Roland JC-120

true stereo chorus!!,two channels, nd loads of power

the ultimate in clean,it might be a one trick pony since it is definately limitedd to clean sounds , but a/b this with your old tube marshall and you go from one end of extreme to the other, and that's
some serious tone in a simple set up. 1 guitar,1 a/b switch,2 amps, and three cords.

built tough and simple,parts and service are readilly available for this amp because so many people depend on it everyday

service and politeness re hard to find anywhere these days, depends on the day and the person.

if you want the ultimate in clean , this is your amp!with this amp and a good tube marshall for distortion there's no tone you should'nt be ale to create. if you can't get it from this combo you should'nt be playing

The JC-120 is the most versatile combo I've ever played with. However I use it only as a Power Amp + Speakers. It has a very nice sounding chorus, a noisy spring reverb, and a sweet sounding semi distortion. It features two 12" speakers and 60W+60W power amp that is loud enough to bother your neighbours peaceful life.
I wish it had a real ditortion or a cool overdrive for backup reasons. But this amp was designed for jazz players. The two independent channel feature has been very helpful for me.

I play with an Ibanez RG-550 and a RG-770, a Fender Strat Plus and an acoustic gtr.
I play progressive hard rock and altough the main sound comes from my ADA MP-1, I must say the Roland JC-120 is a trustful amp. Playing through this amp gives a bright enhance(because of the aluminum speakers I guess) to all of your sounds. This is cool because while playing live your sound never gets lost.
When I record clean guitars I play directly through the Roland because it has the greatest, sweetest clean sounds you can get. It's warm sounding, bright and with a nice deep end presence.

This amp looks like a Metal Head Killing Weapon, it is very heavy and very well assambled. I've never had problems with it.

I've never met the Rolands, I think the warranty expired like 4 years ago or so. But I've heard that they are very supportive.

This is the best Jazz Amp and the best clean sounds Amp also.
I love the clean sound of this amp, the chorus and tremolo effects included. But I wish it had a true distortion or overdrive and a less noisy reverb. I would definetly buy another. But now I'm looking forward to buy a Mesa Boogie Amp because of the distortion thing.

I have a 96 jc. It is absolutely the loudest combo twin amp that I have ever played with in that it will smoke a 4x12 100-watt Marshall with ease. All signal processing must be done through external sources though.

Generally clean, but one should not try to play Sabbath through this amp. Really, if you saw Jazz Chorus written on the front, what would you expect? I've seen many people talk a lot of garbage about this amp, but why compare apples and oranges? I use a Ibanez strat body with Bill Lawrence p/u's and love it.

Indestructable.

I've not played a finer amp in 15 years. If you like distortion, go somewhere else. It's exactly like it says: Jazz Chorus 120.

Mid 80's JC? Not sure as I recieved it from a cousin (he doesn't play guitar any longer). I will pass over the features as they have been stated in earlier reviews countless times already. I feel this am isn't versatile in that it can do 2 things well...act as a extremely loud and powerful amp to drive heavily distorted signals through (for Metal lead and rhythm) and to be played clean in Jazz applications.

I play through an Amer. Deluxe Strat, and a Washburn MG-30. I play primarily Blues, Classic Rock and Metal, specifically Hendrix, SRV, Floyd, Clapton, GNR, Metallica etc. I find that although it is fine (though not excellent) for lead metal solos and such, it doesn't have the "tightness" necessary for really sweet sounding (ala tubes) Slash solos, and lacks the warmth and depth necessary for SRV tones. It is cold and lifeness tone-wise in my opinion, although I am sort of comparing apples and oranges, in that I like the sound of tubes far more than solid-state. One plus is that the clean stays clean at incredible levels (I have had it set to "8" on the high gain channel..with strong earplugs on of course), and it still seemed to stay pretty clean. Of course, the distortion is useless, but I would not count that against this amp. The chorus is beautiful, perfect, and the vibrato is interesting, in that it is a "true" vibrato and not tremolo. Again, for the music I play, it is pretty pathetic tone-wise, but if you are a jazz player or just want something really really loud, reliable and relatively cheap to drive your effects processor, it is probably a good choice.

Extremely reliable in my experience..never had a problem.

I am 18, and have been playing for 8 years. It is now my sole amp, although I am currently looking to purchase a Fender Super Reverb. I am somewhat tired of the sterile tone, although it has its moments and is good for some stuff, I am really looking for a bluesier amp to complement my style.

This is the current production model of the Jazz Chorus 120. It has two channels (not footswitchable, seperate inputs), one clean and one effect. The clean channel has volume, low, mid, and high controls as well as a bright switch. The Effect channel has volume, low, mid, high, distortion, reverb, vibrato depth, vibrato rate, a three position rotary switch (vibrato/off/chorus) and also has a bright switch. The Effect Channel (channel 2) has an effects loop with stereo returns, a parallel/series switch, and a -20dB/+4dB switch. There are stereo line outs, but no speaker outs, and there are three mono jacks each for a footswitch to switch on and off the distortion, reverb, and chorus or vibrato. I bought a Peavey two-button footswitch (the one that came with the other guitarist in my band's Transtube Supreme halfstack) and a Radio Shcak Y-Adapter two seperate the stereo signal to two mono ones and I use that for the Reverb and Distortion. Both channels have 'high' and 'low' inputs apparently for 'hot' pickups and not so hot pickups. This amp does not have a headphoe jack. I wish i had a speaker jack so i could by a cabinet and run it as the right and this amp as the left. The distortion is not worth mentioning except for the fact that it works great as a boost for solos. The Chorus is not adjustable, it's either on or off, but it is nice. This combo has two 60 watt amplifiers for a total of 120 watts. When you don't have the onboard Chorus or Vibrato on or don't have a stereo effects loop return signal, the amp is louder than when you switch on something stereo, probably because it has to use each power amp or something. It gets an eight for the lack of useable distortion, speaker outs, and a headphone jack.

I currently use this amp with a Fender Squire Stratocaster with stock single coils. For distortion I run my guitar through a Boss DS-2 and then into the Preamp of channel 2. From the Preamp I go through a Boss CE-5 Chorus in the effects loop, set for series and +4dB (i think). I play in a band that plays Nirvana, Green Day, Local H, Blink 182, and originals. I also occassionally play Jazz, Blues, and Christian Worship Music. With this setup my tone is pretty versatile. I can play any of the songs we play with ease. There is a slight hum that is noticeable if you have the volume really low but it doesn't increase with volume. Sometimes, if plugged into badly grounded outlets there is more buzz and hum. Because the amp is the ultimate clean amp and has no character of its' own, your guitar amp effects are reproced exactly. With a fairly good distortion pedal, you can do quite well. And because this amp starts out clean, you can play clean real well. My clean tone (and my distorted tone, for that matter) is way better than the other guitarist's. Without the distortion on, I'm having some problems because i think i'm overloading the input. There is some seriour clipping going on even when it's not very loud. I lowered my pickups and that pretty much solved it. Because this amp has no character of it's own, a amp simulator would be a perfect match for it. You would be able to nail virtually every sound. I've turned it up only to four and it's deafeningly loud so i don't know if it will distort. Again, the distortion is useless, except for a solo volume boost. It gets a nine because, although it sounds great and has the ability to sound like a Mesa/Boogie, a Marshall, and a Fender, it doesn't come with those sounds like a Line 6 amp.

It is rock solid and heavy (68 lbs), heavy duty that is, and had plastic edge protection things rveted on. It is solid state and so the tubes will never wear out, break down, or be defective or, for that matter, blow up, overheat, crack, catch fire, or do anything else of the sort. If nothing else, it's made by the same people that own Boss and we all know about the reliability of their pedals!

Never dealt with the company but, as a general rule, deal with the retailers/dealers not the companies.

This amp is, overall, the best amp in my opinion. I plan on expanding my rig to include rack effects and such. When i thought about a rack rig, that included getting a power amp, speakers, and Preamp at one time which would have cost alot. But with this amp, I can get another preamp and patch it into the preamp in (effects return) and add parts as desired. Plus, if i'm just practicing, the simplicity of a combo amp will be nice. Now I know almost everybody says this, but if this were lost or stolen I would buy it again as soon as I could. I love everything about it except the distortion [but i didn't, and don't ever (even if it was good) plan on using it once i get another preamp anyway]. I chose this amplifier because of it's versatility, compact size, shear power (120 watts) and tone. I thought briefly about a Mesa/Boogie or Marshall but then I remembered how nice it would be to not have to re-mortgage my house. If you want a versatile, compact amp that can be used for absolutely any style of music with some eq tweaking and a few effects, get this. That's all I have to say. Nine because ten would be perfect and only Jesus was perfect.

Dual channel, solid state stereo amplifier with two 12" speakers. Built in chorus/vibrato effects with spring reverb. Distortion is useless! 2 Channel Footswitch can be setup for either Reverb,Chorus, or Distortion. Your choise but I only use it for the Reverb and Chorus. The Amp has line and external speaker outputs. Seperate volume/bass/midrange/treble controls for each channel. Separate hi and low quarter-inch inputs on both the Normal and Effects channel. Casters built in to make transport easy.

I am curently using a Les Paul and my main guitar with a Peavey T-60 as my backup. I only run it on the Effects channel and use the HI input. I don't even deal with the Distorion because it's useless. I use a Digitech RP-1 which provides my Distortion and Clean sounds and the reproduction this amp gives me totally blows away my Marshall. I usually turn it up to 4 when practicing and it never breaks up. Very quiet operation. Right now I am using an old Peavey VT-Classic with 2 12" as an extension cabinet and the combination of the Roland and Peavey speakers provide me a great combination. Fat bottome from the Roland and Chrisper highs from the Peavey speakers. Truely one of the quietest and Loudest amps I have ever played through in my 30 years of playing.

Can't really say since I have only owned it a few weeks but from the reputation this amp has, I don't expect to have any problems with it.

Never had to deal with them but in the past when I had some problems with a Boss Stomp Box and they were very helpful.

I have been playing guitar for over 30years and like I said, "This is one of the best sounding Amps I have ever played through". I don't know why it took me this long to get one. I was using a Marshall 8080 Valvestate but I have to say that the Roland had now made me retire my Marshall to home practice use. In a Nutshell, "Go out and play this Amp and try different extension Cabinets with it". The tone cannot be beat especially if you use Stomp boxes or a Processor like I do. The Chorus is the sweetest on the market and cannot be beat. If this one ever goes to Amp Heaven I will definitely buy a replacement. Once you play through it you will be hooked !!!!

Wicked Chorus, wicked vibrato, nice reverb,lame distortion

I'm using it on a strat style guitar for African Soukous music. It's the perfect amp for this style. Very clean and clear, although the sustain isn't the greatest (I suspect this is true of all transistor amps. I'm used to playing through tubes.) and there's some hum , especially with the chorus on. Like I said, there isn't any real distortion, but the clean sound is great. It's disproportionately trebly though. I found that I had to put the treble on 4 and the mid and bass on 10, but once I did this it sounded great. It has a really sweet chorus, although I wish it was adjustable. Still it's a good all purpose chorus. I use a tube driver pedal for distortion and it sounds great, especially for a Pink Floyd kind of sound. One thing I like the most about this amp is it's versatility. It also makes a wicked acoustic guitar amp and it can even be used as a mini PA for vocals for small gigs ( my band just did this last night with great success. A great all purpose amp to have for musicians.

I just bought it used, so I don't know. I think mine is pretty old.

For most clean applications, it's great. For distortion, with a pedal (especially tube) it's great. For other uses (ie acoustic, vocals, etc) it's the best amp I've ever used. Buy one used as I hear they're really reliable and so a used one would probably not be a risky investment. I got a great deal on mine. 400$ (they usually list for about 1200$).

Combo amp with 2 12" speakers. Dual channel with onboard distortion, chorus and tremolo on Channel 2. Although distortion is completely useless, this amp is one of the sweetest sounding clean amps on the market, and is a perfect platform for a stomp box, if needed (try the Danelectric Fab Tone in front of the Daddy-O --> you can get the 70s VOX sound). This amp is foot switchable with the effects and has ample amplification for rehearsal, gigs, and studio. Clean sound can be a bit abbrasive when turned up past 4, but can easily

Using the JC120 with a Fender Strat w/ EMG single coils and the recent addition of the Danelectric Fab Tone stomp box (minimally as I play ska and jazz), this amp is the essence of everything jazzy and clean. Onboard chorus is true stereo chorusing between the 2 12" speakers. The only tiny problem I have is that the chorus is fixed and cannot be adjusted. Although the vibrato can be adjusted with Depth and Speed controls close to the chorus, I would still like to control the chorus effect. Leave it to Roland to make the signature chorus sound, however.

Heavy combo action here. The heavier the box, the more durable the amp, however. Make sure you carry it with your right hand (if you're right handed, of course). No tubes to screw around with. Particular amp that I own was made in 1987 and has never been serviced (other than tone pot cleaning). I would count on this thing with out a doubt.

Never had to contact them although I've heard that they fully back their product.

After studying and performing jazz in college and gigging on the rock, punk, funk, and now recently ska circuit for 10 years, this amp is definately the best sounding amp I've ever owned. If this amp was stolen, I would be destroyed as I got it for a choice price (mint condition for about $310.00 US @ 1.55 US to CDN). Although the onboard distortion is crap, as I said before, you couldn't find a better platform for a pedal.

Built and bought in 1987. Dual channel, solid state stereo amplifier with two 12" speakers. Built in chorus/vibrato effects with reverb and (admittedly useless) distortion. Footswitchable. Has line and external speaker outs. Seperate volume/bass/midrange/treble knobs for each channel. Separate hi and low quarter-inch audio inputs. Amp came with owners manual and a thick plastic dust cover with the Roland logo on it in gold. Amp comes supplied with casters so you can roll it around to aid in transporting it. A very nice feature.

Very rich, bright and full sound especially with the built-in stereo chorus activated. This is the amplifier that Alex Lifeson became addicted to in the early 1980s, Adrian Belew also was known for using this amp. It fits well with my progressive rock style. The amp does have a pervasive, system-wide quiet hiss that is cannot be eliminated, but it is quiet enough that you can record an album with it. It's a guitar amp, not a studio monitoring amp, however it is clean. The amplifier is capable of producing many different sounds, however, I use it like a portable P.A. system and use my Boogie and Lexicon effects to produce the sounds, the JC just reproduces the sounds that I create before teh amp. The clean tone can be stupidly loud before it breaks up. The distortion is very mild, almost weak - I'd term it pretty much unusable unless you're goosing the amp with a fuzz pedal or something (like the TC Electronic BLD). Interestingly enough, a third party company actually came up with a JC-120 distortion replacement circuit during the 80s when this amp was more popular than ever.. To get around the distortion problem, I simply use the distortion in my Mesa preamp and it amplifies it beautifully. Best of both worlds - tube overdrive being driven by a solid state amp. This amp can be used at low volumes, but if you need the power you can play large venues without pain. As I said, it can be stupidly loud if you push it above 4 on the dual volumes.

Extremely reliable. I've had it about 12 years - many gigs, carted around all over the place from Minnesota to South Dakota and back. Never broken down, very reliable - built like a tank, not an amp that's likely to be willingly carried by your bandmembers as it is not what I would call lightweight. Very dependable, never have needed a backup, never broken down - the best.

Never needed repairs, although I need a replacement set of knobs and I'd love to get a replacement dust cover that came with the amp originally.+

Stolen or lost? I'd buy it again, yes. It's a great, powerful, versatile amp. Hate? It's heavy. Really heavy. A local band who has one replaced the stock speakers with EVs and made it so heavy that it needed two guys to lift it. As it is, it's not too bad - just bulky and somewhat heavy. Try lifting one before you buy one. Maybe a JC-90 or JC-77 would be a better bet for someone who hates lifting heavy objects. It definetely beat out all the other chorus amps on the market at the time I bought it - then again, Roland originated this style of amp so imitators kind of lost out there. At a gig by Canterbury legend Richard Sinclair, he needed to use an amp as he was not gigging with amps that tour. So he used my JC-120. His words: "You've got one of the good ones!" referring to the sound quality of the amp. He played acoustic, electric, synthesizer guitar and bass guitar into the amp and they all sounded great.

Play it striaght or use a pre-amp first... lends itself well to any tone.

The Best thing it does is sound Clean or chorused out with the built in chorus.

The Reverb broke within 3 months. The amp was moved (rolled) once! That made me rather mad.

Never dealt with company...

Nice amp. Works perfectly except for the reverb. Very Clean. I actually want to start collecting the JC series as they are very cheap used.