Badcat Hotcat / TC Electronic Nova Drive rig demo

[mmeyer9]

Ha - i have neither actually! My inlaws have 10 acres and no neighbors.  Grat place to dime an amp : )

[DerEchteBold]

Sounds Great!

You must have either a really big estate or very permissive neighbours ;)

[UKToneKing]

I have a 1975 vibro champ that has blown 2 tubes, the first 1 was an old RCA that had been in the amp since new, but it was on 10 when it happened, so it blew a resister, got that fixed, & orded a pair of GT6v6-c which were made in china = (:- so 2 days in it blew 1 of them, 2nd one in & on 2nd day, fingers crossed, but still sending them back after boxing day & getting them replaced with JJs, they are not the best sounding, but built like tanks, hopefully it is sorted now, as I love that amp

[UKToneKing]

great playing man, wish the sound quility was better, would have been great if U were miced up, lot's of video cameras don't have an external mic socket, I know this because I just bought a one that did have one, and it cost £500 more for that feature, makes a big difference tho, plug a sur57 inn ect -:), I should have some demos up shortly now as the wife bought me the camera for xmas, seen as that's today MERRY XMAS,

[UKToneKing]

them strat plus guitars are the business, the only thing I would change are the pickups, wish they would hve put some vintage single coils in them, I am in the process of buying one, but it is getting the lace censors boxed & replaced with some lindy fralin vintage pups

[Gregrg7]

Apart from the great tones, LET it be known, EXCELLENT PLAYING TOO!! down to the little nuances mostly ignored by guitarists!!! makes me want to practice more.

[ronnie9253]

beeeeeeeautiful tone; and me a strat disser too.

[nedocaster]

some of the best cleans i have heard.

[JustMyxu]

1:08 Make me cry! :D Gratz maan, life is to short to have bad tone, and you are definitly not wasting your time!! :D Totally badass :D

[Prestonwilliams371]

@JustMyxu This comment totally made my day today!!!! :)

[OMERTA011]

while we cry?

[Shufflekings]

Hey- Thanks for posting! I bought a Nova Drive after I saw your video. Nice playing BTW. Keep on Rocking

[soren650]

shorts and slippers... SO not rock'n'roll ;)

[jwingblues]

very good thank you, love the tone

[mmeyer9]

Stratthead - some of the graininess came in the video conversion to youtube.... In person, the dirty sound is unbelievably better. The open back makes the amp light on bass if you prefer allot of low end in your guitar tone (I actually don't). I have plugged this amp into my mesa rectifier 2X12 closed back cab, and the bass was thunderous.  The low end shook my entire house! You might really like a hotcat head into a 2X12 or 4X12 closed back cab with a clean boost in front instead of OD

[stratthead]

The tones are decent, overdrive really lacks bass, but you're outside too. It's real buzzy gain too. Specially with the pedal.

It has that "I'm a 1x12 combo" box sound to it. I've been through so many combos (Budda, Traynor, Marshall) and a lot of them have that funny boxy sound to it.

[tonemaster1]

Thx, this is the only demo of this amp I've found useful, all others are pure shred, and bad tone! you rock!

[777jordan]

very fine playing! Excellent tone!

[gus5985]

sounds really good!

[nancyl2]

Fantastical. Artist Please: show your face all the time; it is always a delight to see the artists face when they perform. This is truly an amazing share. Thank you Angel-;-) <3 <3<3 Chills still ringing through my body. Slimply a Masterful Musician. What sound and masterful playig.:-)

[guitarchris83]

somedays you gotta dance! :-)

[jeffreyclarencebrown]

great version of little wing...nice tone!

[franciserenata]

the best tone

[franciserenata]

the best tone...

[snoffess]

Insane ! Great Player and Great gear =  Ear Candy.

Thank you !

Cheers from sweden

[awesomejohnnet]

Excellent...

good going hand me tapping my foot youngblood.

[Staypissed27]

Yellow ledbetter sounds exacty the same as the original

[Aaronpodgorski]

Great demo

[VelhosNovos]

Thanks!

I am willing to buy one... But I think it is very hard to carry around. 80lbs?

lol

[stargate669]

@VelhosNovos almost as heavy as my mother-in-law after a curry

[VelhosNovos]

Man, great tone!

How many speakers does the amp have?

Do you know how much it weights?

thanks!

[mmeyer9]

@VelhosNovos Thanks man! It is a 1 x 12 combo - the speaker is badcat's version of the celestion Vintage 30 (they take v30's and break them in somehow at the factory). The amp weighs around 80 lbs, I think. It is closer to 100 lbs in the road case. It is a beast. When I bought it on ebay, it showed up in a cardboard box with no padding and all the tubes still installed. Would have been death for other amps, not a single issue with it though. These things are built like tanks!

[Gradey3]

Sounds great, especially with a strat

[speck444]

great playing and bad cat wow

[samgam69]

sounds frecking imense!

[2112primagen]

sounds fantastic dude, really top class. im looking into the hot cat 30r as well. just not sure whether or not to get combo, or head w/ matching cab. thoughts?

[mmeyer9]

Thanks! Honestly, I might go for the head if I were doing it again - mainly just for portability. The combo weighs in over 90lbs in the road case, and is bulky... I can't fit it in my car unless I lay it flat on its back in the trunk, which I don't like to do because that position is harder on the tubes in transit.

[mmeyer9]

I also think I would like 2x12's instead of the 1x12 - and the 2x12 hotcat combos seem harder to come by. I also would go for one without the fx loop - it is a poorly implemented parallel FX loop that is very hard to make sound good with modern fx processors. To even be listenable, your FX need to have a kill dry option - and even then the levels can be funky when you switch channels. The FX loop is the only downside of the amp, and it does drain some tone.

[mmeyer9]

My amp tech said mine sounded noticeably better with the FX loop taken out (he was trying to convert it to a series loop, but couldn't make the mod without substantially changing the sound of the amp due to the unusual way the loop is implemented). This video is with the stock fx loop in place, no mods. Also - good to note if you are buying a used hot cat - some of the older ones had a phase issue in the FX loop that made them completely unusable.

[mmeyer9]

Something to definitely ask about / test before you buy if you do want one with a loop. Hope this helps!

[dose160]

@mmeyer9 Hey meyer. Agreed with that. When I bought my Hot Cat I ran it through its paces before I bought it. Played for about 2 hours the first trip to the store and 1 hour the second trip. Plugged pedals into the FX loop to test it out and it sounded solid. Yes this thing is built like a tank with warheads.

[2112primagen]

thanks i think im going to go with the head and prob 2x12 cab tho im not sure i need it =p all my effects include delay and chorus pedal so i think i'll opt out of the fx loop as well.

[louisalive]

"I want to be your beast of burden!" lol, haven't heard that one in a demo before

[thricegod1288]

look at that dad apparel

[xxdagr8wythypxx]

now i'm jealous that i only own the classic cat. haha

[guitarmanbrad]

whats this amp like for volume pal (ur pretty gd too) :)

[mmeyer9]

Thanks! I would say loud as Hell : ) I think it can get just as loud as my JCM 900 50 watt (I play that through a mesa rectifier 2 X 12 cab) The low end starts to get a bit sloppy on the distortion channel with it 100% cranked though; but I've never had to crank it up more than halfway playing live... Plenty of volume for just about any situation.

[guitarmanbrad]

thanks youve been a massive help uu see im looking for an amp that has a really good clean signal with tone and little unwanted noise i would maybe turn up the gain for a few songs but i would run an mxr micro amp through it anyways for a good kick up the rear i just didnt want to buy a vox ac 30 like every1 else i wanted something a bit more edgy the ac 30 is good but too many bands have that sound !

[Michaelp78664]

Great Video mmeyer9. This video makes me proud that I own a BadCat HotCat 30.

My Strat Tones (91 Strat w/ Custom Shop p/u's) are Insane. My PRS (Custom 22 w/Dragons) brings a teardrop to your eye. I use the BlackStar HT-Dual on the front side of my clean channel to match the distortion on the "dirty"channel. The HT-Dual has a Scoop Feature that dials this pedal in.

Mr. (BadCat) James Heidrich has done the Lords Work in creating The BadCat HotCat 30.

[djkozmik]

I gotta admit thats a killer yard but besides that the cats on the prowl again....its good you took the cat out of its cage.

[searchlight31]

Dang.. listen to that bass tone tighten up. No muddy or sloppy low end and twang without the ear bleeding.

Such a sweet amp. Great playing as well~

[BLACKSYNTH]

Sweet!

i got a hotcat30R head with matching 2x12cab

Nice playing. but do you really need the Nova drive with it???

I just bought the Nova Reverb for its Gain channel.

[mmeyer9]

The hotcat is great on its own - especially for recording. My purpose for the nova drive was to get dirty sounds in front of the amp so I could use time based FX (mainly chorus and delay) live... The parallel fx loop is the only thing I don't care for on the hotcat. Actually - had I known how odd the FX loop was implemented, I would have looked for a badcat without one. My amp tech told me it had even more balls when he temp. took the whole loop out - (was trying to have it modded to serial)

[Planetgonenuts]

Excellent! Was a pleasure to watch and listen to someone that plays with soul and has Great sound!

[bikerpastor71]

great tone and I must say that your neighbors must LOVE you. I will have to look into getting a nova drive.

Great job.

[mmeyer9]

Thanks for all the great comments! At some point I'd like to do another vid with better audio - the youtube video compression added some bad sounding artifacts that aren't really present in person... peanutavalon - yes, still have the badcat and still love it! I actually think it really sings with single coils - as opposed to humbuckers... What model do you have? The gain channel does take a while to dial in, until you get the hang of the interactive bass/treble controls.

[yamitanomura]

Awesome tone and fantastic playing !!

Keep on Rocking!

[peanutavalon]

Still have your badcat?.still like it? I just got one and I'm still trying to dial it in..like it best with humbuckers.

[whi0019]

best sounding amp ever

[asianaxeman]

bad ass tone

[Ashadowtotheworld]

thats one hel of a rock n roll look, tomorrow all the kids will be wearing flip flops and shorts if they see this :D:D:D

[jingwah]

DUDE FREAKEN SICK TONE omg

[tcelectronic]

Great feel, enjoyed your playing! Thanks for posting this, enjoyed the watch and the listen :).

Best wishes,

Joey @ TC

[TheJNJSAPs]

Rightous Tone and playing!!!!!