Product: Roland JC-55
Price Paid: US $250 used
Submitted
08/17/1998
at
03:28pm
by
Mike Konshak
Email: mjkonsha<at>student dot berklee dot edu
Features
:
8
This amp should have everything you'd want for great clean tones at low to moderate volumes. 3 band EQ, reverb and stereo chorus (depth and rate). Also has distortion (knob clicks off when all the way down, but not a sperate channel). Wish it had ext cap outs. Very light at 28 lbs and fairly small - definitely a portable amp.
Sound Quality
:
9
I play a strat through this amp and it sounds beautiful on most clean settings. The EQ is versatile, the chorus nice (although I try not to overuse it) and the reverb is very deep and rich - I love the reverb. Another amazing feature on this amp which I have never seen on any other amp (tube or solid state) is that with the distortion off, the amps stays perfectly clean all the way up to ten - which is plenty loud for small gigs with a drummer. The down side - the distortion is pretty bad which pretty much anyone sith a JC series amp would tell you. You get a decent edge and volume boost with it set to about 4, but a distortion box is a far better option. Still, I bought it for the clean sound and it definitely has a killer clean sound - I'd love to hear an archtop through this thing.
Reliability
:
9
I'd guess this thing is about 10 to 15 years old and it should last another twenty. Not the prettiest amp, but everything is solid. Since it's solid state you don't have to worry about silly tube problems. I've used it without a backup - no problems yet.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Sorry - I've never had to deal with the people at Roland.
Overall Rating
:
9
I plan to use this amp for a while. I love it's tones and am more than happy with it's clarity at high volumes. I was hoping to pick up a small tube amp - I tried the Fender Blues Jr. and the Crate Vintage Club 20, but both broke up at about 4 or 5. They are both great little blues/rock amps, but I'm starting to play more jazz so I need the nice clean tones. And I love the reliability of solid state stuff. If I can ever afford two, I'd like to get a second and stack the little guys - they're pretty tough to find though. I had to deal with someone out of state (kind of risky) but luckily he was a great guy to buy from. 10 if it had ext. cab outs and killer distortion, but still an awesome practice/portable amp.
