Jet City.....yes or no?

[Ben Hur]

Found a local Craigslist ad for a Jet City 100 watt head. Guy wants like $500 for that and some so-so rack gear. Seems like a good deal, provided everything works, and I think I can haggle a bit. I don't really need another amp, but I can always flip it if I don't like it. What's the deal with Jet City, is it decent stuff or not?

 

[Chris O]

Decent stuff. Poor man's Soldano for sure. Not super versatile, but if you like the basic tone, it's a killer amp for the price. $500 is too high though. I didn't pay much more than that for a new one.

 

[Ben Hur]

Hmmm. I was thinking $500 was high for just the amp, but he's got a lexicon multi-fx, and a rackmount tuner and a few other things. I was thinking of offering him $400 for all of it and selling what I don't need, perhaps including the amp.

Thanks for the heads up!

 

[tele0123]

Go with the $400 offer ...Those are sweet amps and the extra goodies makes it even sweeter.

 

[ericsabbath]

500 already sounds like a deal for the amp alone

 

[boost]

I've seen a 100 watter on Chicago's CL for $350 before and a BFG modded 50 watter for $450 at one time. I'd offer the guy $350 for the head alone.

 

[racerevlon]

Sounds like some cork sniffage going on here. Jet City is solid gear. I've personally A/B'ed a stock SLO against a stock JCA100H and didn't hear $3K worth of difference, nor did anyone else in the room. Get the best deal possible, but don't dismiss the Jet City before you play it.

 

[JerEvil]

I say no, but basically because anytime I have reached out to Doug, I seem to be the ONLY guitar player in the world he has on his "pay no mind" list. I'd go for the $400 deal. I have played the 20 watt head and it sounds good. Not nearly as good as the Soldano Avenger I had (which I got for $999 new). I definitely heard the few hundred dollar difference.

 

[sahlomonic]

Let me put it to you this way, here is my gig rig:

The blue JCA100H you see there has been gigged with for at least 2 1/2 years now, with zero issues, and I bought it USED.

Can't. go. wrong. $500 seems a bit high unless it is the HDM model. Stock, the 2 channel Jet City amps are very similar in sound to the Soldano Hot Rod+ (Seen more than one account say this, but I can't say personally). Plus, I just performed the Depth and "SLO" mod on my JCA100H, and it basically specs out the caps, resistors, and pots to the same values as what's on a Soldano SLO. Thing fucking rips now.

Some people like to bag on the Jet City stuff because they use PCB, board mounted tube sockets, board mounted pots, etc. However, I want to remind y'all that the Peavey 5150 series that everyone says are built like tanks . . . . also have PCB mounted pots and sockets

Mikey and Doug at Jet City are great guys to deal with if anything should go wrong, or even if you just want to ask around.

 

[OUTLAW1969]

Musicians Friend just had a Jet City 1x12 on their "Deal of the Day" site yesterday, for $399.

 

[Gadzz]

Nooooooo!!!!!

 

[Chris6870]

I find them a little to fizzy for super high gain,but for a classic rock crunch they rock. They have ridiculous amounts of gain available. I really like them with the gain rolled way back. I'd love to try the EL34 models.

 

[robertkoa]

The new Flex versions with 3 Preamp voicings and stored Presets might be cool.

The Demo sounded like they need a Flex 50 for better cleans.

 

[Ben Hur]

Seems like a new flavor I haven't tried yet, and a good deal in the midst of some other cool gear I might like. Worst case scenario I send it off to eBay hahaha. I'm gonna let this guy sit on it a bit before I email him back. See how desperate he gets

 

[bigangryguitar]

Sounds like some cork sniffage going on here. Jet City is solid gear. I've personally A/B'ed a stock SLO against a stock JCA100H and didn't hear $3K worth of difference, nor did anyone else in the room. Get the best deal possible, but don't dismiss the Jet City before you play it.

I can't agree with this enough. The Jet City stuff is 100% soldano circuits just built overseas with some slight changes. I picked up a jca22h a couple of months ago and I am floored at how good it sounds. The build quality is great too, I have spent time with all the Soldano stuff and it definitely hangs. $500 would be too much unless it's the hdm as previously stated. At my last gig I plugged it in for the last set and it kept up with my Budda very, very well.

-Shane