2. amps-preamps
  3. 1147296939

Broken CAT

I recently dropped my CAT SL1 Ultimate MKII and it cannot be played. I have a CAT JL2 Amplifier so I thought the CAT Pre would be a most nautural partner. Since I did not want to wait for repairs, I bought a used Lamm LL2 and was very pleasantly suprised. I'm no reviewer, but I felt that in some ways the Lamm worked perhaps as well if not better with the CAT amp - very musically engaging. So now I'm wondering what experience some of you may had with successfully using a non-CAT pre with one of the CAT amps. If it helps to know, I listen mostly to jazz and folk rock, mostly acoustical instruments and I'm using Merlin VSM-MX speakers. Thanks.
pubul57
siddh
342 posts
 
CAT JL-1's played very well with Jadis preamp.
42659
77 posts
 
Your reaction to replacing the cat ultimate is not surprising. I currently own a Cat JL2 and perfer my Jadis JPS 2 preamp as a match with my cat amplifier. I tried the Ultimate Mk II preamp with my cat amp and thought the combo lacked body and soul (to steril sounding). I did very much like the low end bass on the cat preamp but from the midrange up I felt it was not a good match with my excellent JL2. My jadis preamp is a much better match with my JL2 in my opinion and I sold my ultimate preamp.
jafox
1,348 posts
 
Do a search in the archives. A number of us CAT amp owners have reported our findings with non-CAT preamps.
More to discover