2019 & this demo still rocks. What an absolute killer, great "walk through" showcase. The clean channel alone is so very under rated. A good player like Drew shows all the variations it possess & works it so good. This is always my go-to video for 22H references. Great sounding amp, great sounding player. ADDITIONAL 06/27/2019...about to pull the trigger on a JCA. G.C. has all JET CITY gear on sale, 15% off for 4th of July. I've watched countless videos on 20H, 22H, Custom 22H, 50H, 100HDM & 100HDM LTD(EL34). And it frustrates me to see 95% of the videos addressing "metal". And many go on to complain about the fizz/fuzz sound or the fact that it "won't get the sound of X band on X song". Drew shows you here how versatile this simple circuit is in the hands of a *PLAYER* who knows how to use amp like an instrument. He's not a palm muting chugger who turns all pregain controls to max & thinks down-stroked 2 note chords rule & then wonders why it sounds muddy like 95% of the other demos. I wish Jet City would go after world class pro players to demo their stuff to counter this metal brained culture that's trying to find some super mega uber amp for less than a grand then bitches about it when they don't. Head to the playground, children.
Thanks for all your videos of this amp. It helped me decide to get a Jet City JCA2212V combo that came with a V30 speaker. Awesome amp and the overdrive is just killer. I put a 12AT7 in V1 to help tame the crunch channel a bit for a little more cleans and also to help tame the overdrive channel a little since I play mostly blues and blues rock. Sounds killer so far. I hook it up to a Fender DT112 cab with a WGS Liberator 80 speaker as a mini stack and the 20 watts will keep up with a drummer no problem for smaller gigs. Now I'm just trying to figure out the best tubes to put in V2 and V3 to give the overdrive just a bit more clarity and brighten it up just a touch, but so far it's an awesome amp. Thanks again!
I bought a Jet City JCA100H more than 10 years ago thanks to you. Doug did well with finding the right person to advertise its products. After selling it as moving out, I bought some more recently to mod them as they are cheap and simple to mod. What a great buy and a fun amp to mod/play. Thanks man!
Awesome man. Yeah I still have my 100H but about a year ago loaned it to a friend I used to play with as he fell on tough times and needed an amp. He's running it through a splawn 2x12 with creambacks and it sounds awesome.
@@FastRedPonyCar Cool to hear you have kept one even though it's your friend who is enjoying it currently (nice from you BTW). I am running mines with my Mesa cab equipped with V30s. I remember seeing those Splawn cabs and amps in your vids and always wondered how good they were. I'll see if I can get the chance to try one at some point. Thanks again. Take care man!
@@PhuketMyMac The guy borrowing my JCA100 actually has a splawn 2x12 with 65w creambacks and it sounds SO good. I still have my splawn 4x12 as my main recording cab at the house and is what I plug into for all my videos. My main gigging cab is the Whitebox 2x12. It's been super reliable but the basket weave grill needs to be replaced. I have a pair of Scumback speakers in that.
Great review FastRedPonyCar! I have bought this amp based on your film. But after a few gigs with my band (loud heavy rock) I can disagree with your comments regarding the stage volume of JCA22H. It IS easily loud enough for live performance. In a club with a PA I had master at about 3 (on the scale). That was just right for the sound man. Last gig I was not miced, just my Laney 212 cab with C70/80. Only drums and voc were miced. 3.6 on the master scale and the sound man asked to not turn up the volume any more.
FastRedPonyCar Yes, it can easily be done if you get loose with stage volume. But from my experience 90% of sound guys would not let you do that. Not even close. All 100 watt tube amps I have seen on stage were set at 20-25% max. More than 10 years ago it had sense but now, with all the PA stuff, it is just waste of power and extra weight to carry.
I'm reminded of how much I love your videos! Lot to be said for an amp that can do a session all by itself, clean to crunch to a nice thrashy old-school kinda high-gain, a slab of wood with passive pickups, straight in. I could record 80% of my guitar tracks with this amp, a tele, a hot single-hum strat, and a 2x12 with a V-30 and a T-75. Couple decent mic's, and that's it. Got the whole thing covered with a guitar in to the amp. It's a "Swiss Army Knife", but still with very simple controls.
A new JJ tubes put in mine 12 at7 in V1 nothing else required big Improvement on the first channel cleaned up quite a bit. I run it 112 cabinet JBL k120 that's all I've gigged with for 1 1/2 years with a loud drummer and bass player it's all I need
It's actually very impressive in terms of how "real" it feels. It's good enough to fool me. I don't even use my amps at home any more. The kemper (once the amps are profiled) basically gives me my ideal recorded tone of any of my amps without upsetting the wife or neighbors. Not only that, it's power section and character controls allow you to manipulate the sound in so many more ways than the actual amp itself allows. It's one of the few "modeler" products that lives up to the hype
22h great head been using it for a year now change out the first 2 preamp tubes for a couple of JJ's there's nothing more needs to be done. It's the only amp I have gigged with since I got it any size room clean or dirty it's perfect for me at least so I bought a second one. No problems getting over the drummer even unliked go Jet City.
This video sold me on this amp head ! Thanks for uploading. I'll now subscribe and start saving for this head haha. You are very good by the way. One of the more helpful demos out there, for me anyways.
no that's the thing. The kemper FEELS real. it reacts to the picking and fretting dynamics/pressure/picking attack, etc just like a real amp. It's what has been missing from every modeler I've ever used (including the axefx) up until now.
I appreciate this demo alot, nice to actually see what the amp can do instead of the player...(not that you aren't good by any means!) I am impressed with the gain from this little thing, and for the price, I think it will compliment the Jackson DK2S I am getting :) Thanks!
you can get similar sounds out of each one but the biggest difference between the 2 is that the 22H is a 2 channel amp meaning you can use a footswitch to jump from clean to overdrive. The orange is just a single channel. If you want to go from high gain to clean, you have to roll the guitar's volume knob back which may clean it up some but not totally.
Thanks for this video, I was dead set on getting an OR15 until I watched this. Now I'm not sure. I'm still developing my ear for tone so I'm not sure I can correctly describe the differences between the two amps; BUT to me the JCA seems brighter and more articulate with the higher notes. Said from the OR15 side it seems to sound a little fuzzy(not a bad thing) Have you played an OR15? Can you describe how these amps sound different to your ears? Is it possible to get that OR15 tone with the JCA?
Well..... I just sold my HT-20 for good money. My JCA 22H probably will come my way in early August. Just can't wait to hear it with my own ears. But when i have it, i will post a foto on they're Facebook page with a thank you for FastRedPonyCar. But for that i would like some cool settings and/or tips. Thanks already.
@chickenlittleify gain on the 22H is a little tighter/cleaner and (not shown in this vid) if you raise the clean channel volume really high and then slowly lower the preamp gain from 0, it will stay squeaky clean but be very loud. That's kinda how the soldano "clean" channel's operate.
I just bought a 20h (not realizing there is a 22h) and I rewired my 2x12 cab for a 16 ohm series config.. Now, I was not happy with the overdrive right away. Somewhere between 3-4 the sound just gets extremely fizzy. BUT - hold the phone. I cranked the master up to 9, took the overdrive down to about 2-3 and added in my tube screamer and holy crap it sounds great. Extremely clean without the TS. Oh yeah,,,,,I fed it with a Les Paul Classic. I'm very happy with the amp - as is!
@FastRedPonyCar Thanks for the reply! I went ahead and ordered the JCA20H just because it's cheaper and simpler (college isn't free haha). Also, I liked the tones you were getting in this video before you switched to the hi-gain channel, and from what I've read online, the lo-gain channel on this amp is basically a JCA20H. Also, I know it doesn't have a loop... so would throwing a reverb pedal in front of it muck up the signal too much to be cranked? Thanks.
@natrat51 yeah but you don't need a boost to get Vai type tones. the FX loop is good on this amp and seems to like line level pedals more than the 50 or 100H.
@ThePowrWithn from what I've read, the 22h has a slightly more forgiving loop but even still, the 100/50h loop is fine. It's just line level which means it's made ideally for rack units but still MOST pedals but not all will work in the loop. i've yet to hear a pedal that wouldn't work in the 22h loop. there's a running list in a dedicated forum thread over at the harmony central amp forum where JCA owners can say what works and what doesn't.
yeah, believe it or not, my Fender Mustang floor unit through a tube head gives me the best feel I've ever had from a modeler. I could never use a modeler before but now I can. Granted, the difference in tone quality is likely huge between a $300 modeler and the KPA but its such a revelation to use a modeler that isnt disappointing when it comes to feel. So you prefer to use the jet city to power the KPA? I suppose you still need tube power amp for good tone any feel?
@BPKeeper88 thanks man. you know they have a higher gain hotrodded version coming soon? It was unveiled a few weeks ago at NAMM. If you're wanting to do higher gain/metal with the amp, I would consider waiting to see how that one stacks up. I'm hoping I can get one to do an A/B comparison video.
Just found this vid, I know its pretty old, but I see some fairly recent comments. I have an Egnater renegade head, and its awesome, but I like the crunch on this amp better I think, its a little more of that Marshall snarl where my Egnater is smoother, and "Boutique-Y". I prefer a little more nasty-ness, haha. Sounds great man, cheers!!!!
Thanks for the demo really sounds nice - I am looking at picking one of these up and wondering if the newest version they have is comparable spec wise. Also, what type of tubes did you switch to in the pre-amp?
my best tip is to get a big loud clean channel sound, set the preamp for the clean channel very low and crank the master for that channel. Use the preamp control as the clean channel volume knob.
@DaveyD327 cool. yeah there are also a lot of mods that can be done to the 20h to improve or change things if you ever want to do that. It's a good time to be a musician with all this inexpensive tube gear on the market.
@DaveyD327 yeah the clean channel with the gain knob pushed will really deliver that type sound. the lead channel is more or less rock and modern rock only. If you need less gain or an amp more specifically for blues, check out the egnater rebel 20.
@maneatingtoilets Because of an added drive channel, the legendary soldano lead overdrive, which is made possible thanks to two extra 12AX7 tubes thrown in the preamp. It's rare to find a $399 head that'll pump that much gain without crappy fx. It's a well rounded package that can cover a very broad range of tones, that's why it's $150 extra.
@FastRedPonyCar Nice, would a boss overdrive pedal help the 20h out a bit? I play metal for a band but i would love to have one of these and 1x12 for the house or practice.
Thanks to your demo,I just bought this amp on E-bay. I just love it, but when I use the effects loop, I lose significant volume. It also seems to drain the batteries in the pedals. Do you have these problems? Any suggestions? Great demo. thankx Swayze
I just bought this from your review. I own : Mesa boogie F-50, Mesa boogie Studio .22+, Mesa boogie DC2 Laney IRT60 112 Vox AC15C1, AC15CC1, AC4TV 10” and 8” Fender Champ Red knobs
Hey, great review and playing. I have the combo version, and the more I listen to this, the more I realize the stock speaker is crap. Totally shrill, especially the OD channel. I am thinking of replacing it with a Vintage 30 or a G12H30. Any ideas?
Scumback if you can swing the $$. maybe find one used. I bought all my scumbacks (except for the H75-LHDC) used. To me, they dish out the ideal celestion sound that celestions can't give me. I have 2 different pair in my splawn cab and another one with a V30 in my whitebox 2x12. LOVE EM.
All I use 22h for the last year-and-a-half with a JBL k120 or celestion Sidewinder in a 1x12 cabinet don't even use 212 cabinet anymore maybe one day ? right now I'm light and loud I see no reason for anything else any size gig I have NO TROUBLE keeping up with my loud ass drummer bass player and other guitarists whatsoever.Tone volume it's all there I'm more than satisfied with the clean Channel with a tube swap dirt channel unbelievable I own fenders Marshalls bad cats all great amps. I'm my own roadie in a working band and finally found a great tube head that don't break my back 22 lb & 30 or 35 lb 1 x 12 cab no reason to ask for anything more ! effects Loop works great can't say enough good things about this 22h so I bought a second one still in the box life happens I want a backup if it disappeared no quality issues at all. love this amplifier giving in and selling a boatload of amplifiers thank you Jet City.
great sounding amp. I laughed when you said that was the clean channel. How much gain does an amp need??? you can hear those power valves working nicely on the "clean" channel
@Squingelio yeah this amp's overdrive absolutely destroys the tweaker but the tweaker has a bit more clean headroom. I think it sounded best cranked clean with a good overdrive. I would take this over a tweaker any day. The rebel 30 or rebel 20 are better competition.
@FastRedPonyCar I haven't seen the schematics, but from the feature list it does seem so. I'm considering getting one of these as a home/spare to my 50H...when they finally arrive in the UK ;) By the way, which speakers are in the Splawn cab?
not sure if you remember but did you have to change the any tubes to get your sound or is it your pick ups maybe. I just got one of these heads but when I crank it up on both channels it gets really harsh. Both my son and my guitar have mediocre humbuckers so I am pretty sure that comes into play. I played it cranked up to about 5 or 6 on both channels and had to put the presence @1 bass @ 2 and treble @1 because like i said it was just way too harsh and high pitched. I got it used at Guitar Center so i have about 42 day's left to see if I like it.
yeah the preamp tubes need to be swapped. I used a set of ruby HG's. The biggest thing that will affect the tone is the speaker cabinet and speakers. send this amp into a marshall 2x12 cab with a pair of greenback celestions and it'll really impress. pair it with a cheap cab and speakers and you'll get a cheap tone.
part of that is the low quality caps used to keep the cost of the amp down and another part is actually the low quality potentiometers. The caps are easy for any decent amp tech to swap out for higher quality ones and although the pots are soldered onto the PCB, they aren't too difficult to remove if you (or your tech) is comfortable pulling the board out. Other than that, you can sort of smooth out the top end with better preamp tubes. You can usually find RFT brand NOS ECC83 12ax7 tubes on ebay for $25 each and they do a good job of smoothing the top end bite. I've got a couple and really like them.
I am asking because the KPA doesnt not have its own amplification right? so despite its yummy goodness, it still wont feel/sound great through a solid state amp correct? so what amp do you find to be the best? 6L6 amp? EL84? etc. Peavey rackmount amp like a classic 60? If you're going to be bypassing the preamp all the time, no need for anything but a power amp right?
@skunizzi This one is a pre-production unit they sent me to record demos and sales media with. A few stores are getting them in. They're in really high demand so they may be scarce for a while.
but you still use a tube amp for power with the kempler right? You HAVE to to get the feel and response. If you didnt, that would be sweet. so how do you do that?
yeah don't run overdrive pedals through the loop. run them into the main input of the amp. only use time based effeects in the fx loop such as reverb/delay/chorous/etc.
Sweet tones and playing dude! If I should say one thing it would be: work on your vibrato a bit. Pete Thorn has a great vid on his channel about it. Anyway, this amp rocks. I'm returning a TC Nova Drive and might get this instead .. (a mediocre pedal for a great amp .. talk about value)
Can this amp produce that sort of bluesy, warmer tone without being too dry or too bright sounding? I am thinking about buying it because it's affordable and I like its higher gain, but I want something that I can still play some slower blues stuff on. Thanks
Hey Drew, so you were running the head thru your Whitebox cab? Sounds great. I guess it just looks good on the Splawn. LOL I might get busy one day and put one of the Vintage 30's in my Egnater 2x12 Cab just to see what it sounds like. I didn't know you played Bass also. Nice demo.
I love your sound of jet city application! I have JCA50h/marshall box loaded with celestion v30. What kind of pickups will you suggest me to get similar sound as it's in your tokai/sheptone BK-signature - is there any DIMARZIO or SEYMOUR Duncan or Bare Knuckle pickups that sounds similar like your shepton BK because in Europe shepton is not available as Duncan's and others. I'm just looking for good rock harmonic sound-like that in mahogany body LP type. Please give me some good advice.
I've owned a jet city jca20h, it's little brothers. I didn't really liked it and I bought a tubemeister. The tubemeister is very versatile and sounds like a beast :D
@marviosantos No you are wrong I also use a blackstar dual and an eq occasionally and the result is the same. The tonelab sounds fantastic by the way and I run it directly into the effects return so there is no tone suck happening since I bypass the preamp altogether
i think according to the schematics there is no bright cap on the normal gain pot, but it sounds really bright with lower gain settings in your video.. so is there a bright cap over the normal gain pot also (like over the overdrive gain pot)?
@Marathonmarch Dude, this is not opinion, it's expirience. Like I said, I've played with the V32 for 2 years in a metal band wit no problems with being heard, ever, and I never had to push the amp past 6. Are you using any of the amp modeling for your crunch/lead tone? Because that right there will kill your ability to cut through the mix
Just out of curiosity...will the foot switch take this amp from sparkling clean to full distortion with a just a press of the channel selector (like stepping on a distortion pedal)...or do you still have to mess with the controls?
@@FrankZen Its not as Marshall sounding through a Couple Scumbacks / Greenbacks but with a couple really small mods it's a 20 watt JCM 800 with tons of Gain!
I think some of you have it all wrong. If you are going to have your amp hooked up to a PA system, the wattage does not matter. It then comes down to the type of sound you want. If you want super clean, a lot wattage amp usually will not cut it, PA, or not. Otherwise, getting a nice overdriven sound out of a low wattage amp sitting behind a good microphone might be preferred.
yeah, thats what I meant was for live or just jammin out as opposed to computer use. Sorry, should have been more clear about that. I guess most people would just buy profiles because they couldnt access the original equipment. I hope those profiles arent pricey. very cool of you to upload yours as you are obviously extremely discriminating when it comes to tone. your tone is shweet! oh and what gauge strings you use?
Sounds different with a specific OD. More articulate with my SD-1, more meaty with my TS-808. This amp kicked my 5150 from my main rig. It has the "roar" the 5150 can't have - during my last gig, the sound guy told me to turn my 5150 down - it was on 2. Imagine it on 1.2 xD This is a very good live amp for gigs for 200 people or less. Full on metal, I should add.
That's a very expensive piece of equipment, and I don't know how used to it I could get. I get really stuck on being able to mess with my sound drastically by swapping a 12AT7 in to the driver, putting a large-plate in V-1, and in EL84 amps I LOVE using 7189's for high-gain "chug"....I tried "Revalver" and "AxeFX" and the results sounded pretty good w/AxeFX, but it didn't feel the same while playing, and I'd have to have a power amp anyway, tube amp feedback is one difference I always notice.
I got the JCA20h instead. I didn't want a lot of gain, and I've always wanted a simple, one-channel amp, so it really works. Also... An all-tube 20W head for only $249? I couldn't pass it up haha. So far I love it. I'm pushing an Epiphone Les Paul Custom through it currently (all stock).
2019 & this demo still rocks. What an absolute killer, great "walk through" showcase. The clean channel alone is so very under rated. A good player like Drew shows all the variations it possess & works it so good. This is always my go-to video for 22H references. Great sounding amp, great sounding player.
ADDITIONAL 06/27/2019...about to pull the trigger on a JCA. G.C. has all JET CITY gear on sale, 15% off for 4th of July. I've watched countless videos on 20H, 22H, Custom 22H, 50H, 100HDM & 100HDM LTD(EL34). And it frustrates me to see 95% of the videos addressing "metal". And many go on to complain about the fizz/fuzz sound or the fact that it "won't get the sound of X band on X song". Drew shows you here how versatile this simple circuit is in the hands of a *PLAYER* who knows how to use amp like an instrument. He's not a palm muting chugger who turns all pregain controls to max & thinks down-stroked 2 note chords rule & then wonders why it sounds muddy like 95% of the other demos. I wish Jet City would go after world class pro players to demo their stuff to counter this metal brained culture that's trying to find some super mega uber amp for less than a grand then bitches about it when they don't. Head to the playground, children.
Thanks for all your videos of this amp. It helped me decide to get a Jet City JCA2212V combo that came with a V30 speaker. Awesome amp and the overdrive is just killer. I put a 12AT7 in V1 to help tame the crunch channel a bit for a little more cleans and also to help tame the overdrive channel a little since I play mostly blues and blues rock. Sounds killer so far. I hook it up to a Fender DT112 cab with a WGS Liberator 80 speaker as a mini stack and the 20 watts will keep up with a drummer no problem for smaller gigs. Now I'm just trying to figure out the best tubes to put in V2 and V3 to give the overdrive just a bit more clarity and brighten it up just a touch, but so far it's an awesome amp. Thanks again!
I bought a Jet City JCA100H more than 10 years ago thanks to you. Doug did well with finding the right person to advertise its products. After selling it as moving out, I bought some more recently to mod them as they are cheap and simple to mod. What a great buy and a fun amp to mod/play. Thanks man!
Awesome man. Yeah I still have my 100H but about a year ago loaned it to a friend I used to play with as he fell on tough times and needed an amp. He's running it through a splawn 2x12 with creambacks and it sounds awesome.
@@FastRedPonyCar Cool to hear you have kept one even though it's your friend who is enjoying it currently (nice from you BTW).
I am running mines with my Mesa cab equipped with V30s. I remember seeing those Splawn cabs and amps in your vids and always wondered how good they were.
I'll see if I can get the chance to try one at some point.
Thanks again. Take care man!
@@PhuketMyMac The guy borrowing my JCA100 actually has a splawn 2x12 with 65w creambacks and it sounds SO good. I still have my splawn 4x12 as my main recording cab at the house and is what I plug into for all my videos. My main gigging cab is the Whitebox 2x12. It's been super reliable but the basket weave grill needs to be replaced. I have a pair of Scumback speakers in that.
Great review FastRedPonyCar! I have bought this amp based on your film. But after a few gigs with my band (loud heavy rock) I can disagree with your comments regarding the stage volume of JCA22H. It IS easily loud enough for live performance. In a club with a PA I had master at about 3 (on the scale). That was just right for the sound man. Last gig I was not miced, just my Laney 212 cab with C70/80. Only drums and voc were miced. 3.6 on the master scale and the sound man asked to not turn up the volume any more.
Other musicians I play with use 100 watt amps so a 20 watt amp in comparison will get buried.
FastRedPonyCar Yes, it can easily be done if you get loose with stage volume. But from my experience 90% of sound guys would not let you do that. Not even close. All 100 watt tube amps I have seen on stage were set at 20-25% max. More than 10 years ago it had sense but now, with all the PA stuff, it is just waste of power and extra weight to carry.
I'm reminded of how much I love your videos!
Lot to be said for an amp that can do a session all by itself, clean to crunch to a nice thrashy old-school kinda high-gain, a slab of wood with passive pickups, straight in.
I could record 80% of my guitar tracks with this amp, a tele, a hot single-hum strat, and a 2x12 with a V-30 and a T-75. Couple decent mic's, and that's it. Got the whole thing covered with a guitar in to the amp. It's a "Swiss Army Knife", but still with very simple controls.
Great video, very helpful. Glad you stuck to similar licks throughout so I could see progression in the saturation.
A new JJ tubes put in mine 12 at7 in V1 nothing else required big Improvement on the first channel cleaned up quite a bit. I run it 112 cabinet JBL k120 that's all I've gigged with for 1 1/2 years with a loud drummer and bass player it's all I need
6:45 "Alright that's the clean channel."
LOL
super clean
Excellent way to demo an amp , bro ! Good playing . I want one now . Sounds superb .
Just played one at my local music store! Sounded awesome!! I couldn't believe how loud it was for only 20 watts.
Wow this amp is exactly what I am looking for, came out just in time. You make it sound great Drew.
I'm honestly about to get one of these amps thanks to your video.
It's actually very impressive in terms of how "real" it feels. It's good enough to fool me. I don't even use my amps at home any more. The kemper (once the amps are profiled) basically gives me my ideal recorded tone of any of my amps without upsetting the wife or neighbors. Not only that, it's power section and character controls allow you to manipulate the sound in so many more ways than the actual amp itself allows.
It's one of the few "modeler" products that lives up to the hype
the el84s do not automatically bias. this amp is not cathode bias it is fixed bias like any el34, 6l6 amp and etc
That intro was P E R F E C T.
Nice demo! How does this stack up to the Orange Tiny Terror or Dual Terror for that mater?
22h great head been using it for a year now change out the first 2 preamp tubes for a couple of JJ's there's nothing more needs to be done. It's the only amp I have gigged with since I got it any size room clean or dirty it's perfect for me at least so I bought a second one. No problems getting over the drummer even unliked go Jet City.
Great video Drew. Can't wait to see the next one on this amp.
Sounds like a tube amp. Nothing less, nothing more. Just great!
This video sold me on this amp head ! Thanks for uploading. I'll now subscribe and start saving for this head haha. You are very good by the way. One of the more helpful demos out there, for me anyways.
So I ordered one greatly because of this demo
O_O
Wow
no that's the thing. The kemper FEELS real. it reacts to the picking and fretting dynamics/pressure/picking attack, etc just like a real amp. It's what has been missing from every modeler I've ever used (including the axefx) up until now.
Great demo! and always enjoy your playing!!!!
Probably already noted, but your video is on Jet city's website. Nice demo.
I appreciate this demo alot, nice to actually see what the amp can do instead of the player...(not that you aren't good by any means!) I am impressed with the gain from this little thing, and for the price, I think it will compliment the Jackson DK2S I am getting :)
Thanks!
you can get similar sounds out of each one but the biggest difference between the 2 is that the 22H is a 2 channel amp meaning you can use a footswitch to jump from clean to overdrive. The orange is just a single channel. If you want to go from high gain to clean, you have to roll the guitar's volume knob back which may clean it up some but not totally.
Thanks for this video, I was dead set on getting an OR15 until I watched this. Now I'm not sure.
I'm still developing my ear for tone so I'm not sure I can correctly describe the differences between the two amps; BUT to me the JCA seems brighter and more articulate with the higher notes. Said from the OR15 side it seems to sound a little fuzzy(not a bad thing)
Have you played an OR15? Can you describe how these amps sound different to your ears? Is it possible to get that OR15 tone with the JCA?
Well..... I just sold my HT-20 for good money. My JCA 22H probably will come my way in early August. Just can't wait to hear it with my own ears. But when i have it, i will post a foto on they're Facebook page with a thank you for FastRedPonyCar. But for that i would like some cool settings and/or tips. Thanks already.
Such a great player and tone. Nice guitar by the way.
@chickenlittleify gain on the 22H is a little tighter/cleaner and (not shown in this vid) if you raise the clean channel volume really high and then slowly lower the preamp gain from 0, it will stay squeaky clean but be very loud. That's kinda how the soldano "clean" channel's operate.
I just bought a 20h (not realizing there is a 22h) and I rewired my 2x12 cab for a 16 ohm series config.. Now, I was not happy with the overdrive right away.
Somewhere between 3-4 the sound just gets extremely fizzy. BUT - hold the phone. I cranked the master up to 9, took the overdrive down to about 2-3 and added in my tube screamer and holy crap it sounds great. Extremely clean without the TS. Oh yeah,,,,,I fed it with a Les Paul Classic. I'm very happy with the amp - as is!
@FastRedPonyCar Thanks for the reply! I went ahead and ordered the JCA20H just because it's cheaper and simpler (college isn't free haha). Also, I liked the tones you were getting in this video before you switched to the hi-gain channel, and from what I've read online, the lo-gain channel on this amp is basically a JCA20H.
Also, I know it doesn't have a loop... so would throwing a reverb pedal in front of it muck up the signal too much to be cranked?
Thanks.
yeah separate gain/volume controls for each channel means no messing with knobs switching back and fourth.
@natrat51 yeah but you don't need a boost to get Vai type tones. the FX loop is good on this amp and seems to like line level pedals more than the 50 or 100H.
great sounding demo
@ThePowrWithn from what I've read, the 22h has a slightly more forgiving loop but even still, the 100/50h loop is fine. It's just line level which means it's made ideally for rack units but still MOST pedals but not all will work in the loop. i've yet to hear a pedal that wouldn't work in the 22h loop.
there's a running list in a dedicated forum thread over at the harmony central amp forum where JCA owners can say what works and what doesn't.
love that Tokai! neck pickup is not at all muddy. not familiar with sheptone pups, guess I'll be getting on yet another mailing list. lol
that was actually a fast 12 minutes, good demo!
yeah, believe it or not, my Fender Mustang floor unit through a tube head gives me the best feel I've ever had from a modeler. I could never use a modeler before but now I can. Granted, the difference in tone quality is likely huge between a $300 modeler and the KPA but its such a revelation to use a modeler that isnt disappointing when it comes to feel. So you prefer to use the jet city to power the KPA? I suppose you still need tube power amp for good tone any feel?
@BPKeeper88 thanks man. you know they have a higher gain hotrodded version coming soon? It was unveiled a few weeks ago at NAMM. If you're wanting to do higher gain/metal with the amp, I would consider waiting to see how that one stacks up. I'm hoping I can get one to do an A/B comparison video.
Congrats man! I still play mine quite a bit too! Killer little grab and go amp to jam with a buddy!
Just found this vid, I know its pretty old, but I see some fairly recent comments. I have an Egnater renegade head, and its awesome, but I like the crunch on this amp better I think, its a little more of that Marshall snarl where my Egnater is smoother, and "Boutique-Y". I prefer a little more nasty-ness, haha. Sounds great man, cheers!!!!
Thanks for the demo really sounds nice - I am looking at picking one of these up and wondering if the newest version they have is comparable spec wise. Also, what type of tubes did you switch to in the pre-amp?
Stock power tubes. V1, 2 and 3 were ruby HG's I believe.
my best tip is to get a big loud clean channel sound, set the preamp for the clean channel very low and crank the master for that channel. Use the preamp control as the clean channel volume knob.
BEST REVIEW OF THIS AMP!
Hi Drew. Thanks for the tip ! I just love this amp !
One of the only good demos I've seen.
@DaveyD327 cool. yeah there are also a lot of mods that can be done to the 20h to improve or change things if you ever want to do that. It's a good time to be a musician with all this inexpensive tube gear on the market.
@DaveyD327 yeah the clean channel with the gain knob pushed will really deliver that type sound. the lead channel is more or less rock and modern rock only.
If you need less gain or an amp more specifically for blues, check out the egnater rebel 20.
What speakers are in the splawn cab? Eminence? That head sounds great!! Going get one at some point this year!
Great demo, it's a toss up between this amp and a vintage modern for my next amp? How would you say they stack up against each other?
Wow, from here it's a great sounding amp for the price. Doesn't APPEAR to be overpoweringly loud either. I'm going to have to go try one.
@maneatingtoilets Because of an added drive channel, the legendary soldano lead overdrive, which is made possible thanks to two extra 12AX7 tubes thrown in the preamp. It's rare to find a $399 head that'll pump that much gain without crappy fx. It's a well rounded package that can cover a very broad range of tones, that's why it's $150 extra.
@FastRedPonyCar Nice, would a boss overdrive pedal help the 20h out a bit? I play metal for a band but i would love to have one of these and 1x12 for the house or practice.
Thanks to your demo,I just bought this amp on E-bay. I just love it, but when I use the effects loop, I lose significant volume. It also seems to drain the batteries in the pedals. Do you have these problems? Any suggestions? Great demo. thankx Swayze
I just bought this from your review.
I own :
Mesa boogie F-50, Mesa boogie Studio .22+, Mesa boogie DC2
Laney IRT60 112
Vox AC15C1, AC15CC1, AC4TV 10” and 8”
Fender Champ Red knobs
Hey, great review and playing. I have the combo version, and the more I listen to this, the more I realize the stock speaker is crap. Totally shrill, especially the OD channel. I am thinking of replacing it with a Vintage 30 or a G12H30. Any ideas?
Scumback if you can swing the $$. maybe find one used. I bought all my scumbacks (except for the H75-LHDC) used. To me, they dish out the ideal celestion sound that celestions can't give me. I have 2 different pair in my splawn cab and another one with a V30 in my whitebox 2x12. LOVE EM.
All I use 22h for the last year-and-a-half with a JBL k120 or celestion Sidewinder in a 1x12 cabinet don't even use 212 cabinet anymore maybe one day ? right now I'm light and loud I see no reason for anything else any size gig I have NO TROUBLE keeping up with my loud ass drummer bass player and other guitarists whatsoever.Tone volume it's all there I'm more than satisfied with the clean Channel with a tube swap dirt channel unbelievable I own fenders Marshalls bad cats all great amps. I'm my own roadie in a working band and finally found a great tube head that don't break my back 22 lb & 30 or 35 lb 1 x 12 cab no reason to ask for anything more ! effects Loop works great can't say enough good things about this 22h so I bought a second one still in the box life happens I want a backup if it disappeared no quality issues at all. love this amplifier giving in and selling a boatload of amplifiers thank you Jet City.
thing sounds nice, need to try it somewhere. excellent demo btw!
@theoffspringrox77 yeah the clean/normal channel on this amp is the same as the 20H. The lead channel on the 22H is sort of like that on the 50/100H.
dude great demo...... very nice tone in that amp, what about a footswitch? is it included????
great sounding amp. I laughed when you said that was the clean channel. How much gain does an amp need??? you can hear those power valves working nicely on the "clean" channel
@Squingelio yeah this amp's overdrive absolutely destroys the tweaker but the tweaker has a bit more clean headroom. I think it sounded best cranked clean with a good overdrive. I would take this over a tweaker any day. The rebel 30 or rebel 20 are better competition.
@FastRedPonyCar I haven't seen the schematics, but from the feature list it does seem so. I'm considering getting one of these as a home/spare to my 50H...when they finally arrive in the UK ;) By the way, which speakers are in the Splawn cab?
i fell in love with that sound o,O
not sure if you remember but did you have to change the any tubes to get your sound or is it your pick ups maybe. I just got one of these heads but when I crank it up on both channels it gets really harsh. Both my son and my guitar have mediocre humbuckers so I am pretty sure that comes into play. I played it cranked up to about 5 or 6 on both channels and had to put the presence @1 bass @ 2 and treble @1 because like i said it was just way too harsh and high pitched. I got it used at Guitar Center so i have about 42 day's left to see if I like it.
yeah the preamp tubes need to be swapped. I used a set of ruby HG's.
The biggest thing that will affect the tone is the speaker cabinet and speakers. send this amp into a marshall 2x12 cab with a pair of greenback celestions and it'll really impress. pair it with a cheap cab and speakers and you'll get a cheap tone.
I have a 4x12 with (2) Vintage 30's and (2) G12t-75's in an x pattern
Thanks for the response
My JCA50h its full stock and have a really anoying hi-end. My treble and presence its around 3!
part of that is the low quality caps used to keep the cost of the amp down and another part is actually the low quality potentiometers. The caps are easy for any decent amp tech to swap out for higher quality ones and although the pots are soldered onto the PCB, they aren't too difficult to remove if you (or your tech) is comfortable pulling the board out.
Other than that, you can sort of smooth out the top end with better preamp tubes. You can usually find RFT brand NOS ECC83 12ax7 tubes on ebay for $25 each and they do a good job of smoothing the top end bite. I've got a couple and really like them.
I am asking because the KPA doesnt not have its own amplification right? so despite its yummy goodness, it still wont feel/sound great through a solid state amp correct? so what amp do you find to be the best? 6L6 amp? EL84? etc. Peavey rackmount amp like a classic 60? If you're going to be bypassing the preamp all the time, no need for anything but a power amp right?
@skunizzi This one is a pre-production unit they sent me to record demos and sales media with. A few stores are getting them in. They're in really high demand so they may be scarce for a while.
@chickenlittleify why not get the 50 watt head? will you be playing with a band or just jamming at home?
but you still use a tube amp for power with the kempler right? You HAVE to to get the feel and response. If you didnt, that would be sweet. so how do you do that?
yeah don't run overdrive pedals through the loop. run them into the main input of the amp. only use time based effeects in the fx loop such as reverb/delay/chorous/etc.
This little amplifier sounds so fuckin' nice!
Sweet tones and playing dude! If I should say one thing it would be: work on your vibrato a bit. Pete Thorn has a great vid on his channel about it.
Anyway, this amp rocks. I'm returning a TC Nova Drive and might get this instead .. (a mediocre pedal for a great amp .. talk about value)
@ThePowrWithn not really. you need in my opinion a minimum of 30 watts to be heard cleanly with a full band.
Can this amp produce that sort of bluesy, warmer tone without being too dry or too bright sounding? I am thinking about buying it because it's affordable and I like its higher gain, but I want something that I can still play some slower blues stuff on.
Thanks
nice amp! I have a tokai love rock myself ahaha and I'm probably going to be purchasing this head fairly soon.
Hey Drew, so you were running the head thru your Whitebox cab? Sounds great. I guess it just looks good on the Splawn. LOL I might get busy one day and put one of the Vintage 30's in my Egnater 2x12 Cab just to see what it sounds like. I didn't know you played Bass also. Nice demo.
I love your sound of jet city application! I have JCA50h/marshall box loaded with celestion v30. What kind of pickups will you suggest me to get similar sound as it's in your tokai/sheptone BK-signature - is there any DIMARZIO or SEYMOUR Duncan or Bare Knuckle pickups that sounds similar like your shepton BK because in Europe shepton is not available as Duncan's and others. I'm just looking for good rock harmonic sound-like that in mahogany body LP type.
Please give me some good advice.
@Linqua2112 yeah the power tubes have the sino logo on them (now that I see that's what the S is for) and I'd assume the 12ax7's are the same.
I've owned a jet city jca20h, it's little brothers. I didn't really liked it and I bought a tubemeister. The tubemeister is very versatile and sounds like a beast :D
aapddd how did u like the tube eister
@marviosantos No you are wrong I also use a blackstar dual and an eq occasionally and the result is the same. The tonelab sounds fantastic by the way and I run it directly into the effects return so there is no tone suck happening since I bypass the preamp altogether
i think according to the schematics there is no bright cap on the normal gain pot, but it sounds really bright with lower gain settings in your video.. so is there a bright cap over the normal gain pot also (like over the overdrive gain pot)?
good demo on the GAIN,, fun amp.
@AaronJewettHimself thanks man. glad you enjoy them.
@Marathonmarch Dude, this is not opinion, it's expirience. Like I said, I've played with the V32 for 2 years in a metal band wit no problems with being heard, ever, and I never had to push the amp past 6. Are you using any of the amp modeling for your crunch/lead tone? Because that right there will kill your ability to cut through the mix
Just out of curiosity...will the foot switch take this amp from sparkling clean to full distortion with a just a press of the channel selector (like stepping on a distortion pedal)...or do you still have to mess with the controls?
VERY Nice man. i lloved the amps distortion.
do you have any metal high gain videos of this amp ? i would love to hear and see one.
Thanks
JP
Nice Review and well played!
Question: Did you change the BIAS or something else? Or is it stock? Thx a lot man and keep on rocking!
All but the 1st 2 preamp tubes are stock and bias is stock. I think the preamp tubes were ruby HG's.
Thx :-)
Would this be a good amp for some Steve Vai lead tones, if you were to put an Ds-1 out in front, with some effects in the loop?
awesome vid man, love the Jet CIty Stuff, I think this is the one to buy for home use and recording
@Metalhead121396 6L6's won't fit in EL84 sockets. EL84's use a smaller 9 pin socket that only they can use.
Sounds a lot like a Hot Rodded JCM 800 to me.
Yes my thought was that it's very "Marshally"...
@@FrankZen Its not as Marshall sounding through a Couple Scumbacks / Greenbacks but with a couple really small mods it's a 20 watt JCM 800 with tons of Gain!
Tim Stanley "scumback" might be the best name I ever heard ^^ thanks for making my day
I think some of you have it all wrong. If you are going to have your amp hooked up to a PA system, the wattage does not matter. It then comes down to the type of sound you want. If you want super clean, a lot wattage amp usually will not cut it, PA, or not. Otherwise, getting a nice overdriven sound out of a low wattage amp sitting behind a good microphone might be preferred.
yeah, thats what I meant was for live or just jammin out as opposed to computer use. Sorry, should have been more clear about that. I guess most people would just buy profiles because they couldnt access the original equipment. I hope those profiles arent pricey. very cool of you to upload yours as you are obviously extremely discriminating when it comes to tone. your tone is shweet! oh and what gauge strings you use?
Preamp tubes V1 and V2 I think were ruby HG's. Other than that, the rest were stock (still are in fact)
Sounds different with a specific OD. More articulate with my SD-1, more meaty with my TS-808. This amp kicked my 5150 from my main rig. It has the "roar" the 5150 can't have - during my last gig, the sound guy told me to turn my 5150 down - it was on 2. Imagine it on 1.2 xD
This is a very good live amp for gigs for 200 people or less. Full on metal, I should add.
hi nice video! do you think this amp could do stuff like that without boost?
That's a very expensive piece of equipment, and I don't know how used to it I could get. I get really stuck on being able to mess with my sound drastically by swapping a 12AT7 in to the driver, putting a large-plate in V-1, and in EL84 amps I LOVE using 7189's for high-gain "chug"....I tried "Revalver" and "AxeFX" and the results sounded pretty good w/AxeFX, but it didn't feel the same while playing, and I'd have to have a power amp anyway, tube amp feedback is one difference I always notice.
Stock tubes or replaced? Love your demos btw.
I got the JCA20h instead. I didn't want a lot of gain, and I've always wanted a simple, one-channel amp, so it really works. Also... An all-tube 20W head for only $249? I couldn't pass it up haha. So far I love it. I'm pushing an Epiphone Les Paul Custom through it currently (all stock).