CATEGORY 5
made from eleven-ply Baltic birch. It is only
a tad smaller than a standard 4x12, and it’s
enough to handle almost every application. Its
Celestion G12H Heritage speakers provided a
surprisingly generous low end with depth and
control for both amps.
Plugging In
Instead of the usual “clean” and “dirty”’
channels, Cat 5’s dual-channel amps, like the
Tempest, offer two different tonal signatures,
both of which go from clean to crunch with
just the combination of amp and guitar volume knobs. Power scaling makes the overall
volume adjustable. The idea is to have two
distinct amps in one head—in this case a
JTM45-inspired channel one, and a Plexi-style
voicing for channel two. Although they’re not
completely different, they are distinct.
particular bit in too hard, audibly reducing the
dynamic range and smoothness.
Each Cat 5 amp comes with a goodie bag
that includes a vinyl cover, a full set of extra
tubes and fuses, and Analysis Plus oval speaker cables.
The Tempest
In keeping with the convention, both of our
review amps are named for storms. All of
the models except the Tempest are named
for historical storms; the Tempest, if you
remember your Shakespeare, was a magical
storm sent by Prospero to daze and confuse
his rivals.
The 45-watt, cathode-biased, dual EL34-
powered Tempest is a touch flashier than
the 1900, with a big, hurricane-shaped “ 5”
logo, vinyl covering and basketweave grille
cloth separated by diagonal silver piping, and
controls located at the top of the cabinet.
Channel one has only a volume and a single
Tone control, while channel two provides volume and 3-band EQ controls. Global foldback
reverb, power scaling, and a single on/off/
standby switch with neon indicator complete
the control set.
Using a few different test guitars, a Gibson LP
Studio with Alnico V Burstbuckers, a Gibson
LP BFG with a Zebra Burstbucker 3 in the
bridge and P- 90 in the neck, and my Fender
Contemporary Telecaster with stock pickups,
I found that channel one does the Marshall-like voicing, but somewhat softer. It has
good response and excellent definition. With
the volume up all the way, this channel has
greater clarity and presence at the top end
than channel two, as well as smoother distortion. It cuts very nicely, and can be coaxed
into giving up the ‘Beano’ tone with a good,
transparent boost.
For the final test, I used an A/B/Y box to
jumper the two channels. Yowza! The best
of both channels came through with energy
and conviction. Easily the best tone in the
box. The bridge pickup on my Tele did a terrific “icepick” tone on this setting, and the
neck pickup was all creamy blues, but with
more oomph than I’m used to hearing from it.
Like the other Cat 5 amps, the Tempest uses
high-quality components from companies
like Analysis Plus, Mercury Magnetics, SoZo,
Accutronics, etc.—you get the picture. This
amp is going to be with you for a while.
Buy If...
you’re looking for a soulful, tone-heavy amp that’s tailor made for
taking your blues on the road.
Skip If...
you’re not that into the blues…
or the road.
The back panel has some more modern amp
features, like an effects loop and a mid-boost
switch for channel 2, a line out jack with line
level control (you’ll need to run it through a
simulated speaker load before going into a
board), and footswitch control of the reverb
and boost.
Channel two seems to have more headroom,
and much more depth and body up through
the mids, with a warmer sustain. To be honest, the big, beefy cleans and creamy top end
make it a great blues amp, but channel two
wasn’t as much of a thrill ride as I’d hoped,
and the mid-boost switch didn’t seem to give
it the kick it needed. Using the two Les Pauls,
the crunch could’ve been tighter, and at high
volume there was some loss of definition in
the middle. I’m sure this wasn’t all the amp’s
fault, as it seems to prefer vintage-style pickups with lower output. The Burstbucker 3 in
Rating...
4. 5
The 1900
The 50-watt, fixed bias 1900 sports single
channel preamp with three gain stages, a
massive power supply, two overpowered
transformers, a solid state rectifier, and
extremely high voltage. It’s being billed as
an amp “on the edge”—loud and unrestrainable—but you don’t have to be completely
fearless to really like it. It’s a rockin’ amp, for
sure, but presents a more straightforward,
unassuming look than the Tempest, with just
a logo on the face, black control knobs on a
stainless steel faceplate, and separate On/Off
and Standby switches.
Ritter has described the tonal influence of
the 1900 as “Wreckish,” and the similarities
are not hard to hear, but a strict comparison
might not be wholly accurate. For one thing,
the Insanity knob allows the amp a free range
of saturation and breakup characteristics,
although calling it the “Insanity” control
seems like an embellishment.
