Bad Cat history

[shooter1371]

Lately I have been wondering about the history of bad cat as a company. I know that Mark Sampson was with them in the early years, but when did he leave? and what influence did he have on the company? I've noticed that Sampson era Matchless amps fetch higher prices, and I would assume that Sampson era bad cats will do the same. Not to say a contemporary bad cat is a lesser quality product, but just because of the rareness of a Sampson built bad cat.

 

[6AM]

The company was started by James Heidrich and he employed Mark Sampson to design amps that were based on the then out of production Matchless amps he had designed. From what I've been told, Mark attempted to take over the company, which failed. He went on to start his own company, Star amps, which appears to defunct. James has continued Bad Cat and has built a company to be proud of.

Mark didn't personally built any of the Bad Cat amps and built very few of the original Matchless amps. The term "Sampson era" really means "before they went out of business".

 

[vchizzle]

I can't expand on much history. My hot cat, which is a fairly early one, has some Matchless labeled parts inside. Kinda cool.