Badger 30 Overview

Quick Features

• EL 34 Powered
• 38 watts
• Power Scaling licensed from London Power
• Tuned and ported closed back cab (extremely punchy!!!)

The Badger has its very own tonality with a very broad range of sounds covering a wide spectrum of clean to overdriven tones typically not found in amps of this class. This new little beast of an amp also offers unmatched flexibility with a defeat-able Drive control (pseudo master volume), the defeat-able Power Scaling feature for great cranked amp tones at low volume levels, and a tube-buffered effects loop.

The Badger can operate in 3 distinct modes for a variety of musical situations. The first is the non-master-volume mode. When the Drive and Power knobs on the far left of the front panel are turned all the way up, they are out of the circuit. This means the Gain control on the far right becomes the volume control. The EQ section of Treble, Middle, and Bass act as normal.

This is the ultimate in simplicity like the great non-master vintage amps and ideal for playing in small clubs and venues where you can really get the power section involved in the tone you're getting. The second mode of the Badger kicks in once you bring the Drive control into the circuit. The Drive controls the amount of signal being sent into the power section, which in turn controls the volume level. The Gain knob now acts as a preamp gain control. This mode is the familiar "master volume" setting on virtually all modern guitar amps being produced out there today. The third mode engages the unique and extremely effective Power Scaling feature. In this mode, the Drive control becomes like a secondary gain control and the Power knob controls the overall volume. With careful balancing of the settings of the Drive and Power control knobs, you can get power tube overdrive from moderate to bedroom volume levels with a full transparent tone without the squashed compression artifacts of most attenuators and load boxes. With the Badger, you now have total control over your tone and volume from the clubs to churches to garage rehearsals to home recording to late-night practicing in your bedroom.

The Power Scaling feature, licensed from London Power, lowers the wattage to the power amp, allowing the power tubes to clip. The tubes run cooler and aren't running as hard compared to using the speaker load while still retaining the interaction of the tubes and speaker(s). This proprietary technology allows the output power of an audio amplifier to be dialed down from 100% to less than 1%. This requires a modification to the amplifier's power supply.
Unlike external attenuators or load boxes, which interfere with the amp-speaker interface, Power Scaling does not alter that relationship between the output tubes and the speakers. Tube life will be greatly enhanced by the Power Scale circuit as well. What you get is improved transparency, less squash, more natural and pleasing compression, and the sound of the power tubes working hard. Add the tube-buffered effects loop with a fixed level send for use with both instrument-level pedals and line-level rack effects and you've got one very versatile tone machine ready for a variety of environments and musical situations.

The all-new Badger 1x12 combo is a departure from traditional combo designs to focus utmost in reliability and sonic performance. The result is a great focused sound that is consistent no matter where you place it in the room or on the stage. With a traditional designer combo, it looks pretty and has an open back with the tubes hanging down, causing the heat to rise into the chassis. It sounds open but small and will sound different depending on where it is in the room and not very good when in the middle of an open stage. Components don't last long as a cathode biased amp runs hot. Also, the tubes rattle and they will interact too much with the speaker.

The Badger combo concept is: design the cabinet for the best possible tone, tuned and ported (closed back with front ports) to the speaker (Celestion V30) using high end analysis Linear X software program and triple checked with close mic and room mic’s to be a balanced system. Everything is tuned to sound like a big cabinet. Attaching the head to the cabinet extends the baffle and adds to the depth of tone. Another benefit is that any owner of a Badger head can slide his head chassis into the combo. This way, the amp runs cool and the cabinet is designed for optimum tone at any stage position. The added front area from the head being attached makes it sound bigger than a separate extension 1x12 cabinet. The Badger 1x12 combo is simply the ultimate in versatility, portability and great consistent tone for amps in its class!

Badger 30 Effects Loop and Power Scaling