Bad Cat Classic Cat

[VanZapp]

Hi, I'm new to the forum and need a bit of help regarding my Classic Cat. I recently bought it second hand (it was made in 06) and it sounded fantastic when I collected it. Great tone and the most touch sensitive dynamic amp I've ever played or owned in 30 odd years of guitar addiction. But.........it seems there is a bit of a problem which I think is with the volume pot. When I turn the pot up or down it will suddenly jump in volume (quite significantly) then return to where you'd expect it to be and work normally. I've looked at the pot to try and get a value/serial number but all I can see is '85-15A1M' on a CGE mexico pot. The tone pot seems to be of the same type and has the same numbers on it. If the volume pot is faulty could anyone give me a clue as to the correct replacement please (bearing in mind I'm in the UK). I really want to keep this amp as it does everything I want it to do except be reliable at the moment but I'm sure this is an easy fix.

I've been to the Bad Cat webby but the email contact is a link that I can't get to work so I'm really hoping this bears fruit.

Also (while I'm at it, lol), is it possible or necessary to rebias this amp if the 6V6's are changed? I've been looking at JJ as a replacement.

Many thanks.

 

[VanZapp]

Well....I was hoping that someone from Bad Cat would respond as they appear to have one of their number as a forum member. Never mind.

I've replaced the volume pot with another (for those interested its an Alpha 1 meg audio taper) and it works fine. I've also replaced the 6V6 Ruby's with JJ's and the Ruby 5AR4 with a Sovtec. Tone is great and we're back to a consistant volume. The amp has that lovely bloom to the sound that tube rectifiers give. I may experiment with the pre amp valves at a later date but for now I'm just gonna give it hell!!

The amp is a lot louder with my Gibson 359 than my Strat but I guess thats to be expected with the Gibbo's 57' PAFS over the Strats Custom Shop 69's and Texas Special. The PAFS really push the amp into the most fantastic overdriven tones I've heard.