ebagjones
New member
So a longtime dream amp of mine has been the Bad Cat Hot Cat or Lynx. I love Steven Wilson's tone, and Bad Cat's just look cool (I know liking an amp for looks is just lame). I've listened to dozens of demos over the years and mostly liked the tone quite a bit, however, in reality this Hot Cat 50 I bought is the worst sounding amp I've ever heard.
I've spent hours upon hours trying to dial this thing in. The bass is constantly farting out, the mids are either scooped or painfully harsh, and the presence control is the only thing to open up the sound but to do so adds a painful layer of fizz. I went so far as to replace my Celestion V30's with a WGS Reaper HP/Veteran 30 combo to soften the highs, and, while it helped marginally, I've never seen an amp's EQ trample over speaker coloration quite this completely.
My gear is as follows
G&L Legacy HH with 59/JB pickups.
Gibson Les Paul Traditional w/Burstbuckers
EBMM Luke III Dimarzio Transition Humbuckers
Fender American Strat CS69/CS69/SSL5 pickups
Of the four, the Paul is the only one I can even approach a listenable sound with, and I chalk that up to the bite of the maple top and the sweet overtones of the Burstbuckers. The JB in particular sounds like a hot fart.
I know the controls are active, so that can make things counter intuitive to dial in. Anyone have any experience with the Hot Cats?
Also on a side note, this thing is stiff - I mean stiffer than sailor home from leave stiff. And this is coming from a guy who played nothing but Hiwatts for several years. The Hot Cat makes my Hiwatt feel like a slinky vintage super reverb in comparison. I've tried rolling the gain back to fight the fizz, but that just wipes the bass out and increases the stiffness even more.
Here's some amps I have/have had over the last ten years or so,
Mesa Lonestar Classic
Hi-Tone 50
Laney Lionheart 50
Laney G50L
Rockitt Retro Plexi Clone
Fender Bassbreaker 45
Fender RI 59 Bassman LTD
Victory The Earl
Splawn Quick Rod 50
PRS Archon 50
Peavey Classic 50
Marshall Silver Jubilee RI
Budda Superdrive 45
Vox HW AC30
and the Hot Cat so far and without doubt would be on the bottom of this list.
I've spent hours upon hours trying to dial this thing in. The bass is constantly farting out, the mids are either scooped or painfully harsh, and the presence control is the only thing to open up the sound but to do so adds a painful layer of fizz. I went so far as to replace my Celestion V30's with a WGS Reaper HP/Veteran 30 combo to soften the highs, and, while it helped marginally, I've never seen an amp's EQ trample over speaker coloration quite this completely.
My gear is as follows
G&L Legacy HH with 59/JB pickups.
Gibson Les Paul Traditional w/Burstbuckers
EBMM Luke III Dimarzio Transition Humbuckers
Fender American Strat CS69/CS69/SSL5 pickups
Of the four, the Paul is the only one I can even approach a listenable sound with, and I chalk that up to the bite of the maple top and the sweet overtones of the Burstbuckers. The JB in particular sounds like a hot fart.
I know the controls are active, so that can make things counter intuitive to dial in. Anyone have any experience with the Hot Cats?
Also on a side note, this thing is stiff - I mean stiffer than sailor home from leave stiff. And this is coming from a guy who played nothing but Hiwatts for several years. The Hot Cat makes my Hiwatt feel like a slinky vintage super reverb in comparison. I've tried rolling the gain back to fight the fizz, but that just wipes the bass out and increases the stiffness even more.
Here's some amps I have/have had over the last ten years or so,
Mesa Lonestar Classic
Hi-Tone 50
Laney Lionheart 50
Laney G50L
Rockitt Retro Plexi Clone
Fender Bassbreaker 45
Fender RI 59 Bassman LTD
Victory The Earl
Splawn Quick Rod 50
PRS Archon 50
Peavey Classic 50
Marshall Silver Jubilee RI
Budda Superdrive 45
Vox HW AC30
and the Hot Cat so far and without doubt would be on the bottom of this list.
