Swapping valve for SS - Roland JC 40

Placidcasual79

Following on from that interesting thread about peoples biases against SS - 

I am really thinking about swapping my Tweed Blues Deluxe for a Roland JC 40. I know the clean sound is revered and used widely in reggae. 

 I play in a 9 piece Ska band - so there is competition with horns and keys in the EQ band. 

I play clean most of the time. I love the sound of my Blues Deluxe when its warm, its pretty clean, warm and creamy.... I am nervous I'd loose this 'warmth' to a colder more digital sound with the JC 40. 

I have a bad back so the weight would be a significant bonus. 

My other issue is pedals - I'd use my EP booster as a clean volume boost and can't imagine this would behave too differently with a SS amp as opposed to the Blues Deluxe. However, I use a tube screamer for solos and I'd imagine this would behave quite differently with a SS amp?

I like a moderately increased level of crunch, volume and sustain for solos. Would I need a different pedal? 

I am thinking I could probably ditch the BOSS CH1 off my board as the built in chorus on the JC 40 sounds pretty sweet. 

What are people's thoughts? 

I'd like to rent/borrow one to get a really good feel for it. Anybody fancy a swap?

professorben

I've not tried a 40 but I've tried the JC120 and I will admit I'm not a fan, it's insanely heavy and a bit brittle to my ears.  

As ever YMMV 


Id suggest a Bandit. 

EricTheWeary

I'd be slightly anxious about the JC40 cutting it in a band, whereas the JC120 has enough headroom for anything. I'm not saying it wouldn't but it is quite a small combo.
The OD channel on the 40 is completely different than the (much disliked)one on the 120 so you might find you can use that in place of a pedal too. 
The JCs were designed (this is a Dan from TPS story) basically as pedal platform amps years before that concept even existed for other people. Just bear in mind that they won't 'take' pedals in the same way that your Deluxe will - less interaction with the amp as it were.

professorben said:

I've not tried a 40 but I've tried the JC120 and I will admit I'm not a fan, it's insanely heavy and a bit brittle to my ears.  

As ever YMMV 


Id suggest a Bandit. 

Peavey also do (or did anyway)a Special Chorus which is basically a 2x12 Bandit with chorus ( the modern version, not to be confused with their 80s Stereo Chorus which is built like a brick shithouse) which ticks a lot of the boxes here and turns up cheap. 

I have notion of pairing a JC40 with my Laney combo, switching amps for those clean twinkly moments and when no one is looking running both at once and pretending to be Billy Duffy. 

ICBM

Placidcasual79 said:

I am nervous I'd loose this 'warmth' to a colder more digital sound with the JC 40.

Why would you get a digital sound? It's an analogue amp…

I haven't played a JC40 yet but I'm very familiar with JC120s and the other older models. They are definitely cleaner and more hi-fi than the Blues Deluxe, but still a rich, warm sound which takes pedals well.

Funkfingers

For the band described, a JC-40 is unlikely to be loud enough.

I would stick with the Fender amplifier and run an Equaliser pedal to fake the Roland JC sounds.

Voxman

The JC40 at £599 it in my view very over-priced for what it is and very limited as to what it can do - it's very much a one-trick pony even though it is supposed to have a decent overdrive.  

I recommend you try out a new Mustang GT.  These amps do Fender cleans very, very well plus there are some very nice built in effects.  If ever you wanted some crunch or gain, there are other amp models in there too (21) and some OD pedal effects built in (it has 47 effects).  The reverbs and delays are very good too, esp the Fender amp based reverbs that are very authentic .  Although a digital modelling amp, the tones are surprisingly warm & valve-like, and the amps are very light weight - the new GT is just unbelievably light - even the 2x12 GT200 is only 32lbs!  Plus they are very competitively priced - even the top of the range 2x12 GT200  is only £440 and it comes with a 4-button footswitch for good live gigging control.

You can see the spec here - its state of the art, is wi-fi enabled, and even includes a looper: 

https://www.andertons.co.uk/p/2310306000/combo-amps/fender-mustang-gt-200-200w-2x12-digital-combo-amplifier

The demo vids are very impressive:

Voxman

Of course the other amp to try is the Boss Katana 100, at only £269!  Much liked by a lot of folk here.

https://www.andertons.co.uk/p/KTN100/combo-amps/boss-katana-ktn100-electric-guitar-amp-combo

EricTheWeary

Just in defence of the JC40 having heard someone use one it is 'that sound' and less of a generic SS one. If you watch old clips of the 2Tone era bands a JC120 could often be spotted in the backline and you do see them in reggae bands. The Beat, in particular, were influenced by some of the Afro beat stuff were that sound is de rigeur and some of their stuff had that chorus all over it. For me the question is really about a small combo cutting it in such a big band. 

ThePrettyDamned

Why would it sound digital? It's a solid state amp, not a digital one. 

Have a look for the Peavey special. It's a 2x12 bandit but with more watts and a nifty stereo chorus built in. 



Or a boss katana maybe. But I've only heard that in person played crunchy... 

Modellista

I'd go for two Katana 50s and use the on board chorus on one of them. The cleans are great on the Katanas. 

Twice the power, half the price. 

ESBlonde

Another one questioning the power availability, horns a damn loud when blown hard never mind all the other instruments. If you mic up then it's a moot point but your idea to try one first is good. Don't you get 7 days with online orders?
Alternatively look at getting a small folding sack barrow to move you present amp about, then your only problem is the lift in/out the car boot.

Winny_Pooh

The JC40 won't cut it volume wise, You should look at another SS amp but the weight savings will not be that radical. Have you considered swapping out to a Neo speaker in your combo?

olafgarten

You can get a 70's Twin Reverb for around £500 off ebay.

Sassafras

olafgarten said:

You can get a 70's Twin Reverb for around £500 off ebay.

He wants something to make it easy on his back, not make it worse.

polotska

The JC-40 does have digital reverb, and I suspect that the chorus and distortion are digital as well—does anyone know for sure?

Not that being digital would make it bad—indeed, it might explain why the distortion is better than usual for a Jazz Chorus amp, since Boss/Roland has had some success with digital drives like the OD-1X in recent years.

monquixote

polotska said:

The JC-40 does have digital reverb, and I suspect that the chorus and distortion are digital as well—does anyone know for sure?

Not that being digital would make it bad—indeed, it might explain why the distortion is better than usual for a Jazz Chorus amp, since Boss/Roland has had some success with digital drives like the OD-1X in recent years.

Suspect the chorus and verb are digital which is a good thing imo. Drive I'd suspect was analogue.

BintyTwanger77

I tried out one of the new Fender Mustang GT amps today, and for the £ they sound bloody good. Very good BF emulations (as you'd expect) and the GT100 (1x12) is unbelievable light. Definitely worth a look.

usedtobe

Voxman said:

Of course the other amp to try is the Boss Katana 100, at only £269!  Much liked by a lot of folk here.

https://www.andertons.co.uk/p/KTN100/combo-amps/boss-katana-ktn100-electric-guitar-amp-combo

Damn. Beat me to it!

Placidcasual79

I think I am going to have to concede the 40 isn't going to cut it. For gigs it'd be mic'd but not at practice and we don't have good monitors so I do need some stage volume. 

I could go the 120 - but they are pretty heavy. 

Think I'll stay put. 

Thanks for the input people.

ICBM

Probably too far away from you to be useful, but there's a really nice early JC120 in the shop I work for in Glasgow - it's a Japanese-made, ply-cabinet one and is not as heavy as you might expect… they vary widely - some are really heavy, some aren't.

monquixote

I think there was a JC 77 as well?