Roland JC50

Angelo

Come on Guys....enough with the tubes/valves already! As far as I am concerned, BOTTLE amps belong to a far-gone era when milk was delivered in BOTTLES to your doorstep at five in the morning by your friendly milkman (and it was still there when you rose at seven)
I have a pre-owned Roland JC50 purchased in '87 and it is MY sound! Trouble is that it has a constant hiss even with no signal cable attached despite using external line filter and reversing polarity, etc.
It's not loud but is an annoyance and definately not studio friendly.
Any ideas how to eliminate or reduce hiss? I have recently cleaned up the circuit board, removed dust, etc and even removed the connector plugs which attach to the legs of the output trannies and soldered the wires directly, thus eliminating another potential source of interference.
thank you,
A

makepeace

as far as i'm concerned, the only solid state worth buying is a jazz chorus, so you have one right at least ? can't help you with your problem though i'm affraid :-[

AndyD

Aha Angelo! Thats a fine example of a Jc50. Come to think of it my jc 55 twin also has a slight hiss to it to. I must check yours out and see if its the same hiss, maybe over the weekend sometime. As for the comments on bottles etc you run the risk of being "tarred and feathered." Maybe matta will have an answer. Chat Later

AndyD

Come to think of it maybe its the on board bucket brigade chorus causing the hassle. love that chorus though!

aja

makepeace wrote: as far as i'm concerned, the only solid state worth buying is a jazz chorus, so you have one right at least ? can't help you with your problem though i'm affraid :-[

LOL! I agree with you! I owned a cube 60 and hated it. But, a few days ago, I bought a JC120 and it is amazing! Funny how the same company can't even bring out a product as good as "old faithful"... I only have tube amps and the JC120 is very nice compared to them. Yes, 'bottle heads' may say that the JC120 sounds harsh, but SS fans would say tube amps sound muddy :?

Each one has their place. I like SS for clean and synth/octave/weird sounds and the tube amps for very light overdrive/overdrive/distortion

Mine also has the hiss, but very very slight. I haven't tried it on different plugs though and I am pretty sure the fluorescent lights and electric fence don't help. Note: my hiss is constant and very high pitched - no pulsating or intermittent pops, just a constant hiss... I will let you know if I can get it to stop! (oh and the hiss is there even with all knobs on zero and nothing plugged in anywhere...

MIKA-the-better-one

Angelo wrote: Come on Guys....enough with the tubes/valves already!

>☹ >☹ >☹ >☹ >☹ >☹ >☹ >☹

I went ot a show a while back, I lugged my 72 bassman 4 by 10" Combo all the way to Potch for 2 shows in two nights.............. Got there, and they said "no no, we have a guitar amplifier for you" Very reluctantly i had a look onstage to see what they had.................... Ahhhhh!!!!............. JC120..................... So I figured loads of people love these amps let me try it out quickly before I soundcheck...................... Plug in my Fender Mustang, and get a lovely clean sound.................. But then secondly I put overdrive, it goes VERY Nasty.............. And FUZZ, it was like a can of bee's, angry bee's...................

In then end I said to the sound guy, I refuse to play it, they were quite angry as I was the only guy the whole evening on that stage to not use it, but at least I had better tone than all thise other guitarists. And let me say, it was bad with some guys.... but thats was more them than amp..........

COncluesion============== JC120 was nice, but for anything other than the Police, mehhhhhh..........

Tubes/ valves are superior for one reason........ tone

aja

MIKA the better one wrote: it was like a can of bee's, angry bee's...................

Tubes/ valves are superior for one reason........ tone

I like the can of bees!

Well I hate the sound of chorus or funky delays or synthy sounds on tube amps. But everything else I prefer tube amps....

I must say however, I like the fact that the JC120 is maintenance (and hassle!) free. Literally throw it in the car, go wherever, use it as a table or bench or anything. Then, after giving it a good bashing around, plug in and play! ?

But I see SS amps as mini PA systems, not really as guitar amps...

guidothepimmp

ever plugged an eyegouger into a jc120

(ducks and runs for cover)

makepeace

aja wrote:
makepeace wrote: as far as i'm concerned, the only solid state worth buying is a jazz chorus, so you have one right at least ? can't help you with your problem though i'm affraid :-[
LOL! I agree with you! I owned a cube 60 and hated it. But, a few days ago, I bought a JC120 and it is amazing! Funny how the same company can't even bring out a product as good as "old faithful"... I only have tube amps and the JC120 is very nice compared to them. Yes, 'bottle heads' may say that the JC120 sounds harsh, but SS fans would say tube amps sound muddy :?

Each one has their place. I like SS for clean and synth/octave/weird sounds and the tube amps for very light overdrive/overdrive/distortion

Mine also has the hiss, but very very slight. I haven't tried it on different plugs though and I am pretty sure the fluorescent lights and electric fence don't help. Note: my hiss is constant and very high pitched - no pulsating or intermittent pops, just a constant hiss... I will let you know if I can get it to stop! (oh and the hiss is there even with all knobs on zero and nothing plugged in anywhere...

Ah.. the JC120 is a thing of beauty. Congrats. IMO the JC range is the only thing productive to come out of Roland as far as stage-ready amps go. My mate plays a huge jazzbox archtop through it and it sounds absolutely amazing. Cleans are definitely its suit though.

Lieutenat-J

Cleans are definitely its suit though.

+1

My dad plays his strat through a JC 55 twin combo, he rates it as the only amp he'll ever need. Overdrive is just not what the amp was made to do, it cannot get any edge onto its sound. But play it clean add a bit of brilliance and it sparkles.

It only had one problem a while back, its volume kept on dropping, but that was due to a dust on a connection.

Hope you get good advice ?