Back when I was searching for my first tube amp, I settled on a Marshall TSL. However, near the top of my list was the Soldano Avenger, or Hot Rod 50, which could be found in the low $1000 range at the time. I never got my hands on a real Soldano, but with the Jet City amps out using very similar circuit designs it’s hard to argue with them for the price.
While browsing the MusiciansFriend website, I found an open box JCA2212 combo amp in “fair” condition for a very low price - $193. It arrived with some large dents on the top panel, but otherwise it’s in good condition and the amp sounds perfectly fine.
The stock Eminence speaker is close to the Legend series, though I’m not wowed by it. I plan to purchase a Celestion Creamback speaker instead and see how that sounds instead.
These Jet City amps are also popular modding platforms, since they have relatively simple circuit designs and the Soldano circuits are easily reversed so in theory, you could modify a Jet City amp to be nearly identical to a real Soldano amp.
I planned out and purchased a number of different caps and resistor values to try in different areas of the circuit. Initially, I installed 5x 3-way mini switches, but settled instead of some larger 2-way switches with component values that made a more noticeable change. This was my first experience with modifying amps and I had a blast and learned a lot. Looking forward to tinkering with some other amps in the future!
