Jet City JCA100h Vs Blackstar HT100

[Tawlks]

Apologies for the number of threads.

So, after setting my heart on the Jet City, I've read some reviews and the Blackstar scores better in a lot of them, for the same price, and it has better features.

I'm worried I might be making the wong choice in going for the Jet City. It's great but I was bothered by the lack of features.

 

[Erock]

haven't heard either in person, so can't give an opinion. However, I would never choose an amp based on features, over one you already know you liked the sound of.

 

[Inca Roads]

I own the Blackstar Series One 200
It's a Fantastic amp, I was more than
Surprised! Massive Transformers and 4
KT-88 power tubes, this Fucker can push
some Air!! Blackstar makes a Fine product,
I think Neil Schon is endorsing the Series One 100
Watt version with EL-34 power tubes, no more
Diezel VH4's.

Haven't played the Jet City yet but it looks
like a fine amp too. Probably comes down to
personal preference and what your ear's are diggin'
at that time.

 

[Tawlks]

If it were between the Series One and the Jet City I'd pick the Blckstar probably. There's one on Ebay for £600 but it will have ended by the time I have sold my 5150.

The HT series is their cheaper series, more for less experienced gigging guitarists.

 

[university81]

i'd say the blackstar - they seem more flexible and i like the tone, again i'd suggest trying one out see if you dig the sound, they're good sounding flexible amps in my book

 

[roadifier]

Blackstar. I like the jet city, but I like the blackstar even more, for features and tone. They are both made in china and are the same price.

 

[Tawlks]

I think they're probably about as flexable as eachother, the Blackstar has three chanels, but the Jet City has a huge array of tones by turning the gain knob.

 

[bigangryguitar]

I have an HT-100 and regardless of price it is for me the best amp I have ever played\owned. It has an absolutely killer clean channel, channel 2 can do everything from blues to classic rock\metal and channel three can cover anything from 80's hair to modern metal as well. As with any lower\mid priced amp a tube swap made a world of difference to me. The stock Tad power tubes are dark in this amp as are the Sovtek preamp tubes. Switching to some Tung Sol 12ax7's in the pre and EH el34's in the power section really made this amp come alive for me. The Blackstar is built in Korea but that doesn't bother me. I have had it apart and the build quality is as good as any of the amps I have owned. It also has an emulated out that actually sounds really good for recording\live work. I don't have any clips as of yet (three kids and a full time job will take away a wee bit of free time) but hope to soon. I know a lot of guys that have switched from some high end stuff to the ht series Blackstar and couldn't be happier.

Having said that the Jet City amp has my interest peaked as a second amp and especially something to get with 6l6gc's for a contrast. I honestly don't think you could go wrong with either it just depends on what you like. Really hard to get a feel for an amp from clips, some guys can make anything sound like magic.

 

[Tawlks]

I have an HT-100 and regardless of price it is for me the best amp I have ever played\owned. It has an absolutely killer clean channel, channel 2 can do everything from blues to classic rock\metal and channel three can cover anything from 80's hair to modern metal as well. As with any lower\mid priced amp a tube swap made a world of difference to me. The stock Tad power tubes are dark in this amp as are the Sovtek preamp tubes. Switching to some Tung Sol 12ax7's in the pre and EH el34's in the power section really made this amp come alive for me. The Blackstar is built in Korea but that doesn't bother me. I have had it apart and the build quality is as good as any of the amps I have owned. It also has an emulated out that actually sounds really good for recording\live work. I don't have any clips as of yet (three kids and a full time job will take away a wee bit of free time) but hope to soon. I know a lot of guys that have switched from some high end stuff to the ht series Blackstar and couldn't be happier.

Having said that the Jet City amp has my interest peaked as a second amp and especially something to get with 6l6gc's for a contrast. I honestly don't think you could go wrong with either it just depends on what you like. Really hard to get a feel for an amp from clips, some guys can make anything sound like magic.

Thanks for the info man.

Thing is, I play in a prog rock band, and I need a range of tones, so a three channel amp really sparks my interest, I think the Jet City sounds fantastic, I wouldn't mind owning both actually.

I've heard from people that the blackstar's tone isn't as good as the Jet City, from the clips at least the Blackstar sounds a little thin, what can you tell me about this?

Feature wise it absolutely kills the Jet City, but judging from clips I prefer the Jet City, I fell in love with it when I was playing it. I know you should never buy an amp based on fetures, but it's such a hard choice.

 

[Gsxrbusa]

The Blackstar does metal better than JC.

 

[bigangryguitar]

I have an HT-100 and regardless of price it is for me the best amp I have ever played\owned. It has an absolutely killer clean channel, channel 2 can do everything from blues to classic rock\metal and channel three can cover anything from 80's hair to modern metal as well. As with any lower\mid priced amp a tube swap made a world of difference to me. The stock Tad power tubes are dark in this amp as are the Sovtek preamp tubes. Switching to some Tung Sol 12ax7's in the pre and EH el34's in the power section really made this amp come alive for me. The Blackstar is built in Korea but that doesn't bother me. I have had it apart and the build quality is as good as any of the amps I have owned. It also has an emulated out that actually sounds really good for recording\live work. I don't have any clips as of yet (three kids and a full time job will take away a wee bit of free time) but hope to soon. I know a lot of guys that have switched from some high end stuff to the ht series Blackstar and couldn't be happier.

Having said that the Jet City amp has my interest peaked as a second amp and especially something to get with 6l6gc's for a contrast. I honestly don't think you could go wrong with either it just depends on what you like. Really hard to get a feel for an amp from clips, some guys can make anything sound like magic.

Thanks for the info man.

Thing is, I play in a prog rock band, and I need a range of tones, so a three channel amp really sparks my interest, I think the Jet City sounds fantastic, I wouldn't mind owning both actually.

I've heard from people that the blackstar's tone isn't as good as the Jet City, from the clips at least the Blackstar sounds a little thin, what can you tell me about this?

Feature wise it absolutely kills the Jet City, but judging from clips I prefer the Jet City, I fell in love with it when I was playing it. I know you should never buy an amp based on fetures, but it's such a hard choice.

I haven't played the Jet City yet but I have spent some time with the Soldano Hot Rod's which are very similar. I don't think the Blackstar sounds thin at all and I personally like the Blackstar better than the Soldano Hot Rod's. Actually the Blackstar is thick as hell to my ears. It is an el34 amp so it won't have quite the low end\low mids the 6l6gc based Jet City will but definitely not thin. If you fell in love with the Jet City playing it I would think you should get that. With an overdrive or two you should be able to cover a wealth of tones with a good two channel amp.

 

[bigangryguitar]

I should also mention I think Blackstar catches a little flack for being Korean made. Jet City makes their stuff in China but with Mr. Soldano on board I think it squashes a lot of that bias for them. That is all carry on

 

[Tawlks]

The Blackstar does metal better than JC.

I actually thought the JC had a really huge metal tone and much mroe gain than I expected, but it was loose and beefy, like a recto. (but not like a recto, if you catch my drift)

I really want a nice clean channel, can you comment on that, Tom?

 

[Tawlks]

I should also mention I think Blackstar catches a little flack for being Korean made. Jet City makes their stuff in China but with Mr. Soldano on board I think it squashes a lot of that bias for them. That is all carry on

I actually haven't picked up on much of the flack on here or on HCAF. Seems Jet City gets a load of flack for looking 'lame'

 

[Tawlks]

I have an HT-100 and regardless of price it is for me the best amp I have ever played\owned. It has an absolutely killer clean channel, channel 2 can do everything from blues to classic rock\metal and channel three can cover anything from 80's hair to modern metal as well. As with any lower\mid priced amp a tube swap made a world of difference to me. The stock Tad power tubes are dark in this amp as are the Sovtek preamp tubes. Switching to some Tung Sol 12ax7's in the pre and EH el34's in the power section really made this amp come alive for me. The Blackstar is built in Korea but that doesn't bother me. I have had it apart and the build quality is as good as any of the amps I have owned. It also has an emulated out that actually sounds really good for recording\live work. I don't have any clips as of yet (three kids and a full time job will take away a wee bit of free time) but hope to soon. I know a lot of guys that have switched from some high end stuff to the ht series Blackstar and couldn't be happier.

Having said that the Jet City amp has my interest peaked as a second amp and especially something to get with 6l6gc's for a contrast. I honestly don't think you could go wrong with either it just depends on what you like. Really hard to get a feel for an amp from clips, some guys can make anything sound like magic.

Thanks for the info man.

Thing is, I play in a prog rock band, and I need a range of tones, so a three channel amp really sparks my interest, I think the Jet City sounds fantastic, I wouldn't mind owning both actually.

I've heard from people that the blackstar's tone isn't as good as the Jet City, from the clips at least the Blackstar sounds a little thin, what can you tell me about this?

Feature wise it absolutely kills the Jet City, but judging from clips I prefer the Jet City, I fell in love with it when I was playing it. I know you should never buy an amp based on fetures, but it's such a hard choice.

I haven't played the Jet City yet but I have spent some time with the Soldano Hot Rod's which are very similar. I don't think the Blackstar sounds thin at all and I personally like the Blackstar better than the Soldano Hot Rod's. Actually the Blackstar is thick as hell to my ears. It is an el34 amp so it won't have quite the low end\low mids the 6l6gc based Jet City will but definitely not thin. If you fell in love with the Jet City playing it I would think you should get that. With an overdrive or two you should be able to cover a wealth of tones with a good two channel amp.

Thanks man, yeah. I think how well an amp takes pedals in the loop and up front make a big difference to me, a versetile amp is worthless if it can't take pedals well. IMO. Unelss it can recreate pedal sounds within the amp of course.

I'm judging the thickness of the Blackstar based on clips, I haven't played one yet. Do you know which has nicer cleans? I want an amp that's really versetile, preferably 3 channel but also has a lot of balls and a lot of mojo.

I think it will honestly just come down to whether i like 6L6s or EL34s more. I'm used to 6L6s but I won't let that sway my opinion if I can avoid it.

I'm trying not to let the awesmoe features of the Blackstar (compared to the relitavely crap features of the JC) bias me towards the Blackstar, and base it entirely on tone.

 

[bigangryguitar]

Like I said I have not played the Jet City but the Blackstar has one of the best clean channels I have ever heard on a channel switching amp. It has two modes, one is a real nice boutique setting that can break up nicely when the volume is up and with an overdrive gets some nice AC\DC style chunk. With the voicing in it will do modern cleans that stay clean. Also to mention the Blackstar loop is fantastic, not sure about the Jet City. If you are a 6l6gc guy el34's tend to have a totally different feel to them. I was a devout 6l6gc guy for years until this amp actually. The mid roar the el34's give sits in a band mix so well it's crazy.

 

[Tawlks]

Like I said I have not played the Jet City but the Blackstar has one of the best clean channels I have ever heard on a channel switching amp. It has two modes, one is a real nice boutique setting that can break up nicely when the volume is up and with an overdrive gets some nice AC\DC style chunk. With the voicing in it will do modern cleans that stay clean. Also to mention the Blackstar loop is fantastic, not sure about the Jet City. If you are a 6l6gc guy el34's tend to have a totally different feel to them. I was a devout 6l6gc guy for years until this amp actually. The mid roar the el34's give sits in a band mix so well it's crazy.

What's the other clean setting like? I remember hearing the two modes described as brittish and american, I think I prefer American style cleans, overdrive as well actually.

 

[bigangryguitar]

both are nice warm clean sounds, if you are an american overdrive guy you should buy the Jet City, these amps can get into Mesa type of territory but to me still have a British flavor but to my ears el34's are very much a big part of the British sound.