Hi guys, I don't want to hijack the other thread on small 30w tube heads, so will start another if that's ok. But feels free to delete mods if it's out of order!
I'm not gigging at the moment, but on the look out for a tube head. In my gigging days, I gigged 60W, 40W, 30W and 15W tube amps, and found the sweet spot most of the time with a 15W Blues Junior and a 15W setting on an Orange Dual Terror. The Blues Junior was fine, but got lost sometimes in some of the bigger venues.
I use a Quilter solid state head at the moment for the odd gig, so going to look for a single channel tube head too, and think a 20W might just have the extra poke that I need.
A Laney Cub might do the trick, but again, it's a 15W....
The Jet City has my interest, the 20HV.
I understand people mod them, but would it not be better just saving for a "better" amp instead of having Trigger's brush?
They're so cheap? What's the catch? Are mods really necessary? A tube change I guess would be a good start. Are they just made to be modded?
Comments
Soldano Decatone
Victory Kraken
Framus Cobra
ADA MP-1 + Marshall 20/20
The only irritation, and one of the more popular targets for modding, is the effects loop on the Soldano-designed ones. The JCA50H/JCA100H have a line-level loop before the tone stack, which is really blood awkward and causes all sorts of issues unless you have the right pedals. The JCA22H has the loop after the master volume control (good) but it's line-level (not so good for some). The JCA20HV, I believe, has the same loop as the JCA22H. The Custom 22's loop is after the master volume and instrument level.
The reason they're so cheap in the UK is that they're sold direct from the distributor. There's no compromise on build quality (a few techs have commented that the build quality is higher than most amps in the sub-£1k bracket), except perhaps that the transformers are fairly close to tolerance (I've never heard of a transformer blowing on them, but it does mean that using KT88s or EL34s in the 50W and 100W amps will probably be problematic). There are upgraded transformers available, mind.
If I was going to go back to amps from my Helix, I wouldn't even think about it; Jet City are the only ones for me.
I'd love to A/B beside a CUB head etc, but don't have that luxury...
If you're after transformers, you might have to get hold of Doug; I don't think they're available in the UK, so you'll have to get them direct from the main company in the US. He's usually available on the Jet City Facebook group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/jetcityamplification/?ref=group_browse_new
The one thing I don't like about the 20HV head is the colour of the front. Looks like a potato sack!
I'd recommend just trying the amp as-is, though. You might be surprised
One tip - don't be afraid of having the presence on zero. These are bright amps, and most folk just ignore the presence altogether. The exception is when you have the depth mod, in which case the presence control becomes more usable.
Just going off the vids online, the 20HV sounds brighter, but a lot of demos with strats. I probably wouldn't use the full gain on the 20H, but seems like 6 of one, half dozen of the other....
I like just breaking up, not clean clean...
You might want to look at the Custom 22 too - the clean channel on that is better than all the others (with the possible exception of the Amelia).
The loop on the Custom is fine and I installed a Metro amps loop on the 20H, which I'm pretty sure is the same as the one factory installed on the 20HV. Both work fine with all pedals.
Don't worry too much about budgeting for valves, I have dozens and dozens of nice old British and American valves and after extensive experimentation I ended up running the stock Chinese valves in all my JC amps.
They're tough and reliable, and sound great at all volumes.
I've delved into the guts of all of mine to have a play about, but every mod I've ever done has been switchable, because I don't want to lose the excellent stock sounds.
They're well built out of proper components, there really is no catch.
Are you using the stock cabs with your amps @p90fool, any preference on speakers with the Jet City heads?