Bad Cat Hot Cat 30 112 Combo

1-12 combo, no reverb, can only change channels clean and dirty with an ab box, for a high dollar amp whats with that??..the basics, bass,treble,master vol...pretty bare bone features but thats ok i like it like that

ok here is where some of you will not like my assement, i feel the tone of this amp is good but not for 1800.00 used price sticker by the way, the cleans are great but the distortion is just common, i play old marshalls, fenders etc and if you want great tone just get one of them, these over priced amps like this bad cat, fenders new 5150 three some of the bogners just dont sound any better to me than the older stuff, most of these amps just try to copy the older marshalls,fenders amps anyway so why pay more for this amp thats does not sound any better and most of the time costs way more!i have had this amp side by side with my marshalls and fenders for clean tone and iam sorry my amps just sound better!

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i have been playing for over 35 years, i have good gear, 60s strats,vintage martin,vintage gibson jazz boxes etc..etc.. and as stated late 60s, early 70s marshalls and late 60s fenders and some other fun amps and guitars, we are all trying to achive the same thing { GREAT TONE!!} ...but with all the new amps out there {IMHO} these newer boutiqe amps just do not blow me away with there tone and they sould for there price tags...

-Early 2000's Sparkle Combo. The amp definately has the best tone of just about anything I've pitted it against. It will take on 50's tweeds 72 marshalls and embarass crappy Mesa Boogie sillyness (which is what I disposed of to buy this one.)
-IT is super versatile even if you aren't a genious about tone. However people need to take in to concideration that it is CLASS A and is louder and a completely different power soak than your cheap fender solid state 30 watt amp. I have used it on sessions ranging from Country to Jazz to Metal.
-2 channels. You can run them both at the same time... I REPEAT !- RUN BOTH AT THE SAME TIME. I am amazed at all the badcat owners that don't do this or even know that they can. The ability to use an ABY box to do the switching is a GOOD thing unless you are an idiot that buys the $39 ABY box from some fleamarket.. Buy a WHIRLWIND ABY it's high quality. If you have both inputs running at the same time the amp sounds like the holy grail. (once you change the tubes... but more on that later)
-I used to wish it had reverb and I talked to James at the NAMM show about this. He looked at me like I was an idiot and that pissed me off at him for some time. Then he brought out a reverb model that made me more angry at him. Then I found the new Line 6 Verbzilla 24 bit vintage modeling reverb pedal and sold all my vintage spring reverb untits. Now I am happy that I do not have a reverb model because I am convinced that they have changed the amp since my model was made (post Sampson).
-I tour the country I do recording and studio work. I am going overseas but not taking it with me (too heavy).

-This is a great sounding amp that can give you just about any sort of palatte that you desire with a switch of a couple tubes. Very varietal.
-Clean channel can distort at high volumes but for you to get it that high you have to be trying to be funny, as it is totally impractical.
-Distortion can range from clapton to metal. Everything in between. Good idea to switch the tubes if you are going for a more vintage sound... more on that later.
-Noise.... Someone on a previous review was complaining about the amp being so noisy when you turn all the knobs up. To this I respond that that person just doesn't know how to use a good amp and should stick to mesa boogies where they make the amps for idiots that want to turn everything to 10. With this amp you have to understand that the knobs do EXACTLY what they say. Master controlls the power from the power tubes gain controlls the preamps. It really is not that difficult.
-THE TUBES. Okay this is super important. My amp came with RUBY tubes. These tubes are generally well matched and tested but sound bad. They have no give and sound stiff and hissy with no warmth that comes out of the top end. You have to change the tubes in the amp and give em a good few hours of loud play to burn em in. Yes James and I both reccomend some NOS tubes. Sometimes as cheap as $60 for a pair of EL34s vintage and as cheap as $20 a piece for preamps. Do some research before you buy. I have had good luck on ebay but go thru a reputable well rated seller.

-It is reliable. It fell off the back of the Uhaul in Atlanta at the club and landed face down and was fine. The thing is tough. It really is a lifetime amp. I have used it on a few hundred gigs with no backup amp (just bring backup tubes ALWAYS)
-Have burned up a set of tubes through use over the course of 2 years. I like my tubes to weaken a bit. This amp will probably NEVER burn itself up look into how insane the quality is on the wiring and chassis and transformers.

I got this as part of an artist deal at the time and I sold a Mesa Boogie rectoverb to cover the payment (sorry Mesa you guys were just crappy) And recieved the amp with great kindness from James H. It was silver sparkle instead of black sparkle but I decided to keep it anyhow because it did look rather cool and took me 4 months to get. Then I plug it in. I'm pissy. It sounds too much like a mesa. I call some other badcat endorsees and the first thing they ask is what tubes it came with I look in the back... RUBY tubes. That was the main problem. Change those and the amp has sounded amazing ever since then. This year I finally removed the chassis and tightened all the bolts and screws as I head a little buzz during recording. Problem solved. Keep in mind hundreds of shows and trailers and bouncing around and falling out of a Uhaul. No problems. You can get them on the phone whenever you want as well.

-I have been playing professionally since 1999 and I own a cross section of the holy grails of amps and comparable guitars. Amps like 59 and 54 deluxes, 72 marshalls, 65 twins (real ones) and 67 deluxes. The badcat is still the best.
-If it were stolen or lost I would call them and have em send me another one.
-I love the amp except for the weight, and I am looking into getting a head box to take the head out of the cabinet and make it a head unit so I can use it with a vintage marshall 4x10 cab. (which I do already) But this is only a couple pounds more than the crappy new fenders and marshall combos out there and the same as the silly Mesas.
-It has all the features that it should.
-Every show I play this is in the lineup. I have used it to record all sorts of guitars and it is super transparent but still organic and has a real intuitive sensitivity. It is the envy of any band I have ever played with. The things to be careful of though is that this amp is Shit in - shit out. I.E. you will HEAR EVERYTHING that you play. Also if you use crappy FX boxes with this amp it will be REALLY abvious. I had alot of issues with this when I first got the amp. It made me realize exactly how BAD some of the stompboxes sound and any 80's cheapo digital stuff will be made nakedly junky sounding by this amp. But really if you use ZOOM pedals or a Midi verb with this amp as FX you deserve to be kicked in the shins.

this amp was built in 2000 it works with every venue (cover - original) 2 channels is all you need if you know how to work it. i would like to see them develope a heavier amp, at 65 pounds for a 30w - 1x12 amp. can you make it any heavier?

even at 30w, i have been told "it's too loud!" they were like in their 40's. Great amp

cool crunches and wet & clean is all you need to know about this amp

So Far So Good. They are buzy people so it takes a few days to get back to ya on a customer support issue, but they get back to you

They are buzy people so it takes a few days to get back to ya on a customer support issue, but they get back to you

I use a PRS Custom, Fender Tele & Strat and Charvelle Custom. I use this with the comlpliment s Full Tone Effects (OCD & ChoralFlange) ive been performing in los angeles for 15+ years, ive been through marshal jcm 80 & 900, fender twin and mesa boogie triple recti before discovering "Class A Amps" THERE IS A DIFFERENCE. i also use a Zinky Blue Velvet, that is the perfect compliment my Hot Cat when performing live.

The features on this amp are awesome. The knobs work and they do exactly what they are label as. The best knob is the "edge". Distortion channel too crispy? Take the edge off the top with the "edge" knob, very nice feature.
Who cares that it doesn't come with channel switching? That's one of the beautiful things about this amp, get a good A/B switch (www.loop-master.com) and problem solved. You want to separate effects and dedicate them to certain channels? Plug them in behind the A/B switch and forget about them. Now I can just plug my chorus into the clean side and when I kick over into the Lead channel I don't have to tap dance my pedalboard to turn everything off. The best thing that people don't talk about much is the ability to use a stereo pan volume pedal and fade between the two inputs. Set up the lead channel for searing overdrive sounds and back off the pan pedal towards the clean side to add a little clean sparkle. This is a very powerful feature, full of sound posibilities.
Another great feature is the tube rectifier/diode rectifier switch. If you want that "modern" distortion sound the diode rectifier is a must. But for less than over the top distortion, switch the rectifier over to tube and enjoy the squishy sag only a tube rectifier can provide.
This is hands down the best amp I have ever owned, but even so, nothing is a "10"

This is a HIGH GAIN amplifier, it will make noise when you crank the gain and levels to 10. My Mesa Rectifiers did the same thing. But as far as three dimensional sound goes, the Bad Cat is awesome. Full 3D sound, dynamics and harmonics are complex and oh so pleasing. My current setup is a PRS SAS into a loop-master A/B/C box (C for tuner out) with a Voodoo Lab Chorus on the clean input only. Thick, crunchy, awesome sound. Probably the only high gain tube amp with a clean channel that is truly clean...pristine clean and very full.

There's really not much to it, a wooden box with a few transformers and a couple vacuum tubes. I have no doubt on it's reliability, I play live without a backup and have never thought twice about it.

No idea, never had to contact them

I've been playing on and off for the past 14 years, the past 2 years more serious. I play in the church band every week so far and this amp was a very good purchase. I don't think I've dialed in a bad sound out of this amp, every turn of the knobs is usable. I've owned and played many tube amps in the past and I think this will be my last one, and that says a lot (I have a bad case of G.A.S.)

I'm personally confused as to why they can't just build-in the channel switching. This must have something to do with the Class A thing. I am also a little dissapointed that the clean channel has no tone controls. Nonetheless, Once you get used to an A/B switch, it's fine. I don't miss tone controls on my clean channel. I've heard you can get the amp modded to have an effects loop and reverb. That'd be cool, if it didn't affect tone.

I play a PRS McCarty, which is essentially a Les Paul tone. This amp and guitar seem like a perfect match. The sustain of the guitar brings out all the rich harmonics from the distortion. The clean channel is just a beautiful, crystal-clear clean... but if your guitar is crappy then the amp doesn't help you. I've plugged some guitars with cheap pickups into this amp and they've not sounded good at all.

I play rock mostly, backing up singer-songwriter types, and sometimes play ambient solo electric gigs, and rarely play a jazz gig. This is my favorite amp for all these situations. The tone is clear and natural, and never over-the-top or harsh, even with a screaming wah pedal and a lot of gain, the amp sounds beautiful and listenable.

The amp is very reliable, though it is prone to some noise, as are most class-a amps.

One user commented that the noise was unbelievable at high levels, particularly with the clean volume and dirty master up high. THis might be an A/B switch problem, but might be bad wiring on this particular amp. I tend to play it at higher volumes (the beauty of a 30-watt amp) and have never had humming or buzzing that would prevent it from being usable.

OUtrageously expensive, ridiculously heavy, but what tone! Buy it if you can.

Mine was made in late 2003 or early 2004, bought from Class A High Peformance. More about them later. It has 2 channels, and I use a Bad Cat A-B-Y box with my tuner in the Y jack. You need an A-B box, and Bad Cat's is robust. You can get pretty much what you want fromit. The clean channel's clean as a whistle, the high-gain channel's able to replicate whatever I want.

I use it with a '59 Reissue Les Paul. I do not gig with it (I play bass normally), and it gives me plenty of clean or crunch at wife-acceptable volumes. In such an environment, the master volume is turned 'way down, but you can re-balance preamp level with master to get a wide range of combinations. I have been entirely unable to make this amp sound ugly; this cannot be said for other amps I have owned or tried.

It is brand-new, so I have only had to replace a couple of the little 6V bulbs that illuminate the logo on the front (hard to find; special order at an suto supply store for cheap). Beautiful build quality, though, equal to my high-end audio gear.

The owner answers the phone, takes time to deal with dumb questions. The retailer (Class A High Performance) is super, runs a small operation out in the boonies, let me play with things as long as I pleased. Gave me a damned good deal, too. Highest recommendation to both manufacturer and retailer!

I've been playing off & on, mostly acoustic bluegrass, old time & country blues, for over 40 years, am still mediocre. I have blues & bluegrass acoustics, another LP Standard, an Alembic bass (played through a Behringer BX300T amp pushing JBL 15s in a pair of hand-built ported boxes. I had a Peavey Classic 50 2x12, like the Hot Cat orders of magnitude better. I only wish it were lighter in weight. Would buy another if it were stolen. Not cheap, but worth every dime.

1x12 combo amp made in 2003, purchased new in May, 2003. I bought this amp because I joined a new rock & roll cover band and wanted a high gain amp - my other amps are Victorias which I think are ideal for blues and r&b.

This amp is unusual in that it is single channel, but has high and low gain inputs, each with its own volume controls. You'll need a good A/B switch.

The clean input doesn't have much adjustment - just volume and brilliance. While that might seem limiting to many people, I really like the tone as it is, so for me it's not a negative.

The crunch input has many controls and adjustments. All are very useful, and it's easy to dial in a fantastic overdriven tone. I like the preamp controls all pointing straight up, but with a little extra bass rolled on. The "master volume" control for the amp ONLY controls this input, which seems odd, but is actually very handy because it allows you to set the volume independently for each input. From there it's just a matter of the guitar's volume control and a tap on the A/B box to go from clean to scream - very versatile and simple - I like it that way, especially on a dim stage.

The amp has no reverb, headphone jack, or effect loops. That's fine with me, as I almost never use effects. This amp is designed for stage use, not bedroom practice, so a headphone jack isn't even an issue.

Overall, this is an amp for the type of player that doesn't want to mess around with dials and knobs - you pretty much set the controls for the sweet spot and play. I've owed Boogie amps and really liked them, but have never bothered messing with all the knobs and adjustments (triode/pentode, vintage switches, graphic eq, etc.) that they offer. All I care about is finding the amp's best tone, and leaving it there. With this amp, it's VERY easy to do just that.

I bought some backup tubes for the amp that I'm really thrilled about... so thrilled that I'm leaving them in the amp and using the originals as backups. They're Svetlana EL-34's - the real Svets, not the new rebranded ones. These are silk screened as Groove Tubes, but made at the Svetlana plant in Russia. They are rated #7 for bias by GT, and I think that is IDEAL for this amp.

A few comments about tubes: First, I'd never gig without spare tubes AND a backup amp. Second, I'd never consider tubes as spares unless I tried them in the amp first, so I'd know that they'd work if I really needed them. I've made the mistake of buying backup tubes in the past and tossing them in a drawer, only to find out a year later that one of 'em is no good - long after the return period - Don't make this mistake!

I thought this amp sounded fantastic, and would have rated it a "10", then I put in the Svetlanas and it really came alive. The clean channel got hotter, warmer, and broke up earlier. I can get perfect "on the edge" tones at appropriate volume levels for small clubs. We play "Hard to Make a Stand" by Sheryl Crowe, and I can nail the guitar tone from the intro with nothing more than a guitar plugged right into the clean channel!

The crunch channel sounds incredible, and unlike many amps I've owned, it can be controlled very well using the volume knob on the guitar. Think "Back in Black" by AC/DC, then roll up the volume on the guitar for even more distortion - it gets brutal at higher settings. Just find volume levels for the two inputs, and you're set.

BTW, I use this amp with four guitars, all made by Tom Anderson. It sounds best with the Cobra model - a solid body guitar with two humbuckers (H1 & H3) - but also sounds great with a Hollow Cobra with P-90's.

One last thing - 30 watts with a Vintage 30 speaker is just about the perfect size amp for small to medium size clubs. This is really important, because I can get great tone out of this amp without blasting the audience. If I'm lucky enough to play any big gigs, I'll probably just put a mic in front of it, but don't let the 30 watt rating fool you - this thing gets VERY loud.

It's been used twice a week for 8 months without any problems at all. The basic design of the amp is simple, and it's point to point hand wiring is very well finished. I pulled the chassis out of the cabinet at the dealer and was very impressed by the workmanship. Carry spare tubes, get a good A/B box, and you're set.

I called the company to ask about speaker cabinets, and got the owner himself on the phone. He was willing to talk all about the amp, and was in no hurry to cut the call short. I'm sure they'd be very helpful should a problem arise.

I've been playing for 33 years, and have developed some pretty strong opinions about gear... For blues and old-time R&B, there's nothing like a Victoria amp, and for rock, I really love this amp. Yeah, it's versatile enough to handle many different styles of music, but it's unbeatable for straight ahead crunch.

If lost or stolen - Ugh! This amp's REALLY expensive. It would take a long time to gather up the funds to do it again, but I would do it all over again, but as as a separate head and 1x12 cabinet. At 75 lbs., it can be a little heavy, but even with the high price tag, that incredible tone would make me do it all over again. This amp sings!

While more tone control of channel one would be nice, I get great tone from a wide range of guitars, from a Hamer Artist to a vintage Hamer Vector to a T61 Strat. The tone palette and overdrive range of the master channel is nothing short of awesome. This amp is capable of incredible volume for its size and power rating.
My only minor quibble is that I would like reverb; my Fender reverb tank sounds fine through the clean channel, but terrible through the master side.

The tone of this amp is beyond anything I have tried or heard. I have had no difficulty with noise, and find it to be very quiet. I am a bluesrocker, and the overdrive gives me great range from a mild edge to great sustain and singing---no ice-pick-in-the-ear highs.

I experienced an output transformer failure very early on---apparently a faulty part. After the problem was corrected, everything has been fine.

My dealer returned the amp to the factory for me for the above-described problem, and a new chassis was promptly provided---a very fair and reasonable handling of the issue given the price and reputation of the product.

The list of amps I tried before settling on my Hot Cat is a long one---most being in the same price range. I would definitely buy another if mine were stolen or destroyed; the tone is to die for, with plenty of power and versatility. I own two Marshalls and a variety of new and vintage Fenders; the Hot Cat is more open and sweetsounding than anything else I own or have tried, and its overdrive is beyond compare.

After playing my new Bad Cat Hot Cat 30 watt 1X 12 combo, I'm convinced that there are some very usable sounds for players who play in a "variety" band. I've read that a Lehle AB switcher is best for this particular amp, but have found the new Whirlwind (at half the price) AB box works great with no noticeable sound degradation. I do wish there was a bass and treble (especially treble control) in the clean channel. In our studio, the sounds this amp produces at a low volume are very pleasing to the ear. However......read on.....

Oh my gosh! What a tremendous amount of "white noise" and "hum" come out of this amp when you turn up the clean channel Volume, as well as the Master volume on the gain channel. Man, I was soooo disappointed I could have cried. I spent over two grand on an amp that has such great tone, only to be blindsided by such a horrible discovery. I've owned many, many quality amps in the past, and I must say....Never have I gotten so much hum and white noise out of an amp when turning up the volume. Now you're probably saying to yourself "it's your guitar pick-ups, or you must have a lousy ground at your place". Sorry. This happens with my guitar volume turned down. The hum only goes away when I turn the amp to standby.
I called Bad Cat about this and James said that I should get ahold of some NOS tubes. That might help. Hmmmm...not the answer I was looking for. Anyway, I'm stuck.

I'm sure it's built like a tank...but I don't need a tank. I need a quiet operating tone machine.

Not very impressed with the answer to my question about the white noise and hum. (transformers always make noise- NOT!)

I'm definitely bummed by the extra noise that this amp puts out as you increase the volume on both channels. It may just be MY amp, but the guy at Bad Cat didn't seem suprised when I told him about it. Perhaps it's a Class A side effect found in all Class A amps. I also had a bit of white noise in the Orange amp I used to own. But I have NEVER heard an amp transformer hum as loudly as it does on this amp. I guess I could just play at a low volume from now on. At $2200 a pop, I guess I'll have to. I'm bummed.