Bad Cat Trem Cat 212 Combo

This is a follow up review after 6 months of tonal bliss. Basically, I put the new pair of Eminence Red Fangs into this amp and a few assorted NOS tubes. I really like the more Brittish flavor the Red Fangs give this amp. While there was nothing at all wrong with the Bad Cat ceramic Celestion speakers, I just prefer Alnico in this type of amp.

It's definitely got its roots in the old Vox AC30. I still think it is in the same vein as the Vox Handwired AC30 that Tony Bruno had a hand in designing. But, this amp just has more tone options. While it can be plugged into, twist a few knobs and play kind of amp.... there's a ton of tonal options for you to explore.

I really like the way you can run the 5-way tone selector, or the bass/treble option, or both together. That both together yields some truly inspiring overdriven tones. When combined, the bass/treble tone stack seems to just add an extra gain stage to the 5-way EF86 tone stack. Really cool options.

Plus for once, in the entire Bad Cat / Matchless line, the reverb is truly outstanding. I've not played the new Hot Cat Reverb, but I'm betting it has the same new design. Let me be clear, if you are a reverb-head, you'll love the Trem Cat. The Trem is very useful as well if you're into that sort of thing. Not only is it very adjustable via the pot, there is that two way switch for a speed range change. Someone was thinking on this one.

And finally, after playing a friend's Black Cat, I must admit I love the Master on/off toggle switch mucho better than the push pull design of old. 100X more rugged IMO.

Gotta say, this amp's still a 10 in my book. It ain't cheap, but as they say, never buy a parachute from the lowest bidder. ;) You get what you pay for.

See my initial "review" for the Trem Cat 112. I've now bought a Trem Cat. I ordered it in the 2x12 configuration. Special order. But not a huge deal for Bad Cat as they make several 2x12 amps. Same size and weight as the Black Cat 2x12. Same features the 112 version.

I have really got to spend some time now with the various tone control options. This amp is a tweaker's delight. If you can't find your tone with this amp, and it's an EL84-based tone you are after, good luck finding it anywhere else.

The rotary preset tone controller is where the main part of the amp's tone action is for me. I could likely have been very happy with just this option. Mix in the Cut control and I can dial in what I'm looking for. The standard bass and treble option is a bit different that what I originally thought. It adds or subtracts gain for certain frequencies. It definitely an additional gain stage if you ask me.

I've been playing this amp pretty much with the Master Volume control defeated. Using it in non-Master mode is just so sweet, I've not found any reason to engage the Master. If I want to add a touch of gain, I can use the "normal" bass and treble controls. Works like a charm.

By the way, I want to repeat, you can use the rotary preset with or without the "normal" bass/treble controls. You can also defeat both options and just run the amp straight using only the cut control to level out the highs.

Now, the 15/30 watt power switch is very useful. Instead of engaging the Master for low-level situations, I just flip it to 15 watts and work from there. I'm not dogging the Master, far from it, but the non-Master mode is where I'm happiest. More power tube distortion, less preamp distortion sounds best to me.

This amp just absolutely smokes. I don't know how else to say it. The tremelo is very cool, very flexible and tweakable. I'm not a huge trem guy, so I won't go into much more detail. But, I am a huge REVERB guy! The Trem Cat has the best reverb I've ever heard in a combo amp. Hands down, lush as heck and deep. I've played the Black Cat Reverb and thought it's verb was a little weak. I've played several Matchless and found their verbs to be weak as well. I'd say this compares to the old super lush Fender stuff we grew up with. I love it.

This sucker is built like a Tank! I've built my own amps and have spent some time researching components, especially transformers. These trannies are freaking huge. That's got to be where a lot of this tone comes from. The components are all the best you can buy. The workmanship is outstanding. Even the little bulbs that are used to light up the logo are some very heavy duty spec bulbs. The filaments have kind of an X-cross pattern holding everything in place. Built to take a huge abuse it seems. Bad Cat ships the amp with a spare fuse and a spare bulb. I did manage to kill off two of the bulbs in the first few hours. The others are stable as heck.

Support is great so far. James is sending me a some replacement bulbs. That's the nature of the bulbs it appears. They are very heavy duty in design for sure, but the pounding they take is incredible. There are 5 of them in there. But like any bulb, the weak ones will go out pretty quickly and the good ones last a long long time.

If you are searching for a great amp in the vein of the old Vox AC30 and you want reverb and tremelo and a defeatable Master Volume control, I do not believe you will find any amp out there that is going to do it this well and sound this good.

You definitely won't find one with this many tone control options.