Jet City JCA20H Initial Impressions

[marnold]

As was mentioned in another thread (http://www.thefret.net/showthread.php?t=14532), I got a Jet City JCA20H 20W head (http://www.jetcityamplification.com/amplifiers/jca-20h/) and a JCA12S 1x12" cab last week. Due to rather large amounts of work last week, I really didn't get to mess with it much so I can't give a full blown review. I can, however, give some initial thoughts.

A couple of things jump out at you right away.
1) One difference between Soldanos and Jet City amphs that is immediately apparent is that the Jet City controls go up to 9. Soldanos go up to 11.

2) It's a bright amph. I'm not sure if it's the head itself, the tubes, or the cab. Mind you, I tend to be in the "brightness is next to godliness" camp. I've been running the bass and mids at 6, and the treble and presence at three or four. I hope to try this through one of my member's 4x12" cab to see how much of it is the cab and how much is the amph. This isn't a complaint. It's just that I struggled to much to get my AD30VT with a Ragin Cajun to be bright without being thin or ice picky that this is surprising to me. As I mentioned in the other thread, the presence is like a bright switch on a knob. Cranking it up can give you the "angry bees in a tin can" thing. A little goes a long way.

3) There's three 12AX7's in the preamp and two EL84s in the power amp. They produce plenty of gain for me. It probably could do everything short of teh br00talz without pedal assistance. I set the gain at 6 usually--a testament to what it can put out. A glance at the tubes show one way that they saved money--by putting in Chinese tubes. I suppose guys like me won't know what they like anyway and more experienced players will swap the tubes out right away anyway. I haven't heard many reports on the effects of swapping out the tubes.

4) The transformers seem big and beefy, but I'm no electrician so I can't speak directly to their quality.

5) The 1x12" cab is pretty huge, dwarfing my AD30VT and even bigger than my Acoustic bass combo with a 12" speaker. There's an Eminence-designed speaker in there. For the first time I can really feel the music. It's a closed-back cab with a single 16 ohm input.

6) I'm just stunned at how the amph responds to rolling off the volume on my guitar. Even with the gain at 6 in full 80s crunch mode, rolling off the volume will almost clean the amp up completely while still maintaining the same basic tone. My bridge JB doesn't get too dark at low volumes, although the next Jazz does a bit. I'm thinking that I might not even need to put in the treble bleed cap.

7) If you are looking for Fendery Blackface cleans, look elsewhere. There's not a lot of clean headroom. Anything above about 1 on the gain adds noticeable crunch. I grabbed my son's Squier '51 and found that with its weaker pickups you can get some more cleans. That's not to say that the cleans are bad. I like them a lot. It's just that this amph is all about the drive. I read one review where a guy was going off on the Jet City. Later in the thread he said he prefers a clean Fender amp with an OD pedal for grit. Yeah, then this one's probably not for you.

I'm going to mess with it a bunch more to see what I've got here. Today's my day off, but I'm feeling a bit under the weather so we'll see how much I can play. If anybody has any questions on this bad-boy, let me know and I'll try to answer. I'm also trying to figure out how to record some clips.

[bcdon]

7) If you are looking for Fendery Blackface cleans, look elsewhere. There's not a lot of clean headroom. Anything above about 1 on the gain adds noticeable crunch. I grabbed my son's Squier '51 and found that with its weaker pickups you can get some more cleans. That's not to say that the cleans are bad. I like them a lot. It's just that this amph is all about the drive. I read one review where a guy was going off on the Jet City. Later in the thread he said he prefers a clean Fender amp with an OD pedal for grit. Yeah, then this one's probably not for you.

Great review, thanks!

I have the same setup as you and find that I get nice clean tones with the gain less than 3 and the volume on my Epi LP less than half. After that I start to get some crunch but I really like the cleans.

[marnold]

As an aside, somebody posted a gut shot of his JCA20H in this thread (http://forums.epiphone.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=13682). Any of you amph gurus care to take a look?

I saw that Bitmo has a mod out (http://www.bitmomodkits.com/servlet/the-72/BITMO-SUFRA-JET-CITY/Detail) for it already. Nothing serious, just doing something to give more clean headroom and something called "fatback overdrive" which sounds like adding a TS-type thing to it.

[tunghaichuan]

Looks pretty well-made from the photos. The PCB looks to be high quality. And it looks like they used all metal film resistors, which tend to be quieter than other types. The PS filter caps for the preamp are close to the preamp tubes, which is good.

The only thing that might put me off is that the EL84 tube sockets are soldered to the PCB. In this amp it might not be a concern. The tubes point up from the chassis, so heat is funneled up and away from the PCB. The circuit is also Class AB, so the amp doesn't run as hot as a Class A amp.

The transformers look to be nice and beefy, which is good. The more iron in an OT the better it is for the lower end.

If you have time, try an experiment. Turn the gain all the way down. Then turn up the master volume up to about 12 o'clock to 2 o'clock. Then turn the gain up about halfway. It will be very loud, but you should get an excellent lower gain crunch tone.

It's hard to believe this amp is only $300. It looks like it should cost more.


As an aside, somebody posted a gut shot of his JCA20H in this thread (http://forums.epiphone.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=13682). Any of you amph gurus care to take a look?

I saw that Bitmo has a mod out (http://www.bitmomodkits.com/servlet/the-72/BITMO-SUFRA-JET-CITY/Detail) for it already. Nothing serious, just doing something to give more clean headroom and something called "fatback overdrive" which sounds like adding a TS-type thing to it.

[marnold]

Looks pretty well-made from the photos. The PCB looks to be high quality. And it looks like they used all metal film resistors, which tend to be quieter than other types. The PS filter caps for the preamp are close to the preamp tubes, which is good.

The only thing that might put me off is that the EL84 tube sockets are soldered to the PCB. In this amp it might not be a concern. The tubes point up from the chassis, so heat is funneled up and away from the PCB. The circuit is also Class AB, so the amp doesn't run as hot as a Class A amp.

The transformers look to be nice and beefy, which is good. The more iron in an OT the better it is for the lower end.
Thanks for the once-over. I remember you making that comment about the tube sockets before. That's one of the reasons why I went with the head instead of ordering the combo, even though tube reverb would have been nice.


If you have time, try an experiment. Turn the gain all the way down. Then turn up the master volume up to about 12 o'clock to 2 o'clock. Then turn the gain up about halfway. It will be very loud, but you should get an excellent lower gain crunch tone.

It's hard to believe this amp is only $300. It looks like it should cost more.
Phew! With the volume and gain at those levels I'll blow myself into next Tuesday! Nevertheless I will try it . . . when I'm home alone. :)

[tunghaichuan]

Thanks for the once-over. I remember you making that comment about the tube sockets before. That's one of the reasons why I went with the head instead of ordering the combo, even though tube reverb would have been nice.


It always concerns me when I see amps built like that, but Boogie has been doing just that and getting away with it for years.



Phew! With the volume and gain at those levels I'll blow myself into next Tuesday! Nevertheless I will try it . . . when I'm home alone. :)

A lot of players only dime Soldano style amps and they miss out on the killer crunch. I had a Soldano-designed Yamaha tube amp, and high gain lead tone was killer. It didn't seem to matter which set of 6L6s were in the amp. Heck, even the Chinese "coke bottle" 6L6s that came with it sounded good. That amp changed into a crunch machine when set up like I wrote earlier. But at 50 watts, it was louder than hell.

Soldano amps aren't just about uber gain, they do crunch really well, too. And they don't mush out on the low end like a lot of amps. And that should include your amp too, as it has a Soldano pedigree.

[marnold]

Soldano amps aren't just about uber gain, they do crunch really well, too. And they don't mush out on the low end like a lot of amps. And that should include your amp too, as it has a Soldano pedigree.
The scary thing is that the only way I've been able to get a tone out of this that I don't like is by cranking the presence. It can get nasty in a big hurry. It'd be kind of fun to try it with a brutally dark pickup though.

[oldguy]

The scary thing is that the only way I've been able to get a tone out of this that I don't like is by cranking the presence. It can get nasty in a big hurry. It'd be kind of fun to try it with a brutally dark pickup though.

Mine's the same way, but I love cranking it wide open on gain and as loud as the law allows. The crunch thing's fun, but wide open's funner.:crazyguy

[marnold]

Tried your idea, Tung. Crunchy goodness indeed! It didn't seem too terribly loud, but then again it may be because I had the gain dimed and the volume at about 6. (aka 2:00). I think I broke my eardrums :)

[marnold]

OK, here's a quickie demo that I did. My camera isn't the best for this sort of thing, but it's the best I can do right now. It sounds a lot better in Real Life. First time through is "In My Dreams" with the amph in 80s metal mode (exact settings on YouTube). Then I roll down the volume on my guitar for a cleaner tone for a bit of "Forever Man."

JkYVuaYnzug

[mainestratman]

Oh HELLYEAH.

Thanks Rev. :-)

[M29]

Your rawkin the 1/2 666 Rev!!! Sweet tone, soundin good:AOK

[Blaze]

We have a Rockin Reverend here ...
Cool Stuff Marnold..
This amph sounds good & looks good too:dude :dude

[Katastrophe]

The Rev is rawkin' the Jet City, and here I am on a computer with no speakers. Crap.:mad

[Katastrophe]

Not that is one fine sounding amph, Matt!

Looks like you made a great buy. Congrats again!

[piebaldpython]

Nice crunch there Rev. What is amazing to me is the DIFFERENCE in tone once you rolled down the volume on your git. WOW!!

[sunvalleylaw]

Nice Rev! It is still hard to believe those righteous metal tones are coming from an active minister, but Rev Rawk, Minister of Metal, we got him right here. That amph sounds great, and I am glad you are enjoying it!

[marnold]

Nice crunch there Rev. What is amazing to me is the DIFFERENCE in tone once you rolled down the volume on your git. WOW!!
Yeah, that's the most surprising part of this amph for me. I had my volume turned down probably 2/3-3/4 of the way. The JB stays nice and clear. The Jazz wants to get dark--which a) surprises me and b) isn't a bad thing if you're into the whole "woman tone" thing.


Nice Rev! It is still hard to believe those righteous metal tones are coming from an active minister, but Rev Rawk, Minister of Metal, we got him right here. That amph sounds great, and I am glad you are enjoying it!
I'm really liking the hard rock sounds I'm getting out of this. The clean/crunch sounds are just bonus right now. The nice thing about being a pastor and an aging headbanger is that it blows kids' minds when I know metal better than they do :)

[Radioboy950]

Thanks for taking time to post a great, "real user" review, Marnold.
You've confirmed everything I believed to be true about this amp:
It's a crunchy rock machine, leaving little headroom for crystal clean tones.
For loud Fender cleans, you'll need another amp. But for classic guitar rock tones, it seems like a great value. Have fun with it!

[sumitomo]

Rev that's sounds great!:rockon::dude Sumi:D

[marnold]

I dragged the amph upstairs whilst my wife was grocery shopping Sunday partially because I wanted to and also for my son's guitar lesson. Normally, we have the lesson in my office, but since my computer is currently non-functional, it's kind of hard to watch the DVD. Our living room is the most acoustically dead room I've ever been in. It was like it was an entirely different amph in there. In my office I get a bit of natural room reverb. Nothing up here. I found myself turning up the treble and presence to try to compensate for the deadness. It was very nice to have that extra high-end "headroom." A delay or reverb pedal would have helped too, but I already knew that. I didn't crank it up too loud, but it was still nice to hear it in an entirely different environment.

[Spudman]

Pretty nice sounding amph there Marn. Thanks for posting some sounds.

[marnold]

Over the past week or so I've been trying to come up with a fitting conclusion to this mini-review. The main question I wanted to answer is "How is the amph better than my AD30VT?" I don't know if I can come up with a good answer. To be honest, if I wanted to play 100% clean or some bluesy tones, I probably could have used my AD30VT with its Ragin' Cajun speaker and been happy for the rest of my life. But, I don't. I'm a metalhead which means I needs me some gain. At high distortion my AD30VT sounded too trebly/ragged with the stock speaker and too boomy/dull with the Cajun.

The Jet City fills my need for gain. Is it the tubes? Might be. Haven't got a clue, to be honest. Is it the cab? I'm sure that that's at least part of it. It's much bigger than my AD30VT plus it has a 12" instead of a 10" speaker. It's definitely better constructed too. All I know is that I'm liking the tone I get. I only wish my ability would match the quality and tone of the amph. I guess that's quite literally in my hands.

So to sum up:

If your idea of the ultimate amph tone contains the word "Fender," look elsewhere. (Note: That doesn't mean that there aren't some really cool clean tones to be found. There are, but that's not what this thing is all about.)
If you need a ton of features or all kinds of knobs to tweak, look elsewhere.
If your idea of the ultimate amph tone contains the word "Rawk" (spelt that way), this is the amph for you.
If you want plug-it-in-and-rawk simplicity, this is the amph for you.
If the name "Mike Soldano" makes your heart skip a beat, you really didn't need me to tell you all this, did you.

[Katastrophe]

Good summation, and I'm glad it suits your needs.

Rawk is good.

Gain is good.

Simple is good.

"Soldano" attached to an amph design is good.

I'm not really seeing a downside to these amphs!