Roland JC-77 Jazz Chorus

I own 2-JC77s and one JC120.
Best parts: lotsa volume, clean undistorted sound (I run Digitech stuff thru the front for overdrive/distortion), deep chorus and blasty reverb.

I like to create my sound in my processor(s) and not in the amp. The clean sound and high volume is just the thing for me. I never bother with the awful distortion. One thing Roland should know--they turned this customer off from buying any of their effects that involve distortion/overdrive and reverb. The chorus is a different thing. Roland's great at the modulation effects.

Perfect. Just clean the pots once in a while. Soap and water with an ArmorAll chaser and the things spiff right up. I do like that hobnail armor--reminds me of some goth group.

Never needed for the 77 but my 120 needed a new speaker once--I had bought it from someone who added a Jensen. I like those two owl-looking aluminium cone caps staring at me. Roland made the purchase so simple I don't even remember it. The shop that did the speaker swap also adjusted the intensity of the reverb and chorus. I got the impression that the JC series is familiar to all techs and easy to tweak and repair.

I would not be without at least one JC77 from now on. I've used these 3 amps for 10 years now (Jan 2002) and am very pleased.

I think this amp is versatile but I mainly play with a clean sound, don't use the distortion though... I wish this amp had an effects loop.. the chorus is INCREDIBLE and jazz players must know.right

I am using an eppy 335 copy and a strat with 2 single coils and a humbucker in the rear. the amp is a little noisy and the distortion blows (that's why they make sans-amps!) but LOUD AS HELL without crapping out but the chorus more than makes up for this

i have been depending on this amp-goes from small sized clubs to larger venues with no problems- if this amp broke I would desperately hunt for another- paid $250 us for it and I think I got a great deal-amp has never broken down but it didn't have the casters of a footswith when I got it... any body wanna sell me a footswitch (must be original)

bought it used and never had to deal with cust svc

I love the fact that it's portable and not too heavy I love the choruse I hate the distortion.well ok it sounds allright when you add a little boost to solos or something, i play a strat and a 335 copy and they both have their differences but if you want that ultra clean sound this is the way to get it- sometimes a little compression will liven things up also

Not sure of the year of manufacture, but I suspect the amp is 10-15 years old. Two 10 inch speakers driven by two 40 watt amps (80 watts total). 4 band EQ. Chorus with variable rate and depth. Reverb. A few notes here. the distortion "channel" is not really on a discreet channel (ie, it shares reverb, volume and eq settings with the clean channel). This amp has a very durable (and very cool looking) cover. The power cord is hardwired to the unit (not removeable). The chrous, reverb, and channel is footswitchable via three mono footswitch jacks located on the back of the unit.

Main axe..... Yamaha Pacifica 311MS with a stacked single humbucker in the bridge and a full sized humbucker in the neck. I run this into two different preamps depending on the gig (and my mood). Setup #1 Yamaha 311 into Tech 21 TRI-OD, into MXR Analog Delay into Roland JC-77. Setup #2 Yamaha 311MS into Zoom GFX-8 into Roalnd JC-77. The clean channel on the JC is absolutely pristine. The 4 band EQ is very usable. The Chorus is unbeleivable. I can get better sounds out of the chourus unit on this amp than I can get out of my TC Chorus/Flanger pedal.....no kidding! As the other reviewers have noted, the Distortion channel is useless. Not a nice tight musical tone at all. It might possibly be useful to put a slight edge on your tone, but I can't imagine you would use the distortion on this amp at all....unless you were desperate (ie, your pre-amp dies in the middle of a gig). Since most players pre-amp their amps with the distortion box of their choice this really isn't a problem. If you use effects you will be VERY happy with this unit because it does not "color" the sound whatsoever. Lot's of headroom here too. This amp is VERY loud. Much louder than my Marshall VSR-100. Can't comment on the reverb unit, as it didn't survive the shippping from the ebay seller who sold it to me.

On a side note. I once read an article back in the early eighties in Guitar Player magazine on the whole tube/solid state debate. The author stated (and I totally agree) that just because an amp is a tube amp it doesn't mean that it is necessarily better. There are good and bad tube amps out there. I'd rather own a
good solid state amp (like the JC-77) than a mediocre tube amp.
It's not the tubes that make a difference. It's the design and quality of the circuitry, and primarily what the circuitry does to the signal that matters. I've owned good tube amps in my life ....and quite frankly they are a hassle for the gigging musician. You have to baby them. Forget about taking a three foot fall, or getting it knocked around with other gear in the back of a truck because your gig is at a lakeside Tavern three miles down a bumpy dirt road. The Roland may be solid state, but it is a high quality amp, and it'll take just about anything you can dish out to it.

No complaints so far. The unit is built like a tank. I understand the new 2001 JC-120's may have some quality control issues (read the reviews here on Harmony). So if your in the market for a JC you may want to pick up a used 90 or a 77 instead. You should be able to find them on ebay for between $200-$300. Hint, concentrate on the "buy it now" deals....that's where you'll find the bargains (when they exist).

My Roland Tech support experience is still a bit of a mystery to me. Unlike the MANY other Roland tech support horror stories I've read, I actually had a very pleasant experience. I called Roland to get price and availability on a new reverb unit. Within 20 seconds (that's right NO WAIT)I was on-line with a knowledgeable friendly support agent who gave me the part number and price information I was looking for. He even offered to take my card number and ship the unit out for me. 3 minutes.... questions answered.... phone call over. I was in shock. Perhaps Roland is listening after all.

I've been playing since the early Eighties. Classic rock to metal....depending on the gig. In my search for the perfect tone I've collected a lot of other gear....primarily because I'm a hopeless gearhead, and I owned a guitar shop in the past. If it were stolen I might consider another.....although I would most likely suffer from "been there done that" syndrome, and look to replace it with something I haven't yet owned. Faults? Yup....lots. No headphone jacks, no effects loop. Channels are not discreet. It has a stereo line out, but the line out isn't "emulated"....so if your on stage your going to have to mic this bad boy....or invest in a H&K Redbox. And the distortion circuit? What the heck was going through the minds of the Roland engineers that designed that??.......geeeesh!!!! On the flip side Roland was way ahead of everyone else way back when they released this amp to the public. It's a great clean amp....you won't be disappointed, especially if you use an external pre-amp (I HIGHLY recommend the Tech 21 TRI-OD....see my review here on Harmony Central) and/or other external effects.

As with others, you can't say enough about the clean sound. It has an amazing chorus, but I don't care for the vibrato. Differing from others though, is my opinion of the distortion. I don't care for that metallic, fuzz-tone style of distortion, and the distortion available from the JC-77 is perfect for the club work I do. I run the amp at 5-6 volume level and set the distortion at about the same. When I kick in the distortion, I get great sustain and crisp notes and chords with my Ibanez Artstar 80. I also play pedal steel through it about 75 percent of the time. I find the total frequency response of the amp the best I have played through and that list includes a classic Fender Twin, Super Reverb, Dual Showman, Peavey Mace combo, Ampeg Twin 12, and Laney Linebacker (with 2-12s). While I prefer the Fender reverb to the Roland reverb, Roland is adequate. (Note: I played through the JC-120 and got the same sound with the exception of the distortion; the higher power of the 120 would not let me drive it hard enough to get the sound I got from the 77.)

As mentioned, clean throughout the frequency range.

No problems, but I've had it apart and it looks very serviceable.

After 35 years of lugging honking big amps around, the JC-77 is a blessing. Big enough for small clubs, small enough for practice. I would love to have a second one, or third, or fourth...

This amp has a lot of great features for guitarists of all different styles. The Roland JC77 has lots of tone control (bass, mid, treble, and high treble), reverb, and chorus (fixed or manual settings). As others have said, stay away from the disortion.

If you're looking for a slightly warmer tone, you might be better off with a tube amp (like a Fender Twin) or a Polytone amp (if you want a Joe Pass type jazz tone). However, for a pure, uncolored clean sound, the Roland JC77 (and all the other Roland JC amps, for that matter) is THE best amp on the market. You can really crank up the volume on this amp, and the sound won't disort a bit. The stereo chorus is deep,lush, and shimmering and better than any compact pedal I've ever tried (and I've tried a LOT of chorus pedals). This is probably the best amp to use with guitar effects (and especially with a guitar synthesizer) other than distortion/overdrive pedals because the amp does not color your guitar tone. Because the amp does not sound good with any type of distortion/overdrive, I had to give the sound a 9 rather than 10 rating.

Like all Roland products, this thing is built like a tank.

I never had to deal with customer support.

I play both jazz and rock music. I use an Epiphone Les Paul Studio guitar outfitted with Gibson '57 humbuckers, a Jekyll and Hyde Ultimate Overdrive pedal (which, as I said before, doesn't sound spectacular through this amp), a Boss DD5 delay pedal, and an Ernie Ball volume pedal. I'm a big fan of 80's King Crimson and The Police, and this amp can nail the tones of these bands (Adrian Belew, of King Crimson, used a Roland JC amp in the 80's). This amp has also been very valuable for me when I play jazz music, although I will probably in the future get a Polytone amp for jazz music and keep the Roland JC amp for clean rock music. If it were lost or stollen, I would definitely replace it (though since this amp is now out of print, I would replace it with a JC90 or JC120). Try out this amp and see why it has become the industry standard for clean sounds and chorus sounds.

what is everyone bitching about it is a great amp
who just uses a built in distortion anyway
pre amp it or pedal it it rocks

great clean best ever

drop it who cares it is a crete

what ?

only amp i wwould ever need again
oh and a side thought
get a split output to run two by 2x12's oh yeahhhhhhh

Stereo clean sounds from heaven, don't expect to get any use out of the crappy distortion though ! One channel with chorus, reverb, and that useless distortion knob. Features are pretty standard, I wish it had a extention speaker output and maybe a stereo FX loop but I'll forgive roland because this amps clean tone is so spectacular !

If you want a great clean jazz guitar tone this is it ! I think there is something about the 10" speakers that I like better than the 12" in the JC-120, or maybe it has to do with the extra hi treble control and being able to roll the extreme hi end off the amp, anyway I swear it sounds better than the JC-120 I once owned.

Both the JC-120 and this JC-77 seem to be tough as a mule. No tubes to give you all those quirky problems. Solid state amps usually keep working with very few problems.

I bought this amp used so I don't think customer support is an issue.

I've been playing guitar for over 25 years and I've owned every amp in the book, Fender, Marshall, Boogie, Musicman, Peavy, Carvin, you name it. Some of these amps have a better distortion tone but as far as clean tones go the Roland JC-77 takes the gold ! And as a bonus you get the worlds greatest stereo chorus at no extra charge.

The JC-77 may have the worst distortion on the market, but it makes up for it with "in your face" clean tone and luscious stereo chorus. I use this amp on the road as well as the studio, where I professionally play Country/Southern Gospel music. The JC-77 is a great compliment to my EMG loaded Strat.

There are instances where this amp can be "too clean" depending on the musical piece I'm playing. I most always cut the High Treble and Treble controls to suit my taste, which does seem to help the natural "hissing" of the amp. Coupled with a compressor and delay, I can get a surprisingly warm "tube-like" tone. When on the road, the JC-77 doubles as a keyboard amp, too. It's never failed to give me clarity and punch at any volume.

This is the 3rd JC-77 of my career. I lost the first 2 in the quest for "my sound". Funny thing is, I keep coming back to the JC-77. It's light, powerful and gives me a good tone. As with the previous 2, I've yet to encounter any malfunctions or technical problems. It has proven to be a faithful, dependable companion from stage to studio.

My current JC-77 was purchased used for $275 and it looked like it had been through a Texas tornado. Dusty, dirty, torn grill cloth and no castors. When I hooked it up for a try out in that little used music store, it was like symphony. No hums, no buzzes, just that amazing Roland sound. So, I bought it. I took it home and gave it a soapy sponge bath and proceded to restore it to it's original condition. Customer Support was very helpful in getting me the proper grill cloth, pop-in castors and a new vinyl cover. Now my baby looks just like new!

I just love this amp. Although there are others I'm quite fond of, I just can't seem to get away from the JC-77. Perhaps it's that unmistakable look. It certainly stands out in a crowd. As for improvements, imagine this: an ALL TUBE version of the JC-77!!! Wowzers!

If I could own only one guitar amplifier, it would be the Roland Jazz Chorus-77. I also own a couple Peavor Chorus amps. The one HUGE feature is the unsurpassed Roland Chorus, three-way switchable from center ("Off"), up ("Manual") or down "Fiexed." I've often tried the "Manual" position and fiddled virtually every combination of the coordinated "Rate" and "Depth" potentiometers associated with this Chors...and I can't even seem to MATCH the wonderful "Fixed" Chorus...let alone IMPROVE on it! Such a sweet, mellow "natually comfortable" sound...this Chorus does to sound what a pair of worn sheepskin sleepers do for the feet...ot a loyal lap dog does for the soul!

I use my Roland Jazz Chorus-77 with two primary guitars: a 17" archtop Washburn "Orleans" jazz guitar with a single floatng pickup...and a Washburn HB-35N double-cutaway thinbody (ala Gibson 335). Each guitar's tone is enhanced and "honed". The amp seemed to "sand away" the rough, brittle edges of the treble strings while enhancing the balance of the three lower strings...to create the "sweetest sounds this side of heaven" (where have I heard that phrase before?). Understand that I am a "one man band" playing solo full-chord melofy in fine dining restaurants...where backgroud is the key, not showmanship. The mellow combination of the JC-77, my arch-top jazz guitar and my Roland GR-1 Guitar Synthesizer create an "unmatched sound" no one else can offer. Wow! As pleasurable for me to hear as for my audience to hear!

I've had this amplifier for 8 years, puchased used from an individual, with no problem.

Never needed customer support o my JC-77...but have continuing problems getting straight, authoritative answers from Roland reps through queries at various music stores. Need replacement cales, expander sound cards, etc., for My Roland GR-1...but no back-up parts/supplies in stock at Roland...and this GR-1 cost over $1200 NEW! You'd think they'd staock replacement parts and supplies for the GR-1! Perhaps this is indicative of a future problem in getting parts and supplies for the Roland amplifiers. Roland spends a fortune on their quarterly full-color free magazine promoting its newest products...but why do they leave us past customers in their dust?

I'll end by stating what I said first: If I could only own one guitar amplifier it is the Roland Jazz Chorus-77. As a 55 year old guitarist, the smaller size and lighter weight is a great bonus! I nearly DIE trying to lug the Peavet Stereo Classic Chorus amp up a flight of stairs!

Well...I've been playing for awhile and have come to respect the solid state amp sound for what it is. It's a great clean Amp! i use it for small clubs playing blues and funk tunes. The distortion SUCKS! but i have boss gt-3 pedal board for effects so distortion isnt a problem for me.This 80 watt, 2x10's amp has alot of power so its a great clean amp to run effect through. one channel (another would be nice), stereo outs to use 2x12's (would be nice. The chorus is oh so lovely! although I very rarley use it. MAJOR NEGATIVE, every now and then I get radio stations broadcasting through my amp ... now this hasn't happened at a gig yet but just seems like a matter of time.

Playing an american fender strat and Ibanez RG420, the tone and clarity of the guitars really shine. you can turn this amp up to 10 and have no humming. I would say the amp is like a glass of water, very clear and very versatile depending on the effect you add to it. you will here the guitar and not the amp. Again the distortion sucks so invest in either a board or stomp boxes.

The reverb knob feels like its going to break but it been through so much...very hot weather, fell off the stage, sacrificed a goat. Never had any problems..plug in and play! **pet peave** the chord always comes out when moving it from place to place.

never dealt with the company

I've been playing now for five years, Its the only amp i've ever known. if it got jacked i dont know if i'd buy another one just because I've always wanted a marshall stack (vanity) "Bigger is better" but I couldn't go wrong if I got this amp again.