The Watering Hole

same old boring backing track I'm afraid.

various degrees of "crank" throughout this test, starting with nearly clean.  (also using various push/pull positions on the les paul.)

Definitely should have put new strings on for this as "nearly clean" always sound crap with dead strings.  Anyway gives some idea of the amp.

http://www.mp3.mushroom-farm.com/download/2011/2011-09-08/2011-09-08-173206-jet-city-jca20h-first-test-jg.mp3

Boy the server is kinda slow today, minute and a half remaining and we are only at 25%.

Anyways the amp sounds real good all the way through the clip, I was surprised and pleased with the tone.

sounds pretty good.  Record path?

Here's another go with the germanium4 in front of the amp using various drive and distortion on the germanium and the JCA20H with a slightly dirty sound.  This is my new favourite sound.

On the first clip - I kinda knew it would sound good. Not really a fan of fairly reflective reverb sounds (never have been though, just personal pref)...but in this case it works, makes that amp sound really big, like it belongs with the band - here you'd never know it was this itty bitty thing! Great playing btw, you were cutting it loose at one point.  

Jon — Sep 08, 2011Here's another go with the germanium4 in front of the amp using various drive and distortion on the germanium and the JCA20H with a slightly dirty sound.  This is my new favourite sound.

YES! I like those sounds much more than the straight sound.  I am kinda a huge fan of the germ4...

I liked parts of the straight amp myself, although the Germanium 4 is still very good.

Liked both the clips ! For my tastes, I prefer the amp "as is". ;)

Ciao!
Marco

by the way, in both cases there was no real speaker in the signal chain.  The speaker output from the amp goes straight into the THD hotplate on "load" and then the line-output from that goes into Reaper with a speaker impulse.

Damn. You know, I WAS gonna say I'd "like to hear a little more chew or speaker sag" in my first comment but wanted to keep it all positive since you JUST got the new amp (new gear days are supposed to be all about the love factor, lol). Now I wanna hear it properly mic'd up which I know you've got a great grasp of!

Kabala — Sep 09, 2011
Damn. You know, I WAS gonna say I'd "like to hear a little more chew or speaker sag" in my first comment but wanted to keep it all positive since you JUST got the new amp (new gear days are supposed to be all about the love factor, lol). Now I wanna hear it properly mic'd up which I know you've got a great grasp of!

Yeah, I will give that a go soon.  I haven't bought the cab for this yet, but I will try it using the C30 speaker (using the C30 as a speaker cab only) although I'm not sure how good that will sound as the C30 speaker is not the greatest.  I do have a Celestion G12H but haven't put that into a cab yet.

I think it might work really well with the H30 actually (well, when it's fully broke in).

Kabala — Sep 09, 2011
I think it might work really well with the H30 actually (well, when it's fully broke in).

That's the Peavey C30 not H30 .  (what is the H30 or is that a typo?)

Yeah, my bad, meant the G12H30 - those are great all around speakers IMO, especially when broken in and double especially as a single speaker to mic (as opposed to blending)  :)

Here's a go with the C30 stock speaker.  Sounds really horrible up close so I mic'd this with two room mics instead.

and one more for luck, this time mic'd from the back of the cab with a bit of reverb.    This speaker really sounds too brittle when mic'd from the front.

Nice all the way around.  First clip I've heard that I liked the Germanium.  A lot of the you tube stuff I've seen I didn't care for.  It's all how you use it though.

Jon — Sep 09, 2011by the way, in both cases there was no real speaker in the signal chain.  The speaker output from the amp goes straight into the THD hotplate on "load" and then the line-output from that goes into Reaper with a speaker impulse.

Whatever the case Jon it sounds real good for a relatively cheapo amp.

Jon — Sep 09, 2011and one more for luck, this time mic'd from the back of the cab with a bit of reverb.    This speaker really sounds too brittle when mic'd from the front.

Do you point the mike at the rim of the speaker? or at the voice coil off axis or on axis? I usually put my SM57 one inch from the rim of the speaker pointed exactly at the rim with no angle towards the voice coil. That kind of does away with that brittleness for me. Of course everyone has different tastes.

desertbluesman — Sep 09, 2011[quote author=Jon G link=1315499683/0#16 date=1315582187]and one more for luck, this time mic'd from the back of the cab with a bit of reverb.    This speaker really sounds too brittle when mic'd from the front.

Do you point the mike at the rim of the speaker? or at the voice coil off axis or on axis? I usually put my SM57 one inch from the rim of the speaker pointed exactly at the rim with no angle towards the voice coil. That kind of does away with that brittleness for me. Of course everyone has different tastes.


Off axis toward the cone. I don't like the sound from the centre of any speaker.  The speaker in the C30 is particularly harsh anyway. Might see about about putting the G12H in the cab this weekend....if I get time !

Overall though, this is a fantastic little amp with loads of juice !

Try pointing the mike directly at the rim of the speaker at 90 degrees to the front of the cabinet, about 1" away from the grill cloth. It should be a nice directional mike like a 57 or something like one. I was in a professional recordist studio a long time ago and that is what his advice to me was. It improved my recorded sound a big bunch, although many different locations do many different things, that is my favorite.

So Jon, what is your verdict so far on the Jet City?

I love it.  Only one gripe, can't really get completely clean sounds from it, although I have seen a mod that I could do to fix that. Other than that it's a fantastic little amp.

As I've understood it, the un-modded version isn't designed to be completely clean.  It is basically the lead channel of the Soldano SLO.  

I've thought about snagging this and another head just for cleans.  Hmmm....

Dearthian: — Sep 30, 2011I've thought about snagging this and another head just for cleans.  Hmmm....

(The Mig 50 had GREAT cleans!)

;)

Dearthian: — Sep 30, 2011As I've understood it, the un-modded version isn't designed to be completely clean.  It is basically the lead channel of the Soldano SLO.  

It does get "almost" clean, which is fine for most stuff that I do as I don't really ever use a completely clean sound, but I will do the clean mod as some stage as it is useful to have clean to use it with the type of pedals that sound best on a clean amp.

Can't complain though.  Has a lovely springy feel to it when playing and a good all-round tone.