Jet City Picovalve

[FennRx]

At the end of August, Musician's Friend was blowing these out for $99 with free shipping. Regular price was around $299. I had never even heard of this amp prior to seeing a thread about the sale on another forum.

 

The Picovalve is an all tube, switchable 2/5 watt head that comes stock with a 6L6 power valve. The amp features 3 speaker outlets, so the user can match the impedance of any cab. The front panel features a power switch, standby switch, 2/5 watt switch, T-M-B, Master Volume and pre-amp gain pot. One of the major selling points of this amp is that the power section can accommodate almost any type of power tube without the need to rebias. Want to try an EL34? Plug it in. How about a KT66? Go for it. For a guy like me, this is HUGE positive.

 

What I don't like:

1) The amp has a loud popping sound when flipping the standby switch on and off.

2) The amp does not do cleans very well. Even with my ultra-articulate WCR Crossroad neck, the amp stays dirty when the volume is rolled back.

3) There isn't built-in reverb or an fx loop, but it's a cheap 5w amp- I'm willing to give it a pass.

 

What I do like:

1) The amp is not super loud. I can sit in front of my 4x12 and not have my ears bleed. My Marshall Class 5 is so much louder.

2) The 2 watt mode is great for late night jamming. Sure I can't run the MV on the sweetspot (about 8) but I can get pretty good tones at low volume.

3) There is plenty of gain on tap. I'm more of a classic rock guy, so i like to keep the preamp on 4 and the master on 8-9. It's nice to know there plenty more to go.

4) I like the cheap stock tube. Lots of complaints on the web about this amp being muddy and in need of mods right out of the box. This has not been my experience. Within 5 minutes of plugging it in, I was rocking 70s rock tones like Zep and Cheap Trick. Does it sound like a Marshall JMP? No. But it sounds pretty good imho.

5) There are mods available. I'm not a tech guy, so I probably won't ever mess with the amp. But I like that there are options.

6) The Picovalve goes well with both of my cabs. It sounds good with 1960a (Celestion 75s), but the Pico sounds really good with the Celestion G12Ms in my Avatar 2x12.

 

Overall, this little amp was $99 well spent. I think that even at $299 it would still probably be worth it. I've owned a handful of small watt amps and never really cared for them- Class 5, Tiny Terror, Valve Jr, Little Giant, even a Mesa 5:25. I like this cheap Chinese amp the best of all.

 

Mandatory pic:

[NHTom]

very cool.......for that price you can't go wrong

 

NHTom