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mdog114- I wanna know all about your Hot Cat 15!


Werewolf by Night

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Please, tell us all about it...

 

How does it sound? What would you compare it to?

 

How are its clean sounds? Its dirty sounds?

 

How loud is it, when you get to its "sweet-spot"?

 

Does it do well enough without any overdrive or distortion pedals?

 

Can you get "musical" feedback at livable volumes?

Ask yourself- What Would Ren and Stimpy Do?

 

~ Caevan James-Michael Miller-O'Shite ~

_ ___ _ Leprechaun, Esquire _ ___ _

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Caevan O'Shite,

 

I can't say enough about the amp.

 

I've run a small studio since 1989, so I've been exposed to many great amps. I own many different amps and guitars that are utilized at the studio by musicians.

 

I've been playing through 15-20 watt amps for the last few years and I've typically played a Tele since the mid 90's.

 

This amp has a unique design in that it's 2 channel, but you need an A/B box to switch between the channels. The clean channel only has 2 controls, volume and brilliance. The gain channel has gain, edge, level, bass, treble and master.

 

The clean channel is one of the best I've ever used. It's complex chime outshines every other amp I own. Although I no longer own it, it sounds similar to a Vox AC30TB. The class A design with EL84's puts it right in that league.

 

I have a Reverend Drivetrain II that I've used in front of the clean and it crunches-up nice. I'm not much of a death-metal guy, so I haven't tried the "V" eq'd distortion sound yet. I've only had the thing for a couple of weeks and haven't logged a ton of time on it.

 

The gain channel is worth the price of admission alone. I'm not completely sure what each control does because it's not clearly stated in the manual, they use desciptive terms like creamy and buttery instead of telling you exactly what the control does. I don't mind, but I'm a bit of a tech-head, so it would be nice to know exactly (if anyone knows, please pipe-in).

 

The level seems to boost the power-amp distortion, even-order harmonics. The edge seems to add that buzz you get with recto's. Gain seems to be what it should be, but with these other 2 controls you can tailor the sound alot more that your typical gain/master controls. The bass and treble controls are the most inter-active I've used.

 

I don't have any problem with the controls on the clean channel, but after seeing how incredible they are, it would have been cool if you had another set for the clean channel.

 

The amp is LOUD!!!!! Class A amps always seem louder than equally sized hybrid designs, but DAMN!

 

I had been using a Fender Blues Jr for the last couple of years after retiring my 65' Blackface Bandmaster to the studio. This amp seems to have the same headroom and loudness as the BM.

 

I know that the above cannot be true, but I percieve it to be. I sit in with a few different local players about twice a month and I brought the amp to the last gig. Everyone was impressed with the sound of the amp.

 

All you need for a full palate of sound is the A/B box. Since I have the outboard gear, I've been more of an guitar>amp guy and have never been a big reverb guy (no-verb on amp).

 

The Tele is a Warmoth Thinline with a Padouk neck/ebony FB. I have big hands, so I got a 1.75" width@nut neck. I used the vintage flat-mount bridge that has a 2.25" string-spacing and that has produced a little wider spacing between strings. I used Dimarzio F-Spaced PUs for both the neck and bridge (Air Norton/neck-ToneZone/bridge).

 

The PUs are wired series parallel on push/pulls and there's a 3-way PU selector switch. I used 500k pots with a .1 picofarad tone cap, so I can almost wah-wah it with the tone knob. There's a treble bleed cap on the volume to retain the clarity as you lower the volume.

 

I've been playing jazz standards with some guys and although it won't replace my jazz-box, the guitar works well in that setting.

 

I played a AS Fender Tele for most of the 90's until I got my Tom Anderson Hollow-T. The TA was my #1 for about 3 years until I built my Warmoth. Don't get me wrong, the TA is still my #1 for most things, but the Strat and Tele are really growing on me. The wider neck is a nice option.

 

Here's a pic of the Strat

http://img11.photobucket.com/albums/v35/mdog114/Surf_Green_002.jpg

 

I've assembled 3 Warmoth guitars over the last 2 years

"Never back-up more than you have to"

REAL MEN PLAY TELECASTERS!

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Thanks for the input!

 

I've gotta broaden my amp horizons, so's t' speak, in the near future, and I want to compile a list of prime candidates for first-chair...

 

:cool: Cool Warmoth projects! :thu: I've got a Warmoth Strat-styled neck on one guitar, bird's-eye maple "finished" with tung-oil and Butcher's Wax with a Brazillian rosewood fretboard and the compound 10"-16" radius. I plan on building some Tele, Strat, and somewhat LP-Jr. styled variations using Warmoth necks and bods in the not-so-distant-future, as well.

Ask yourself- What Would Ren and Stimpy Do?

 

~ Caevan James-Michael Miller-O'Shite ~

_ ___ _ Leprechaun, Esquire _ ___ _

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Aaaah... feedback manipulation used to be my lifeblood; it's the one thing that I really miss with my modeler-feeding-Lexicon Vortex-and-headphones rig. Good to know, thanks!

Ask yourself- What Would Ren and Stimpy Do?

 

~ Caevan James-Michael Miller-O'Shite ~

_ ___ _ Leprechaun, Esquire _ ___ _

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