Jet City JCA20H Guitar Amplifier Head Design by Soldano (20 Watts)
The Jet City JCA20H is a no-nonsense rock and roll amp. With a single 20 watt channel, the Jet City JCA20H is a serious tone machine.
Overall User Ratings (based on 14 ratings)
Submitted January 17, 2011 by a customer from aol.com
"big tone for little money"
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Sound
this amp has a VERY british tone. i mainly play a les paul with emgs, and i'm hooked up to a peavey 4x12 cabinet. plugged straight into the amp i can get anywhere from an early eric clapton kind of sound to an ac/dc sound. with the active pickups, there is no clean sound, but with passive pickups and the guitar's volume knob rolled back, it's not too bad. with the amp's gain maxed out, it has a good classic rock crunch, but definitely not metal. but it takes pedals well and doesn't need much help to get there. if you want a more american, scooped high gain sound, you'll need an eq pedal. but this amp is made for a classic, british blues sound, and that's where it shines. killer tone.
Features
this is as bare bones as it gets. one channel, no effects. but that also means there's nothing robbing the tone.
Ease of Use
you have 6 knobs: gain, low, mid, high, volume, and presence. i think even somebody that's never used an amp before can figure it out.
Quality
all the quality is in the tone. to keep the cost down, it's not built with high quality parts. but it is put together well, and seems pretty solid. time will tell, but i'll be surprised if i don't have problems with knobs when i get some miles on it.
Value
to get a 20w tube amp with this kind of tone for this price is a steal. i would have considered it at $500. at $250, i couldn't say no.
Manufacturer Support
haven't needed any.
The Wow Factor
this question is ridiculous.
Musical Background:
20 years in garage bands
Musical Style:
blues, rock, metal
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Submitted March 16, 2011 by a customer from lvcomtech.com
"The best money you can spend on an amp!"
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If this was stolen I wouldn't wait more than a minute before ordering a replacement. I did a lot of research on amps, bought a few that I ended up returning but not this bad boy. This one has a permanent home!
Sound
As a lover of tube tone rock, this amp absolutely blew my mind when I first plugged it in. From crystal clear cleans to downright nasty crunchy overdrive, you can get it, trust me. Yes, it's a single channel amp, no it does not have reverb and honestly I don't even miss it. I tried out several more expensive heads and this one is as good as some priced out over $500 easy. And the 20 watts is plenty loud.
Ease of Use
Simple as can be, you have your standard eq, bass, middle, treble, a presence control, and of course the gain and master volume. Plug it in and play
Quality
Seems like a well made, sturdy head. Solid wood case, metallic grate in the back, tolex is tight, knobs seems to turn well, not too loose or anything. I like the metal power/standby switches too, seem pretty solid.
Value
I think the value is outstanding, like I said before, the so called boutique amp heads that will cost you way more money did not impress me as much as this one. Just make sure you pair it with a decent speaker cabinet and you will not be disappointed.
Manufacturer Support
Haven't needed to contact them but in the manual they give you several methods of reaching them should the need arise.
The Wow Factor
Matches well with my 4x12 cabinet. I like the fact that they have interchangeable front baffles so you can change out the colors and I believe they have a metallic style front as well. Pretty sweet
Musical Background:
Active musician
Musical Style:
Rock
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Submitted August 7, 2013 by Bob T in Ypsilanti, MI
"Tube Tone"
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I have had this amp for about 9 months now, and what can I say? It is British tone all day. There are lots of reviews that talk about how great the amp is, it's versatility as a single channel amp, etc. I do believe those things as well, but I think it's appropriate to describe some changes I made that (I feel) made quite a nice difference.
(Warning: this is an opinion. Not fact)
New tubes: The stock tubes seemed "ehh". New tubes = Wow! I was using a 12AT7 in the V1 position for awhile, which really cleaned up the amp but gave me a good amount of gain and allowed me to clean up quite easily with my strat. I have a new 12AX7 in the V1 right now with the 12AT7 in V3. More gain, sure, but I am kind of digging the amount of gain and it's characteristics with the preamp at 12 o'clock.
Cabinet: I originally ran this through the JCA12S 1x12 cab. Not a bad tone at all. Quite nice for a 1x12 I thought. I recently got the JCA24S 2x12 cab... highly recommended. I feel like the 20 watts are really coming to life through the 2x12. Great tone.
Conclusion: Great amplifier for the blues-rock-hard rock kind of player who needs lots of shades of dirt (via volume control on guitar... trust me. It works). Metal? Ehh, can't speak to that as that is not my style. Does take pedals nicely (especially with the 12AT7 in V1 in my experience). Want tube tone? Get this.
Sound
Can't beat the sound at this price IMO. Quite a bit of gain, but gain be dialed back for lovely blues-rock crunch type tones, especially with the mids bumped just a tad.
Features
Doesn't have a tone of features, but I like that. Nothing to take away from the tone. FX loop might be nice, but not having it hasn't killed me yet.
Ease of Use
Preamp, volume, EQ. What more do you need? No, these do not go to 11 (sorry Nigel). Easy to get good tones for lots of situations.
Quality
Took it apart for tube changes. Seems very well built and road worthy. I have traveled with it, and it has been a tank.
Value
Killer value. I haven't found tones this good at this price anywhere (and I have been looking for awhile).
Manufacturer Support
I have emailed Jet City about mods and different things, and they have responded quite quickly. Seem like nice people. I don't have much experience with them beyond that.
The Wow Factor
Plug in, rock out. No gimmicks. No tricks. No crap (except for maybe the stock tubes that aren't fantastic).
Musical Background:
5+ years, leading worship
Musical Style:
blues, rock, Christian contemporary, etc.
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Submitted June 17, 2013 by Jerry Jah in New York, NY
"Decent practice and recording amp"
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I have had this amp for several years - I have the first batch run that Jet City produced when this amp was first introduced. I like the microwave shaped knobs. The amp is very loud - I have it hooked to the Vox Nighttrain 16 ohm single 1 x 12 speaker cab with a Celestion Greenback.
Doesnt have much clean headroom but has a wide range of overdrive from clean to pretty thick. Reacts differently when I hooked it up to a Bogner 2 x 12 - 8 ohm cab briefly.
Not the only amp you would want to own but makes a great extra amp and looks very good. Other offbeat amps I own include the SoCal 50 watt head by Epiphone that was discontinued after several years and the Peavey Windsor 15 watt class A that takes a single power tube so you dont have to worry about matching tubes and also uses any EL-34 type substitute imaginable. I also have a 2004 Fender Blues Jr and a 2012 Orange Tiny Terror 1 x 12 combo. Also have a 2001 Marshall Valvestate 2000 model that cranks 50 watts into a 12 inch Celestion.
Musical Background:
guitarist 30 years
Musical Style:
blues rock jazz
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Submitted October 2, 2013 by matt d in tacoma, WA
"Jca20h with 1x12 matching cab"
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I have owned this amp almost a year now. It has been a lot of fun. You can't judge the amp until you given the time for the speaker to break in and the tubes to break in. I had fun with the stock tubes but swapped them a couple months in. This amp sounds better then this hybrid amp i got for 200 dollars more. This amp sounds better then this tube amp i had 13 years ago that costed almost a grand. It doesnt have an fx loop but you can run pedals through the front. I recommend the amp and excited about Jet city.
Musical Background:
rock
Musical Style:
bedroom jam
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Submitted February 18, 2012 by Steve T in garden grove, CA
"Are you kidding me?"
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If you read & listen to the reviews and the youtube demos, you would think that this was a heavy metal amp. It is apparent that the people who demode this amp were into distortion and didn't realize that the glass shattering clarity that was possible. I own a Blackheart i Handsome Devil also and it's a wonderful amp with rich tone but this amp is a killer working man's tool that when adjusted appropriately will do your bidding. I haven't replaced my Weber 15 watt Blue Dog with my JBL 120 yet and I am afraid to. I think what is left of my hearing will be wallowing in a pool of tinnitus screaming for submission.
Musical Background:
semi pro
Musical Style:
60's rock and roll
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Submitted September 15, 2020 by a customer from webs410.com
"Sounds better than a $200 amp"
Retubed a used one I got that sounded totally flat and lifeless. Used Electroharmonix EL84's and JJ 12AX7's. It's usable for practice and gigs now. Not feature filled but if you need an amp for a few $$$ that will perform, this could be it.No "WOW" factor, but it's better than many $500+ amps I've purchased.
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