Jet City JCA22H

digitalscream

Well, a second-hand Soldano would obviously hold its value very well. With all the cut-price sales on Jet City gear, it wouldn't really matter how many mods you had - people would still expect to pay second-hand Jet City prices for it, as we all know.

I might be tempted to pay for the EL34 mod, but frankly...I don't see what's so wrong with the Jet City sound that you'd need to turn it into a budget Soldano

ICBM

digitalscream said:

I might be tempted to pay for the EL34 mod, but frankly...I don't see what's so wrong with the Jet City sound that you'd need to turn it into a budget Soldano

Nor me, and that's with just having come back from band practice with my guitarist's JCA50H in the room. OK, it does not sound quite as awesomely massive as his SLO - although that's also comparing 50W to 100W, and there's usually a tone difference even at the same final volume - but it really sounds very good, very close, and frankly I wouldn't spend as much as that modding it to gain that last few percent... I'd buy a second hand Hotrod if I really wanted to spend that sort of money on that sound.

Dave_Mc

Yeah mine sounds crazy good for the £250 I paid for it, aside from using better speakers (and i suppose changing tubes if i ever got round to it) I'm not sure there's much pointing in forking out tons more for slight improvements. I don't have a soldano here to compare it to, but it reminds me of the avenger I tried. It's within that "unless you had the real thing in the room to compare it to, you wouldn't notice much difference" kind of ballpark. I wanted a budget soldano and I got a budget soldano.

Drew_TNBD

I thought the overdrive on the JCA100H I had for a few days was VERY nice. Lee knows the rest o' the story

jimmyd

From the sounds of it then you could buy the head and then a second hand cab with v30s (or other decent speakers) all in for, what, £400 (ish?) and have a cracking set up.

I was thinking about a marshall dsl40c but a jca head and second hand decent cab seems to make more sense.  And obviously you can keep the cab if/when you want to get a different head...

...food for thought...

digitalscream

Drew_fx said:

I thought the overdrive on the JCA100H I had for a few days was VERY nice. Lee knows the rest o' the story

Aye...even for somebody as picky as you, it'd work nicely in a two-amp setup

jimmyd said:

From the sounds of it then you could buy the head and then a second hand cab with v30s (or other decent speakers) all in for, what, £400 (ish?) and have a cracking set up.

I was thinking about a marshall dsl40c but a jca head and second hand decent cab seems to make more sense.  And obviously you can keep the cab if/when you want to get a different head...

...food for thought...

JCA22H: £210 delivered

Harley Benton G212 Vintage: £166 delivered

Time spent removing HB logo: priceless

digitalscream

On another note, I've just discovered another delay pedal which plays nicely with Jet City effects loops, making the list (in order of cost):

Hardwire DL-8

TC Flashback

TC Nova Delay

TC Repeater

Strymon El Capistan

Strymon Brigadier

Eventide Timefactor

Strymon Timeline

I feel much better now that I've got two delays (the first two) again. Sounds absolutely epic

ICBM

digitalscream said:

jimmyd said:

I was thinking about a marshall dsl40c but a jca head and second hand decent cab seems to make more sense.  And obviously you can keep the cab if/when you want to get a different head...

...food for thought...

JCA22H: £210 delivered

Harley Benton G212 Vintage: £166 delivered

Time spent removing HB logo: priceless

That really is a great rig for under £400 brand new.

The Jet City build quality is in a different league to the modern Marshall stuff too. I'm not even sure the HB cab isn't .

ThePrettyDamned

Those harley benton cabs are amazing value. And jet city amps are incredible value, too.

I'd love a gigging type setup but really cannot justify it but if I did get one, it'd be a 6505+ combo or a jet city and harley benton. Probably the 50 watter, I almost always prefer the more powerful amps.

Course, blackstar amps are good value, too...

jimmyd

Hmmmm and what's the best speakers to pair with the head? I've always played combos so I'm completely clueless

jimmyd

...about this sort of thing. (Not sure why that's split over two messages?)

digitalscream

jimmyd said:

Hmmmm and what's the best speakers to pair with the head? I've always played combos so I'm completely clueless

As noted in many other places, my favourite combination in a 2x12" is a V30 and a G12T-75. I'd like to try the G12K-100 instead of the G12T-75 at some point, but I don't really have any particular reason to change right now.

I use that cab with both the JCA50H and the JCA22H.

digitalscream

By the way - as an open invitation, if anybody's passing by Stamford (near Peterborough), you're welcome to pop in for a cup of tea and a test drive of the Jet City amps.

As long as you're not scared of big, noisy, wolf-looking dogs of course

Dave_Mc

digitalscream said:

JCA22H: £210 delivered

Harley Benton G212 Vintage: £166 delivered

Time spent removing HB logo: priceless

Yep exactly. Or the 50 watt head (or even the 100) doesn't up the price much, either, if you need/want the extra wattage.

I like the eminence v12s with my jet city- that option would set you back a little more (get the harley benton cab with the crappy speakers (£100) and swap them, would come to more like £200 than £160), or the v30s (when broken-in) work pretty well with the jet cities, too if you're really trying to keep the price down or get the absolute best value you can.

I don't even mind the HB logo )

jimmyd

Thanks guys - appreciate the info.

gubble

OK i've taken the plunge and just ordered the JCA22H . 

It looks to the be the sound i'm after and for £200 is a great price. PLus being brand new i'll have the warranty in case anything goes wrong with it.

Out of interest what are the delivery times like from the UK importer? I need the amp for thursday (left it a bit late i know)

Also I'm a complete newbie where non reverb amps are concerned. So to add a reverb shall i go through the FX loop or direct in line? Also can i use a spare delay pedal to create a bit of a reverb effect?

Ta

Chris

digitalscream

I ordered a cab last Wednesday, and it arrived 9am Thursday.

You want your reverb in the loop (unless you're Drew). Don't forget it needs to be a line-level reverb, so a Hall of Fame or similar.

One other thing - the warranty doesn't cover valves (even if they're DOA).

gubble

That's cool about the quick delivery times. Rather excited to use it as i'm hearing nothing but good things about it. It will be gigging twice this weekend - so baptism of fire for the poor amp. Hope it's loud enough......

What do you mean about a line level reverb? I'm not very up on things like that.

digitalscream

gubble said:

That's cool about the quick delivery times. Rather excited to use it as i'm hearing nothing but good things about it. It will be gigging twice this weekend - so baptism of fire for the poor amp. Hope it's loud enough......

What do you mean about a line level reverb? I'm not very up on things like that.

The loop in Jet City amps is line level, which is a much hotter signal than instrument level. If your pedals can't handle it, you'll get a lot of nasty clipping.

gubble

Okey dokey.

I'm wondering about getting a Line 6 M5 to use for reverb plus delay or chorus in the loop.

Would this be a wise/sensible/practical choice?