Dreamstruments #16: Vlasa & Black

When he shows you a laser cutter, a 3D printer or a CNC milling machine that he assembled at home, you have the feeling that you are in the workshop of an inventor like in an American movie. And when on top of it Vlasa brings his brand-new guitar, which he casually built himself, his typical modesty is definitely misplaced. Because these are definitely out of the usual and not just anyone can cover such a breadth of scope.

When Mesa/Boogie isn't enough

The beginning of the Vlasa & Black label was similarly immediate – while recording the album of his other band Six Degrees Of Separation, he wasn't satisfied with the sound of the renowned Mesa/Boogie guitar stompbox and Vlasa just figured he could do better. He had worked in Boogiestan (an international second-hand music gear store) and had the opportunity to try basically everything that was on the market (at that time rather unavailable in the Czech Republic or for a huge amount of money). So he sold the M/B box and with the money he and his colleague Black built two stompboxes, which are still in use today.

For the construction, they used details tested on dozens of boxes that passed through their hands, as well as proven experience from metal stages. Special bracing, front-loaded mounted speakers for a wider sound field, as well as the so-called A/B design, when the box is slanted so that it doesn't just play "into your legs", but its perimeter is straight so that the boxes can be stacked on top of each other without any problems. All in a functional and durable design, so that the apparatus can handle a thousand kilometres in the van, serve as a doorstop and not mind the occasional knock or scrape. For example, the legendary Krabathor reunion tour was completely equipped with the V&B stompboxes.

The road to amplifiers through the "graveyard of mistakes"

But as Vlasa commented, "We have a lot of cabinetmakers here, and many people can make a good quality box already. But with amplifiers, it's a bit more complicated". For the sake of simplicity, he played the European tour with Napalm Death on a simple "800" boosted by his tube screamer and, in his own words, he understood that even world-class guitarists do not necessarily take the sound too seriously. And, as is his habit, by trial-and-error he boldly ventured into guitar amps.

Using his childhood penchant for soldering various components and his service experience at Boogiestan, he tried to improve the wiring of the iconic Marshall JCM800 with a simple effects loop. Only it didn't work. He realised that determination alone wasn't enough and started working with old hands who had previously worked in electronics factories, arms factories or research institutes. They helped him perfect his own Blade preamp circuit, which is the basis of most Vlasa & Black amplifiers.

Vlasa was looking for an amp suitable for highgain, lower-tuned styles that wouldn't glut in the bass and wouldn't be as heavy and big as conventional tube amps. That it wasn't such a piece of cake, he documented with his "graveyard of mistakes", a bulky drawer full of failed attempts, malfunctioning wiring and messed up circuit boards. He always smiles when he hears that something is impossible – yet people have only tried it a few times.

Vlasa gradually fine-tuned the Blade preamp to his satisfaction and started installing it in various variations in amps, racks and even floor stompboxes. The Norwegian producer Børge Finstad (Mayhem, Arcturus, Borknagar, Ulver or Ihsahn) tried all the world brands of equipment he had brought in during the recording of Hypnos and was still not satisfied. Finally, he decided to turn on the unknown Vlasa & Black head and after three hours he came out of the studio smiling that that was the amp he wanted! So they recorded the album on a V&B Blade and Vlasa then made him two more Superblade heads loaded with more gadgets (4 channels, programmable MIDI, noise gate, split mids, jump solos, etc) which Finstad still has in his Toproom studio.

I recorded a couple of demos on a 1U rack two-channel Blade tube preamp, which, when paired with some IR loader, can be used for silent home recording, for example.

Own playing experience is invaluable

But Vlasa also makes interesting odds and ends and custom specials. He winds his high-quality transformers, and uses 3D printing to make bases, supports and the like. For example, in addition to a custom 1x10 box, a slanted 1x12 guitar monitor with Steve Vai-style bass reflexes, he's also very imaginatively built a multi effect into the head that not only affects the sound but also switches channels and is wittily fed from the power supply of a dismantled spring reverb. After all, this is also Vlasa's know-how, that he knows from his own experience what a musician needs on stage.

So he optimizes in different ways, combining effects into one stompbox on request, like for example for the Australian Black Majesty two-button box Delay + Jump + Gate. For a solo, it's a one-tap to boost and put on the delay at the same time.

A noise gate is his favourite gadget, which he has fitted to many Peavey 5150 amps, which, although considered by Vlasa as a brilliant metal head, also makes a lot of noise at high gain. Gradually, he tuned a special four-layer circuit board, which is the basis of an excellent-performing noise gate built directly into the amp, without the need for additional boxes on the floor. I also love the miniaturized sonic maximizer that can be hidden in the box in place of a 9V battery.

Vlasa also optimized the amp for Bilos from the iconic Malignant Tumour. Bilos had his dream Marshall Kerry King, only he found it too big and heavy to carry around all the time. So Vlasa reduced the weight to 13.5 kg and added an effects loop, overdrive and noise gate. Bilos is very happy with his V&B Earthshaker.

Future challenges

Vlasa still has plenty of plans. From optimizing pedalboards, where ground loops can make quite a trap, a pocket preamp in the style of the old and still good Sansamp, to maybe a small 20W head with a big sound. Feel free to approach this likeable metal-haired guy and maybe he'll build your dreamstrument, too.