why is it (solid state distortion part 2)....

finboy · Post by **finboy** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 4:14 am

my friend has a fender deluxe 85, we ran various dirt pedals into it and it sounded great, which has been the general consensus from everyone i've heard from online. however i've only heard trash talking about throwing dirt pedals into the roland JC series. i know there are some people on here with Jazz Chorus amps, can anyone post a demo or clip of some dirt pedals running into it?

Will · Post by **Will** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 5:49 am

The JC series has a really wide frequency response, mostly extending to the upper frequencies that get filtered out in tube or other solid state amps. It tends to highlight the fizzy top-end that distortion pedals produce.

finboy · Post by **finboy** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 6:04 am

makes sense, i'm keeping my options open for amps, i thought i might as well get some opinions on solid states as well.

Post by **Mike** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 9:27 am

The Roland amps are pretty bright and stiff. For a lot of people those are bad things when you're going to add clipping into the equation, but others love that sort of thing.

Post by **Doog** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 10:29 am

I used to really like my RAT2 into the JC120 at our practice space- I even dug the OD/distortion that everyone slates so much. And the verb. I really should get one at some point.

stewart · Post by **stewart** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 4:53 pm

i use my JC120 for clean bottom end, actually. i have the treble set to about a quarter and it sounds quite er, jazzy, which is fine for me when i'm running it with a more crunchy amp taking care of the top end.

i run a big muff through it and it sounds fucking monstrous (in a good way). i think because i rely on pedals for all my dirt sounds it helps, they do have rather a lot of clean headroom. a guy i know has taken to playing through a JC55 quite recently and that was a scuzzy little bastard of a thing, completely different kettle of fish.

if you want to sound like jimmy page then obviously a 120 is not a good choice, but a lot of good players have used them, i can think of a fair few through the 80s, johnny marr being a good example. i could try to record some clips of it with various pedals but i'm a bit wary of cranking it up in my flat, i don't want to incur the wrath of everyone living in a 200 yard radius.

i've used it either on its own or in combination with another amp for about 2 dozen gigs and i've never noticed a lack of presence onstage with it, quite the opposite.

william · Post by **william** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 9:10 pm

stewart wrote:i use my JC120 for clean bottom end, actually. i have the treble set to about a quarter and it sounds quite er, jazzy, which is fine for me when i'm running it with a more crunchy amp taking care of the top end.

i run a big muff through it and it sounds fucking monstrous (in a good way). i think because i rely on pedals for all my dirt sounds it helps, they do have rather a lot of clean headroom. a guy i know has taken to playing through a JC55 quite recently and that was a scuzzy little bastard of a thing, completely different kettle of fish.

if you want to sound like jimmy page then obviously a 120 is not a good choice, but a lot of good players have used them, i can think of a fair few through the 80s, johnny marr being a good example. i could try to record some clips of it with various pedals but i'm a bit wary of cranking it up in my flat, i don't want to incur the wrath of everyone living in a 200 yard radius.

i've used it either on its own or in combination with another amp for about 2 dozen gigs and i've never noticed a lack of presence onstage with it, quite the opposite.

its funny, johnny marr actually hated that amp and was glad to leave it for the better records (in his and my opinions, anyway)

"
A lot of 'The Smiths' was actually recorded with a '54 Telecaster belonging to John Porter. I used a Rickenbacker 360 12-string as well, and that was the guitar which subsequently got all the attention, but in fact it was mainly the Tele, and a bit of Les Paul.

Overall, what I really didn't like about the records then was the amp, the Roland Jazz Chorus.

I also used a Fender Pro a lot - that was also on a lot of the early Smiths records, while my Blackface Twin was used from the Queen Is Dead onwards."

that said, there are plenty of other 80s players who used em and loved em. and if you happen to like the way his early guitar tone sounded (as i do), then fuck what he thinks. just dont listen to the queen is dead and think you are hearing a roland.

robert smith played jc120s and jazzmasters early on, i think.