Played a Bad Cat Hot Cat amplifier yesterday

[TwilightOdyssey]

Had rehearsal at Ultrasound Rehearsal in NYC yesterday, and played a Bad Cat Hot Cat head into a Bad Cat 2x12 cabinet. Really nice amp -- very chewy, with the gain dialed to about 12 o'clock and an Xotic BB Preamp in front, it easily hit hard rock territory with my HS-3 loaded Strat.

The amp has a great bass response without sounding wooly. The high frequency band on the EQ is more of an air band, and can easily get too shrill if you're not carful, but I had little issue dialing in a great tone that filled the rather large Studio 4.

 

[Lampy H]

Re: Played a Bad Cat Hot Cat amplifier yesterday

Is Bad Cat the company that was blowing out a high gain 50 watt head for like $400 a year or so ago?

 

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: Played a Bad Cat Hot Cat amplifier yesterday

I think so. The pricing isn't bad on this amp now.

 

[regan]

Re: Played a Bad Cat Hot Cat amplifier yesterday

Is Bad Cat the company that was blowing out a high gain 50 watt head for like $400 a year or so ago?

Doubt it,$400 wouldn't cover 1/2 the parts list never mind the labour of ptp wiring
are you thinking belcat?

 

[Red_Label]

Re: Played a Bad Cat Hot Cat amplifier yesterday

Is Bad Cat the company that was blowing out a high gain 50 watt head for like $400 a year or so ago?

Yes. I think that GJ got one (I'm sure he'll chime in shortly). I can't remember the model. They are the import models though, and not the hand-built P2P boutique models.

 

[jeremy]

Re: Played a Bad Cat Hot Cat amplifier yesterday

those $400 (which i have the 1x12 50w combo) are the import bad cat cougars. nice amps but not the same as the american made hand wired bad cat line. the cougar 50 was designed by the guy who did the 5150. when bad cat started mark sampson, one of the founders of matchless amps. was the chief designer.

was it a hot cat 30r or 50r?

 

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: Played a Bad Cat Hot Cat amplifier yesterday

It was the 30; I really wish it had some 'verb or I had brought a delay pedal. Ultra's rooms are well tuned, but not very live sounding. It did remind me a bit of Matchless, but with more crunch available. Very touch responsive, definitely had the 'boutique' feel. Still think the Dr Z Prescription Jr edges it out as far as my personal tastes go, however.

 

[jeremy]

Re: Played a Bad Cat Hot Cat amplifier yesterday

they make a hot cat 30r which is just that. wish i lived closer cause id love to spend some time down there with their toys

 

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: Played a Bad Cat Hot Cat amplifier yesterday

Yeah, Ultrasound is no joke! I've been going there since '94, the birth of the boutique era. Their web site looks like it hasn't been redesigned since then, either lol.

 

[jeremy]

Re: Played a Bad Cat Hot Cat amplifier yesterday

ha! i know. when you have gear like that, you dont need a good website although they really should have it redone

 

[Empty Pockets]

Re: Played a Bad Cat Hot Cat amplifier yesterday

I've only played the Cougar series but i know a lot of musicians who have tried everything and use Bad Cat so i do not doubt their badassness.

I saw a 5w head in bright green on Guitar Center's used site a while ago and almost whipped out the debit card immediately buuut I've dropped like $4000 on amps since 2014 and i decided to cool my jets...

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Played a Bad Cat Hot Cat amplifier yesterday

Some of the best sounding midgain amps I've ever plugged into were Bad Cat EL-84 combo amps, although the Hot Cat is EL-34.

The way the story goes is that Mark Sampson was a founder of Matchless, and sold his share to co-founder Phil Jamison around 1999, when he started Bad Cat....a continuation of the Matchless style of amp building. 10 years later, he sold Bad Cat and founded Star Amps which didn't do so well.

Somewhere along the line, Bad Cat licensed their name out and had James Brown from Peavey and now Kustom design a Chinese line intended to sell in the 1000 dollar range - the Cougar series. When Bad Cat sold to it's current owners, they knew that Chinese Bad Cats that looked like their high end US amps would harm their brand, so they liquidated them at cost on Musicians Friend a couple years ago. I couldn't resist anything that said Bad Cat for that price! They're actually great amps, built with the same quality as a Peavey or Carvin. I play my Bad Cat Cougar 50 all the time. The gain channel sounds like a super hotrodded Marshall, ala Friedman or 5150III. The clean channel sounds similar to a US Bad Cat. Keep your eye on Bad Cat Cougar amps on Craigslist. They're some of the best amps for the money.

 

[That90'sGuy]

Re: Played a Bad Cat Hot Cat amplifier yesterday

I really didn't like the Hot Cat 30 2x10" combo I owned. Cleans and overdrive channel volumes were way off. Cleans were shimmery, but the overdrive was harsh (very gritty) and really difficult to dial out. It was also really loud and didn't sound very good at lower volumes. I'd love to try the R version sometime because the tone stack was really difficult to get the hang of. It was probably my least favorite amp purchase I've made. I'm pretty sure mine was with 4xEL84s, I probably would have liked the EL34 version better. It also got ridiculously hot in a very short period of time. The nicest thing I can say is that the blue sparkle tolex looked amazing, but the sound fell flat.

 

[jeremy]

Re: Played a Bad Cat Hot Cat amplifier yesterday

ive never seen a hot cat 2x10, only 1x12. the el34 vs el84 obviously makes a big difference. was this before they had the k master control?

 

[SteveAlysis]

Re: Played a Bad Cat Hot Cat amplifier yesterday

I have a Sampson era Hot Cat 30 1x12. Amazing amp. Very touch responsive, sparkly, chimey cleans,and a great gain channel.

I've actually been trying to sell it for about a month now... At what I think is below a fair price, but not one interested buyer. Would rather keep it at this point.

 

[jeremy]

Re: Played a Bad Cat Hot Cat amplifier yesterday

great amps! what are you asking? shipping on that wouldnt be cheap sao seems like local pickup is the way to go

 

[SteveAlysis]

Re: Played a Bad Cat Hot Cat amplifier yesterday

great amps! what are you asking? shipping on that wouldnt be cheap sao seems like local pickup is the way to go

$1300 locally. Just don't have the time to ship it at the moment. Plus I'm sure it'd cost close to $200

 

[jeremy]

Re: Played a Bad Cat Hot Cat amplifier yesterday

seems like a good price to me