NAD times 2.......Orange Dual Terror....Jet City JCA22H

[jimmyohio75]

I am a raging gear whore! (mainly just amps) This cannot be disputed. I go through amps faster than Kim Kardashian goes through husbands!
Here are my latest conquests. First some background. I am the lead (and only) guitarist in a hard rock power trio. We play original stuff along the lines of Clutch. Hear our stuff here:
www.reverbnation.com/hawkinshill

I don't like dirt pedals for gain. Most I have used suck the bass away and leave you thin and lifeless. My quest for high gain amps began three years ago. Many of the usual suspects have evaded me due to cost issues. I have not owned any Soldano, Mesa, Splawn, Diezel or any other amp costing more than $1200. I have owned Egnater, Orange, Twister, Marshall and a few Vox. After three years of gigs, practices and basic home jamming there are 2 things that I have determined. 1) I don't like lugging around heavy shit. This eliminates all Marshall full box heads as well as any combos that weigh over 55 pounds. I currently own 2 speaker cabs. One 2x12 ADA cab from the mid 80's with greenbacks and 1 Avatar Vintage 1x12 with a Hellatone 60. I also decided that I don't like to constantly transport gear back and forth to our practice space which is a huge warehouse that my drummer owns. After lots of experience with various Orange amps I knew that I had to have an Orange because I just love the crunchy British flavor that Orange amps produce. I will use the Orange for band practice and most gigs. I got the Jet City on a whim to use for home practice. By the way I am a full fledged LES PAUL guy and I won't play any other guitar!! Now the reviews:

Orange Dual Terror: First off I have to thank BrettK7 from Eddie's Guitars. This is my third Orange amp bought through them and they are awesome! I love this amp!! I have owned a Tiny Terror as well as the new TH30 and I like the Dual Terror better than both of them. The TH30 had too much gain (if there is such a thing). The TH30 seemed too smooth and had a tendency to get fizzy whereas the Dual Terror is a bit chunkier and punchier IMO. The DT has 2 channels. The Tiny Terror channel which is exactly like the regular Tiny Terror and the "Fat" Channel which adds quite a bit of gain and thickness to the sound. I use the Fat channel for chunky rhythm and palm muted stuff and I kick in the Tiny Terror channel for leads. The articulation and harmonic quality to the high gain sounds of this head are awesome. It is exactly what I hear in my head. I was very surprised with the clean sounds from this amp. It is very chimey and articulate. It won't rival a Fender clean but it's good enough for me because my band plays nothing clean! The ability to switch from 7, 15 to 30 watts is great too! The master volume on this thing is incredible and it is easy to get high gain sounds at bedroom volume. Orange makes some of the best master volumes I have heard. Based on my history of gear whoring I know none of you will believe this but "this amp is a keeper"!

Jet City JCA22H

Based on the fact that I got this unit brand new from MF for $269 (long story) I have to say that this is the best "bang for the buck" money I have ever spent on guitar gear! This thing surprised the hell out of me. This thing cost less than half of what I paid for the Dual Terror but it sounds very close. The JC actually has more gain on tap than the Orange. There's a ton of gain. The first channel (crunch channel) is based on the JCA20H (which I owned for about a week) but this thing blows the JCA20H away! The crunch channel is great for mid gain and edge of breakup sounds. The second channel, called the "overdrive" chanel is pure balls to the walls chaos. It is based on the famous Soldano SLO gain channel. This channel absolutely rips your face off. I love it. This will be a nice home practice amp that I could easily gig with if I want a change from the Dual Terror. Anyone that wants a high gain amp for little money MUST get one of these. I would put this thig up against most of the higher cost stuff I have played. This is a great amp. By the way, the FOOTSWITCH was included with the amp!!! Nice touch Jet City!! Way to use common sense, something that other higher priced companies seem to lack.

I also just bought (big Xmas bonus this year) a Zoom Q3 audio/video recorder. If I can get this thing working maybe I can add some video and audio of these amps to my review. In summary both of these amps kick ass (am I allowed to say "kick ass" at 42 years old?)
Here are some real bad cell phone pics:

[tennisplayer]

Hey jimmy....want to sell me your jca head? Let me know.

[jimmyohio75]

Originally Posted by tennisplayer

Hey jimmy....want to sell me your jca head? Let me know.

You're a funny guy Tennis!!!! (seriously though stay tuned)

[midnightlaundry]

whore

[tennisplayer]

Originally Posted by leadfootdriver

whore

Tramp

[tennisplayer]

I'm staying tuned to teh Jimmy channel.

[jimmyohio75]

Originally Posted by tennisplayer

I'm staying tuned to teh Jimmy channel.

Wait til I get this Zoom thingy working....you won't be able to get rid of me......EVER!!!

[dsmc80]

Originally Posted by jimmyohio75

Wait til I get this Zoom thingy working....you won't be able to get rid of me......EVER!!!

You have it bad my friend.


In fact, even worse than me.

[inca_roads]

...I got this unit brand new from MF for $269 (long story)...

What's the story? Long is OK; we got time.

[jimmyohio75]

Originally Posted by inca_roads

What's the story? Long is OK; we got time.

OK, here goes. I ordered one of these from the MF "USED" section. The original used price was $319. On top of that I used their holiday promotion code "snowball11" which took another $50 off the price. This brought it down to $269. I was very happy with this.
30 minutes after I placed this order I received an e-mail from MF telling me that this item was backordered. WTF? How can a used item be backordered? So I called the MF customer service line and wanted to get this cleared up. The lady on the phone told me that the one that was showing as "used" sold at the same time that I placed my order for it. She said that I had to wait for another one of these to be returned before I could get one. I said 'BS" and had her transfer me to her manager. The manager was very nice and told me that she was giving me a brand new JCA22H for the same price as the used one AND she was upgrading my shipping to next day air for my troubles!!!

Major props to MF for making things right! I did very well!!

[dsmc80]

Originally Posted by jimmyohio75

OK, here goes. I ordered one of these from the MF "USED" section. The original used price was $319. On top of that I used their holiday promotion code "snowball11" which took another $50 off the price. This brought it down to $269. I was very happy with this.
30 minutes after I placed this order I received an e-mail from MF telling me that this item was backordered. WTF? How can a used item be backordered? So I called the MF customer service line and wanted to get this cleared up. The lady on the phone told me that the one that was showing as "used" sold at the same time that I placed my order for it. She said that I had to wait for another one of these to be returned before I could get one. I said 'BS" and had her transfer me to her manager. The manager was very nice and told me that she was giving me a brand new JCA22H for the same price as the used one AND she was upgrading my shipping to next day air for my troubles!!!

Major props to MF for making things right! I did very well!!

How do you like the amp?

I picked two up and modded one for my little brother. I changed channel one to Friedman's Brown Eye w/ saturation switch. He loves it.

The one I have to screw around with I haven't modded. I couldn't get along with channel two at all, but out of the box channel one was pretty fun.

[jimmyohio75]

Originally Posted by dsmc80

How do you like the amp?

I picked two up and modded one for my little brother. I changed channel one to Friedman's Brown Eye w/ saturation switch. He loves it.

The one I have to screw around with I haven't modded. I couldn't get along with channel two at all, but out of the box channel one was pretty fun.

I like it. Channel 2 (overdrive channel) has TONS of gain. It seems almost uncontrollable at times. BFG Amplification has some real good sounding videos on You Tube featuring their Doube Deuce mod for this amp. I may send it to them to tweak it a bit. I may also mess with different tubes to try and take away some of the brightness/harshness.
All in all it is the best $269 I have spent on an amp. I like it a lot!!

[jimmyohio75]

[jimmyohio75]

[MRscratch]

i have a DT as well, and it is one of the best amps i have ever owned. i cant get over this amp. i like it better than my SLO i had for years. never expected to like a 700$ amp that much.