Genz Benz Black Pearl Pirate's Den

Owners of Pearls unite! We are the ones who have discovered boutique tone at NOT boutique prices! Super versatile, well-built, tele-loving, AC30 variant... but oh so much more.

It's the highly-active EQ & Voicing switch that gives you such a wide range of tones... Ac30/Matchless/BadCat, Dr Z, Marshall, Blackface... you can wring reasonable facsimiles of all with the right guitar, EQ, and Voicing switch. It's not quite like the Vox Modelers in that regard, but if ever there was a "tube modeler" (but a REAL AMP... no computers, COSM, or any of that stuff inside), the Black Pearl is it.

Since buying my Pearl, I have been thru several amps, including a Fender SuperSonic and even a Dr. Z... but nothing has yet matched the fighting skill of my Black Pearl. I'm not one to say "I'll never sell it"... because history has told me there's ALWAYS a chance... but the Black Pearl might just be my "desert island amp" (well, that and a bottle o' rum!)

Everytime I turn it on, it brings a smile to my face, and that's what it's all about.

I was about to start a Black Pearl club, but fortunately went on to page two and found this one. I was playing a Dr Z Maz 38 and Carmen Ghia, which are both great amps, when a friend bought a Black Pearl 1x12. I played his and thought it was a pretty sweet amp and sold my Maz 38 to get one, and later sold the Carmen Ghia too. I ended up trading my 1x12 for a 3x10 and love it, though I don't love moving it. As Ruger said, they're very versatile amps. I don't set it to pretend to be a Vox, a Blackface, or a Marshall. I just set it to sound good, which probably has a little of each classic amp in the tone. The Dr Z Maz 38 was similar, but the Genz Benz is more versatile and a little smoother.

John

I bought a black pearl on ebay once, on a whim as the auction was about to end with no bids, and a ridiculously low price, though I forget exactly how much. It was brand new, from a defunct music store. It was terrific, but I soon realized it was much more amp than I needed (and I had too many amps already for my meager abilities). So before too long it was sold, and I broke even. But boy was it versatile! You could get a lot of great sounds out of that beast.

I just joined the club last night. Got a great deal on a BP30 head. Haven't had a chance to put it through its paces yet, but even at quiet volumes last night after the kids went to bed I was blown away by the smooth tones I was getting at true bedroom volumes. I don't have a cab yet, so I had to run it through my BJr with the Cannabis Rex in it and even that sounded good. I have ordered a Coyote Cabs Alpha Pup 1x12 that I will put the Cannabis Rex into once it arrives. Can't wait. I'll make sure to come back and post pics once it arrives.

Can anyone give me a rundown on what the different modes are supposed to be emulating?

The different voicings aren't really supposed to emulate any particular amps... it's really just more of a re-EQing of the amp; changing it's voice a bit.

What I have come down to is this:

Deep & Bright are in the "Fender" camp
Natural is Vox AC30 all the way
Dark & Thick ore more Marshally

But keep in mind, the EQ on this amp works SO well, it's SO active, that it's easy to get these voices to overlap each other. Most of the time, I just leave it on Natural & use the EQ section to change the tone.

But, for clean SRV type tone, I switch to bright.