OK, so up until now I've been treating my JCA22H as the backup amp, the logic being that I've always had exactly the sound I wanted from my JCA50H.
Since I changed the pickups in my S2 for lower-output ones from Oil City, I haven't been able to get quite enough gain out of the JCA50H's clean channel - the growl was there, but not that little bit of "hair" on top which lets you pick out really singing pinched and tapped harmonics.
Last night, I couldn't be bothered lugging the 50 to rehearsal, so I took the 22H instead and spent some time getting it set up exactly right. In the words of George Takei...
OHHHH MYYYYYYYYY.
Such a fucking great sound. There was even a bit more low-end grunt as well as exactly the right amount of extra hair on top, and the lead tone was just out of this world. The guys at Jet City say that the preamps are exactly the same, so the gain levels should be identical across all four amps with that preamp, but I'm absolutely convinced that there's a bit more on the 22H than the 50H. I suppose it's conceivable that the valves might be going in my 50H, but I seem to recall having exactly the same experience with my first 22H. With that in mind, I'm inclined to think that it's something to do with the fact that they've moved the effects loop (it's after the master volume on the 22H, and before the EQ stage on all the others).
In any case, the 22H just became my main amp. Hell yes.
<space for hire>
Comments
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
That's interesting about the el84 and 6L6 too. Obviously this isn't scientific, but on my hayden where you can switch between an el84 and 6v6 on the fly, the el84 seems to have a little more distortion, even at silly low volume levels. I just assumed it's because it broke up earlier.
That's probably something which is completely unrelated, though, and now I'll look silly )
I just meant it was nice to know it was fairly close to a soldano. I figured it was, and the word on the street was that it was, but it's nice to have it confirmed.
Do you have a link to the schematic ICBM?
Also it's interesting that you're saying the 22 sounds better- I know I normally advise going for the 50 for all the extra it costs, for the extra headroom and bigger power tubes which normally (to my ears, anyway) translate to a high gain amp sounding more the way you'd expect.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
Yeah they do seem pretty close. Which is excellent
Am I right in thinking that the JCA has basically taken the low and high inputs and made them switchable (alongside separate gains and masters)? If so, that's a pretty handy way to give the illusion of two channels... sort of makes you wonder why he didn't do it on the hot rod. Works better than a footswitchable boost, too, with the separate gain and master controls.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
Really like the tone this dude gets. I know a lot of it is coming from the Splawn cabinet and the sheptone pups but it's ace !