Badcat Unleash Review

[fauxsuper]

It's been over a year since Badcat announced these at 2012 NAMM and they've started delivery of them. Here's a link to a review of one of these used with two different amplifiers:

Badcat Unleash Review | Fauxsuper Blogs

[Rick Erickson]

So you plug your 5E3 into this thing and then the output of the solid state 100W @ 8 Ohms amp goes to the Jensen P12R? This should be good for the recone business.
If they give me a free one I'll write a great review of it though.

[fauxsuper]

So you plug your 5E3 into this thing and then the output of the solid state 100W @ 8 Ohms amp goes to the Jensen P12R? This should be good for the recone business.
If they give me a free one I'll write a great review of it though.

Did you notice that the 5E3 in the first Example has a Jensen Tornado? That's a 100 watt capable speaker. In the other example, in my living room, I do mention that I'm not feeding all of the power the unleash has into the speaker. I don't anticipate any problems.

[Steve Conner]

At this point, someone will no doubt bitch that putting a 100 watt speaker in a 5E3 will ruin the "un-Unleashed" tone, as a crusty old Jensen with a paper voice coil former barely held together with flammable nitro glue is a vital part of the mojo.

Fine. I did something similar myself, where I took an old practice amp with an 8" speaker, replaced the speaker with a high-powered PA midrange driver, and built an Unleash-type circuit right into the amp. I didn't miss the original speaker for a minute, I didn't feel that it spoiled the tone at all, and it made the amp much more versatile.

[Rick Erickson]

No I did not notice that. I'm not saying this thing isn't a good idea - it probably does what it does very well. I set a Tweed Bassman up for a band in the early 80's that went from a line output to a large SS power amp and back into the original speakers. I don't know how they kept from blowing up the speakers - maybe they did. It got mentioned in a magazine article, but I never got any credit for making it happen. I don't think most musicians will understand the danger of cranking the output of this device into their amp's original speaker(s). I'm certain Bad Cat will sell a ton of them though. Look at THD's Hotplate. Andy has sold a buttload of them, so there must be a market. Butt - this is a tech forum, not a product review forum. My first thought upon reading the "review" was that this borders on spam. Not really appropriate to post here imo. If (when) it breaks we will help you fix it....

[Steve Conner]

I think if the dude worked for Bad Cat, it would be spam, but he seems like a genuine happy customer.

[fauxsuper]

I think if the dude worked for Bad Cat, it would be spam, but he seems like a genuine happy customer.

Steve, You're right, I don't work for them in any way or capacity. I certainly didn't wish to offend anybody by posting in this forum. I am a happy customer, though.

[J M Fahey]

I think if the dude worked for Bad Cat, it would be spam, but he seems like a genuine happy customer.

If you don't, apply *now* for a Job there.
Your Review sounds similar to or better than what one of their Ad writers would produce, so, why not try?

Just curious: the amp back panel does not show *any* UL/CSA/TÜV/CS/SEMKO/whatever electrical safety compliance seal.
Is it legal to import or even sell at a shop?
Weird.

[walkman]

Will it also work well to reduce the volume from a 100 amp without having to change settings on the amp or modifying the overall tone much? Or is it best suited for smaller amps to get louder?

[fauxsuper]

Will it also work well to reduce the volume from a 100 amp without having to change settings on the amp or modifying the overall tone much? Or is it best suited for smaller amps to get louder?

I can't say from first hand experience, but there is a discussion on the gear page under "when is the Unleash coming out" were people have talked about the experience of using it as an attenuator for large amps. My experience attenuating smaller amps leads me to think it would perform in a simillar fashion with larger amps.

[Diablo]

I like the idea a lot. I am very tempted to buy one, not that I need any more gear cluttering the house.
This has the potential to change the design objectives for a lot of my future amp builds.
You no longer need a large PT and OT to drive big bottles and the speakers.
The cost, size and weight of the tube amps can be greatly reduced, and you have much more design freedom to select output tubes.