# ATTENTION ROLAND JC OWNERS - Pedal suggestions?



## studiodog (Sep 10, 2010)

Hi everyone,

I own and gig with a Roland JC-90 amp (2x10, stereo 45 watts per side), and I absolutely LOVE the clean sound. My band, however, is slowly but surely moving from folk-traditional to folk-rock, so I'm looking to add a bit of crunch to some of the guitar lines. 

What are you guys using to get your overdrive/distortion sounds with your JC amps? 

I picked up a Danelectro Transparent Overdrive V2 pedal a while ago, but am having a bit of trouble dialing in the sound I'm after (kind of a vintage CCR/Five Man Electrical Band tone). I'm just not sure the JC preamp section CAN be overdriven! I've thought about trying a tube OD or possibly a tune preamp in front of the amp. 

Suggestions anyone?

FWIW, I'm playing either a Squier CV Tele Custom or a piezo-equipped Ibanez AK-85 hollowbody...


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## zurn (Oct 21, 2009)

I have a JC-77 and a Squier CV Tele and the OCD sounds pretty good through it, so does the Timmy! I can post a clip if you want one, just let me know.




studiodog said:


> Hi everyone,
> 
> I own and gig with a Roland JC-90 amp (2x10, stereo 45 watts per side), and I absolutely LOVE the clean sound. My band, however, is slowly but surely moving from folk-traditional to folk-rock, so I'm looking to add a bit of crunch to some of the guitar lines.
> 
> ...


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## Mr Yerp (Feb 24, 2006)

I used a 120 for a while, and my (now gone) Tech 21 GT2 sounded great!


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

Yesterday at Riff Wrath's, my singer used a Blues Driver w/ his fat strat into a JC-120 and it sounded pretty good!


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## studiodog (Sep 10, 2010)

zurn said:


> I have a JC-77 and a Squier CV Tele and the OCD sounds pretty good through it, so does the Timmy! I can post a clip if you want one, just let me know.


Hey zurn. Audio clips are always welcome! I had hoped to spend the day fiddling around with my Dano TOD, but am now car shopping instead - the band turfed a deer on the 401 coming home from a gig last night. Goodbye van! (


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## washburned (Oct 13, 2006)

I'd suggest something like the Radial Classic Tonebone tube OD for what you want. Set it up for your sound and just use the JC for amplification.


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## mrmatt1972 (Apr 3, 2008)

I don't think the TOD is the right choice for the sound you want. Try something like a Tubescreamer.


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

I have a JC-60 and for distortion I have used, and still use a Boss DS-1, DF-2 (Same distortion--the DF-2 has a feedback option too.)
They are unmodded, but can get a good distortion if you experiment--I set both of them differently--one is set for more of a boost with a sharper tone, and the other is more of a dirtier distortion.
Ii also use a DOD FX53 Classic Tube distortion pedal set for a warmer distortion--I can use any one, any two or all three for more variety.

This may not work for your music, but it does for me mostly playing blues, blues/rock and older heavy metal and hard rock type stuff.
The pedals work quite well for me on my JC 60


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

It would appear that there were several issues of the JC-120. I went digging for a schematic I could link you to, and what showed up was completely different than what I had in my files. This post (Need schematic diag Roland JC120 ) indicates no less than 3 different issues of the amp, and the differences between them are fairly substantial. This suggests that recommendations for what might be changed in the amp, or suggested for use with the amp, might vary depending on whether you have the 79, 82, or 84 issue.

Boy, and here I thought a JC was a JC was a JC. Learn something new every day.


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## studiodog (Sep 10, 2010)

mhammer said:


> Boy, and here I thought a JC was a JC was a JC. Learn something new every day.


Yup! Add in the 55. 60, 77 and 90 models and it gets REAL interesting! (mine is the JC90 btw - nice amp, and significantly easier to cart around than its 120 cousin!).


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## zurn (Oct 21, 2009)

studiodog said:


> Hey zurn. Audio clips are always welcome! I had hoped to spend the day fiddling around with my Dano TOD, but am now car shopping instead - the band turfed a deer on the 401 coming home from a gig last night. Goodbye van! (


Here's a quick clip done with the Squire CV Custom with the OCD and Timmy plugged straight in the JC-77 mic'd with a SM57 going directly in a M-Audio Fast Track Pro recorded with Reaper. No post processing at all.

I set the controls on the pedal so they sound similar, although after recording the clip I wish I had raised the tone knob a little more on the OCD.

So I recorded some riffs, each riff is played three times, one is clean then with the ocd and last is the timmy. The mic placement on the amp wasn't the best, my mic stand isn't that ajustable. Sorry for the sloppy playing 

Here are some pics of the actual settings on the pedals and the amp.

http://upload.dazurn.com/jc77-ocd-timmy.mp3


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## fishin' musician (Jun 19, 2008)

If you're looking for a CCR "Suzie Q/Run Through the Jungle" sort of sound, find yourself a nice fuzz pedal and get your lo-fi 60's mojo goin' on...


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## studiodog (Sep 10, 2010)

zurn said:


> http://upload.dazurn.com/jc77-ocd-timmy.mp3


Does this link work for anyone? I can't get it to do anything for me.....


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## studiodog (Sep 10, 2010)

fishin' musician said:


> If you're looking for a CCR "Suzie Q/Run Through the Jungle" sort of sound, find yourself a nice fuzz pedal and get your lo-fi 60's mojo goin' on...


Hey fishin'! That's definitely the tone I'm after - guess I was barking up the wrong tree with an OD pedal - will check out some fuzz boxes next time I'm in the shops. Any recommendations?


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## zurn (Oct 21, 2009)

studiodog said:


> Does this link work for anyone? I can't get it to do anything for me.....


Oops fixed the link in the post, thanks. Here's the correct one just in case.

http://upload.dazurn.com/jc77-ocd-timmy.mp3


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## p_wats (Nov 11, 2009)

I've got a JC-77 and so far have used it with my BYOC 250 OD pretty much exclusively. The two live videos in my Youtube channel demonstrate that:

[video=youtube;l_nknh77VOk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_nknh77VOk[/video]


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## studiodog (Sep 10, 2010)

fishin' musician said:


> If you're looking for a CCR "Suzie Q/Run Through the Jungle" sort of sound, find yourself a nice fuzz pedal and get your lo-fi 60's mojo goin' on...


Just picked up an MXR M173 Classic Fuzz, and it hits the CCR sound bang on! Guess I'll put my Dano TODv2 up for sale to (parlty) offset the cost. If anyone's interested, PM me!


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