JCA Circuits “Vibe” Amplifier (Circa 2021-2023)
The JCA Circuits “Vibe” Amplifier is the newest creation from my studio.
Vibe is based on my beloved Silverface Fender Vibro Champ which was given to me by a friend in the early 90’s. I often run that Vibro Champ plus my prototype Tweed Champ in wet-dry rigs to amazing performance standards. That particular Fender amplifier was among the first platforms I used to delve into the fine details of music electronics modification & design. Throughout the decades, that humble amp has offered me countless opportunities to explore the incredible potential of single ended amplifiers. It has been heavily modified and re-built into various circuits & iterations over the decades. In the 2000’s, I came up with several design concepts relating to modified grounding schemes, power supply/filtering, voicing & frequency response, and touch sensitivity concepts which differ significantly from an original. These concepts have been included and expanded upon in the Vibe. It is designed to pay homage to & improve upon the incredible potential of my very favorite low power, single ended, class A1 guitar amplifiers.
The musical potential of the Vibe far exceeds its physical dimensions. Vibe is designed to excel either on its own OR as part of a stereo/wet-dry/dual mono rig. It is a classic sounding amplifier which behaves as a very deep, clear, and warm resonant window that highlights guitar FX & pedalboards. Compared to other single ended guitar amplifier designs, the Vibe has an abundance of clean useable headroom, clarity, note separation, and touch sensitivity. It also displays a very low noise floor where the signal emerges from an inky black soundstage.
The Vibe is highly useable for critical recording in a studio environment where it will not damage fragile microphones or cause excessive noise. Vibe’s design was heavily inspired by one of my musical heroes who talks about “leaning back into a wall of sound”. I designed Vibe to offer the player a richer, more complex spread of cleaner, clearer harmonics and super responsive experience of a guitar amplifier working hard-just scaled down to more useable levels.
FEATURES
• Class A1 single ended 6V6/6L6 output stage
• Jupiter 8CS Speaker
• Eurotubes vacuum tube dampers
• Upgraded power & output transformers
• Extra power filtering stages which behave as a “Tank” circuit
• Modified star grounding scheme
• Isolated input & output jacks
• 2 Watt Ohmite carbon film & metal film signal resistors
• Mallory 150 & silver mica signal capacitors
• Silver plated oxygen free copper/Teflon jacketed signal wire
• Stainless steel hardware
• All parts sourced within North America, Japan, and Europe
JCA
July 2023 Tone Quest Report Review of the JCA Circuits “Vibe” Amplifier
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Vibe “Prototype“
