Fractal Audio AMP models: Blanknshp Leeds (Blankenship Leeds 21)

yek

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* EDIT: Up-to-date information is available in Yek's Guide to the Fractal Audio Amplifier Models *
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BLANKNSHP LEEDS: based on Blankenship Leeds 21

This is a 21 watts head with EL84 tubes. It’s a boutique replica of a famous and expensive 18 watts open-back Marshall from the ‘60s, often referred to as “Mini Bluesbreaker” or “18 watter”. That Marshall amp is placed 16th on Vintage Guitar’s list of most valuable amps. Marshall released a couple of reissues. This Marshall and its clones, such as the Blankenship, are known for sounding “big” despite being relatively low power. More information

Cliff:

"The model was matched to Dweezil's amp. He loaned it to me because it was one of his favorite amps and I can see why. It's a really cool amp.”​

The Blankenship has two channels, one with and one without tremolo. The controls are simple: Volume and Tone, and tremolo controls. The Tone knob is mapped to the Treble control in the model.

Cliff:

“The amp has no hi-cut circuit therefore the control won't do anything. Neither will the Depth.”​

As Blankenship explains in the video below, the best way to use this thing is to max out the Volume (Input Drive), turn up Tone (Treble) to your liking and then use the guitar’s volume knob to regulate the gain. So simple, so awesome.

The original Marshall came in three flavors: 2x10” (model 1958), 2x12” (model 1973) and 1x12” (model 1974). Marshall’s reissue has a 1x12” 20 watts G12M speaker. The Leeds 21 combo comes with two G12H30 speakers.

Take your pick from the Marshall cabs listed here. Or try a “smaller” stock cab like the Triptik, Nuclear Tone or Division 13.

A selection of YouTube videos:



 
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Yeah - a great little gem from the Marshall legacy.

It sounds great - real amp and model both - and this amp is a favorite among hobby amp builders for several reasons - it's both a relatively simple circuit to build, a great sounding amp, a wattage that sounds great at lower than stadium volumes and a great platform for small tweaks and mods.

Now - it's time to play My Generation, with wild arm swings and other Townsend moves galore ......(except for the smashing of guitars and amps)
 
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Have tried this - a very interesting amp............good to know the settings from blankenship.....but it´s got much more gain than the JTM45?
 
That JD Simo tone is amazing, but it sounds almost like he has a tube screamer or something in front of the amp? It's got that 'nasal' quality going on which is really lifting out the harmonics and stuff.
 
That JD Simo tone is amazing, but it sounds almost like he has a tube screamer or something in front of the amp? It's got that 'nasal' quality going on which is really lifting out the harmonics and stuff.

Try a PEQ in front of the amp block with 1000hz boosted 5-7db, Peaking, default Q
 
This one's been around for a while, but finding great demos isn't easy. Here are someone of the other ones that come up. Cool amp.




some camera clipping, but still good

 
These posts are really awesome, thanks so much for investing the time to do them! I've learned a huge amount.
 
I played with this model briefly and found it a little bottom heavy. I was using it with an IR that is normally quite bright sounding, so I'm just wondering if that's normal for the model or not? ( I didn't really experiment with other IR's so it might have just been a resonant peak.)
 
I played with this model briefly and found it a little bottom heavy. I was using it with an IR that is normally quite bright sounding, so I'm just wondering if that's normal for the model or not? ( I didn't really experiment with other IR's so it might have just been a resonant peak.)

I agree, I couldn't get any decent top end with two guitars I tried. So I put a Treble Boost drive block in front of it with the drive at 0, tone at 10, and level at 10. That fixed it right up!
 
I recently tried this model with my recently-purchased filtertron-equipped Gretsch hollow body. The guitar in question has beautiful clean sounds, but doesn't mesh well with many higher gain amp models, but with this model (using one of the H30 cabs from the recent OwnHammer VC30 cab pack), it just sounds absolutely beautiful. A really fun, expressive, and detailed old rock and roll sound. I'm really enjoying it.
 
(only 2 years after yek's original post...)

I just spent most of this weekend with this amp and my prs HBii. Amazing sound from such a simple little amp.
My HB can be fussy with amps and I only changed the IR from the factory preset and had instant satisfaction.
I'll be giving this a try at next week's gig for sure.

IR's were ml zilla, green and cream m, the 57+906 mix's from the alloy folder.
 
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