Roland JC-120 Jazz Chorus Amp  (Used)

Comments about Roland JC-120 Jazz Chorus Amp:

I've been playing through mine since the mid 80's and never had a single problem with it. The clean sound is fantastic. the reverb and chorus/vibe are better than any pedal. It's very loud and the sound maintains its quality even when cranked. Had no problem clearly cutting through the other guitarists' bigger, badder Marshalls. The pots are quiet and don't make any noise when turned. The only downfall is the distortion is pretty bad. I use a Rat stomper and the on-board distortion in unison and that's taken care of.

Comments about Roland JC-120 Jazz Chorus Amp:

It's a legend and nothing else does what this amp does but c'mon Roland enough bean counting! First the bad: ALL the effects are terrible - useless. The reverb is the least offensive. The cabinet is total fibreboard junk. The means used to secure the speaker wires inside the cabinet? A wire bread wrap stapled to the baffle! If you like to change speakers, you will hate this cabinet. The speakers mount to studs that will soon crumble the fibreboard material and pull out and fibreboard does not lend itself to easy repair nor to hard knocks. The plastic nuts that secure the jacks to the chassis will break easily - probably intentionally so to prevent you from overtightening them and breaking the PCB connections. The onboard distortion? Think of the cheapest no-name practice amp you ever heard - it's better than the Roland. The chorus? One speed, one depth, one sound - mediocre.
Nevertheless, I still love the JC-120. It has a stereo effects loop and stereo power amps. It is the ultimate pedal platform. It is also the ultimate clean amp - even better than a Blackface twin. Smooth, transparent articulation of every nuance. Add a decent stereo reverb and nothing in the world will touch the depth and ambiance of this amp. I have vintage Fenders and I prefer the Roland. It will do pedals but be warned: Like your playing, it will articulate the best and worst like nothing else will. With a stereo pedal no other amp sounds as big and spacious as the JC-120. If these go out of production I would be very hard pressed to find a replacement. A rack system perhaps, but no combo could do it. Still a great amp but it is an insult to the legend the way Roland has persistently decreased the build quality - especially in its current price range.

Comments about Roland JC-120 Jazz Chorus Amp:

This Amp Will Do Pretty Much Any Sound With the Right Pedals
Cleans and Chorus Sound Great
Built Solid
Expensive But Worth it

Comments about Roland JC-120 Jazz Chorus Amp:

Bought it, tried it, returned it. Good cleans, but the FX loop was extremely noisy, and a hissy amp over all.

Got an old one from 80s, much quieter, better quality switches (no plastic push buttons), and just over all sounded better. I believe they need to try to revisit their quality control, and maybe make a "Vintage Reissue"
Bought it, tried it, returned it. Good cleans, but the FX loop was extremely noisy, and a hissy amp over all. Got an old one from 80s, much quieter, better quality switches (no plastic push buttons), and just over all sounded better. I believe they need to try to revisit their quality control, and maybe make a "Vintage Reissue"

Comments about Roland JC-120 Jazz Chorus Amp:

Overall this is a great amp. Don't count on the distortion though, it is less than desirable; however, with this amp all your distortion pedals and effect pedals will sound great!It's loud, has great effects, and sound beatuiful and clear! I highly recomend this product
The effects on this amp are amazing! The chorus sounds much better than any chorus pedal I've ever encountered. The ony reason I do not give it a 10 is because the distortion is less than perfect! However, any distortion pedal will sound beautiful through this clean and clear amplifier
Built strong! Casters are a great feature as well. Since it's a solid state amp with minimal onboard effects, you know most of the money went towards creating a great amp with a great tone!
In order to get anywhere close to the sound of this amp I feel one would have to purchase an expensive tube amp.

Comments about 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!

Comments about Roland JC-120 Jazz Chorus Amp:

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.

Comments about Roland JC-120 Jazz Chorus Amp:

If roland ever stops making this amp before i have the money for one, I'm going to die! not really, but i will be very sad. this amp is a classic! best tones, best chorus, great vibrato, mmmmm. distortion is all right, but this amp isn't made for super distortion. it's made for beautiful, clean, amazing, pure tones. it'll take any pedal you throw at it, and can produce a guitar tone that i've only heard on records. i played this in a local music store, and was stunned! you can go buy all of your fender, marshal, orange, and whatever other tube amp (not that i have anything against these amp makers), but you'll never reproduce this amp's sound with one of those. it just has a sound all on it's own. and you can get the volume waaaay up there without unwanted over drive! (because it's solid state) but if you want a nice, warm overdrive, just step on a pedal and there you go. it handles everything fine. will def. be my next amp. THANKS ROLAND! o, yeah, and great reverb, too.

Comments about Roland JC-120 Jazz Chorus Amp:

These puppies really deliver the goods sonicwise I have about 20 amps around the house and of course switch back and forth for different tonal needs, The real deal here is to use this amp as a foundation, The clean sound is very crisp and bright, the reverb is hands down the best there is in the world, I do use some pedals to tailor my sound.....but who doesn't, Tone is a never ending quest for musicians, bottom line this is a killer amp with a ton of headroom, use an overdrive pedal for smaller rooms/lower volumes and a compressor can really tailor the brightness of this amp , (remember you can add these effects to a crisp and clean sounding amp... but cant remove them from from one that is by design too compressed or too overdriven) Bottom line this amp is a total winner!!!!! (Oh yeah the wheels are a nice asset for getting this thing in and out of venues, trust me your back will thank you when you get as old as me!!!)

Comments about Roland JC-120 Jazz Chorus Amp:

My church has one of these and the funny thing about it was one of the guys found it underneath the stage. I think its been there for 10yrs and prior to that its been pretty used up for another 10yrs cause it look really thrash up.When we first fired it up and hook up a pedal to it, one of the input jacks didnt work ,but the rest work and it sounded just fine like a typical Roland JC120.I believe the amp dates back in the mid to late 80's cause it had the original speakers with chrome dust caps on them and it had a made in Japan stamp on it. The amp still works great and it definetly was design to take pedals well,it sounded loud and great.highly recommend this amp to anyone that has alot of pedals. This is also an industry standard almost every studio has one of these. buy it! its worth it..... ours at the church is still goin to this day!