ROLAND JAZZ CHORUS
The Roland Jazz Chorus is basically
ground zero for lush stereo immersion
from one amplifier. Forty-odd-years
ago—when the JC-120 first appeared—
minds must have melted when they
heard that built-in stereo chorus swirling
around their heads. To this day, the
Jazz Chorus is the one to beat for
this effect. Sitting in front of a Jazz
Chorus on an amp stand with my head
between the speakers is like an outof-body experience. Notes and chords
float like an apparitional vortex around
my skull. Like tiny little messages to
heaven they ascend and evaporate—it
is intoxicating. The deep stereo effect
can also sound dark and elusive if used
with fuzz and overdrive pedals—like a
slurring doom drain that slurps signals
straight into the pit of Hades.
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TONE TALK //
With the release of the JC40, that
huge 3D sound comes in an even more
compact, feature-rich package. If one
has succumbed to the stereo rig allure,
but doesn’t wish to haul two amps and
a tire-sized coil of cable around—this
is the smallest stage-ready solution
on the market. I walked into a pub
gig with the JC40 in one hand and
my guitar case in the other. I patched
my gig-specific, pre-patch-loaded H9
MAX into the stereo effects loop and
got all Robin Guthrie on the night with
the built-in dimensional chorus and H9
stereo reverbs melting together. Out
front, I had my Dickinson D1 preamp to
add tube breadth and dynamic dirt to
the equation. That was a grab-and-go
stereo scenario to remember.
Double your Pleasure with these Compact Stereo Setups