Roland Jazz Chorus

[The Honorable]

Anyone own or tried this amp? I've heard it has amazinggg cleans and chorus. I'm looking to get to use it only for cleans in my rig, as I really don't like the cleans I get from my 5150. Thanks guys!

[stevoc]

I'm interested too. Heard lots of good things regarding this amp and it's clean channel, wondering how it handles distortion, either from the built in or from an external source.

[thetroy]

There is no built-in distortion, but if you treat it as just an SS poweramp then you can get good metal tones out of it with most decent preamps/pedals.

[mjtripper]

It's a great amp, I used to have one. The cleans are very nice as is the chorus. The jc120 has 2x12 speakers and there used to be a smaller one, jc45 I think, with 2x10 that sounded the same but was a lot smaller and lighter.

[Bengal65]

I have an older JC-120. Made in USA. They are 2 60 watt amps in Stereo. They are the best "clean" amp on the market and many of the industry experts agree. The newer ones have an effects loop. The amp is very versatile and takes pedals very well. If you get a newer one you can use the effects loop. I use this amp for cleans in my rig, but you can really get different tones using pedals. It does have a distortion knob function, although not very effective.

I plug in a Boss Fender Bassman Pedal FBM-1 and get the sound of a '59 Bassman amp. The same, using a Fender Deluxe Reverb FDR-1 pedal.

When I want just clean, I go straight into the amp.

This amp can handle about anything, and when you crank it, it will be loud

[Bengal65]

There is no built-in distortion, but if you treat it as just an SS poweramp then you can get good metal tones out of it with most decent preamps/pedals.

There is built in distortion. There is a knob for adjusting intensity. It's not a great distortion, but the amp was not designed to be a distortion type amp. Pedals, yes, have at it!

[rjohnstone]

The JC-120 is by far the BEST clean sounding amp ever made.
Nothing comes even close.

[horns666]

The JC-120 is by far the BEST clean sounding amp ever made.
Nothing comes even close.

Absolutely..and I'm not a clean sound kimda huy..but I know good tone when I hear it. The 5150's clean sound is crap..IMO!

An A/B box switch between the 5150 and JC-120 would be cool! That's what Jon Shaffer did when I saw him with the Larry. Fortuntely, he uses both channels of the Uberschall..the cleans are cool there.

[jgcable]

Ted Nugent used JC120's too. Its one of the best clean amps ever made. They made a 60w version too.

[thetroy]

There is built in distortion. There is a knob for adjusting intensity. It's not a great distortion, but the amp was not designed to be a distortion type amp. Pedals, yes, have at it!

I know there is a knob labeled Distortion, but the couple I've played sounded like there was just little bit of overdrive with that knob dimed. That's why I said there's no distortion

[markD]

i had a JC120 head in the early 90's. it was clean and loud!!!! actually it was too clean for me. i went back to using blackface fenders for clean. i like that low-end "hair" you get with fender clean. to me, live, the JC120 lacked something...almost like the "tone" went away onstage.

but, it works for a TON of pros, so what do i know!!

[Bengal65]

Ted Nugent used JC120's too. Its one of the best clean amps ever made. They made a 60w version too.

Yeah, we're talking clean and LOUD! The little 60W model has been bumped to the JC-90, 2 40 Watt amps into 2, 10" speakers (40W per side).
The guy's on the Roland site have some pretty good video's, especially with wildman Johnny DeMarco!

[MSGfan]

i had a JC120 head in the early 90's. it was clean and loud!!!! actually it was too clean for me. i went back to using blackface fenders for clean. i like that low-end "hair" you get with fender clean. to me, live, the JC120 lacked something...almost like the "tone" went away onstage.

but, it works for a TON of pros, so what do i know!!

The JC120H is awesome! I own one and they sound great thru a stereo 4x12 cab or going thru two mono 4x12 cabs! Only draw back about the JC120 head is that if you want the famous "Chorus" sound to function, you must use two speaker outs on the head. One "Left" and one "Right" althought there are actually four outputs, two on each side!

[toejam]

James Hetfield has long used the JC120 for his clean tones.

[ABSOLUT CHARVEL]

I know there is a knob labeled Distortion, but the couple I've played sounded like there was just little bit of overdrive with that knob dimed. That's why I said there's no distortion

Always view the distrotion knob as a spare knob if you lose any of the others. It has been a mystery for years why such a crappy effect was every put in the JC 120. leave off at all time.