Epitome of the restless designer/tinkerer, Mark Sampson has co-founded four guitar-amplifier companies, two of which – Matchless and Bad Cat – are indelible figures in the trade whose original builds draw perpetual interest from collectors, especially the Matchless DC-30 and SC-30, which are prime examples of “boutique.”
Sampson started Bad Cat in 2000 with Rick Perrotta, James Heidrich, and Joe Allrich. His departure five years later was less than amicable, but the decades that followed saw both parties flourish.
In the run-up to this year’s winter NAMM show, Bad Cat announced it was reuniting with Sampson on a new design called the Era 30. We spoke with him just prior, as he dealt with challenges outside the shop; ping-ponging between Mason City, Iowa, and Cleveland while settling his father’s estate, he was also in regular communication with two of his adult children who were minding his L.A. home as the Pallisades Fire approached from three sides.
“They were in a tough spot,” he said. “We’ve lived through fires and I knew they could handle it, but when we talked, I heard the cracking in their voices.”
Fortunately, the fire did not reach the house.
What spurred your return to Bad Cat?
Well, John Thompson, who has owned the company since 2011, tried for awhile to get hold of me before [L.A. guitarist/producer/songwriter] Joel Whitley connected us. John offered everything I wanted if I came back, including the ability to keep working on other projects, because I love working in studios. In fact, I’m right now working on a patent for two condenser mics and I don’t want to have to set that aside or get too strung out by dealing with the business end of making amps.
I also didn’t want to be involved in the work of bringing an amp to the manufacturing level, because it’s one thing to build a prototype that works well, but it’s another to make the drawings and employ people for a production line. John and the crew at Bad Cat now are also much more in-tune with the internet and modern marketing. Getting up to speed on all that isn’t what I wanted to do again.
Anyway, John mentioned that it was about to be 25 years since Joe Allrich and I started Bad Cat, so he wondered if I’d be interested in a 25th-anniversary amp. I pondered it for a while then asked, “What do you really want? Something with one knob, five knobs, 10 knobs?” I wanted to be in sync with his thinking. He said, “You could do an updated version of the original Black Cat 30 with an active effects loop…” and they’ve named it the Mark Sampson Era 30. I built a prototype and let them take it from there. They’ve made a half a dozen and the workmanship is great; I was impressed and we’ll be demoing them at NAMM.
What is its configuration?
It has four EL84s with a 5AR4 rectifier tube, four 12AX7s, and an EF86. It’s a little different; it’s got one input jack that feeds both channels with a relay switch between them controlled with a silent footswitch that has LED channel indicators. You can also bypass the relay and feed both channels at the same time.
And the control layout?
The EF86 channel has a passive rotary Depth switch for low-frequency roll-down, and, like a tweed Fender, a high-frequency roll-down; it’s a simple Tone control. The other channel is sort of a Top Boost AC30, with Volume, Bass, Treble, and Gain. It has an active effects loop that is hardwire-bypassed, which is one of the things I insisted on and will never get away from because I like the pure sound of an amp with no pedals in the middle or in front of it. I want to just hear the amp, especially for recording; in that world, all the extras just get in the way and add noise. You’re better off tracking clean and dry and then doing whatever effects post-recording.
In terms of function, what sets it apart?
Well, each channel has its own Volume, and the channels are no longer out of phase, so you can blend and mix them to your heart’s content without worrying about phase. Also, there’s an overall Master volume so you can play it in a bedroom with each channel set to the gain and distortion you want, then set the overall volume down if you need to. Each channel Volume is pre phase inverter, and the overall Master is post phase inverter, so you can overdrive the phase inverter a bit and get shading of distortion and gain.
While working on the circuit, we eliminated a lot of the mechanical problems with EF86 tubes rattling because of how their grids are made, which is important.
Have you and John talked about other amps?
I’m working on others for him based on existing models that just didn’t sound amazing to me, but there are no firm plans.
What does your ear want to hear that most amps don’t offer?
Well, I always want to hear as much harmonic content as possible and a pure, clean tone that adds space around the note. On top of that, it’s got to sound good whether it’s really clean or well-distorted.
There’s a lot of listening and some compromising when I’m developing an amp. I spend days at my workbench, soldering iron in one hand, a guitar across my lap, just trying things in the circuit. – Ward Meeker
To read an extended version of this interivew, visit VintageGuitar.com and enter “Mark Sampson” in the search window.
This article originally appeared in VG’s March 2025 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.
