JCA 20hv

timmysoft

Ive been looking at these for a while, anybody have real life experience with one?

how gainy does it get? I don't need cleans but I need enough volume for a two guitar band! 

p90fool

I guess it depends on your style. Although I've never tried the 20HV I had a 20H and currently gig a pair of 22 Customs, which all use the same output stage.

I'm in a fairly quiet pop covers band which uses a Flats drum kit, and for me one amp alone is not loud enough, but I need a decent clean tone so headroom is my issue.

If you're the lead guitarist using a fair bit of dirt in a not-too-loud rock band it could be fine though, in fact it may be perfect.

I'd want good monitoring for those rowdy gigs where it all creeps up in volume though - I often run out of headroom using a pair of them. 

newi123

I have a 20hv - like it alot! I play in a one guitar rock band - 70s through 2000s so wide range of material.

Initially I used it with the jetcity 1x12 with their eminince speaker - didn`t have loads of headroon. Changing the power vavles and moving to 2x12 with a v30 and a heritage made a world of difference. Now it`s easily loud enough and constantly gets comments on how good it sounds.

It doesn`t really do ultra clean very well, and it also doesn`t have that much gain! But if your after classic rock, 18w Marshall types of sounds it`s fab. I had a Marshall 1958x before this and find the Jet City sounds really close and has usefully more headroom - tighter too with a bit less sag. Possibly as it has a solid state rather than valve rectifier?  

One thing to mention is that when trying an eq in the loop as a boost for solos it didn`t work very well - so you may need to think if you need a big volume boost in a 2 guitar band for solos.

Personally I tend to run crunchy with a simple boost (SD1 or TS type) and delay in front of the amp.

Hope that helps!