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Bad to the bone: bad cat black cat 30R. (Bench Test).(Illustration)
Snapshot
The Bad Cat Black Cat 30R ($3,599)--a spare-no-expense class A combo designed by ex-Matchless chief Mark Sampson--is a reverb-equipped version of the classic Matchless DC30.
When Mark Sampson and Rick Perrotta (who is now president of Royer labs) founded Matchless in 1989, their initial goal was to produce a good-sounding, class A tube amp that could withstand the rigors of the road. Their DC30 was inspired by guitarist John Jorgenson (Hellecasters, Elton John), who relied on early Vox AC30s that required constant repairs--usually performed in hotel rooms by Jorgenson with on-the-phone assistance from Sampson. The DC30, with its four EL84 output tubes and handwired circuit, put Matchless in the forefront of the boutique-amp revolution, and the company's line rapidly grew to include the EL34-powered Chieftain and 120-watt Super Chief, the 15-watt Spitfire and Tornado, and the vibrato-and-reverb-equipped Jorgenson signature model.
The Matchless saga ended in 1998, but Sampson has made a Michael Jordan-style comeback as chief designer for Bad Cat. The company is producing class A heads and combos that look a lot like the Matchless amps of yore, such as the Black Cat 30R ($3,599)--a 2x12 combo based on the DC30.
Construction
Sampson was largely responsible for bringing back post-to-post wiring (used extensively by the hifi industry in the '50s and '60s), and the 30R continues this design tradition. The oversized caps and carbon-comp resistors are soldered directly to terminal lugs (no boards are used), and all bare leads are clad in Teflon tubing.
The six preamp tubes (five 12AX7s and one EF86) and the 5AR4 rectifier are gripped in shock-resistant ceramic sockets, and--as on the DC30--a second socket is provided for use with dual 5V4 rectifiers. The four EL84s are gripped in metal/phenolic sockets that sit about an inch off the chassis on metal standoffs, in classic Matchless fashion, the wiring is bundled and hand laced for old-school neatness. Though neither Sampson nor Bad Cat construct the circuits (the operation is sub-contracted to a specialty assembly outfit), the workmanship is high quality.
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Source: HighBeam Research, Bad to the bone: bad cat black cat 30R. (Bench Test).(Illustration)