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In this Discussion
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NAD: Badcat Hotcat
Many years ago I played a Matchless DC30 at a festival. It was the best amp I've every played in 30 years of gigging. Always hankered for something that sounded as good as that but realistically I was wanting a 2 channel amp ideally with a boost that didnt weigh the equivalent of an elephant.
I wanted something with really nice clean channel as well. For the last 10 years I've been using mainly H&K Statesmans for cover band work and other amps (Wienbrock,, fender Hotrod, Vox AC30, quilter etc for originals. I like the H&K statesman a lot but would like a clean channel that could break up and the Statesman clean stays clean all the way.
After watching a few vids I decided that the new Badcats looked really interesting and due to circumstances of work/hols was around shops where they were in stock.
I was in glasgow and managed to nip to a couple of guitar shops.
First up was the Cub 3. I really liked this, but found that there was a huge volume difference between the clean/od channels. The guy in guitarguitar also struggled to get the two channels to balance.
I've had other amps like this in the past, which were a nightmare to tweak on stage. As such I decided I needed to try the other two new BC amps especially as my credit card was going to take a hammering from this purchase! I also tried the Blackstar St James, both the EL34 and the 6l6 versions. I much preferred the EL34 out of the two but it didn't quite get enough gain for me to use. These were the first blackstar amps I've tried that I actually liked tho. I've owned the Artist 30 before which sounded great in the house but never sounded great in a band situation and have tried a bunch of others over the years. Anyway enough digression and back on track..
.
Coincidentally, we were away on holiday last week and I was able to pop into Coda music which had the other BC amps in stock. Coda is an emporium of dreams. If I lived near there I'd be massively in debt..
First up was the Black Cat. This is a 20 watt two channel amp with tremelo. The trem was fantastic and the clean channel sparkled like a new kitchen sink. Could get a bit of crunch from the clean so box ticked.
I liked the drive channel as well. Could get a whole range of sounds from it. The Trem was fantastic, really liked it and the reverb whilst quite subtle was very usable. I liked the Cut knob on the eq as well alot as it would be useful for switching from a brighter single coil guitar to humbuckers.
Main issue for me was that there wasn't a boost. There was also a weird thing with the amp I tried in that the footswitch didn't seem to always work with the trem channel, but I assumed it was something a bit odd with THAT particular amp rather than a design flaw. I was also slightly concerned that 20watts may not work with a noisy drummer, but as I mic up my amps could have lived with that no bother.
I would have been perfectly happy with this amp (assuming the trem switching thing could be fixed),but as Coda had the hotcat as well I wanted to try that.
I started grinning instantly when I plugged into the Hotcat. Its a 45 watter with EL34's.
Clean channel was great, sparkling cleans to a medium/light od on tap, and the drive channel was absolutely fantastic. The hotcat has a subtle presence and Reverb, both of which sounded great pretty much every where.
Both the clean/crunch channels have a hi gain switch which adds a bit of gain/volume boost to the sound. It works perfectly as a boost for me as I like a bit of volume and gain boost when doing a lead, but you could easily use it as another channel as well. I tried a delay in the loop, and a prince of tone in the front. Swapped from a tele to humbucker guitar and it sounded absolutely fantastic with everything.
Drive wise it can pretty do much everything so I might have to sell a bunch of OD pedals in the near future.
So I bought that one! Looking forward to gigging it but as all my bands are on hols at the moment going to be a couple of weeks before get to road test.
Its the most expensive amp I've ever bought by a mile, and I'm hoping it will be worth the investment. It sounds great at home volumes as well , the master volume works really well. I think BC have hit it out the park with this amp personally but time will tell if that's correct.
I wanted something with really nice clean channel as well. For the last 10 years I've been using mainly H&K Statesmans for cover band work and other amps (Wienbrock,, fender Hotrod, Vox AC30, quilter etc for originals. I like the H&K statesman a lot but would like a clean channel that could break up and the Statesman clean stays clean all the way.
After watching a few vids I decided that the new Badcats looked really interesting and due to circumstances of work/hols was around shops where they were in stock.
I was in glasgow and managed to nip to a couple of guitar shops.
First up was the Cub 3. I really liked this, but found that there was a huge volume difference between the clean/od channels. The guy in guitarguitar also struggled to get the two channels to balance.
I've had other amps like this in the past, which were a nightmare to tweak on stage. As such I decided I needed to try the other two new BC amps especially as my credit card was going to take a hammering from this purchase! I also tried the Blackstar St James, both the EL34 and the 6l6 versions. I much preferred the EL34 out of the two but it didn't quite get enough gain for me to use. These were the first blackstar amps I've tried that I actually liked tho. I've owned the Artist 30 before which sounded great in the house but never sounded great in a band situation and have tried a bunch of others over the years. Anyway enough digression and back on track..
.
Coincidentally, we were away on holiday last week and I was able to pop into Coda music which had the other BC amps in stock. Coda is an emporium of dreams. If I lived near there I'd be massively in debt..
First up was the Black Cat. This is a 20 watt two channel amp with tremelo. The trem was fantastic and the clean channel sparkled like a new kitchen sink. Could get a bit of crunch from the clean so box ticked.
I liked the drive channel as well. Could get a whole range of sounds from it. The Trem was fantastic, really liked it and the reverb whilst quite subtle was very usable. I liked the Cut knob on the eq as well alot as it would be useful for switching from a brighter single coil guitar to humbuckers.
Main issue for me was that there wasn't a boost. There was also a weird thing with the amp I tried in that the footswitch didn't seem to always work with the trem channel, but I assumed it was something a bit odd with THAT particular amp rather than a design flaw. I was also slightly concerned that 20watts may not work with a noisy drummer, but as I mic up my amps could have lived with that no bother.
I would have been perfectly happy with this amp (assuming the trem switching thing could be fixed),but as Coda had the hotcat as well I wanted to try that.
I started grinning instantly when I plugged into the Hotcat. Its a 45 watter with EL34's.
Clean channel was great, sparkling cleans to a medium/light od on tap, and the drive channel was absolutely fantastic. The hotcat has a subtle presence and Reverb, both of which sounded great pretty much every where.
Both the clean/crunch channels have a hi gain switch which adds a bit of gain/volume boost to the sound. It works perfectly as a boost for me as I like a bit of volume and gain boost when doing a lead, but you could easily use it as another channel as well. I tried a delay in the loop, and a prince of tone in the front. Swapped from a tele to humbucker guitar and it sounded absolutely fantastic with everything.
Drive wise it can pretty do much everything so I might have to sell a bunch of OD pedals in the near future.
So I bought that one! Looking forward to gigging it but as all my bands are on hols at the moment going to be a couple of weeks before get to road test.
Its the most expensive amp I've ever bought by a mile, and I'm hoping it will be worth the investment. It sounds great at home volumes as well , the master volume works really well. I think BC have hit it out the park with this amp personally but time will tell if that's correct.
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Comments
Nice one. Fancy one
My old Genz Benz Black Pearl gets me in the Matchless type tone ball park enough.
It was decent but didn't get near the DC30 I tried.
anyway your Hot Cat sounds fantastic
And yeah there did seem to be a few problems from what I remember too, as you said. I got the El Diablo head as well when they were blowing them out and it- while not DOA- died on me within the week IIRC. As you said, I don't think I was the only one, either. (GAK was great at sorting it out, and also the DOA Black Pearl.)
How good is the global master on this version? Can it get to conversational level, with the channel volumes high? Sound good?
I went with a Black Cat and had exactly the same issue with the trem switch on one of them. Yes, I've had two! Both of them have had the same issue and keep blowing fuses in the power input everytime it was switched on, the first was replaced and the replacement ended up doing exactly the same (they were different amps as I checked the serials) and is now being returned. Such a shame as they are fantastic sounding amps, but as a working musician I'm not sure I would be able to rely on one now. I think you made the right choice! I'm now thinking of seeing if I can get it replaced with a with a Hot Cat.
I've only done a couple of gigs so far with it as its holidays and everyones been away but I've really liked it so far.
Its fantastic best amp I've ever owned.
in effect you've got a great sounding two channel amp with dual boosts. I've not run the master past about 2 oclock with the volumes between 11-2.
Its THE loudest 15w amp ive ever heard, but its amazing - nothing is like it.
PA Hire and Event Management
This on the back of a whole load of Black Cats having to be returned because someone at the factory had installed a wrong component in an entire batch of them.
It's such a shame cos they're such great amps when they're working!