engaged the bright switch and was amazed
how immediate the pick response was. Of
course it was brighter but not in an “ice-pick”
way that so many Bright switches tend to
expose. The designer obviously did a lot of
testing to find the right combination of bright
enhancement without brittle artifacts. Fiddling
with the Treble, Mid, and Bass controls, I
couldn’t find a bad sound, even in the most
extreme settings. I literally pulled the treble
and mids out completely and found that it
pulled off the “woman tone” vibe easily, while
still retaining the utmost clarity. It felt like an
active tone circuit with extremely wide range
and interaction between the controls, but it
is in fact a passive design. A big thumbs up
on that! Now that I’d played with the controls, it was time to switch the rectifier over
to the tube setting. The 3-way toggle stops
in the center to place the amp on standby, a
thoughtful and safe addition. As soon as the
amp had switched over to the tube rectifier,
it opened up a world of VOX-like personality.
The mids changed significantly and the amp
began to chime like there was no tomorrow,
with a beautiful and wide-sounding sparkle.
Unlike some tube rectifier designs, this one
doesn’t flub out the bass at all. The Chinese
5AR4 tube is nothing special in terms of collectability, but in function it works like a charm
and sounds nothing short of fantastic.
pickups. Time and time again the Kitty Box
proved ready to take whatever instrument was
plugged in to new sonic territory, no matter if
it was clean or ultra-overdriven. It also played
nice with a variety of cabinets ranging from a
Marshall JCM800 to a Mesa 1x12” with a 100-
watt EV speaker. Mind you, this is not a modern
metal amp, but it does a mean job of covering
‘80s-style high-gain tones, and even metal from
that era and earlier. It just doesn’t allow you to
scoop that much midrange out of the tone. To
me it’s a non-issue, considering the tonal flexibility of the amp and the fact that guitars live
in the midrange zone. For clean tones, I found
that it rivaled many Fender amps I’d played,
and it easily pulled off great chicken pickin’
tones as well as spanky and funky Strat sounds.
All the while the amp remained quiet and stable with no surprises in function. And if you’re
worried that 50 watts might be too much
power for you, relax, the master volume is fantastic, and while it does sound unreal at loud
settings, it certainly holds its own when pulled
down to a whisper. No attenuator needed.
uniformly and looked a bit stretched to one
side. And while this isn’t a cosmetic issue, the
back panel is positioned quite low and might
allow enough open space to leave a tube
vulnerable to being broken from a protruding
object. Pretty unlikely—but I would’ve liked
to see the back panel a little higher for more
protection. It does certainly leave plenty of
room to keep the tubes cooled. These are
small nits that don’t affect the tone or performance of the amp, but a few small changes
could be made to bring the cosmetics in line
with the tonal perfection of the amp itself.
The devil is in the details! (I subsequently
spoke with Neal from HipKitty about our
concerns, and he informed me that they have
updated their headbox to include Marshall-style plastic corners on the bottom as well
as back of the headbox. The tolex and grille
have been tightened up to be in line with the
cosmetic specs of modern amps.)
Having enjoyed the Les Paul to the fullest (I
think I clocked in three hours on that guitar
alone), I moved on to a variety of guitars ranging from Strats to a Danelectro U2 and Baritone
to a Brian May guitar with Burns Tri-Sonic
Nits ‘n’ Picks
Though I can only find good things to say
about the tone of the Kitty Box, there were
a few cosmetic issues that stood out when
looking at the head box. On the front sides
where the angles met, there were some visible
seams in the covering that could have been
executed better. The metal corners were most
likely hammered into place and didn’t have a
super tight fit, leaving a bit of space between
them and the wood. Also, I found that the
grille cloth on the front wasn’t attached
The Final Mojo
The Hip Kitty is one tough act to follow. There
is more magic in this amp than any I can recall
playing in quite a long time. It might look
basic from the simple controls and lack of
bells and whistles, but it is a sophisticated and
complex-sounding amp that can accommodate just about any style you throw at it. The
only trick left is for me to magically materialize
some cash to pick one up for myself.
you want a magical tone machine
that can transform itself into just
about any flavor at any volume.
Buy If...
Skip If...
you have to have more channels,
switching, knobs and an FX loop.
Rating...
4. 5
ONTHEWeb
Click here to hear sound
clips of the Kitty Box in action.
HipKitty Products
Street $1750
hipkittyproducts.com
