FourT6and2
Well-known member
I've had this amp for close to two years now. So, I feel like I can give it an accurate review at this point.
First, I use a really crappy Jackson Dinky guitar. I bought it uber cheap to tide me over until I decide on a long-term keeper. I pulled the volume boost thing out and I currently have an EMG 85 in the bridge and an 81 in the neck.
I plug straight into the amp. Sometimes I'll use a BOSS DD-20 in the loop (more on that later).
Anyway, I have an early run of this amp with a matching, open-back 2x12 with Bad Cat Celestion Vintage 30's.
Clean Channel:
Basically, it's just volume (non master), 5 way tone switch, brightness, and reverb. No bass, no treble, no mid. It sounds great. What more can I say, really? With the tube rectifier, it adds a little squish and a hint of added upper harmonics underneath the notes. Reverb sounds pretty good. It's quite lush and useable at any level. This amp can get LOUD though, on this channel. It won't break up, either; stays clean all the way. I have yet to try a boost or drive pedal in front, though. This channel reminds me of a Matchless or a darker, less sweet AC-30.
Gain Channel:
OK, this thing is odd. It's not like any other amp I've used. I wouldn't say the EQ is active, but it is interactive with itself, if that makes sense. The sweep of some of the knobs is not linear and their effect changes in relation to how other knobs are set. It's a little confusing unless you've worked with the amp for a few months.
Gain goes from clean to slight breakup, to crunch, to hard rock, to progressive, to heavy metal.
Edge control changes the amount of bite/sizzle the gain has. Turned up past 2:00 or so with a good amount of gain reminds me of the character and smoothness of an SLO. Turned down, there is no bite or sizzle; takes on the character of a Marshall.
Volume knob controls how the preamp feeds the poweramp. Turn it up all the way for a heavy, modern sound. Keep it at or below noon, even with gain high, for a nice crunch sound that has more deffinition and growl while still maintaining the feeling of a low-gain crunch.
Bass knob controls just that...bass...up until 4:00 or so, when there is a distinctive mid-cut feature. The bass becomes heavy and the mids drop out almost completely. Instant scoopage. If you turn the bass up all the way and then back off until you hear the mids cut back in, you get a nice scooped tone with a mean growl underneath (especially with the mid switch at the + position)
Mid switch: - o + positions. This switch is more than just a mid cut. It changes the voicing of the amp. - emphasizes low mids, o is neutral, and + adds a shit load of mids and harmonics leap out of the amp with a throaty growl. I tend to keep it in the + position because the EMG's and my Jackson guitar sound like poop without this.
Treble is weird. Between 10:00 and 12:00 the amp has a nice throaty growl and retains a good amount of mids with a fairly low presence. After 12:00 the mids start to drop out and you get more sizzle and presence, I think of modern metal.
Brightness adds even more sizzle and can get a bit fizzy. I keep it at 9:00 or so.
Reverb only works for clean channel, but because the amp was designed poorly, if the knob is above 0 on the gain channel it will affect the tone. It will make the amp sound thin and buzzy, like the power tubes are going bad. So, you have to keep the reverb OFF if you want to use both channels (making the channel linking feature moot).
Master knob is ok. There is a sudden jump from off (you can still hear the preamp through the speakers, by the way, if the master is off) to about 25% full volume. For the best tone, I generally run the master at 10:30-11:00. Anything over that and it will overdrive the power amp and speaker cab too much to get any type of useable sound, unless you run the gain low and are going for a classic rock/power amp distortion.
Tube rectifier on modern, high-gain settings sounds amazing. Pinch harmonics are better than with the SS recitifier and feedback is controllable and pleasant.
Tight palm-muted riffage like Killswitch Engage stuff is not really possible with this amp. It's too squishy and the attack/response/tracking isn't fast enough. But, it's a Class A amp at 30 watts, so that might be it. With the 100 watt version, it might be possible.
The loop is serial with send/return knobs. The loop sucks. It changes the tone of the amp and how the preamp/poweramp interact depending on how you set the knobs. I still haven't found the best way to use the loop because of this. It sometimes can dial out some of the fizzy/buzzyness of some of the higher-gain settings but, you get a jump in volume and a loss of tightness in return. So, you give up something to gain something.
All in all, it's a great amp for cleans, low-gain, and mid to high-gain. For heavy sounds it's ok. It has it's own thing going on. But, the overall design of the amp is poor (I think Mark Sampson did redesign it). I'll probably keep it. But, I am going to get another amp for high gain (Diezel, most likely). I think the Bogner Shiva EL34 Rerverb is a close competitor to the Hot Cat and I have contemplated selling it to get a Shiva. But, haven't made up my mind yet.
If anybody has any questions about the amp, feel free.
First, I use a really crappy Jackson Dinky guitar. I bought it uber cheap to tide me over until I decide on a long-term keeper. I pulled the volume boost thing out and I currently have an EMG 85 in the bridge and an 81 in the neck.
I plug straight into the amp. Sometimes I'll use a BOSS DD-20 in the loop (more on that later).
Anyway, I have an early run of this amp with a matching, open-back 2x12 with Bad Cat Celestion Vintage 30's.
Clean Channel:
Basically, it's just volume (non master), 5 way tone switch, brightness, and reverb. No bass, no treble, no mid. It sounds great. What more can I say, really? With the tube rectifier, it adds a little squish and a hint of added upper harmonics underneath the notes. Reverb sounds pretty good. It's quite lush and useable at any level. This amp can get LOUD though, on this channel. It won't break up, either; stays clean all the way. I have yet to try a boost or drive pedal in front, though. This channel reminds me of a Matchless or a darker, less sweet AC-30.
Gain Channel:
OK, this thing is odd. It's not like any other amp I've used. I wouldn't say the EQ is active, but it is interactive with itself, if that makes sense. The sweep of some of the knobs is not linear and their effect changes in relation to how other knobs are set. It's a little confusing unless you've worked with the amp for a few months.
Gain goes from clean to slight breakup, to crunch, to hard rock, to progressive, to heavy metal.
Edge control changes the amount of bite/sizzle the gain has. Turned up past 2:00 or so with a good amount of gain reminds me of the character and smoothness of an SLO. Turned down, there is no bite or sizzle; takes on the character of a Marshall.
Volume knob controls how the preamp feeds the poweramp. Turn it up all the way for a heavy, modern sound. Keep it at or below noon, even with gain high, for a nice crunch sound that has more deffinition and growl while still maintaining the feeling of a low-gain crunch.
Bass knob controls just that...bass...up until 4:00 or so, when there is a distinctive mid-cut feature. The bass becomes heavy and the mids drop out almost completely. Instant scoopage. If you turn the bass up all the way and then back off until you hear the mids cut back in, you get a nice scooped tone with a mean growl underneath (especially with the mid switch at the + position)
Mid switch: - o + positions. This switch is more than just a mid cut. It changes the voicing of the amp. - emphasizes low mids, o is neutral, and + adds a shit load of mids and harmonics leap out of the amp with a throaty growl. I tend to keep it in the + position because the EMG's and my Jackson guitar sound like poop without this.
Treble is weird. Between 10:00 and 12:00 the amp has a nice throaty growl and retains a good amount of mids with a fairly low presence. After 12:00 the mids start to drop out and you get more sizzle and presence, I think of modern metal.
Brightness adds even more sizzle and can get a bit fizzy. I keep it at 9:00 or so.
Reverb only works for clean channel, but because the amp was designed poorly, if the knob is above 0 on the gain channel it will affect the tone. It will make the amp sound thin and buzzy, like the power tubes are going bad. So, you have to keep the reverb OFF if you want to use both channels (making the channel linking feature moot).
Master knob is ok. There is a sudden jump from off (you can still hear the preamp through the speakers, by the way, if the master is off) to about 25% full volume. For the best tone, I generally run the master at 10:30-11:00. Anything over that and it will overdrive the power amp and speaker cab too much to get any type of useable sound, unless you run the gain low and are going for a classic rock/power amp distortion.
Tube rectifier on modern, high-gain settings sounds amazing. Pinch harmonics are better than with the SS recitifier and feedback is controllable and pleasant.
Tight palm-muted riffage like Killswitch Engage stuff is not really possible with this amp. It's too squishy and the attack/response/tracking isn't fast enough. But, it's a Class A amp at 30 watts, so that might be it. With the 100 watt version, it might be possible.
The loop is serial with send/return knobs. The loop sucks. It changes the tone of the amp and how the preamp/poweramp interact depending on how you set the knobs. I still haven't found the best way to use the loop because of this. It sometimes can dial out some of the fizzy/buzzyness of some of the higher-gain settings but, you get a jump in volume and a loss of tightness in return. So, you give up something to gain something.
All in all, it's a great amp for cleans, low-gain, and mid to high-gain. For heavy sounds it's ok. It has it's own thing going on. But, the overall design of the amp is poor (I think Mark Sampson did redesign it). I'll probably keep it. But, I am going to get another amp for high gain (Diezel, most likely). I think the Bogner Shiva EL34 Rerverb is a close competitor to the Hot Cat and I have contemplated selling it to get a Shiva. But, haven't made up my mind yet.
If anybody has any questions about the amp, feel free.
I had one for a while and my findings were exactly as you've described. I loved the thick, complex high gain lead tones but ultimately found that amp had a high end harshness I couldn't dial out. 
Damn, shoulda just kept her 
The VHT does really well for what I was after though.