Small 2 channel head

SunDevil

Appreciate there's a fully formed Jet City thread already but I don't want to drag that off topic

I'm looking for views on a head for a 90s pub covers band (Oasis, Shed Seven, Blur et al) - I normally go single channel non-MV but I think I'm going to need 2 channels for this one

Not overly bothered about a loop and have no need for reverb - ideally light, reliable, touch sensitive and cheap

So options

• Jet Cities - but not clear on whether the 22H or the Custom 22 is the right one for the above?
• Laney LH20H
• Marshall 2525
• Others..?

Handsome_Chris

Would a good drive pedal work as well for you?  

Edit: If you've already got the amp, that is?

abw1989

Hughes and Kettner TM18?

http://hughes-and-kettner.com/products/tubemeister/tubemeister-18/tubemeister-18-head/

I have it's big brother the TM36 and it covers a lot of ground in genres. You could even push to the TM36 and stay in budget but it has a few more features you might not need, reverb and three channels.

SunDevil

Thanks Chris - sound suggestion, but I'm not a fan of pedals

I play non-MV amps normally because I love the touch sensitivity and the interaction between the amp and the pickups, so not really keen to go down that route

newi123

The Mesa TA!5 is tiny, light, packs a huge punch and sounds great on both sides. Not many around and difficult to find cheap tho. I keep looking!

Personally I have the JCA20HV head currently, and have done for a few years as a main gigging amp. I know your not a fan of pedals, but with a good drive pedal I`ve found you get much more of the touch sensitivity than with an average quality 2 channel amp - particularly if your using one of the amp channels for gain and it`s all coming from the preamp circuit.  

DrBob

Having briefly owned a JC Custom 22 I would suggest that the drive channel might be a bit tooo much for what you want and you might be better served by the 22H 

boogieman

Depends what sort of tones you’re after I guess. I’ve got the 5w Studio version of the Laney head. Lovely amps, with quite a Marshall flavour to the drive channel. Not massive amounts of gain on tap but it does the classic rock tones very well (think Angus/Kossof levels of drive, maybe a tad more, definitely not metal though). Don’t expect super sparkly Fender tones on the clean channel, but it does have a universal tone control and a bright switch so you can still get a nice chimey clean tone if you want. 

John_A

Engl Ironball. Does everything very well indeed 

octatonic

Victory Duchess.

p90fool

DrBob said:

Having briefly owned a JC Custom 22 I would suggest that the drive channel might be a bit tooo much for what you want and you might be better served by the 22H 

This. 

It's annoying, as the 22H has the better drive channel and the Custom 22 has the better crunch channel. 

I modded the drive channel on my last Custom 22 to be a lot warmer with a lot less gain than stock, which was definitely worth doing if you can be arsed. 

JMP220478

I modded the drive channel on my last Custom 22 to be a lot warmer with a lot less gain than stock, which was definitely worth doing if you can be arsed. 

can you share what you did please ?

p90fool

JMP220478 said:

can you share what you did please ?

According to my notes I changed R17 from 470k to 680k, changed R18 from 470k to 220k and removed C57 which is a 470pf cap across R58. At least that's where I started, but I may have tweaked values a bit afterwards, I can't remember. 

Tbh, the most drastic change to voicing to warm it up is much simpler than that, just snip one leg of C6 and lift it up slightly. That immediately gets rid of the 'bright switch stuck on' vibe and makes it feel less gainy even though it isn't.

Combine that with changing V2 to a 12AU7 and you'll be somewhere near I reckon. 

All different options arriving at a similar place but with slightly different voices. It's fun to experiment on Jet City amps, that's why I love them.