2 channel gigging amp

darius

Whats good?
Looking to change up to a dual channel head. 
Needs to be:
Valve
30W ish for pub gigs with loud drummer and 2nd guitarist. 
Going into a lovely Mesa 1x12. 
Super reliable. 
Cleans not vital.
I use the amp for distortion ( not pedals). 
2nd channel to give me boosted creamy solos and general showing off. 
A decent effects loop that doesn't suck the life out of everything. 

Ive been looking around and have a few on the list to try. Not found an ideal one yet. 

monquixote

Jca50h 

digitalscream

monquixote said:

Jca50h 

For clarity, this ^^ means a Jet City JCA50H. Personally, I reckon you should also try a JCA22H (the 20W version with a more sensible effects loop).

These amps have a dirty channel and an even dirtier channel; the JCA22H also has a bit more gain available, and a slightly different voicing on the crunch channel. I've used both for years...I currently have a Victory Kraken, but frankly I'd never feel put-out if I had to use one of the Jet City amps at a gig instead.

Point is, they're not just excellent amps for the money - they're excellent amps full-stop.

monquixote

I actually marginally prefer the 22 but I was thinking of the 30 watt limitation.

Tbh it is bloody loud.

Bucket

Express 5:25 or Mark Five: 25.

darius

Yeah, when i say 30W i mean the loudness of 30W valve. Ive heard 20W amps louder than my 30W. 
I know abs nothing about Jet City, whats the short version?

PolarityMan

monquixote said:

Jca50h 

+1

uncledick

Bucket said:

Express 5:25 or Mark Five: 25.

^ ^ This.  They're quite different though, I prefer the cleans on the Express, but it's down to personal choice between the two.

ThePrettyDamned

If you decide you'd rather a cleaner clean channel, you could look for an orange rocker 30 head or combo. 

British built, excellent sounding, 30 watt, 2xel34, lots of headroom for its rating and generally one of the best sounding general rock amps I've heard. 

One con, however - no effects loop. 

Other than that, jet city custom 22 offers a higher gain lead channel than the other jet city kit and a cleaner cleaner channel, with a pedal friendly effects loop if you need it. 

digitalscream

darius said:

Yeah, when i say 30W i mean the loudness of 30W valve. Ive heard 20W amps louder than my 30W. 
I know abs nothing about Jet City, whats the short version?

Probably best to just watch...

ICBM

darius said:

I know abs nothing about Jet City, whats the short version?

Although they're now starting to move away from it a bit*, basically they're a licenced Soldano with 90% of the quality and tone for 10% of the price.

*Particularly in useful ways like having an FX loop that actually works properly .

The JCA22 is probably loud enough if you don't need a clean sound.

Beexter

Another vote for the Mesa Express 5:25+
Very, very flexible amp. It's worth downloading the manual to see what it can do - It has 2 footswitchable channels,  each with 2 different voicings, plus the choice of 3 footswitchable EQ presets for each channel and footswitchable boost and 3 power settings. 
Orange Rocker 30 is a good shout for something more simple but doesn't have an effects loop. 

JayGee

+1 for the Express 5:25

That's said I have the original model and I'm not totally convinced that the newer "+" model with all its extra bells and whistles is necessarily an improvement. It seems to have turned what was a very straightforward, no fuss, easy to use, plug in and go amp into something much more complicated, almost like a Mark Series Boogie for poor people. If you don't need all that stuff it might be worth looking out but for a decent original as on the basis of mine they're pretty much bullet proof and even the cosmetics last pretty well...

darius

So quite the extremes in budgets so far. £300 or £1600.
Anything in between?
the JCs sound good on youtube.
I was looking at the Marshall jubilee mini head (is it 2 channel?) and Victory do a couple of interesting ones...

kennedydream1980

How about a Blackstar Series One? You can pick the 2x12 Combo up for around £400-£500 second hand, or the 50 watt or 100 watt heads for a similar price.

I love mine for gigging, it covers everything I need it to for my Function/Wedding band. It's 2 channels, with 2 modes per channel. Bright Clean, Warm Clean, Crunch and Super Crunch.

robinbowes

The Traynor YCV20WR is nice (WR = Wine Red, the black one is nice too!). I moved mine on because I needed louder + cleaner (which you don't get from 2 x EL84s) but it sounded great.

professorben

Buy @digitalscream s Kraken then he can get a JetCity again and have money left over for sweets. 

ICBM

robinbowes said:

The Traynor YCV20WR is nice (WR = Wine Red, the black one is nice too!). I moved mine on because I needed louder + cleaner (which you don't get from 2 x EL84s) but it sounded great.

I miss the sound of mine too, but I sold it because it had too many issues. No way loud enough to use unmic'ed with a drummer either.

rockmonster

I had a JCA50 I thought it was rubbish! Lol!

monquixote

rockmonster said:

I had a JCA50 I thought it was rubbish! Lol!

It's a Soldano type amp so if you don't like the tighter, fizzier American type gain it probably won't be for you.

ThePrettyDamned

If you want something with lovely cleans and a nice, if slightly boring sounding, rock crunch, the Laney lh50 is a nice, mid size head that's very affordable second hand. They're probably not built as well as the jet city kit though. 

They have a sort of Marshall sound - slightly clearer cleans (definitely the best bit of the amp) that can do a nice crunch and a solid sounding drive channel that's just a bit boring sounding.