Dr. Z Amplification has unveiled the Jetta, a 30-watt, 1x12 studio combo guitar amplifier that is aimed at the weekend warrior and professional player alike.
The Jetta has a no-nonsense design. On the front panel we've got volume, tone, and master controls alongside the standby and power switches.
Turn the amplifier around and you'll find an open-backed cabinet housing a Celestion 70th Anniversary G12h 30-watt speaker, send and return jacks to let you run your pedalboard through the Metro Zero-Loss FX loop circuit – which is ideal if you are planning on driving the Jetta hard and taking full advantage of its gain stage.
Speaking of which, Dr. Z says there is plenty gain in this thing, and warns us not to mistake the Jetta's simplicity for lack of tone.
The master volume works like an attenuator and doesn't step on the frequencies as you back it off, the volume control lets you dial in the gain and the tone, says the good doctor, is powerful enough that you won't want to push it past noon. Well, that sounds like a good enough reason to run it at three o'clock and see what happens.
Elsewhere, under the hood there is a pair of 7591 power valves, with three 12AX7 valves in the preamp, and a 5AR4 rectifier for a sharp attack – a similar setup to amps such as Matchless' DC30.
The Jetta is hand-wired in Cleveland, Ohio, and uses the same premium components you might expect from Dr. Z. Weighing in at 34lb, it is pretty portable, too.\
The Jetta is officially released on Monday 7 Octobe and retails for $1,399 (£1,169, €1,299 approx).
See Dr. Z for more details. And for a flavour of that gain saturation, check out the briefest of teaser videos below . . .
