Bad Cat Cougar Series Marketing Fail

[scottosan]

Having played several Bad Cat USA amp, aside from the Hot Cat, they really aren’t known for high gain and quite frankly appeal more to tenant pants wearing dentists and lawyers. For the import versions, I never really game them a look. I assumed they were just bland version of the lower gain offerings. Many of the clips were of people either playing through shit gear or playing genres not suited for this amp.

The amp quite frankly is a high gain beast and I think they missed the opportunity to hit that market. Like many of us I judge the gain of an amp by the number of preamp tubes. All of the websites say 12ax7s. Considering 2 channels and a tub buffered loop, you don’t have to be a math major to deduct that it doesn’t leave many gain stages.

Well, someone can’t f’ing count. There is clearly (4) 12ax7s. The clean and lead share the first gain stage. The lead channel is 4 gain stages with a plate driven tone stack. Tube buffered loop is great and the reverb has a solid state driver. The foot switch changes the channels and reverb. The mid boosts on each channel control the capacitors for the mids in the tonestack and is separate from the mid knob. You can go from scooped to grind. There’s no negative feedback circuit either. I tried a Klon set as a clean boost and it was bad ass.

 

[technomancer]

IIRC the launch of their most recent amps all went around with demos from the high gain youtubers and were advertised that way.

EDIT: I mean they even sent Ola one lol

 

[TotallyRadGuitars]

The lynx sounds great

I always am really impressed by the EF86 channel on the Cub, and I have the less fancy player series model, not one of the nicer USA handwired ones. Not a super high gain amp of course.

Impressive amps, the current owner John (spoke to him on the phone once) seems great. He has a nice collection of vintage and high gain Marshalls and seems to enjoy those heavier tones and that's influenced some of the newer designs - they aren't all Matchless-adjacent like they used to be. I think it's just a struggle to shake the assumptions with the brand name.

 

[skoora]

I had one about 10 years ago and it was a great amp for its price point. Judging from the image I think the gain is at about 10 O’Clock on this clip I did. Gibson V with 9K PAF style.

 

[DanTravis62]

I love the higher gain bad cats.


They have their own sound going that isn't trying to be boogie or marshall - I dig it.


If I had the disposable income I would absolutely grab an import cougar or lynx.


If you have the right pickups and speaker cabinet they can both sound monstrous.

 

[JackBootedThug]

Is the bad cat guy the one who designed the pro sonic? Or was that the zinky dude?

 

[skoora]

Is the bad cat guy the one who designed the pro sonic? Or was that the zinky dude?

Zinky

 

[Tone Monster]

Had a hot cat like 20 years ago. Very sweet mids. Would’ve been wonderful to blend with other amps.

 

[headlessdeadguy]

I have a Lynx. I had it listed for sale before I realized i had a bad power strip that it was plugged into. It’s a great amp. Really glad I kept it.

 

[Eazy-ESP]

I had one about 10 years ago and it was a great amp for its price point. Judging from the image I think the gain is at about 10 O’Clock on this clip I did. Gibson V with 9K PAF style.

Is this you? lol. You made one of my absolute favourite Stiletto clips. So glassy. Big fan lol.

 

[skoora]

Is this you? lol. You made one of my absolute favourite Stiletto clips. So glassy. Big fan lol.

Yes! It is I!

 

[Kelly]

Is the bad cat guy the one who designed the pro sonic? Or was that the zinky dude?

Bad Cat hired the main Synergy Amps engineer (Peter Ahrens) and revamped their line. He has since left, though

 

[NeubyWanKaneuby]

I just picked up a Lynx. Haven't had much time to mess with it, but I like it so far.

 

[ClintN667]

I have a friend in Canada who is an amp tech/builder who really dug the Lynx. I trust the guys tastes but still doesn't tempt me

 

[napalmdeath]

I hated the new Lynx 50. WAY too much gain, WAY too much bass, and neither can seem to be dialed out. And tight it was not. Didn't sound anything like they advertise. Big woofy high gain mess was my experience.

 

[skoora]

I hated the new Lynx 50. WAY too much gain, WAY too much bass, and neither can seem to be dialed out. And tight it was not. Didn't sound anything like they advertise. Big woofy high gain mess was my experience.

I’ve found that in general across the USA Badcats. High gain tones are big but ill defined and lacking midrange clarity. That's what surprised me about the Cougar 50 I used to have. It was the complete opposite. Well defined, good midrange, tight for the low strings. The Chinese amp crushed the American stuff I had tried. Now with edge of breakup and clean stuff most of the older US Badcats sound really good.

 

[scottosan]

I’ve found that in general across the USA Badcats. High gain tones are big but ill defined and lacking midrange clarity. That's what surprised me about the Cougar 50 I used to have. It was the complete opposite. Well defined, good midrange, tight for the low strings. The Chinese amp crushed the American stuff I had tried. Now with edge of breakup and clean stuff most of the older US Badcats sound really good.

A lot of people complain about too much gain on the cougar, but rolling off the guitar volume is pretty convincing mid gain tones

 

[BeZo]

Didn't Kurt Ballou use Bad Cat amps at one point? Converge was pretty high gain.

 

[Bardagh]

Their new lineup seems to have a lot of cool options in it but they’re kind of hard to keep straight. I think it’s the Jet Black that I have been real impressed by as a versatile rock amp. The Lynx has not sounded good to me - too woolly and fat for what it seems to be aiming for. The Cougar I probably overlooked entirely but now I’m curious.

 

[dead-pan]

The Lynx 50 has tons of gain and low mids. But once you deal with that the amp is incredible.