Played A Bad Cat Today

[Jeff_H]

It was the Cub model. Nice sounding little amp. Different than what I expected. I was expecting more of a Fender type vibe I guess, but that's not really what I heard.

Lush and warm is the way I would describe it. Not bright, but rich and full....can't really think of any better way to describe it. The reverb is something else. I was playing an Ash strat with a Maple board that Lou was thinking of buying, and it was really smooth. I expected the Ash body to be snappier and brighter, but that was not the case thru the Bad Cat. Lou and I went upstairs to another booth and played an alder bodied strat with a mapleboard thru a Fender tube amp, and I honestly thought that strat sounded better. Then we went back and played the Ash strat thru a Fender Prosonic, and the jangly strat sound was back....anyhow, I digress.

Long story short I liked the Bad Cat, it just wasn't what I was expecting. Maybe it's more along the lines of an AC-30? Nice amp, but the $1900 price tag would be hard to swallow for a small combo.

 

[aleclee]

Re: Played A Bad Cat Today

I've played a few Bad Cats and IMO they all sound really good. The Hot Cat is the one that really floats my boat, it has a nice, chewy, "Vox meets Marshall" tone. They're definitely not cheap, though.

 

[xerxes]

Re: Played A Bad Cat Today

ooo cool! thanks for the review!

 

[Scott_F]

Re: Played A Bad Cat Today

Closer to an AC15 perhaps? The Bad Cat transformers are something else entirely though. I'm kinda partial to them.

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Played A Bad Cat Today

That's why you can't just say "ooh it's a boutique, it must be the amp of my dreams".
They come in a lot of different tones. I agree with aleclee....the Hotcat 30 or 100 will be Badcat's claim to fame. I'd love to have one of those heads.

 

[jcarlos]

Re: Played A Bad Cat Today

What I like about the Bad Cats is that they fill the whole room when you are playing. Very fat sound and singing tone. I prefer the Mathless though, seems to get a little dirtier thumps a little louder. 1900.00 for a boutigue is not bad. Favorite boutiques so far are Cornford Hell Cat and Mojave Scorpion.

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Played A Bad Cat Today

I'd love to have Scott F's Tremcat! All Badcats are Badass. Hey, maybe they shoulda named'em that! I expected the Hotcat 30 to be farty in the lows, mostly because it has a tube rectifier and is Class A, but man, it's a great sounding amp and the low end was gigantic and tight. The first thing that comes to mind with a Hotcat is Billy Gibbons. Sounds like two plexis running in stereo. I'd venture to say that a Hotcat 100 through a Badcat 4-12 may be the biggest sounding amp you could ever own.
A strat through one of those might put SRV's tone to shame.....really! Well, maybe not.

 

[jcarlos]

Re: Played A Bad Cat Today

Yeah, Wild West Guitars has one of those 100 heads. They are in Riverside Ca. Might go try it out.