Coda Music - Righteous Service !

Wazmeister

So, as some of you will be aware, I headed down to Coda Music this morning... I left the lovely glades of the Black Country at 6.35 am, and finally got there at 10.15 am !!! You've gotta love the M6 and M1...

Anyway, the purpose was an amp search and to try some lovely planks.

As ever, the service from Doug, Mark and the team was friendly and exceptional. I must've asked to try every amp that wasn't on the shop floor, and they never moaned or called me a daft knob (at least, not in ear shot...). Coffee was provided, as was carrying and lumping services, and the full benefit of Doug's great and honest knowledge.

In an age of average service, Coda excelled and raised the benchmark. Superb...

I walked out with a Magnatone Twilighter and A Bad Cat Black Cat 15R thingy. A memorable day, and I just simply wanted to publicly thanks Doug and the team. See you soon guys...

Oh, and the 'kin Bad Cat lights up in the dark... "just what I've always wanted..."

http://i1160.photobucket.com/albums/q493/Warren3333/6.jpg

Heartfeltdawn

Recession?! What recession?!

I on the other hand spent £7 and £9 respectively on two different delay plug-ins this weekend. Floatin' with the high rollers, me. 

What's your impression of the Black Cat? 

Majorscale

Must congratulate you on a most superb shopping trip! I already knew we shared a love of Bearfoot pedals and now it turns out that our amp choice is similar too as I'm a fellow Twilighter owner ;-) 

How you didn't walk out with that Fano thinline I don't know! I assume you've seen this before:

dindude

To be fair, based on your previous, if I sold amps I too would treat you like a king! Enjoy the new amps, do we get a tone report too?

JohnPerry

Did you try that used Fano I flagged up, Warren?

koss59

Those Badcats are catching on! You'll need a 30 watt one next, that's what I did :-)

Strat_a_tat_tat

Yeah... good guys at Coda. Have been shopping there since they first opened.  Congrats on the new amps... very nice.

Wazmeister

The Bad Cat was never in the frame...

I tried, in order...

- Carr Rambler -stunning

- Carr Sportsman - perfect

- Magnatone Twilighter - stunning 2

- Redplate RP50 - usual good RP tones

- Swarts - too focused

- Two Rock Coral (combo) - very very nice actually

Then, about to go down the Falcon/ Tweedy/ OD route and Doug (bless him, sweating like a good un after carrying all of these amps) produces 

the Bad Cat Black Cat in ltd edition two tone colour.

I swear, he plugs it in and WALLOP !!! Loved it... very versatile but I've mastered the learning curve in a few mins... just seems natural.

Now, Dr Z is the 'King of The Chime' yes ?? Well, the Bad Cat destroyed it. All the chime, plus all the warmth AND not laser focused Z type sounds...

I haven't even got around to the Maggie yet !!!

Awesome, even at bedroom volume..

Waz

Wazmeister

@johnperry

I didn't try that used one, as I prefer the reliced models... The black GF6 and the RB6 seen below here, were special guitars...

http://i1160.photobucket.com/albums/q493/Warren3333/FullSizeRender-3.jpg

Dave_Mc

Nice

Strat_a_tat_tat

Wazmeister... that amberburst GF6 with Lollar Imperials and a tortie guard (on Coda's site) looks nice.  Did you give that one a spin?

koss59

They're in a different league to DR. Z, I've had a few of those. The Badcat sounds like what you wished a Matchless sounds like ;-)

Fretwired

Coda is my local GAS emporium .. I've spent a fortune there on Martin's Fender's and Gibson's ... nice place. We should arrange a Coda meet up ... :-)

pmg

Might be selling my black cat 15r soon if anyone's interested...

axisus

Coda is my local as well, I live in Luton.

longjaw

Would love to try a Magnatone amp!

longshins

I've never had chance to try a Badcat, however have tried some Matchless at World Guitars. Are they really better? If so, could you elaborate please as the Matchless Lightning was the best amp I've ever played through.

photek

I have to agree with you chap. Coda is quickly becoming the place to go. I picked up a second hand R7 from there a few weeks back and they were spot on.

koss59

As far as Matchless go, I'm really meaning the high powered models like the C-30 and clubman. To me they were just too loud and bright for most gigs and quite untameable. That was in some large venues too. To me the badcat can get the same sort of sound but at all volume levels, they are also a touch smoother to my ears.

Wazmeister

koss59 said:

As far as Matchless go, I'm really meaning the high powered models like the C-30 and clubman. To me they were just too loud and bright for most gigs and quite untameable. That was in some large venues too. To me the badcat can get the same sort of sound but at all volume levels, they are also a touch smoother to my ears.

A perfect summary mate...

In my limited Matchless experience, they will loud as anything and fantastic if you were playing Wembley Arena.... Which, surprisingly, I am not doing that often these days.

The Bad Cat is simply stunning at low volumes, and I'm talking bedroom volume here.

I've yet to unleash it a battle volume...

JohnPerry

longshins said:

I've never had chance to try a Badcat, however have tried some Matchless at World Guitars. Are they really better? If so, could you elaborate please as the Matchless Lightning was the best amp I've ever played through.

My understanding is that the Lightning and the BadCat Cub were basically the same amp (though IIRC the Cub has gone through some changes over the years). The Black Cat 15 is the Cub 15's 12ax7 channel plus an ef86 channel. I've played a Lightning and now own a Black Cat 15 (admittedly a couple of years apart). Nowt to choose between them - both fab amps