Johnson Amplification J-Station

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.

Fairly easy to edit using the onboard controls, you don't have to hold down a bunch of buttons to change patches unless you want to do deep editing. I dock it two points, one because I can't seem to get the J Edit software to work, and another because depending on your presets, the knobs might not actually reflect their true position. Behringer's lighted control dials on its V-Amp, although cheap, make it easy to see exactly what settings are on.

I've played Line 6, Behringer, and others, and they all get decent distorted sounds, but this one can get amazing clean sounds. It's relatively pedal-friendly, though it really overreacts to gain on my OD pedals, so I have to roll them back. I use it with a bass amp and direct into PA and it sounds good both ways. I don't use much for effects from the unit since my pedalboard gives me those.

The casing is pretty durable. I would use it without a backup.

Johnson Amplification went belly up and was bought out by digitech, so I thought that customer support would be nonexistent. When I bought the unit, the mid tone pot was broken. I emailed Digitech's tech support and they gave me a number to call. After being on hold and transferred a few times, I finally got the right department and they sent me a new pot for FREE! It would have only cost me a few bucks, but it's a nice surprise. I'll definitely look at Digitech next time I need a multi fx unit.

I use this unit for a few church services that a normal guitar amp would be too loud. It works great. If it were stolen I'd buy it again. On ebay, these things go for around $100 and are well worth it.

Very easy for on the fly changes.Harder for deep edit but not that bad. Super easy when conected to your computer.

OK , I`ve had this unit for 5 years now.I`ve compared it to POD`s Yamaha DG stomp(I really wanted to like this unit but the sound just was`nt there)All kinds of Digitec stuff ,Sans amp stuff,Korg , Vamp, you name it .Nothing sounds as good. I really wanted to love the DG stomp because it was so well built but I just could`nt get into it at all.There are so many great sounds in this box if you have the patience to tweak it.No it doesnt sound as good as a old tube amp but neither does the old tube amp turned down to one at one oclock in the morning

Droped at least five times still works great.It`s made of metal not plastic.

The company no longer exists but there web site is still there.

I play jazz, blues,old school rock,Hip hop with my DJ son.I`ve played for 37 years have owned Gibson,Fender, Hamer, Martin,Ibanez,Supro,Ampeg old twins and bandmasters old 60`s ampegs,Traynors,Semour Duncans.I have a large collection of tubes and am constantly tweaking my amps for better sound.All that aside i`ve gotten more use and had more fun with this hunk o junk than any equipment I`ve ever owned.

Without connecting it through midi cabels deep editing this unit is a pain. However with the windows sofware its GREAT!

It takes quite awhile to realy figure out the potential this unit has, But once you have tried it all you can get some great tones!

I'll be honest, i got one of these off ebay because they where endorsed by Yngwie. He usualy only endorses the best of the best. Well he was right! The J-Station unlike alot of other pedals out there has a more analog sound to it than a raspy digital sound.

I can almost nail yngwie's tone with this! But i do recomend getting a pre amp with a tube in it if you realy want to bring it to life!

Well, Ive had it turned on for over 2 years now without turning it off and its still working!

Never dealt with Johnson, Id just buy a new one on ebay if it breaks

I defenatly recomend this for people who dont like the Pod, or if you want to record stuff on your computer!

Wonderfully easy to use. The only beef I have with ease of use is the stock patches aren't balanced as to level all that well, and if you have a user patch with lots of gain and a very low level (to balance with clean patches) a bump can send it very loud very fast.

Excellent. The models don't sound exactly like what they claim (especially the rectifier) but other than that, it's awesome. The rectifier has more bite, and it doesn't get muddy like a lot of real Dual recs out there. So, I guess it's better. The chorus is a real nice effect, especially on clean patches, but it can't get almost a vibrato like some chorus pedals can.

I don't know what happened, but the master volume pot broke, and when I opened it to fix it, it ended up being a weird digital pot soldered into the board. When I put it back together, it worked fine.

Also, the casing is metal, and it's been dropped, kicked, stepped on, dragged around by cables, water spilt on it, and been in car trunks with cabs on top of it, and it's never failed me at a gig yet.

Never needed it.

I play metal, and this thing has some absolutely stellar sounds. Some problems:

Pitch shift (for playing in intervals with yourself) has some latency.
No key lock mode to avoid bumping switches live.
Headphone out sucks - just use a speaker output, and you get enough signal.
Tuner is slightly inaccurate.

This thing sounds a thousand times better when used through a good PA or an amp. I try not to record direct with this thing, it sounds a little fake. Awesome for live use.

I used when it first came out.IF FOR ANT REASON YOUR JSTATION DOES NOT SOUND GOOD YOU SUCK READ THE MANUAL. I have giged with it for years all types of music Rock To Blues. Head banger. and to read the other review of some whiner say. sounds fack becuse he did not take the time to learn how to use it.should go to Line 6 and use one of there tinny ass crap boxs.the J station can make a crappy amp sound good and a good amp sound seewt and most the time I can and have just pluged in to the PA.you can get the soft ware on line free and up grade it too.

the sound is Just right.learn to use it,very good effects. tweeked right most people over do it a little is a lot.I am so sorry the are not made any more.

Never failed me.dont need no back up.I have three never need but one,I guess some day it ware out I use it every day 5 years now 6 days a week 2 hours a day or more.

I guess I played 25 or so years,I use Yamaha guitar US strats gibson lp.and other amps John jm 50 .Johnson Marquis jm68 bolth with J 8 foot job. Johnson Millenium 150.with the j12. Measa Boogie.S.O.B..pig nose 40 tube. peavey delta blues always with J station and a Daddy o. PA Yamaha 800 watt,or Carvin 4000watt. Yamaha 18s and carvin 12s and 15s
YES I WOULD BUY IT AGAIN.
What I like is never fails. sounds good . what I hate is that thay dont make them any more, that SUCKS. I cant make Line 6 crap sound big and warm and real with out hum.. Ya LINE 6 You suck Dont beleave the bull shit adds of all those great bands using that crap go see for your self.You pay me a lot of cash I would endorse there shit too. I am not getting payed hear.I wasted months trying to get a line6 xtlive to sound any where close. wast of time and money. any questions I left my email.I been ther done that.Hate mail welcome too.you cant defend line 6.there other guitar amp modelers thare good too I just hate line 6. My ears dont lie.