JET Guitars
I received my Caldera #225 yesterday, Volcano Bust flame. I must say that from reading all of the testimonials and hearing all the hype on your site and all over the web, I expected a nice guitar. However, as is usually the case when I get all "psyched up" from hype, I expected the guitar to meet my expectations, or fall short in some way. So, I prepared myself for disappointment. Unbelievably, the guitar actually exceeded my expectations and the hype. I have never known that to happen. As beautiful as it looked in the pictures, it looks even better in person. The pictures can't do full justice, nor can words or hype. When I opened the case I was indeed amazed at the vibrant reddish orange color and beautiful 3 dimensional flame. The attention to detail in every aspect, is immediately apparent. I spent the first 30 minutes just looking at it!!!
As you know, I had it shipped to my office. So, I didn't have an amp immediately available. However, I played it unplugged and was amazed again. The sustain and resonance are very apparent, even unplugged. I could feel the string vibrations right through the back of the guitar into my chest, almost as if I was playing an Acoustic. I think I was resonating!! JET, the first guitar company to couple the player to the guitar!!! I love the cutaway at the top of the back. It makes the guitar sink right into my chest and is incredibly comfortable. Cool design feature!!
Here's the most surprising thing. I read much of the hype on the reactions of other people to the guitars. I didn't think much of that. I like nice things, but I'm not the type of person that shows off. So, that part of the testimonials didn't strike me very much. Anyway, I was playing the guitar in my office unplugged, and a guitar playing colleague of mine walked by and said, "what is that?" He was enthralled with it. When he played it, he couldn't get over the way it felt. He's still talking about it!! He called me this morning to ask me more questions about it. He simply won't stop telling me how much he liked it and thought about it overnight. Why am I saying this? Because it confirms the testimonials in everyway, and it confirms that it's not just me getting excited about a new guitar. This is one time that I can say that "you can believe everything you read."
Lastly, I feel the need to comment on the tone. Tone is such a subjective thing, and there is really no way to effectively put into words. Much has already been said in your other testimonials and on the web. So, I won't use the typical descriptive tone adjectives to describe the tone. I would never do it justice anyway. However, the awesome tone of my Caldera can't go unrecognized. I've been playing guitar for 25 years, both acoustic and electric. I've owned many guitars, mostly high end, and I know what I like when it comes to tone. For the last 15 years I've been an exclusive PRS player. I own two custom 24's a McCarty Rosewood and a Modern Eagle. I love these guitars however, there is always something that I can't get one of them to do. So, I switch up for different sounds. I can honestly say that this Caldera does them all. There is no tone on the Caldera that I'm not able to achieve. So, I never find myself wanting to move to another guitar. I used to think that the Custom 24's were versatile. Boy was I wrong! JET has set a whole new bar when it comes to versatility and tone.
Thanks again Randy. You were great to deal with,
Joe Levea JET Caldera #225
Randy,
A few words of thanks for helping me acquire the JET Earlewood # 110. You don't need me to tell you what a gorgeous piece of work this is. It also has far more tone potential than I could explore in only the short time that I have had it. I usually plug a new guitar into several amps in the first few hours, but I played the JET acoustically for the first afternoon before plugging into a 15-watt Bogner; and it sounds so damn good through the Bogner that my other amplifiers are still waiting to be introduced.
Meanwhile, the pedals have already begun to gather dust. You must have felt some ambivalence selling this one.
Thanks again,
Steven Dworetz, JET Earlewood # 110
Hi Randy,
Now that I've had an opportunity to spend some quality time with the JET Earlewood #169, I wanted to share some of my thoughts on it. Right away, after it arrived, I could immediately tell that this was destined to be much more than a "glass case" instrument. This thing is made for playing, without a doubt! During the week, I played it through my Dr. Z Mazerati at home - sans & any effects - and immediately the difference was noticeable. Very smooth, velvety sound on the Duncan neck pickup...I spent most of the time on that one initially. I just could not get over the resonance and the sweet, ringing sustain. Even feedback has a more musical quality to it on this guitar. At higher volumes, the korina body starts to tremble a bit when ringing out. It's hard to describe, but just a really great feeling and sounding instrument.
Then over the weekend, the band got together and the "oohs" and "ahhs" started. At first, the rhthm guitarist was gnawing on me for owning too "pretty" of a guitar. But when I plugged it in to my Engl owerball and pushed the tubes to a nice clip, it became very clear that this guitar has quite a bit more than an attractive look to it. I ran it through my effects board with some delay, chorus, a touch of reverb, and a wah...and man, this thing just smokes! We put it through the paces across genres (blues to metal to grunge and over to jazz). Well balanced in all registers, great feel and weight, smooth action (not too high nor too low), and the best overall sound in any archtop I've ever played.
To sum things up...the JET, in my opinion, is really a top shelf instrument. Though my first inclination was to compare it to the Les Paul, it's clear now that although the look is similar, the feel and the sound of the Earlewood is definitely much different...and to my tastes, much better. I'm totally pleased with this guitar and want to thank you for being a great guy to work with through the whole process from specification and ordering to final delivery. Kudos also to Jeff T on building an incredible axe! Love it!
Greg Abrams, JET Earlewood # 169