Anyone ever play a hot cat or the xtreme tone pedal?

[LucidInterval]

I am looking at the xtreme tone (pretty much the hot cat pre) and I am wondering just how heavy it gets.

I just can't bring myself to play anything conventional!

 

[LucidInterval]

Re: Anyone ever play a hot cat or the xtreme tone pedal?

Bump!

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Anyone ever play a hot cat or the xtreme tone pedal?

In the case of Badcat, unconventional means expensive. I've played the other Badcat Overdrive pedal. two tone, and a Hotcat 30 on a 4-12. Most of the Class A style Matchless and Badcat pedals have a fat tone, but one that begins to blat out at higher gain settings, rather than cascading into smooth distortion. Possibly, this new X-Treme pedal is more 'over the top gain?' After this post, I may check out the clips at their site. http://badcatamps.com/pedals.asp

The Hotcat 30, although it has a tube rectifier, sounds pretty tight on the bottom end, and the Hotcat 100, even moreso. The first thing that comes to mind is a giant ZZ Top plexi grind type tone. It's probably one of the best sounding amps for a strat, and even humbuckers sound tight and vintage Marshall-like. It's probably the #1 amp on my list of wishes. I've pondered the idea of parting with my 97 Matchless, to score a Hotcat 100 halfstack. It's hard to part with the Chieftain's clean tone and great reverb, but once I heard the fatness and gain out of the Hotcat, the sound of it sits in the back of my mind. Here's the clips page for Badcat. Keep in mind, putting an overdrive pedal in front of these amps will give you the same fat gain, but raised to the point of singing gain. http://badcatamps.com/sounds.asp

 

[That90'sGuy]

Re: Anyone ever play a hot cat or the xtreme tone pedal?

Did you happen to see my thread Lucid? I just purchased a Hot Cat 30 online. I have a feeling I'll be having it for quite a while (only amp that I can see in the future replacing it is the Suhr 3 channel 50w head coming out next year.

100w is severe overkill in ANY situation. Even the Hot Cat cranked was seriously ear bleeding The nice part with lower wattage amps is that they sound great without being fully cranked. Hitting 50% or higher of the maximum output isn't near as difficult.

The Hot Cat RULES! The distortion does take some time getting used to, but for raw Marshall crunch, I think it owns. When I get it, I should do a cover of a Guns 'N Roses song to show you guys why I think it can do Silver Jubilee-esque stuff. The clean is UNBELIEVABLE! Trust me when I say it's one of the very best cleans I have ever heard, without any second thought. Gearjoneser, the new Hot Cat 30R has reverb built in (I believe "some" 100w original HC30 heads do too). The clean tone is so good on the original model, I don't care about tweaking it further, it's simplicity at its finest. However, the sound clips will show that in a week or two

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Anyone ever play a hot cat or the xtreme tone pedal?

Cool score! You're right about the 30 giving up the power tube gain at more useable volumes. The Hotcat 30 is about as loud as 50W Plexi Reissue. The 100 watt version is suitable to a rehearsal space only, but has the 4 EL-34 girth of sound that's almost scary under your fingers. I'd have to part with an amp or guitar first, to be able to justify owning a Hotcat 30 halfstack. For some reason, I like these amps much more in the halfstack version. The 2-12 is nice as well, but a closed back suits that fat gain better to my ears. These amps love OD and fuzz pedals, too.