Jet City or Legacy 212?

[Jackylope]

I have had my sights set on a Soldano Jet City 20w combo for a while, I love everything about it, but a friend is looking to sell his Carvin 212 Vai Legacy. I don't gig anymore and just play at home (and by home I mean apartment lol), so 100W seems excessive, but maaaaan... that Legacy is t*ts, and would only be a little more. Thoughts?

 

[t1r12003]

Re: Jet City or Legacy 212?

I have had my sights set on a Soldano Jet City 20w combo for a while, I love everything about it, but a friend is looking to sell his Carvin 212 Vai Legacy. I don't gig anymore and just play at home (and by home I mean apartment lol), so 100W seems excessive, but maaaaan... that Legacy is t*ts, and would only be a little more. Thoughts?

I had 2 different Jet City amps and have played the Legacy. IMO both are way too loud for apartment playing. To really open up the sound of a good tube amp, the power section needs to be pushed a bit, which means high volume on both amps.

 

[devastone]

Re: Jet City or Legacy 212?

I agree with the previous post, even a JC 20W is way too loud for an apartment to get decent tone out of. I would recommend something like a Yamaha THR10 for apartment use, one of the best sounding modelers I've played. They have a 100W version, which would still sound good at apartment levels, but again, it's a lot of amp (and $) for that.

I rent a small house and a 20W tube amp is a too much in it, I use an AMT pedal preamp through an AMT TC-3 power amp into a 1-12 cabinet at home. Heck, even with that 3W power amp I never turn it up more than 1/4, I've even used that power amp running a mic'd cabinet at church. I have a ISP Stealth 180W power amp, but I rarely use it.

And yeah, especially at low volumes SS can sound as good as tube. There are some 5W tube amps out there, but even those can get pretty loud for an apartment, at that point it may depend on your neighbors ;-)

 

[Jackylope]

Re: Jet City or Legacy 212?

Hmmm... interesting. I knew the Carvin would be too much, but didn't really think about the Soldano being too much. I have a really crappy Crate G60 right now, which is 25W, but didn't really dawn on me that I use a programmable floor processor (ART) and really only use the amp for volume. Even when gigging back in the day, usually just plugged right into the PA. Trying to grow up and get away from the processed sound, which is why I want a good all-tube amp. Will start looking around at smaller rigs.

 

[devastone]

Re: Jet City or Legacy 212?

Yeah, the JCs sound great, but even the 20W will tear your head off if you turn it up enough to get the output tubes working a little, especially in a small room.

The Orange Micro Dark is a hybrid 20W amp that everyone raves about, I kinda want to try one out. The demos on utube sound great. Since it has a SS output section it plays well at low volumes.

You might also check out the AMT stuff, I love their preamps, I use a SS-11b which is a full blown 3-ch tube preamp (2 - 12AX7s) in a pedal, and it runs the tubes at a proper 300V, it's not a starved tube design. That into the TC-3 power amp sounds killer.