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.

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.

Make sure you have the J-Edit software and the 2.0 firmware (freely available here: http://www.johnson-amp.com/jstation.htm). If you don't have a manual, you can download that, too, from the same location. There's also a bunch of patches and a forum there.

Assuming you have either the manual or the J-Edit software, this thing is a breeze. ALL parameters are available through the unit only but the software running on a computer sure makes it easy.

I use it with a small PA amp and two 4x12 guitar cabinets. It's punchy and easy to control.

I've had one for many years. I just recently added a second and I'm experimenting with running them in parallel. I love the sounds I've coaxed from it. I use it both for recording and live (despite what's been posted here, the casing is metal...it's got really thick paint which gives it a plastic appearance but it's solid metal with plastic knobs). The more I've dug into it, the more I've found it can do (I've got them programmed to "pan" between the two via an old ART X-15...one turns up as the other turns down).

It could be my setup but it's always seemed that it was a bit bass-heavy. But that's easy to compensate for, should you also find it bass-heavy, by just rolling it off.

I also was surprised and thrilled to find that I could replicate my favorite bass guitar sound. I used to play through a seventies Ampeg V4B with an SVT cabinet and it was an inspiring sound. It's in the J if you tweak it.

Also, the bass amp and cabinet models are worth trying for clean guitar sounds.

I've had my first for about five years now. Never a problem. Never a glitch. I didn't buy the second J for a backup. I bought it because I have faith, based on years of experience with it, in the quality.

It took some patience to deal with them five years ago. I'd be surprised if you got any response at all, now.

But there were very helpful updates. And the final firmware added several new amp and cabinet models plus a bypass.

I use it for a huge variety of sounds and music. When I got the first one, I compared it to a Pod over a weekend. I preferred the ultra-distortion and ultra-clean sounds of the J. The bass models cinched it for me. I've since tried a V-Amp and Genesis and still prefer the J.

The tuner is not terribly accurate but I only use the tuner button to mute it.

Not only would I replace them if lost or stolen but I'm planning to buy a third and, maybe fourth, to dedicate to bass guitar.

I've already reviewed this a couple of years back. Just reading to see what folks are saying now since newer modeller stuff's out.

Also I want to say to
P-Dawg

You can turn the amp selection off. And the cab selection. Not easy with out the manual or the software. Try and get the software. I'd email it to you but I'm not sure where the installation disk is off hand. There's still a website for this thing though. You might be able to download it or find someone who's got the disk still.

By the way. I don't think Johnson have gon out of business. They were taken over. Only a small company I thinks. To be honest never heard of them til reading about this little box of tricks. I think Not 100% sure, that they were bought out by Digitech.

easy to get a great sound, I have been playing for 30 yrs and recording wise it nails almost the perfect lead tone.

Is a bit noisy but if you play with the noise gate it works good.

The sound out of this thing is one of the best amp sims around, I've tried them all, some of my best tones came from this thing, it gives as good almost as a matchless hot box thru a cab simulator, not quite the dynamics though. I still cant get totaly controlable feedback like I can with a real amp but damn, the sustain and "big balls at low volume" kick ass, for DI recording you cant do much better, mix it with some real class a tube amps and "wow"

never failed yet

I play mainly rock, some jazz and rockabilly etc..

The effects are decent but not easy to use on the fly, I've tried the pod,zoom,roland,line6 and this thing has some unique sounds the others dont.

When recording I use it direct then split the signal into a real amp with a mike and pan them about 3/4 L to R and the slight delay on the miked amp adds a Billy Gibbons fatness, I have 22 guitars and they all sound good thru this thing, sometimes its a little thin but overall Its one of the best amp sims I have ever heared, I've even done live things thru a PA and it sounded like a real amp.

very simple to use. you don't need the computer just your ears and fingers. deep edit lets you tweak to any sound you desire.

i use a Dana scoop with "hot" pickups and a Fender strat with Evans Eliminators,into the J then to a BBE 482 stereo into a Rivera TBR3.The tone is great. People who dog it just have no sense of equipment setups.No way a 50 or 100 watt head sounds better. You just can't get the volume up enuff to move the speakers less you play a stadium.Preamps are roughly all the same.Tone comes from your power amp PERIOD. the effects are all fine and for gigging it sounds like a much more expensive rig. I control everything with an fcb1010. I like it. The rectified sound is brutal. i have the Marshall "brown " down.etc.for $100 you can't beat it

never had a problem. Get a higher rated power supply(1.5) and it won't get so hot

outta business but who isn't(ADA,Badcat,Tophat) all thats left is crap or break the bank equipment shame

love it.

You need the manual for deep editing. Difficult to remember the codes when editing on-the-fly. I didn't get the software with it, so I guess I am doing it the hard way. Does not have a bypass switch.

I use strats and aa LP through variuos SS and tube amps. I suppose it could make a crappy amp sound better, but it colors the tone too much. It has a very plasticky sound, no matter which model is selected. Too many presets have distortion and delay. Chorus is very bad, rotary speaker is best modulation I found. Very noisy. Noise gate works well, and so does compressor. Very editable comperssor, perhaps this boxes' best feature. Pitch shifter is very scalable also, you can edit every semi-tone up to one octive up or down, I found this very useful. Preset #72 is the best of the factory presets. Almost all of the presets are way too loud with too much gain.

A plastic Box? You are nuts if you gig with a plastic box. I would never in a hundred million years gig with anything plastic.

They went out of business along time ago, and for a good reason.

I play all styles, rock, blues, yada, yada, yada. This thing is way too hard to use without a computer. It sounds rubbery and plasticky and digital, which it is. It can only do one thing: modify the tone stack of the input signal, which may have sounded good 5 years ago, but technology has far surpassed this box. I suppose in it's day it was a wonder. Now, it is a garage-sale item. It does sound good with headphones, and is meant for recording, so right now it is a toy for me. I only use the two presets, pitch shifter and rotary speaker effects. You can't turn off the amp model, and all my amps sound beter than this box.

I couldn't figure out how to turn the speaker simulator off the manual is hard to understand on this topic, so I can't use it on my half stack what a bummer, other then that it easy to use for the calling up the factory presets,editing is fairly easy just tweak a few knobs and store,with plenty room to store your fav.patch's it comes with free software that has cakewalk that's pretty easy to use.

it has some good clean sounds. but the marshall,boogie,amp sims. are real harsh sounding even tweaking the tone buttons I couldn't get rid of the harshness, but the noise gate works great, the bass sims.are great sound almost real, straight in to the mixing borad.the wha fx sucks. you can get some great Gilmore stuff out of this box which is cool if you like that type of sound the overall sounds alittle muddy for my taste.

so far so could. I haven't got to use in a live gig because I can't turn off the speaker sim.

they couldn't help explain to me how to turn that speaker sim. off just made it more confusing.

for the price go with a real pod this thing pretty much sucks for recording but the up side of this box it does have some great bass amp sims. and great cleane tones.

I edit most of my patches using J-Edit on window xp. J-Edit is really simple to use, I think the interface is cool because you can see all the panels and knobs just like a professional rack. I give this category only 6 because deep editing requires looking up all those CC parameters, which can be very inconvenient in a live setup situation.

My guitar is a Les Paul standard (stock humbuckers) and I play from blues, rock, to metal. J-station has a decent noise gate, so I never had any problems with noise.

I think the blackface, recto, JCM800, jclean are the best models.
blackface - nice warm round jazzy clean tone, sounds great for articulate arpeggios picking
jclean - add in some chorus and reverb, you get metallica cleans (master of puppets), tweak for a while and you can even get DT cleans (pull me under)
rectifier - nice compressed and tight aggressive tone, just like heard on CDs. I lower the gain to about 5.5, turn down the bass, add only a little reverb (bathroom), so it does not get muddy
JCM800 - nice model of classic rock amp, however the high gain sounds seems kind of weak, I think this was modeled for its lower gain sounds, which is fine because there is the rectifier model for high gain.

The compressor, delay, reverb are good quality effects. The wah is great (I have the J8 pedal), I even sold my dunlop 535q.

I wish the pitch shifter effect didn't have latency, other than that, I really don't have any complaints on the J-station.

I listen through headphones when practicing at home. I prefer the sound of line in directly into the PA board (global cabinet ON) when playing live.

Sure, I can depend on it. The J-station does heats up after hours of usage, but I don't think that will matter.

never dealt with them.

I've been playing for about 5 years. I like guitarists like Andy Timmons, Frank Gambale, Shawn Lane, SRV and bands like Dream Theater, Children of Bodom, Pain of Salvation, Evergrey, Pat Metheny Group ...
If it were stolen, I would probably take a look at podxt live, but for the price, I'd definitely buy J-station again.
J-station has helped me make music, I saved up so much time tweaking stomp boxes all the time, now I have more time to play. Once you find a cool sounding patch, you can save them, next time you don't have to waste time finding it again.
I wouldn't argue whether digital modeling is better than tubes or not, but for the price, convenience, and sound, I would say it definitely has a fantastic value.

Simple easy to use interface.You can get great sounds from the face of the unit without having to get into deep edit,but you always have that option.

If you mess with it you can get truly nice and quality sounds.I have used it a Boogie 50/50,tubeworks ,and vht and man it sound like a big$$$$$$$$$$$ rig. I use an ESP custom and an Alvarez Dana Scoop(I so like the active pickups) and thru a power amp(Tube only please as to this is where your sound really comes from.) a rocktron rx20 and two custom built 2x12 cabs with 1 having JBL g series and the other K series speakers and this rig is a beast. Kicks the crap outta amps that cost thousands.

move it around alot and no probs. The power supply gets hot though.Recommend using a 1.5 instead of the 1.3

Discontinued and a shame they might have gone on to build even better.

Real nice much better than the P iece O f D ung. That thing is a sterile complicated piece of crap with absolutly NO tone

It could'nt be any easier. A monkey could figure out how to use this thing. You dont even have to read the manual if you dont want to. Editing is pretty much common sense too

When I used this thing I used a early 80's jackson vee with duncan jb pickups. I used to run it into a mesa boogie 50\50 power amp and then into a marshall 412. I bought the j-station because I have owned a mesa single rec. marshall jcm 2000 50 watt and a whole bunch of other stuff that I thought sounded like shit. I finnaly just ran the j station into my 50-50 as some sort of joking experiment. I never thought it would sound good but it sounded amazing. Everyone at my rehersal space said that they thought my guitar tone was the best they ever heard. Oh yeah, i guess I should tell you what I play... mostly metal. You can get a good high gain sound outta this thing on either the rectified or johnson lead setting.., but take it with a grain of salt as far as all this modeling stuff is concerned. A model does not sound like the real thing. Ask yourself what a model is... it is a copy or mock up of the actual thing ,so take it for what it is. Nothing sounds like a marshall jcm 800 except a jcm 800, dont kid yourself. I'm sure there is a bogner or some other high dollar amp out there that would run circles around my set up but only a trained ear could tell. In other words most of the people who listen to your music wont know the differance.., and the differance will cost you about three grand more. lets get down to the brass tax, nothing you will get for 150 bucks will touch this thing and if you run it into a tube power amp it will sound better than about 90% of the stuff out there.

Never had a problem, probably never will. This thing has taken about as much abuse as anything I have ever owned and still works as good as it did when it was new

Never dealt with them

i give this thing a 10, I've owned a pod pro rackmount unit and the j-station sounds better. Dont be fooled by the high advertising budget of line 6. their stuff sounds grainy and very digital, totally fake in my opinion. I have'nt tried the vox tonelab so I dont know how the j station compares but it is the best I have heard yet. Besides if the tonelab does sound better it still costs way more. You just cant beat this thing for the price. The effects are all excellent too. I especially like the delay, very clean sounding

The stock patches are ok, but this thing screams when you edit the parameters! Without running it into a PC, it can be a bit tedious in "Deep Editing" mode, AND it definitely helps to have the J8 foot pedal. The manual is clear enough and workable, and the latest firmware is 2.0.

I'm running a Godin SD > J-Station (w/J8 foot pedal) > Boss EQ > Peavey Bandit 65; turning off the "cab" sims through the FX loop worked wonders! Not really noisy at all, just the standard single coil hum when switched to them. The effects simply blow me away on how good they are. I can nail anything from EVH, Soundgarden, Creed, Megadeth, Metallica, AIC, STP, SRV, Zep, etc. I really like the chorus as everything really sparkles and sends me away. I don't use the auto-wah much, so can't comment on that.

I have had this for over a year now, and the only problems I had with it is from my own stupidity. Duh - cab sims "on" through the amp sucked the life out of it. I don't gig yet, so I'm clueless on how effective it would be in that setting.

Never dealt with them.

I play hard rock, metal, and blues, and this modeler has hit everything I've aimed at so far. I've only been playing guitar for a year now, but I've played classical piano 35 years, and drummed for a couple of bands, so I know enough to know what I like and what sounds good to me.

If this were stolen, I'd search the ends of the earth for another, and pay the local Guido to hunt down the sorry son of a..... that stole it.

I must have checked out everything before buying the J-Station, and all of them couldn't compare: POD, V-Amp, RP's, Zoom, etc.

Does it help me make music? LOL, it gives me the will to live and play guitar!