Tried a Victory Deputy today in Andertons, but preferred the Bad Cat Hot Cat

allen

I've recently been thinking that I should get a Marshall style amp to add to my stable. I'm more of a dad rock, SRV/Hendrix type of player so I thought it might be good. I've got a couple of amps that get dirty, but was thinking to go a bit more authentic.

Anyhow, quite a few Marshalls don't really float my boat so I thought I'd try the Victory Deputy as it looked like it might tick the right boxes.

Firstly, it is a pretty good amp - the different voices sound good and the boost in the max (of 3) position gets into a kind of treble boosted SRV glassy overdrive type of thing. Switch to bridge humbucker and you are into classic rock territory. 


The big downside was that the master volume was one of those super-touchy buggers, so once you have the preamp gain up high just moving the master by a millimetre goes from too quiet to too loud in an instant.

I went up to the posh part of the shop to try a guitar and they have a Bad Cat Hot Cat as their demo amp. Wow, this amp is really impressive - edge of breakup and overdrive on the 'clean channel' and then straight into 70s/80s rock on the dirty channel.



It really seemed like a great 'Marshall' to me. Now trawling the classifieds to get one.

FastEddie

Do it.
Have you tried the Cornell Plexi thingy?
If it was good enough for Gary Moore......... ;-) 

richardhomer

I tried the Victory, but I preferred the Badcat Hot Cat. All round in my home town, they tried to put me down…

thomasw88

The hotcat is phenomenal.  Been gigging one since the summer last year and it’s fantastic. Takes 
Pedals really well and very easy to dial in a great sound.  

stickyfiddle

Yeah the new Badcat stuff looks ace, though I haven't tried them myself yet. 

TTBZ

Just watched some demos of the Hot Cat, I'm a fully paid up Marshall user but that amp sounds incredible! I'm not usually a "clean channel guy" but it sounds great in the demos, nice and chimey. The 2nd channel seems like a fatter/warmer Plexi. Off to hunt for some NAM captures of one

ToneControl

I had a Hotcat, sounded lovely.
It was hard to sell, given its quality, was definitely a bargain then.
I only sold it because I prefer my Matchless DC30

If you can find one, I'd recommend trying a Matchless Independence.
I had one of those, and I'd say it was better at doing the Hot Cat thing, and had 3 channels.
Basically an EL34 matchless, I thought it sounded amazing.

allen

No reverb on that Matchless. I can't live without it - to help forgive my playing.

allen

Here's a good demo. If you like overdriven strat tones, go straight to the 15 minute mark.

HT986M2

That's interesting that you say the master volume is particularly finicky - I'd come across a couple of reviews saying it was great and of similar linearity to Friedman's.

Oh well, that's the Deputy out the window for me then

ditchboy

Where are you based? There’s one near me in the NE on Marketplace. 

allen

ditchboy said:

Where are you based? There’s one near me in the NE on Marketplace. 

Is that the combo? Thanks for the tip, but I think I need a head. My other half is understanding, but there are already 4 combo amps in the house!

allen

HT986M2 said:

That's interesting that you say the master volume is particularly finicky - I'd come across a couple of reviews saying it was great and of similar linearity to Friedman's.

Oh well, that's the Deputy out the window for me then

To be fair it was very good until I put the gain up high. 

markr76

I used to have a hotcat 30r head. The older hand wired version. I do miss that amp, should never have sold it. I thought it sounded like a mix between a Marshall and a vox ac30. But with a load more low end available. It had such a harmonically rich sound and when at band volume it was always on the verge of the most amazing musical feedback. 

Dan_Halen

I bought one of the new Bad Cats, albeit the Black Cat. I’d gone in to try something else but it was sat there so have it a whirl, loved it and took it home with me.

Really like their old amps that I’d heard/played. I vaguely recall there was quite a bit of noise when they revamped their lineup about them giving up a bit on their heritage, changing the designs, the usual grumbles about how they’re now built etc.? However, the thing sounds absolutely superb. I was kind of giving it a try with a preconceived idea that it would be shit because it’s wasn’t a ‘proper’ Bad Cat any more and was very pleasantly proved wrong. Well, it’s probably more of a distant relative to the old stuff than direct offspring but that doesn’t mean it can’t still be good.

The demos and sounds of the Hot Cat mean it’s probably more my cup of tea on paper, but the Black Cat was what was in the shop at the time. Would like a proper blast on one of those too.

TeleMaster

I'm not a huge fan of Victory's, they look great but I think that the Andertons marketing department are clouding the fact that they don't sound exceptional. I'm very interested in the Bad Cat amps and nearly bought one but went for a used Small Box.

Alex2678

TeleMaster said:

I'm not a huge fan of Victory's, they look great but I think that the Andertons marketing department are clouding the fact that they don't sound exceptional. I'm very interested in the Bad Cat amps and nearly bought one but went for a used Small Box.

I don’t think the more recent ones look great, the old sheriff 22 looked a lot better than the 25 with it’s smaller knobs, and the deputy looks like a cheap 80s bass amp with those black on black corners. IMO. 

guitargeek62

stickyfiddle said:

Yeah the new Badcat stuff looks ace, though I haven't tried them myself yet. 

How’s your one at ‘home’ volumes, Mike? Was it a Cub mk3 iirc?

rockmonster

ToneControl said:

I had a Hotcat, sounded lovely.
It was hard to sell, given its quality, was definitely a bargain then.
I only sold it because I prefer my Matchless DC30

If you can find one, I'd recommend trying a Matchless Independence.
I had one of those, and I'd say it was better at doing the Hot Cat thing, and had 3 channels.
Basically an EL34 matchless, I thought it sounded amazing.

Yes I had one of them there Independence 35’s very very nice amps! Loops are shit though!

stickyfiddle

guitargeek62 said:

stickyfiddle said:

Yeah the new Badcat stuff looks ace, though I haven't tried them myself yet. 

How’s your one at ‘home’ volumes, Mike? Was it a Cub mk3 iirc?

@guitargeek62 sorry completely missed this! Mines the Cub III 15R 

It’s good. Better at loud vols because obviously but it’s good enough and brilliant with the right preamp pedal in front of it (this is where my trusty Anarchy Gold Class comes in). 

I’m going to let mine go soon as the Carr BelRay does a better job of what I use the in for, but it’s still a great amp

guitargeek62

@stickyfiddle - iiiiiiiinteresting, let me know when you're selling up - I could be tempted if the timing's right