Bad Cat amps/combo's?

[C1-ocaster]

I've never played a real Bad Cat but have heard YT vid's and they do sound very nice.
The non hand made Bad Cat's are lower cost as they are not hand made nor US made.
But, they claim that the design is all Bad Cat and very closely reproduces the real deal.

Price is considerably lower.
The one I'm considering is a Cougar 15 1x12 combo.
I really want to get this amp to try it out, but I'd like to read some user experiences of anyone here has played a real Bad Cat and/or the non US models.

 

[Mudder]

I had a Hot Cat 30 I never should have sold. Killer cleans, nice crunch, very well made amp. I can't say much about the Cougar since I have no experience with one but I haven't heard much bad about them. I'd buy a hand made Bad Cat in a second if it fit what I was going for.

 

[FourT6and2]

I had a Hot Cat 30. I'm glad I sold it. Cleans were decent. Gain was ok. A but fuzzy and dark and loose. Build quality was... lacking. A few design flaws that caused some issues like clean/gain bleed/cross-talk and the reverb making the tone of the amp change drastically. Bad Cat refused to fix these issues and tried to justify them as "bonus features." Well screw that.

 

[C1-ocaster]

I had a Hot Cat 30. I'm glad I sold it. Cleans were decent. Gain was ok. A but fuzzy and dark and loose. Build quality was... lacking. A few design flaws that caused some issues like clean/gain bleed/cross-talk and the reverb making the tone of the amp change drastically. Bad Cat refused to fix these issues and tried to justify them as "bonus features." Well screw that.

Ouch. That doesn't sound good.
Very surprising that they took that attitude as I've read good things about them.
It happens though.

My main use of this amp would be for the clean tones, and that it's a combo.
I have a great amp with excellent clean tones, but I want something with a brighter top end, just to get variations.
If the Cougar does it, then all will be well, cause I'm getting a 3yr extended warrant that will cover everything including accidental damage.
If it's not the tone in my head, then I'll go for a Fender 22 or 40watt combo.

 

[ericsabbath]

from what i hear from clips, the cougar has moree of a vox-like clean tones than fenderish
if that's your thing, go for it
the amps are actually made by kustom, but I haven't heard any bad things about them

 

[FourT6and2]

I had a Hot Cat 30. I'm glad I sold it. Cleans were decent. Gain was ok. A but fuzzy and dark and loose. Build quality was... lacking. A few design flaws that caused some issues like clean/gain bleed/cross-talk and the reverb making the tone of the amp change drastically. Bad Cat refused to fix these issues and tried to justify them as "bonus features." Well screw that.

Ouch. That doesn't sound good.
Very surprising that they took that attitude as I've read good things about them.
It happens though.

Yeah, I was surprised as well. Instead of fixing the issue (which they actually did on later versions of the amp), they told me to think of these flaws as "extra/bonus features" to shape the tone of the amp. This was back in... 2006 maybe. Things may have changed since then, I don't know. I will say that some of their amps sound great. Just depends on what you're looking for. But my customer service experience was not good.

 

[_actual time_]

FourT6and2 wrote:
I had a Hot Cat 30. I'm glad I sold it. Cleans were decent. Gain was ok. A but fuzzy and dark and loose. Build quality was... lacking. A few design flaws that caused some issues like clean/gain bleed/cross-talk and the reverb making the tone of the amp change drastically. Bad Cat refused to fix these issues and tried to justify them as "bonus features." Well screw that.

my experience was very similar, although seems not as bad. a Hot Cat 30 non-reverb, SS rectifier. i thought the cleans were quite good, but the gain fuzzy and very loose, couldn't get tight or crunchy at all, and the customer service was surly and strung me along when i was asking for info about the EQ switch that comes on the reverb model. this was post-Mark Sampson, if that matters, after he had left Bad Cat to found Nova amps IIRC is the name of it.

YMMV. i would definitely try to play before buying.

 

[ibenhad]

Bad Cat Hot Cat 15 NR Sampson era and I wouldn't trade it for the world. Great combo and built like a tank. Killer cleans and the gain on mine is awesome. Mine is also small glass (EL84) which makes a big difference gain wise IMHO. Mine is also tube rectified and I have an SS rectifier I can switch to. I prefer the tube rec. Every-time I think I will sell it I just can't do it. Plus my wife loves it in the living room as a piece of gear furniture. Can't say much for the newer stuff as I have no experience.

 

[_actual time_]

Bad Cat Hot Cat 15 NR .... Plus my wife loves it in the living room as a piece of gear furniture.

the light-up cat's eyes in the logo are indeed damn cool.

 

[C1-ocaster]

Oh man... I had a Lynx head and (still have) 4x12 cab. I loved it. The ONLY reason I sold it was because it didn't have an FX loop. Great chiming cleans. I really liked the fact that it was cathode biased. Just take new tubes and throw them in there.

The Bad Cat V30 speakers are some of my favorite speakers ever.

I don't know if the Cougar combo has tube or SS rectifier.
That doesn't really matter to me though cause SS rectifier's can sound good too.
The combo does have a Celestion V30, which is very nice.

I'm really more interested in clean tones and gritty blues tones.
My Vengeance has plenty of high gain goodness.
For the price I can get it for it's a great deal, plus I can easily return it as it's being sold as New/demo, full warranty.
If I don't buy I'll post the price and where to get it for anyone else interested.