Bad Cat Hot Cat Head

Single Channel. Two inputs; High Gain and Clean. Several voicing controls. Tube or solid state rectifier selectable.

I play several different PRS models. This amp is anything but noisy. It simply doesn't make any undesireable sounds at all. It covers both ends of the sound spectrum and even several of the latest trends. The distortion can be made very heavy while remaining musical. It doesn't seem to tend towards shaking itself to death. No setting seems overextended to my ears.

It "feels" dependable. I haven't dropped it out the window or struck it with anything. I just play through it and, once warm, it gives me the sounds I want. But, tubes being tubes, have some replacement tubes along in case the road is too hard. That's not really the amps doing, though.

Unbelievable. A tube died once. I called and Mr. Sampson called me back...in Switzerland...on his bill. He was so nice that I was embarrassed. We found the tube and replaced it. The night was saved.

I went out and bought the combo as a backup a few weeks ago. It's got speaker outs, so it's become my second head.

My favorite player, Billy Duffy of The Cult, is heavy into Matchless, so that's why I tried out Bad Cat. Matchless in the old form no longer exists, so I figured it was a safe bet to follow the designer (Mr. Mark Sampson) rather than the Matchless badge. I was right.

Other than my Orange AD15 practice combo, I don't really need anything else. I have found my product of choice.

Single Channel. Two inputs; High Gain and Clean. Several voicing controls. Tube or solid state rectifier selectable.

I play several different PRS models. This amp is anything but noisy. It simply doesn't make any undesireable sounds at all. It covers both ends of the sound spectrum and even several of the latest trends. The distortion can be made very heavy while remaining musical. It doesn't seem to tend towards shaking itself to death. No setting seems overextended to my ears.

It "feels" dependable. I haven't dropped it out the window or struck it with anything. I just play through it and, once warm, it gives me the sounds I want. But, tubes being tubes, have some replacement tubes along in case the road is too hard. That's not really the amps doing, though.

Unbelievable. A tube died once. I called and Mr. Sampson called me back...in Switzerland...on his bill. He was so nice that I was embarrassed. We found the tube and replaced it. The night was saved.

I went out and bought the combo as a backup a few weeks ago. It's got speaker outs, so it's become my second head.

My favorite player, Billy Duffy of The Cult, is heavy into Matchless, so that's why I tried out Bad Cat. Matchless in the old form no loger exists, so I figured it was a safe bet to follow the designer (Mr. Mark Sampson) rather than the Matchless badge. I was right.

Other than my Orange AD15 practice combo, I don't really need anything else. I have found my product of choice.

BOUGHT NEW IN NOVEMBER 2002 I WANTED TO PLAY IT FOR SOME TIME BEFORE SUBMITTING THIS REPORT . I WAS LOOKING FOR AN AMP THAT COULD COVER CLEAN TO HIGH GAIN WITHOUT COMPROMISE , THIS AMP DOES IT ALL WELL .
I WAS VERY VERY HESITANT TO PURCHASE THIS AMP PRIOR TO PLAYIMG IT .
SO I NEARLEY BOUGHT SEVERAL OTHER BRANDS BUT I KEPT COMING BACK TO THE BADCAT . MATCHLESS [ MARK SAMPSON ] WITH A HIGH GAIN , HMMMMM .
I FINALLY CALLED BADCAT AND SPOKE T0 JAMES [ THE BADCAT ] AND HE INFORMED ME THAT SOME OF HIS DEALERS WOULD TAKE A RETURN IF I WAS NOT COMPLETLY SATISFIED , HMMMMM . LOUDEST 30 WATTS EVER, NO REVERB I DON'T MISS IT . GAIN CAN BE TRIMMED FROM LIQUID TO GRIND . I LOVE THE EDGE CONRTOL IT ALLOWS YOU TO COLOR YOUR /GAIN PICK ATTACK...AWESOME.
ONLY ONE CONTROL ON CLEAN SIDE {BRILLIANCE} THIS INITIALLY BOTHERED
ME, I LIKE THIS FEATURE NOW {LESS TO WORRY ABOUT ] THIS CHANNEL SOUNDS GREAT AND HELPS PEDALS SOUND AS THEY WANT TO. NO EFFECTS LOOP

I USE A TOM ANDERSON DROP-TOP/STRAT TYPE ,LES PAUL ELEGANT , OR PRS HOLLOWBODY 2 . THEY ALL SOUND GOOD THRU THIS AMP. THIS AMP IS ARTICULATE & VERY SENSITVE TO PICK ATTACK . THIS AMP WORKS FOR ME ON
ALLMAN BROS TO EXTREME THIS AMP HAS TONE PLUS. THIS AMP HAS BALLS AND A VERY TIGHT LOW END. NO FLUB. THIS AMP WILL DO BRUTAL CRUSHING POWER CHORDS [ I CAN'T BELIEVE HOW STRONG THIS AMP GETS OUT OF A 2 TWELVE OPEN BACK CAB ]I GOT THE BADCAT CAB AND AM VERY PLEASED { I THINK A LOT OF TONE PROBLEMS COME FROM MISMATCHING HEAD TO CABS} IT WILL ALSO SING AND SUSTAIN . THIS IS NOT A MODELING AMP HOWEVER AND NEEDS TO BE CRANKED UP TO GET THE BEST OUT OF IT . AND DID I MENTION ITS LOUD . PRACTICAL FOR ALL BUT LARGE VENUES AND THEN YOU WILL GO OUT THRU THE HOUSE ANY WAY . CLEAN CHANNEL BREAKS UP OH SO NICE . AND I USE EITHER A KEELEY BD3 OR TS9+- AND WOW

WHEN I GOT THIS AMP I TOOK IT TO DOWNTOWN SOUND { LEMOYNE PA } AND HAD
DR AMPLIFIER {TIM} TEAR IT APART TO SEE WHAT HE THOUGHT . BUILT LIKE A TANK ... SHOCK MOUNTED, SELF BIASING TUBES MILITARY POINT TO POINT WIRING 1.25 TWISTS PER INCH . PLEASE EXCUSE ME IF I DON'T REMEMBER THIS CORRECTLY .BUT HE DID SAY THAT THE LAST TIME HE HAD SEEN THIS TYPE OF BUILD QALITY WAS A HIWATT . AND THE MATERIALS FIT AND FINISH
SWWEEET . I HOPE IT HOLDS UP AS GOOD AS IT SOUNDS . 5 YEAR WARRANTY

STU AND JOHN AT FAT SOUND VERY VERY COOL TO DEAL WITH .
AND AS RESULT OF GETTING TO PLAY IT WE NOW HAVE A LOCAL DEALER RRR GUITAR SUPER COOL FOLKS .
JAMES AND HIS WIFE AT BADCAT ARE HONEST PATIENT AND VERY NICE AND HELPFUL

I AM FORTUNATE TO HAVE THE RESOURCES TO AFFORD THIS AMP I SOLD A MESA NOMAD A LINE6 AND A FENDER HOT ROD DELUXE TO GET THIS DONT MISS EMM .
IF I LOST THIS AMP I WOULD GET ANOTHER ONE . EXPENSIVE GUITARS THRU A
CRAPPY AMP STILL PLAY WELL BUT THEY DONT SOUND AS GOOD AS THEY COULD. I LOVE THIS AMP .I AM AT A LOSS TO IMAGINE HOW ANYONE COULD NOT LOVE ONE . I WISH IT HAD AN EFFECTS LOOP BUT IF I LOST TONE TO GET ONE I'D RATHER BE WITHOUT . I COMPARED TO BOGNER AND ROADKING GLAD I GOT THE CAT

Mine was made in Dec. 2002. Two inputs- not two channels as a lot of people think- their is a big difference. This is not a channel switcher but you can use an A/B box to switch between the inputs. There is a Brilliance and Edge control that seem to do pretty much the same thing. There is no mid knob which I think is a huge problem. The treble knob starts to thin out the mids after about 1:00 and adds them below that. Very funky interactive controls.

OK, I don't think it is fair to just review an amp that you think is great. I wrestled with posting this but after hearing from a few other people that felt the same way about this amp, I decided to post this less than stellar review. I heard a lot of hype about this amp and it got great reviews in Guitar Player and Vintage Guitar (if you even trust those kind of things!). I bought it without playing it first which is my mistake.

Here is the good parts. The amp is very heavy and boasts some of the best build quality I have ever seen. The transformers are super heavy duty. The clean is very nice in that Class A Matchless/Vox kind of way. Frankly, I think there are many other amps that have just as good of a clean, including, Fender, the Bogner Shiva and the Budda Superdrives.

Here is the bad. I did not care for the voicing of the gain channel at all. I used a few different Les Pauls and my trusty Brubaker. It is very hard to describe but there was something really missing in the mids to me. I had a really tough time dialing in a tone that I liked. When you cut back the treble to get the mids back in, I found that the amp lost some of the upper mids and treble that I wanted in there. I did a lot of knob twisting and got some tones that were passable but not what I wanted to hear. It would not do a good "old school Marshall crunch" that I was satisfied with at all. It was better at the higher gain stuff but I found it was a bit gritty and buzzy in the Distortion department. I have heard comparisons of this amp to the Bogner Uber as far as tone and low end- No way, IMO! The low end response is OK but nothing like the Uber, Roccaforte or Diezel. There has been some debate on whether a low wattage amp can really do high gain well. The theory seems to be that you need enough
power in the power section to handle the hot preamp signal. I haven't found a low watt amp that does it well yet. It felt like this amp did not have enough juice in the power end to handle the preamp for the heavier stuff. It just felt and sounded like the two sections were working against each other rather than with each other. I know there are others that will diagree and really like this amp but I would strongly suggest you play this amp before buying! Also, you should play it at a good volume, not bedroom levels. You may like it, I really didn't. I am not saying it sucks by a longshot, but it is just not up to the hype or the pricetag, IMO. I believe this is why you are seeing a lot of them on the used market (I lost money even used on it so I would really suggest not buying new if you don't have to).

I think reliability will be great. This thing is built super great as it should be for the price.

I have heard support is great. Didn't have mine long enough to make an opinion.

I think I said pretty much all that needs be said. Tone is very, very, subjective so you can take my opinions with a grain of salt or whatever they are worth. I have been playing for over 20 years and have owned a lot of great amps. There is just so much good stuff out there right now. I just really think there are much better sounding amps out there for way less money than this one. The Budda Superdrives, Roccafortes, Bogners and some others are much better in the tone department than this amp, IMO. Just play before you buy is all I suggest.

2002 Hot Cat - Amp can get a variety of different sounds

Brutal overdrive, awesome cleans. Great amp for Blues, metal and everything in between, including country and Jazz. I play thru a Gibson 58RI LP and a CS-336...this amp sounds phenominal with both. Really versatile tone wise. I like the way the amp allows you to blend power and preamp tube distortion to your liking.

seems to be built like a tank. Have only had it for 3 days now, so I really don't have an opinion for this catagory

Haven't had to deal with customer support

One of the best sounding amps I have ever played. Very versatile.

2002 with EL 34's in a class A configuration. 30 watts 2 channels accesed via A\B\Y box and combinable. Switchable tube or SS rectifier. ( I haven't tried the SS setting yet). It's the combinability and the two channels that warrant the 9 rating. I have so far used the amp for medium sized club venues.

There is a lot of tonal terrain in this amp. I just got off the gig and wanted to record my immediate impressions. The non master channel is just about perfect. It only has two controls, volume and brilliance which is the only global control. It sounds great clean and it sounds even better cranked. It breaks up a lot like my '92 Matchless DC-30 or my Dr Z Mazerati. Takes to pedals beautifully. I could easily do a whole gig on this channel alone. The master volume input channel consists of gain, edge, level, bass, treble, brilliance and master volume. Are all these knobs neccesary? I'll tell you why they are. Most amps that utilize a preamp overdrive scheme such as Mesa or modern Marshalls and their various ilk, like to keep the power amp clean and non distorted which makes it easier to control the gain characteristics and tonal contour. when you add an overdriven power amp into the equation, all sorts of other anomolies come into play such as the darkening of the tone and the compression of the signal. These controls allow you to dial in the desired amount of preamp to power amp overdrive while retaining the attack and tonal characteristics that you desire. It can be a trick if you are not familiar with these characteristics. It's easy to go overboard with the combinations of saturation you have available at any given time. Mushiness or wooliness will result. Once you suss this out though, you have the ability to manipulate a vast array of tonal possibilities. Now it gets really complex. When you combine the two channels, you mix these characteristics together and the possibilities become absolutely mind boggling. For instance, if you run an overdrive, the two channels will react differently causing the master gain channel to become more distorted and the clean channel to get louder. Almost like running two amps. The more you overdrive the power section, the more it negates this effect. Or you could run chorus and reverb just on the clean channel and run an overdrive globally. Before you engage the overdrive, the chorus and reverb effect might be very subtle but when you kick in the OD, the effect on the clean channel would become prominent in the mix. The possibilities are legion. If you like class A amps, they don't get any better than this. Old school fuses with the modern to produce a new classic.

This is one of the most overbuilt amps on the planet. That's why Matchless amps hold their value.

5 year warranty and easy to service due to the construct. I hope to never find out.

I own original JMI Vox's including AC 30's and AC 50's, reissue AC 15's and AC 30's, Bogner, VHT, late '60 Marshall Super Bass, Dr Z Route 66, various Orange and Hiwatts, Hughes and Kettner, and many others. The Bad Cat is amongst the cream of the crop.

n/a

I've read and pretty much agree with all the other reviews posted so I'm going to try and adress some different things.

Clean channel-Has excellent tone. Very class A/transparent sounding. More Vox-like than Fender but with a sound of it's own. You can play country to jazz to blues on this channel and it will sound great. I was really surprised at how much I liked the solid state rectifier selected with the clean channel. It gives each note more definition and a bit more sustain. It makes the channel better for chord melody and jazz stuff, I think. I use this channel with the strat pickups, middle and neck, on my Grosh retro classic.

Comparing it with a Matchless SC 30 that I used to own: the sound is different. The Hot Cat is not as chimey or vox like to my ears as the SC 30. It's a bit smoother sounding and that's why, out of the two amps ,I prefer playing clean leads on the Hot Cat. I'd have to give the edge on the clean chord sound to the Matchless thanks to it's twin tone controls.

The SC 30 has much better tone controls for the clean stuff as the Hot Cat just has one tone control. Many reviewers say that one control on the Hot Cat is all you need but I wish I had a bit more. When I turn the volume of the clean channel past 12 o'clock it starts to break up and get more bassy. When I'm playing on my neck and middle pickups I can't get enough treble-I have to switch to my other pickup combinations to get enough treble. Not a big deal, really. I don't usually need that much volume on my clean sounds but I was playing an outdoor gig where I had to turn it up and noticed it. Also, If more clean headroom is needed the solid state rectifier switch can help.

Another comparison to the SC 30: The Hot Cat doesn't have as much clean headroom.

The gain channel is also excellent. The high gain sounds really work great and are simple to dial in. The lower gain sounds are also great but for me, take a little more work to find-especially at low volumes. For example when I'm trying to get a slightly overdriven sound at lower volumes either the bass sounds to woofy or the high end to trebly. I should add that I only have this "problem" with my bridge humbucker. When I get a little volume going the lower gain sounds sound more alive. I'm nitpicking here and this experience may be just mine but thought I should add my thoughts.

I've tried lots of boutique amps and boutique overdrives to get my lead sound and I have to say that I like the Hot Cat best. The sound is just better than anything else I've tried (except for maybe cranking a boutique amp up to 9 or ten but how practical is that?) The Hot Cat does a great job of getting great tone at various volumes. Cool! It's overdrive is very articulate which I love but it can also reveal sloppy playing so beware.

C'mon. Based on what you know about the amps construction-what do you think?

The great thing abou the Hot Cat is it's versatility COMBINED with excellent sounds. Lot's of amps are versatile but the sound quality isn't there. Or many amps sound good clean but not overdriven or great overdriven but not clean. The Hot Cat is the first amp I've had that really does it all.

I love having a great clean strat sound-hitting my fulldrive for a slightly overdriven SRV style lead and still have the option of getting fat screaming high gain with the gain channel and my humbucker.

By the way I bought this from Stu Carter at Fat Sounds Guitar and he is the most knowledgeable, caring, honest, fantastic owner you will ever meet. Thee music industry should erect a statue to this guy and crown him the patron saint of music customer service!

I've owned DR Z maz 18, Route 66, Carmen Ghia, Matchless SC 30, Tone King Imperial, etc. and if I had to pick one of those amps I'd take the Hot Cat. I play a wide variety of music at a lot of different volumes and nothing does THAT as well as the Hot Cat IMHO.

Here's another nit pick/recommendation. Nit pick: For a head this thing is heavy! It must weigh 50 pounds. Recommendation: get the head if you don't want to deal with carrying all the weight of an amp AND speaker and cab in one package.

This amp is a head with a 4X10 cab made in 2002 and purchased from Freedom Guitar in San Diego. It is a truly amazing versatile amplifier. First let me state that I have 12 point to point amps and I was extremely cautious about laying over 3 grand for another one however I could not be happier with the results. The amp has two inputs, clean and gain, powered by four 12AX7 pre-amp tubes and a pair of EL34s. I have had the amp for three months and have spent numerous hours working the controls. First I love class A amps and the tone of a cranked matchless/badcat however with these traditional amps you need a stompbox to get a good raunchy lead tone at club level volume. I do not like the buzz sound of the gain in a mesa boogie so if this is what you are looking for stop now. The amp has seperate controls for the treble, bass and brillance along with a master volume, gain and edge (which colors your gain). I cannot say enough about the edge control. By being able to control the flavor of the gain you can really dial in the exact sound you want. This amp nails the wide open sustain forever gain tone if you want it to but it also sounds great when nudged just a bit. With a 59 re-issue Les Paul and a cord to the amp I was able to duplicate the exact sound of Claptons guitar on While My Guitar Gently Weeps. Perfect!

My main guitars are a couple of 59 re-issue Les Pauls, a Pete Townshend SG and 63 re-issue SG. This amp is great for all out screaming gain but it is the lower gain settings that are my favorites. Really quiet amp. If the panel did not light up you would not know it was on! I tried the amp with a 2X12 which was nice but it was the 4X10 that really made it sing. The open back cab is a good match for the head.

I have a BadCat Black Cat I purchased new over a year ago and have not had any problems so I would expect the same for this amp. Unless you just want to skip the workouts with the weights and lug an amp around I would forget the combo and buy a head and cab.

Sent them one e-mail and got a response back the same day. Most of my support comes from the dealer. Everyone knows that BadCat is an evolution of Matchless and most of the dealers are gear heads themselves. Warranty is 5 years.

I own alot of gear and amps and have been playing for over 20 years. Does this make me an expert, no! However I can say that if you like the sound of late sixties Clapton and the Beatles during the White Album and Abbey Road this amp is for you. The amp is not limited to these sounds but this is the tone I like. It would go on my list of must have amps along with a DC30/Black Cat, a Black Face Deluxe Reverb and a 60s Marshall.

The amp was made in 2001. It comes with 2 plug ins. One for Clean one for MASSIVE DIRT!!!! You will beed an A/B switch for this. THe amp has Master - Volume - Edge - Brilliance controls as well as a few others. The amp has no reverb which I wish it did and no effects loop. I have asked them about putting the loop in, and they said not at this time. It is pretty straight forward!!!

Ultimate TONE MONSTER. I am playing with a Ibanez Prestige - Ernie Ball Petrucci and PRS. I think you could plug a beat Harmony in this thing and get huge tone!!! The amp is very quiet and the loudest 30 watts I have ever heard. THe bass control turned to 10 changes the sound of the amp to total metal meltdown. I am running it into a Marshall 2 x 12 cabinet and it is huge!!!!!!!!!!! The distortion on this amp is Bar None Nasty. Look out Bogner!!!!!!!!

Built like a Tank, and I am sure they will support a high dollar piece like this..

These guys answer E-Mails within hours not days. They rule!!

I will save everybody much time here. If you are looking for a head that will kick everything's ass, look no further!! Buy IT!!!!!!!!!!!