Roland Review: JC 120

History:

Purchase: I purchased this amp in 1986 for $600 used. I think you can get a new one for a little more than that. My guitar teachers each had one, so I figured why not. I was familiar with them, they're loud, and they're versatile with extra gear.

What I Like About This Roland JC 120: The main thing I love, as does everyone else, is the clean sound. Imagine a stream with cold clear water.. that is how this amp sounds. Add the chorus and you're in clean heaven. Personally, I find the chorus effect a bit much sometimes and I wish there was way to "back off" on the amount of chorus signal. The spring 'verb is nice. This amp is stupidly loud. 120 watts of very clean solid state. You can crank up to 10 without any break-up at all.. well, maybe the break-up of your inner ear. This amp is awesome with my sansamp. I can get very convincing marshall, boogie, and fender tones. I also have a marshall 1/2 stack, so I'm not talking out of my butt here! I also have a mesa boogie v-twin which sounds great in front of the JC120. My acoustics sound great as well and I've even used it for vocals in a pinch a few times. Keyboards sound good, too.

What I Do NOT Like About The Roland JC 120: There isn't much I don't like about the JC120. The distortion is utterly useless, so I won't even count that as a feature. The amp is damn heavy, so keep that in mind if you gig a lot. I wish it had channel switching capabilities, but alas... I've used an a/b switcher just fine with it.

Roland JC 120 Quality Rating: The JC120 a tough SOB. Mine took a tumble down the stairs without any internal damage. Externally, it lost a few of the rivets on the front and there were scuffs. I've heard the newer ones aren't built as tough.. ie bracing for the speakers and corners.

Review Summary: The JC120 is a classic amp. You can't go wrong by owning one. And they can be versatile with amp modellers, fx, pre-amps, etc. Mine has been to war and back and it's still kicking ass. Even though I've added other amps to my arsenal, I'll never get rid of my JC120 because it can do anything I need it to.

Rating of this Roland product: 5

This Roland JC 120 Guitar Amplifiers Review Submitted By: Chad Badham

Review Date: 2002-08-07