Roland jc120 bucking the big amp trend

DrCornelius

Heartfeltdawn said:

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. 

Ah yes, that makes sense - best of luck, hope you enjoy it.

absolutpepper

I love JC's...about 5 years ago my friend and I were in PMT in Manchester and he was looking to get rid of a god awful Marshall MA50 and 4x12 cab.  We were chatting with the guys in PMT and I spotted a dusty old original JC160 sitting in the corner and pointed it out.  The sales guy said 'oh the 160, its been here for ages and no one has been interested in it...i think its because its big and ugly'.  I let my friend plug into the 160 and it sounded absolutely glorious...needless to say a deal was struck and for the trade on a crappy MA50 head (they didnt even want the cab) and £100 my friend scored the JC160.  The thing is a monster but sounds incredible...I am very jealous my mate got it for so cheap...they are pretty rare and expensive these days

BintyTwanger77

Still my favourite solid-state amp, the JC-40.

Heartfeltdawn

absolutpepper said:

I love JC's...about 5 years ago my friend and I were in PMT in Manchester and he was looking to get rid of a god awful Marshall MA50 and 4x12 cab.  We were chatting with the guys in PMT and I spotted a dusty old original JC160 sitting in the corner and pointed it out.  The sales guy said 'oh the 160, its been here for ages and no one has been interested in it...i think its because its big and ugly'.  I let my friend plug into the 160 and it sounded absolutely glorious...needless to say a deal was struck and for the trade on a crappy MA50 head (they didnt even want the cab) and £100 my friend scored the JC160.  The thing is a monster but sounds incredible...I am very jealous my mate got it for so cheap...they are pretty rare and expensive these days

£100! Bloody hell!

Kebabkid

When we use to hire from a certain backline company for Central London gigs (just easier), my go to amp choice every time was the boss's rarer JC-160 W/4x10s.

What an amp. Great, full and sweet cleans and it was a fabulous pedal platform. Alas, the owner wouldn't sell it to me.

Was it the speakers in some versions that were seen as the weak aspect and if so, what were people swapping them out for?

I also used to use the JC Model on my Roland Cube 60.

Great amps

DrCornelius

Kebabkid said:

When we use to hire from a certain backline company for Central London gigs (just easier), my go to amp choice every time was the boss's rarer JC-160 W/4x10s.

What an amp. Great, full and sweet cleans and it was a fabulous pedal platform. Alas, the owner wouldn't sell it to me.

Was it the speakers in some versions that were seen as the weak aspect and if so, what were people swapping them out for?

I also used to use the JC Model on my Roland Cube 60.

Great amps

I could be wrong but Im pretty sure they used a variety of speakers over the years and just badged them with the same generic Roland livery.  I've never felt the need to change any speakers in mine except when one died once  - I put a cheap Eminence Greenback alike in its place and it definitely sounded a bit warmer which may or may not be what other people want from them.

ChuckManual

Greatape said:

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

I also had a much-loved JC77 (sold, some time ago, to a fellow Fretboarder, with a view to getting a bargain JC120 that, unfortunately, was snapped-up just before I had the cash) and, yes, hiss was a *bit* of a problem ...until you turned the chorus on - and then it became a VITAL part of the swishy goodness!

Heartfeltdawn

ChuckManual said:

Greatape said:

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

I also had a much-loved JC77 (sold, some time ago, to a fellow Fretboarder, with a view to getting a bargain JC120 that, unfortunately, was snapped-up just before I had the cash) and, yes, hiss was a *bit* of a problem ...until you turned the chorus on - and then it became a VITAL part of the swishy goodness!

Dealing with the JC120 hiss is like dealing with the noise in a good DMM. It's part of the show. 

The new amp turned up at 1145. Kids out of the door at 1715 for a weekend with their father. Box open. Amp set up. 

Yeah. Oh yeah. 

A 120 in this apartment would be been too much and really so is this. It'll be perfect for the move in the future. The chorus is excellent as expected. The earlier ones (silver corner protectors) had a different sounding chorus to the later 80s ones (black corner protectors) that you'll hear on Smiths records. Earlier chorus seemed to have less headroom, sound a bit thicker. I actually preferred the 80s one, you could stick more dirt into it without it going splatty. The JC40 chorus is very much in the 80s territory. 

Amp has less bass than the 120 as you'd expect. Lovely reverb, lovely balanced sound overall. Much lighter than the 120 and easier to handle. It isn't for everyone but it's definitely for me. 

Grangousier

I've found the JC-40 to be the perfect size for my living room, and the two 10" speakers move air in a satisfyingly full way. The other thing (hopefully not blasphemous) is that I can plug a Helix Stomp in stereo into the effects return and have all sorts of amps, pristine and in stereo. Maybe not authentic, but it sounds lovely. 

Heartfeltdawn

Grangousier said:

I've found the JC-40 to be the perfect size for my living room, and the two 10" speakers move air in a satisfyingly full way. The other thing (hopefully not blasphemous) is that I can plug a Helix Stomp in stereo into the effects return and have all sorts of amps, pristine and in stereo. Maybe not authentic, but it sounds lovely. 

I'm already looking at tinkering with mine. One thing I did with my first JC120 (an 80s model) was to always plug into the Low input. I liked the attenuated sound and it's something I've done on pretty much every amp I've had with a High/Low input choice. 

From what I can see online, there's been some differences over the years. 

Pre-80s 120s and 60s definitely had different resistors on the inputs to later ones. 

JC120H (head unit) - High Low inputs at -32dBm, 1M ohm impedence

Modern JC120 - High Low inputs at -30dBm, 680k ohm impedence

JC60 going by the service notes: High is listed at 220k ohm, low is 82k ohm. 

What does seem consistent is the use of a 33k resistor in the circuit after the High jack and a 66k resistor after the Low jack. 

Both the JC40 and JC22 amps lack High Low inputs. The JC22 has one input, the JC40 has two for stereo use. Both manuals say the inputs are -10dBm, 1M ohm impedance. So this is quite different from the current JC-120 which has High and Low inputs, 680k impedance. 

A chap on Solid State Guitar Amp forum has uploaded a JC40 schematic. Once I've approved in the forum, I'll grab that schematic and take a look. 

I'm wondering if a little passive attenuator before the input would get it sounding more like the old JC120 I remember. 

Blueingreen

I got the chance to use an old very delapidated JC120 as a pedal platform in a rehearsal studio a couple of years ago and I thought it sounded absolutely glorious, probably the best sound I've ever had from a rehearsal studio amp. In fact it was one of the best sounds I’ve had out of anything. If it hadn't been for the weight I'd have been ordering one the next day.

Greatape

JC40 doesn't appear to be on closeout...£599 at Andertons...

thermionic

The Manic Street Preachers on twitter recently posted a clip of James playing Slash and Burn on a Tele through a JC40 (I think) without an effect pedal in sight.

Funkfingers

My brother has owned a Roland BN-100 bass combo for over thirty five years. Built-in CE-2 style chorus makes the customary CE-2 hiss.