Bad Cat Mark Sampson Era 30 Head & 1x12 Cab - Fawn / Brown Diamond Grille

 The Interstellar Tone Traveler has a deep reverence for the builders whose names carry genuine weight in the history of guitar tone — and Mark Sampson is one of them. The legendary designer's return to Bad Cat after nearly two decades is not a reunion story, it's a statement: the Era 30 represents thirty-five years of engineering vision distilled into a single handwired point-to-point amplifier, and from the moment you power it up, the intention is unmistakable. Dressed in a custom Fawn finish with Brown Diamond grilles, this head and 1x12 cabinet pairing looks the part from across the room — classic, warm, and thoroughly purposeful, the kind of amp that tells you what it is before you plug in. The marine-grade Baltic Birch cabinetry and Pacific Transformers custom-wound transformer set are the bones of something built to last, and the convection-cooled, tube-rectified 5AR4 circuit keeps the power supply warm, alive, and breathing with the organic bloom that solid-state rectification simply cannot replicate.

 What makes the Era 30 genuinely remarkable is the pairing of its two fully independent channels — two fundamentally different preamp philosophies living in the same chassis, each voiced to its own standard of excellence. Channel one, driven by an EF86 preamp tube, delivers the three-dimensional, harmonically layered tones that made this tube design the obsession of boutique amp devotees for decades — shaped by a six-position stepped Depth control that sculpts low-end with surgical precision and a Treble control that goes further than a typical EQ. Channel two deploys a 12AX7 preamp for a tighter, punchier response with linear Bass and Treble controls that cover vintage chime through earthy, woody textures with equal authority. Both channels carry independent Gain and pre-phase inverter Volume controls for complete command over their individual character — and the included two-button footswitch lets you switch between them or combine them into something entirely its own. A Global Post-PI Master Volume, tube-buffered series effects loop, and switchable 4/8/16 ohm speaker outputs complete an amplifier designed for players who take their tone as seriously as Sampson took designing it. The matching 1x12 cabinet, loaded with a UK-made Celestion Bad Cat Custom speaker and built from voidless marine-grade Baltic Birch with a semi-open back, delivers focused, defined projection that pairs with the Era 30 head the way it was always meant to.

Format: Head 
Channels/Modes: 2 Channel (Switable/Mixable)
Channels: EF86 Channel / 12AX7 Channel 
Channel Controls: Independent Gain and Pre-Phase Inverter Volume Control Per Channel, 6-Way Deep Control and Treble (EF86 Channel) Linear Bass and Treble on (12AX7 Channel) GOlbal Post-PI Master Volume
Power Tube Type: 4x EL84
Power Amp Details: 30 Watts Handwired Point to Point, Custom Bad Cat Transformer Set by Pacific Transformers
Preamp Tubes: 3x 12AX7 & 1x EF86
Rectifier Type: 1 x 5AR4
Fan Cooled: Convection Cooled 
Effects Loop: Tube-Buffered (Series) 
Speaker Outputs: 4,8,16 Ohm Switch for Speaker Outputs
Foot Switchable Functions: Channel, Combine
Chassis Material: Aluminum
Cabinet Material: Marine Grade Baltic Birch
Dimensions: 10.5" H x 20.75" W x 10.25" D
Weight: 46.4Lbs
Accessories: Slip cover Included

Handwired Era 30 1x12 Cabinet

Speakers: UK Made Celestion Bad Cat Custom Speaker
Power Handling: 60 Watts
Back: Semi-Open Back
Cabinet Material: Voidless Marine Grade Baltic Birch
Dimensions: 19" H x 23.75" W x 10.25" D
Weight: 35.4Lbs
Finish: Fawn w Brown Diamond Grille