KVR Audio

trimph1 · Post by **trimph1** » Tue Jan 18, 2011 10:26 pm

Because of my limited...ahern...space I was looking more at the Cub series as well as the 'Lil 15' amps...the Black Cat and Wild Cat seem to be quite fittable in here....

metalifuxx · Post by **metalifuxx** » Tue Jan 18, 2011 10:32 pm

Are there any other stores in your area that stock them? My friend and I drove 120 miles away to try out the Black Cat model that he eventually bought on that same visit. The sales guy knew that he was coming from a long distance, and he knocked $100 off plus the sales tax, so he walked out the store with it for just over $2,000. It was basically new-old stock and sat in the store for about 2 years in mint condition, virtually not played. This store is located in the semi rural mid Michigan area though, and not the bustling metro Detroit area, which has music stores everywhere.

He is very pleased with it though and have heard nothing but positive feedback about what he can get out of it. The Black Cat has two seperate input channels with different preamp tubes, and also has an switch to go from 40 watts to 20 watts. He can get the clean chimey sounds like a Vox on one channel or Fender like clean/overdrive tones on the other. It can do the high gain Matchless/Vox crunch and also sound a bit like a Marshall on the other channel. It's advisable to get an AB/Y pedal if you want to select between both channels with a foot switch.

hibidy · Post by **hibidy** » Tue Jan 18, 2011 10:35 pm

WANT!

Nope, I'll suffer through with what I have.

metalifuxx · Post by **metalifuxx** » Tue Jan 18, 2011 10:47 pm

Definitely quality amps that aren't cheap. If you have been unsatisfied trying to achieve those tones by other means, then it's definitely an investment. My friend had busted his ass through 4 years of X-Ray technician schooling and worked crazy shifts at a hospital during his intern period and first year on the job. So finally after a year of doing nothing but that (not even much free time to hang out or play guitar) and just saving money, he finally got more reasonable hours at the hospital and some weekends off, so that was his present to himself. I would easily trade/sell my Soldano head and cab for a Bad Cat combo like the Black Cat or Hot Cat model.

Uncle E · Post by **Uncle E** » Tue Jan 18, 2011 10:49 pm

metalifuxx wrote:I want to try the Hot Cat high gain model, which seems to be their most popular, and also the Lynx head.

The Hot Cat is my favorite. Oddly enough, I didn't dial any high gain tones out of it, it was the clean sustain sound - where there's no hint of breakup but it sustains like a Dual Rectifier - that got me hooked.

metalifuxx · Post by **metalifuxx** » Tue Jan 18, 2011 11:02 pm

Now my friend is getting into Brian Setzer's music, so he keeps talking about a Gretsch hollow body and a Fender Bassman. Although he mainly wants a Fender type strat with single coils, which out of his 15 guitars he has, does not have one of them. He said the Bad Cat would sound sweet with single coils because it has a nice loud bass response for. For a 2x12 combo, the Bad Cat is f'n heavy. Takes two people to move it if you don't want to screw your back up.

I was like "What!, your dad's vintage Fender Jazzmaster with the soap bar pickups that he passed down to you is not doing it..."

It's nice to have friends with G.A.S. Saves you trips to the music store, and you don't get that look from the sales guys like "Oh, it's you again...are you going to buy something this time"

metalifuxx · Post by **metalifuxx** » Tue Jan 18, 2011 11:04 pm

Uncle E wrote:
metalifuxx wrote:I want to try the Hot Cat high gain model, which seems to be their most popular, and also the Lynx head.
The Hot Cat is my favorite. Oddly enough, I didn't dial any high gain tones out of it, it was the clean sustain sound - where there's no hint of breakup but it sustains like a Dual Rectifier - that got me hooked.

Yeah, that's what I was referring to when I said it can get those cleaner smooth Fender tones as well.

trimph1 · Post by **trimph1** » Tue Jan 18, 2011 11:08 pm

I'm not so sure about whether any in Toronto has them. Gonna have to check that out, although it is about a 140-160 mile trip there then another 140-160 mile trip back...

Dean Aka Nekro · Post by **Dean Aka Nekro** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 5:31 pm

Uncle E wrote:
trimph1 wrote:I had been looking at that Bad Cat Amp for a bit now...
Which Bad Cats are you guys interested in? We're going to become a Bad Cat dealer soon so I'm curious to find out which one KvR'ers are into.

Well although i am over in the UK Eric mate, the Panther gets my vote for what its worth since it has a good gain range from clean to rather more dirt on tap and enjoys pedals infront of it but also sounds just fantastic without. Bloody expensive though and despite the size bloody loud

Dean Aka Nekro · Post by **Dean Aka Nekro** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 5:46 pm

trimph1 wrote:Because of my limited...ahern...space I was looking more at the Cub series as well as the 'Lil 15' amps...the Black Cat and Wild Cat seem to be quite fittable in here....

Even that 'Lil 15'/Cub range are f00kin loud and pricey! I still have not heard or had a chance to try the Bad Cat Preamp which were promised to cover every Bad Cat sounds/tones (obviously through a similar power stage and cabinet or it will by nature sound different). The modular-ness of a preamps is what i am most intrested in (plus saving alot of money on the hand wired power section and excellent wood work...etc.)

If you can convince the Mrs. then lucky you man

, good luck my friend!

trimph1 · Post by **trimph1** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 5:48 pm

NEKRO.MACHINE wrote:
Uncle E wrote:
trimph1 wrote:I had been looking at that Bad Cat Amp for a bit now...
Which Bad Cats are you guys interested in? We're going to become a Bad Cat dealer soon so I'm curious to find out which one KvR'ers are into.
Well although i am over in the UK Eric mate, the Panther gets my vote for what its worth since it has a good gain range from clean to rather more dirt on tap and enjoys pedals infront of it but also sounds just fantastic without. Bloody expensive though and despite the size bloody loud

I can almost sense that loudness on their website intro...

Me wants...

Oh, I did find a couple of them...one store in Milton ON..which is a bit of a jog over, and the other in Etobicoke ON....mmmmmm....

alex312 · Post by **alex312** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 6:06 pm

Hey guys -- I record music at home and felt the guy who mixes and produces some of my stuff got very nice sim tones on this song, "Dharma." Let me know what you think.

Alex

http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-54292/TS-435806.mp3

Uncle E · Post by **Uncle E** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 11:03 pm

NEKRO.MACHINE wrote:I still have not heard or had a chance to try the Bad Cat Preamp which were promised to cover every Bad Cat sounds/tones (obviously through a similar power stage and cabinet or it will by nature sound different).

I don't know too much about the preamp but the one they had open at NAMM appeared to have a full power section (phase inverter + 1 x EL84) inside. I remember seeing around 11 tubes in total!

btw, I played a Dr. Z Route 66 for the first time today and was highly underwhelmed. Of all my amps, it reminded me most of my Pro Jr. :-/

Dean Aka Nekro · Post by **Dean Aka Nekro** » Thu Jan 20, 2011 12:34 am

Uncle E wrote:
NEKRO.MACHINE wrote:I still have not heard or had a chance to try the Bad Cat Preamp which were promised to cover every Bad Cat sounds/tones (obviously through a similar power stage and cabinet or it will by nature sound different).
I don't know too much about the preamp but the one they had open at NAMM appeared to have a full power section (phase inverter + 1 x EL84) inside. I remember seeing around 11 tubes in total!

btw, I played a Dr. Z Route 66 for the first time today and was highly underwhelmed. Of all my amps, it reminded me most of my Pro Jr. :-/

Intresting Eric, 11 - possibly some power-amp section with seperate pre-amp circuits which can be switched through? that would give say 3 valves per pre-amp and the tone stack/design of each is why each one has its own character. Have to just wait and see on that one then.

The only Dr.Z i have tried myself is the MAZ which was really nice but really expensive, that area is definately more susiwong's than it is my cup of tea. Although i do appreciate the sounds, feel and subtle characteristics they offer, TwoRock, Dr.Z, Cornell, Most of Cornford's amps, Carr, Dumble-aping types like Fuchs, Matchless, Fargen...etc. and even Victoria. I do not think i would ever buy one as they do not do what i what from an amplifier. Unless i somehow got loaded and could afford something purely for its clean to mild break-up/touch sensitive compression response which is the beauty of the 'boutique' lot most of time

On another opposite note - I am pleased to hear Peavey have re-issued the 6505+ in a 1x12" 60 Watt Combo format speaking of things that i prefer, £499 RRP. That is good VFM and the only problems will be the 1x12" 'sheffield' (or 'shit'

for short) stock speaker and an uneeded spring reverb - but they are both easily sorted

So although i did have a full on 5150 mkII 100 watter once but sold it, a 60 watt 1x12 is alot more 'me' plus it will no doubt have an external cabinet output so i can feed it into a bigger cab

That news makes me happy. If they did a 60 watt head and knocked a ton of the price i would have one tomorrow, still for studio use i can see it being a good one to pickup anyway

Thanks for the info on the Bad Cat booth, all the best

Dean

trimph1 · Post by **trimph1** » Thu Jan 20, 2011 12:41 am

mmmmmmm...now that got me to thinking about my own speaker cabs....

I think I finally hate amp sims!