Verellen and Jet City

[skullservant]

hahahahaha

I don't need an extra cab though, really. No sense in it if I'm not playing out like I was before!

I did find another VanAmps Reverbamate on ebay though damnit....

[Holy Schnikes]

Haha, Reverbamate calling your name again already!

Dude, I have high hopes for that thing, can't wait!

[skullservant]

The one on ebay right now is EXACTLY like yours and only $20 more. GAAAAH

[Holy Schnikes]

The one on ebay right now is EXACTLY like yours and only $20 more. GAAAAH

Oh shit yeah, just saw it, that's crazy!

At first I saw a Tweed model for $172 with a couple bids but it's not the Sole-Mate version. It's the original that requires a 2-input amp or stereo setup. Plus tweed don't have shit on that blond tolex.

[skullservant]

Yeah those look really kind of weird in the way that they are set up to be used. I totally get the whole wanting stereo type thing, but I would want a stereo reverb effect, not a wet and dry signal haha

[Baron Von Kale]

Bumpity bump!

I've had a JCA20H for years, and while I love the lil' bugger, I'd love to make it clean and more fuzz friendly. The Verellen mod seems awesome, but I can't find any information on it whatsoever - even Doug from JCA didn't have any details on it. According to skullservant's photo, it's got at least some similarities to Billy Z's mod (http://www.billyz.net/JCA20H%20Z%20MOD%20schematic.jpg), but then again, I can't really find much about that either. I did shoot Mr. Verellen himself an e-mail about it, but I doubt he'll be too enthusiastic to share the schems. I'd be glad to have him mod it, but I live in Finland, and shipping the head to him and back would cost about as much as a used Bassman, so yeah.

Does anyone have any clues or other info on how I could perform a similar mod to it myself? Anyone tried the Billyz mod?

[Baron Von Kale]

Bumpity bump!

I've had a JCA20H for years, and while I love the lil' bugger, I'd love to make it clean and more fuzz friendly. The Verellen mod seems awesome, but I can't find any information on it whatsoever - even Doug from JCA didn't have any details on it. According to skullservant's photo, it's got at least some similarities to Billy Z's mod (http://www.billyz.net/JCA20H%20Z%20MOD%20schematic.jpg), but then again, I can't really find much about that either. I did shoot Mr. Verellen himself an e-mail about it, but I doubt he'll be too enthusiastic to share the schems. I'd be glad to have him mod it, but I live in Finland, and shipping the head to him and back would cost about as much as a used Bassman, so yeah.

Does anyone have any clues or other info on how I could perform a similar mod to it myself? Anyone tried the Billyz mod?

As I figured, the Verellen mod was a dead end. I'd have him mod the amp, but shipping it there and back would total to around $350 However, I did get hold of Billy Z, and he was extremely helpful. I'm taking the amp to a tech on Monday to get it modded.

[Gone Fission]

I somehow missed or forgot the Verellen mod gut shot way back when. If I can make out or guess the connections in the pic, it's not far removed from the Billy Z mod. It looks like Verellen is bypassing the second gain stage and maybe nothing more--I'm having a hard time spotting what the carbon comp is connected to. Billy is paralleling that stage to the input, kind of like a plexi Marshall with the inputs bridged, and with some more changes towards that direction. Either lowers the gain structure, making for playing nice with the pedals.

The JCA20H is very much in the family of the high gain input of the JCM-800 2203/4 amps--light tweaks to some values and the omission of a treble peaker or two, to the best of my recollection. To the extent you can un-cascade the first triode, you (or a decent tech) should be able to get it modded to resemble pretty much any of the four-input Marshall preamps with a little ingenuity, since the JCM's and these guys are just a branch on that tree.

[Baron Von Kale]

Yeah, I think you're right. It's kinda hard to make out, but it seems he's just placed the jumper after R36 instead of removing it altogether, but I have no idea about the added resistor. It's really simple mod, and I shouldn't have trouble doing it myself, but I don't feel all that comfortable working near tube voltages so I'll shed out the 60€ to get it done by a tech

[benjuro]

I did shoot Mr. Verellen himself an e-mail about it, but I doubt he'll be too enthusiastic to share the schems. I'd be glad to have him mod it, but I live in Finland, and shipping the head to him and back would cost about as much as a used Bassman, so yeah.

I chased this mod for a long time (skully's pics somehow manage to be both excellent and obscuring ) and reached out to Verellen a while back about it. He wasn't willing to mod my amp if I shipped to him ("too many get damaged in transit"?) and quoted me $100 to share the mod.

When his next email said all I needed was one resistor and some wire, I put my wallet away.

[Baron Von Kale]

I did shoot Mr. Verellen himself an e-mail about it, but I doubt he'll be too enthusiastic to share the schems. I'd be glad to have him mod it, but I live in Finland, and shipping the head to him and back would cost about as much as a used Bassman, so yeah.

I chased this mod for a long time (skully's pics somehow manage to be both excellent and obscuring ) and reached out to Verellen a while back about it. He wasn't willing to mod my amp if I shipped to him ("too many get damaged in transit"?) and quoted me $100 to share the mod.

When his next email said all I needed was one resistor and some wire, I put my wallet away.

Ok, so then the pic on page 6 actually does show the mod in it's whole, unless there are additional jumper wires elsewhere on the board. The pic quite clearly shows that R36 is clipped from one end, and instead jumpered to the middle lug of the preamp gain pot. That's pretty much the same as the Billy Z mod, but his version has some other tweaks such as changing the plate resistor to 100k and paralleling V1, so I will definitely go with that one!

[benjuro]

Ok, so then the pic on page 6 actually does show the mod in it's whole, unless there are additional jumper wires elsewhere on the board. The pic quite clearly shows that R36 is clipped from one end, and instead jumpered to the middle lug of the preamp gain pot. That's pretty much the same as the Billy Z mod, but his version has some other tweaks such as changing the plate resistor to 100k and paralleling V1, so I will definitely go with that one!

Definitely clear that R36 is clipped and jumpered to the pot--the tough part to see is how that additional carbon comp resistor is wired in. I'd love it if anyone can clear that up...

[Baron Von Kale]

Ok, I got the JCA20H back today with the BillyZ mod done and I couldn't be happier. I only got to play with it for an hour or so, but yeah, I'm convinced. There's plenty of clean headroom, and it's a very fender-y clean. Obviously not quite a Bassman, but in the ballpark, and it eats fuzz pedals for dinner. Works great with a Pharaoh and a Woolly Mammoth, and I really really need to build a germanium fuzz face for this one. However, what really surprised me was what happens when you turn the preamp gain past five. It's an incredibly nice distortion, way healthier and more pleasant than the stock tone. If you go past nine, it turns into a nearly unusable fuzzface-with-a-dying-battery-meets-farting kinda sound, but at around eight, it's just bloody marvellous!

Since it sounds pretty different, I though it needs to look different as well so I did this:

[Gone Fission]

Nice look! Yep, that old Marshall kinda gain architecture is completely underestimated for clean tones. James Honeyman Scott was playing Marshalls on those first couple Pretenders albums and you never would have known by the way people talk about the amps. I actually don't dislike the stock 800-ish buzz saw sound, but I know I wouldn't use it enough to justify having a stock Jet City around, so whenever I spot a cheap one I'm likely to follow you along.

[voerking]

that looks great! i kind of miss my old JCA 20H. i did the depth mod & subbed a 12AT7 for the first preamp tube & I thought it sounded pretty cool. it still got a bit too wooly at band volume, so i sold it. this thread has me thinking about another one....