...you've spent the better part of the past month rehearsing with a goddamn Pod straight into the board. Seriously, fuck that noise. I neither need nor want brutile gainz or really clean cleans, and even as a "clean amp" with my pedalboard going in it sounds pretty fail.

Oddly enough, it sounds pretty decent for my occasional gig as a metal bassist. I have a bank of the whopping four tones I need (clean + compression, dirty, überfuzz, and chorus + delay for when I want to sound like Tool or Isis or The Cure) and just roll with that. Sounds fine. My guitarist in that context is using a into a 2:90 , which sounds fucking goddamn stellar. His rack is heavier than my fucking goddamn bass cab though and probably weighs about as much as I do.

ugh, I hate playing without one of my approved maps/cabs.

^ This.

I hate more than anything when someone comes up to me right before a show and is like, "CAM, YOUR CRATE MX15 IS MISSING, ALL WE HAVE IS THIS SPIDER III".
Nothing worse than that, you know how much of a gearsnobI am.

I play guitar, not amp, so the gear I play through doesn't matter too much to me. I can generally make just about any old piece of shit sound decent at worst.

That's a great thought, I just hate shit amps. I also just always have my Egnater Rebel 20 and love the tones I can get with that, so if I'm in a spot where a map shits the bed or I'm at a rehearsal studio with a map I hate

The Pod failed pretty bad at any tone I actually need. I was seriously considering micing up the Fender Champ we have in the back.

...then I wised up and just threw some JJs in the AC30. Not my favorite powertubes, but they are durable.

I'm going to my local boutiqueymapplace with my other guitarist tomorrow.

Also, I am seriously thinking, Mr. tor, about getting an Egnater Tweaker head as a backup.

I would highly recommend this. They are cheap and portable, have their own map case. I have the Rebel which has a few more tweaks but the Tweaker I would do in a heartbeat. Crap my bass player used mine at a gig where his Carvin bass head died. It's only 20 watts but he was fucking loud with it. Kept up easily with my Bug and the other guitarists DeVille.

Duly noted.

An aside: I went to the Map Store yesterday. Thusly:

1. Dr. Z Maz Jr. 18w: DNW! Gain and master dimed, it's as clean as my clean sound. The feel of the thing is very dry; it feels like a Marshall. I do not like this. It sounds nice and all, and chunks up well with an OCD (I brought my Strat, FWIW) but... Mr. Chris from Garda walks into the amp demo room and comments that he heard me on this thing from the other side of the store, and it does not "sound like you".

2. Bad Cat Hot Cat 30R. Mr. Chris warns me "this is dangerous. You will like this, you know". I know this. That's why I had them get it out for me. I'm not sure I get on with the gain channel, though whatever the footswitch does seemed to improve it quite a bit. I found it very fizzy in the top end at first. But eff that; I really could care less about the metal channel on the thing, which has a fucklot of gain, even with singles. I want the clean channel. And if they had just the clean channel- which is really an overbuilt special-needs AC30 with a 5-position selector switch for tone and a volume knob- in stock I would walk over and buy it right now. Like, from my work. Across a bridge onto a goddamn island. And carry it back.

3. Mesa Transatlantic. This one surprised us both. It's a ballsy little map, and quite loud. It seems very nicely built, as well; very sturdy. I spent most of my time on the "British" AC30ish side, though the American side is nice as well. Second best thing after the Bad Cat, which had a depth and detail to the tone that was really fabulous. Nothing else came close. The Mesa has a certain midrange thing going on that if you've spent a good amount of time with Mesa gear you will recognize. But that's not necessarily a bad thing- it had quite a bit of clarity to it, and a nice Voxy chime even through V30s. Through more appropriate speakers...

4. Orange Thunder 30. I tried this out of curiosity. Better than I expected. Actually by quite a bit. I think I'd like this better in an open-back combo, and I suspect there's a V30 in there. I do not like V30s clean. Not for what I want, anyhow. The amp itself I like. Not that I'mma walk in and drop fourteen bills on it, but it's not bad. I expected it to be murky and dark. It is not. Though I did jam some Sabbath on the gain channel.

They used to have a bunch of Bogner stuff in stock. The one guy told me inquiries on Bogner have slowed since GC started carrying 'em and they aren't seen as as much of as prestige thing these days. All they had was an Alchemist. I was disappoint. No Diezel in either. Buncha Splawn, but those are emphatically not the droids I am looking for.

Very nice. I say get the Bad Cat just for the nifty lights they have on them. (the do have the nifty light up logo right?)

How steep is that bad cat?

Also anyone nearby have Matchless?

Hot Cat 30R? New? $3k or so. I could care less about the gain channel, too.

Seriously, I just want the one dumbass channel with a volume knob and 5-position switch for a tone control.

It does have the nifty lights though.

I don't know of a Matchless dealer around these parts.

Fuck I could not spend 3k on a map. I'm too fickle on any day to stay with just one map I think. Maybe if I spent a lot of money on one map I wouldn't need to have 4 toob maps.

Didn't you used to like the Shiva a fuck lot? Any thought with getting one of them?

I have absolutely thought about getting onna them. I haven't played one in a good long while though, so as dumb as it is for me to say, I want to double-check to, y'know, make sure.

You should check out the Vox Night Train, man.
If just to satisfy my curiosity..

nor could I... That's why I'm building mine

but if you only liked the clean channel maybe you should check some of their other offerings?

Snaxo, does the Hotcat have a 5-position tone knob on the clean channel now? It used to just be a volume knob i thought?

The newer ones with reverb have the tone knob

You know, that sounds so familiar, i think i once knew it, and forgot it.

Yes. I like it.

I actually emailed Bad Cat and explained my not needing the gain channel but hearting the clean channel muchly. I will post if/when I hear back from them as to what's closest in their line.

My other guitarist is totally enabling me on this too. Bad idea. Very fucking bad idea.