New amp advice

[kellar]

Thanks Dave. I was leaning on the JCA50 half stack version from the beginning, much cheaper than some of the other amps I was looking at as well. Talk to me about the cleans and lower gain applications such as blues. Sounds like a pretty versatile amp based on what you say.

[dave_mc]

^ (dmoney) yeah i mean i tried the avenger ages back, and while the jet city isn't as good, it's in the ballpark. you'd know it was based on a soldano, kind of thing. the jet city doesn't have the depth mod... there's a dearer one but i haven't tried it. And yeah, i mean you can obviously alter the tone etc. to a certain extent, but i just mean that the vibe it gives off without some tweaking is pretty 80s- it's pretty bright (though it's a lot smoother and more refined than a hot-rod marshall type of thing- it has one foot into the more modern high gain camp, kind of thing).

Also check my edit in the above post, i edited in some more info about blackstar for you. :)

^ versatility is the problem. You can dial in a sorta dirty clean type tone on the normal channel, but it's not amazing. i guess you could play classic rock ok, but it's not its forte.

it's versatile in that it can do hard rock through to modern metal, but it doesn't have great cleans and the lower gain drive tones can be a bit thin.

as i said, some of the other ones (allegedly) do the lower gain thing a bit better, but then (also allegedly, as i said, i haven't tried them) they don't seem to have the high gain capability the jca50 and 100 have.

actually... what might be worth pointing out is, if the Jet City is well under budget (and sounds as good to you as the dearer high gain amps), it might be an idea to look at some other amps as well. For example, combine the jet city with a fender blues junior or peavey classic 30 or traynor ycv40/50 or something like that (or a clone of a marshall 18 watter or fender deluxe or something like that- as far as i'm aware there are several good value companies in the US making amps like that, though I haven't tried them so have no idea what they're like). Even super expensive multichannel superamps like the bogner ecstacy and engl se rarely do everything perfectly, because there are so many differences between different amp designs (not to mention cab and speaker design)- often two good amps aimed specifically at the tones you want will do those tones better than a much more expensive multichannel superamp will. So that's worth bearing in mind, I think.

[Dmoney]

cheers for those edits.

I agree with everything you say about the soldano style lead circuit. I don't know why the JC amp with the depth mod costs much more. It's a pretty easy mod I think. I've never played a hot rod, although the Avenger is built on the hot rod PCB.
How is the clean if you crank the clean channel master volume and then alter the level more with the preamp gain?
I own a real loopless SLO100 now in addition to the Avenger. long story. It is however... a beast! (still, one foot in the 80's kind of beast!)

I just peeped the Jet City site. I dunno about the JCA22H. The 50H, 100H and 100HDM are going to be the best bet for what you want.
also... check out this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=253bPoC6ISw
its basically a cornford MK50 from what I can make out, though it isn't on the site.

[kellar]

So staying on the Jet City kick (since this is where it has led me), the JCA 50H paired with the 2x12 cab looks nice but I did notice that they have a 50 watt combo version with 2x12 speakers and reverb (which was missing from the other versions). Hmmmmmm...........

Also, that Line 6 DT50 is still bugging me.........

And, has anyone taken the Eganter 65 watt Renegade for a spin?

[itamar101]

So staying on the Jet City kick (since this is where it has led me), the JCA 50H paired with the 2x12 cab looks nice but I did notice that they have a 50 watt combo version with 2x12 speakers and reverb (which was missing from the other versions). Hmmmmmm...........

Also, that Line 6 DT50 is still bugging me.........

And, has anyone taken the Eganter 65 watt Renegade for a spin?

The 50w 2x12 Combo has very little gain on tap... It's not ideal.
As for the Egnater Renegade... I had huge GAS for this for months and a few users here can really put in a good word or two for it. It wont to modern metal without a good boost but it does everything from blues to 80s metal very well. I almost went for it but the Orange TH30 edged it in a "final battle" because the distortion channel was more versatile yet the whole setup was far simpler. I have no need for all of the silly tweaks that people are putting on amps nowadays.

[kellar]

That Egnater Renegade looks incredible. I love the "tube mix" control, onbaord reverb, and switchable 65 to 18 watt option. Looks like a great amp. Now, what cab would I pair it with?

Still waiting for someone to tell me this is a great amp. I think it's down to the Egnater Renegade or Jet City JCA 50H.

[itamar101]

That Egnater Renegade looks incredible. I love the "tube mix" control, onbaord reverb, and switchable 65 to 18 watt option. Looks like a great amp. Now, what cab would I pair it with?

Still waiting for someone to tell me this is a great amp. I think it's down to the Egnater Renegade or Jet City JCA 50H.

It is a great amp, I didn't make it clear but a have played it... three times. I really liked it a lot.
There's an obvious price difference but if you had to choose between the egnater and the jet city there shouldnt even be a doubt in your mind... not to say the jet city is a bad amp... but the egnater is excellent.

[Telerocker]

The Renegade is one of the better Egnaters - played that one in a shop and like it way more then the Rebels - and more versatile then the Jet City.

[kellar]

Alright, pulling the trigger. Going with the Egnater Renegade head and Egnater Tourmaster 2x12 cab. I will give a full review in a couple of weeks. Thanks for your help everyone.

[dave_mc]

EDIT: Cheers for that! I've heard of people swearing their HT5's are all tube. wrong! Yeah, if they had SS effects loops or maybe even reverb drivers and recovery stages or something I wouldn't care. As long as they are designed correctly. I didn't know about any of those things you just mentioned. Cheers.

No problem :)

Yep, exactly- obviously in an ideal world i'd probably rather have tube-driven reverb and fx loop (though i've heard some people say that solid state drivers for those can actually be better... i have no idea :lol: ), but it doesn't stop the thing from being "all-tube" (especially if you can bypass them/turn them off). But solid state amplification/clipping/phase inverter *does" stop it from being all-tube.And if I'm paying the sort of prices associated with all-tube stuff, I want it to be all-tube. Apart from anything, if there's tons of SS stuff in the amp, a cheap all tube 5 watter (like a vht special 6 or something like that) combined with a couple of pedals is probably as tube (maybe more so) than the blackstar, and a lot cheaper, too. plus you can turn the pedals off (so it actually is all-tube), not to mention mix and match pedals to get the exact sound you want.

cheers for those edits.

I agree with everything you say about the soldano style lead circuit. I don't know why the JC amp with the depth mod costs much more. It's a pretty easy mod I think. I've never played a hot rod, although the Avenger is built on the hot rod PCB.
How is the clean if you crank the clean channel master volume and then alter the level more with the preamp gain?
I own a real loopless SLO100 now in addition to the Avenger. long story. It is however... a beast! (still, one foot in the 80's kind of beast!)

I just peeped the Jet City site. I dunno about the JCA22H. The 50H, 100H and 100HDM are going to be the best bet for what you want.
also... check out this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=253bPoC6ISw
its basically a cornford MK50 from what I can make out, though it isn't on the site.

no problem :)

I'm guessing it's a lot dearer because everyone wants the depth mod :lol: It is a shame it's not on the cheaper ones (though i got mine cheap enough that it's not a problem- but if i were paying full price i'd want the depth mod, kind of thing).

i think the jca22 has the same preamp as the 50H and 100H (that's what they say, anyway), though how the el84s affect things, I dunno. But more headroom is normally better for high gain, so yeah, odds are the 50 or 100 watt heads are the thing.

The 50w 2x12 Combo has very little gain on tap... It's not ideal.

+1, it's based on the lucky 13, as far as i'm aware. It's not one of the high gainers. If you want a combo (i think) the 1x12 50 watt combo has the high gain overdrive circuit.

Haven't tied any egnaters- they might be great, I just haven't been able to try them. :)

[kellar]

So I have another question guys (thanks for all the great advice thus far). I have my Egnater Renegade head and 2x12 Tourmaster cab on order and I can barely contain myself. Naturally, I am getting a little ahead of myself but this "metal" stuff is new territory for me so I will ask:

I played around on one and have read ton of reviews and while there is plenty of gain to be had, it borders more on a hard rock voicing and I know I will want an added boost to really achieve the tone I am looking for. Should I be looking for a simple overdrive/boost pedal to use when I need that added "oomph" or go with a metal/distortion pedal straight away?
A few examples of the tones I am looking for: Tool, Alice in Chains, Deftones. Like I said, I have sort of fallen into this heavy metal thing and while it is new for me, I have to say it is fun and very exciting! What are you guys using to push your amps?

[dave_mc]

overdrive

[kellar]

Something cheap like a Boss Super Overdrive?

[itamar101]

Something cheap like a Boss Super Overdrive?

That'd actually work better for those tones that a tubescreamer type overdrive.

[Telerocker]

Or, something like this on the clean channel


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XscZPYKzXIQ