Roland Jc40 with distortion/overdrive pedal?

As long as you can the infamous JC hiss.

 

you are 33 and playing for your high school talent show. ok. I wish you well.

welcome to TDPRI, by the way. Enjoy!

 

The JC40 doesn't hiss.

I'm not sure exactly what you are asking.

Pedals sound fine into solid state amps. I honestly don't know where this myth started that they don't. I guess if you are running a SS amp at the very top of its headroom it might get nasty if you slam it with a pedal way above unity? But then, so would most tube amps.

Scooped mids are tough in a mix.

 

Not sure what your budget is. Also I have a Roland JC 22. Also I don’t know what a Mark 5 or Diezel is. But, in my experience, Ive had good results with a DOD 250, Boss SD1, Blues Driver, and a Klon clone. The Tech 21 GT2 pedals can be found for $80 or so. I’ve been really pleased with many overdrive pedals with the Roland JC. What you describe though might be well served by a Tubescreamer or one of the countless copies. I’ve never tried one though.

 

I used to run a Blackstar HT Dual or DistX through the JC120 sim of my Roland Cube 60. I know it’s not 100% the same, but I thought it sounded great. The JC120 sim was super clean, and it let the character of those tubish preampish pedals shine through really well.

 

Assuming your Roland amp basically sounds like its bigger cousins (like the JC-120) it will work. With the right pedal it can work fabulously. One of the best Marshall-type high gain sounds I've ever heard was a girl who played an LP goldtop reissue (P90s) into a JC-120 using nothing but a Maxon "Real" Overdrive/Distortion pedal--I think it was an ROD-881. She was an excellent player which certaintly didn't hurt, but I was still shocked that she sounded better with the Roland and the pedal than with she did at a previous show using an actual Marshall w/4x12.

Point is that you can get great distortion tones using a clean amp and the right pedal. Billy Corgan used an Opamp Big Muff into a very clean sounding JCM800--he basically modded it to make as solid-state sounding as possible. It works.

 

I'm 45 and I played in a high school talent show 2 weeks ago! No shame here. But my 15 year old son plays drums and sings so me and my bass player were backing him up. Good fun and a memory I will cherish. The school choir sang Faithfully by Journey and we backed them up on that song as well.

Anyway distortion pedals will work fine into a solid state amp. I'll get ostracized for saying this but a distortion pedal into a peavey bandit isn't much different than into a twin reverb. Sorry folks, been there and done that.

 

Should work fine. Every gig I play on electric is done with an OD in front of an SS amp. And the JC40 is a good one!

 

JCs make a good pedal platform.

 

Def should work. Just mind your treble control on amp. Tame any harsh highs. That’s true for about any amp though.

 

Obviously your event has taken place a few times over, hope it went well.
To be brief overdrive and distortion/fuzz pedals are not equal when it comes to use with transistor amps. It is trial and error. I've had luck with Keeley Flexi-4X2 with a JC55 and or my 80s Gallien Kreuger 250ML. I have good sound from a BK Butler Tube Driver. I have terrible results with Analog Man Fuzz, Cornish P2 or Dice Works Muff Diver.
With a JC amp I would suggest the low input jack or skip the bright switch on the newer models.
Color pedals basically work, but outside of delay, not sure what you would add to a JC plenty there already.
Finally, same really goes for tube amps, but it's more about pedal volume and amp levels. Certain pedals sound great in the bedroom and need significant adjustments at performance level, while some high end pedals sound lame at home, but are killer at band volume. I do think with transistor amps, though I don't prefer them, your bedroom result is more easily repeated at stage volume, where tube amp setups are more importantly tested or adjusted before the gig begins. Cheers

 

I tested a ss overdrive on a JC40. It sounded really good. To my taste, JC amps always take dirt pedals well. And I have bought that pedal after testing. But on my amp it sounded so less well that I returned the pedal. Does taht say someting about the JC40? I say yes.