The Watering Hole

A new amp.

I plan to sell the Roadking and get a smaller wattage Head and 2x12 cab.

Ok...The criteria is 30-50watt, MUST have a switchable boost at the least and the ideal would be 2 channel with switchable boost. MUST have an effects loop.

Budget is a max of around £2000 for both head and cab ($3000)

Candidates so far are....

Cornford Hellcat
Brunetti Wizard 6V6
Soldano SLO 50

Any others you can think of....Shout them up and I'll have a look.

The aim is to find something second hand and if that's not gonna happen, to take the funds to the London Guitar Show in June and buy at trade from there. The next few weeks will be spent trying out everythying I can get my hands on and working out/finding the best deals online etc.

Thanks in advance.

Spud.

spud — Jan 11, 2009 Budget is a max of around £2000 for both head and cab ($3000)

Holy fuck!!!  :o

(Sorry, no real advice, but that's only because few here have ever spent close to that on an amp! )

My $.02, try to find a used Badcat.  I'd get rid of my Boogie in a heartbeat for a Hot Cat 30R, Lynx, or Wildcat (though I'd lean more to a Hotcat for my personal tastes).  Everything I've heard from the is golden.  Badcat was founded by Mark Samson, the guy who founded Matchless.  Used Badcats, here in the States, run $1600-1800.  The Lynx is a little more British in flavor of all of them.  VERY dynamic and volume knob sensitive.  I posted an audio link for the Lynx when we were back at the Hole and the clip was just STUNNING!!!  

According to Badcat, there is a dealer called Class A Distribution in Exeter, Merry Olde England.

Another ya might want to check out is the Genz Benz Black Pearl.  These puppies are EL84 awesomeness!!  For the price, they sound GREAT!!  Very under-rated amp.

Of the three you've mentioned, I'd pick the Soldano.  That has a decent clean sound and lead channel.  The demos I've heard of the Cornford are good, but not to my personal  tastes.  Only clip I could find of the Brunetti was a surf track, so I'll hold off on judging it.  

Personally (just my opinion), I'd keep the Boogie over the 3 you've mentioned.   ;)

Thanks Chris.

Bad Cat just about scrapes in due to price. I remember the Genz Benz being reviewed in a magazine and know that I still have it so I'll dig that out or look it up online.

Hiwatt is another choice, The re-issue Sound City heads is another........

One of the best sounds I ever heard was a guy who dep'ed with my old band for just one night and turned up with a Vox AC30, a Strat and a Boss EQ pedal. He set the lead sound he wanted and set the Boss pedal up to cut the input gain by about 15db and eq'ed it to give what he wanted. Played all the rythmn parts with the pedal on and turned it off to give lead. When the club owner complained he was too loud...He picked the amp up and turned it to face the wall at the back of the stage!!!!

How fucking cool is that..

I suppose the thing for me is that I don't need an all singing/all dancing super loud amp anymore. I'm never going to be picked up to play the kind of gig I used to after so long out of it and nor do I have the time to commit to that kind of band.

Thats why 30-50 watts will do. At most I'm going to need 2/3 sounds that sound "WOW" rather than 10 sounds that "sounds just like...."

As I have the capitol sittng in the Mesa, I might as well spend it on a "better" class of "lesser" amp if you see what I mean.

Honestly, if you can find a Bad Cat used, I'd go that route.  I've noticed on The Gear Page that they take one HELL of a hit in depriciation when the leave the dealership floor.  Considering a new Hot Cat 30R runs $2849 new and runs $1600-1800 used on The Gear Page, I'd probably look for a used one.

Here are some clips of the Hot Cat and the Black Cat
http://www.wildwestguitars.com/media.htm

Here's the Lynx (but not the clip I was mentioning earlier, I really need to find that one)
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=851565

Here's Brad Whitford of Aerosmith picking away on a Hot Cat 30.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S10X8VqyQYE

Dirty and clean sides of the Hot Cat 30 (this is Porcupine Tree playing live; I've got this on DVD and it sounds a LOT better on home theater/DVD than the crappy computer)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i54XFyUIQ_w&feature=related

Hot Cat 15 demoed by ProGuitarshop.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwvekVdmZEQ

Other Bad Cats demoes by ProGuitarshop.com
http://www.proguitarshop.com/company.php?CompanyID=75

Cornford.....awesome.
Soldano awesome.

Bruniti.....never heard of it....so I can't say.

I'd take a Cornford over a Bad Cat though.   But that's just me.

Fenderbender — Jan 12, 2009I'd take a Cornford over a Bad Cat though.   But that's just me.

And I bet I know why..........

Answer me a question Matt, if I was to offer you, FOC, a Vox AC30 or a Marshall of equal age/equal value....Which would you choose?

I'll bet on the Marshall and when you answer yes or no, I'll tell you why and also why you would take the Cornford over the Bad Cat  :o.

Another one to add to the pot is the..........

THD Flexi 50.

The only axe ('scuse the pun) I have to grind with this is that every sound sample on the THD site sounds far too rich to my ears. Not enough top end cut through for me which concidering I HATE "toppy" amps, kinda says something.

I'd still like to find one of these babys to try out 'in the flesh' as it were. Kinda hard when there are very few UK dealers who stock them.

Check out the riveras -  venus 3 or 6 and others.

I forgot about the Venus series.  That's a good one also.

Not sure which Cornford Govan used on 'Cakes' or for that matter, Howe on 'Sound Proof', but both = yummy tone. 1 vote for the Cornfed beast here - if I had the money, it'd be on my wishlist anyway, either that or one of those "Splawn" heads, heard some stellar clips of those as well.

spud — Jan 12, 2009[quote author=Fenderbender link=1231674714/0#7 date=1231792571]I'd take a Cornford over a Bad Cat though.   But that's just me.

And I bet I know why..........

Answer me a question Matt, if I was to offer you, FOC, a Vox AC30 or a Marshall of equal age/equal value....Which would you choose?

I'll bet on the Marshall and when you answer yes or no, I'll tell you why and also why you would take the Cornford over the Bad Cat  :o.

That's a tough question for me.  There are certian things about both amps that I really like and certain things about certian models that I really hate.  

You would have to be much more specific about which Marshall and even during certain years with me.

Having said that....I've never really been a Marshall guy.  I do prefer EL34's over EL84's in general.....and while that may lead you to think I'm going to say Marshall....the fact is that I don't really have a need for a Marshall.  Toomuch amp at the moment for me.  

I do like the chimeyness of a Vox AC30....and compared tot he types fo Marshalls that I normally go for....it's a hell of a lot smaller.  Plus I could have that Alnico Blue speaker.

So I'd actually at THIS moment in time take an AC30 over X Marshall.

You really need to narrow that down for me.

I've got access to Bad Cat amps a plenty.  I'm not knocking them.  I think they are great amps.  I've once had access to a Cornford and I've heard clips.....and I was just much more happy with that amp......it's just a personal choice.

Matchless!  

Dumble! :D

(Or a Van Weelden. 8-) )

Ok Matt....Maybe I was wrong....I would have put it down the the Class A/Class AB thing between most BadCat's and Cornford. However, thinking about it, It's really only the MK50 and the new Roadhouse from Cornford that are Class AB...... :-/

Bad My...Sorry

spud — Jan 13, 2009Ok Matt....Maybe I was wrong....I would have put it down the the Class A/Class AB thing between most BadCat's and Cornford. However, thinking about it, It's really only the MK50 and the new Roadhouse from Cornford that are Class AB...... :-/

Bad My...Sorry

ell there is merit in that line of thought too.  I can't blame ya on that.  For ME.....there are certain situations where I want a Class A and there are others where I want Class AB.

What I really need os about 3 good versatile amps and then I can have it all! HAHAHAHAHAHA

DreamTheaterRules — Jan 13, 2009Matchless!  

OK....TRY and find one in the UK for under the NEW price in the US!!

I'll say this for my US based Bros.......

For a stateside made amp, what we pay in the UK (£) is normally equal to what you pay in US$. So...A £2000 amp here would cost you $2000 in the shops. Given the shite exchange rate at this time means that it's not worth me buying an amp from a US source and then importing it as I did with the Roadking. By the time I've payed import duty of 4% on the purchase price, shipped it and then payed VAT on the whole sum........You can see where I'm going.

The same sort of thing happens with UK amps sold in the states (Add shipping costs and local taxes) and a Marshall over here is cheaper than a Marshall in the US.

The knock-on effect is then felt in the second hand market where-by British amps tend to hold more of a second-hand premium in the US (depreciate less) and visa-versa.

FYI, $/£ rate when I bought the Mesa was $1.89=£1.00 hence it was worth it. At the current $1.45=£1.00 or there abouts.....IT AIN'T (Not for me anyway). :(

CraigBert — Jan 13, 2009Dumble! :D

(Or a Van Weelden. 8-) )

Now your just taking the piss!!!!!

The last Dumble I saw on Ebay had a starting price of £10,000 and the auction ended about 5 days early due to some loaded asshole adding it to he's "never to be played again" collection  :o ::).

NEVER heard of Van Weelden so I'll look them up and let you know........

Fenderbender — Jan 13, 2009[quote author=spud link=1231674714/0#16 date=1231875515]Ok Matt....Maybe I was wrong....I would have put it down the the Class A/Class AB thing between most BadCat's and Cornford. However, thinking about it, It's really only the MK50 and the new Roadhouse from Cornford that are Class AB...... :-/

Bad My...Sorry

ell there is merit in that line of thought too.  I can't blame ya on that.  For ME.....there are certain situations where I want a Class A and there are others where I want Class AB.

What I really need os about 3 good versatile amps and then I can have it all! HAHAHAHAHAHA

OR...A 3 channel amp where each channel can be switched to Class A/AB, a footswitchable boost with a seperate level control on each channel, a foot switchable effects loop and the ability to swop AND bias valves at our leasure. Of course, we'd need a foot switchable reverb with level for each channel and a half/quarter power switch and a choice of speaker outputs so you can match the set-up of the channel to right type of cab.

Sounds to me like messer's Randal/Rivera/Samson/Mr THD ought to get together and think about this. Trouble is......NO-ONE here would EVER afford the final product (even if they could all agree on how to do it) ::).

Where the fuck is Dar when you need him??? ;D