looking into some new amps

[Christopher Caruana]

looking into getting myself a new tube amp and have it down to 2 different ones.
1) Jet City 2212 combo

2) Egnater Tweaker 15 combo

Both amps are the same price $599. Ther only thing is, is that I cant try the amps out before I buy them because im going to ordering it online and there are no jet city or egnater dealers in my area.

I know most of you guys have had experiance with one or both of these amps. A couple of things im gonna need outta the amp....

1) bedroom/house volume level friendly
2) flexibility to cover everything from BB King to Van Halen to RATT to GNR to Metallica (vintage to high gain)
3)Sounds good with a les paul. Not too dark/muddy....

 

[gilaltom3]

I've never played the JCA, but I'd say the Tweaker is ridiculously versatile and probably of a higher build quality.

I can only comment on how well made the Egnater is because I've used one, but I can't say anything about the JCA except that it'd have to be built pretty well to hang with the Egnater.

 

[FuseG4]

Re: looking into some new amps

Former Tweaker here.

It was a solid amp. It can cover a ton of styles and is fairly dynamic, but I felt that in trying to do everything, it never really excelled at anything. YMMV

My only complaints:
the vox channel lacks a little of the sparkle and airy mids that ONLY a Vox has...
Sometimes the Brit mode was a little too smooth. It's in between the sparkle of EL84s and the roar and grind of EL34s. It needs more "bark" in the mids.
The USA mode is pretty blackfacey, but lacks the depth and sustain of the DRRI, but it's as good as a blues jr can spit out, and can get smooth gain but sometimes it lacks that bottom end oomph.

The Jet City 20W stuff has never impressed me with the cleans. They're there, but they always seem a little rough or a little flat. But the gain is a particular flavor and it happens to be a good one IMO. Great for lots of rock styles and up into some metal. Nice thick grind, but it's not really in the marshall vein, and so the tweaker's brit mode may still be easier to get a brown sound or that GNR bite.

 

[Christopher Caruana]

Re: looking into some new amps

Ya I watched a couple demos of the tweaker and the Brit mode sounded awesome. Im looking to nail gnr or vh by any means, but something with a marshall flavor would be nice. But didnt a lot of guys in the 80's play on soldano SLO's, which the 22h is supposed to have the SLO gain channel

 

[Mattr4president]

Re: looking into some new amps

Ya I watched a couple demos of the tweaker and the Brit mode sounded awesome. Im looking to nail gnr or vh by any means, but something with a marshall flavor would be nice. But didnt a lot of guys in the 80's play on soldano SLO's, which the 22h is supposed to have the SLO gain channel

The jet city's have a "slo circuit" like my 100h. The OD channel is great but it will not sound like $2k+ amp. Aside from that, this amp will get you in to that 80's metal territory. Its not very good for cleans. Thats not what it's made for really. But the OD tones are awesome. I've never played a egnator though so I cant really compare.

 

[Christopher Caruana]

Re: looking into some new amps

it is nice that the jet city has 2 channels. Does anyone know how the Tweaker takes pedals? cuz the JCA has more than enough gain already, I just wanted to know if the tweaker takes pedals well to be boosted into JCA territory?

 

[Reckless Abandon]

Love my jet city 22H. Both channels great for rock. Channel 1 will clean up pretty well. But it is not a sparkling fender type clean. Good for me but I like a touch of breakup and compression plying clean.

 

[ImmortalSix]

Re: looking into some new amps

Seems like it has no problem doing high gain stock

Around 2:30 it's pretty righteous

 

[Reload in 5]

Re: looking into some new amps

Jet city.
The tweaker is more versatile, but doesnt do anything as well. I wanted a Marshally kinda flavor, and the jet city won hands down.
I have the single channel model, so you will also get the higher gain channel.

 

[Christopher Caruana]

Re: looking into some new amps

which one is better at house volumes? and how does the tweaker take pedals?

 

[twebb0716]

Re: looking into some new amps

I know this isn't one of your listed options but I'm a huge fan of my Blackstar ht20. It's in that price range and both channels sound killer to me but the gain channel is definitely the better of the two. I've never played it was a les paul but it definitely fits your other 2 requirements.

 

[Christopher Caruana]

Re: looking into some new amps

I know this isn't one of your listed options but I'm a huge fan of my Blackstar ht20. It's in that price range and both channels sound killer to me but the gain channel is definitely the better of the two. I've never played it was a les paul but it definitely fits your other 2 requirements.

ya you know what, that was one of the other amps i was thinking about for a while, but i read some reviews that said the amp was dark and mid heavy on the gain channel. I might go back and take a look at it though

 

[Diego]

Re: looking into some new amps

I've managed to get sounds that range from reasonable to great, in the style of the following with my Tweaker, no pedals, stock tubes:

-Knopfler cleans. Won't get too loud at this, but drop some 6L6 in it. More headroom.

-Blackmore Vox/Marshall awesomeness with my Strat. Has to be as loud as F though.

-Cranked Plexi a la AC/DC and Aerosmith. Again, loud as F. Gotta have some power tube distortion here.

-JCM900 90's Hard Rock, aggressive high mids and everything.

-Mesa Boogie Rectifier wall of sound (vox/modern/tight/hot, mids down)
The Black Album sound is right there. Sort of.

Stuff that I haven't milked out of it yet?
Brian May (then, who does?), Gilmour lead sounds (don't have a fuzz), Hendrix (again), and anything in the realm of Jazz/Fusion sounds.

It's stupidly versatile but one channel only kinda hurts. Nothing a good boost can't fix.
If you don't have some good boost/OD pedals alredy, I'd suggest you go for the Jet City instead.
If you do, then get the Tweaker.

It absolutely SLAYS at the Marshall sounds. It really is a mini-Marshall that can be a bit more spongy, or aggressive if you want more modern sounds.
And it is VERY honest about what guitar is going into it. It will capture the jangle of lower output pickups and add that bite to the high gain sounds wonderfully.
I gotta give you guys some clips of it.

I freakin' LOVE my Tweaker.

 

[Christopher Caruana]

Re: looking into some new amps

I've managed to get sounds that range from reasonable to great, in the style of the following with my Tweaker, no pedals, stock tubes:

-Knopfler cleans. Won't get too loud at this, but drop some 6L6 in it. More headroom.

-Blackmore Vox/Marshall awesomeness with my Strat. Has to be as loud as F though.

-Cranked Plexi a la AC/DC and Aerosmith. Again, loud as F. Gotta have some power tube distortion here.

-JCM900 90's Hard Rock, aggressive high mids and everything.

-Mesa Boogie Rectifier wall of sound (vox/modern/tight/hot, mids down)
The Black Album sound is right there. Sort of.

Stuff that I haven't milked out of it yet?
Brian May (then, who does?), Gilmour lead sounds (don't have a fuzz), Hendrix (again), and anything in the realm of Jazz/Fusion sounds.

It's stupidly versatile but one channel only kinda hurts. Nothing a good boost can't fix, but still.
It absolutely SLAYS at the Marshall sounds. It really is a mini-Marshall that can be a bit more spongy, or aggressive if you want more modern sounds.
And it is VERY honest about what guitar is going into it. It will capture the jangle of lower output pickups and add that bite to the high gain sounds wonderfully.
I gotta give you guys some clips of it.

I freakin' LOVE my Tweaker.

how is the volume management for inside the home?

 

[Diego]

Re: looking into some new amps

how is the volume management for inside the home?

Could be better.
At really low volumes (talking while playing) it loses a LOT of high end definition so you're better getting all your dirt from pedals at that point.
It really is awful by itself for distortion at super low volumes. Cleans are good.

But anything louder than that (volume that could annoy someone in the next room but not your neighbors) and the sound firms up nicely.
Also the volume knob has a really smooth, gradual taper all the way to 12 o' clock so you can adjust it very precisely.
It may seem stupid but it's damn nice actually. From that point on, the kick in volume is huge.

 

[misterwhizzy]

Re: looking into some new amps

What happened to that JCM800 of yours? And I happen to be a Jet City/Soldano fanboy, and I despised the only Egnater I ever played, which was the Rebel 20, but I've never tried a Tweaker, so I won't vote.

 

[Christopher Caruana]

Re: looking into some new amps

What happened to that JCM800 of yours? And I happen to be a Jet City/Soldano fanboy, and I despised the only Egnater I ever played, which was the Rebel 20, but I've never tried a Tweaker, so I won't vote.

damn thing was louder than sin. It was 2x12 combo and I never had the volume above 1.5 cuz it was so darn loud! I even played it in church and with a full band, I still had to play it on like 2.

The tone that thing had was awesome, but the volume on that thing was stupid loud. I ended up selling it because I never got to hardly play it cuz it was so loud

If the tweaker will get close to an 800 type tone, with more gain on tap than a stock 800, Im pretty sure i would love it.

 

[misterwhizzy]

Re: looking into some new amps

If the tweaker will get close to an 800 type tone, with more gain on tap than a stock 800, Im pretty sure i would love it.

Sounds like Jet City to me, dude. That's exactly what I was going for, and I think it nails it. Prepare to buy some new tubes, though, and you may want to buy a choke to tighten up the bass a touch. But I think it gets those tones really well, a whole lot better than the Rebel 20, at least.

 

[dystrust]

Re: looking into some new amps

What happened to that JCM800 of yours? And I happen to be a Jet City/Soldano fanboy, and I despised the only Egnater I ever played, which was the Rebel 20, but I've never tried a Tweaker, so I won't vote.

I've played both and own a Tweaker; IMO the Rebel is awful. I don't know what it is about that amp, but I can't pull a decent sound from it. In fact my bad experience with the Rebel is what kept me from trying a Tweaker for so long.

If the tweaker will get close to an 800 type tone, with more gain on tap than a stock 800, Im pretty sure i would love it.

The Tweaker gets a killer hot JCM800 sound; I like to set it to brit/vintage/hot/tight with the gain at about 12 o'clock or a bit higher. My main amp is a 100W Jubilee, and I picked up the Tweaker as a lower-wattage amp for home & smaller gigs. I also plan to use it for alternate sounds when recording. Overall I'm very happy with it, but I'll agree with Diego that it doesn't clean up very well at bedroom level. Open it up a little, and it gets much better.

 

[Christopher Caruana]

Re: looking into some new amps

Sounds like Jet City to me, dude. That's exactly what I was going for, and I think it nails it. Prepare to buy some new tubes, though, and you may want to buy a choke to tighten up the bass a touch. But I think it gets those tones really well, a whole lot better than the Rebel 20, at least.

whats a choke?

and is the bass real flubby/muddy sounding?