Bad Cat Unleash

[Plenum n Heather]

If you cannot quantify it's godliness in at least a decent sounding clip, then I am inclined to think even less of the product as opposed to being simply baffled. :)

SoundPure might be the only people out there that could do a correct A/B demo, but Bad Cat should invest in getting proper demo clips made instead of the rubbish they have on their their official channel.

ANY design will have its adherents. It will require more than the 'you have to buy it it understand it' to garner anything approaching interest from me.

As it is now, it smacks more of clever advertising (with precious little technical data on their site and owners manual) and religious faith.

[TheyCallMeVolume]

Well of course they can make a great clip, mic it up nice and all this other cr@p. But that would be a demo of the amp, not the Unleash. The Unleash just makes it louder, something you cannot show on a video clip. It's a transparent re-amping device, not a pedal that colors your tone or adds distortion, something that you can identify in a video clip. An a/b demo would prove this. Clip A at regular volumes would sound infinitely better than clip B that is being reamped louder, because it would overload the mic, your speakers, etc. Just as it did in the clip you're talking about.

[Toe-Knee]

What i dont get about this is.

People buy low wattage amps for low volume applications.

So they then buy this to make that low volume amp quieter to make it louder than it originally was defeating the original point.

Also the transparency thing is very doubtful. It's incredibly hard to make a power amplifier transparent. And in my experience putting a valve amp through a SS amp makes it sound solid state/digital.

However we will see. I don't see why people wouldn't just buy a multi channel 100w amp with a loop in the first place if that's what they were wanting.

[Plenum n Heather]

Well of course they can make a great clip, mic it up nice and all this other cr@p. But that would be a demo of the amp, not the Unleash. The Unleash just makes it louder, something you cannot show on a video clip. It's a transparent re-amping device, not a pedal that colors your tone or adds distortion, something that you can identify in a video clip. An a/b demo would prove this. Clip A at regular volumes would sound infinitely better than clip B that is being reamped louder, because it would overload the mic, your speakers, etc. Just as it did in the clip you're talking about.

I am less concerned with the volume difference as I am in them demonstrating the supposed transparency of this unit. A better comparison would be to match the volumes (in dBu, not SPL) to really show what this thing is capable of.

Subjectively speaking, at full tilt, 100W is twice as loud as 1W, not 100x. (Total actual increase of about 18dB)

[TheyCallMeVolume]

If you want to validate the transparency of the unit, I'd check out the demo of the Bobcat on their website. That's the best example I've seen of it so far. It has the Unleash built into it and at one point in the video they show the Unleash, and it seemed to make no difference to me.

[Plenum n Heather]

Thanks,  will check it out!

[blue]

scepticism is always good.  i hope it does do what it claims, as it could be a very useful tool in certain circumstances.  i am waiting for real world opinions of actual users though.  i'm afraid i can't afford to try it on faith at the moment :(

[TheyCallMeVolume]

scepticism is always good.  i hope it does do what it claims, as it could be a very useful tool in certain circumstances.  i am waiting for real world opinions of actual users though.  i'm afraid i can't afford to try it on faith at the moment :(

Mine's just arrived, will put up a detailed review tonight. Anything you guys want me to try specifically to answer any question you might have?

[Andrew W]

What i dont get about this is.

People buy low wattage amps for low volume applications.

So they then buy this to make that low volume amp quieter to make it louder than it originally was defeating the original point.

Also the transparency thing is very doubtful. It's incredibly hard to make a power amplifier transparent. And in my experience putting a valve amp through a SS amp makes it sound solid state/digital.

However we will see. I don't see why people wouldn't just buy a multi channel 100w amp with a loop in the first place if that's what they were wanting.

Many people love the sound of a classic Fender Champ (proper tweedy one) and it's a 5w amp. It's probably too noisy for home use, especially when cranked into happy territory and it's not going to have enough wallop at a gig. If this device does work as advertised it sounds great to me.

[Toe-Knee]

What i dont get about this is.

People buy low wattage amps for low volume applications.

So they then buy this to make that low volume amp quieter to make it louder than it originally was defeating the original point.

Also the transparency thing is very doubtful. It's incredibly hard to make a power amplifier transparent. And in my experience putting a valve amp through a SS amp makes it sound solid state/digital.

However we will see. I don't see why people wouldn't just buy a multi channel 100w amp with a loop in the first place if that's what they were wanting.

Many people love the sound of a classic Fender Champ (proper tweedy one) and it's a 5w amp. It's probably too noisy for home use, especially when cranked into happy territory and it's not going to have enough wallop at a gig. If this device does work as advertised it sounds great to me.

I see your point on the live use. I'd like to see a comparison clip of an amp mic'd properly with the unleash and then without at the same volume levels to see truly how transparent it is

[TheyCallMeVolume]

I can't get a real proper mic and setup, but I'd be happy to record it anyways like that for ya.

[TheyCallMeVolume]

So I just played it for about an hour, here are my first thoughts...

This thing does EXACTLY what I wanted it to do and sounds EXACTLY like I wanted it to sound. Transparent to a T, and does an amazing job both attenuating my 100w beast and amping my 1w. It just sounds killer, even after an hour I don't know how I fared before it.

I've already phased my OD pedal off my board and quite possibly my volume pedal, as with the volume and gain in the sweet spot I get such natural, organic crunch with singing sustain, even better than my pedal. Makes it sound like a buzzsaw in comparison. Even with my gain levels at around say a GNR type sound, rolling back on my guitar's volume cleans it up beautifully. I didn't know this was possible before today.

All in all, this is a fantastic device. Anyone thinking of getting it, get it. You will not be disappointed.

[blue]

sounds very promising.  i was almost hoping you'd say it was no good, would have saved me a few pound! :)

[blue]

i've just put a deposit on one of these.  unfortunately, they won't be landing in the UK til June, but when they do I should have one of the first to "officially" cross the Atlantic.  I'm sure a few people have bought them from US dealers

[TheyCallMeVolume]

i've just put a deposit on one of these.  unfortunately, they won't be landing in the UK til June, but when they do I should have one of the first to "officially" cross the Atlantic.  I'm sure a few people have bought them from US dealers

Congrats! You'll love it!