# Roland Jazz Chorus-40 (2 x 10)



## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

GC member Hamstrung tried this amp at the Cambridge L&M yesterday. He often asks me if I'd like to join him to go and see what is new, etc. at that store. 
We support each other regarding the "the absolute need for important and/or impulsive purchases" OR "convince each other that a purchase might need more thought/time/research/review. etc". 

I thought this this amp might be of interest to some GC members.

The specs are below. It is being produced to commemorate the 40th anniversary of something Roland
(maybe the Jazz Chorus "series"????)

Price is $799.00 

 https://www.long-mcquade.com/61477/Guitars/Guitar_Amps/Roland/Jazz_Chorus_40th_Anniversary_2x10.htm


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## davetcan (Feb 27, 2006)

What's with all the studs? (and I don't mean you and Hamstrung)


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

davetcan said:


> What's with all the studs? (and I don't mean you and Hamstrung)


That is the traditional "look" of many of the Jazz Chorus amps that I have seen. 
The plastic "edging" /protector strips are fastened to the amp by the studs.
I'm not a fan of the look at all. 
Reminds me of some old furniture my parents had in the 50's or earlier.


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## qantor (Nov 19, 2014)

I have one. I really like it. It's really clean and crisp. The size of the JC-40 is perfect for a home studio and it's not too loud.


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## sulphur (Jun 2, 2011)

I remeber these growing up. 

I'd heard that they were "full spectrum", or something to that effect.
Do these take pedals well? They'd seem like a good clean platform.


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

I'd trade my JC-60 for one of these...


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## qantor (Nov 19, 2014)

sulphur said:


> I remeber these growing up.
> 
> I'd heard that they were "full spectrum", or something to that effect.
> Do these take pedals well? They'd seem like a good clean platform.


It's even good with my Acousticaster, not something I would do with a Mesa or a Fender. For pedals, you have an effect loop with a stereo Return + a switch to put the loop parallel or series. Right now, I only have a chorus and a stereo delay on it, love the stereo effect... fill the room. There is a distortion effect on board, but I will try an overdrive (OCD) and will keep you inform.


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## 5732 (Jul 30, 2009)

I was interested in one of these when they were first announced but ended up picking up a nice yamaha vr4000 on the used market for $120. I'll have to try one out now that they are available. 

Sent from my SGH-I547C using Tapatalk


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## qantor (Nov 19, 2014)

Did try the amp with an OD Full tone OCD. I had good result on the lower side of the gain. But with heavier distortion pedals, I think it need more tweaking. That won't be my amp of choice for that purpose. If it was the only amp I had, I would put something like a Boss OD-20. I was able to get some good result because there are more parameters (Bottom, Tone and Attack shape) and distortion types on that kind of pedal.


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## marcos (Jan 13, 2009)

I bought a used one last year from a fellow musician in the area and could not get used to it. They are fantastic amps and well built. The chorus was really nice but i found it a bit too bright for me. Maybe different speakers would have made a difference. Paid 250.00 and a guy offered me 350.00 4 months later. Gone!!!


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## GTmaker (Apr 24, 2006)

marcos said:


> I bought a used one last year from a fellow musician in the area and could not get used to it. They are fantastic amps and well built. The chorus was really nice but i found it a bit too bright for me. Maybe different speakers would have made a difference. Paid 250.00 and a guy offered me 350.00 4 months later. Gone!!!


at the 250-350 range, the amp may have some of my interest.
At 900 dollars ( with taxes), now you are in the comfortable range of a used Twin reverb , Super Reverb and a Deluxe Reverb.
The Fender comparison makes it a NO contest for me.

G.


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## qantor (Nov 19, 2014)

GTmaker said:


> at the 250-350 range, the amp may have some of my interest.
> At 900 dollars ( with taxes), now you are in the comfortable range of a used Twin reverb , Super Reverb and a Deluxe Reverb.
> The Fender comparison makes it a NO contest for me.
> 
> G.


In my opinion, this amp is not meant to be compared with a Fender valve amp. You don’t compare a Fender Deluxe Reverb with a Mesa Mark V or a Blackstar soloist HT-60, same thing here. If you want a full range clean sound, you won’t look at a Fender Deluxe Reverb. As for the used pricing, the JC-40 wasn’t on the market last year, it was either a JC-160, JC-120, JC-77 or JC-55.


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## allthumbs56 (Jul 24, 2006)

I had a JC-77 for a few years. It was absolutely the best at clean/chorus I have ever heard. On the negative side, I did not like it as a pedal platform and the onboard distortion was awful.

900 bones is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyy too much for this amp ................ in my opinion anyway.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

1) The original JCs incorporated a CE-1 chorus ensemble, in stereo form. What made the CE-1 distinct was the fact that it used a different, and more suitable, waveform for producing vibrato than it did for chorus, even though, in principle vibrato uses the same modulated delay but leaves out the clean signal. There's virtue in that, but then the market for vibrato is probably more limited than that for chorus.

2) Over the years, I've heard very few people say how much they liked the distortion on any of the JCs. Simply looking at the schematic, one would be prompted to exclaim "Why the heck would you do *that*?". 

3) When people say "pedal friendly", what they generally mean is how nicely the amp breaks up when pushed. It rarely means "How good will my delay/phaser/tremolo sound through this amp?". What that means for me is that, if you have an overdrive pedal whose native tone pleases you, and does not require amp breakup to have its sound, and you are not anticipating using it with the output level cranked, then you're fine. If you're thinking in terms of pushing the amp with a Klon, this is NOT going to be your "go-to".


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## marcos (Jan 13, 2009)

Good info Mark. And your right, the distortion was awful. Trem and chorus where a delight.


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## qantor (Nov 19, 2014)

The onboard distortion has been improved over previous models but I still think this not the amp for that task, OD is fine, distortion not so much IMO. On the price side, I've paid 739$ wo tx brand new. If you want to compare brand new with brand new, how about a Mustang IV : 679$ wo tx and a Reverb Deluxe is 1489$ wo tx...


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## allthumbs56 (Jul 24, 2006)

mhammer said:


> 3) When people say "pedal friendly", what they generally mean is how nicely the amp breaks up when pushed. It rarely means "How good will my delay/phaser/tremolo sound through this amp?". What that means for me is that, if you have an overdrive pedal whose native tone pleases you, and does not require amp breakup to have its sound, and you are not anticipating using it with the output level cranked, then you're fine. If you're thinking in terms of pushing the amp with a Klon, this is NOT going to be your "go-to".


Good point - it was distortions and o/d's that did not work well with the amp. I tried many o/d's with the amp and never found one I liked. Mind you there isn't a dirt pedal that to me sounds good on it's own so the relationship is important. I found the amp to be more hi-fi than most, including silverface Fenders and things got brittle as the volume increased.

Come to think of it, I was not a fan of the reverb either. In all fairness though the 77 might have had a much smaller pan than the larger siblings.

I always liked the military-look of the cabinetry - always made me think it would look good in the back of a Pontiac Aztec.

edit: Must correct this - it was a JC-55 I had, not a 77 (it's been awhile). The 55 had a pair of 8's in it. Very little .......... very cute and a lovely clean tone in my basement. I can understand where it would serve an acousticaster well.


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## Distortion (Sep 16, 2015)

Yes seen the amp last week at L&M. Did not play it but on a side note a big brother 120 seems to command a high price used for a solid state amp . Probably the highest price used ,solid state amp out there.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Gotta wonder what it's using for a delay chip. Although imagine there have to be dribs and drabs of MN3002 chips sitting around in parts bins around the world, there is not enough of a supply for a company as big as Roland to base a reissue around. So I'm guessing that the chorus and vibrato are using the Coolaudio clone of the MN3207. That's not terrible - certainly enough well-loved chorus pedals out there use them - but if one is going to command those prices, you better deliver the vintage goods.

That said, stereo chorus amps are a delight to play...as long as you're sitting/standing in the right spot. Part of the pleasure comes from the spatial separation of dry and wet channels. I have a "baby" stereo chorus amp - a Fender SK 20, that has a pair of 8" speakers getting somewhere between 8-10W each - and it sounds lovely in chorus mode. But there's about 10" between the centres of the two cones, so you need to stand pretty close to get the "lush" stuff that comes with stereo chorus. I made a different 2 x 8 cab that has more internal volume, and spaces the speakers just a bit farther apart. I need to feed the amp to them instead and see if it makes a difference. From the pics, it seems like the JC-55 spaces the two 8s farther apart than mine, so I imagine it will sound pretty decent.


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

allthumbs56 said:


> Good point - it was distortions and o/d's that did not work well with the amp. I tried many o/d's with the amp and never found one I liked. Mind you there isn't a dirt pedal that to me sounds good on it's own so the relationship is important. I found the amp to be more hi-fi than most, including silverface Fenders and things got brittle as the volume increased.


My main amp for many years was a JC 60
I loved how it worked with distortions.
Almost every time I jammed with someone new they expressed doubt about my amp (& often the pedals (Often I just brought an unmodded DS-1))
But after we jammed, while my playing didn't necessarily knock them out, a lot of them loved my tone--normally an Iceman (Super 80 pickups) through a DS-1 to the JC 60)
Many wanted to try it.

Some liked it when they tried it as well, some found it didn't suit their playing.
So no, it won't work for everybody, but it worked very well for me.

So anybody looking for tips or advice here should take it all with that disclaimer.

they work for some of us & not others--for some they work great with distortion, for others, they don't.


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## High/Deaf (Aug 19, 2009)

Stereo chorus sounds so cool. But the limitation of speakers in close proximity limits the effect drastically. I always thought a 112 and an extension cab (still stereo output though) would be better, but you lose the convenience. 

I opted for a TC scf and 2 amps for my 'surround sound chorus' needs. It's great but still a hassle- mostly for home use.


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