Jaded Faith Jet City

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drewiv

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The long awaited Jaded Faith Jet City. Sadly, I did not get a chance to play it last night. I?m still in the midst of unpacking, but this will get played Saturday when I plan on setting up the Man Cave/Gear Room.

Modifications:
1) Mercury Iron.
2) External test points bias adjust. Amp will accept: 6L6, EL34/6CA7/KT66, 6V6, 5881 and 6550/KT88.
3) Tuning of both channels and cap upgrades.
4) Both channels have three-way Bright switches.
5) The Crunch channel has a switch that provides a cleaner setting.
6) The EQ was tuned and a variable Slope feature was added.
7) Adjustable Negative Feedback option on the rear of the amp; this knob allows fine tuning of the power amp.





https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=917865154894566

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=917867678227647

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=917873394893742
 
Very cool. Would love to her some more clips... if and when you have time. Completely understand the new house situation tho. Congrats!!!
 
I just switched from using an RM4 into a Mesa Simul-class 395 stereo power amp to running the RM4 into the loop of a Jet City 50. The loop is before the tone stack and the first time I tried it with the RM4 I thought it sucked. I used the Jet City and RM4 rigs separately for the next year. I recently tried a DigiTech iStomp in the Jet City's loop and found the amp's tone greatly improved. On a lark, I tried the RM4 before the iStomp feeding the Jet City loop and it just buried the Mesa power amp's tone.
I don't fuss with pedals and buffers much, had no idea it could make that dramatic a difference with an amp. I now consider the Jet City without the buffer in the loop to be basically broken. I've had a Voxless for awhile and never really got it to jive with the rest of my modules running through the Mesa. Now it just kills for touch-sensitive grit. I'm calling Rob tomorrow about getting my old base mod Top Boost turned into something new, this Voxless is just nailing it.
 
That looks great, but...I have to ask...
Isn't that like putting a Corvette engine, racing tires and a premium sound system into a Vega?
I guess you've completely gutted it and reworked things a bit.
I know nothing about electronics, I also have no experience with Jet City amps.
I had a Soldano Hot Rod 100+ and I've played through a Soldano/Caswell X99 and a Lucky 13 (all great stuff).
But I though JC amps were cheap imports of Soldanos basic designs.
Am I wrong?
Why wouldn't you rework a higher quality amp?
Is it more fun, more challenging, more rewarding, cheaper?
Just trying to get perspective....
Not looking for a fight.
 
Having owned a Hot Rod 50 before, I can honestly say that JCA's are amazing tone for their price. It won't give you that Soldano magic, but it gets you 85% of the way there, and that their price, it's all win.
I've owned 3 JCA's and have never been disappointed. They not exactly Soldano, but are close enough for budget conscious musicians who want great rock tones in that HR fashion.
 
guitarcomet said:
That looks great, but...I have to ask...
Isn't that like putting a Corvette engine, racing tires and a premium sound system into a Vega?
I guess you've completely gutted it and reworked things a bit.
I know nothing about electronics, I also have no experience with Jet City amps.
I had a Soldano Hot Rod 100+ and I've played through a Soldano/Caswell X99 and a Lucky 13 (all great stuff).
But I though JC amps were cheap imports of Soldanos basic designs.
Am I wrong?
Why wouldn't you rework a higher quality amp?
Is it more fun, more challenging, more rewarding, cheaper?
Just trying to get perspective....
Not looking for a fight.

This is a perfectly valid question. The answer is a simple one. The Jet City is very close to a far more expensive amp like the SLO or a Hot Rod. The bones are very good under the hood. The PCB is excellent and very well done. The chassis is well laid out. All of the beginnings of a great amp are there.

Design choices like economy transformers, cheaper tubes, caps, pots, etc are what keep the cost down to reach a price point. If we are looking to do a massive overhaul with several custom design goals, it often makes sense to do it on a cheaper amp rather than the "Corvette" so to speak. You end up with a custom solution on par with a $3000+ amp for far less out of pocket overall.

For example, this job ran around $1600 for the amp, parts and labor. Doing similar work on an SLO would have easily run upwards of $4-5000 depending on the cost of the SLO provided. The end results are just as good as both my personal Hot Rod and several SLO's I service in the shop regularly.
 
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