Roland JC-120

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RevolverRT

RevolverRT

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Just plugged the ole' girl in tonight for old times sake. I've had the Roland JC-120H for 10 years now and I don't play it much, but when I do, I can see why it was a staple in the studios during the 80s. Anyone ever own one? What is your verdict? Think "One" - Metallica and you can replicate the tone off the album with ease (it is the clean amp they did use I am pretty sure). In some of George Lynch's old studio videos, you can see one sitting behind him and Wes Borland is famous for using them too. Let me know what you think of this short clip I made. I used a CHEAP $99 Ibanez GIO guitar that was going to my neighbor's curb before I rescued it and cleaned it up.

 
Used them for years back in the 80's, really unique amp and if you ran the chorus with a high gain pedal and used position 2 on a strat you could get the coolest feedback oscilations by muting the strings and getting the feedback thru the chorus unit in the amp. This was done to great effect by Adrian Belew with King Crimson. I borrowed it for a solo I did in a Brand X tune called don't make waves. Cool cool amps, wish I still had one.
 
The studio in NYC where I jam with some guys at has a jc120 212 in every room and I often run a distortion pedal through it for dirty tones..turn the pedal off and you have great clean tones..takes pedals well, theyre loud as shit too for a solid state amp...
 
I had one when I was 16, sold it for reasons that I don't remember....damn

I actually really liked the distortion actually. Not for metal tones, but I messed around with lot's of dirty stuff with that amp
 
I used to always play one when I visited the local music shops, but I never picked one up. They definitely have the "pristine clean" thing in spades, and there were a few pedals that it took really, really well. But, I never found a grit pedal (OD or boost) that I liked the sound of through it.
 
Billy Duffy from The Cult has used a jc-120 his entire career. Used in parallel with his marshall he says the roland gives a great clean punch sound.
 
I have an early 80's one in my collection. I love it. Distortion sucks but the clean and chorus are one of the best there is. Not your normal solid state amp!
I believe the Boss CE-1 was based off the chorus in the amp
 
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