ROLAND JC-40 - Can It Be Your Only Amp? 

Things I love about gigging with a JC 40 1) Even with a heavy hitting drummer, I never move past 4 on the volume dial. This thing will peel paint off the wall 2) You can be rough with it, spill beer on it and it never lets you down 3) Chorus and Vibrato are killer and in stereo with 2 speakers! 4) For gigging, the distortion is good enough 5) Takes all pedals like a champ - including overdrive 6) Pretty light in comparison to most valve amps 7) Digital reverb, but its killer 8) Stereo inputs It can be a bit spiky with the highs. I leave the treble on 2, boost the mids to 1pm and bass at 12pm. From there, plug in and enjoy!

I have the JC22 version. I found out of all my amps, I use this one the most. I don't care it doesn't have a drive channel. Run pedals however you wish through it. It's loud enough for me, sounds good and reliable. There's a reason why these particular solid state amps are at the top of gear lists.

Not a JC40 but a great recent example of the Jazz Chorus in action is Emily Kokal from Warpaint who has used a JC120 as her main stage amp for many years. There’s a Premier Guitar rig rundown video on RU-vid

Those Roland JC series are one the best if not the best solid state amps ever made that are still in use to this day, may it be on stage or in the studio either with an electric guitar and others even use it as an acoustic guitar amp.

I had a fender blues junior Tweed that was driving me crazy.. Too boxy.. Too compressed.. I don't Know.. I was hating it..when the jc40 entered my room, it was like a stormy day suddenly turned in a beautiful Summer and sunny day.. What a amp!! Simply beautiful!! Stereo, effects loop, gorgeus vibrato and chorus.. Dreamy clean tone.. Very good with pedals.. What else?.. I LOVE IT!! I use it in stereo with a orange tremlord, another beautiful amp, and they are a perfect pair... my room is now a relaxing hi-fi place where i enjoy a lot.. Thanks for your contribute in spreading the beauty of JC 40 🙂

A really useful review that gives a great sense of its basic sound.

greeting from japan JC is ultimately standard amp everywhere rentalstudio,highschool,college light music club,karaoke bar,even country side villege festival stages. every guitarist can be setting usable tone on themselves. if you have an opportunity to play in japan, don't worry JC is in there.

I just purchased one today. I can't fricken wait when no one else is home!!!!!!!

Nice (and honest) review Sir 🤜🏽✊🤛🏻 I’m definitely sold out by the JC (and it’s on my wish list) 👍

nice vid i been usin my jc 120 since the 80's was lucky enough to score the 4x12 cab love those roland red backs

I owned the JC120 around 4 years ago, and currently own the JC40. Previously I was a strictly Marshall guy, but this series made me a convert. The 40 is honestly a much better all around amp than the 120 imo. I've used it at gigs of over 200 people and had ZERO issues being heard. Plus I didn't have to break my back on load in/out!

Once you said you were recording your sound to get the ‘in the room’ feel, i was subscribed. Only way i can somewhat tell what the amp sounds like by online videos. THanks for that and great video too

Sounds wonderful. Right pedals and eq'ing, leveling. You can do a lot with the amp, I'm sure

Thanks for that. You should also do DVD reviews.

I play steel guitar and this amp is perfect for gigs.

I have a JC-40 exclusively for clean stereo effects. Distortion covered with tube amps.

I guy the 22 and love it! I’ve decided to use Less tubes so I sold some stuff and kept lower powered amps that take less tubes! I notice how prices have gone up!!! I use to buy tubes that cost 25 pounds each! They are now 50 each

Excellente présentation! Bravo!

I think I’ve owned the my jc40 for a year and a half now, and man whenever I turn it on with the built in reverb dialed to about 4/5, it feels like home. A little sad that you have to buy the foot-switches separately for the vibrato/chorus tho. It’s a very loud amp so if you want to play this in your bedroom without annoying anyone, you’d have to turn the volume all the way down to 0.5 volume. Love the tone, good pick response. Only thing I would change is the quality of the distortion, I was a little disappointed with that effect.

Back in the day I had a new JC-40. Calling it clean sounding would be an understatement. The chorus is legendary.

I’ve got the baby one, the 22. It’s not my main amp, which is a tube 57 Tweed knock off (my partscaster thinline loves that one), and then there is a small studio Boogie 22 for a more AC30 sound (my 335 loves that one the best) but it is a really nice sounding small amplifier, great for clean tones, not upsetting the neighbors and I especially like the chorus on it. Personally I don’t bother with pedals these days, I’m a go directly into the amp guy, so the chorus can be a fun diversion. I mostly use it when I want to play quiet and the little Roland sounds especially good with my Duo Jet, so I guess they like Gretsch guitars! It’s also a perfect small amp for keyboards. The speakers are smaller in the 22, like old car radio speakers almost, so nowhere near as fuller sound as Jay’s 40. But its a lot of amplifier for a very fair price, especially when you get the feel of one and realize how good the build quality is. They are built pretty sturdy and they have held a special place in the classic inventory of amplifiers for a reason.

20:51 Nice that's exactly what i wanted to know, great review !

I gigged with a Roland JC77 for about 18 years and left it overseas with my bass player as a gift....thought about getting one of these but I'm playing a Fender 40 watt Hot rod deluxe that's been modified which is plenty loud, I just wanted to run them in stereo and see what that would sound like. they are great amps but my experience is they hate neon lights....buzz like crazy if you play a pub with lots of neon ...

Back in the day I had a JC-120. A wonderful amp but I got tired of lugging it around. Not the easiest thing to put in the boot (trunk) of a car or to carry onto stage. A better solution was a stereo effects chain feeding two Roland Cube 60 amps. Much easier to carry around. And the ability to use a single amp if I wanted to. Also provided redundancy in the event that one amp failed at any point. But the biggest benefit was being able to create a wider stereo sound stage by positioning the two amps further away from each other.

Best guitar sound I ever heard was a guy in Japanese band the choosers, he had a 70s ex real kids rickenbacker 360 into jc120 using boss blues driver for drive , I myself use 70 vox escort lead 50 transistor amp orris HH 70s transistor amp with gretsch astrojet, gretsch anniversary ( both 64) and 62 jazzmaster and I love the sound , I stick a 70s Watkins copicat in front of the amp for echo and a bit of more drive

For the last five years I have been using a JC40 with just a Boss CP-1X compressor and a Boss Waza Blues Driver pedal (to keep it all in the Roland family or something?) in line with a simple old Dunlop volume pedal on the effects loop. It’s really so good. It can get very bright, but you can reel it in. A wonderful amplifier. Over the years I have lucked into and picked up a couple of nice classic Fender tube amps that I kept. I tried many tube and digital amps along the way that I have sold after a while. The JC 40 is different than anything else and is easily as special as my other two “storied” (and, ok, wonderful) tube amps. Anyway, I think I am done shopping and buying guitar amps. It only took 40 or so years to clear it all up. Everybody has their own thing with amps of course. Just saying the JC40 is really good.

I'm getting one. I've heard it is one of the most used amplifier in studio music history.

Is there some kind of law that people NEVER OR RARELY EVER use the stereo chorus effect with distortion . That is THE sound. JOHNNY WINTER left his Boss Chorus ON all the time sitting on top of his amp.

I may have missed it in the vid but are running distortion through the effects loop or through the front? I've been running a tube screamer through the front of my 22 but haven't messed with pedals on the 40 yet. I'm not loving the built in distortion on the 40.

Ciao è lamplificatore che usa Steve Rotery dei Marillon ???? Sai se è lo stesso amplificatore ????

I have one, and love it! I also noticed you have the same NUX pedalboard. Oh, and great movie collection by the way. You have good taste!

They can ace surf music and they pick up the woodiness of hollow/semi hollow electric guitars very well. P90 pickups sound great too. Tone is easy to control.

It ain't my only amp but I love it!

Love the amp. But I’m distracted by your Arrow video bluray collection ;)

Yes. It can be your "only amp" with some caveats. Roland was not kidding when they named this series the "Jazz Chorus". The (well deserved) nick name for this class amp is "The King of Clean". These amps are specifically designed to be played clean. The electronics that makes the chorus so lush and full will work against various "shredder" effects. Even it's own built in effects are only meant to be used as a "light seasoning". If you are not going to be focused on playing "clean" it has been recommended for years that you get some type of guitar processor pedal and run the amp from the connections in the back. This will avoid the Chorus circuitry allowing you to use your effects with more stability and "clarity".

JC40... My favourite by a country mile!

Nice Robocop poster!

😁🙃😊 nice vid. I played a Jc 120 in cover bands back around 1993 and 1994 with rack gear. Sold it all. Bought a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe in 1998. Played it till 2004 ish. No pedals. In 2006 Got a Kustom dfx 35 with Celestion 10 inch speaker. Used it for gigs and jam nights till 2019. Efx went out quickly. I just played it dry !! ha ha what a first! Just got a Peavey Chorus 20 at a yard sale. Love it.

If you have an Orange Crush amp, and it has the News to the World speaker, swap out speakers. I've got a CR60 and swapped the original speaker with a V30 which made an incredible difference with the sound especially the clean channel.

Does the Roland JC-40 have a headphone jack? I cant find any pictures where I see a headphone jack

I do a lot of smaller gigs (senior communities) where I don’t need that much volume. I’m playing a Taylor T5z guitar, would the JC22 be enough for these smaller rooms? I could always run a line out to my PA for big parties. Thanks, I’m subscribing!

Fantastic video. Have you played the smaller JC 22? I've been thinking about getting it. Also, where can I buy your music? I listened to quite a few tracks you have posted here, but I don't want to keep listening because I want to actually pay for it. You make great music, man.

thinking bout getting this for a indie and jam band sound, you think it can do that while being loud enough to play un micd bar and restaraunt gigs

I have the Gretch chet Atkins, country gentleman... double cut version. I wouldn't part with it for the world. But M looking for a good amp, you got my attention.

awesome review is it better or different from a 12 inch princeton reverb? You must have owned that!! thanks

Why is it not causing feedback through that hollowbody?

I bought this too but am going to sell it. Incredible amount of noise, just plugged in without a cable and volume to zero!? In 2023?? Too bad because at high volume it sounds like the demos demonstrate.

Wow, I'm surprised by your comments on the Orange Super Crush, I had one and LOVED the clean channel but returned it because I hated the dirty channel... Lol

I'm thinking this is gonna be my next amp! Is the vibe like a uni vibe or normal vibrato??

Late to the party but pretty sure the newer JC-40s are all digital (amp and effects). Who cares though if it sounds good 👍 (although I don't know why they're so noisy despite being digital/solid state)

I don’t þink þe chorus on here is digital

Yes.

My Orange Super Crush 100 has gorgeous cleans. Far from garbage. You must have gotten a dud.

Might be the only solid state amp i love besides blackface twins

Nice review! You can hear Dehd's guitarist playing a JC-40 here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE--WzF01x37Lo.html - When the distortion comes on in the first song (Flood) a few seconds in, I think it sounds really good! I'm pretty sure it's a Boss Blues Driver. I believe the guitarist usually plays a JC-77.

I’d buy that for a dollar.

I own one and bought a JC120 which I returned because it was nowhere near as good as the JC 40, which is a great amp. I use it with a customized Fender Hotrod Deluxe and together, the tone is close to perfection.

Worst guitar i ever bought. A Gretsch Jumbo Rancher. Big heavy with little sound unless plugged in. It was a looker but not a performer. Sold it.

It's too clean. It would make a great studio preamp.

No

how about the breath when you aren't playing. looks like annoying

Tubes?? We don't need no stinkin' tubes!