Roland JC-120 Jazz Chorus Amp  

I have owned one since the early 80's. For over 20 years, we were doing 100-150 gigs/year. That's a lot of moving, banging around, and hard use. many shows were outdoor Concerts. This amp is still in superb condition. It lost it's cover long, long ago, but still shown no real wear. The speakers (Silver Dome Roland 'Transducers') are still perfect. The amp has required ZERO repairs. The pots are not even noisy! It still has the same pristine sound as it had when first plugged in, and the chorus is the standard against which all others are measured. This is an amp that forces you to play better, as it captures every nuance, every sound of your guitar. It serves up incredible sound on my Gibson Gold Top, as well as my EMG pickup Strat, and it also is fabulous for my Midi guitar, where one channel is guitar, the other is synth. But the real value of this beautiful machine is the reliability. What other amp can anyone say has over 25 years of rugged use, yet has never failed, never needed repair, and inspires the player and audience with the same sound today as when it was first used. It might be expensive at first, but over the long lifespan, it's also the lowest cost. If I sold it today, I'd easily get over $800 for it. Heck, since it was the first build, it might even fetch more next year!

There are many contenders in the 'best all around amp' competition, but none can do so many things as well as the JC-120.  Not only that, but the JC can do them at bedroom or stage volume levels. I believe the JC-120 was intended to be a solid state alternative to the Fender Twin.  IMO, they definitely met this goal and managed to accomplish this while making the JC-120 half the weight and twice as reliable as a working musicians amp.  Granted, the tone may not be quite as warm and sweet as that of a cranked up Twin, but the JC-120 does have a quality of tone and expression that provides a similar musical connectedness between you, your guitar and your amp. It not only sounds good.  It FEELS good to play. The versatility of this amp has been well documented.  It will take you from warm jazz, to airy chorused finger-picked ballads, to a classic Fender-ish breakup perfect for classic rock and blues, all with the built-in effects and proper use of the various tone controls and effects (Bright, Reverb, Chorus, and vibrato). If you want to get Heavy, the JC-120 can do that too.  Just add your favorite stomp-boxes and you are in Metal Heaven, or whichever kind of musical heaven you are looking for. All-in-all, the JC-120 is a great sounding, rugged, and reasonably priced alternative to all the trendy tube amps out there. The staying power of the JC-120 has proven its value, toughness, versatility and quality of sound.