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I generally play very clean, jangly pop (like the Smiths, Josef K, Echo & the Bunnymen) and true to my 80's influences I have a Roland JC-120. Okay, stop laughing now. I love the clean tone, and the built in chorus is great (until you try to mic it). The other built in effects are garbage, but that's what pedals are for. What I don't like is that it's big and heavy. My band has limited van space, and I'm looking to downsize in preparation for a tour. I've lugged around the JC-120 before, and I don't want to do it again.

Can anyone recommend a small combo amp with good clean headroom? Preferably with 1 12" speaker, and enough volume to be heard over drums. I'll definitely be checking out the Peavey Classic 30 and Fender Blues Jr., but are there any others that I should consider? Either new or used is fine with me, so I'd even look at things that are no longer in production. I've thought about the 1 speaker JC amps, but having a JC is kind of pointless if it doesn't do true stereo chorus.

Thanks!

jeff wrote:I generally play very clean, jangly pop (like the Smiths, Josef K, Echo & the Bunnymen) and true to my 80's influences I have a Roland JC-120. Okay, stop laughing now. I love the clean tone, and the built in chorus is great (until you try to mic it). The other built in effects are garbage, but that's what pedals are for. What I don't like is that it's big and heavy. My band has limited van space, and I'm looking to downsize in preparation for a tour. I've lugged around the JC-120 before, and I don't want to do it again.

Can anyone recommend a small combo amp with good clean headroom? Preferably with 1 12" speaker, and enough volume to be heard over drums. I'll definitely be checking out the Peavey Classic 30 and Fender Blues Jr., but are there any others that I should consider? Either new or used is fine with me, so I'd even look at things that are no longer in production. I've thought about the 1 speaker JC amps, but having a JC is kind of pointless if it doesn't do true stereo chorus.

Thanks!

i love the jc-120, such a wicked amp, plus the chorus is the same circuit as the boss ce-1.

what kind of price range you looking at? if it's clean tones your after, fenders are a good route to go down. i myself have a blues deluxe, which is a 1 12" 40 watt valve amp. the clean headroom is really good. it's in the same range as the devilles and hot rod deluxes, but more in the vain of a tweed bassman/twin.

vox is also good for clean tones, especailly in the sense of the jangly pop style. though both the vox and the fenders are exspensive.

Just saw some decent prices on Vox amps at Musician's Friend.

How about the 1x12" 60 watt version of the roland jazz amp?

Thanks for the suggestions. I guess I can spend about $500, or a little more if I decide to get rid of the JC. For some reason I had been under the impression that the AC15 was more expensive than it is... I'll definitely consider it.

The trouble with the 1 speaker versions of the JC is that the chorus effect isn't a true stereo chorus. The 120 actually has two 60 Watt amps, one for each speaker, and the chorus puts them slightly out of phase. That's what makes it so "spatial."

I think I need to go try out some amps...

I normally hate all things Mesa but they used to make an amp called the Subway Blues that was pretty sweet for what you are talking about. It's got a great reverb too. I think one can be had for about $350 or so used. Check it out. It's a 1x10 but has plenty of power.

jeff wrote:Thanks for the suggestions. I guess I can spend about $500, or a little more if I decide to get rid of the JC. For some reason I had been under the impression that the AC15 was more expensive than it is... I'll definitely consider it.

The trouble with the 1 speaker versions of the JC is that the chorus effect isn't a true stereo chorus. The 120 actually has two 60 Watt amps, one for each speaker, and the chorus puts them slightly out of phase. That's what makes it so "spatial."

I think I need to go try out some amps...

this may sound random, but you could try building a jazz chorus clone or convert one into a head and cab? i recall seeing a head version of a jc-120, but cant remember where i saw it.

Now that's some creative thinking! I have a cab that might work with that sort of project--what used to be a Vox Cambridge Reverb Twin until it had all of the brownout problems that were so common in those amps. It never sounded very good to begin with, so when it started to die I just pulled the amp out and converted it into a nice 2x10 extension cab with Celestions for my Pathfinder. I've wanted to build a Noisy Cricket for a long time, but your idea made me think about building a stereo version with the JC's chorus circuit.... hmm.

That might be too big a project to put together in the time I have, but it would be very cool.

jeff wrote:Now that's some creative thinking! I have a cab that might work with that sort of project--what used to be a Vox Cambridge Reverb Twin until it had all of the brownout problems that were so common in those amps. It never sounded very good to begin with, so when it started to die I just pulled the amp out and converted it into a nice 2x10 extension cab with Celestions for my Pathfinder. I've wanted to build a Noisy Cricket for a long time, but your idea made me think about building a stereo version with the JC's chorus circuit.... hmm.

That might be too big a project to put together in the time I have, but it would be very cool.

that happened to me too, i had the cambridge, still have it somewhere, but the clean channel gose mental. you wouldnt know if it's repairable?

i'd like to see the results of that, sounds like a killer idea.

How bout a Roland JC-55 (here is a mint used one on ebay) or a Vox AC-15CC1?