Hoffman Amplifiers Tube Amplifier Forum

Amp Stuff => Tube Amp Building - Tweaks - Repairs => Topic started by: TIMBO on April 24, 2010, 03:22:12 am

Title: Bad Cat Amps
Post by: TIMBO on April 24, 2010, 03:22:12 am

HI Guys, Was at the local music shop and looked at these amps. I cant say that i have heard of them. I took one look at the price of the mini cat (5W) and was blown away !!( $1500 australian ):huh:So when i got home i had to find out what made it tick, 1x 12ax7 1xel84. So can anyone tell me whats so great about them. I also found a schematic for mini cat 11. Thanks

Title: Re: Bad Cat Amps
Post by: Tiny_Daddy on April 24, 2010, 09:13:45 am

Sewell Amplification in Dallas used to make Wampus Cat, etc. Maybe it's one of his?

Title: Re: Bad Cat Amps
Post by: FYL on April 24, 2010, 09:24:19 am

Quote

So can anyone tell me whats so great about them.

Bad Cat was founded by James Heidrich, Mark Sampson, Rick Perrotta and others after the first Matchless went South.

Overpriced voxish bootik amps according to some, nice sounding handcrafted models for others.

Title: Re: Bad Cat Amps
Post by: Direwolf on April 24, 2010, 09:29:24 am

Here's the link to their website:

http://badcatamps.com/index2.html (http://badcatamps.com/index2.html)

I don't know much about them although I have heard of them before.

Title: Re: Bad Cat Amps
Post by: SirElwood on April 24, 2010, 10:36:13 am

Quote from: TIMBO on April 24, 2010, 03:22:12 am

HI Guys, Was at the local music shop and looked at these amps. I cant say that i have heard of them. I took one look at the price of the mini cat (5W) and was blown away !!( $1500 australian ):huh:So when i got home i had to find out what made it tick, 1x 12ax7 1xel84. So can anyone tell me whats so great about them. I also found a schematic for mini cat 11. Thanks

That 1x12AX7 and 1xEL84 is older version of minicat. New version has two 12AX7 tubes. Basicly it's matchless lightning preamp into single end EL84 power amp.

Here's my schematic for second version of minicat http://www.mia-amps.com/images/minicat2.gif I've build it and liked it.

I also have a friend who has classic cat, which is supposed to be more like tweed fenders. If I have time during next summer, I'll do a little road rip and trace that too...

Title: Re: Bad Cat Amps
Post by: TIMBO on April 24, 2010, 05:08:55 pm

Thanks SirElwood.I did find the schem for the mini cat 11 but yours has more info on it. I was deligthed to see the PT secondry voltage was 230v .I remembered the post on back to back tranys and this got me thinking of another build (leftover parts)http://www.el34world.com/Forum/index.php?topic=9167.msg82589#msg82589 When wanting to build amps in australia ,Valves ,PT and OT are very costly but at the local electronics store (www.jarcar.com.au) 240v/15v are about $10   Thanks