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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
I originally wrote this article in 2009. This was years before I stumbled upon Nikos Apollonio on Facebook. We have since become Facebook friends and I discovered that Nick not just to be an excellent luthier, but a wonderful guy. He is about my age, and has a great sense of humor. He loves a good pun and speaks his mind.
Though he is of Greek heritage I believe that in his heart he is most definitely an Irishman. Nick enjoys playing Celtic music with his friends on his fiddle or his homebuilt hardanger fiddle and Irish bouzouki.
Nick began his career as a ship builder, but transferred his woodworking skills to build some of the finest Celtic stringed instruments ever. He lives in Belfast Maine where he builds his wonderful instruments in a small shop at his home. His brand name is Apollo Stringed Instruments..
Back in 2009 I was curious about the unusual 12 string instrument that Noel (Paul) Stookey used on the Wedding Song video and his album, "Paul And..."
It was around the time that I stumbled across Mr. Apollonio selling a similar instrument to the one he made for Noel Paul Stookey back in 1968. Regarding this guitar/cittern Nick stated;
"This odd looking guitar was custom made for Noel Paul Stookey in 1968 after a chance meeting in Camden, Maine. It was only my 15th guitar and at the time was rather crude and basic, due to my inexperience.
It did not hold up to string stresses, although it had a very stellar career with one of the most popular performers in America at the time."
Its delicate and haunting sound, though not as deep and powerful as a full size regular shape guitar, inspired Paul to write The Wedding Song on it, for his lifetime friend Peter Yarrow's upcoming wedding. Over the decades the song has been the crowning music of nuptials for countless thousands of people who still write about it.
Noel Paul Stookey wrote on his original webpage (no longer available) how "He and his wife Betty were attending a Rinctum that was held at the home of folk singer Gordon Bok in Maine. Stookey is a Maine resident. A Rinctum is a gathering of musicians for the purpose of sharing songs with each other. Betty has a brother named Bob Bannard who is a friend of Gordon Bok. Bob was instrumental in getting Gordon together with Noel to produce Bok's first album.
Ironically, Nick tells me that during his college days he ran across Gordon Bok's album in a record bin and became a fan of the 12 string guitar after hearing Bok's version of "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man", and he realized that he knew Gordon Bok.
When Nick first knew Gordon he was playing a Harmony or Stella 12 string guitar. A fellow named Sam Tibbets built Bok's first 12 string. Sam was a co-worker with Nick at Camden Shipbuilding. After seeing the instrument that Gordon was playing, Nick built five similar versions for him including one Laud, which was a six course instrument with pairs of two unison strings, tuned in fourths. (Gordon Bok composed and used this instrument on the song, "Bay Saint Marie".
Betty’s brother Denny was there and he had brought with him a boxy looking twelve string guitar and began to play songs from the Hebrides Islands. Noel described how fascinated he was at the beautiful sound of this instrument. He described it sound being by similar to a harpsichord. He became hypnotized by the sound.
He mentioned this to a fellow that was sitting nearby. To his surprise this man said, “I made that guitar.” Noel was astounded. The man introduced himself as Nick Apollonio and said that he made guitars and stringed instruments for a living.
Noel immediately ask if he could build a guitar for him. Mr. Apollonio said yes, but it would take him several months.
Noel went on to say there was a period in the career of Peter, Paul and Mary were there was a lull in their performances. He was just enjoying life in his home when one morning he woke up at 10 AM, which is early for most musicians, and went down to his kitchen.
He was alone in the house and he spotted a large cardboard package standing in a corner. His first thought was that his wife had done some shopping and had something delivered by parcel post. On closer examination he saw the package was from Maine and addressed to him . He realized it was the instrument he had ordered. He had almost forgotten.
He took it to his home studio. The walls in the studio were all painted black. The carpeting was red. Stookey cut the twine the held the package together. There was no case. It was tightly packed in newspaper.
(please click the above link for Stookey's song about this 12 string instrument)
In Noel’s own words he said “I looked once again at this strange flat sided twelve string and think how inauspiciously he arrived." I returned to reading the next several pages of the note which suggest brand and tension of string to use and a bit about the wood and a brief history of the casket style.
It seems that long voyages on the sea made for a certain kind of musical vacuum and when the desires of the crew ran beyond shanties and the little squeeze concertina, several planks from an empty packing case could be fashioned together into a box and joined with a long sturdy neck (made perhaps from a split oar) to produce a fair replica of a guitar without of course the tonality that results from shapely curves of steamed, pressed and clamped hardwood."
Any musician, from serious composer to jazz virtuoso, knows the extent to which coincidence often creates a new set of melodic options. I could be wrong but it seems to me that most musical 'accidents' just challenge the status quo; the 'established' way of presenting the inversion of a chord.
This coincidence often creates a new set of melodic options. It seems to me that most musical 'accidents' just challenge the status quo; the 'established way'.”
In his first encounter with Sebastian, Noel had hit upon the first chord for the beautiful song he wrote about his guitar. It was this is the same instrument he used to write and play The Wedding Song.
As time went on, Nick wrote, "After 41 years and many hundreds of instruments, I decided it was time to rebuild and update; to make it even better than new, with all the features that keep my 12's user friendly and more playable than most any other."
Nick went on to tell me that he has since built five 12 string bell shaped guitars for Stookey. One being a custom Spanish laúd ( 6 unison string pairs tuned F>f in 4th intervals) on which he composed one of my (Nicks) favorite tunes of all time, 'Bay Ste. Marie'.
Since his first build Nick has made several design changes. He states his current Bell shaped instruments are based on the bell shaped Washburn and Healy (model 5270) that was owned by poet Carl Sandburg.
This guitar dates from 1926 to 1928 and was a top of the line model. It was strung with steel strings and had a spruce top with mahogany back and sides. The body joined the neck at the twelfth fret, and it has a slotted headstock. The guitars body originally had a floral design decaled on the instruments top. Lyon and Healy was a very large instrument manufacturer and distributor during this era. They currently build and sell high end concert harps. George Lyon's middle name was Washburn.
Nick Apollonio's unique bell shaped instruments. and all of the instruments he builds include a neck designed for optimal playing. The bell shaped models have a short scale for extremely easy playing, It comes with a user friendly exterior adjustment at the neck heel for optimum action adjustments in any climate, plus a bridge calibrated for exact intonation of each string. The unique tailpiece on the instruments heel removes forward tension on the bridge allowing for lighter (though stronger) bracing, to boost sound.
Materials are: AAA western red cedar top with a compass point inlay around the sound hole. Native solid woods from a supplier in British Columbia, a neck of dark walnut aged 60+ years with a neck scarf cut and glued with a substance stronger than the wood.
An ebony fretboard and bridge with pearl position dots and brass side markers. Nick's instruments use solid inner linings that are Not kerfed, which he states adversely effect the instrument's sound
The headstock has a pale abolone "A" for Apollo logo inlaid at the top.
The tuning is set up for 2 frets low with medium strings or concert pitch with light gauge strings.
The body length is 19"; width is 13 3/4; depth is 4". The instruments scale is 24 7/8th."
He has also developed the six string Trichordo (tuned three courses of C, G, C). This is an easy playing instrument of his own design.
Considering he builds custom, handmade instruments his prices are quite reasonable, ranging from $2200 to $3500. A factory built Martin or Taylor guitar, built in the United States would retail for much more.
If you are considering purchasing a quality hand crafted guitar or Celtic instrument I encourage you to contact Nick Apollonio. Please check out Nikos Apollonio's web page.
When I was a teenager in 1968 I went to band camp every summer for five days. I wanted to take a guitar with me, but I wasn’t going to take anything that could be damaged. I had saved a little money, so I went to a local music where the salesman tried to upsell me. I explained what I was looking for, a cheap guitar to take to camp, to which he said, “Oh you want a beater.” Yep that is exactly what I wanted,
He showed me this Asian made copy of a Harmony Stella guitar. It was made of the finest birch wood money could buy, This was the same wood used for orange crates. The guitar had ladder bracing and a chunky neck. I bought it for twenty dollars.
Forty years later I walked into Guitar Center and much to my surprised, what appeared seemed to be to be my old beater which was was hanging in the store. The price was no longer $20, but $149. This was a brand new guitar selling under the brand name Recording King.
Though the brand Recording King was on this guitars headstock this same brand happened to be the name that Montgomery Ward used on their line of guitars starting back in the 1930’s.
At that time Montgomery Ward company ( aka Monkey Wards) first contracted with The Gibson Guitar company to build a line of high end guitars and banjos for sale in their stores. The companies main source of revenue was through their mail order catalogs.
The lesser quality Recording King instruments were manufactured by either The Kay Company or The Regal Company. They also utilized Gretsch.
For the most part Recording King guitars were more affordable instruments that were created during The Great Depression period of the 1930's when no one had money for unnecessary expenses. One of the companies specialties was resonator guitars.
The Recording King brand was revived ore than 20 years ago when a San Francisco Bay area resident named Steve Patrino began importing Chinese made instruments out of his garage. His business blossomed and lead to the establishment of a company which is now known as The Music Link.
The first the Chinese made instruments they imported lacked quality. To address this issue this company formed a relationship with their Chinese manufacturer by investing in machinery and addressing the quality control problems.
As competition arose between stringed musical instrument companies during the early part of the twenty-first century The Music Link Company goal was to offer quality instruments with stories behind each brand that it owned.
Their first offering I saw was "The Loar guitars." I recall seeing some of these early models at a music store. One appeared similar to Lloyd Loar's original body shape. Instead of saying The Gibson on the logo this instrument had a half-moon logo on the headstock. Other similar guitars on the rack were branded The Loar. Currently The Loar instruments are mandolins except for two guitar models.
The Music Link's director of artist relations and media stated that they are mining the "retro vein" in an attempt to showcase the Golden Age instruments of the Dust Bowl era to fit the vibe of cowboys and bluesmen. Their goal is to also offer playable and affordable instruments.
As a world-wide company, The Music Link opened a warehouse in the Netherlands in 2017 allowing the company to ship instruments across the EU. This distribution plan allowed their instruments to be more affordable in that part of the world. This company does not just wholesale guitars, but other musical instrument such as brass, reeds, percussion, and even sound systems.
In the U.S. The Music Link opened a showroom in East Nashville for promoting artist relations thus encouraging their sales and offering their finest products. However their US base is in Hayward California.
Since the companies inception they have gone from specializing in student quality reproductions of 1930's guitars, to offering very high quality professional instruments with premium pricing.
The model I saw at Guitar Center was the Recording King Dirty 30's Series 7 size O acoustic model. Currently it has a retail price of $179 to $199. A similar model comes in the larger OOO size, Dreadnaught at a similar price. Some even come with Fishman electronics, or you can add a Recording King Gold Foil pickup for an additional $50.00. The Series 7 comes in a variety of colors too.
These guitars are quite an upgrade from the $20 "beater" that I purchased years ago. For instance the Recording King models have a laminated spruce top and laminated "whitewood" back and sides. (Whitewood is any kind of wood from a fir tree.)
However for an extra hundred dollars you could get a Dirty 30's Series 9 which includes a solid spruce top, which is worth the expense.. These start at $299 and depending on the features can sell for up to $449 for the 12 string model with a Fishman pickup system. There is even a parlor model, which is slightly smaller then the size O, and is based on an early Lyon and Healy guitar. One other nice feature of either the Series 7, 9, or 11 of The Dirty 30's guitars is that the saddle and nut are made of bone.
The Recording King G6 series consist of six different guitars from a Dreadnaught, OOO, size O and three others with cutaways and Fishman electronics. These instruments feature solid spruce tops, with laminate mahogany back and sides. Pricing is from $399 to $499.
Recording King Series 11 consists of three guitars: A Dreadnaught, a size OOO, and a size O parlor instrument. Each guitar features a solid Sitka Spruce top, with solid African Mahogany back and sides, a satin brown burst finish and Fishman electronics. They are all priced at $549 USD.
The Recording King Tonewood Reserve series features 4 models, The All Solid Rosewood model features a select solid Adirondack Spruce top, Back and sides are made of solid east Indian Rosewood. The V shaped neck is made of Mahogany. The body has ivory binding. The nut and saddle are made of bone.
The Tonewood Reserve Mahogany model has similar accoutrements, but with solid African Mahogany back and sides. The Rosewood model retails at $899 while the Mahogany model is $699. Both guitars are available in Dreadnaught size or OOO size.
The top of the line for Recording King are the three Tonewood Reserve Elite series guitars. These come in size O, size OOO, and Dreadnaught. All guitars feature a solid AAA Adirondack Spruce tops with solid East Indian Rosewood back and sides. The necks are made of Mahogany topped with Ebony fretboards. Binding is ivory, while the fret markers are Abalone. The body has a gloss finish. This lineup sells in the $1200 range.
Aside from the fact these instruments are Chinese made, some of the top of the line models revile anything made by Martin or Taylor. Even the Dirty 30's series is an excellent choice for students or Blues players. The shear variety and price point Recording King offers is astonishing.
