Roland jc120 bucking the big amp trend

DrCornelius

I’ve owned 3 Ac120s over the years and love them. I’m sniffing around them at the moment and can’t believe that they have pretty much doubled in price over the pandemic. Used ones are being advertised for £895 and although the odd one sells for a more realistic 450-500 the wingding wingnut in Bognor just sold one on Ebay for £795.

I thought people didn’t like 2 x 12s anymore , especially ones that weigh more than the moon !

Heartfeltdawn

I love them too. The only amp I regret selling was a JC-120. I bought it on Ebay, a £150 BIN off the cuff decision. Had never played one before, no idea what to expect. The seller literally wrapped it in brown paper and it turned up three days later via Parcelforce. 

I fell in love within 10 minutes. One of the third series with the jacks connecting straight to the power amps. I sold it a few years later when I moved house. Stupid stupid decision. 

Heavy they are. I picked up a 1st series once and sold it on. The speakers had been replaced with some old Celestions of a type I can't remember. Enormous ceramic magnets on them and the whole package was truly backbreaking. 

I quite agree on the prices. The amps are very much in fashion again and it's not surprising that the older prices have gone up when the new versions are so expensive. GAK's got the JC-40 at £559: it's £1123 for the JC-120. 

I think a JC-40 will appear with me in the future unless I can snaffle a couple of older Peavey Bandits for cheap in the future. 

DrCornelius

@Heartfeltdawn , theres a few JC85s that have been kicking around Ebay for £300 - £350 which may eventually tempt me , also a JC50 on Reverb for a similar price but being a 1 x 12 it wont have that lovely splashy stereo chorus effect

Heartfeltdawn

DrCornelius said:

@Heartfeltdawn , theres a few JC85s that have been kicking around Ebay for £300 - £350 which may eventually tempt me , also a JC50 on Reverb for a similar price but being a 1 x 12 it wont have that lovely splashy stereo chorus effect

Yes, I considered the JC85. One was local to my parents and they were more than happy to get out and pick it up but the seller didn't seem to like my best offer within £15 of his BIN price. Why do people put up the Best Offer route when they clearly only want one price? In the end, I decided to leave it. 

I had a JC-60 in the past as well. Excellent chorus obviously but not the same. 

I think the JC-40 is the way forward for me. Later in the year once I've moved and sorted out a new job methinks. I haven't had an actual pedalboard for ages, spent the last few years relying on amp sims. Helix Native grabbed me last year and I've just bought an FCB1010 for MIDI stompy fun. That was meant to be the end of it but I couldn't resist a cheap Boss GT-100 popping up the other day. If I do get a JC-40, then I think I've nearly gone full circle and come back to something close to the pedalboard and amp setup I had 12 years or so ago...

https://i.imgur.com/pEVKqz4.jpg

57Deluxe

DrCornelius said:

@Heartfeltdawn , theres a few JC85s that have been kicking around Ebay ...lso a JC50 on Reverb for a similar price but being a 1 x 12 it wont have that lovely splashy stereo chorus effect

Oh yes it does! - and MASSIVE bottom end - my all original 1982 model...


 

DrCornelius

57Deluxe said:

DrCornelius said:

@Heartfeltdawn , theres a few JC85s that have been kicking around Ebay ...lso a JC50 on Reverb for a similar price but being a 1 x 12 it wont have that lovely splashy stereo chorus effect

Oh yes it does! - and MASSIVE bottom end - my all original 1982 model...


 

Very interesting - maybe I will take the plunge then :-)

dazzajl

DrCornelius said:

57Deluxe said:

DrCornelius said:

@Heartfeltdawn , theres a few JC85s that have been kicking around Ebay ...lso a JC50 on Reverb for a similar price but being a 1 x 12 it wont have that lovely splashy stereo chorus effect

Oh yes it does! - and MASSIVE bottom end - my all original 1982 model...


 

Very interesting - maybe I will take the plunge then :-)

Always quite fancied one of these. Maybe I’ll start clearing a space

DrCornelius

dazzajl said:

DrCornelius said:

57Deluxe said:

DrCornelius said:

@Heartfeltdawn , theres a few JC85s that have been kicking around Ebay ...lso a JC50 on Reverb for a similar price but being a 1 x 12 it wont have that lovely splashy stereo chorus effect

Oh yes it does! - and MASSIVE bottom end - my all original 1982 model...


 

Very interesting - maybe I will take the plunge then :-)

Always quite fancied one of these. Maybe I’ll start clearing a space

Give me a chance Daz, I havent even bought it yet !  You need to wait for me to post and say its the best amp ever and i'll never sell it. Thats when you need to wait a week and PM me

dazzajl

Bless your heart, we all know it’s four days. Three with a juicy carrot dangled

DrCornelius

Start making some space Daz..... the JC50 from Reverb is on its way to Giorgi Towers as we speak.  The seller dropped it to £335 so with shipping its around £365 which isnt too shabby in relation to what a used JC40 would cost now (appreciate they are 2x10 rather than 1x12 though)

I've got a spare super 65 sitting around here which to me sounds better than the cost would suggest so I may have some fun with that

@57Deluxe thanks for being a great enabler :-)

57Deluxe

@DrCornelius expect to be arpeggiating every chord under the sun and playing masses of The Cure, Johnny Marr,  and The Cult - the perfect antidote for pentatonic blues overdose.

Greatape

Once had a JC77 I stupidly let go, although my god, the hiss....

I do covet the 40, but not at a stupid lockdown price. 

DrCornelius

Greatape said:

Once had a JC77 I stupidly let go, although my god, the hiss....

I do covet the 40, but not at a stupid lockdown price. 

Yep, Ive had 3 x 120s and they were all like a bag of snakes !

monquixote

I used to play in a rehearsal studio which had a JC-120.

The manager came in to see how I was getting on as they had just fitted them out with the then brand new JCM2000s

He was really annoyed and said, "but that's a bloody keyboard amp"

Awesome amps. I keep thinking a JC-40 would be a really nice amp as I could use it as is and also as a great stereo monitor for the GT1000

ThePrettyDamned

You can still pick up peavey special chorus for much, much less and while it's not the same amp, you get a great sounding clean amp, loads of volume, excellent drive tones and a stereo chorus.

https://symphonymusicstore.co.uk/electric-amplifiers/4038-peavey-trans-tube-special-chorus-212-100w-2x12-combo-amplifier.html?gclid=Cj0KCQjwgtWDBhDZARIsADEKwgOXBNYEpKC3z21E0t2HXHn-v66I0lJRCqGbOltgBCAaOSUeA1Y019oaAlsOEALw_wcB

Heartfeltdawn

That's a pretty cool looking amp and priced well too. Mono effects loop though and I gots to have stereo. 

monquixote said:

I used to play in a rehearsal studio which had a JC-120.

The manager came in to see how I was getting on as they had just fitted them out with the then brand new JCM2000s

He was really annoyed and said, "but that's a bloody keyboard amp"

Awesome amps. I keep thinking a JC-40 would be a really nice amp as I could use it as is and also as a great stereo monitor for the GT1000

Same here, a JC-40 would have so many options for the future for me: 

-Monitor using outs from the computer straight into the effects loop with an FCB1010 acting as pedalboard with Helix Native or whatever I cobble together

-Straight amp on its own with pedals

-Combining with the GT-100 arriving next week. 

-Adding an HX Stomp in the future, hooking that up to the FCB1010... so many possibilities. 

I will go modern rather than vintage as the older ones didn't have an effects loop. The 3rd series let you into direct into the power amps and bypass the preamps but you couldn't use chorus or reverb going direct in. The manuals show the effects return then goes to the chorus and reverb so happy days indeed. 

EricTheWeary

monquixote said:

I used to play in a rehearsal studio which had a JC-120.

The manager came in to see how I was getting on as they had just fitted them out with the then brand new JCM2000s

He was really annoyed and said, "but that's a bloody keyboard amp"

Awesome amps. I keep thinking a JC-40 would be a really nice amp as I could use it as is and also as a great stereo monitor for the GT1000

I remember John Mayall used his JC120 for both guitar and keyboards ( not at the same time although he could play keys and harmonica at the same time). 

The other guitarist in my first band had one and all I remember was this all consuming sound that seemed like it could be as loud as the rest of the band put together. 

smigeon

Also, if you have a mate visit for a jam (possible soon??) s/he needn't bring her/his own amp - you could put two guitars through your JC-40:

- Put aux instrument - i.e. your mate's guitar - into the JC-40’s L/mono input

- Jumper a mono TS patch lead from Effects send to L/mono return. Loop should be set to “serial”.

- Plug your own guitar, via your pedal board, into the JC-40’s R return.

Given the above setup, the "aux instrument" can exclusively use the JC-40’s volume/EQ/distortion controls. So each of you get their own dedicated channel of the JC-40’s available pair.

If playing out, you could also use either or both of the JC-40’s Line out jacks to DI “aux" or “main" instruments to the PA. Would need a dummy plug in the R send if you wanted the L/mono send to just send the L half  - i.e. the "aux instrument".

Caveat: Post effects on the JC-40 - i.e. reverb and vib/chorus - are shared between channels! Reverb sounds OK on both channels, but the chorus and vibrato don’t appear to work very sanely when using the amp in this way - they are best left off…

Heartfeltdawn

Revisiting the JC situation... 

Ordering a JC40 this week. New JC120s are too spendy and I think the JC22 might not have the openness of sound I'm after. JC40 it is and I'm wondering if Roland are stopping production. Andertons have the 40 and 120 on clearance and the Roland website doesn't list the 40 in its extensive manual database. 

The setup I'm going for once I've moved at the end of June is this:

Guitar--> pedals --> into audio interface running Helix Native with MIDI controller controlling pedals --> stereo outs into the JC40 effects loop --> chorus and reverb from amp --> speakers. 

A decade ago I had a JC120 and a double pedalboard affair. 

I'm predicting something similar by the end of the year!

The video below was a big help. 22 sounded a little more compressed than the bigger two. 120 has the fullest sound as you'd expect but the 40 seemed nicely balanced. 

DrCornelius

Heartfeltdawn said:

Revisiting the JC situation... 

Ordering a JC40 this week. New JC120s are too spendy and I think the JC22 might not have the openness of sound I'm after. JC40 it is and I'm wondering if Roland are stopping production. Andertons have the 40 and 120 on clearance and the Roland website doesn't list the 40 in its extensive manual database. 

The setup I'm going for once I've moved at the end of June is this:

Guitar--> pedals --> into audio interface running Helix Native with MIDI controller controlling pedals --> stereo outs into the JC40 effects loop --> chorus and reverb from amp --> speakers. 

A decade ago I had a JC120 and a double pedalboard affair. 

I'm predicting something similar by the end of the year!

The video below was a big help. 22 sounded a little more compressed than the bigger two. 120 has the fullest sound as you'd expect but the 40 seemed nicely balanced. 

Not sure where you are in the country HFD but I might be letting my JC50 go if I can’t sell some other bits. @57Deluxe ;recommended them on this very thread as I couldn’t afford the crazy prices for used JC120s and wasn’t a fan of the 22s and 40s I’d tried .

It’s a huge sounding amp for a 1x12 with loads of bottom end but I’ve got a little Swart and a champ for home and I can’t see me ‘playing out’ for some time yet.

Ill check but I think I paid £350 ish for it so happy to let it go for that

Heartfeltdawn

Thanks for the offer but I'm set on the 40. The effects loop returns that feed into the chorus and reverb are the key to it for me.