If you are looking for a class A, all tube, point to point amp, check out a Bad Cat. IMHO, these are as good or better than the old Fender amps.\
http://www.badcatamps.com/home.asp
http://www.badcatamps.com/home.asp
Bad Cat All Tube Amps
- Thread starter Stratcat
- Start date
L
Lewguitar
Guest
Re: Bad Cat All Tube Amps
I'm curious if they are as good or better than the original Matchless amps. Of if the new Matchless amps are as good as the old Matchless Maps. Still on the "AC 30" quest... Lew
I'm curious if they are as good or better than the original Matchless amps. Of if the new Matchless amps are as good as the old Matchless Maps. Still on the "AC 30" quest... Lew
L
Lewguitar
Guest
Re: Bad Cat All Tube Amps
I've been looking at them. Mark makes a great amp! And you are right: they are every bit the equal of the great vintage amps. Better in some ways. Lew
Stratcat said:
I've been looking at them. Mark makes a great amp! And you are right: they are every bit the equal of the great vintage amps. Better in some ways. Lew
Re: Bad Cat All Tube Amps
IMHO, these amps are worth every cent. Point tp point, hand wired, all tube, all tone.
http://www.wildwestguitars.com/badcathome.htm#cub
IMHO, these amps are worth every cent. Point tp point, hand wired, all tube, all tone.
http://www.wildwestguitars.com/badcathome.htm#cub
That90'sGuy
DyzaBoyzologist
Re: Bad Cat All Tube Amps
Here's my .02.
If you want great cleans, look at a Bad Cat Trem Cat (the one Scott F had). The Hot Cat I had had cleans that resembled a Matchless Chieftain, but I'd still take the Chieftain.
As some may recall, I had the Hot Cat for 5 months or so. It was a solid amp, but for the money, I felt I could have done better. I was looking for more push from the cleans. There seemed to be a dramatic volume increase with the distortion channel and I didn't care for its voicing. It was raw and uncompressed and a bit too focused for my taste. It can be tweaked to get a ton of different sounds, but for my tastes, it didn't cut it.
I have yet to try the new "R" version which incorporates a 5 way switch for cleans (making it much more versatile) and a mid control on the distortion channel. I'm sure an amp like the Hot Cat is GREATLY improved with these options. I always wanted more mids to fill out the spectrum on the overdrive on the original and I'm sure they've finally solved that. One issue I had with the amp was how difficult it was to adjust the amp for a different environment. Some places the tone was perfect and other places (like a large rehearsal space) and I couldn't get it to sound remotely like I had in the previous place. Bad Cat has one awesome thing going for it... build quality. They are made insanely well, everything from the PTP wiring to the solid enclosures, a touring pro could take it to 300 gigs a year and I have no doubt it would hold up without any problems.
Bad Cat makes good amps, but to be honest, I loved the tones I was getting out of the amp before it, the Hughes & Kettner Triamp. I'm digging the more compressed, thick tones of my Fargen Epic 30 DC though, and the cleans have more push and jangle than both the H&K and the Bad Cat. If you don't believe that Fargen NAILS AC-30 tones, give a good listen on the Fargen amplification website, they sound dead on.
Here's my .02.
If you want great cleans, look at a Bad Cat Trem Cat (the one Scott F had). The Hot Cat I had had cleans that resembled a Matchless Chieftain, but I'd still take the Chieftain.
As some may recall, I had the Hot Cat for 5 months or so. It was a solid amp, but for the money, I felt I could have done better. I was looking for more push from the cleans. There seemed to be a dramatic volume increase with the distortion channel and I didn't care for its voicing. It was raw and uncompressed and a bit too focused for my taste. It can be tweaked to get a ton of different sounds, but for my tastes, it didn't cut it.
I have yet to try the new "R" version which incorporates a 5 way switch for cleans (making it much more versatile) and a mid control on the distortion channel. I'm sure an amp like the Hot Cat is GREATLY improved with these options. I always wanted more mids to fill out the spectrum on the overdrive on the original and I'm sure they've finally solved that. One issue I had with the amp was how difficult it was to adjust the amp for a different environment. Some places the tone was perfect and other places (like a large rehearsal space) and I couldn't get it to sound remotely like I had in the previous place. Bad Cat has one awesome thing going for it... build quality. They are made insanely well, everything from the PTP wiring to the solid enclosures, a touring pro could take it to 300 gigs a year and I have no doubt it would hold up without any problems.
Bad Cat makes good amps, but to be honest, I loved the tones I was getting out of the amp before it, the Hughes & Kettner Triamp. I'm digging the more compressed, thick tones of my Fargen Epic 30 DC though, and the cleans have more push and jangle than both the H&K and the Bad Cat. If you don't believe that Fargen NAILS AC-30 tones, give a good listen on the Fargen amplification website, they sound dead on.
Re: Bad Cat All Tube Amps
Well, I can comment since I owned a Trem Cat for a year or so.
Great EL84 tone. Maybe the best I've ever heard. Very similar to the Handwired AC30.
Construction..... Definite 10 on this. Just built like an old Sherman Tank.
Tone..... Tone is a variable depending on who you are. The Trem Cat has so many tone stack options, if you can't dial in a perfect tone, you're deaf.
Features..... 10
Support.... Definite 10 on this. James might take a day or two to answer your email, but he's a really nice guy and he gets the job done.
I'm not sure what else you might want. Except for a bit better selection of preamp tubes. I thought the amp deserved better than the Sovteks that were in there. I ended up dropping those new 12AX7M's in there from GT. A real plus.
Bad Cat makes great stuff for sure. I've watched them being made.
Bring your Wheaties. A 2x12 weighs around 95 lbs.
Well, I can comment since I owned a Trem Cat for a year or so.
Great EL84 tone. Maybe the best I've ever heard. Very similar to the Handwired AC30.
Construction..... Definite 10 on this. Just built like an old Sherman Tank.
Tone..... Tone is a variable depending on who you are. The Trem Cat has so many tone stack options, if you can't dial in a perfect tone, you're deaf.
Features..... 10
Support.... Definite 10 on this. James might take a day or two to answer your email, but he's a really nice guy and he gets the job done.
I'm not sure what else you might want. Except for a bit better selection of preamp tubes. I thought the amp deserved better than the Sovteks that were in there. I ended up dropping those new 12AX7M's in there from GT. A real plus.
Bad Cat makes great stuff for sure. I've watched them being made.
Bring your Wheaties. A 2x12 weighs around 95 lbs.
Re: Bad Cat All Tube Amps
Also, for what it's worth, Mark Sampson had very little to do with the Hot Cat. Furthermore, they improved the reverb tremendously in the HCR and the TC. Diezl designed the HotCatR's new tube buffered effects loop.
There's some great engineering going on there.
I sold mine because I just kept plugging back into my basic Fender-style amps. It wasn't getting played often enough to justify the cost. The new Two Rock is much more based on the old Fender/Dumble stuff.
Also, for what it's worth, Mark Sampson had very little to do with the Hot Cat. Furthermore, they improved the reverb tremendously in the HCR and the TC. Diezl designed the HotCatR's new tube buffered effects loop.
There's some great engineering going on there.
I sold mine because I just kept plugging back into my basic Fender-style amps. It wasn't getting played often enough to justify the cost. The new Two Rock is much more based on the old Fender/Dumble stuff.
Re: Bad Cat All Tube Amps
I have never heard of Two Rock Amps before Scott mentioned them.
Here's the link. http://www.two-rock.com/
I have never heard of Two Rock Amps before Scott mentioned them.
Here's the link. http://www.two-rock.com/
Re: Bad Cat All Tube Amps
Lew, check out a Trem Cat.
http://www.badcatamps.com/home.asp
Lewguitar said:
Lew, check out a Trem Cat.
http://www.badcatamps.com/home.asp
