Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Guitars, Amps and Effects => Topic started by: Poetic Justice on October 12, 2011, 10:59:11 PM
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Over the past few months, I've been researching high guitar amps to compliment my Miracle Man loaded Les Paul for sheer metal. Every time I find an amp I get excited for a day, then for some reason, decide to turn back to thinking of getting a 6505 or 5150. Until today...
I came across a amp company called Jet City (Soldano) and found these 2 amps:
http://www.jetcityamplification.com/2009/09/19/jca100h/
and the same amp but with a few extra features for souble the price:
http://www.jetcityamplification.com/2010/09/07/jca100hdm/
I just wondered if anyone has had experience with these amps, and tell me how they compare to amps like the Peavey 6505? I've had loads of people say they're incredible, and the price is spot on (£400). But the funny thing that made me laugh was, even though Bugeras are the same price, people say they wouldn't trust any high-gain amp at a price that cheap, without thinking it's cheap hardware. So beside the fact the amps are designed by Mike Soldano, they aren't made by him personally, but made in the exact same way as Bugera. So the million dollar question is: 'Why are Bugeras apparantly too "cheap" to be a good valve amp?'; but Jet City, even though the same price, are perfect for a valve amp, when they're as cheap as Bugeras? I want you to answer me this honestly, as if you had no idea that Behringer owned Bugera, and Mike Soldano owns Jet City. Because tbh, they are both made in the exact same way.
Btw, I'm not trying to rant on about saying how good bugera is: I'm just really curious. I read a good post in one of the Bugera threads on here just moments ago, which made a great point. Everyone who seems to moan about Bugeras are either people who either: 1) Had the old Bugeras which had the plastic clip (now sorted) or 2) people who have never played one and just 'assume' they're cr@p because they read about the faulty clip, and have no idea they fixed it, or 3) People who are just clearly Anti-Behringer. Everyone else who has one, seems to rave about them being a great amp, when you provide it with a decent tube change. After all ain't they just reversed engineered amps which are made in China, just like Jet City? They feed the schematics into the PC, and 'walla', a machine builds it.
Anyways that leads me back to my main topic, after finding these 2 amps (Bugera & jet City), I'm curious as to what people think of them compared to each other. And if someone could also explain the difference between the 2 jet City Heads, and if they're really worth a £300 price difference? It would be nice to get a good high Gain amp for half the price of a Peavey, lol.
Also could somebody please tell me more about the Soldano Depth Mod? It seems really interestin
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Link fail.
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the 100w Jet City amps retail at £699 afaik.
people trash Bugeras because they've proven to be unreliable out in the real world.
the Jet City stuff seems a little better put together - I'd played the 100w head they make and was very impressed.
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what HTH says.
the depth mod is the same as the resonance control on a 5150.
Jet City is its own company i think. it isn't owned by soldano.
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the 100w Jet City amps retail at £699 afaik.
people trash Bugeras because they've proven to be unreliable out in the real world.
the Jet City stuff seems a little better put together - I'd played the 100w head they make and was very impressed.
Really? i can get the 100H for £400. or are you talking about the 100HDM?
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Also, how do these compare to the 6505?
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it will have less gain, less features. probably hiss less. probably set on fire less.
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it will have less gain, less features. probably hiss less. probably set on fire less.
I thought peavey's where meant to be reliable, not set on fire, lol? And do you think that bit of less gain will really make a difference since I use a Tube Screamer, and tbh, the Peavey has way to much gain if I'm honest
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I was getting 6506 confused with the Bugera numbers. easily done. my comment stands although no, it probably won't set on fire.
If you use a TS and the don't need bags and bags of gain, then it will probably be fine.
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I guess I'll just need to try and find a dealer to go and play one then :)
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the 100w Jet City amps retail at £699 afaik.
Really? i can get the 100H for £400. or are you talking about the 100HDM?
The RRP is £699ish I think, as HTH says. They do get discounted though so you can find them cheaper.
I have a Jet City 20H for rehearsals which cost me £165, and it's a superb little amp. I've checked out the insides and it's very well put together, with a solid build. I've not tried a Bugera, but if I wanted a cheaper valve head I'd buy Jet City any time.
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there are some good deals on ebay at the moment from the jet city distributor (i think twinfan picked one up). I haven't tried them, but the consensus seems to be that they're pretty good for the money. I haven't tried bugera either, but the consensus seems to be that they sound pretty good for the money, but reliability is a bit suspect.
:?
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A key way of saving money in valve amps is to make the transformers smaller.
This uses less steel (which is expensive, and you can't save money on this buy making it in China as you will be buying the on the world market, so it is the same wherever you get it).
Smaller transformers are doubly disadvantaged as not only are they more prone to saturation due to the smaller core, but as there is a small window to fit the windings there is less space for inter layer insulation, and interleaving (a technique that improves high frequency response).
From photos of the transformers in the Jet City amps, they look to be very well specified. I've not seen inside a Buggera so can't comment on the size of the transformers.
I have looked a chassis pics of bothe Jet City and Buggera amps, and would have to say that the Jet City looks better made and will be easier to fix if anything goes wrong.
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My advice would be to save up the last bit and go out and buy a 6505. A jet city is a mighty fine amp. But save up the last bucks and get the real deal. So you have to wait a couple of months.. So what? atleast you get the amp you really wanted :)
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My advice would be to save up the last bit and go out and buy a 6505. A jet city is a mighty fine amp. But save up the last bucks and get the real deal. So you have to wait a couple of months.. So what? atleast you get the amp you really wanted :)
That's true. My brother actually has one, I just wanted to see if there's any hidden gem out there.
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wasn't the 6505 based (sort of) on a soldano?
if anything the jet city might be closer to the "real deal" (not that i care less about that kind of argument, buy whatever you like, just pointing it out)
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wasn't the 6505 based (sort of) on a soldano?
if anything the jet city might be closer to the "real deal" (not that i care less about that kind of argument, buy whatever you like, just pointing it out)
Yeah originally, Van Halen had Soldano mod his Marshall, which Soldano then used as his Slo range. Then Van Halen was endorsed by Peavey, who made the 6505 (5150 at the time). So I think it's a misconception when they say the 6505 is a Slo clone. It's more a Soldano modded Marshall, except Peavey built it from the ground up with Van halen's personal input. I'm actually leaning towards the Jet City now. Me and my brother has come to an agreement on loaning each others amps :) Thanks for all your advice though; was greatly appreciated
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you could also get a soldano :)
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you could also get a soldano :)
oh in my dreams I have, lol. But seeing as I need to buy a new metal amp, 2 new sets of BK pickups, and a small valve amp for my instrumental/prog music; I'm pretty much now a poor man haha.
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well. Dont compromise on the big stuff. its money out of the window, because you WILL WANT the real deal some day. Buy a soldano avenger, they're not that pricy, and sounds $%&#ing AMAZING!!!
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well. Dont compromise on the big stuff. its money out of the window, because you WILL WANT the real deal some day. Buy a soldano avenger, they're not that pricy, and sounds $%&#ing AMAZING!!!
That's exactly why I'm trying to find out as much as i can. Even though I love the Peavey 6505, there might be a better amp out there that, yeah, might not be as metal, but still be perfectly able to replicate them tones but be more versatile. People may say, well just go out and try one at a store; and whilst that is the perfect advice, if i went out and tried every amp I was interested in at a store; the owners would hate me and I'd still be trying out amps until this time in 2015, lol. i'm just trying to find out peoples opinions, as to make my own shortlist so i know exactly what to try when going to certain stores
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wasn't the 6505 based (sort of) on a soldano?
if anything the jet city might be closer to the "real deal" (not that i care less about that kind of argument, buy whatever you like, just pointing it out)
Yeah originally, Van Halen had Soldano mod his Marshall, which Soldano then used as his Slo range. Then Van Halen was endorsed by Peavey, who made the 6505 (5150 at the time). So I think it's a misconception when they say the 6505 is a Slo clone. It's more a Soldano modded Marshall, except Peavey built it from the ground up with Van halen's personal input. I'm actually leaning towards the Jet City now. Me and my brother has come to an agreement on loaning each others amps :) Thanks for all your advice though; was greatly appreciated
oh yeah, that's why i said "sort of". it's not a clone, a 5150 doesn't really sound like a soldano :)
and yeah the avenger i tried was great. if you can manage with one channel it's sweet.
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the 'soldano modded marshall' is probably incredibly similar to the SLO. it has an added valve, which was a popular mod at the time, but the circuit is still very marshall-esque. While the 5150 wasn't a 'clone' so to speak, it definitely has elements in its circuit which were things more unique to soldano, as well as features which related closely to the SLO. The 'soldano modded marshall' I'd imagine, is quite similar to the Avenger minus the Depth control. The 5150 is even further away from a marshall circuit than the SLO is.
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you can get the jet city on this forum in seconds out for around £400 with a unloaded 4 x 12
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nice price! go for it
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nice price! go for it
Yh I messaged him a couple of days ago about it. I'm just waiting for 'Pay Day' :)