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nickname009
Published on 08/23/11 at 21:52
* Legendary “clean” amp with two separate 60 watt RMS power amps (to allow for true stereo chorus)
* Classic silver-cone speakers for vintage Roland Jazz Chorus sound
* Two input channels (Normal/Effect)
* Three-band EQ per channel
* One high and one low input per channel
* Reverb, distortion, adjustable vibrato and true stereo chorus
* Stereo effects loop
This is a clean solidstate amp with 2 channels, one of which you can add distortion to that's onboard.
* Footswitch jacks control chorus, reverb, distortion
UTILIZATION
Quite simple, all the controls are clearly labelled, and considering its a clean amp, there isn't much to tweak most of the time compared to distortion.
The chorus is one of the most amazing sounds I've ever heard. True stereo chorus within one amp is hard to come by and this amp has become legendary for that reason alone. The vibrato effect is also quite cool as well.
It's very easy to get a good sounding clean with this amp, even with all the EQ knobs at noon, it sounds great!
SOUNDS
The jazz chorus is known for great cleans. It has been around for at least 30 years for being known as such and has been used by almost everybody at one point in time. I of course, used it for strictly cleans for my good ol' numetal phase and metallica phase when I was totally into Wes Borland's clean sounds as well as Hetfield's live clean tones. I couldn't believe the sound I was hearing, it was an electric guitar with these very high quality woody sounding, almost acoustic-esque cleans.
It almost always dazzled me, the clean sound from this amp along with the very thick and shimmery chorus was always the clean sound I'd imagine a clean sound to be!
There is one thing that lacks of course, and that is the distortion. It is nearly impossible to get any good distortion sounds from the onboard distortion it purely there as an afterthought, to add a bit of clipping and slight dirt at most and almost never sounds good. You would need a distortion pedal, and even then you would need to find the RIGHT distortion pedal as the speakers in the jazz chorus are especially made for that awesome clean tone and not distortion. So most pedals plugged in would sound really harsh, sterile and super fizzy.
I have once plugged in my tube preamp morr-tone pedal through it and was somehow able to get a very usable sound. I was pleasantly surprised at the abilities of this pedal, the fact that I can plug it into such an amp and still get a very smooth and usable distortion is GREAT!
OVERALL OPINION
Overall, legendary for cleans and very nice chorus. Of course the chorus is adjustable on the amp but not for live purposes. But this amp is well known for a reason, that is providing great clean tones! Yes it is warm, but it is bright as well and has an almost acoustic-like character which some players may define as sterile and tinny. Though I find this amp to be quite usable, clean and bright and the acoustic quality is definitely a bonus!!
The JC120 is also VERY loud with more than enough headroom anybody will EVER need. You won't need to hook this up to another cab. Trust me.
* Classic silver-cone speakers for vintage Roland Jazz Chorus sound
* Two input channels (Normal/Effect)
* Three-band EQ per channel
* One high and one low input per channel
* Reverb, distortion, adjustable vibrato and true stereo chorus
* Stereo effects loop
This is a clean solidstate amp with 2 channels, one of which you can add distortion to that's onboard.
* Footswitch jacks control chorus, reverb, distortion
UTILIZATION
Quite simple, all the controls are clearly labelled, and considering its a clean amp, there isn't much to tweak most of the time compared to distortion.
The chorus is one of the most amazing sounds I've ever heard. True stereo chorus within one amp is hard to come by and this amp has become legendary for that reason alone. The vibrato effect is also quite cool as well.
It's very easy to get a good sounding clean with this amp, even with all the EQ knobs at noon, it sounds great!
SOUNDS
The jazz chorus is known for great cleans. It has been around for at least 30 years for being known as such and has been used by almost everybody at one point in time. I of course, used it for strictly cleans for my good ol' numetal phase and metallica phase when I was totally into Wes Borland's clean sounds as well as Hetfield's live clean tones. I couldn't believe the sound I was hearing, it was an electric guitar with these very high quality woody sounding, almost acoustic-esque cleans.
It almost always dazzled me, the clean sound from this amp along with the very thick and shimmery chorus was always the clean sound I'd imagine a clean sound to be!
There is one thing that lacks of course, and that is the distortion. It is nearly impossible to get any good distortion sounds from the onboard distortion it purely there as an afterthought, to add a bit of clipping and slight dirt at most and almost never sounds good. You would need a distortion pedal, and even then you would need to find the RIGHT distortion pedal as the speakers in the jazz chorus are especially made for that awesome clean tone and not distortion. So most pedals plugged in would sound really harsh, sterile and super fizzy.
I have once plugged in my tube preamp morr-tone pedal through it and was somehow able to get a very usable sound. I was pleasantly surprised at the abilities of this pedal, the fact that I can plug it into such an amp and still get a very smooth and usable distortion is GREAT!
OVERALL OPINION
Overall, legendary for cleans and very nice chorus. Of course the chorus is adjustable on the amp but not for live purposes. But this amp is well known for a reason, that is providing great clean tones! Yes it is warm, but it is bright as well and has an almost acoustic-like character which some players may define as sterile and tinny. Though I find this amp to be quite usable, clean and bright and the acoustic quality is definitely a bonus!!
The JC120 is also VERY loud with more than enough headroom anybody will EVER need. You won't need to hook this up to another cab. Trust me.