shoegaze

I'm in the market for a new amp and was considering going with a Roland JC-120 as I have noticed how many of my favorite bands used them and have read glowing reviews of them on here and other forums, however I have never had a chance to play one. A couple of friends of mine owned one, and they both said it is a great amp, but all distortions sound bad on them. This didn't make much sense to me, if everything else sounds so good on them why wouldn't my RAT? I was just wondering if anyone can shed light on this subject because I do want to use distortion.

I don't have extensive experience with this model, but I have played and recorded with one that I borrowed for a while. For a solid-state amp, it's pretty good. But its built-in effects (the chorus and vibrato) shade your tone so much that I can see why you wouldn't want to pile more effects onto your sound. It could just sound so oversaturated.

But again, I'm no expert, just a guy with two cents to offer.

Here are more than 100 reviews on Harmony Central:

jc120's are flat frequency. they dont color your sound, and theyre GREAT amps. I use one and my old fuzz pedals. sounds like heaven, loud and clear...

ps dont use the distortion on the amps, its not made for that. clean and loud, season with pedals..