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give me your idea of the better amp and why, i dont care about weight i have 8 grandsons built in roadies
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02-11-2009 05:46 PM
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I've used a JC for years and have been very happy with it's clean well rounded sound, good quite amp, though recently I started using an Evans RE200 hybrid that I like even more as it has that fatter tube sound, but I still have the Jazz Chorus too.
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I can't compare them. But I can tell you that I enjoy using my JC-120. I find the first channel to be cleaner, which is annoying becuase I want the reverb on it. It's fine. I still get a good jazz sound with a very unjazzy guitar. I like it.
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apples and oranges.
a JC-120 is honestly too much amp unless you're playing some damn big rooms. that's why i got rid of mine, that and the weight. i don't have roadies, or grandchildren.
the JC-120 is every bit a professional amp, whereas the cube 60 (which i have now and really enjoy) can be had at practice amp price...but it's nice and portable, plenty loud for most gigs, and delivers a good sound. i've actually seen a few very well respected players using one. it's a different sound than a JC-120--i call it the poor man's polytone (not that a polytone's all that expensive in the first place!)
if you like the sound of the 120 and got people to move it, then ou can't go wrong. but if you're like me and take the train to gigs, it's gotta be something smaller. if you're an at home player, then get whatever sounds better to you.
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thanks guys after playing christain metal and rock and hauling to mesa mark 3s full stacks around,the jc 120 isnt to bad yet, but it wouldnt hurt to try a cube 60 are a polytone.
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They make smaller jazz choruses too like the JC90
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I played JC120, now I have JC50 [similar, but not stereo and has only 2 way eq]. It's very good amp. I won't trade him to Cube 60, becouse I like the sound of JC120 more than Cube [unfortunately it's not the same sound].
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I also love the Roland JC line. I used to have a JC77 that I found it's to loud for my needs. I sold it and bought a JC55 (50 watts, 2x10 inches). Never look back!! You can practice at home, with a band in a small room or gig with no problem. The JC takes pedals very good to and I love the reverb and the chorus.
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I,m pleased with my Cube 60, plenty tone and volume and very portable.
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I am with Mr. B. Too heavy, too loud, and I have never been around one (my instructor has 3) that didn't hiss like crazy. They are build like a tank though, and are typically on every jazz muso's contract as one of the amps to be provided. Saw John Pizzarelli here a couple of years ago, and he played thru one, sounded great.
The Cube 60 is pleny of amp for everything I do.
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I'm very happy with the Cube (JC and Twin Reverb emulation). My es 175 does not like the Marshall JTM 60, which works well with the Stratocaster. I'd like to taste the Henriksen JazzAmp, just to understand if some part of my guitar is vibrating at 10 kHz...
Important note: the Cube 60 in Acoustic mode is good for archtops and GREAT with my Ovation acoustic.
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That reminds me , I must try my custom balladeer through the 60.
Originally Posted by pineapple
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i would love to have an evans amp but the ones that ive seen are exspensive. are sound man got me a really cool power strip, cant remember what the name is, and its at the practise room with my amp. but my jc 120 i guess iam bless is quiet i do use emgs in my gibson 335 but my gold top with p90s and tele are still quieter then a tube amp my fender twin and peavey delta blues with a 15. but this power strip cost me and ive had for a while but you be surprise what one can do for you, are sound man loves them.
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The Cube 60 has it all for me in jazz . However, in my Rock band where I need totally different sounds I prefer to play the Vox AD60.
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The Cube 60 is an imitation of the JC-120... therefore the 120 is the more ideal amplifier imo. However, as mentioned it is a large amp and isn't exactly the most practical amp.
For me my 60 as I had said in another post is good for work and good for smaller rooms but once you open up the room it dies and loses it's character to the room. I've played on 120's and they deal with this problem much better then their new cousin.
If you want a JC amp and don't want the 120 look into the 90's and other JC line amps.
Also, JC's do have the tendency of having wireing issues because they're among the most commonly backlined amps out there, especially for non-rock artists (jazz, folkies, etc) but all of that is easily fixed.
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i see where the cube 60 is discontinued, and a cube 80x with extra features is taking its place.
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Originally Posted by Jake Hanlon
this is very true. while it's loud enough (i've actually used the cube on a stage in a 600 seat theater) the character of the sound changes. listening back to a videotape of that performance, i found my sound much brighter and more brittle than usual.
luckily for me, the very few times (and i mean very few) i've played a room bigger than the cube could handle, i was given access to a house amp...
...which was, of course...wait for it...a JC 120.
they can be "hissy," but in a crowded room with other sounds going on, i doubt anyone (except for the guitar player) would notice.
i'm interested to see what this cube 80x is like...not that i need another amp. for the little coffee shops, wine tastings and martini bars i play, the 60 gets the job done.
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being new in buying jazz equipment, iam really enjoying reading all your comments and suggestions. iam learning alot, i thank you all for sharing.
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Gary, is there any particular reason you're comparing the JC-120 and the Cube 60? I'm wondering how you arrived at those two and whether you'd be open to considering other amps.
It might be helpful to know a bit about your playing situation. What kind of rooms do you play? Solo? With a band? What other instrumentation? How many people are in the room?
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i have a jc 120 i just wanted to know, if there was something out there that compared to it. iam a lead guitar player who is playing bass right now in a band and at church. because of the shortage of bass players around here. but i like tube amps and the only transistor amp i ever liked was the jc 120 i played one in the 80s and used a jc head playing christain metal along with my boogies amps but ive always like good clean sound. anyway my band wants me to do a set at the end where i play guitar and do 4or5 songs so i just wanted if there was something as good but maybe easier to handle,but for good sound ill take the jc120 and thats the only none tube amp i know about. like i said i have a jc 120 already .
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Ah, I see.
I've never played a JC, believe it or not. I've only heard one up close, and that was a long time ago. Interestingly, the owner was a metal player like yourself.
I have owned Roland Cube amps, though. Personally I've found the Cubes to be bit too midrange-focussed. It makes them seem louder than one would expect, given the rated wattage.
My experience with the Cubes is that they actually work quite well in a band. Their midrange focus puts all the energy of the guitar sound where it really belongs when you're playing with other instruments. In that sense the Cube's sound is reminiscent of a Boogie. (I was a big M/B fan up until about five years ago.)
I find that mid-focussed sound less useful when playing solo guitar. I don't mind having the bass rolled off a bit, but I prefer having a bit more snap on the high-end. (Yes, an atypical jazz sound, but there you go...)
If you're going to be playing solo in church, and assuming that the church has a sound system with decent stage monitors, then you could consider thinking along the same lines as if you were playing an acoustic guitar with a pickup. In other words, just plug your guitar into a DI and use the stage monitors to hear yourself.
I've done this quite a bit. I like the sound. Sometimes I'll have a bit of reverb added at the board; other times I'll use a reverb pedal between the guitar and the DI.
The best thing about this approach...? You can give your roadies the night off and let them enjoy the show.
If you don't have good stage monitors, then it makes sense to use your own amp. There are a lot of options. The JC-120 should be fine. (Although *I* certainly wouldn't want to carry one...)
There are a lot of amps designed specifically for acoustic or jazz guitar. These are all clean amps, and most have a good flat frequency response. (Personally I'd avoid the Fender Acoustasonic amps, which IME sound excessively bright and thin.) Many of these acoustic and jazz amps have a built-in DI to make setup that much easier when you have PA support.
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i sometimes use a tech21 pedal to play my bass tru the PA at church, we have an awesome PA they use 2 jbl 18s on both sides. and we just got a better PA for our band we just got new monitors, the are loaded with 15s black widows and jbls for the front.i might check and see if tech 21 has something for my es335 and play it tru the system. can anyone suggest something.
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Yes. Take a look at the Tech 21 Character Series pedals. Different models for different "families" of sounds: Fender, Marshall, Vox, Boogie, SVT. Designed for use into a PA. Street price of $149 each.
I have a Blonde (Fender sounds) and love it.
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In what kind of place are your playing/ practicing ?
I only own a Roland cube 30X. It is just damn loud
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For daily practise at home, I play it on the jc clean at only about 9 'o clock. Not more.
So, I just can imagine the JC-120 and Roland cube 60
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The comments about the downsides of the Cube 60 are spot on and I'm glad I read the thread. I think the following point is also valid for gigging musicians. It's about the effects of wattage and speaker headroom.
The Cube 60 is very midrange biased. It's biggest drawback for gigging is when you need to change volumes. People often comment how "loud" Cube amps are...this is an "interpretation" of what you are listening to.
I find that increasing the volume from say, 9 0'clock to 12 causes a loss of individual note clarity that can only be fixed by lowering the midrange and bass. When you get the clarity back you actually have taken a lot of the volume away again. The amp sounds "loud" at 12 o'clock but it has lost a lot of clarity and started to become distorted. If you read the Roland stuff on the Cube 60 it does actually say that it is voiced to start to distort (on the JC setting!) as the volume goes up. I'm not convinced it is "voiced" - I just think it is a characteristic of the amp. In any case, altering the volume requires a twiddle with the tone knobs.
This brings me on to a point where, as a bigger wattage amp, the JC120 should win, when I used to have a Kustom 200 watt head and 4x12 cab. You could turn up the volume and the bass, mids and treble would all remain in proportion to each other regardless of the volume. Because of the wattage and speaker headroom it wasn't really possible to tell how loud you were playing. This was because the sound never lost it's shape or became distorted. So I could walk out of the bedroom after playing and find my ears ringing - even though when I was playing I didn't realise it was too loud (hence why I got rid).
Now I have the Cube 60, I KNOW that I am playing using less watts but my family complain that "I am playing too loud" more often because the sound is more distorted - even though I'm playing clean. There is no way 60watts is actually putting out more than 200watts!
None of this matters if you use a Cube at home for practice...but if you are gigging then always go for the highest wattage amp as it has more headroom and you sound response is more linear over volume changes....in other words a JC120 is an easier amp to use for gigging in terms of sound even though it might require burly grandsons to cart it around
IMO this difference between between the two amps is of less concern for solo work but playing chordal work the JC120 wins hands down for retaining the clarity between each note.
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