My Jet City JCA20H head arrived today.

[Kosh Naranek]

My Jet City 20 watt head got here today. I had the chance to plug it in and listen for a little bit. I'm quite happy with it so far.
It does not have a lot of clean headroom. Turn the gain past 1 and it starts to break up, at least with my Washburn USA with a JB at the bridge. But I bought it for its overdrive sounds. They're great, especially for the price. With the gain at 2 or 3, it sounded like the great classic rock tones of AC/DC, Cheap Trick, etc... a Brit amp cranked up all the way.
The tone controls on the Jet City are worth mentioning. Obviously, costs were kept to a minimum, but even so, the tone controls are voiced so you really can't get a bad tone. With the treble up all the way, it still isn't ear piercing, just more present. With the bass up all the way, it's not boomy. With the mid all the way up, it's not boxy or woofy. With the mids all the way down and the bass and treble up, it doesn't sound totally scooped. It still sounds musical. No mater how the tone knobs are set, the amp sounds musical.
I didn't notice much change when turning up the presence control until close to all the way up. Then it added a little extra sparkle, but didn't become ear piercing.

I don't know what type of tubes are stock in the amp, but when I turned the volume all the way up, and the gain at a moderate amount, I did hear a slight microphonic ring every time I stopped playing. I'll try swapping some tubes.

I got a really great surprise when I switched to my neck single coil, with the gain still at around 3 or 4. The fattest, thickest, warmest single coil tone I've heard from just about any amp. I say it was warm, but it wasn't wooly. It still had clarity and punch. One of the coolest blues tones I've ever heard. I suppose that's the tone they used to call the woman tone.

Word of caution to those who go for more extreme tones and settings: I noticed that all the knobs on the Jet City amp only go to 9. Seriously. Nice touch, Mr Soldano.

 

[Kosh Naranek]

Re: My Jet City JCA20H head arrived today.

Another thing worth mentioning: On many amps if you can get them to clean up when you back off on your picking attack, when they do clean up, they sound wooly, and lack that sparkle. Not so with the Jet City. It cleans up when I pick lightly, and though the clean tone is thick and warm, the high end sparkle is there. Very nice, very useable, and very musical.

 

[FuseG4]

Re: My Jet City JCA20H head arrived today.

yeah breakup on 1? Pass.
How's the reverb?

 

[ErikH]

Re: My Jet City JCA20H head arrived today.

I still want to try one. I've always liked what Mike Soldano has done. The SLO100 is one of my favorite amps though I can't afford one. Playing through one is an experience though. Wow. This Jet City amp seems right up my ally. Right now I use the Soldano model in my Vox AD50VT. Love it. For clean, I either go to a different patch or kick on the Detox EQ to cut the level in to the amp back or roll back my guitar volume, or both. Works for me. Just wish the Jet City had an effects loop or built in reverb, even digital would be OK with me.

What cab and speakers are you running it through?

 

[AniML]

Re: My Jet City JCA20H head arrived today.

I had the combo and did not like it at all.

Night Train >>>>>> JC

 

[Empty Pockets]

Re: My Jet City JCA20H head arrived today.

I still haven't sat a Night Train next to a Jet City and compared the two but I have a feeling the JC is gonna win in the end for me.

The "breakup on 1" thing only applies if you don't roll down your volume knob for cleans like most cats do...that's the sort of amp it is, you ride your volume knob and manipulate your pickups to get various levels of clean and grit.

It's definitely more aggressive and higher in gain than I remember the NT being...and has more of a low mid growl that is totally Soldano-y and awesome for my kinda music. It definitely liked the SG in C-standard more than the Night Train did...

I won't know until I sit down with both of them, tho, and that doesn't happen until i get both of them in stock at the same time :smokin:

 

[AniML]

Re: My Jet City JCA20H head arrived today.

I still haven't sat a Night Train next to a Jet City and compared the two but I have a feeling the JC is gonna win in the end for me.

The "breakup on 1" thing only applies if you don't roll down your volume knob for cleans like most cats do...that's the sort of amp it is, you ride your volume knob and manipulate your pickups to get various levels of clean and grit.

Try the night train, then come back with your thoughts. And if you like it, then one more sale for JC. I didn't care for ther product myself but after speaking with them, they certainly seem like a nice group of guys enjoying their venture. I wish them and their happy csutomers well

 

[misterwhizzy]

Re: My Jet City JCA20H head arrived today.

I'm dying to try one of these little guys. I'd love something a little more dynamic, and it sounds like the Jet City would do just that. I think I'd rather hold out for the JCA50H, though, for a couple of reasons. First of all, it's got an effects loop. Secondly, it's got the same preamp channels as the SLO 100 (if I understand correctly). I'm kind of surprised that it's rated as a 50 watt amp with 4 6L6's, though. Maybe the specs aren't right on their website. But the idea of Soldano tone in an affordable amp is definitely number one on my list.

 

[misterwhizzy]

Re: My Jet City JCA20H head arrived today.

This is what I love about these guys. I sent Doug an e-mail this morning after I posted in this thread, and he's already got it fixed. I find this kind of customer service all too uncommon these days, and that's why the next time I shop for an amp, Jet City will definitely be on my list.

 

[sosomething]

Re: My Jet City JCA20H head arrived today.

Sure sounds great in this demo:



Maybe lacking some tightness in the low-end, but nice midrange character.

 

[Empty Pockets]

Re: My Jet City JCA20H head arrived today.

Try the night train, then come back with your thoughts. And if you like it, then one more sale for JC. I didn't care for ther product myself but after speaking with them, they certainly seem like a nice group of guys enjoying their venture. I wish them and their happy csutomers well

i've tried the NT and if my memory serves me right it's got a fizzier breakup than the Jet City

but i won't know until i've sat down with both of them

 

[BloodRose]

Re: My Jet City JCA20H head arrived today.

yeah breakup on 1? Pass.
How's the reverb?

The head doesnt have verb

mine didnt break up that early..

 

[BloodRose]

Re: My Jet City JCA20H head arrived today.

I still want to try one. I've always liked what Mike Soldano has done. The SLO100 is one of my favorite amps though I can't afford one. Playing through one is an experience though. Wow. This Jet City amp seems right up my ally. Right now I use the Soldano model in my Vox AD50VT. Love it. For clean, I either go to a different patch or kick on the Detox EQ to cut the level in to the amp back or roll back my guitar volume, or both. Works for me. Just wish the Jet City had an effects loop or built in reverb, even digital would be OK with me.

What cab and speakers are you running it through?

Yeah, verb would have made it stellar in my book

 

[Kosh Naranek]

Re: My Jet City JCA20H head arrived today.

I haven't been on here since Thursday. In answer to a few things:
The day it arrived, I played it through my Crate Palomino 2-12 cab with Celestions. Today I tried it through my Peavey Penta 4-12 cab, also with Celestions, the 75 watt ones. The manual says the amp is designed for 16 ohm cabs (has outputs for 8 ohms too) so I thought the 4-12 might be the best match of all the cabs I have since it's 16 ohms in mono. I also got the chance today to A/B it with my Genz Benz El Diablo 60 head.

I was happy to find that the Jet City definitely doesn't sound like a small or cheap amp when compared to a more expensive amp. It sounds big and full. The differences in the character of the overdrive were especially interesting to me. The Genz Benz has more of that preamp tube buzz. That makes for a more metal tone. But the tradeoff for that buzz and crunch is at lower gain levels, where it just starts to break up, there is more of that fizz that Empty Pockets mentioned, and a bit of that sound like paper being torn as notes sustain and transition from distorted to clean. I've been looking for an amp I can afford (under $1K, preferably way under) that doesn't do that.

The Jet City OTOH transitions much more smoothly from distorted to clean. And that's because the character of the distortion is different. There's none of that preamp tube buzz and instead there's this more organic Brit amp roar that reminds me very much of crunch rhythm tones from Rush's 2112 and Farewell to Kings, and I suppose a host of other recordings from the 70's. This is a sound I have been looking for for a long time without having to pay $2000 for some high end tube head or an old Marshall from that era!

I also tried turning the gain up higher to see what that sounded like. At 7 or 8, the character really doesn't change too much from having it at 2 or 3, unlike modern high gain amps that sound buzzier and more aggresive at higher gain levels. There's obviously some more sustain, and it doesn't clean up as quickly. With the gain up higher, I rolled back the bass knob a bit because I found if it's up at 7 or 8, it sounded a little loose through my 4-12. With the gain at 2 or 3, having the bass set at 7 sounded great.

For my tastes, Jet City actually could have made 5 the highest gain the amp could do, and given us more clean headroom at lower settings. I will probably almost never need the gain up past 3. Yes, it does break up at 1. And today I played my Hamer Monaco Elite Mahogany through it, not my Washburn with the JB. Even with the 59's in my Hamer, the Jet City starts barking when I hit a chord hard with the gain set at 1. Like Empty Pockets pointed out, it's made to get clean by rolling your guitar volume back or picking lightly. That's how (semi)clean tones were achieved by guys using Marshall stacks in the 70's.

Which reminds me: Not everyone here is old enough to remember this, but back around 1978 or 1980 when I was starting on the guitar, a pretty often heard complaint about Marshall amps was that it was not possible to get a truly clean tone from them. From those old one channel heads, it wasn't possible to dial in a Fendery clean tone as well as that classic Marshall roar. And that is why two and three channel amps became the norm not many years later. The Jet City appears to have captured that classic Brit amp roar along with its drawbacks. As far as I'm concerned, if I want crystaline clean, I'll use my Genz Benz or my Fender Super Sonic. Maybe at some point Jet City will introduce a two channel amp. But I'd expect it will cost more.

 

[Kosh Naranek]

Re: My Jet City JCA20H head arrived today.

As for the lack of reverb or effects loop, from my perspective, Jet City must have read my wish list! I'm using the amp in my home studio, not live. So I want the purest tube tone possible on my recordings. I do not want the signal passing through effects loop buffers or reverb drivers if possible. I add effects when mixing, and trust me, some of the convolution reverbs with impulses of nice wood studio guitar rooms will spoil you until you never wanna use spring reverb anymore. Also, an effects loop and/or reverb would have increased the price. My preference is to keep the price down, don't add the frills, and keep the tone pure. Heck, I was pretty excited to read about the new Fender Bandmaster until I read they put digital effects in it. What a letdown. I understand, that stuff is handy if you're gigging with the amp.

I don't have a lot of experience with Soldano amps, though of course I've heard famous artists who play through them. What I find interesting is the Jet City seems to be very different from the sound I associate with Soldano amps. When I think of Soldano, I think highly compressed, buzzy, hyper-crunchy metal tones. That tone is great, but not what I'd consider dynamic or as organic. The Jet City comes from a completely different place than the Soldano amps I've heard, and certainly is lightyears away from the Soldano-designed Yamaha amps of the 80's, which I have played through. It's a very organic and very vintage sound, IMO one that's hard to find these days even among expensive amps.

 

[Wattage]

Re: My Jet City JCA20H head arrived today.

Nice review, glad you like the amp.

 

[Ascension]

Re: My Jet City JCA20H head arrived today.

I have only seen 1 of these. I played a head at my local CG last week. It was an absolute DOG!! Mushy flabby mess no dynamics just an awful sounding amp. I was bitterly disapointed.

 

[ErikH]

Re: My Jet City JCA20H head arrived today.

I played one finally at a GC here and fell in love with it. I could hear the Soldano voicing all over it. It sounds nice at low volumes but once I opened it up some, it sang. Of course, it probably helped that I was playing the PRS SE SC Korina that I just bought through it. I'd gig with that amp. I dig the Soldano sound. Reminds me very much of the Soldano model in my Vox AD50VT.

For EQ settings, I found that it sounded really good with it like this (based on the max = 9 dial digits):

T = 5.5
M = 7.5
B = 3.5
Presence = 4.5
Gain = 4.5

 

[guitfiddle]

Re: My Jet City JCA20H head arrived today.

From all I've read here, it sounds to me like this amp is best used for the stage. Turn the master all the way up, and then get a nice dynamic crunch from the gain knob, hit it with a boost for solos.

That will eliminate most if not all of any preamp buzz you might get from dialing in a lead sound with the gain knob.


BTW...re: the Bandmaster...those digi effects are bypassable, and when used, are no worse than a Holy Grail reverb or another digi pedal in the loop. Makes for a very easy stage setup.

 

[FuseG4]

Re: My Jet City JCA20H head arrived today.

BTW...re: the Bandmaster...those digi effects are bypassable, and when used, are no worse than a Holy Grail reverb or another digi pedal in the loop. Makes for a very easy stage setup.

the digital effects are one thing but the drive channel uses a transistor preamp section.. There's one 12ax7 for the normal channel and 1 12ax for a PI.

It's not necessarily a bad thing (I haven't played this amp) but I could see where that would turn some people off.

If it's anything like the SCXD's amp voicings it might turn me off. The tone wasn't bad at all but the feel was verry stiff.