The Official..... unOfficial Bad Cat Amp Thread *_*

[The~Kid]

Hey Tomo has a new Cub 15 Mod Shop or Mod Shop Cub 15 or Cub Shop Mod 15.......


The new Cub 15, it's so cute

Built in USA/SoCal

 

[VonBonfire]

Hey Tomo has a new Cub 15 Mod Shop or Mod Shop Cub 15 or Cub Shop Mod 15.......


The new Cub 15, it's so cute

Dang...$2200? Spendy as hell for a 15 watt PCB.....I'd have to quit playing guitar to afford that thing.

 

[The~Kid]

Dang...$2200? Spendy as hell for a 15 watt PCB.....I'd have to quit playing guitar to afford that thing.

Yeah I know and it ain't as good for some as the hand wired versions but they are using military grade PCB here and they are using through hole components too on a lot of it so it is serviceable if need be and as robust as the next PCB being military grade.


Also when you look at the history of Mark Sampson and what he brought I wasn't aware but he really did kind of probably worked on more Vox amps than anyone else as he repaired a bunch and the old ones always broke a lot.

And the quality varied back then too so it's cool that they were hand wired but one has to understand QC wasn't so tight sometimes back then and unfortunately you had a lot of lemons and stuff that broke or didn't sound standardized or uniform. So Mark would see how these things failed, which ones sounded best, what mods were the best etc etc and he would mod them or upgrade the parts that needed fixing from my understanding or use more reliable components.


So in that sense with some of these Mod Shops you're kind of getting all that and his last kind of touches and all his experience and everything he did into these amps and years and decades of knowledge packed into one little amp if you think about it. And given it's Built in USA it's a great value.


For the quality to make it accessible at that level PCB makes sense and military grade ain't bad. A lot of top amps from Fender, Marshall, Mesa to Friedman too now use PCB and these are great and many enjoy them and they are great quality as well. What's good is many do use through-hole components at the least on a majority of the builds and the power tubes aren't on the main PCB on most if not all of these.

 

[The~Kid]

IMO the PCBs ain't bad but they also offer Handwired for the purist @VonBonfire

 

[Floyd Eye]

$2200 for a 15 watt PCB is insane.

 

[VonBonfire]

$2200 for a 15 watt PCB is insane.

Everything is insanely priced now. Even the PRRI is like $1500-1600 but I doubt is built as well as the bad cat. At those kinda prices I always shop used myself, if only out of necessity.

 

[Floyd Eye]

Everything is insanely priced now. Even the PRRI is like $1500-1600 but I doubt is built as well as the bad cat. At those kinda prices I always shop used myself, if only out of necessity.

10 watt PCB. It sounds really good. It’s still a piece of shit but it was $400 brand new.

 

[The~Kid]

Everything is insanely priced now. Even the PRRI is like $1500-1600 but I doubt is built as well as the bad cat. At those kinda prices I always shop used myself, if only out of necessity.

Yeah PRRI is great and Made in USA and it fantastic but things are getting expensive, I got mine before the Pandemic for 1006 bucks and change cash. The Bad Cat I got at a stupid ass discount and a Black Friday sale combined with a 15% discount that was matched at a slightly lower price. Instead of 2100 I got it for around 1500 for my Lynx 50. I think they went up in price after that so I'm happy I got it when I did probably was the only chance I had. Got mine at Zzounds, good people check it out if it makes sense for this or other stuff. They match prices too and discounts and when they match its a lower price too.


Its still expensive but I always buy when the opportunity arises, if I had the money I'd buy it full price though and cash just like the Princeton, its that good.


Going back to MIA from Fender it is fantastic again but this one is Built in the USA at Bad Cat which is technically a higher classification in quality or higher standards in quality and in regards to the price relative to some others that is something nice. Check em out at shops, these are mainly at Mom and Pops and GC has some too sometimes but as soon as they go in they sell like hot cakes.


Some good prices in the used market though for sure.

 

[The~Kid]

10 watt PCB. It sounds really good. It’s still a piece of shit but it was $400 brand new.

View attachment 457042

These aren't bad and I have an AC15C1 which is fantastic and it sounds amazing but tbh it's just not the same as these Bad Cats. Love my AC15 and play it daily though and it's a great amp that competes in either case and that is why I play it daily aside from my Bad Cat Lynx 50.

 

[VonBonfire]

10 watt PCB. It sounds really good. It’s still a piece of shit but it was $400 brand new.

View attachment 457042

AC10?

I've played the standard one plus the deluxe model or whatever with the wider cab when I was 335 shopping. It's actually a really decent sounding amp and pretty reasonable on the price end of things. Not quite enough to keep up with a real band but I've seen it done before in the right venue. I like the tone better than a blues jr for the most part.

 

[Floyd Eye]

AC10?

I've played the standard one plus the deluxe model or whatever with the wider cab when I was 335 shopping. It's actually a really decent sounding amp and pretty reasonable on the price end of things. Not quite enough to keep up with a real band but I've seen it done before in the right venue. I like the tone better than a blues jr for the most part.

AC10c1

Like the AC15c1 the kid has, they are Chinese PCB and the tubes are mounted on the board.

They do sound pretty good though. Not even close to the '61 Fender it's sitting on top of under that towel though.

They're parked in front of a late 80 SVT II non pro and a '96 SLM Ampeg 810cl

 

[DanTravis62]

AC10c1

Like the AC15c1 the kid has, they are Chinese PCB and the tubes are mounted on the board.

They do sound pretty good though. Not even close to the '61 Fender it's sitting on top of under that towel though.

They're parked in front of a late 80 SVT II non pro and a '96 SLM Ampeg 810cl

i'm so jealous of that fender

 

[VonBonfire]

They do sound pretty good though. Not even close to the '61 Fender it's sitting on top of under that towel though.

Not too many amps are on par with that '61 Fender. Some of my favorite amps are from that era, none of which will ever be in my price range, lol.

 

[The~Kid]

AC10c1

Like the AC15c1 the kid has, they are Chinese PCB and the tubes are mounted on the board.

They do sound pretty good though. Not even close to the '61 Fender it's sitting on top of under that towel though.

They're parked in front of a late 80 SVT II non pro and a '96 SLM Ampeg 810cl

Yeah the AC15C1 does have PCB but again through hole so there is room for service and you also have the power tubes in a separate board which is the main thing that matters IME.


Honestly don't want to say the AC15C1 is bad or better than a Bad Cat but having played these and say something like an Industrial Amps OD15 kind of only found in some top level studios..... The AC15 and even the AC10 hold its own for the price and quality. The cab is particle board however or MDF but you have to cut corners somewhere to make these things affordable nowadays but the Greenbacks in thes are solid or I think Vtype in the 10 not sure if the mini 10 Greenback.

These things aren't bad and well not the same as a Bad Cat or Industrial Amps but they are still good and I love playing mine all the time.

 

[The~Kid]

AC10?

I've played the standard one plus the deluxe model or whatever with the wider cab when I was 335 shopping. It's actually a really decent sounding amp and pretty reasonable on the price end of things. Not quite enough to keep up with a real band but I've seen it done before in the right venue. I like the tone better than a blues jr for the most part.

Can't go wrong with an AC15C1 and I actually use it more than the Bad Cat sometimes especially with something like a RAT and SD1. Plus they can be had for a song used and there is a 212 version available too or a head if you already have a cab.

New or used a great amp and a song used in some cases and comes with a nifty Greenback.

 

[Floyd Eye]

Yeah the AC15C1 does have PCB but again through hole so there is room for service and you also have the power tubes in a separate board which is the main thing that matters IME.


Honestly don't want to say the AC15C1 is bad or better than a Bad Cat but having played these and say something like an Industrial Amps OD15 kind of only found in some top level studios..... The AC15 and even the AC10 hold its own for the price and quality. The cab is particle board however or MDF but you have to cut corners somewhere to make these things affordable nowadays but the Greenbacks in thes are solid or I think Vtype in the 10 not sure if the mini 10 Greenback.

These things aren't bad and well not the same as a Bad Cat or Industrial Amps but they are still good and I love playing mine all the time.

The AC10 is not a Greenback, but whatever is in it sounds pretty good. I know people who put the Greenback in them and went back to the stock speaker. I'd rather have an Alnico, but I'm not dumping any money into this amp. I did buy some decent tubes at the same time. I didn't even fire the amp up with the ones that came in it. Chinese bullshit.

 

[Floyd Eye]

Can't go wrong with an AC15C1 and I actually use it more than the Bad Cat sometimes especially with something like a RAT and SD1. Plus the they can be had for a song used and there is a 212 version available too or a head if you already have a cab.

New or used a great amp and a song used in some cases and comes with a nifty Greenback.

I like a real AC-15, British made, handwired, with Blues.

 

[Floyd Eye]

Not too many amps are on par with that '61 Fender. Some of my favorite amps are from that era, none of which will ever be in my price range, lol.

Ones in rougher shape than mine are going for over 4k on Reverb. Well, I shouldn't say going because it's not like I'm watching them. I can tell you all the ones they have on there are 4k and up. About 15 years ago I had a guy offer me $2500 for mine and he hadn't even seen it. The only thing wrong with mine is that my dad bought it in the early 70s and used kiwi to turn the tolex black. The tolex is in good condition, it's just not brown now. I spent a while with naptha and a magic eraser and it will come off, but it would be a lot of work and the amp isn't for sale so why bother. Also the original speaker is long gone. I didn't care for the Jensen P12 though and went with an Alnico Cream 90. It's a decision I definitely do not regret. I had a V30 in it and didn't care for it either. I have a blown Utah that was in it when I got it, but that was not the original, the old man put it in there. Fucking thing slays. Blackplates, Mullards. Nice.

 

[Rackman]

I don't have anything against PCB - about 95% of what I've played for the last 20 years is PCB. But a dealer did just throw me a crazy deal on a Cub V 40watt. So I'm about to own a PTP one. Looking forward to it.

 

[The Polish Hammer]