Just ordered a Bad Cat Cougar 5

[ParisStarlight]

Well I am excited. I just ordered a Bad Cat Cougar 5. Debated long and hard between the Bad Cat and the AC4C1 and the BC won. It’s hard living where there isn’t many stores around to try gear so have to go mostly off what I can find online sadly. Yes, I know, it is not one of their USA made models; I’m still pretty excited for it. Planning to use it mainly to record, though I will likely use it to jam with the drummer I play with since the room we use is only about 8x8’. I have some good EL84 tubes lying around and some 12at7 tubes if I don’t like the ones it comes with. The stock vintage 30 excites me. I know people either love or hate them, but I had a 74 Twin Reverb that came with them in it and I loved their tone. Anyway, can’t wait for it to get here!

[moon]

Very nice

[Dru Edwards]

I've never heard of the Bad Cat before so I checked it out on MF. It's no longer available there but seems like a great little amp with a Vintage 30 speaker.

Where did you get it from? ... and Congrats!

[ParisStarlight]

Originally Posted by Dru Edwards

I've never heard of the Bad Cat before so I checked it out on MF. It's no longer available there but seems like a great little amp with a Vintage 30 speaker.

Where did you get it from? ... and Congrats!

They were a special run for a couple of years when Bad Cat licensed Hanser to produce some amps in China for them, the deign was still approved by them and they had some say in them. Once the licensing deal expired Bad Cat had new owners who didn’t renew it. Likely be the only “budget” amps with the brand name at this point! I started looking at the AC4 and went down the toad of online reviews, which lead me to the BC amps...their artist list made me want it more as I love a lot of their users tones (Most notably for me was Gary Louris from The Jayhawks).

I ended up snagging it off Reverb from a guy I messaged with quite extensively about it and he gave me a pretty sweet deal on it. Guitar Center has some for good prices used also!

I can’t wait for it to come and plug my Rickenbacker into it 👍

[moon]

A lot of 5W amps have small speakers. That's not necessarily a bad thing - guitar parts might end up high-passed in the mix anyways - but the larger-sized output transformers and 12" speaker on the Bad Cat should give you a much wider bandwidth compared to the average 5W combo.

That's also a reasonably efficient speaker. It may only be a 5W amp but it's going to blow your head off when you crank it up in a small room. If that's a problem, I have a solution.

If you need more gain, maybe try a treble booster like the Naga Viper. Of course there are a million different overdrives to choose from, each with their own character.

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by ParisStarlight

Well I am excited. I just ordered a Bad Cat Cougar 5. Debated long and hard between the Bad Cat and the AC4C1 and the BC won. It’s hard living where there isn’t many stores around to try gear so have to go mostly off what I can find online sadly. Yes, I know, it is not one of their USA made models; I’m still pretty excited for it. Planning to use it mainly to record, though I will likely use it to jam with the drummer I play with since the room we use is only about 8x8’. I have some good EL84 tubes lying around and some 12at7 tubes if I don’t like the ones it comes with. The stock vintage 30 excites me. I know people either love or hate them, but I had a 74 Twin Reverb that came with them in it and I loved their tone. Anyway, can’t wait for it to get here!

Cool , I have heard of them but have never played through one. Please come back after using it and report your thoughts....

[ParisStarlight]

Originally Posted by moon

A lot of 5W amps have small speakers. That's not necessarily a bad thing - guitar parts might end up high-passed in the mix anyways - but the larger-sized output transformers and 12" speaker on the Bad Cat should give you a much wider bandwidth compared to the average 5W combo.

That's also a reasonably efficient speaker. It may only be a 5W amp but it's going to blow your head off when you crank it up in a small room. If that's a problem, I have a solution.

If you need more gain, maybe try a treble booster like the Naga Viper. Of course there are a million different overdrives to choose from, each with their own character.

Thanks for the recommendation on the boost? I’ll have to check it out. My favorite thus far has been the MXR Micro Amp, but I do love trying new gear. I’ll probably miss my old Les Luis pedal now too....darn selling off gear when I had a kid and getting back into things now.

Is your too loud solution an attenuator or a iso box? I’m not too worried since I will have master and volume on this amp, my Fender Ramparte only has volume (but sounds amazing when it’s turned past 5!).

The 10” model of the AC4 still intrigued me. I honestly love a good 10” speaker on guitar. Though GC has the 10” and 12” model for the same price. I still might snag an AC4 someday if I see a green or purple on for a good price. I do think I’d avoid the 8” AC4TV though, but that’s just me.

I think the deciding factor for me was last e periwnce with Vox. I’ve owned three AC30 amps and just never had one make me yearn to play on it. I think the Bad Cat will have just a bit more low end response and tonal variation to make me like it, while retaining a Britsih flavor.

[ParisStarlight]

Originally Posted by KevWind

Cool , I have heard of them but have never played through one. Please come back after using it and report your thoughts....

I will definitely post a review after I get some time in on it. Hoping to have it by end of week! -finger crossed-

If I can I will try to record some samples, but that’s permitting time to do so.

[moon]

Originally Posted by ParisStarlight

Thanks for the recommendation on the boost

The thinking is "Voxy" amp plus treble boost is a classic sound. This particular treble booster is a bit more adjustable than some classic models.

There are about a million different OD type pedals though, each with their own flavour. With a good amp, maybe just a clean boost could work best like the Xotic RC.

Originally Posted by ParisStarlight

Is your too loud solution an attenuator or a iso box?

Reactive load & convolution cab sim. With some good IRs (Ownhammer seem to work best for me) you can get some decent sounds. Of course that assumes you've got a DAW set up where you're playing.

It's really interesting to hear the raw sound straight from the output transformer (horribly bright) and to get an idea how much a speaker driver is responsible for the final tone.

[DukeX]

Originally Posted by ParisStarlight

The 10” model of the AC4 still intrigued me. I honestly love a good 10” speaker on guitar. Though GC has the 10” and 12” model for the same price. I still might snag an AC4 someday if I see a green or purple on for a good price. I do think I’d avoid the 8” AC4TV though, but that’s just me.

Congrats on the Cougar. Never played one, but they were very popular a few years ago. I bet you are going to like it a lot.

Regarding the 10" AC4C1 you mentioned, I had one for a year or so and loved it, but the small cabinet makes it sound a little boxy. I actually have a large 10" cab with a Weber 10A125 I always played it through, and it sounded glorious.

It got me hooked on the Vox sound and I ended up trading it in toward an AC4HW1.

[ParisStarlight]

It came this past Friday. I can honestly say that my two year old son seemed as excited as me while we were opening.

It is built like a tank. The cabinet and tolex seem like they will hold up well over time. The knobs have a nice, smooth feel to how they turn. They don’t feel cheap at all. Honestly, I love the grill cloth. It Im has its own unique vibe going on.

I’ve only gotten to play it at bedroom levels so far. It sounds pleasing, but it also sounds to me like it’s goong to open up and roar the second I turn it up. It definitely does not have much clean headroom for sparkly clean sounds, but even with the gain cranked it’s not a super “heavy” gain. The tone knob actually covers a very wide range, which is great to hear. It will allow me to get close to fender and Vox tones.

My biggest complaint is the tubes are a pita to get st, which all in all is a minor complaint. They are easy to see, but need 10 screws removed to get at. I was a little sad when I got to them to see they were still the original tubes simply labeled China. I popped in a sovtek el84 I happened to have lying around, I wish I had a Groove Tube lying around. I popped some Electro Harmonix 12at7 tubes I had for the preamp tubes. It did warm the amp up to toss those in. Got rid of what I usually think is a more shrill sound of the stock tubes most amps come with bow days. I’ll order some better tubes soon (need permission from the wife ��).

I’ll be bringing it to jam with some friends today and will be able to give a report on nhlwnit sounds with some good volume behind it.

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by ParisStarlight

It came this past Friday. I can honestly say that my two year old son seemed as excited as me while we were opening.

It is built like a tank. The cabinet and tiles seem like they will hold up well over time. The knobs have a nice, smooth feel to how they turn. They don’t feel cheap at all. Honestly, I love the grill cloth. It Im has its own unique vibe going on.

I’ve only gotten to play it at bedroom levels so far. It sounds pleasing, but it also sounds to me like it’s goong to open up and roar the second I turn it up. It definitely does not have much clean headroom for sparkly clean sounds, but even with the gain cranked it’s not a super “heavy” gain. The tone knob actually covers a very wide range, which is great to hear. It will allow me to get close to fender and Vox tones.

My biggest complaint is the tubes are a pita to get st, which all in all is a minor complaint. They are easy to see, but need 10 screws removed to get at. I was a little sad when I got to them to see they were still the original tubes simply labeled China. I popped in a sovtek el84 I happened to have lying around, I wish I had a Groove Tube lying around. I popped some Electro Harmonix 12at7 tubes I had for the preamp tubes. It did warm the amp up to toss those in. Got rid of what I usually think is a more shrill sound of the stock tubes most amps come with bow days. I’ll order some better tubes soon (need permission from the wife &#128514.

I’ll be bringing it to jam with some friends today and will be able to give a report on nhlwnit sounds with some good volume behind it.

Hey great and post some photo also please. (BTW what is a "tile" ? " cabinet and tiles seem like they will hold up well over time. "

[ParisStarlight]

Originally Posted by KevWind

Hey great and post some photo also please. (BTW what is a "tile" ? " cabinet and tiles seem like they will hold up well over time. "

Darn auto correct! Tolex turned to tiles.

I’ll toss up some photos and a better review tonight!

[ParisStarlight]

Well I’m still slacking on some photos, but I did get to put it through a good workout today. All I can say is wow.

I used the amp with a bassist and drummer today. Even at 5w this thing can scream a bit. I didn’t feel I was fighting to be heard, it cut through the mix well and was loud enough for me. That said, the volume and master were both at 10. Surprisingly, with both at ten, it still just had a little bite to it in the drive and the drummer and I both felt it retained a very nice clarity to the individual notes within chord voices. I had the tone somewhere around 7 and I thought it had a very nice mix of highs and just enough low end to not sound at all “shrill” to my ears, which was why I bought it over a Vox. I mostly played the bridge pickup on my Rickenbacker, though I used the next pickup for some finger picking parts and was happy with the sounds coming out of both.

This amp definitely has a nice edge to it, without sounding heavy by Amy means. The build quality is extremely nice and the sound that comes out of it was quite pleasant to me and the friends I jammed with. For the price of the amp it has a very unique and quality variety of tones, the tone knob is quite responsive on it. I really don’t think for what the cost used you could go wrong for a 5 watt all tube combo with a Celestion Vintage 30 in it.

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by ParisStarlight

Darn auto correct! Tolex turned to tiles.

I’ll toss up some photos and a better review tonight!

Oh good I thought perhaps I really was as "out of it" as my wife keeps telling me I am