How can I get a warmer sound out of my Roland jazz chorus?

[Bouviour]

I was just after some pointers about settings I should be using to get a warmer sound rather than the bright/harsh sound I've been getting out of my JC40 lately. Does anyone have any advice for me? Thanks! ?

[jads57]

John Scofield trick was to jut turn on the Distortion to minimum on the amp itself.Also changing speaker to better ones really helps!,

[rpjazzguitar]

Lately?

Was it warmer before?

What changed?

The JC series has a somewhat icy or brittle sound. EQ on the amp, guitar or in between may help. As was already pointed out, just a tiny bit of distortion or overdrive, within the amp, or in front of it. Some guitars are warmer than others too.

[gitman]

Use a long cable and turn down the volume control on the guitar to 8 or 9 on the dial. Changing out speakers is a DEEP rabbit hole .... an outboard EQ pedal (MXR 10 band graphic EQ) is a comparatively cheap and VERY effective tool.

[Ray175]

If you find notes are sustaining too much maybe try a noise gate to accelerate delay and add some thunk.

[rbbrnck]

I was just after some pointers about settings I should be using to get a warmer sound rather than the bright/harsh sound I've been getting out of my JC40 lately. Does anyone have any advice for me? Thanks! ?

i haven't got any direct experience on JC40, but i can quote my first-hand (or first-ear) experience from a faraway past as live sound engineer. the rental company i used to work for (some 30 years ago) did indeed provide backline, along with technical services, FOH, PA, and stage monitors, to a number of jazz festivals and one-off gigs at specialized venues in southern Germany.

the one amp it kept on stock that got so much compliments by "traditional" jazz guitarists was a modified JC120 in which a wool blanket had been permanent installed; one side of the drape was placed behind the front grille, the rest of it was either rolled inside the bottom of the cabinet, or pulled up inside, hung behind the very speakers.

the "DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME!" disclaimer should now appear front and center on this forum message, blinking as a flashing beacon – as the application supervised by a professional sound engineer in his duty on stage describes a substantially different application than that of an amp left switched on for (heaven knows) how long, in what weather and ambient temperature, unattended or used by a non technical-savvy private individual...

a wool blanket carefully placed to avoid blocking the flow of fresh air that's needed to cool off the power amp inside the cabinet is also substantially different than a non-wool blanket simply pulled across the only opening that the amp has got... and the risk presenting itself in the two different scenario shall not be underestimated, even more so in a permanent residential environment (with bookshelves full of paper, clothes and carpets, wooden furniture, tent at the windows and what not), rather than a naked stage, open-air, in the middle of nowhere...

under close scrutiny by a knowledgeable tech, a specialist perfectly aware of the pros and cons of the exercise, though, there wasn't a concert at which a long debate followed after the last encore, with the very artist or the tour manager, at which money was generously offered in exchange of such JC120 amp – which was indeed perfectly stock, factory-fresh, with no mods whatsoever other than the wool blanket installed behind the front grille, which could be hung behind the speakers, hooked to a velcro strip that let the air cool off the amp...

...an extreme example, indeed, and even more risky – or prone to backfire (literally), if left in the wrong hands – but greatly appreciated any time any "traditional" jazz guitarist plugged her or his archtop in it... and i can't see a reason why it shouldn't help to soak some lively high-mids off a JC40, too – without taking any responsibility for whatever side-effect it could ignite.

[Jonathan0996]

Trade it for a Fender Deluxe Reverb.

[Tal_175]

You can put a preamp pedal in front and treat JC as a PA. I bet it'll work very nicely when used that way.

[ronjazz]

book of matches?

[Jonathan0996]

I made a smart aleck comment the other day, but I'd like to follow up by saying that if you've got to use blankets, long cords, external EQs, speaker swaps, extreme settings and other tricks to get an amp to sound good to your ears, you've probably got the wrong amp. There's no shame in it. I've had the wrong amp any number of times and I've also foolishly sold some great amps.

There's no getting around it; the Jazz Chorus amps are bright. You can try to tamp it down in various ways, but I think amps sound best when they're not manipulated to achieve a sound that they don't naturally have. I suggest you try out a variety of amps and find one that has the basic sound you want to hear. You'll know it when you hear it, and you'll be happier in the long run. Good luck with the hunt.

[ronjazz]

While I agree with Jonathan, above, I found that the Bose L1 series allows you to have any amp a multi-processor can give you. The Bose os neutral, hi-fi and a line array, so the sound is multi-directional, without the hot spots of a conventional speaker. Depending on your budget, you can get a huge variety of sounds. I tend toward smaller, simpler processors, some with a tube or two for electric guitar, and digital
acoustic" boxes for my nylon-stringed instruments. The Bose Compact is small, light and under $1000, with a 1/4"and a mic input, if you want to work with a singer or horn-player. A different concept, but I have used nothing else since they were introduced some 25 years ago. Steve Miller and Pat Metheny use them as onstage monitors.