I've got a JCA20 sitting waiting for me to open on christmas. Had a quick shot of it when it arrived to make sure it worked ok. Has nice thick mids but could do with some more gain. Apparently the 50 and 100 watt heads have much more gain though.
I have a JCA50 and I sold my engl as I prefered the Jet City, has way more character and the Mids are sooo lush and with an od808 front ending it I love it.
Haven't had chance to record it but in a practise room its just all kinds of awesome. I have a framus panthera and a wolfgang both with SD JB pickup in the bridge and its nice and solid sounding. I reckon a EMG would sound brutal.
The only way I can explain it is all the good bits from a marshall and 5150 with better low mids....
Love my 20H - upgraded a few things (pre and power tubes), changed a few resistors and added a depth pot. Played my first live gig with it last weekend and it sounded fuckin awesome!!!
damn im really excited to snag one of these. itlll be a few months but it will be my first amp for micing guitars.... actually my first amp ever. i wanted a 6505 but just a tad out of my price range however, the JCA50 seems like it will do the trick
From what I've experienced, the JCA50 sounds very, very different to the 20. In fact, the 20 is the only one I've played that actually sounded good. Try before you buy.