Author Topic: Roland JC120 (Read 204 times)

jazzyvee · « **on:** September 15, 2010, 02:40:52 PM »

I have a laney VC30-112 guitar combo which as you may remember I was having trouble with being too noisy to use my Series I guitar with via the psu. Well today a keyboard player friend of mine has offered to sell me his Roland JC120 amp.

As you may recall I do like a clean tone for most of my playing and I know from experience JC120's sound very clean with my Fender strats.
I don't have much experience with transistor amps and alembics so I wonder can anyone recommend them with a series guitar, and do they sound ok using overdrive from a pedal? I do recall the on-board overdrive/distortion being pretty unpleasant.

I'm basically looking to use it as a home practice amp and gigging with my series guitar. I did try a Fender Blues Jr a while back and whilst it sounded reasonable with a Strat it didn't float my boat with my alembic guitars so I don't want to assume that this will be ok with both guitar types.

The price is attractive and I know it has had very little use from new so although it is a bit big for a home amp but I can get it cheaper than some of the smaller less impressive guitar combo's

Jazzyvee

oujeebass · « **Reply #1 on:** September 15, 2010, 03:05:42 PM »

Your sound wouldn't be colored to much, which is what you want. They have a great frequency response as well. Its more an amp than a guitar amp. It will simply amplify what you put in it. Should be a great choice.

bigredbass · « **Reply #2 on:** September 15, 2010, 09:55:14 PM »

JV, the JazzChorus is a great classic that happens NOT to be a Fender, Marshall, etc. The 2 onboard amps (one for each speaker, hence the terrific old-school chorus sound) are power-amp spec, very low distortion vs. the typical 5-10% left in most amps, especially transistor amps. That 5-10% distortion is to mimic a tube amp and is generally 'heard' as 'warmth'. JC's don't have this, so that's a big part of why they sound so clean.

The distortion is dreadful, and you can look to be trying quite a few distortion pedals to find something you think sounds good to you with it. An F2B into the 'power amp in' . . . .

They've changed very little over the years, and if you can find one from the 80's with the optional JBL's you could get in them in those days, they're pretty terrific IF it suits what you have in mind.

Plus the money sounds right. And there's always somebody that wants a JC, so I'd think you could always get back out of it pretty easily.

J o e y

pierreyves · « **Reply #3 on:** September 16, 2010, 12:15:12 AM »

I have the JC160, very nice for bass AND guitar, buy it !!

pauldo · « **Reply #4 on:** September 16, 2010, 07:05:56 AM »

An old friend of mine has a JC120 that he has been playing for what seems like forever. Can't tell you much about the sound with an Alembic but - my friend backed up over the amp with his car and other than a couple scuffs there was no damage - built like a tank!

jazzyvee · « **Reply #5 on:** September 16, 2010, 11:41:12 AM »

I took it home from my mate today and had a good blast with it using my series I guitar via the PSU in stereo and it's great. It's no Fender Twin but it certainly is a good loud clean amp. I gave him a call and agreed a price so that's all sorted now.
Thanks for chipping in to the thread with your thoughts.

I've now listed my Laney VC30-112 amp on ebay.

Jazzyvee

tubeperson · « **Reply #6 on:** September 16, 2010, 11:56:48 AM »

I have one of these amps, and have used it for Chapman Stick's, guitars and bass. This is essentially a clean amp with a wonderful chorus effect. For mellow gigs, I have even used it for bass. An excellent piece of equipment to havein one's arsenal.

tubeperson · « **Reply #7 on:** September 16, 2010, 11:56:56 AM »

I have one of these amps, and have used it for Chapman Stick's, guitars and bass. This is essentially a clean amp with a wonderful chorus effect. For mellow gigs, I have even used it for bass. An excellent piece of equipment to have in one's arsenal.

benson_murrensun · « **Reply #8 on:** September 16, 2010, 03:12:49 PM »

I have a different solid-state set-up, which I love for its clean sound. It is a Yamaha PG-1 Preamp into a Crown D-60 power amp into some nice speakers. As with the JC-120, the clean sound is A-OK but the distortion channel is bad news. I have recently been looking for a way to have a second channel with a pleasing overdrive sound, and what I found is the Tech 21 Oxford pedal. I plug it into the clean channel and use the Tech 21's footswitch to get the grit. Sometimes I like the sound of it so much that I leave it on all the time with a low-gain setting and, when desired, add more overdrive earlier in the signal chain with another device. I bet a pedal like that would really bring on the smiles with a JC-120.

(Message edited by Benson_Murrensun on September 16, 2010)

hydrargyrum · « **Reply #9 on:** September 17, 2010, 12:19:02 PM »

I've always wondered about these amps. They seem to hold a vaunted place among jazz players, but also handle effects well. I seem to remember when they didn't cost nearly as much as they do now. I guess the word has gotten out.

dfung60 · « **Reply #10 on:** September 17, 2010, 08:25:13 PM »

The JC-120 is a retro classic. The chorus section is the famous Roland CE-1 chorus, the premium analog chorus unit back in the day. I had one of these, but the standalone one was never as cool as the JC-120 because it was notoriously picky about signal levels (very easy to distort) and who would tote around two amps so you could actually hear the stereo chorus effect? When they put it in the JC-120, they carefully managed the input level so you didn't get bad distortion and there were two independent amps each connected to one speaker so you got that great stereo chorusing sound, even if you were the only person who could enjoy it (it basically turns into mono 10' from the amp).

David Fung