hey Guys,
So following on from my recent post about Vox amps,
@Wazmeister kindly put me onto the scent of a Bad Cat Cub iii that’s for sale on here. I didn’t really consider it at first, but now I am really tempted by it.
My only concern is that with it being only a 15 watt amp, will there be enough headroom in it for playing live. I would mostly be running the amp on edge of breakup/crunchy but still need that wee bit extra volume for some solo’s etc.
What’s are people’s thoughts on using them in gig situations?
Am I right in thinking
@StuartMac290 uses one? I also seen some posts from
@miserneil but that might be a 30 watt beastie?
I’d love to hear all/any feedback anyone has with this so I can hopefully make a decision
Cheers in advance
Keir
Comments
(formerly miserneil)
You will probably find that you never get it past 6
That said, I'd want to mic it up to better control on-stage and FOH volumes far before it go to the point it wasn't loud enough for FOH
I guess I could always stick an EQ pedal in the FX loop I suppose, to boost the mid’s and maybe a wee bit of volume for any solo’s?
I used my 15 watt Laney at practise last night to try and get an idea of volume with a drummer etc, but it’s only got a wee 10” speaker so it didn’t really blow me away. It still had some volume available, but I’m guessing the bigger cab/speaker in the Cub would handle things a lot better. The amp in general is probably miles better too I’d imagine
For ‘edge of break-up’ it was very loud - and sounded epic. For ‘true’ cleans - it had very little headroom - certainly nowhere near loud enough for live use.
Still an amp I wish I’d kept....
I would say that neither amp really has much clean headroom, once you get the speaker moving they are chiming and starting to break up.
I do indeed have an early Black Cat 30 (not 15) and it's probably my favourite amp. It IS loud though, to the extent I only use it in the studio - being an early model, the master volume isn't very good at all.
I did have a Cub III 30 combo too, which was much more useable live because of the K Master. Actually, my favourite of the more recent Bad Cats I've tried was the Black Cat 30 just before they started fitting the K Master, if you can find one of them.
Slightly controversial opinion here perhaps, but I personally strongly prefer the 30 watt models. Even in half power mode they sound bigger and more 3D to me.
For edge of breakup tones I think they're unbeatable, and actually with my old one the cleans are unbeatable too. I've never quite been able to get a newer one to sound like that, particularly the EF86 channel.
I have no link except that I own one! An 18w handwired bestie with an ef86 channel and el84s. Sounds like it might be ballpark the same kind of thing. Easily giggable (I barely have to turn it up even for garage rock gigs) but not massive super clean headroom of course. I think the build quality is great though I can't compare with bad cat. If you're near york you're welcome to give it a try.
(formerly miserneil)
my classic deluxe runs wide open (no master volume fitted). I also tend to run a matchless lightning wide open when using one
I don't know if you can add another cab to the combo.
I also have an early bc30 2x12 that stays in 15w mode most of the time. Again and imho its the two speakers that provide the bigger sound. It's too much amp for me really but I don't need to sell. I wish it was lighter.
There's definitely a noticeable difference in feel between the 15w/30w mode. It's all personal presence but i leave mine in 30w most of the time. Mine's a 2002 and full of Matchless branded parts, I wouldn't say the Master was bad though to be honest but I haven't tried a K Master model to be able to compare.
(formerly miserneil)