HotKitty (1.05) is nasty as hell!

I've been listening to a lot of Kurt Ballou produced bands (Converge, Cult Leader, etc.) and I know he uses Badcat amps so I thought I'd see what it's all about. Whoa, that amp is huge and cuts like hell! I will say the speaker resonant frequency sounds strange at 63hz especially with the resonance defaulting to 8.3. I raised the res. freq to 93.5hz and dropped the resonance to about 7ish and it sounds incredible. Crank the mids to almost max and play, it's insane. My new favorite amp (of the moment haha)

Thanks for the tip, I just tried it with your settings and IR's and also with a bad cat cab IR, no doubt with your settings the amp grew a pair of nasty iron balls!
Man, this is amp + IR sounds fantastic, gona try that in coming rehearsal.
 
I think the control changes from a hi cut to presence when you add negative feedback.

Yeah, I know. But I'm puzzled as to whether the model may be "wrong" because of a bad setting of the negative feedback or not. And, like I said, even with the low cut at 450Hz, there is a lot of bass there. Seems odd.

The Hot Cat I remember had this great low-mid growl to it. That's what made me want a Tele for it. It rolled off the shrillness of the bridge pickup and turned it into all the girth you'd ever want, but with the bite that you expect from a Tele. Without some pretty big tweaks, I'm not getting that out of the AFX version. Not that it doesn't sound good in some respects, just not like what I remember.
 
I've been listening to a lot of Kurt Ballou produced bands (Converge, Cult Leader, etc.) and I know he uses Badcat amps so I thought I'd see what it's all about. Whoa, that amp is huge and cuts like hell! I will say the speaker resonant frequency sounds strange at 63hz especially with the resonance defaulting to 8.3. I raised the res. freq to 93.5hz and dropped the resonance to about 7ish and it sounds incredible. Crank the mids to almost max and play, it's insane. My new favorite amp (of the moment haha)
Pretty much exactly what I do with that model (which, with the real deal, is all about cranking the mids), and it slays!
 
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Yeah, I know. But I'm puzzled as to whether the model may be "wrong" because of a bad setting of the negative feedback or not. And, like I said, even with the low cut at 450Hz, there is a lot of bass there. Seems odd.

The Hot Cat I remember had this great low-mid growl to it. That's what made me want a Tele for it. It rolled off the shrillness of the bridge pickup and turned it into all the girth you'd ever want, but with the bite that you expect from a Tele. Without some pretty big tweaks, I'm not getting that out of the AFX version. Not that it doesn't sound good in some respects, just not like what I remember.
Hmm, I wouldn't be able to comment having never played the real deal but is there any possibility there are discrepancies between models? Hopefully cliff can chime in!
 
Cliff modeled a very sharp, very low-frequency peak in the speaker impedance curve, which is exactly what he measured on the real deal.
 
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Cliff modeled very sharp, very low-frequency peak in the speaker impedance curve, which exactly what he measured on the real deal.

Interesting! Mine was the Matchless-modified Celestion Vintage 30, and the only mod to it was a proprietary treatment of the cone or cone edge. Is the measurement made based on the speaker, or the output transformer?

Would you also happen to know about the 450Hz high pass filter in the power amp and the high cut/Onfb instead of a Brilliance control?
 
Interesting! Mine was the Matchless-modified Celestion Vintage 30, and the only mod to it was a proprietary treatment of the cone or cone edge. Is the measurement made based on the speaker, or the output transformer?
It models the speaker impedance, so it's based on the speaker.

Would you also happen to know about the 450Hz high pass filter in the power amp and the high cut/Onfb instead of a Brilliance control?
The Low Cut (high pass) parameter is a function of the amp, not the speaker.

"Hi Cut" is what the Presence control becomes when there's no negative feedback. Without a feedback loop, there can be no Presence or Depth circuit.
 
Interesting! Mine was the Matchless-modified Celestion Vintage 30, and the only mod to it was a proprietary treatment of the cone or cone edge. Is the measurement made based on the speaker, or the output transformer?

Would you also happen to know about the 450Hz high pass filter in the power amp and the high cut/Onfb instead of a Brilliance control?

The amp has a Hi Cut but it's labeled Brilliance. It's wired backwards so turning it CW gets brighter.
 
I'd love to see some more Badcat models, this amp has a really unique vibe. It has pummeling tight low end, it's crystal clear and still aggressive. So damn good.
 
Wow!!!! The minor tweaks you suggest, really bring a nice roar to this amp!! I played a "real" bad cat a few years back, when I was stand-in in a local band, and when I did your tweak and put in my own cabs, it instantly took me back to all the wonderful memories from that tour!! It's def gonna be my new go-to amp for overdubs! Hint, a fuzz in front really exaggerates the roar in a kool way!!
 
Wow!!!! The minor tweaks you suggest, really bring a nice roar to this amp!! I played a "real" bad cat a few years back, when I was stand-in in a local band, and when I did your tweak and put in my own cabs, it instantly took me back to all the wonderful memories from that tour!! It's def gonna be my new go-to amp for overdubs! Hint, a fuzz in front really exaggerates the roar in a kool way!!

I'll give that a shot!
 
Well, 1.06. Wow. This amp just got better. It sounds thicker and more aggressive. It's hard to describe, it's a beast, even more than before. I have instantly become a Badcat fan. I'd buy this amp tomorrow if there was a 100 watt version.
 
just updated to 1.06 and tried the model out and holy crap does it sound great. i used to be able to get the master to like....5 MAYBE before it got overly wooly and woofy. cranked it right up to 10 and it just got snarlier and snarlier, i think im love all over again hahaha. tried it with a fuzz face in the front to see how far off the edge i could push it and it was just something else man
 
Thanks for posting about this amp; I had tried this model a few times over various firmwares and it never stood out to me (which could have been due to poor IR selection on my part or a lack of effort in tweaking to get a good sound). I will echo the reviews in this thread describing tight low end and aggressive mids.

I really liked what I was hearing (and feeling) in 1.05, and I posted a recording of some noodling with it over in the "Recordings" subforum.
http://forum.fractalaudio.com/threa...st-drop-d-noodling-cleanish-and-heavy.107982/
 
What a great find! I switched the amp in my go-to high gain patch from a 5153 Red to the Hot Kitty, juiced the mids and wow what a great variation! Slightly less modern, and thicker. Thanks!
 
I had a Samson-era Hot Cat 30. First amp that made me want a Tele.

I gotta say, I'm not getting the same success with the AFX model. It feels very mid-scooped and boomy. And the boomy part surprises me, because the power amp low cut is set to 450Hz.

I It certainly worked in the same way as a presence control...treble increased as I turned it up, unlike a hi cut unless the pot was wired backward.
The amp has a Hi Cut but it's labeled Brilliance. It's wired backwards so turning it CW gets brighter.

I got something right! Somebody write down the date:
It certainly worked in the same way as a presence control...treble increased as I turned it up, unlike a hi cut unless the pot was wired backward.
 
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