Can any Roland JC-22 users suggest some dirt

[schenkadere]

I love this as a clean amp, and that is why I have it, but it just doesn't seem to take dirt very well. It may be the speaker size limitation, but even at bedroom levels, it feels very artificial or congested regardless of tone settings.

I'm hoping someone may have had some success and can offer any suggestions. Thanks!

 

[JustABluesGuy]

I would avoid TS type pedals designed to push a tube amp into distortion, and maybe try an amp in a box type pedal?

Just spitballing here, but they seem to sound better into a clean amp, and you have a clean amp there.

 

[middy]

JC amps are really sensitive to changes in tone and volume and pickups. Work the tone and volume with a DS-1 or a Blues Driver and you can get some great sounds.

 

[Dostradamas]

 

[davidchagrin]

Try a bd2 in front. Very natural feeling breakup. I don't have a jc22, but I have a couple cubes that work great with the blues driver.

 

[Ben Bishop]

I use a Keeley Aria, which has both a compressor and distortion; the distortion is the same as in their Red Dirt overdrive pedal. I keep its drive very low. What I like is to sound pretty clean but when I dig in there's more hair on the notes so they take up a little more space. I have other amps when I want chunky notes and I just never need to scream so I'm only interested in subtle. If I was looking for something else I'd have to go with Keeley's Phat Mod which is aimed at harmonic saturation. But then again I really like the JC-22 base voice and I play single coils or low-wind humbuckers. YMMV.

 

[schenkadere]

I would avoid TS type pedals designed to push a tube amp into distortion, and maybe try an amp in a box type pedal?

Just spitballing here, but they seem to sound better into a clean amp, and you have a clean amp there.

Yes, TS type sounds horrible, lol.

 

[schenkadere]

I use a Keeley Aria, which has both a compressor and distortion; the distortion is the same as in their Red Dirt overdrive pedal. I keep its drive very low. What I like is to sound pretty clean but when I dig in there's more hair on the notes so they take up a little more space. I have other amps when I want chunky notes and I just never need to scream so I'm only interested in subtle. If I was looking for something else I'd have to go with Keeley's Phat Mod which is aimed at harmonic saturation. But then again I really like the JC-22 base voice and I play single coils or low-wind humbuckers. YMMV.

I was contemplating the Aria. I'll try to find an low compression low gainer and try that. Maybe a Bluesbreaker type pedal? IDK.
I absolutely love the base tone of the JC and always intended it for cleans anyway. I just don't think it's well suited for dirt. Maybe it's the speaker size? I've played larger JCs that took dirt pedals well.

I have a little Randall screamer which excels at dirt but falls short on cleans. It's a good complement.

 

[schenkadere]

Try a bd2 in front. Very natural feeling breakup. I don't have a jc22, but I have a couple cubes that work great with the blues driver.

I could never warm up to the BD2...too much bass and high end is harsh to my ear. I prefer the OD-3 in that realm. I think it's warmer and smoother, but again, too much bass.

 

[schenkadere]

View attachment 1081818
View attachment 1081819

I've never seen that phonograph pedal.

 

[middy]

The thing about the ds-1 is that it cleans up nicely with your guitar’s volume knob. I can set up a ds-1 and a jc to sound good clean to dirty with just the guitar’s volume knob like a plexi’s high treble channel or a top boost AC30

 

[VintageSG]

Amp-inna-box pedals such as the Joyo American Sound, it's brothers and variants, are really good. Fine sounding into solid state too.

Valve-inna-box pedals can be a mixed blessing. The Behringer VT999 sounds like you'd imagine a pan of bungholes frying in brake fluid would sound as stock, but it can easily be transformed by simple dint of replacing the stock 12AX7 with a 12AU7 and replacing the 9V power supply with a 12V one. It becomes a really good dirt pedal and a great feeder to a Joyo AS, leaving the Roland to act as a clean power stage. Don't confuse the VT999 with the ghastly VT911. The latter makes a good skronkfuzznoisechaos pedal, and little else. The former is a bit of a bargain, valve and PSU swaps included.

Blackstar and Vox produced valve based pedals that run on high voltages internally. I'm not familiar with the Vox models, but the Blackstar pedals sound great.

Other valve based products worth considering include the Behringer and ART basic mic pre-amps. Again, a 12AU7 is, in my ears, a good swap. Second hand, they're peanuts. There's a few models to choose from, but whatever you can afford and works is the model for you.

Fuzz. Fuzz is life. Fuzz is more than fuzz. Fuzz is more than distortion. Fuzz can often be the sound in your head. Beware. Fuzz pedals breed.

 

[InstantCoffeeBlue]

The thing about the ds-1 is that it cleans up nicely with your guitar’s volume knob. I can set up a ds-1 and a jc to sound good clean to dirty with just the guitar’s volume knob like a plexi’s high treble channel or a top boost AC30

DS-1 is a great pedal, very affordable and way more versatile than many would think.

That said, if you can find one used for a reasonable price, one of the Boss FBM-1 '59 Bassman pedals would probably be perfect for that setting.

 

[middy]

Also, don’t forget running a modeler. The Boss GT-1000 has output settings for JC amps that compensate for the amp’s voice and allow you to more realistically emulate other amps.
I run mine into a QSC CP8, but if I felt the need to have a “real amp” a JC is a perfect candidate.

 

[allesz]

I own a couple of old Roland amps (DAC-15D and an orange Cube 40); they both have (had) aluminum dust cap speakers, in 8 and 10 inches.
I think that this kind of speaker sounds very good clean, but It gets nasty, in a bad way, with dirt. And this both with pedals and amp drive.
I swapped the speakers in both amp, but I rarely play clean.
With the original speakers I had luck only with a big muff, set very dark. Avoid bright pedals.

 

[middy]

I own a couple of old Roland amps (DAC-15D and an orange Cube 40); they both have (had) aluminum dust cap speakers, in 8 and 10 inches.
I think that this kind of speaker sounds very good clean, but It gets nasty, in a bad way, with dirt. And this both with pedals and amp drive.
I swapped the speakers in both amp, but I rarely play clean.
With the original speakers I had luck only with a big muff, set very dark. Avoid bright pedals.

Roland assumes players will use the guitar’s volume and tone controls. Weird, I know. Give it a try.

 

[Dr. Bill]

I don't have a JC-22 (rather, I have a late 1980s JC-55) but I've found that so-called "amp-in-a-box" pedals do better than OD/boost pedals with the JC series amps. The BD-2 works OK for some applications. I've also found that an old RAT pedal and Xotic BB Preamp work pretty well.

 

[Dostradamas]

I've never seen that phonograph pedal.

Supposed to be a broken record gif

The American sound has a lot of fans

Sadly ambiguous humor that missed the mark.

(kid kicking dirt gif)

I love my AS pedal though my Yamaha JX30 which is a very similar sounding solid state from Japan.

The AS also takes my fuzz in front very well and combined

 

[BigDaddyLH]

Supposed to be a broken record gif

I like the subtle humour: a broken record gif wouldn't be animated

 

[VintageSG]

Supposed to be a broken record gif

The American sound has a lot of fans

Sadly ambiguous humor that missed the mark.

I like it now I know what it is. Apt.