“If you seek complete Vox-style satisfaction without shortcomings or compromises, the Era 30 comprehensively delivers on all fronts”: Bad Cat Era 30 review

What is it?

There are countless companies producing highly usable amplifiers spanning the gamut of features and price points. Then there are a select bunch of designers who – through their uncompromising dedication to reach beyond established frontiers – have become legends. Mark Sampson, who we sadly lost this year, was one such pioneer. He leaves in his wake a dazzling legacy of sonic excellence.

With his formative beginnings repairing radios alongside his father, Mark progressed into guitar amplifier repairs and sales, gaining a particular notoriety for his deep knowledge of the Vox company’s designs.

Armed with a desire to manufacture reliable and tonally flexible AC30-style amps, he co-founded Matchless in 1989 with Rick Perotta, eventually helping launch the Bad Cat company in the late ’90s. His ethos was simple: leave no stone unturned in creating the most reliable and sonically excellent amplifiers possible.

After a period of absence from the company, Mark was commissioned by Bad Cat’s owner, John Thompson, to design a 25th anniversary model as a summation of the decades of research and innovations that both Mark and the company had amassed. The Era 30 is the result.

Clad in the same plush leather-effect vinyl for which both Matchless and Bad Cat are synonymous, this highly attractive stealth-black amplifier head features the brand’s classic back-lit logo design.

The detailing is continued with tough leather corner protectors and the matt black faceplate completes the luxury-stealth aesthetic, furnished with the kind of high-quality switch gear that operates with smooth turns and satisfyingly solid clicks.

Removing the back panel reveals an easily overlooked detail. The cup hooks holding the backplate screws – often the culprit of vinyl-tearing – are backed by two washers that prevent damage from over-tightening. Not simply a minor detail but an auspicious pointer towards the excellence we are likely to find throughout.

The point-to-point, hand-wired circuit is a thing of electronic beauty, with a component layout designed to minimise the cross-talk and over-heating issues associated with its Vox inspiration.

Years of painstaking evolution led Mark to place the EF86 valve in such a position in the chassis as to render it uncannily quiet and reliable. This was in contrast to the Vox company, who had to discontinue use of this particular valve after a short few years due to excessive noise and, in some cases, spectacular failure.

The amp offers two footswitchable channels (each representing a different period of AC30 history), revealing the reason for the Era name. Channel 1 is a vintage-voiced, EF86-based circuit circa the late ’50s. In contrast, Channel 2’s 12AX7 valves deliver the characteristics heard in Vox amps from the early ’60s onward.

This is quite simply a masterfully built amplifier, inside and out. The matching semi open-backed 1x12 cabinet supplied for the review shared the same level of quality, featuring a highly complementary custom-designed Celestion speaker.

Specs

• PRICE: $3,899/£3,399
• ORIGIN: USA
• TYPE: All valve, point-to-point, hand-wired 30 watt head
• VALVES: 3x 12AX7, 1x EF-86, 4x EL84, 1x 5AR4
• OUTPUT: 30W (Cathode Bias)
• DIMENSIONS: 640 (w) x 380 (d) x 380mm (h)
• WEIGHT (kg/lb): 14/31
• CABINET: Baltic birch ply
• CHANNELS: 2x independent, footswitchable with option to blend both channels simultaneously
• CONTROLS: Ch. 1 (EF-86): Gain, Depth, Treble, Volume. Ch. 2 (12AX7): Gain, Bass, Treble, Volume, Global Master
• FOOTSWITCH: 2-button metal footswitch (supplied) changes channels and toggles channel blend
• ADDITIONAL FEATURES: Padded slip cover with embroidered logo (included). True bypassable buffered effects loop, custom Pacific transformers
• OPTIONS: Available with black, cream or grey panel (no upcharge)
• RANGE OPTIONS: Matching Era 1x12 open-back extension cabinet w/Custom UK-made Celestion Bad Cat Speaker. Matching Era 2x12 cabinet. Black, cream or grey panel choice to match head at no upcharge
• CONTACT: Bad Cat Amps

Usability and sounds

With the supplied channel-switching and blending footswitch connected and the power engaged, smiles abound as the plexiglass logo panel illuminates. After a brief warm-up, smiles turn to giggles as the eyes of the Bad Cat flash to life with a flick of the standby switch.

A Telecaster seems an appropriate first point of reference, and with all controls set to mid position, a highly rewarding journey of discovery begins, revealing the sonic personalities of the two channels.

In Channel 1, the EF86 valve in this circuit produces a large, somewhat three-dimensional tone, simultaneously deep and bell-like. The preamp gain, teamed with the channel master offers a huge gain range from a velvety clean through to a saturated and swampy fuzz with all the stops in between worthy of a prolonged visit.

A sonic fingerprint of this channel is the subtle, almost imperceptible compression that both enhances delicate fingerpicking and de-stings hard plectrum-bashing. It jangles joyfully without harsh edges – no mean feat when faced with a Telecaster bridge pickup played with spirit!

The ability to incrementally shelve the ample bottom-end using the Depth switch allows for tuneable tightening of response and brings focus to fatter-sounding guitars such as a Les Paul. Finally, cranking the channel volume, usefully placed in a pre-phase inverter circuit position, unleashes a harmonically rich squish, perfect for heavier overdriven sounds.

Stealing ourselves away from Channel 1, the second and 12AX7-based channel has its own distinct character – less bold and deep, instead more present and punchy.

Tighter in its response, it is capable of sparkling clean tones with huge dynamic range – neither harsh nor soft – and it stays in its sweet spot throughout its entire gain range. A regular bass control seems a good choice for this channel due to its more traditional controllability.

Even at its extremes, the saturation available is the kind that suits timeless sonic tastes such as classic rock and the like and doesn’t veer into more extreme terrains, which are already more than adequately catered for by more metal-oriented amplifiers.

Just when you think all the fun has been had, the blend switch conjures up the Era 30’s finest trick. Clever engineering combines both channels in-phase to deliver ‘best of both worlds’ tones that are simply stunning.

Combining the EF86’s rich bottom with the taut attack of the 12AX7 unleashes a range of possibilities such as saturation with bell-like clarity through to punchy mids with a halo of depth and sheen. Such is the dynamic range, like us, you may be left discovering fresh sonic variations for quite some time.

The buffered effects loop effortlessly interfaces with a wide-range of effects from our Roland RE-301 tape echo to a Lexicon PCM70. Once unplugged, the loop is disengaged from the circuit so as to be sonically invisible.

Verdict

Verdict: ★★★★★

For most guitarists, dropping this kind of money on an amp is not done without considerable deliberation. There are very few purchases we can make on gear that don’t cause at least some small frisson of worry as to the worthiness of our decisions.

However, in the form of the Bad Cat Era 30 no reasons could be found for anything other than abject delight and inspiration.

Guitar World verdict: If you seek complete Vox-style satisfaction without shortcomings or compromises, the Era 30 comprehensively delivers on all fronts. A very fitting legacy for its designer.

Hands-on videos

Bad Cat

Bad Cat X Mark Sampson | The Era 30 - YouTube

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Pete Thorn

A LEGENDARY AMP REBORN! BAD CAT ERA 30 - YouTube

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Andertons

Bad Cat Era 30 Amp.... From the Legend That Designed the Matchless DC30! - YouTube

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• This article first appeared in Guitarist. Subscribe and save.