New Amp Day - Bad Cat Cub 15r

[Deadpan]

Wasn't sure what to expect with this amp.

For higher gain tone the combo speaker isn't great but it works nicely for single coils.

Plug it into a Mesa cabinet and it does higher gain pretty well boosted.

Pleasantly surprised.

 

[la szum]

Cool! Gained up Vox-Box? Love that switchable preamp tube option the early Bad Cats had.

When I think of Bad Cat I think of EF86 x EL34. That's such a unique tube combination. I see they have
done away with that in their latest offerings.

 

[metropolis_4]

I’ve been really curious to try these new Bad Cats.

I had three back in the Mark Sampson days ( 2 Cubs and a Black Cat) and they were my favorite amps ever.

The original Cubs were basically a Matchless Lightning with a few extra features. Very AC15-ish

 

[Deadpan]

Cool! Gained up Vox-Box? Love that switchable preamp tube option the early Bad Cats had.

When I think of Bad Cat I think of EF86 x EL34. That's such a unique tube combination. I see they have
done away with that in their latest offerings.

Somewhere in the Vox/Matchless range with a little Dumble? The tone stack is unique, the Fat switch adds gain and mids. The EF86 pre adds some mid harmonics and is a little nastier.

This one has EL84 but the low end is decent.

 

[Deadpan]

I’ve been really curious to try these new Bad Cats.

I had three back in the Mark Sampson days ( 2 Cubs and a Black Cat) and they were my favorite amps ever.

The original Cubs were basically a Matchless Lightning with a few extra features. Very AC15-ish

This is a Player series from a couple years ago. Does have a PCB but still sounds great.

I also have the newest Lynx which is nice for high gain.

 

[paisleywookiee]

It'd be interesting to compare this to the new one, which is EL34/30w and no EF86.

 

[metropolis_4]

I guess I tend to think of the Player series as “new” because they’re a departure from the originals.

The new new Cub and Black Cat really confuse me. I’m not sure why they kept the names when they’re completely different amps to the originals.

Originally the Cub was basically a Matchless Lightning and the Black Cat was basically a rebranded Matchless DC-30.

Cub was always a 2 x el84 boutique AC15 and Black Cat was a 4 x el84 boutique AC30.

I remember them being more firmly in the Vox camp than some others boutique builders like Dr Z that had a little more Marshall and other influence in their designs.

 

[Deadpan]

It'd be interesting to compare this to the new one, which is EL34/30w and no EF86.

From my understanding it is a completely different amp?

 

[la szum]

I guess I tend to think of the Player series as “new” because they’re a departure from the originals.

The new new Cub and Black Cat really confuse me. I’m not sure why they kept the names when they’re completely different amps to the originals.

Originally the Cub was basically a Matchless Lightning and the Black Cat was basically a rebranded Matchless DC-30.

Cub was always a 2 x el84 boutique AC15 and Black Cat was a 4 x el84 boutique AC30.

I remember them being more firmly in the Vox camp than some others boutique builders like Dr Z that had a little more Marshall and other influence in their designs.

Stop reading my mind! You literally voiced all my own thoughts.

I love that EF86 x EL34/84 vibe.

Still have some NOS EF86s from when I had a Hot Cat. Also had a custom Winfield Cyclone that
was EF86 into EL:34 power section. Never heard any other amps like those.

I forget which Dr. Z had the EF86-based preamp. Z 28? Does he even have make one anymore?

 

[metropolis_4]

Stop reading my mind! You literally voiced all my own thoughts.

I love that EF86 x EL34/84 vibe.

Still have some NOS EF86s from when I had a Hot Cat. Also had a custom Winfield Cyclone that
was EF86 into EL:34 power section. Never heard any other amps like those.

I forget which Dr. Z had the EF86-based preamp. Z 28? Does he even have make one anymore?

I always wanted to try a Hot Cat, it was the only one of the original ones I never got a chance to play!

Z used to have a bunch of EF86 amps but I haven’t looked at the lineup in a long time.

I think the KT45 was his EF86 x EL34 amp?

 

[Deadpan]

Stop reading my mind! You literally voiced all my own thoughts.

I love that EF86 x EL34/84 vibe.

Still have some NOS EF86s from when I had a Hot Cat. Also had a custom Winfield Cyclone that
was EF86 into EL:34 power section. Never heard any other amps like those.

I forget which Dr. Z had the EF86-based preamp. Z 28? Does he even have make one anymore?

I have a Morgan AC20 Deluxe and it doesn't really sound like the Cub even on EF86.

 

[Deadpan]

I always wanted to try a Hot Cat, it was the only one of the original ones I never got a chance to play!

Z used to have a bunch of EF86 amps but I haven’t looked at the lineup in a long time.

I think the KT45 was his EF86 x EL34 amp?

How does the Cub compare to the others?

 

[metropolis_4]

How does the Cub compare to the others?

The Cub was very AC15 sounding. As it broke up it had that raspy raw thing with lots of character. The cleans were some of the most complex 3D swirly tones I’ve ever heard in an amp. Lots of that glassy Vox thing going on. But a lot tighter than a Vox with a bigger tighter low end and more chime in the top end. Probably thanks to the massive transformers

 

[paisleywookiee]

From my understanding it is a completely different amp?

Yeah, that's my understanding.

 

[la szum]

I always wanted to try a Hot Cat, it was the only one of the original ones I never got a chance to play!

Z used to have a bunch of EF86 amps but I haven’t looked at the lineup in a long time.

I think the KT45 was his EF86 x EL34 amp?

I think the Matchless amps in the Fractal sound REALLY good. Do you use them much?

 

[Deadpan]

I think the Matchless amps in the Fractal sound REALLY good. Do you use them much?

The Axe is generally a stand for the Kemper. But since you mention it I will load the Matchless now and try. I do really like my HC30.

 

[spawnofthesith]

Congrats! Always been curious about badcat

 

[metropolis_4]

I think the Matchless amps in the Fractal sound REALLY good. Do you use them much?

I have mixed feelings about them. I think the Chieftan model is great. It sounds so much like my old Matchless it’s spooky!

I’d swear the D-30 must have the wrong bright cap value. At default I don’t hear any of the high end I expect. It doesn’t start sounding right to me until I raise the bright cap to around ~400 pF or so.

The D-30 EF86 just sounds broken to me. It’s so much darker than that amp should sound. The tone knob seems to be the 5 position switch on the amp but continuous so all the way left would be the brightest/thinnest setting. Even set there that model doesn’t sound right until I max out the bright cap value and boost High Treble around ~9db.

The Hot Kitty is the same thing. It doesn’t sound right until I turn on the bright switch and bump the bright cap value up a bit. Before that it doesn’t have any of the top end character I expect to hear.

 

[Deadpan]

I have mixed feelings about them. I think the Chieftan model is great. It sounds so much like my old Matchless it’s spooky!

I’d swear the D-30 must have the wrong bright cap value. At default I don’t hear any of the high end I expect. It doesn’t start sounding right to me until I raise the bright cap to around ~400 pF or so.

The D-30 EF86 just sounds broken to me. It’s so much darker than that amp should sound. The tone knob seems to be the 5 position switch on the amp but continuous so all the way left would be the brightest/thinnest setting. Even set there that model doesn’t sound right until I max out the bright cap value and boost High Treble around ~9db.

The Hot Kitty is the same thing. It doesn’t sound right until I turn on the bright switch and bump the bright cap value up a bit. Before that it doesn’t have any of the top end character I expect to hear.

Interesting. I fired the Axe up and was shocked the Chieftan was brighter than the DC30.

I had a strange experience. At first play all seemed as I remembered. I then updated the Axe and it seemed to have changed for the better. Going to take a closer look at it Monday.

 

[Achilles]

Congrats. Happen to know the date/era?