Jet City Amps ????? any opinions???

[tonemonster]

Has anyone tried these Jet City amps yet? Mike Soldano has a hand in it, and their flagship is supposedly a SLO clone at a much reduced prices. I would like to know if anyone has actually played one? what did it sound like in person? whats does the build quality look like? I am assuming these are made in china given the price.


I am curious to try the SLO clone...... but I am really interested in their ISO CAB. they look well made, but no feedback anywhere on the net.

I have always wanted to try an ISO CAB, but never wanted to fork out the $$$ for one. I am tempted now.

anyone know anything about these products???

[6string40]

I owned a JCA20 head and 112 cab for a bit and I may end up getting another one down the road. It sounded fantastic for the price and seemed well made.

I don't know anything about the ISO Cab, but I've thought about trying one out as well. If it's made as well as the amps, it should be well worth the money.

[straycat]

I did notice the pots are plastic(shafts too) so that could be an issue down the road.
I played the 20 watt and thought it sounded pretty freakin good for the money.

[VitaminG]

I've messed around with the 20 watt head. Great fun! Sounded terrific and surprisingly versatile. Although, if you want on-the-fly versatility, forget about it. Single channel with simple controls. I was very tempted to bring it home with me - twice now I've been offered one for half price. But I'm trying to be financially responsible and shit.

[straycat]

If I find one in a pawn shop here soon I'll buy it.Cool amps.

[tonemonster]

plastic pots and shafts........... that does sound like future trouble. I have a few Digitech 2120s with those plastic "encoder" pots and alot of them are goofed up or failed completely. frickin pisses me off too. that is a major deterant for me. back in the 90's those digitechs sounded great, but they are pretty ho-hum these days. the pots failing really grind me. I would sell them off, but I dont want to sell off something with defective parts to someone. I just dont do that. so they collect dust in my basement. I was thinking I could trade thema at a store, but they wont give me squat for them.


well, I am still way interested in the Jet City ISO CAB though. anyone have any experience with that? or see one in person? no plastic pots to go bad there. just a mic cable & jack, and speaker jack.

[Grim]

Anyone know the reliability on these things? If I can get an SLO for $800...

[tonemonster]

Anyone know the reliability on these things? If I can get an SLO for $800...

yea, well thats the $4000 question. (wasnt that a game show?)

its fuckin crazy. IF in fact those are decent built amps, its a no brainer. but the thing that concerns me is this.......they have only been around for a year , I know, I know soldano has been around for over 20 yrs, but the Jet City brand has only been around a year, and Musicians friend has most of their amps and cabs on CLEARANCE sale. why the hell is that??? Something just dont add up here. MF is a major retailer, and if they arent selling for them, something is a miss. what is it? the reviews are good, the youtube vids sound great, the prices are certainly attrractive, but something is wrong if they are clearing out all their items.

anyone else notice that??? I am just wondering if people are suspicious of the low prices thinking they are too good to be true, or are the guys that want a sound like that willing to pay the big $$$$?? something just dont add up here..........

[Grim]

yea, well thats the $4000 question. (wasnt that a game show?)

its fuckin crazy. IF in fact those are decent built amps, its a no brainer. but the thing that concerns me is this.......they have only been around for a year , I know, I know soldano has been around for over 20 yrs, but the Jet City brand has only been around a year, and Musicians friend has most of their amps and cabs on CLEARANCE sale. why the hell is that??? Something just dont add up here. MF is a major retailer, and if they arent selling for them, something is a miss. what is it? the reviews are good, the youtube vids sound great, the prices are certainly attrractive, but something is wrong if they are clearing out all their items.

anyone else notice that??? I am just wondering if people are suspicious of the low prices thinking they are too good to be true, or are the guys that want a sound like that willing to pay the big $$$$?? something just dont add up here..........

Precisely.

[tonemonster]

yea, and I dont expect them to be as high quality as a SLO, but I dont want junk either. now those heads were $999 street price, so for 1K that should buy you a good quality head that wont shit out on you. but they reduced them to 799 now, and clearing them out. if these are decent quality amps, they are the buy of the decade. I mean we are talkin SLO sound at 1/5 the price. but if they are junk, its a bad play by Soldano to get involved and will tarnish his rep.

[VitaminG]

I keep hearing complaints that most MFs don't carry Jacksons either. No Jacksons in stock at MF = Jacksons are shit?

[tonemonster]

I keep hearing complaints that most MFs don't carry Jacksons either. No Jacksons in stock at MF = Jacksons are shit?

well, here is my take on that. Drumcityguitarland.com used to be a MAJOR USA jackson dealer. they dont stock even ONE now. they stock custom shop jackons, and imports, as well as custom shop charvels, usa charvels, and import charvels. but NO USA jacksons now. its just no demand. they stock what sells at any given time frame. I bought 4 new Jackson USA selects from them. the market has shifted with the comeback of Charvel. USA jacksons arent as popular of an item as they were. sure, they still sell them, but MF dont stock them as they just dont sell as hot as they did now that Charvel is back, the charvel is hot because of the whole "retro" 70's 80's thang. its just cycles. nuthin bad on jackson. just market demand.


what gets me about the Jet city amps is, they are SO new, so are they junk or not? why is MF clearing them out when they are a new product? to me that spells NO sales, but why? why are they sitting???

[Grim]

Disbelief? I mean, we're both sitting here debating buying one. Perhaps other people also think they are "too good to be true" and nobody is willing to take the plunge.

[6string40]

As I said above, I owned one and WOULD buy another. Will they last forever, only time will tell. I honestly have not seen a bad review on Jet City yet. People do make bad business decisions, but I doubt Soldano would put his name on the line for a piece of shit...he doesn't seem like the type of guy to whore his name out to make a buck.

The amp I owned sounded fantastic. So, why did I get rid of it? Well, I "took the plunge" on a new product while I was in between major amp purchases. As I needed more versatility out of a single amp, a one-channel 20w head wasn't cutting it for me. I have no use for keeping multiple amps at this point in time, so it was the odd amp out. Otherwise, I would still have it or probably a JCA50.

[tonemonster]

Disbelief? I mean, we're both sitting here debating buying one. Perhaps other people also think they are "too good to be true" and nobody is willing to take the plunge.

Excellent point.

you go first.