Johnson Amplification J-Station

Have yet to get into the 'deep editing', but so far so good on the simple tweak a patch and save it deal. I do have a manual, but have yet to dig into it.

I've had a few modelers over the years and mostly used them for late night headphone wheedle stuff. The Behringer V-Amp worked well for my needs also as I mostly like cleaner tones and on the edge blues type stuff.

The J-Station has simply blown me away for it's blackface cleans, Voxish chime, tweedish cruch and plexi tones. These are what I mostly use and programing variations of them has proved quite easy and tonally rewarding.

Bought it used for cheap, so if it goes bye-bye, I'll do my best to procure another.

I've been playing for 42 years and playing live since 1980. I'm an old fart now, but still have a love affiar with all things guitar. I play a wide variety of music, but blues is where my soul lies.

Right now, in addition to the headphone deal, I have been using the J-Station into a Yamaha DS60-112.....kind of the forerunner of the Tech 21 Power Engine. Single 12 Celestion in a cab with a 60 watt power amp built in.

This combo is portable, lightweight, LOUD and best of all, oh so toneful! Again, I like to use the cleaner blackface models along with the Vox, tweed and plexi tones. I run an older black box Marshall Bluesbreaker pedal before the J-Station, and that provides all the dirt I need.

I am blown away at how good this cheap little set up sounds.....and how amp like it is in how it responds to touch and the guitars volume control. It's inspiring and makes me want to play longer.

This piece of equipment is like anything else once you learn how to operate it it's easy and learning how to use it for me was easy. The problem is that someone will say it's easy and the next might say it hard!

This is why I'm leaving this review. I have tried most of the other modelers and all of the major ones. Nothing compares to the J-Station I know because I have 3 and been a user since 2002. My main sounds are the Rectified and Tweed for dirty and clean tones. For giging I use the J-Station with the J-8 Controller run into an 80's Carvin X-100 head and two cabinets. I use no gain on my amp I get all of my gain from the Rectified patch and the warmth of tubes from my amp. The sound is AMAZING I'm always getting positive complimants on my tone. When I am at home I run a J-Station into a Johnson (not the same company) Loredo T25-R. The Loredo is a little 25 watt (realy 15 watt, but that is another story) tube amp you can buy for a couple of hundred bucks on Ebay. My sound is consistant and you can't say that with your favorite vintage tube amp!

I keep a J-Station with me always because it's consistant with the sound. You will get a better tone the way I use it than with any highbred amp (Line 6 Bogner for example). Highbreds either get so called tube tone from the pre or post and none realy do a great job. I'm getting my tube tone from the pre and post. I'm not having to noodle around with mods or trying different tube combinations for that perfect overdriven sound. I don't have to worry about degredating tubes that mess with my tone. I can run my J-Station into any tube amp and get a consistant tone because I'm not having to get my overdrive from tubes just the warmth.

I have been a user since 2002 and I have 3 units and two J-8 controllers. I have never had a J-Station fail on me but I have worn out controllers and that is because I play constantly and moving parts wear out. I have gone through a bunch of J-Stations because I have given away and sold some.

I have never needed them So I cant give a true review on them!

Everyone has their opinion on what they like and I love the J-Station! I am 48 and have been playing since I was 13 so I kinda know a little bit just in the fact that I have been around for awhile! I have turned alot of so called tube fanatics into excepting the ideal of what I do with this piece of equipment.

You can argue about all kinds of if's and's and but's, but you can't argue that for a relitively small amount of money you can have a GREAT tone!!!

You can buy a J-Station on Ebay for around $50. So a youngster with roughly $300 can buy a J-Station and a used inexpensive tube amp off of Ebay and sound great.

The J-Station, even in 2009, is still the best amp simulator available. It simply blows away the POD in all it's versions and is the best kept secret in guitar gear. Ease of use is it's only con. If you use the J-Edit software, it's an easy time programming it. But editing on the two digit LED with the manual can be frustrating. But it's a small price to pay to unlock the goodness within...

The next best thing to putting a SM57 in front of a nice amp in a nice room. If you can't record that way, use the J-Station. The clean sounds are brilliant and the Fender Bandmaster model is unreal. All the effects are usable and then some. Has an onboard tuner to boot.

I've owned mine for 4 years and it's never failed me. Just an awesome piece of gear and at $50 and under on eBay I'm thinking of getting another for backup. I might never need it though...a brick sh*thouse.

Never have used customer support and Digitech has pretty muched ended all remnants of the Johnson brand online. There is still a page with pdf's for manuals, etc... but any real customer support doesn't exist.

The best amp modeler available and at nearly 7 or 8 years old that to me is amazing! The technology obviously peaked a long time ago. Some say GuitarRig is better but I've heard it, POD, VOX ToneLab...them all. The J-Station just has something that raises it above those units. Better sounds to be sure but I think it has it's on vibe that classic pieces of gear all have. At under a hundred dollars new (if you can find one...the word is finally getting out about how good these things are), you have to get a J-Station if you record guitars.

i believe that J-station is the most close t real amps simulator. i didn't need any manual t use it, cause i buy it from second hand but the guy give me a piece of advice. i beleve that for editing preamps, and the options of : Reverb, delay, compr, gate, and other effects like chorus, flanger.... is really, really difficult, but if you use th pc-program life is better, at least for me after the long useage of line6 simulators as guitar pro, but i didn't try it yet cause need an audio card with midi in/out, but still it going t be really easy. but because when you wanna jam with your friends you cant have the pc with you it's losing my 10 points

Well if i could upload a sound materia you will totally understand how incredible is, well after using line6 products like guitar pro and they say line6 is the ultimate new generetion guitar and amp simulator i could say that they can simulate the 50% of an amp, Johnson J-Station can make io to at least 80%, and their amps johnson Crunch-Solo-Clean are ... you know years far, its a 2000 product but still rulezzz every other simulators, i use it with a Yamaha Rgx-520DZ guitar and plug it to preaps 2.1, for listen its real sound and its amazing!!

Well if this J-Station dies i barried with a priest in a glass coffin, and i mean it. With other merch' i was feeling empty but with this staff th hole has licked!!!!1 i totally would use it in a gig without a backup, cause if something happen live i was gonna leave the gig to find a place t cry ;p

well i haven't deal with the company 'cause im in greece and i could buy a new one with the same money.

well i play rock a bit of blues, thrash, neoclassicall and heavy metal.
i play 3,5 years, and i also have a Peavy Bandit 112, Line6 Guitar Pro.
i really gonna buy my guitar, its superb with dimarzio evo pickups, i'll totally gonna try t find a new Johnson J-Station, well the amp is really good, but i would buy preamps, cause with that multieffect any other amp is going to destroy anything.
i love its sound its amazing, reminds a compine sound of Vai,Satriani,Petrucci, the way i use it, its delay also is incredible, ihate its inability to change preamp, and the options of : Reverb, delay, compr, gate, and other effects like chorus, flanger,
my favorite feature is the edited sound
"72, with drive 9,trebble 10, midle 2, bass 6, level 5, delay 3, reverb 7, copmr /on, gate /off".
No i wouldn't compare it, cause for me its the ultimate prefection of sound.
the only thing i'd like it to have is a more modern style, its look is really 2000 and we are 2009 and i dont really care about it...
well it help is like a a father teaching his son ride a bike, its like taking me from my hand and guide me !!!! im so lucky t have one

very good sounds right out of the box.
Easy to edit, Records very nicely.
It will clip very easily, needs to have bass turned down

Killer clean sounds, awesome distortions.
When I run it live, I take the cab emulator off and run it thru the effects loop of my Rivera chubster 40 and my Fender HRD.
Sounds killer live with this setup.
I run it all the time without the cab emulator on.
I use it to record everything from vocals to synths and my roland drum machine.
Very good all around effects and amp sim.

I have been using it for years without a backup.
However, I have taken the power transformer in the power cord apart to change the fuse to keep it running.
It is very durable after having been dropped numerous times.
It is solid and reliable for being as old as it is!

I have changed the fuse out of the power supply a few times.
This requires basic soldering skills.
The unit has been flawless so far

I play, metal, jazz, electronica, blues, pop and experimental.
For an old 12 bit processor, it is very versatile with a great glossy sound.
It will clip easy on recordings if you dont turn the bass down.
You can find them on EBAY now for 50 bucks.
These things sound killer and are indestructable!!

Controls very straightforward and amplike. Set & Save........

I have 2 units, 1 in studio & 1 used live. I own a couple of amps but
rarely use them. This unit sounds great all by itself. So what if the
sounds aren't perfect sims as long as they are usable. IMO they are.

I've had both units for years with no trouble. I use the j-8 controller with my live setup and a Rolls midibuddy with my studio unit. They always work. Can't do better than that.

never needed them

For a 1st generation modeler to still sound great after all these years my hat goes off to the designer. People compliment my tone
all the time and ask "where's your amp?" Nothing Line 6 has out
to date can touch this thing. Too bad Digitech didn't realize what
they had. Those of us who use them know, though.

There are two sorts of editing:

Top level editing: easy as can be. Most sounds you can get here. Just pick a factory-preset-sound you like, rotate the knobs till you like it more, press "store" twice and voila: you got it!

Deep level editing: a little more difficult since you need to read the manual. Here you can specify your sound even more. For example if you got a midi footcontrol (like the Johnson J-8), you can define what parameter should be controlled by the expression pedal: volume, gain, effect-level or whatever. Of course, in this case the Wah is still accessible.

Generally I`m totally into vintage- and boutique- stuff:

I normaly play a Roland Jazz-Chorus, Korg DT-10, Crybaby, Fulltone Fulldrive2, Voodoo Lab Tremolo and Hughes&Kettner Replex. Other pedals in use are: Marshall Shredmaster, Marshall Gu'nor 2, Marshall ED-1, Marshall SV-1, EH Little Big Muff, Hughes&Kettner Tube Factor and Hughes&Kettner Rotosphere.

Guitars in use are: Gibson Blueshawk (my favourite), Aria Pro2 Fl20 Stratocaster, Epiphone Les Paul, Rickenbacker copy and an acoustic guitar.

To shorten this: the J-Station can`t beat the real thing (like hardly any digital modeling unit can), but it is damn close.

PRO's:
It`s very versatile and expecially most amp-modelings are very good. Not too noisy. And it also features some good Bass amplifier models! Great solo-leadsounds and sweet clean-sounds. I especialy like the Fender Blackface and the Fuzz (with low gain). Although I haven`t played a Mesa Boogie Rectifier before, the model sounds very convincing to me. I think, metalheads might love this.

The additional footcontroller J-8 gives you full control for your performance: effect (on/off), reverb (on/off), tuner (on/off), bank up & down, three presets per bank, expression pedal.

I couldn`t rate this 10, because there are also a few CON's:
-the pitch-effect has a little latency and sounds too synthetic
-I`m used to good rotary speaker sounds (since I also use the Rotosphere and the built-in Leslie of my Nord Electro2); in this unit it`s more like another tremolo-sound; nevertheless it`s nice that it can mimic the slow-down and speed-up effect when it`s controlled by the expression pedal
-the 2 acoustic models are not very convincing

Currently I'm singer and trombonist in my band; that`s why I don't need it for gigging, right now. But I sure could imagine me using it again, as I did before.

Never had any problems. I would gig without backup.

Even though the production stopped, there is still a webpage for the J-Station providing the manual, sound presets and more information.

I play Reggae, Ska and Dancehall live and it's a great match. I think it could fit any kind of music.

It's definitly worth the money. Unfortunitly the production stopped - but you still can buy them on Ebay. And if you are very lucky, you might find the fitting midi footcontrol Johnson J-8.

Just thought id add my penny s worth........
at some point i will add a proper breakdown on each model cos i think it may be useful as there isnt much info on this unit.....

easy to get sounds out of it....forget the presets really as they are mostly over done....just go to the individual models....

Well ive used loads of stuff over the years and i must say im surprised by this....despite the glowing reviews i was sceptical because all pre-amps, practice headphone recording type units that ive tried sort of sound the same.....a bit bland , sort of like the amps but not quite......but i can honestly say this is the best ive heard. Now you will never make a recording amp emulator sound like the real deal cos thats just impossible......but imo thats a different thing all together. Valve amps are great for gigging and rehersals, but even the best valve amp sounds crap at low volume. Thats why we want this type of unit. I was using COSM which compared to this is a pile of ****. This old unit sound 100x better and is the only unit ive heard that does a really good fender blackface and ive got this amp for gigging and honestly this sim. is damn near as close to perfect as you will ever get.
For clean/ breaking up type sounds (ac30 is also good) this thing shines. Ive only used this through a multi track but i expect it would sound the bollocks through a valve amp which would warm it up even more.
Imho better than the POD and better than VAMS, and COSM, and fenders new digital thing (got one of those as well) the only one comparable seems to be VOX s one but ive not had much experience of that.

For home use sure.

no idea

Been playing 20 years and wanted something I could record with. Ive got a roland multi track with built in COSM -which i was never happy with. I also wanted an emulator that would give me a fender clean sound through a practice amp-maybe like the recent BOSS fender pedals-but better (tried them both and thought they sounded crap) Well i havnt tried through an amp yet-family life and all that, but as a direct recording tool this thing sounds great. The fender is fantastic. Nice acoustic type sounds as well. This thing is amazing really. It may not have like a billion sounds and all the bells and whistles but for basic good amp sounds that sound not as digital as a POD and quite close to the real amps (especially the fender twin) this thing is great.
For what I paid for it its an absolute bargain.

With the Editor software, it's a breeze.. Without? Pretty much a pain in the ***

Here we are many years later.. And this Amp Sim is STILL one of the best sounding units to be had.. Much more organic sounding than the Pod XT Pro which I happen to be comparing it to tonight. That realization is what led me to write this review.

The unit I purchased is an American made J Station.. I would guess it's at LEAST 8 years old.. Probably 10+ yrs old.. Still works great..

Non existant.. Thank you Digitech you freakin *******..

Price of woodage ratio is off the scale folks..

I've done this guitar thing for 35+ yrs.. I'm still a Metalhead.. Won't apologize for that either.. These units are simply very organic sounding.. I've owned everything available on the market for the last 10 yrs as far as Amp Sims for studio use goes.. I own everything from a Peavey Rockmaster 4 tube preamp to a Podxt Pro to Guitar Rig 3 and Amplitube 2 to a Voodu valve.. I have a decent sized 20 space rack cab full of gear....... At the point in time of this review, The J Station,all 16 bits of it,, is the one I fire up most often... And those incompetent morons over at Digitech inhaled Johnson to do what?? Just inhale a Johnson I guess.. They sure as hell haven't improved on it in the 10 yrs since.. Digitech sux

If this had ever been released as a rack unit, I'd be set for a long long time..

I give the J-Station a 7 because, although th top mounted controls are easy to use, they don't give you a ton of editing capability, and the deep edit mode is kind of annoying. I've had this unit for several years, and never spent much time with it, and just recently got acquainted with it, and finally got a manually. The manual changes everything.

The sound quality is great, for what it is, an amp modeler. Johnson really did their homework. The Millenium amps (when they were around) were fantastic. This has a lot of the same sounds, just not as in depth. The J-Station does not sound good straight of the box, you've got to read the manual and tweak somethings. Luckily, Johnson had guitarists in mind and loaded this thing with knobs, and only a few buttons.

I've never had any problems, but its only been in my room, or in my closet. It seems sturdy enough, I'm not sure I'd leave it lying on the rehearsal room floor, but on a pedal board, or on top of an amp, should last a while. So long as the drummer does spill beer on it.

never needed it.

Overall, the J-Station is a fantastic buy, the last one I saw on E-bay was going for $90. I like to play rock, blues and funky kind of stuff, and the J-station really has something for everyone. Its really great for extra-strange spacey ambient sounds, I've pulled several synth like tones from it. I haven't had much luck with using it in conjunction with other pedals, the noise gets really out of hand really fast. It is digital, so if you can run it through something analog either before or after (preferably after, a good tube compressor, or something of the sort would probably do it wonders) or even just running it through your board and doing a little EQing and reverb makes a big difference.