JC-22 Jazz Chorus 30-watt 2x6.5" Stereo Combo Amp Review

Built like a tank.

I am usually a Vox AC or valve amp kind of player, but I like the chorus on this. The amp is well reviewed in YouTube videos so no real surprises, except the build quality is way better than I expected. This think is small and lightweight but built like a tank.

---

Cancel Comment

Love it

I had one of these, but sold it to thin the herd. I miss it. It was heavier than I wanted it to be, but it sounded really fantastic.

---

Cancel Comment

Blank Canvas for Guitar, Bass, and Electric Piano

This amp is the perfect blank canvas to achieve the tones I desire. I play instrumental post rock, 60s and motown sounding music, and down tempo Indie. I've owned tube guitar amps from Fender, Vox, Traynor, Crate, and more. I recently moved into an apartment, and I stopped gigging, so I decided to re-assess my amp needs. I bought this as an experiment and I'm so happy that I did.… read more I use this with my synth for electric piano and organ tones. I use it with my baritone and standard guitars for kicking clean tone. I also use it for bass, which actually sounds excellent for that old school 60s tone. I do run the amp with a Catalinbred Formula No.55 which adds some softness to the highs and slight grit. The effects send is great where I run a Supro Tremolo pedal and a Trex Replicator tape delay. I will say that you have to be careful how hard you pummel the input of the amp. I use a volume pedal to bring down the overall input volume if I'm running anything "hot" before the amp's preamp stage–this works well to preserve my desired tone. I also use this JC to record direct. Once IRs are applied it sounds great as it outputs too much high information (which a guitar speaker would usually attenuate). The onboard stereo chorus effect sounds fantastic, but it doesn't really come through with the direct line outs, so to get around this I run a TRS to dual mono chord out of the headphone jack into my interface and then apply the IRs to those tracks. I can't recommend this amp enough.

---

Cancel Comment

Just Right

This is the "baby" version of the venerable Roland Jazz Chorus amplifier. At this point, I've run multiple guitars through the amp, from an old Guild hollow-body electric to a new Fender Jazzmaster. In each case, I found the amp to be very clean & transparent. In particular, I was (pleasantly) surprised by how much "wood tone" came through when I played the Jazzmaster into the… read more JC-22. This amp is intended for situations where you don't need a lot of volume. It's great for practice or a "living room" concert. I don't recommend trying to drive the amp too hard. The Jazzmaster's "Hot" pickups did cause a little unpleasant grit when I cranked the amp up, but I expected that. At moderate volumes and w/ the guitar's volume rolled off a little, I was able to get all the tone I wanted. Unlike the larger members of the JC line, the JC-22 does not have a built-in distortion effect. This isn't a problem for me, since I usually play w/ a clean setting, and if I want distortion, I'll use one of my favorite stomp boxes. The JC-22 does have built-in reverb and chorus, and I think both of these effects work well. The amp has a headphone out, which is great when you want to practice something that the other members of the household might not want to hear. The amp also has stereo line outs, which, I suppose you could use for either recording or to drive something big (e.g. in a live situation). I haven't yet tried the amp's effects loop, so I can't really comment on that. One thing that I think is cool is the amp's stereo *INPUT* option. If, for example, you have a pedal board w/ a stereo output, you can run that into this amp and preserve you stereo signal chain. That brings to mind lots of interesting possibilities and might even result in a complete redesign of my pedal board. Cosmetically, the amp looks just like what it is: a tiny version of a Roland Jazz Chorus. It's only 18" wide and 9" deep (approx). Even my wife thinks it looks "cute." As always, your mileage may vary. Carry on.

---

Cancel Comment

A dependable clean tone powerhouse

I wish I would have bought this amp about 5 amps ago! Easy to dial in fantastic dead on jazz tones! Where ever you put it is exactly where it lands! Loud enough to trample the horn section. Great sound at any volume, from the den to the stage. Big dreamy reverb. Fill every corner with deep lush jazz tones! Get one!

---

Cancel Comment