Roland JC-90?

[ratherdashing]

Has anyone tried one of these? As far as I can tell, it's basically a single-channel JC-120 that won't split your eardrums or break your back.

I want clean headroom with a bit of character.

[JLagoon]

Re: Roland JC-90?

I haven't tried JC90, but JC120 doesn't seem to have a lot of clean headroom. It broke up (probably the speaker) when I put the volume knob above 4 or 5. I used a les paul with stock pickups through it.

[ratherdashing]

Re: Roland JC-90?

??? That doesn't sound like the JC-120 I know. Yours must have had a blown speaker.

[Benjy_26]

Re: Roland JC-90?

Just go ahead and get the JC-120 bro. The 10's on the -90 don't sound quite as good as the 12" speakers on the -120.

Although, if you want squeaky clean that doesn't sound like anything else, try a Hartke 200 watt bass head. I forget the model number, but it's the one with the blendable tube/SS preamps. I played one for a while through a Marshall 2x12 and it was fantastic for clean, and using the graphic EQ and a Tubescreamer, I could get some sick modern rock tones that were plenty heavy.

[ratherdashing]

Re: Roland JC-90?

Thanks for the tip. Bass amps in general often work very well as super-clean guitar amps.

I looked into that Hartke 2500 head, and it looks like they've replaced the real tube pre-amp with a "tube emulation" pre-amp. People seem to be saying it's not as good anymore. Apparently if you step up to the 3500 you get the real tubes, but that seems like a ridiculous amount of power for my needs.