Tell Me about the Jet City 50H/100H

Bad.Seed

Bad.Seed

Well-known member
I just happened to stop at my local shop and they jad a JCA 50H for $300. They gave it to me for $200 out the door.

I know these are based on an SLO, but they're also considered killer mod platforms. How do they sound stock, and who has done any of the popular mods to them with good results?
 
I had a jet city 50 and thought it sounded like ass. I should be getting a Synergy SLO in a week. Hopefully it sounds better.
 
I have a JCA100HDM. I have been planning on modding it for like 2 years now, but just haven't been motivated to do it yet, lol. The main thing is I want to move the loop location to after the tone stack, which I know will be a huge PITA.

I would say it sounds kind of like in between a Recto and a 5150, but way smoother overall. I do like the amp. I don't love it. I think if I could de-smooth it slighty, and make the low end more punchy and less fat, I would love it.
 
No experience with the 50 or 100, but I've modded a few 22h's, and they came out great.
I turn all the 22H's I work on into mini SLO's, and they kill.
The iron is pretty good, and the pcb's are fairly robust. The resistors and caps are pretty good quality too.
You can't buy the headshell, chassis, and iron for what these things sell for used.
That JCA 50H for $200 is an absolute steal. Hell, it was a good deal at $300.
If I ever saw a JCA50 in my area at any where near that price, I'd grab it in a heartbeat and go to town on it.
The other thing that's cool about all the JCA stuff is that all the schematics are out there, and there is also tons of info about mods on line.

The only negative thing I can say about them is they don't really sound that great in stock form. OK i guess, but nothin' special.
 
Well guys, I only got to play through it briefly, but in stock form, it seems uninspired.

Also, no channel switch on the amp? And the overdrive and normal gains seem reversed. It's odd.

Probably gonna take it to my tech for a lookover, but what Mod should I go with if I'm looking for a tighter, high gain sound? I like the idea of the SLO but I want a tighter low end than what I think of the SLO as having.
 
I had 50H and 20H. Its is perfect example how important are trannies and other components. Even with same layout with Hot Rod, it doesnt have enough autority, detail, clarity in band mix and feel like cheap amp (valveking level). Great affordable amp for beginners but it doesnt scratch Soldano itch, if You have played real one.
 
Gower will mod them if you were so inclined. My friend in germany did the epic tones buttersex mod to it. I think I have the doc if you want to try it
 
I had a 100h and it was fun to mod and play around with, they are closer to the HotRod's than SLO' but same vein. In the end the cheap iron really holds back the amp and I let it go..
 
My band's other guitarist has a 100HDM. He makes it sound pretty good, but every time I've plugged into it I've found it uninspiring. It might just be a matter of taste, but I can't get it tight and grindy enough to satisfy me. It may just not be my kind of amp.

One thing I noticed is that the amp gets really weird when you crank the presence. Perhaps most people wouldn't be in the scenario to even notice, but my guitarist sometimes has it up around 9 or 10. It gets really smooth and kind of thin, but not overly so.
 
Ended up selling a couple nights ago, but made this demo video before letting it go. It sounds damn good!

 
Alright fellas. I liked this amp. I wanted another. I found another.

I REALLY would just like to be able to maybe increase the mids and clarity on this thing and it would be a true ripper on a budget. Any ideas how to make that happen?
 

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I got a JCA50 (one of the early blue face models) for £120 locally, sounds cool but I don’t use it that much, my other amps sound better. It’s a bit thin, even with a depth control added, though I do usually play a recto.

they came biased insanely cold stock, mine was at like 7ma, and very harsh sounding. Turning up the bias warmed it up significantly, I think I put it at around 25mA or something, which was still fairly cold, as I thought it got a bit farty when biased hotter.

I wish the crunch channel just had a little bit more gain, as I prefer the tonality of that channel over the overdrive channel, which can get oversaturated easy, and doesn’t stay very tight.
 
Yea i went down the rabbit hole on modding my HD100 and honestly it was a fun lesson but a good set of tubes, biased properly is all you really need to do...
 
I'm a big fan of the Jet City stuff. I have an embarrassing amount of their amps and cabs (and some prototypes). I've been using the 100H and 50H amps for just over 10 years now. The bones of the 50H and 100H really hits the tone I'm after, and I admit they do need a couple circuit tweaks to sound huge, but as said before a good set of tubes and a proper bias can do a lot.

SLO mod is a no-brainer and really takes it to another level. Adding a depth control is another must-have. I have even added a clean/crunch switch as well as a panel mounted channel switch to mine.

One area of concern in my experience is the quality of the pots, and others have had faulty PTs on the 50H. I've had several of the pots die in a few of my JC amps over the years, but it's a great opportunity to do the SLO mod anyways as you're changing 2 pot values and adding another for the depth control.
 
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