Bad Cat Cub 15R 210 Combo

As listed elsewhere, 2x10 15 watt single channel class a combo. Very effective tone controls, master volume which can be switched out of the circuit.
All you need, nothing you don't, and everything does what it is supposed to, very well.

Excellent. A beautiful round valve sound. Its clean sounds are just the finest you will hear if you are looking for depth and high end sparkle.
With the master volume can get a powerful crunch tone.

The advantage of 15 watts is that its best sounds can be achieved at everyday levels. It is a stand-out studio amp.

Built like a tank< although is smaller size means it doesn't weigh like one, in the way of most Bad Cat amps.
The leatherette covering is rather soft and will scuff and scratch with regular gigging, if that is an issue.

Had no dealings with them. Their website needs updating.

I would urge anyone considering a quality amp who wants a world class clean channel to try out this amp. Don't be put off by its small dimensions or relatively low power rating. The reality is this amp can be put into its sweet spot much more easily than higher output rivals.
Loud enough for small bars, would need a pa for anything bigger, but who plays those gigs just on backline any more?
With a good overdrive pedal its got a range of excellent lead tones.
Like all good amps it really brings out the character of each guitar you plug into it.
Pay the extra for the reverb option - its a stand out unit.

If you are looking at this review you probably know what this amp is all about. 15 watt, class A, EL-84 combo-mine being in a 2-10" configuration. I got this thing custom built with a burgundy exterior, creme front panel, and gold grille cloth. It looks pretty sweet. Not the most versatile amp out there, but definitely versatile enough for me (I am a country/blues/rock player). I'd say this amp is slanted more to the country player than the blues player, but then again, I have the 2-10" combo. You might have trouble competing with a drummer with this thing, as it does not have an extreme amount of clean headroom, but its still very loud. One very useful feature is the defeatable master volume mentioned in a review below. The reverb is not as good as a Fender's reverb but it's still very useable. Tone controls are excellent-minor tweaks produce serious EQ changes. You can really sculpt your sound how you see fit.

I play a Gibson ES-135 w/ humbuckers, a Strat plus with lace sensors, and a Tele with Bill Lawrence pickups. Currently the Tele is in storage so I have not gotten a chance to play it through the amp. I can tell you that both other guitars sound fantastic. I will say that I think the amp sounds better with single coils. Chords through the Cub II really ring out, with a fat low end (very surprising for such a small amp) and a very shimmery high-end which is in no way piercing or ice-pickish. It seems to me that the preamp cannot handle excessive amounts of gain. When you turn the preamp all the way up or run too much distortion through it with a pedal, it starts to sound very fizzly at low volumes. This is especially apparent when soloing. I live in a dormitory so I have not gotten a chance to crank the thing or play it in a gig yet. I wonder if the fizz will disappear at high volumes, and I have a feeling it will. Another great thing about this amp is that it is SILENT. No noise whatsoever. I was amazed by how little background buzz there was, even at relatively high volumes.

I looked at all sorts of boutique amps before I bought this one. The main thing I was going for was a big fat clean sound. I agree with the below reviewer who said that this amp was cleaner than a Fender. It is! I have an old blackface Super Reverb and this amp blows it away. It has totally changed my idea of what EL-84 tubes can do. The amp sounds like a cross between a Fender and a Vox, but more Voxish than Fenderish. If you compare it to a new AC-15 I think the features are very similar, but the Bad Cat will blow away the Vox tone-wise. I guess the variety of sounds that the Cub can produce is not too wide. It'll give you a fat clean and a great crunch, but that's really all I need. Pedals can do the rest.

I really have no idea about the reliability yet, as I've only had the amp for a couple days. I know its designed very well, so I don't anticipate any major problems. I bet it will really eat through the EL-84s though, so I plan to have spares around. By the way, it looks like it came with all Ruby tubes in it, which are pretty good for new production tubes.

Well it has a 5-year warranty. I am kind of disappointed in this-I wish it were a lifetime warranty, but I guess the company may not be around for too long anyway. I have emailed them several times and gotten prompt notes back from the president, so I am happy. I bought the amp through Tonepilot.com, whose owner Jeff is a really nice and helpful guy. Great deals on all sorts of stuff at his site-check it out! It took about 3 weeks from the time I ordered it to the time it was on my doorstep, which I thought was pretty good for a custom order.

As I said earlier, I compared it to all sorts of amps. For me it really came down to this amp or the Bogner Shiva, another fantastic amp in my opinion. I didn't like the class AB PCB construction of the Bogner, nor the fact that it weighs 70+ lbs. I think the Cub II weighs about 50, which is actually still quite heavy. For blues/country/rock I highly recommend it. Metalheads should best look elsewhere. I could not afford to buy this amp again were it stolen, but if I had the money I would certainly do it. I've been playing for about 7 years, and have played very many amps. I used to be a strictly Fender man. I have at one point or another owned blackface, silverface, and tweed fenders. The Cub can do the tweed crunch and the blackface clean better than the Fenders can. Try this one out if you can find one in a store, but be careful, it's a GAS nightmare.

02 Cub II, 2x10, no verb. Push-pull master/defeat, bass, treble, 2 Celestion 35 watt speakers. Very simple, very effective.

Well, I consider myself somewhat of a "class A /EL84 amp expert." I have been a long time user of the small/ British flavored/ el84 combo thing, and have owned several amps to reflect it. Top Hats, Vox's (old & new), Dr. Z's, even a few Peavey Classics (class AB's). The best tones I have gotten to date eminated from an old late 60's AC30 I had, and foolishly traded away due to some reliability issues. That amp just sang, but was louder than hell. I have come close with some other stuff, and have always managed to get a tone. I even have grown to love some Fender stuff I have owned, primarily a Black Face Deluxe. In comes the Bad Cat Cub II. This amp, in my opinion, is a very nice rendition a "baby AC30", if you will. It sounds terrific......period. I do not employ the pull master, meaning I dont really dig the pre-amp overdrive the amp can get. It's not bad, it just sounds a bit fizzy and flubby for my tastes, even with a Tele. (I found the 15 watt Matchless stuff to do the same) However, Mark was VERY smart to equip the new version of this amp with a master defeat, making the first volume akin to the volume on an old AC15/30. When the amp's power tubes are hit with a good overdrive, (I use a Fulldrive, and a Maxon), the amp really comes to life. Matchless/Vox tones for days, only sweeter than the old "Lightning" series. Full, lush, squishy, spanky tones just jump forth, laiden with beautiful even harmonics that just dance around the room. It's a very satisfying experience. Turn the amp up, and the power section begins to sag and roll-over, and that's when things get downright scary. It sounds as good, if not a bit better than that old AC30 I had. Kills the RI's in tone. Bassically, what you get when you buy these amps, is a hand-made, tweaked Vox circuit. The tone controls are wonderfully inter-active, and yeild tons of variety. I dial the amp to sound as "fat" as it can, and leave the cut dis-engaged for maximimum chime. Worth the money, not only for the tone, but for the reliability and weight factor. The celestion 10's are a nice surprise as well. They sound great, and I was a bit skeptical.

Over built. Not a worry. 5 year warranty. Owner answers the phone. Spare fuse, bulbs, knob included. Very nice workmanship. Double-nutted inputs...heavy duty switches....etc. Built to tour.

I suspect very good. I called w/ a question about a cover, and got the owner.....nice guy too!

I got a great deal on this amp, and fell that it it will serve me well. It is a well-built, pedal-friendly, tone monster. The amp just invites you to play. I wish it would have come w/ a cover, but oh well. I ordered one from Tuki. I have been playing for 29 years. There isn't anything I hate about the amp. It leaves the player more choices than one would expect from such a simple package.

This amp was made in December 2001, before Bad Cat modifyed the design. The amp is 15 Watt, single channel, with 2 inputs that represent clean and gain. The amp is great for use in my basement and great for recording. Although I have not giged with it it is plenty loud enough for small clubs. Great Vox type sound with more warmth. Good for blues and classic rock.

I have tried strats, PRS, LP's,Baker,and Rick's through this amp. All work well. The amp is very responsive and somewhat touch sensitive. It rewards good technique and exposes sloppy playing.It challenges you to play better.I play classic rock and blues. It does these very well. The background noise is very quiet on this amp until you crank it all the way open. By then the amp is so loud the little bit of noise is completely lost. This amp sounds like it's putting out 25 or 30 watts. The clean input jack starts to distort at 6 or 7, whereas the higher gain input starts at 3 or 4. Of course single coils will be cleaner than humbuckers.

This amp is built for heavey use. All top grade componets, and great workmanship. No matter how great an amp is, I wouldn't gig without a backup or at least a good direct box. When I first got the amp it seemed to get microphonic at levels above 5. I first replaced the chinese 5AR4 with a good Bugle Boy Mullard. This actually made the amp even more quiet. I don't know why, it's not supposed to. The amp was still microphonic, so I replaced the ruby preamp tubes with EH 12ax7's that took care of the problem. While I was experimenting, I replaced the EL84's(JJ Teslas) with NOS GE's. This seems to give a little more warmth to the overall sound.I have used the amp almost every day for the past 2 months with no problems.

I have Emailed Bad Cat several times. They have always responded within 24 hours. This meets my expectations.

I have been playing for 10 years and own way too many guitars and amps for a person of my ability. I have Fenders, Marshalls, Carr, Matchless, Ampeg, Mesa, etc. This amp provides a pallette of tones that I love. If something happened to it I would replace it with the exact same amp. This is a "keeper" that I don't intend to part with.

I purchased this amp recently in Aug. 2001. This amp is killer for someone looking for the best tone possible. It does not have a lot of features, such as channel switching, effects loop, headphone jack, or multiple tone controls. It does have two inputs, bass and treble tone controls, reverb, volume, and master volume controls. In my opinion, less is better when it comes to tone. It also features a line out jack (which I have fed to a computer hard disk recorder) and a speaker out jack for feeding a speaker cabinet (which I haven't tried yet). It also has a footswitch jack for reverb on/off, but I always run a little reverb so I don't have any need for this feature.
The Cub 15R is a one-channel, 15 watt, Class A tube amplifier with reverb. It is available in a 1x12 or 2x10 combo. I haven't heard the 1x12, so I can't comment on it, but I like the sound of the 2 Celestion 10's. These speakers have been specially modified by Bad Cat to sound louder and warmer and the process is proprietary.
This amp is used in live gigs and for recording. My main musical styles are blues, jazz, latin and rock. The amp is loud enough to cover most gigs, except for the larger venues, then miking the cabinet would cover it. I usually turn the volume to about 3/4 of maximum and run the master at 1/2 throttle. This produces great tone at modest volumes.

I use a Parker Fly Classic with stock Dimarzio humbuckers, and I use a G&L Classic strat as well. The amp sounds great with both humbuckers, single coils, and even the piezo pickups in the Parker. I even tried plugging in my Ibanez acoustic/electric and it sounded OK, which I have never found from any other electric guitar amp. I have owned in the past: Fender HotRod Deville 4-10, Fender Blues Jr., Fender Princeton 112, Mesa Boogie DC-5, Mesa Boogie Subway Rocket, and Mesa Boogie Mark 4. As you can see, I prefer Fenders and Boogies.
I play mainly blues, and the Bad Cat is a perfect tool for this music, although it also works well for rock, latin, and jazz. I prefer a very clean tone, which is why I have always used mostily Fenders. I would rate the Bad Cat as cleaner than Fender. It also has a beautiful distorted tone similar to the Boogies.
What I mainly like about the Bad Cat is the ability to go from clean to a bluesy distortion simply by turning the guitar volumn knob. At about 6 the sound is clean and luscious, at about 7 it just starts to distort for raspy rhythym playing, at 8 you know you've got some juice, at 9, the amp really comes on, and at 10, it's balls to the wall!
If I need more gain, I use a Sonny Boy pedal, which I love! It has tones from mild to wild and it sounds great with the Bad Cat.
The reverb is very good and sounds like a Fender reverb, but it has a lot more dynamic range than the Fender. I use it about 1/2 way up to get just a tad of the effect. Full up, and it sounds like a surf amp.
The amp is extremely quiet, with absolutely no noise when plugged straight into a guitar. Of course, when using effects, the noise level increases, but the noise is mainly from the effects chain, not the amp.
There are 3 amazing things about this amp: 1) is the tone shaping you get from the interaction of the bass and treble controls. A slight change of either control yields a huge change in the sound. I have never experienced this with any of my other amps.
2) the dynamic range of the clean/distorted tones is mind-blowing! Even the Matchless would not clean up as well as the Bad Cat. Mark Sampson truly improved on this feature from the Matchless. Critics who have played this amp, while owning a Matchless have said that the Bad Cat doesn't have as much distortion, but they were comparing their 30 watter to a 15 watter. Not a good comparison.
3) the cleanness of this amp is astounding. Crystal-clear highs, warm mids, and clean lows are the characteristics of this amp. I have not heard a bad tone out of this amp since I've owned it.

I don't know what the reliability of this amp is going to be, as I haven't owned it long enough. If it is anything like Matchless, it will be awesome. Only the best parts are used in it, but like anything else, it is always possible to break something.
I have a Boogie Mark 4 as a backup for gigs.

I've never dealt with them, but I'm confident that their service will be excellent. They are trying to build a name for themselves, so they are going to have to offer good service.
It's never broke, so I don't know.
I believe the warranty is for 3 years, which is superior to most companies.

Overall, I love this amp! Everyone who has heard it, loves it as well. I would definitely buy another one if it was stolen.
I compared it to several other high-end amps: Bruno, Dr. Z, and Victoria and I liked the Bad Cat the best.
One minor complaint, I wish it came with a cover. You'd think that an amp this expensive would come with a bitchin cover.

Essentially a Matchless Lightning, with a pretty good reverb. Using the active Bass and Treble brings out good sounds for pretty much any guitar. Push the preamp volume to overdrive the Master volume, and you get really good sustain and smooth distortion. I do wish that it had a built-in tremolo.

I will use it for recording, unless I find a band that wants an old fart guitar player, so I don't care that there is no channel switching or effects loop. All I have to do is plug in, turn it on, and it works.

Effects loops are for wimps, anyway. Put 'em up front like a real man (or woman). Not like a sissy.

This amp tells the truth. If you don't play well, it won't lie and make you sound better. On the other hand, if you play it a while, and can handle your guitar with a bit of finesse, you will be rewarded. It does take some practice to learn how to "play" this amp. As an extension of your instrumentation, it takes practice to master.

I've played all kinds of guitars through it: Telecaster, Lone Star Fat Strat, Les Paul, etc. All sound great. If you have lusted after a Matchless, for good reason, then your prayers are answered. If you look at the point-to-point wiring, you'll find that a lot of the components actually have the word "Matchless" printed on them. Need I say more?

I did the A/B thing with a 1 X 12 vs the 2X 10 at my dealer, and I opted for the 2 X 10. It just sounded better, to my ears. The dynamics are pretty severe; when I hammer-on, by god, it's a hammer!

I'd played a couple of Matchless amps before, and thought that they indeed were excellent amps. Price drove me away. With my dealer, and a Bad Cat being a hell of a lot like a Matchless, I was able to obtain one at a very good price.

I'm happy with it.

This is where it breaks down. I had let my dealer know that I probably wanted one, and he had two on order, and put me first in line. Well, he called, and I went in to try them out. He had a 1 X 12 and a 2 X 10, and I took my Hamer Special (2 humbuckers) to try it out. The 1 X 12 sounded good, but when I tried out the 2 X 10, it was DOA. I mean, it wouldn't make any noise! After practically disassembling the amp, we figured out that one of the preamp tubes had cracked during shipment, so it fried when I turned the amp on. My dealer replaced the defective tube, and it seemed to work OK. I bought it and took it home.

Once I got it home, it was only 2 days later that the reverb seemed to fade in and out. Then I heard tube microphonics screwing with the sound. Then I got severe tube crapout altogether. Pissed me off. I went down to my local Guitar Center, got two new preamp tubes (Groove Tubes, of course, as they test them well), and lo and behold, the amp turned into the monster that it is.

I'll attribute the tube meltdown to damage during shipping, but it still pisses me off. When you pay this much money for an amp, it oughtta work. 'Nuff said.

Otherwise, it's built like a tank, and other than tube replacement, I don't see much bad stuff happening with this amp.

My dealer is always helpful. He went to the trouble of making it work when it was broken upon arrival, probably due to poor handling during shipment. The amp arrived with a cracked preamp tube, which he replaced. The other preamp tube worked for two days, then it went South.

I only went to Guitar Center to buy new tubes because my dealer was closed at the time, and I needed to make the amp work. I'm fairly certain that I can walk into my dealer's showroom, show him the dead tube, and he'll give me a replacement -- no questions asked. I need spares anyway. All my amps use 12AX7 preamp tubes. I also bought some EL84 power tubes, just in case it was a power tube that was out. Even though that wasn't the problem, I'll keep them around too for spares.

I have all kinds of stuff. Strat, Les Paul, Hamer, Guild, Dr. Z, Carr, Marshall, Crate, Fender, and on and on and on... I've been playing since '68 and am starting to look it.

I typically use this amp for studio work, which I am fortunate enough to be able to do, as I just lost my "day" job. This is a GREAT studio amp. Not too loud. Great sound. When I am called in, they tell me what they want, and I take the equipment in that will do the job.

The Bad Cat is a great sounding amp, and ain't that what it's all about, when it comes to an amplifier?