OPERATION
If this is your first all-tube amplifier, please become familiar
with a few issues that differentiate your amp from solid-
state or hybrid amp products. Only a few precautions are
required but they will insure that you will get the most of
your new all-tube amplifier. Vacuum tubes are “old world”
thermal devices that require more attention than transis-
tors, but that’s the reason they sound so much sweeter and
more musical than integrated circuits and other solid-state
components. A little heads-up on the following points will
ensure maximum performance from your Bad Cat amp.
1. Place the amp at least 6 inches away from any wall or
obstacle to provide adequate ventilation around the amp.
Good airflow around the amp will go a long way in prevent-
ing the amp from overheating, especially the tubes. Do not
place covers, clothing, or any other materials on or in the
amp that can obstruct the free venting of the chassis to the
outside air. Trapped heat in the chassis may cause a condi-
tion known as thermal runaway. To put it simply, to warm
or cook the tubes is good, to heat-cycle or fry the tubes is
extremely dangerous and will also shorten the life of the
tubes considerably.
2. Vacuum tubes will last longer and sound more musical
when they are allowed to warm up prior to introducing an
input signal from your guitar. A full flow of electrons from
the cathode can only be achieved when the tube is heated.
This requires some time. Please allow at least one minute
of warm-up time before playing through the amp.
3. Avoid long idle periods with no input signal. The vacuum
tubes prefer to see a signal present. When taking a break
between practice sessions or in between sets of a perfor-
mance, use the standby switch or turn off the amp.
4. Avoid unverified impedance loads. In other words, do not
clip on or otherwise attach additional speakers unless you
know the system impedance. Tube amplifiers are very sen-
sitive to speaker impedance matching. This is due to the
relationship between the internal resistances of the output
transformer, the output power tubes and the load that is
required to drive them. Unbalanced loads can cause de-
structive arcing; the transformer and the tubes may actually
burn themselves out. This is not covered by our warranty.
With proper impedance matching, multiple speaker config-
urations will work fine. If you are not familiar with “Ohm’s
Law”, please consult with a dealer or a qualified amplifier
technician. Do not attempt to operate the amp if you can-
not verify system impedance after connecting the speakers.
Never operate your Bad Cat amp at 2 ohms or less.
5. Avoid unapproved “Power Soak” devices or attenuators
that are not recommended by Bad Cat as they can shorten
the life of your power tubes considerably. Attenuators burn
out tubes prematurely because they require the power
tubes to overwork continuously. Also, please note that pow-
er tubes are best replaced as a matched full set whenever
any of them fail.
Volume
Clean
Gain
1
2
Tone
Gain
Edge
Bass
Mid
Mid Boost Treble
Presence
Master
LYNX 50 FRONT PANEL
220-240 Volt
Bad Cat Amplifier Co., Inc. Made in U.S.A.
Footswitch
Channel
Switching
On
On
1
Off
Stdby
2
1/2 Amp
Speakers
LYNX 50 REAR PANEL
Bad Cat U.S.A.
Speaker
Impedance
16
8
4
H.T. Fuse
CH-1
CH-2
CH 1-2
120 Volt
AC Voltage
3 Amp
Full Power
Half Power
Send
Fx
Return
Channel 2:
Gain
The Gain knob controls the amount of distortion applied to Channel 2. Keeping
this knob low gives a bluesy, slightly gritty tone and turning the knob up gives
you a more liquid tone with great amounts of sustain. You will notice that the
gain on the Lynx is very sensitive to your guitar volume knob adjustments and
your picking attack.
Edge
The edge knob is a unique knob that deals with the crispness or definition of
your distorted tone. Turning it up adds more highs and mid-highs, giving greater
definition or edge; turning it down gives a rounder, darker tone that is perhaps
softer in color.
Bass
The Bass EQ knob has been carefully tailored to cover the critical low-end fre-
quencies in the electric guitar’s sonic range. Whether you need depth in your
sound or low-end punch, this control will allow you to dial in just the right
amount of bass frequencies.
Mid
This knob controls the frequencies in the guitar’s middle range. If a frequency
is too bright to be bass and too deep to be treble, then its mid. Turning this up
provides a thicker tone with more weight. Turning it down provides a more
scooped tone with more air.
Mid Boost
This is a unique knob that changes both the location of the mid frequency and
the amount of the frequency. The nature of this control is such that as you turn
it up, you are also gaining some treble frequencies as well. Simply put, with the
knob all the way down you are focused on low-mid frequencies as you turn the
knob up you are gradually changing to a high-mid frequency and also getting
more gain from that high-mid frequency. Turning the knob up has the effect of
adding more definition to the tone and turning the knob down has the effect of
a darker tone with more depth.
Treble
The Treble EQ knob allows you to control the amount of
high-end frequencies that determine the cutting character
of your sound. For more sparkle and high-end definition
turn this knob past noon. For a warmer and rounder sound,
turn this knob below noon in conjunction with turning up
the Bass knob.
Presence - Channel 1 - 2
The Presence knob is universal to Channel 1 and Channel
2, meaning it is always in the circuit and always affecting
the tone. The knob is appropriately named because turning
it up gives your tone more brilliance; turning it down gives
a more muted and darker tone. This is similar to a presence
knob on some other amps.
Master
This knob works for Channel 2 only. The Master controls
overall output/loudness of Channel 2.
BACK PANEL
A/C Plug
Plug your amp’s power cord in here first, then to the wall.
On/Off Switch
This switch turns the amp on or off. Please make sure that
the Standby Switch is in the Standby mode before turning
that amp on and off. This will help increase the life of the
power tubes.
Standby Switch
Leave this switch off when turning on the amp and let the
amp warm up for a full minute before turning this switch
on. It’s best to let tubes warm up before playing. Also, turn
the Standby switch to Standby when you will not be playing
for a while (for example, breaks in between sets of your
performances, etc.).
High Tension Fuse
High Tension is just another way of saying High Voltage.
Voltages at this point can be anywhere from 350-500 volts
depending on the model so it is always a good idea to make
sure the amp is “off” when installing or removing the fuse.
Do not stick anything inside the fuse holder other than a
fuse. Do not attempt to defeat the fuse with a metallic gum
wrapper or nail. This fuse is in series with the output trans-
former. Its function is to prevent collateral damage to the
amplifier in the amplifier in the even of tube failure. If you
replace the tubes and the fuse blows again, seek qualified
technical help.
Channel Switching Jack
Plug in your amps footswitch here to allow you to switch
between channel 1 and 2 and also blend channels. The
footswitch must be used to access the channel blend fea-
ture.
Full/Half Power Switch
In the up position this switch allows the use of full power of
your amp. For more headroom, full power mode is a must.
Full power mode also provides a bigger, bolder tone. The
down position of this switch is half power mode. Half power
is very useful for getting the amp to break into desirable
distortion at lower volumes for home use or use in smaller
rooms. The tone character is slightly different between the
modes and a little experimentation is worthwhile.
Front & Rear Panel Controls
LYNX SERIES
The Lynx is a Class A amp capable of modern high-gain sounds, vintage rock
tones, bluesy break-up and lush clean sounds all of which feature the distinct
Bad Cat sound signature.
Bad Cat’s unique Channel Switching with Channel Blending
The two button footswitch allows for selection of Channel 1 or Channel 2; or
additionally you can select both channels to get the channel blending tone in
which both channels are on simultaneously.
The LED to the left indicates Ch. 1. The LED tot he right indicates Ch. 2.
FRONT PANEL
Channel 1:
Volume
The first knob on the left when you face the amp’s front panel is the volume
control for the clean channel. This is the input stage where the preamp tubes
first see the guitar signal and goes through the first phase of amplification. Al-
though designated as the clean channel, you can crank up the volume and use
the guitar’s volume pot and your picking attack to get varying degrees of clean
and overdrive sounds.
Tone
This is a 5-position knob used for instant access to your favorite sounds. Turn
it counter clockwise for darker, thicker tones. Turning the knob clockwise gives
you increasing treble and bite. The 5-position switch gives you a distinct advan-
tage in being able to recreate the tone you want time after time.
