The Roland JC 120 And Jazz Chorus Amplifiers

 

Ray Cummins

One of my good friends is Ray Cummins. You may know of Ray from his from his tutorials that are found in Vintage Guitar Player Magazine and the Vintage Guitar Player Magazine online found on YouTube.

Ray and Chet

Ray was a protégé of Chet Atkins. He started his career as Kenny Price's guitar player and traveled to shows with him for years and has worked in Nashville and was part of the Hee Haw Show in Branson, and has been a session player on many recordings.

Ray in Concert with Roland amp

Ray has been using his 1989 Roland JC 77 and a Boss Digital Delay to achieve his sound for over 30 years.

 

Roland JC 120

So I thought I would take an opportunity to understand what makes Roland Jazz Chorus amplifiers so popular. There are so many players that rely on the Roland JC, particularly the 120 watt model.

Ikutaro Kakehashi

Roland founder Ikutaro Kakehashi founded Ace Electronic Industries in 1960 as a company that designed and manufactured electronic organs, drum machines, instrument amplifiers, and effects pedals. In March 1972, his company his was acquired by Sumitomo Chemical and Mr Kakehashi resigned. 

The Roland Coporation 1970's

On 18 April 1972, just a month after resigning from Ace Electronics, Kakehashi founded The Roland Company in Osaka Japan. He had no musical training but desired to use his electronics expertise to appeal to amateur musicians and hobbyists. 

The company's goal was to focus on miniaturization, affordability, and simplicity in the design of musical instruments and equipment that his company would manufacture and distribute.

He chose the name Roland as it was easy to pronounce for export purposes. This business was started with only seven employees and at first was run from a rented shed. The companies first creations were drum machines and a compact synthesizer. He followed up by creating guitar pedals under the Boss brand name and synthesizer with the name Juno.

Roland JC 120

By 1975 his company created what is considered to be the best ever clean sounding guitar amplifier; The Roland Jazz Chorus 120, 

Its pure, transparent tonal signature—supported by an integrated stereo amplification system and custom twin 12-inch speakers remains unsurpassed in the guitar world. 

Along with its unique clean tone, the JC-120 is equally revered for its impressive Dimensional Space Chorus effect. While other amplifier manufacturers concentrated on building huge tube based amplifiers, Roland was concerned about producing an improved solid-state amplifier.

Roland JC 120

Operating in true stereo, the JC-120’s chorus still provides a tonal experience like no other, The JC 120 uses twin 60 watt power amplifiers which are paired together to produce the true stereo chorus effect.. This gives this amplifier a combined 120 watts of pure solid-state power. 

The JC 120 features reverb and distortion (although the built in distortion effect is rather lame.) However, the real secret sauce for the JC 120 is its stereo chorus. When you combine that with a hint of reverb the sound is amazing. 

This amp is on casters which come in handy as it weighs almost 65 pounds. However it is built like a tank to suffer wear and tear on the road. Due to its sound and reliability the JC 120 has become an industry workhorse This amp incorporated technology offered in Roland’s 1974 creation, The Space Echo. 

Versions of Roland's Jazz Chorus

Shortly afterward the initial success of the JC 120,  The Roland company offered hybrids of this amplifier including the JC 60, which had similar technology but with only one 60 watt power amplifier and a single 12-inch speaker. This was followed by JC 160 which was a similar stereo amp but with four 10" speakers. For an even louder sound, the Roland JC 200 with two 100 watts amplifiers 

Roland JC 77

In subsequent years Roland has come up with over a half dozen versions of this amp, including a small 20 watt model, a 50 watt model, as well as the JC 77 that Ray Cummins uses, which has twin 10-inch speakers and produces almost 80 watts. While the original JC 120 has two channels, the subsequent models are one channel amps. 

Roland JC 40

The current offerings which date back to  2010 until the present include the Roland JC 40 with twin 10-inch speakers and 40 watts of power, and the JC 22 which pumps 30 watts into twin 6 and a half-inch speakers. This a very small amplifier but it is suitable for gigging and recording.  

Roland JC 22

There are far too many artists who rely on the Roland JC 120 to mention, all the way from America to Jeff Skunk Baxter. As this amplifier is solid-state it requires little or no maintenance, the sound is pristine clean so it does not color the sound of effects pedals, it is sturdy, and it is loud. 

Jeff Baxter Roland JC 120

Many professional musicians use backline companies that rent amplifiers for performances and the JC 120 is a staple. These amps are all built to sound the same where as some tube amplifiers may have individual qualities.

The JC 120 has been around over 50 years and has proven its reliability.

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