! The amp already has a master volume and everyone knows having a PPIMV can play on the NFB loop, so sort useless especially in this design/application!

Blades again stole the "Voicing" and "Depth" MODs from the schematics on the internet including the duplication of components (stupid). There are errors in the schematic and thus amp and are NOT to Jose/Cameron spec, which sound MUCH better than this (laughs) holy grail amp! lol

The amp is single-channel only, no dual master and so likewise is not suited for everyone and limited use.

There is no bias control and set and no tube selection. Likewise he just throws tubes in for that "grail tone". lol I measure the power tubes with a Amp-Head Dual Bias Tester with a variac set to 120.0VAC and one tube measured a fair 33.1mA which is about 33%, but the other tube measured 52.9mA (105%)! That is way off and I just did quick checks of the voltages and bias, but it was steady, so unless the battery in my meter was compromised or there was a loose connection in the amp, that's what I read and that sucks and in that....tone!!

CONSTRUCTION
Oh boy, this is worst part (even worse and compromised design)...the soldering and general layout is better than the abortion of Steve's #1 20-watt Firebolt, but there are a myriad of issues...The "custom" (laughs) chassis doesn't have sides and no structural integrity is compromised. As you can see in the photos, the nut tabs are bent in and are not even symmetry. There some tabs are bent inward to locate the holes appropriately! There are flying leads exposed, as well as bare wires for heaters!

TONE
The amp is fairly quiet as well as his "MODed" amps in the past. Pretty amazing really given the horrible construction, layout and lead dress. The tone...good, but NOT great. The clips on the net are heavily processed and with FX. He copied schematics as everyone thought and those designs were all compromised (wrong). There is not one or two things that could make this amp sound better but a myriad (maybe 20 things)!! It is FAR from "grail tone". The FX loop is the most remedial (probably copied from Ceriatone), so pretty much useless for any "profession" guitar player.

VALUE
Well, in the beginning it may have not been TOO bad and ~$1500 cost, but now that cost has crept us to $2500 today for a 50-watt Firebolt model!! From the price of this slightly used, but mint Oct 2015 model to actual sales I've seen online, they are selling for $900-1000, so anyone purchasing a new one is a sucker and will not be able to recoup their costs and eat a significan $1500!!

SUMMARY
The physical appearance is hideous, the design flawed, the construction sub-par, the cost WAY too expensive and lose money on, finally the tone is good, but not great and compromised do to a neophyte stealing compromised designs from the internet and thinking it is 100% accurate and that they can go in business with no real formal technical education or experience or engineering background. Blades Custom Amplification is FAR from "custom" and "grail tone" and do to the above should be passed up for more reputable amp designers and manufacturers that make the designs he's trying to clone. This until goes back to the store for a full refund today!

LAYOUT:

Attached is a link to a slideshow of the photos. Let me know your thoughts and comments:

SLIDESHOW:
http://s934.photobucket.com/user/rr...ades Firebolt/Blades Firebolt 50 - Production

POOR QUALITY:
Bare Heater Wires

Bent Chassis

Look at this quality thou!...at Blades Custom Amplification, Quality is Job NONE!!! :roll:

Let me/us know YOUR thoughts. The photos speak for themselves.

dammit. that's some fucked up shit there. guess if the chassis bolts don't line up right, just bend the tabs...LOL

 

[Racerxrated]

Wow. For 2500 you too can throw tubes in and...just hope they bias up well. Unreal. And, can you say 'chassis twist'? Lol 2 sides..

 

[Equ1nox]

"dammit. that's some fucked up shit there. guess if the chassis bolts don't line up right, just bend the tabs...LOL"

Thanks Steve! What about the IEC ground going right to the cap?!?! How about the BARE WIRE heater wires!

For $2500, he could put better tubes in then a bottom of the line set of JJ's that don'teven bias for the first 100 people!! lol I knew you guys would get a kick out of this!

This thing is as all of the Blades stuff is an abortion and the tone is FAR from grail tone, so I don't know wtf billowen99's is talking about. If you like honking mid's, an amp much more noisy than the Cameron's I've owned or the latest Friedman's, and just a butt-ass ugly amp that may get you electrocuted...by all means, blow the guy and enjoy!...but it's really junk IMHO and the photos speak for themselvesand people can build it up 100% (and better built) based on the layout I posted!

 

[spliffsperlunk]

Wow , one of our members recently posted gut shot pics of a Soldano clone he built and it looked like a work of art , his build quality put those to shame.

 

[steve_k]

"dammit. that's some fucked up shit there. guess if the chassis bolts don't line up right, just bend the tabs...LOL"

Thanks Steve! What about the IEC ground going right to the cap?!?! How about the BARE WIRE heater wires!

For $2500, he could put better tubes in then a bottom of the line set of JJ's that don'teven bias for the first 100 people!! lol I knew you guys would get a kick out of this!

This thing is as all of the Blades stuff is an abortion and the tone is FAR from grail tone, so I don't know wtf billowen99's is talking about. If you like honking mid's, an amp much more noisy than the Cameron's I've owned or the latest Friedman's, and just a butt-ass ugly amp that may get you electrocuted...by all means, blow the guy and enjoy!...but it's really junk IMHO and the photos speak for themselvesand people can build it up 100% (and better built) based on the layout I posted!

looks more like a crime has been committed here.....

just have that cap break loose while playing and send current up to the guitar strings. that will for sure light someone up.

 

[Equ1nox]

"just have that cap break loose while playing and send current up to the guitar strings. that will for sure light someone up."

...come on baby, light my FIiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

 

[keennay]

I learned everything I needed to know about BillyBlades' amp build quality (or lack thereof) from the MarshallForum a couple of years back. A customer bought a Blades 20 watt Firebolt 'prototype' which was filled with bad solder joints, a messy soldering job... in a nutshell unsafely built. The original drama filled thread ended up deleted, but below is the 'amp rebuild' thread thanks to the help of other resident amp builders.

http://www.marshallforum.com/threads/th ... ver.62101/

I cannot respect a man who places such little consideration towards safety when designing & selling amp builds.

 

[Anonymous]

I'll just leave this:

Which costs less? One is $2299.00 and the other is $2499.00...

Steve

 

[mooncobra]

I'll just leave this:

Which costs less? One is $2299.00 and the other is $2499.00...

Steve

well done Steve, a work of art. still waiting for Henning Guitars.

 

[cecilbag]

I'll just leave this:

Which costs less? One is $2299.00 and the other is $2499.00...

Steve

In the history of mic drops....epic. Well played sir, well played

 

[maddnotez]

I'll just leave this:

Which costs less? One is $2299.00 and the other is $2499.00...

Steve

He went straight for the jugular.

 

[scottosan]

Please do not refer to Billy as a tattoo artist. He is a scratcher/hack with a tattoo gun.

 

[Starman22]

Does Blades have a booth at NAMM 2017?

 

[JerEvil]

All I'm saying is OP rolled all up in here "about to help us get something straight" but does not seem to have done his homework HERE or on any other forums.

I feel like this happened a while back as well.