PRODUCT REVIEW
CATEGORY 5
Tempest and 1900
BY CHRIS BURGESS
Category 5 is built on a partnership between
Don Ritter and Steve Scott that began as
a way to make amplifiers and raise money
(and awareness) for charity at the same
time. The focus was first on charities providing relief for natural disaster victims (of the
Asian tsunami and hurricanes Katrina and
Rita), thus the names of the company and its
amplifiers. As it has grown, so has the scope
of both the products and the philanthropy,
which supports an expanding list of worthy
causes from Feed the Children and Voice of
the Wetlands to the “Blues in the Schools”
program, and Blue Star Connection, which
provides musical instruments to children with
life-threatening illnesses.
This is worthy of mention not only because it
exemplifies the principle that you do well by
doing right, but also because Cat 5’s amplifiers demonstrate the virtues of doing it right
from the get-go. The designs are built on the
notion that it’s the players, not the builders,
who should determine what qualities an amp
has. The touring pros and other players Ritter
and Scott set out to satisfy needed tough,
overbuilt cabinets and chassis that could
handle life on the road; they needed scalable power output to achieve the same tone
from the same amp at the right volume for
any venue; and they needed amps that would
be easily coaxed into giving up outstanding
tones. In other words, the design principle and
the philanthropic principle are really the same
principle: try to give people what they need.
Category 5 started by making waves on the
blues scene, providing backline for several
festivals (where they were often asked to sell
their amps right off the stage), and in a short
time they’ve gathered a truly impressive list of
artists. The number of signature offerings and
approved charities continues to increase. If it’s
not a signature model you’re after, there are
nine other models—including these two—to
choose from.
They also offer a variety of cabinet configurations. The one that arrived with these amps
was a large, angle front, closed back 2x12,
