NAD - JCA20HV

BigBearKris

Hi all.

I've ordered JCA20HV from Thomann last Friday, finally arrived today and I've just had a go on it, unfortunately due to late hour I had to keep the volumes fairly low. But even so - so far so good. 

First impressions:

Build quality is very nice, I don't see any flaws, loose screws, rattling cab parts etc - I don't own any other Jet City amp but I've read that they are well made - that seem to be the case here as well. Quite lightweight, tidy built. No extra eyecandy with the amp, just the head and some manuals. For that price I wouldn't expect anything else.

I've grabbed UK kettle lead and set the amp with b/m/t on 4ish and presence off. Started with volume halfway and gain set at 2.

Tele with AV 52/58 single coils first. 

Amp has a pleasant warm tone and starts from nice clean tone, breaking up quite quickly though will have to check that at higher volumes. With gain past 3 we have tweedy overdriven sound and we enter crunch territory around 6-7. Sounds full, with good bottom end and with presence up and treble full on guitar didn't sound harsh which I've read could be an issue with JCA22H. 

I used Line6 DT112 cab with Celestion G12H-90 - it's my go to cab and sounds very good. Amp sounded great with other guitars with humbuckers - tested with LP, Jaden and Charvel. Cleans up when backing the volume on guitar even with high output ceramic pickups. 

At the moment I'm really happy with it - though it's just my first impression and bear in mind that it's been tested at medium volume levels only. Amp is quite noisy with 'gain' set anything above 2,5 but I would expect some cheap-ass valves inside so will have to check that once replaced. I will try to record some vids or samples but won't happen this week as I'm barely at home. Thanks for reading.

John_P

Very nice.   They look a LOT betterer than the blue fronted models.  

Be interesting to see what you think when you can turn it up and how much difference new valves makes.

dindude

Nice one. Keep the opinions coming once you've run it a bit more, genuinely interested in this amp. That line 6 can looks like a great match as well.

not_the_dj

Nice one. I'm saving my pennies for one.

Lodious

Thanks for the report...be good to get an update when you've had a good play with it. Its great that decent quality gear is about at this cost.

chrisj1602

John_P said:

Very nice.   They look a LOT betterer than the blue fronted models.  

Be interesting to see what you think when you can turn it up and how much difference new valves makes.

Looks like they are changing all of the logos...

BigBearKris

Yes. I've been informed by UK shop that all the new batch will have black styling too. Much better looking imho.

chrisj1602

BigBearKris said:

Yes. I've been informed by UK shop that all the new batch will have black styling too. Much better looking imho.

They do look a lot more tasteful, and the HV looks even better.  I am tempted by these, I have an Orange PPC112 needing a head...

crunchman

How long until we see for sale ads for the original blue ones as having extra mojo blah blah blah etc.

p90fool

John_P;478769" said:

Very nice.   They look a LOT betterer than the blue fronted models.

The rear grill fits on the front, which looks pretty cool too.

BigBearKris

chrisj1602;479079" said:

BigBearKris said:

Yes. I've been informed by UK shop that all the new batch will have black styling too. Much better looking imho.





They do look a lot more tasteful, and the HV looks even better.  I am tempted by these, I have an Orange PPC112 needing a head...

Do it man. It's hard to go wrong at that price and the amp is really good!

Panama_Jack666

Nice! I was tempted by one of these but got a JCA22H at a great price from here. I would be interested to know what you think to it...

John_A

I'm torn between this and the JCA22H would be interesting to hear from anyone who's played both about the difference in clean headroom.

digitalscream

John_A said:

I'm torn between this and the JCA22H would be interesting to hear from anyone who's played both about the difference in clean headroom.

They both have the same power section (well, except for the depth control on the JCA20HV) and the effects loop is in the same place on both, so it'll really come down to how gain-y the preamp is. Even then, you can probably tame either amp a bit by using less gain-y valves (eg 12AT7, which I know a few people have used in the various 20W Jet City amps to get the distortion under control).

Dave_Mc

John_P said:

Very nice.   They look a LOT betterer than the blue fronted models.  

+1

But the blue-fronted ones suit what I play better (i assume, anyway).

Jeremiah

Pity this isn't available as a combo.

not_the_dj

How's it going with this now you've had it for a couple of weeks?

BigBearKris

I absolutely love it! I'm yet to put proper valves in it, but so far no issues with stock ones.
Amp is loud. To play it at home I keep gain up halfway, (down to 2-3 if I want cleans) and volume around 1 Amp is very alive at this levels though and quite loud too. Doesn't really do Fender-type cleans of course, but I like a little hairy" bluesy cleans. With OD pedal it's full on rock amp, I'm waiting for my Lovepedal hi volt to see how well it does hi gain sounds.
No issues with fx loop, reverb, delays, they sound very good.
It's a sweet amp for that price (for any price really) and I must say that I'm surprised with build quality and tone in that price range. I think Jet City would be more popular if they were twice the price Somehow they aren't being considered as a pro amps while they're better than i.e. Marshalls for nearly a grand I've tried last time.
Well recommended anyway!

not_the_dj

Nice one.

I had heard things about some pedals not liking JC FX loops, Which delay and reverb are you using?

p90fool

I wish you lot would stop recommending that they double the price, you're like a bunch of old ladies moaning about a restaurant because "the food was lovely but there was just too much of it"

Zip it, willya?

BigBearKris

Haha, yup, zipped mate. I'm happy with what I've paid, but better grab one before they realize that.
@not_the_dj - I'm using TC electronic pedals, flashback and HoF verb. They apparently DO work well with JCAs but I've used both pedals for ages, so cannot speak for how the other ones would work. But I think in 20HV they sorted issue with fx loop anyway.