That's it! I'm done with all things made in china!

[GuitarIv]

I'm so pissed off right now.

Just half an hour ago my Jet City JCA50H died on me. Again. This already happened once, shortly after I got it from Thomann.
My Valveking is being repaired right now. Died a month ago for the second time in the period I own it as well.

I know I probably shouldn't really be surprised since both are cheap chinese amps but dammed this is getting ridiculous! All I wanna do is have a reliable piece of gear that won't let me down for the few hours I play it at home. 

I checked my ENGL cab in order to be sure that the resistance is alright. Reads about 7,4 Ohms on 8 Ohm mode and 14,6 Ohms on 16 Ohm mode. Is this normal or might it be the cause for the failing of two amps at once? I don't think that I've blown any output transformers so far since at least the Jet City had a sound coming out of the cab, but it was really weak and died in a few seconds when I strummed the guitar, I had to turn up the volume to hear anything at all. Anyone handy with amps that can diagnose this?

I might send it back to Thomann to have it repaired again as I'm still in the 3 year warranty period but when it gets back I might just as well sell it used. I'm done with POS gear. And yes I know it's my own fault as in you get what you pay for. Yet I'm a poor student so I don't have heaps of cash to invest into some high class gear...

Next surprise I found: I opened up the ENGL Cab and it has Celestion V12-60 Speakers instead of the V30s. It still sounds way better than my Laney with the awful Seventy 80's but that doesn't help to lighten my mood exactly.

Question I have: what would be a good and really reliable piece of gear to jam at home? I'm setting up an Ebay account, selling everything not worth holding on, keeping the high quality stuff and I'll take the cash to buy something reliable and versatile. Might as well just get a dammed Axe-FX.

Sorry for the rage mode. Opinions welcome.

Cheers

[Dave Sloven]

I have always found the American-made Peaveys to be very reliable.  I've seen the Butcher head out cheap recently, I guess they are out of production or something.  They are switchable 50W/100W and uses EL34 tubes.  Depends on whether you like the sound or not.  They are not a high-gain amp like a 6505.  Like a Marshall they need a pedal to get into high-gain territory.  Might be your thing though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdSqrXhJTmA

http://www.australianguitarmag.com.au/2012/04/peavey-buttcher-100-watt-head/

I've heard good things about the EVH amps that Fender makes in Mexico, they are 50W, but I think they are expensive.

I wouldn't go near a Chinese-made amp.  I don't mind the occasional Chinese guitar, but there's less to go wrong on a guitar and if something electrical cr@ps out it's usually just something easy to replace, like a selector switch.  Amps are more complex.

[gwEm]

I'm sympathetic. Theres nothing worse than stuff repeatedly breaking. Especially when its stuff you generally like except for the poor reliability.

Whats your budget? Maybe we can suggest something. If it is in the £400 mark lets say, I'd be looking at a secondhand Marshall DSL50, Vintage Modern or maybe some sort of Orange Terror.

To be honest, an Axe-FX wouldn't be the worst choice..

[dave_mc]

I was under the impression the jet city stuff was pretty well-made, at least for the price. But obviously that's no consolation if yours broke.

I think that probably sounds alright for the impedance, resistance isn't exactly the same as impedance so the reading on a multimeter isn't supposed to be exact.  Though check with someone else to be sure as I can't remember if the multimeter is supposed to show lower or higher than the actual value

That sucks about the engl cab, too. Was it sold as one of the "Pro" cabs with V30s? If so, you were rooked. 

[gwEm]

I checked my ENGL cab in order to be sure that the resistance is alright. Reads about 7,4 Ohms on 8 Ohm mode and 14,6 Ohms on 16 Ohm mode.

That seems pretty normal. I usually find 8ohm speakers read around 7 and 16ohm speakers around 15.

G

[Nadz1lla]

Sorry to hear about your JCA dying mate. Sounds like maybe just a bad one? I've had my modded JCA20H for a few years now and it's been serviced once but that's the only time it's been near a workshop. Touch wood....
Might be worth having a chat with these guys, they usually respond pretty quickly and might have an idea of why this keeps happening on your JCA50H?
http://www.jetcityamplificationstore.co.uk/

I was thinking of getting the JCA100HDM at a later date for gigging as the 20 doesn't quite cut it in a loud gigging / practising environment, as so far I've only had a positive experience. I only had one thing happen that concerned me, but turns out it was the attenuator I was using that was the problem. Soon as I took that out of the chain it seemed dandy.

[Telerocker]

That's bad man. Maybe I can comfort a bit: some of my expensive gear had issues. Only the Rockerverb never lets me down.
Some good suggestions above. I would look at a Marshall Vintage/Modern (takes pedals well), an Orange Dual Terror, or a Peavey 6505.

[ericsabbath]

jet city amps are quite well built
perhaps it was a fuse or tube thing, or just bad luck
I briefly owned a jca20h that's being abused as a band rehearsal studio amp for 4 years nonstop

[Dave Sloven]

That sucks about the engl cab, too. Was it sold as one of the "Pro" cabs with V30s? If so, you were rooked. 

Was the cab second-hand?  If so it sounds like the dude switched the speakers.

[gwEm]

That sucks about the engl cab, too. Was it sold as one of the "Pro" cabs with V30s? If so, you were rooked. 

Was the cab second-hand?  If so it sounds like the dude switched the speakers.

Not sure. I've actually heard about this before.. Engl calls them "60 watt celestion vintage speakers" or something.

[GuitarIv]

AO: I'd love to have a proper 6505 range head, problem is since the € lost 40% of it's value in relation to the $ in the course of one year, all Peavey products new have gotten into price ranges way out of my league. Besides the fact that the 6505 is made in China now as well: http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/4378010-post15.html
Even if I could get my hands on an used American model it would still be way too loud for home use...

The EVH range has it's fair share of reliability problems as well. They might have sorted that out by now, but I read plenty of mixed reviews.

gwEm: There's a JCM 2000 DSL going for 600€ used in a town nearby, might check that one out. Made in the UK should be sturdy.

dave: Yeah, general consensus on the JC stuff is that it's reliable, I might have gotten a dud but considering the fact that I wasn't even moving it around and yet it gives up on me for the second time in 2 years I just feel I wanna get rid of it. It does sound great and so does my Valveking but what use is a great sounding amp if it only works for a short amount of time?

Regarding the cab I wasn't screwed over, a good friend of mine sold it to me used (for a really decent price) and he's not the most knowledgeable guy when it comes to gear, it was just me thinking ENGL cab equals Vintage 30. After doing some research on the matter it turns out that they had Celestion make a special Vintage 60 speaker for some of their cabs, seems to be a cheaper version of the V30. The cab still sounds massive and I won't get rid of it because it's heavy and built like a tank. I could always get some V30s and just swap em out.

I'll be contacting Thomann and the JC is going on a trip to Germany and back. After that maybe I'll sell it, who knows

[GuitarIv]

Unexpected turn of events:

My dad figured out what happened, conspired with my mum and they got me an early christmas/birthday gift: The Marshall JCM 2000 DSL 100 I found online being sold used. I love my parents 

Now what do I do naturally? Fire up the Jet City to exactly diagnose the problem it has so I can give the guys at Thomann a proper report before I send it back. And what happens? The SOB works and sounds totally fine! What the heck?!?

Now I played it for a good hour and for a split second it seemed to me that the volume dropped and came back instantly. No problems after that. Something is definitely up with it, maybe a cold solder joint or a faulty connection, however I'm not sure what to do now...

The JCM sounds awesome and it's the first Marshall I own, really has a special voicing I haven't heard in any other high gain head before. It needs a TS to delve into high gain metal territory but once you're there it's instant Thrash! Very Megadeth sounding and it's response to my playing makes me drool. I'll give you guys a proper review once the honeymoon phase is over.

So what should I do? Send the JC back as long as it's under warranty or keep playing it with my fingers crossed it doesn't let me down again?  I might as well tinker with it to get familiar with tube amps myself as this is something I wanted to do for ages already. Opinions?

Cheers!

[Dave Sloven]

I'd say that you probably have a leaky capacitor in that Jet City amp.

[gwEm]

congrats on the amp!

i've never owned a JCM2000 DSL, but I've used loads of them in shops and at gigs. its never a bad day when you have one of those at your disposal! good solid amp.   

if I were you I would now send back the JC and sell it according to your original plan. then with the money i would directly invest in some more gear and some nice christmas presents to respect the folks for helping you out.

[dave_mc]

Not sure. I've actually heard about this before.. Engl calls them "60 watt celestion vintage speakers" or something.

Yeah Engl's cheaper cabs has those Celestion V60s. I meant if someone sold it to him telling him it contained V30s, he was ripped, because the V60-loaded cabs are a fair bit cheaper. Apparently that's not what happened, though, so fair enough.

dave: Yeah, general consensus on the JC stuff is that it's reliable, I might have gotten a dud but considering the fact that I wasn't even moving it around and yet it gives up on me for the second time in 2 years I just feel I wanna get rid of it. It does sound great and so does my Valveking but what use is a great sounding amp if it only works for a short amount of time?

Yeah definitely. I just said it in passing. As I said above, it's not much consolation saying "they're well-built" or "meant to be pretty reliable" if you've got a lemon.

Great news on the DSL

I'd send the Jet City back as long as it's still under warranty. Point out to Thomann that it's already been repaired and that you expect it to be repaired properly this time. I know I sent back a VHT special 6 to them and they didn't repair it at all- I sent it straight back again and they sent me a new one. So you never know, you might get lucky and they might give you a new one.