I had no idea they made a Jazz Chorus stack

[Masmus]

SUPER RARE! Roland JC120 Half Stack! - musical instruments - by...

Here we have an incredibly rare ROLAND JC120 HALF STACK. I don't know about you, but this is the only one I've ever seen. This is an early model. So early that when I contacted Roland about it, they...

sfbay.craigslist.org

This showed up in my local CL a while ago and still for sale. Doesn't seem to be moving so maybe priced too high? I've never actually seen one as a stack before.

 

[drmordo]

I cannot imagine the brutality of a cranked JC120 full stack.

So... much... clean... bright... guitar...

 

[superjam144]

Been seeing the JC's on YouTube alot. They sound amazing. Leave it to Roland.

I have a list of Amps I'd get if I was wealthy. I'd get a bandit, jc, bc artist, Princeton, deluxe reverb, hrd, blues deluxe, supersonic, cyber twin, delta blues etc....

So many amazing amps available.

 

[loudboy]

I had a JC77 that I'd run in tandem with a MESA Boogie MkI - the two filled in each of the other's holes and the sound was absolutely massive, from such a small rig. And that JC chorus is unmatched.

 

[bottlenecker]

I cannot imagine the brutality of a cranked JC120 full stack.

So... much... clean... bright... guitar...

Until you hit the boss metal zone.

 

[green_henry]

Man, Aptos might be worth the drive! As I recall, part of the magic of the JCs is that the chorus only goes to one speaker and the other has the dry signal, so I wonder how they manage that with the stack and head -- two outputs from the head and two inputs into the stack?

 

[Jimmy Dean]

I had the JC120 head in the mid-80's, but not the stack. I used a couple single 15" cabs that I built. Also doubled as a bass amp. I had no complaints about the way it sounded.

 

[Masmus]

Man, Aptos might be worth the drive! As I recall, part of the magic of the JCs is that the chorus only goes to one speaker and the other has the dry signal, so I wonder how they manage that with the stack and head -- two outputs from the head and two inputs into the stack?

Yes

 

[InstantCoffeeBlue]

Man, Aptos might be worth the drive! As I recall, part of the magic of the JCs is that the chorus only goes to one speaker and the other has the dry signal, so I wonder how they manage that with the stack and head -- two outputs from the head and two inputs into the stack?

Found another one on Reverb where you can see the back panel of the head. Looks like it had separate outputs for each side of the stereo power amp.

Roland JC-120H Jazz Chorus 120-Watt 4x12" Guitar Half Stack | Reverb

Reverb is a marketplace bringing together a wide-spanning community to buy, sell, and discuss all things music gear.

reverb.com

 

[Axis29]

Found another one on Reverb where you can see the back panel of the head. Looks like it had separate outputs for each side of the stereo power amp.

Roland JC-120H Jazz Chorus 120-Watt 4x12" Guitar Half Stack | Reverb

Reverb is a marketplace bringing together a wide-spanning community to buy, sell, and discuss all things music gear.

reverb.com

Hmm, that one's less than an hour's drive from me... Too bad I'm not playing the Hollywood Bowl any time soon.

I cannot, honestly, imagine needing that much clean....

 

[InstantCoffeeBlue]

Hmm, that one's less than an hour's drive from me... Too bad I'm not playing the Hollywood Bowl any time soon.

I cannot, honestly, imagine needing that much clean....

Seriously!

When I was studying music in college, the jazz department had a beat-up old JC-120, and I liked it so much I bought one myself. If you're playing an archtop with humbuckers at an outdoor festival with big band horns, a loud drummer, latin percussion section and maybe an electric piano and you need it to stay really clean, these are tough to beat.

After a while I missed the character of old tube amps, sold the JC-120 and never looked back. The party-trick stereo chorus sounded so cool in person, but it's hard for me to imagine a practical use for that sound now. The vibrato is a true pitch-modulating vibrato and can get pretty wild.

It looks like they also made a 4x10 version. Hard to imagine someone actually paying $1500-1800 for one of these, but who knows?

Roland JC-160 Jazz Chorus 120-Watt 4x10" Guitar Combo | Reverb

Born in 1975, the Jazz Chorus has carved a place for itself in the world of instrument amplifiers, and has become a mainstay. Roland Corporation has brought many great electronic products to the stage and studio but only so many with the staying power of the Jazz Chorus series amps. Great amp for...

reverb.com

 

[TwoBear]

I had a JC77 that I'd run in tandem with a MESA Boogie MkI - the two filled in each of the other's holes and the sound was absolutely massive, from such a small rig. And that JC chorus is unmatched.t

When we were doing club gigs and especially really packed up dancy, drinky, “volume forward” packed, basically ‘’fill the club with the equipment you brought, if it’s too small will slap a mic in front of it but straight amp preferred’’ We’d usually do it with black face Pro, SR, or Vibrolux, and we started bringing in, the other guitarist a SS Deluxe, and I a SS Princeton to go along with them and also a little stereo separation, and fill out the sound when it got really jumping. It was his idea and it turned out great it’s really filled out a lot more, especially when I upped the speaker in my Princeton. It had a 12 but it was lower powered and I think it was about a 75 watt or so speaker that came out of my fender super 60 that I that I traded it out for and it really came alive.

I would do that same gig with a couple guys that both brought in solid state, I think they’re a popular Boss amp, w effects in both a 1x12” and 2x12” 50 & 100 watts configuration. maybe about 10 years ago?
I would have to watch my volume all through the night playing just my one tube amp. Of course it’s more work with three guitarists, basically one singer/rhythm and 2 rhythm/lead players, but just a 40 W tube Fender against 100 W solid-state, seemed to fill out the room more. I do remember one guy bringing in one of those early Johnson amps and that was a Terror! It was loud as hell! I think it may have been 150 or possibly 30Ow. It was no problem for me as I also had metal panel super bass and a 73 super lead, But for the club and even his loud amp, I could usually just bring in my 1987X JTM 45 & 2x12” Green/black back open back. Them tube ones is definitely louder than ’em solid state’uns… but both of them together I agree really fill out nicely. And it’s no question that for most of the time when you start running out of headroom the tube ones usually sound better. I am no purist and happily bring solid-state amps to gigs whenever they will do the job… I guess that’s becoming more past tense as I’m getting older now, but I did get called for a couple gigs right after ‘The last/lost couple years’ but my equipment wasn’t up and ready for one and the gig got canceled the second time.

 

[radiocaster]

Craigslist is blocked for me, but if someone writes "incredibly rare", it's understood to be overpriced and the seller to be a *****.

I've actually seen a couple of JC-120 stacks with the 4x12". I don't think I've seen that 4x10" combo though.