Roland JC-77 Jazz Chorus

Not sure of exact year; however, were made between 86-91'.
The amp I find is extremely versatile amp to play any style of music.
One channel amp, how many do you need.
The amp is solid state80 watts and can be loud loud or quiet.
The JC 120 has a fuller sound due the 2-12 over 2-10 inch speakers however for 90% of what you may need this amp will cover it. Unless you are playing outdoor parks and huge venues you won't need the 120.
Very tweakable tone controls. Hight treble, Treble, Mid, and low.
Reverb is great and chorus is outstanding.
Distorition is ok and raw. I find the distortion underrated read section on sounds. for full features down load a manual from www.rolandus.com

I use single coil, P-90 and humbuckers on hollowbodies and strats.
I play jazz mainly and this amp is perfect for clean tone and very tweakalbe, especially with the extral high treble control.
The distortion is mild at best but you buy one of these amps for the clean sound. It won't break up until you really turn up the volume.
You can get just about any distorition you want from pedals so I buy an amp for the clean channel first. Therefore I have clean distortion when I want it. MOst tone is matter of opinion I don't mind the raw distortion that amp provides. At 3 you can emulate that tube amp attak when playing the blues. I can get clean tone and when I strike or strum harder it breaks up just enough for a bluesy sound.

Very reliable, parts are still available and most areas have an authorized roland repair shop.
My used amp is over 10 years old and in perfect condition. This amp has held up very well.

Very reliable, parts are still available and most areas have an authorized roland repair shop.

Ok, Here is the deal. Tone is from the player and I find too much emphasis is placed on equipment. You can tweak guitar and amp tone controls to almost any specs you want the thing is you will still sound like you with the best gear in the world. Find your sound and buy the amp that will best suit 90% of the playing you will want to do. I baught this amp for the clean sound. As other reviews have said these are the cleanest solid state amps on the market. The older ones are better then the new ones but very little difference in sound just cheaper parts. Love that clean sound. Best chorus on the marke who do you think makes boss chorus pedals but Roland. This amp as true sterao chorus. I have played for over twenty years and have liked these amps since I tried one in 86'. I like the 2-10 model for it portablility over the JC-120 61lb beast or a twin reverb 68lb tube monster. I tried just about all new solid state and tube amps on the market and still went back and baought a used JC-77. Nothing came close to the clean unless you wanted to spend 800 plus for class A 1-12 or 2-12 combo.

Like with all of the other reviews here; ultra-clean sound, sucky distortion, good reverb, heavenly chorus. It was most likely built in the '80's. I use it both in rehearsal and live.

This is where it gets weird. For the first ten years of owning this amp it was in the rental inventory at my prop house or it was being used within my band as back-up for a problematic Fender Twin or sometimes as a keyboard amp then about five years ago we moved to a new rehearsal site and forgot to bring a PA so I plugged a mic into it and have been SINGING and playing brass through it ever since! The rest of the band is constantly saying "Wow...how did you get your voice to sound like that?" Mostly we play Capt. Beefheart, Zappa, some Alice Cooper and the JC-77 makes it sound amazingly like the vocals on the record when we're doing The Rutles "Cheese & Onions"and it's unequaled when I'm using throat sounds to emulate synthesizers, oscilators, tone generators or even a theremin. Of course playing live there's always a lengthy discussion with the house sound tech trying to get him to understand why we want to mic a guitar amp that's being sung through rather just singing through a house mic but generally at the end of the night during load-out they'll come up and say "That Roland's got a great chorus and it sounded like you had more horns onstage."

Absolutely no problems - EVER with this JC77!

I bought this amp 15 years ago and would replace it immediately if it was no longer in my life. Speaker outs would be a nice addition. If you look closely you can see it in "Mr. Holland's Opus".

This Roland masterpiece comes fully loaded with Chorus, Distortion, and Reverb. The reverb is splendid but it's splendidness does not exceed the awesomeness of it's distortion. The chorus is great. I usually use it on fixed but only because I do not have the mad skills of being able to dial in a good manual rate and depth. The volume knob is awesome. If it surpasses 2, your windows are garaunteed to shake. I play in my garage and the tools on the walls shake at 3. It's definitely loud enough. It's too loud for headphones and unfortunately, my line out doesn't work. But I did buy it used.

I usually have the treble either cranked or barely there to get a real nice blues/Beatles tone. I play punk/indie rock and the distortion for it is awesome. The chorus also adds a nice touch. Again, the volume is intense. But it is great for gigs.

Mine comes fully rigged with brackets. I'm so glad they have them because the amp is light as hell. I doubt it ways over 30-40 pounds. I like the wheels anyways because the weight dispurtion is off centered. So if you have to lug it around it's slightly awkward. Mine's never broken in the 5 days I've had it and it's never been repaired. Definitely dependable.

Not needed it yet.

I've been playing for 4+ years and I use a Gibson SG with it. It sounds great from my standards. Well enough that I'm going to use to record. If it were stolen, I would definitely buy it again. It's trusty and dependable and loud as ****. I wish the line out on my worked but it's great as is. I prolly wouldn't need it if it had it in the first place.

Had my JC 77 for over ten years. Bought it off another member of our band who had it for about ten or more years.I play mainly rock, country, jazz, reggae, gospel and ethnic stuff, live and session work occassionally. It has hi & lo inputs, single channel; distortion/ volume/ hi treble/treble/mid/bass and reverb knobs plus chorus with switching for manual and fixed and a rate and depth knob. Out the back- inputs for switches for-chorus/reverb/distortion. Also L & R line outs. Studs along the edges.
I would have liked a send and return, and, like many of the other reports...a headphone jack!!Never use distortion and the reverb springs have seen better days, but the chorus,,,one of the best I've used.Heaps of volume and easy to lug about.Would have only given it a 3 rating but deserves more for the clarity.

With this amp I've only used a USA standard Fender Strat and an Ovation legend deep bowl with bridge pickups. The JC77 will pick up interference if there is enough of it about but I have no problems otherwise. I like the volume, never have to wind it up to full for my style of playing, great chorus, nice clean sound, but never use the reverb or distortion and lacks punchy bass sounds when playing live so I line out through a Rockit 150 head and a 115 bin, gives me bass punch while the JC gives me treble.

Apart from the reverb springs floppin about and the wires to the springs always breaking off, I, or the previous owner have never taken it to be fixed. The Roland badge on the front has dropped off some time ago but the rest of this rig looks just like it has just come out of the factory.I have used this amp as a backup and would not us any other amp to back it up. The pots are clear and never been cleaned and the sound is crystal clear at any setting.Would have given a 10 if not for the reverb. Can't be bothered repairing the reverb as I use a digi verb now.

Never needed one in 10 - 20 years

I have been playing since the middle 60's. Owned many common guitars since the 60's and a lot of amps but now only have an 1981 Ovation Legend, USA Standard Fender Strat, Custom made Ibenez Blazer Series , Aria Pro 2 FS series and a Fernandes Bass limited edition. Apart from the Ovation which had bridge pickups added all my axes are original with no mods.Amps are; 150 Rockit head 115 bass Bin, Laney 300 head, 250 Trace Elliot bass combo, Marshall 100 DFX combo and Roland JC77. If I lost my JC77 I would probably not get another-they are as rare as hens teeth.My Roland amp can be summed up as;
clean, portable, good looking, nice chorus, reliable, but, lacks bass, a few features.A good buy at $100 New Zealand in 1995!!

No idea about amp year, very simple to deal withi it's controls, and very nice 2X10 SS amp. Since it's an old amp it doesn't have so much features as the amps made now.

Here is the problem... i use a guitar made by myself with an emg81 in the bridge and an emgSA in the neck and my amp simply distorts....
i think something is wrong since i bought it used, but i can't turn the volume all the way up and the crunch comes out of it....
Anyway, the crazy thing about it is that if use a shred master, slash comes out of the amp and plays.... i can't say it sounds different cause it sounds exactely like his sound, but the cleas dissepointed me.... (maybe cause of the EMG81

I cant use it alone because of the CLEAN that almost doesn't exist...

Never caled roland....

I bought this amp thinking it would be a good option to my gr30 sinth but it just doesn't work...
if anyone has any idea about fixing it please, gimme a hand...

I bougt the amp somewhere in the 80's, second hand, so I think it was made in the early 80's. I bought it because I was smashed by the heavenly sound of a clean Stat over the JC-120. I ran into this 77, is was cheaper, and easyier to transport..
I used this amp on stage, studio and rehearsals. Enough info on features on this site. Only comments: a headphone jack would be nice, and: can anybody tell me whij 90% of the volume hits you between 1 and 3 or so! 4-10 is almost useless. This is uncomfortable for home-use!
This amp has defenitly anough power for average gigs.

I use it with a modified Fender Lead and an standard Fender USA Strat with a build in pre-amp (so active). Style is diverse, mainly rock-based, with some funk(y), Jazz and also small pieces of metal.
I combine it with the BOSS-GT3. I miss some low, for that reason I will maybe switch to a JC-120. The distortion...who designed this?? It must be a joke from Roland.... I only used it sometimes when I used an external distortion (the boss stomp box SD-1) for a backgound sound and needed some extra power for a solo.
But the chorus.. The best!!
The clean channel is really clean , only you ears will distort it when the amp is open!

As fas as technically possible...100%
in 20 years I once had o broken cable from the reverb!

I realy don't know...never needed.

I play the thing for about 20 years... After bying the boss-gt3 I bougt a used Peavey Bandit112 because it gives some more body (low). That is the only advantage (besides when using it without external effects, the Bandit has much better cruch/distortion possibilites). But for nice sound (studio) forget the Bandit and use the JC!! No doubt about it.

I own 2 JC 77's, and i love them! I believe these amps were made sometime in the 90's, not too sure though. the best part about these amps are that they are just like their big brother, the JC-120. VERY CLEAN. of course the distortion sucks, but who uses it anyways? i've always used my own distortion through these amps and it can hold it's own even for being a solid state amp. i like how it has a treble and a hi-treble EQ. (no mid though, they should've put one in)I'll stack up both JC-77's and run them both at the same time for bigger gigs, or I'll set them on either side of the stage and run it in stereo for that true stereo effect. (delays sound really cool when they're in stereo)

i play an 86' PRS custom guitar, a 72'fender strat (USA), and a 01' gibson les paul standard. the JC's are perfect for reggae, cuts through nicely.

never really had a problem with them. never bring a backup.

never had to call them.

been playing for 14 years. as for amps, i own a JC-120, Fender PRO 185, a Fender deville 4x10, and a roland cube 30. i play through a digitech 2101 processor, and a crybaby wah pedal.

Dont know the year this thing was made, but early 90's, late 80's sounds about right. could be horribly wrong tho. As i'm sure you all know from even thinking about the amp, it's CLEAN. clean clean clean clean clean! pedals sound great through it. with a tweaked eq, and a tweaked/modded ds-1, it's some great disto. very milky smooth, but with plenty of crunch. Single channel doesn't offer much variety, but for it's main purpouse, it's fine. the only thing about this thing i wish it had was a recording out jack, but...i guess it wouldn't capture the true stereo chorus...so mic placement is the only way. Reverb and Chorus are great! the chorus is the best part of this amp, and it's just so great. for being 77 watts(i think) it's pretty damned loud...would get you through an outdoor gig at 5 or 6.


I'd give this amp an 8 or a 9, but since it's got no recording out, or headphones jack, i'm giving it a 6.

I play a schecter c-1 with a duncan Jazz and JB combo in it, as well as a '66 Gibson Es-125 with 2 stock p-90's through the amp, the p-90's really shine through the amp. they let the naturally woody tone shine through, and the amp just well, amplifies the sound. the schecter sounds great when i'm running the modded ds-1 through it, the humbuckers just push the whole thing a little bit further. the onboard distortion sucks, so lets leave it at that.

Not many people seemed to mention the noise of the amp. there's a constant fuzz when the amp is turned on, no matter how loud. but the amp is solid state and that's to be expected. no 10 here because of the hum and crappy distortion, but...i didn't buy the amp for the distortion...so...

this thing is a TANK! VERY sturdy. this thing could survive a nuclear holocaust. i've not had any problems in the couple of months i've had it. i cleaned all the pots, and got all the dust out of the component board when i first got it, and only 1 pot is scratchy...not bad. i dont think this thing will need much attention as time wears on.

dunno...never had to work with them.

I've been playing for close to 5 years, with this piece as my first real good piece of equipment. played through the crate line, not so good. glad i picked this thing up. as i stated earlier i've got a schecter c-1 and a '66 gibson es-125, and both of these guitars are suited well to the amp. if it were lost, i'd cry. then i'd hit up ebay again and hopefully pull another one out. the thing is great. the most lush stereo chorus you've ever heard. and for the price, it was just right. very happy with my purchase.

This is just an update. You can read my old review a little further up. It has beeen over a year now and everything is still great. The thought or even the fantasy of owning a different amp has not crossed my mind. I am now very curious about other roland products simply because of the quality of this amp. Still a 10!!!!

year... late 80ish
jazz, funk, r&b
single channel with a high & low input. variable and fixed chorus settings. and a 4 band eq.
built in distortion (who needs it? get a boogie or marshall for that!)
77 watts of solid state clean!

Les Paul Standard, Kramer T-neck, Fender Strat.
perfect fit for mean clean, if you need the distortion sound, pedals will do nice. as for loud, this baby will rip your ears out without distortion, unbelievably crisp sound and high volumes for a double 10.

I've only had this unit (bought used) for around 6 mo's. however I've have a jc120 since 84' and used it for gig's 5 nites a week for years without even "thinking" it could give me any problems. 'except for the occasional spill of drink on the cab!' Have played live only 1x with the 77 and it was flawless.

(never called)

playing 25 yrs. have the suite of JC's 55, 77, 120, dont have or want the 160 (too big). GK 250ml2, a handful of Peavey heads.
I have played with the JC's since the 80's when I fell in love with the sound, at first it took some getting used to as far as the extreme crispness coming out of 2 12's, I have used cab's with horn's tweeter banks, and while it doesnt reach the ultra high ping of the tweeters, it comes close. Always used pedals for lead distortion, so as everyone has written the built in isnt very useful.