Roland JC-77 Jazz Chorus

(Read the other reviews. Nothing's changed since the JC-77 is no longer in production.)

I bought the original JC-120 when it came out in 1979(???). I was playing acoustic guitar in those days and for its time, the JC-120 was the only amp produced that you could put an acoustic guitar thru and still have a workable sound. I used it only in performance as a monitor and using the FOH speakers for the audience. The chorus was really cool in it's day. But the JC-120 was a heavy amp to lug around. So when the smaller 2X10" JC-77 came out, I bought it (1994). By then I was largely only playing electric (1976 Tele Custom). While its twin 10"s don't have as much of the fullness & bottom end of the JC-120, it still sounds pretty good for clean playing...and it is relatively light to carry. It's a trade off. The JC-77 is much quieter than the original JC-120. The chorus on the JC-120 added enough hiss to make it unusable for recording. Roland had improved the SNR of the chorus by the time the JC-77 came out. I sold the JC-120 and have kept the JC-77 to this day. I recently loaned it to a guitarist heading an Alt. Emo band and he loved it and wants to buy it from me. Easy to carry and has about 80% of the good sound of its larger brother. JC-77s are hard to find now, so I'll probably keep it. If I blow the speakers I'd replace them with JBL's that were the speakers of choice for a strong clean sound in the 70s & 80s. The distortion is somewhat whimpy and unimpressive so I've always used floor pedals to get the distortion sounds I like. That way I can keep the JC set for a nice clean sound and can tailor my distortion options to what I want.

Mine is 15 years old and still works perfectly. Never had anything break on it. But I take care of all my equipment. I don't roll my amps over bumpy sidewalks or leave them in my car trunk. Corrosion for prolonged exposure to outside air will kill any amp, but far worse on an amp that uses circuit boards. Take care of your stuff and it will outlast you!

Never needed it.

This is a fine amp for clean guitar playing. It puts out what you put in with little coloration. In ingorance, some people try to make it into something it isn't and are consquently unhappy with it. It is essentially a smaller more portable version of its larger brother the JC-120. It works just fine in genres where instrument distortion is not the primary focus such as country, jazz, world, Hawaiian, etc.

Great Tone. Classic tube sound. Distortion is horrible though. I use a Boss Metal Zone through it.

Awesome sound. I play in a grindcore/metalcore band and for the description, it makes a suprisingly taunting sound with the chorus.

I've had it for about two years ands its worked fine.

Huh?

10/10 find jo self one

Already stated. Mine didn't come with the three-button foot switch, so if anyone has schematics for building one, I'd appreciate knowing.

I'm using this with two guitars, one a 1980 Ibanez AS200 and the other is an old Vantage I refretted and put in a couple of DiMarzio's.
I play a wide range of music, so I can find a sound I want.
I have two issues with this amp, and am looking for suggestions if anyone cares to write. First, it's noisy, not anything you'd hear in a gig, but it hisses enough to want to do something about it. Has anyone had this problem, is it treatable, and how? I don't mind opening it up and doing it myself if I knew what to do.
Second, the reverb sounds like a tin can. Would replacing the spring with a heavier one make a difference? Or do I have to go with a whole new unit? This is a backup amp, so I don't want to have to drop too much cash on it, because other than these two things, it's fine. Tone isn't warm, but not bad. This is a backup for a tube amp anyway

Haven't had this for long, but no problems with other Roland products.

Wrote them once, they were quick to respond.

This rating, for now. Apart from these issues, I'd say a strong 8.

Made in the 1980's?
Primarily use this for African guitar styles and funk.
Never use the distortion. Has been stated in a guitar mag as sounding like 'your granny's rear end after a ruby' (ruby murray = curry; Cockney rhyming slang).
With a strat, it has plenty of headroom.

Suhr Classic w/classic FL's - EB volume pedal - crybaby - MI Audio BBD OR Reverend DT2 - Boss TU2 - amp.
I need the headroom for funk, so that bit is good. Could use more warmth, but that'd be what valve amps are for.
Can be noisy but at gig levels, you don't notice it.
It's a utilitarian piece of kit. Not going to win any tone trophies, but it does the job with some aplomb.
Brings out the strat 'out of phase' sounds well.
Had the opportunity to try it against a Cube60 the other day. Sounds warmer than the Cube. Punchier. I like the 10" sound, though...

Well, I got it for a song a few years back, because it needed some TLC. Reverb was busted. Hissed a lot. ??30 later at the tech, and things were back to normal. Has been fine ever since, and it's had some rough treatment. More than I can say for my Traynor ycv40, which has had about half the playing time, has been babied, and constantly needs repairs.

N/A - used.

Playing since 1989.
Also have a Traynor ycv40, a Takamine EAN60C nylon, Washburn dreadnought and a Fender AM Dlx strat with a bad truss rod. Various pedals inc. boutique and non-boutique. (Can anyone recommend a good funk wah that doesn't pop eardrums, BTW?)

What do I love about it? It's a no-frills, reliable gig workhorse. Drop it, and it keeps going. Sounds much better than many more recent SS amps. Gives you Twin-esque headroom without the back-breaking weight.
Would rather have this than some of the lesser valve amps out there, like a budget Randall.

Basically, the score is this: you can fetishize gear to the point where it's all you worry about, or you can get stuff that fulfils your needs. This doesn't sound as good as a Carr or Dr Z, but it fulfils its role. I keep coming back to it when all else (literally) fails. For that alone, I've gotta big it up.

Solid state combo amp, single channel, 80 watts (40 per speaker), 2x10" speakers, 4 band EQ (Low, Mid, Treble, Hi Treble), built in distortion, stereo chorus and spring reverb. The three effects are foot switchable. Stereo line out.

Mine is a classic 80's model. I bought it used about 6 years ago.

The JC-77 was discontinued and replaced with the current model JC-90, which is almost identical as far as I can tell.

First off, look at the name: Jazz Chorus. This is not a "rock and roll amp" and will not sound like a cranked Fender or Marshall, so please dont expect it to. You can use pedals to get just about any sound you want, though. By itself, what this amp excels at is clean, and chorused clean sounds. The clean is rich and full bodied and not brittle sounding (unless you go overboard on the treble. I leave mine at about 3). With the four band EQ, you can dial in a wide range of tones, especially using the dual treble controls. I can't comment on the stock reverb, it was broken when I bought the amp. I replaced it with an Accutronics tank, which sounds excellent.

The chorus is, like everybody says, the best there is. It is beautiful and transparent, it doesnt muddy up your tone like most chorus effects I have used. There is a Fixed setting, and a Manual setting with Speed and Depth controls. The speed will not go super fast, so you cant get a heavy vibrato type sound out of it.

Which brings me to the most maligned feature of the Jazz Chorus line, the built in distortion effect. I agree that when fully cranked it is a fine example of nasty, solid state "distortion". However, if kept below 4, it adds a nice bit of overdrive effect to the sound which is really not bad. Using a footswitch, you can kick this in at will to get a slightly dirtier sound. Or, just use your own distortion pedal and ignore it completely. I use a Tube Driver in front of it and it smokes.

This amp is quite loud for being so small and portable (less than 40 lbs). It does lack some bottom end, with the 10" speakers in an open backed cab. I am planning on trying some different speakers, to see if I can get some more bass out of it. It is still plenty loud for gigging jazz, country, reggae, world beat type music. Also sounds good with an acoustic electric or keyboard running through it.

It's solid state and I can't see anything going wrong, it's built like a tank. I bought this used, and the previous owner was in one of the top show bands in town. It has been around the block a few times. The pots were very dirty and the amp was covered in dirt and beer stains. I cleaned the pots and the tolex and now it works like a champ and looks sharp. The spring reverb had a broken spring (fairly common I think) and I replaced it myself with an Accutronics. The amp was missing the casters, but its not that heavy, I dont miss them really.

I've never dealt with Roland, but I have a ton of their gear. None of it has ever broken.

I have been playing over 30 years, I own too much gear to list. I play everything from rock and blues to ambient and world beat stuff. Like most people, I prefer tube amps, but there is something cool about the Roland JC amps. They have their own sound, a great full sounding clean that no tube amp can really compete with (except maybe my Twin Reverb), plus the built-in chorus is second to none. Very transparent amp and sounds great with pedals in front of it. Good to have one in your arsenal of amps, plus no tubes to maintain.

I am not really a "jazz guitarist" but if I was, this is the only amp I would need. The JC-77 is small, portable and LOUD. I only paid $200 for mine and it's a keeper. If stolen I would get another if I could find one.

Pretty well covered previously. Two inputs, one for high gain one for low applications. Really handy if you want to use dual output effects, such as a delay/echo. I run the mono channel into the low input and the dry output to the high. Gives it a subtle delay effect, really thickens things out. Has about the best chorus I've ever heard already built in. Rarely ever get the volume on this thing above 3 or so. The distortion is pretty well useless, but if you're looking at an amp called a "Jazz Chorus" that shouldn't matter too much to you. FX loop would have been nice.

Like I said the distortion is pretty useless. In my experience its much harder to find a clean-sounding solid state. You can slap any pedal in front of it to make it sound however you want, but they don't make a "Clean guitar sound" pedal. Hard to make the clean channel distort unless you're in the "High" input. I've only ever played an Epi Les Paul through it with stock pickups, and it also sounds fantastic with my Ibanez Acoustic Electric. I've read about a hiss with these amps, but I honestly never hear it make ANY noise, unless its coming from other effects in the chain. Straight from the guitar to the amp, this thing is quiet as they come.

I've never had any problems with it. Replaced the fuse when I first bought it. It's pretty solid. The corner bindings are plastic, and I wish they were metal, but they haven't cracked or anything yet.

Don't know. Bought it used and have yet to have problems with it. Not sure about Roland's reputation in this area.

Been playing for eight years now. Great thing about this amp is the crystal clean sound and the chorus. Absolutely sparkles. Then put a compressor in front of it, a decent overdrive pedal and you can't go wrong. Probably be pretty difficult to find again if it were stolen or lost, but if I saw one I'd probably snag another.

If you're reading this you already know the features. A big plus was that mine came with the FS3. It has everything you need in this kind of amp.

The sound of a jazz chorus is unmistakeable. My 15 year old son was walking by as I was playing and he stopped to see what was going on. I asked why and he said "it sounds different than usual". I have some nice vintage Fender tube amps and what I think are some pretty nice effects, yet still, with only the JC and a tele, it sounded different that I have ever sounded. That says it all. Nothing sounds like a JC. Yes, it hisses and pretty noticeably. I have read different things in reviews. Some say you can fix it, others say you can't. Maybe I'll bring it into the shop one of these days. For a few bucks it may be worth it.

I disagree with all the reviews about the distortion. Well, not necessarily disagree, but just have a different view of it. As distortion, it sucks. However, I still find it very workable and easy to fit in to my playing. It beefs things up a bit and from 0 to 5, it really doesn't compromise clarity all that much. It just seems to round things out. The chords still ring out and the chorus still does it's thing, but the volume is kicked up a bit and it just sounds fuller, which is important with the 10" speakers. So all the reviews that talk about the poor distortion, this thing was not made for distortion. Maybe if it was called a fat switch or some other such nonsense people would feel differently about it and the word "distortion" wouldn't be there to cloud their judgment. I find it works better on manual setting than fixed, with rate from 0 to 5 and depth at 2-3.

From the 80's and has held up fine so far. I can see it lasting forever. I would depend on it and gig without a backup (if I don't use a backup for my tube amps, why would I need one for this)

I would definitely replace it. As I said above, nothing else sounds like a JC. Aside from the hiss, or if somebody got a lemon, I don't know how anybody can find fault with a JC if they know what they're looking for and what they're getting into. It kills me when almost every review I read says "not good for metal" Yeah, no crap it's not for metal. I haven't read any reviews for triple recto-whatevers, but do those all say "really not good for jazz improv, way too much drive". This amp is what it is and for what it does, there's nothing better. I have also played a JC 120 and it sounds very similar to the 77. I can't talk abut the other JC's and how they sound, compared to the 120, but in the 77, I basically have a 120 with less volume (yet still plenty to play all but the biggest venues) and far less weight.

I guess it's been covered here before, bit I'll just do it again. This amp has 2 inputs (hi and lo), 4 eq knobs (bass, middle, treble and hi-treble), a distortion, reverb and chorus. The chorus has two knobs for width and dept. You can switch between a fixed chorus setting and a 'manual' position, which lets you dial in your own setting. 2x 10" speakers. According to information from Roland this particular amp was made in 1984. It could use a headphone output and an effects loop though.

I bought this amp to check out it's clean sound. All I can say is this amp's a keeper! I just love the clean sound of it. This amp can be turned up very LOUD, without and it won't distort the signal. The chorus is absolutely wonderful! Even the preset one. The reverb unit is not really my cup of tea, but I don't use reverb anyway. The on board distortion rather sucks. That doesn't bother me either, since I use overdrive pedals instead. So if you're looking for an amp to play metal or hardcore, I guess this is not your thing. But other than that, I love it. I don't like to give 10s on sound, partly because of the crappy distortion, so I'll make it a 9.

As far as I know it has never failed during its 22 year life span. And I expect it to stand the test of time a lot longer. All the parts seem to be very solid. Definately an amp you can rely on.

I emailed Roland Europe with a couple of questions concerning this amp. They were very helpful. So I guess that justifies a 10.

This amp is not suitable for everyone. If you're after a good crunchy amp, this one might dissapoint you. But considering my own wishes, I'm pretty satisfied with it. I usually play songs which kinda resembles Radiohead/Smashing Pumkpins/Cure/PJ Harvey (in an indie rock band). Also, I play guitar in a sort of alt.country band. And it really fits both jobs! My usual setup is a Fender Jazzmaster, connected to a Boss TU-2, DM-3, DC-2 and BD-2, and a Fuzz Factory. Sometimes i switch to an Epiphone Les Paul. I'm really keen on getting a nice tone, and at the moment the JC-77 gives me exactly what I'm looking for. Plus it's rather lightweight and easy to carry around.

It's Made in Japan 1989..I've played Jazz And Blues Rock.It's Enough for me.
It's 2 Channels(High and Low).No loops.It's Enough for All styles.I Guranteed.

My Guitar,Gibson Lespaul 1982 and Fender Tele 72' thinline Mex 2001.
It's Make a good sound.Clean and Clean if you want it ,enough for all clean that I've ever heard.And You'll find a Original Classic Chorus too.Some future's too bad,Distortion,I've never touch it.I use pedal to it.This Amp's something about clean and loud.It's Perfect for me.I think it better than JC-120 and JC-90 that I used to play.

mine's too old to get a warranty.

All is Best for You Guys Good Luck with it.Plug And Play.Bye

I purchased the Roland Jazz Chorus 77, with my Gibson L4,Back in 1987,
I can say that I've played just about every style of Music, Including Classical, For the Smooth sound, And a 87 Strat USA, Gibson LP Studio, And it's Great For all Genre's of Music, It's not the best, But hey, it's lite in weight, has wheels, Don't have to carry a head and a Cab, If you're doing club work, And like someone else said, I've Played a Fender 65 Standard Bass with it, To save space when traveling, I give this amp a 9, 'For it's realiablity, And quality, Have used the Hell out of it, And never had to get it repaired once, Like my Peavey's ETC. I also do Old Style Rock Gigs, "Perfect," for that sound, What more do you want? I paid about $350.00 in NYC, 48th St. And I would purchase another one again, for studio use.

Roger/NYC.

Very Clean, And has excellent reverb, for Rock leads, Unless you're going to play Punk,

Very Reliable, Own it for 18yrs purchased it brand new, Used the Hell out of it, Never a repair, Great Amp.

I don't know,' I never needed any customer support.

I've been playing since 1963 and before that, I've played and own and still own Gibson L4, Les Paul standard, Fender Strat USA, And I would definitely would purchase it again, If it's in Exc Cond.