80s Lead Tone with Roland JC-120

michaiel

Member
Anyone had any luck creating an 80s lead tone with the Roland JC-120?
Supposedly running a "distortion" pedal thru the Roland JC-120 was used on Queensryche Empire album.

Been trying to duplicate this with limited success with the Rat pedal.
Cant seem to dial out the honky tone of it though...
 
I've got a Guitar for the practicing musician issue (March 1991 in fact) where they talk about their rhythm sound as "Aunch", and it coming from a Marshall head together witha Bradshaw system including H-3000's, SPX-90's and an ART 15 band EQ. I've also read that at various points they used Soldano's, Bogner's and ADA gear, so your best bet would probably be something like the Britt 800 #34, SLO or even the Friedman BE with the depth rolled back and a graphic or parametric EQ as a boost.

A lot of the clean sounds on that album sound like a clean JC-120 though.
 
I'm w/ 2112 .... I'm a huge "ryche" fan and I've NEVER read that they used JC-120's ?

JCM-800's I'd believe ..., but NOT JC-120's ?

Where did you see that ? And was it DeGarmo or Wilton ?
 
I'm w/ 2112 .... I'm a huge "ryche" fan and I've NEVER read that they used JC-120's ?

JCM-800's I'd believe ..., but NOT JC-120's ?

Where did you see that ? And was it DeGarmo or Wilton ?

http://ampsandgreenscreens.com/2013/06/16/interview-with-michael-wilton-of-queensryche-61013/

"Amps: I understand you used a lot of gear from the Mindcrime/Empire-era for recording. How was it going back to that, and did it have any impact on your writing mindset for this record?
Michael: Yeah, I still have all my old amps and guitars. We recorded the guitar parts for the album at my place, Watershed Studio where I have my arsenal of Marshall amplifiers, the JCM 800s that were used on Mindcrime, and for the tried and true lead sound we used the Roland JC-120. You know, (former guitarist) Chris DeGarmo and I have used that amp on so many different songs. It’s one of those things that just works great, and I hope they still make them!"

The JC-120 with a distortion pedal has been a secret weapon for Queensryche...Jimbo Barton insisted on using the same JC-120 on their last record...
 
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O.K., I'm thinking that's a "typo" ....

I found a different website with essentially the same interview here: http://rockguitardaily.blogspot.com/2013/07/michael-wilton-of-queensryche-rock.html

Totally different quote:

Michael Wilton: "When he got in my studio, Watershed Studio, he knew it from back in the days of The Promised Land, Empire, and Operation Mindcrime - he knew the sounds. "He'd go, 'Michael, do you still have those amps?' And I'd go, 'Yeah, of course I do, I have copious amounts of Marshall heads,' and he said, 'How about the clean one?' Yeah, the Roland JC-120 - that was how Chris and I got those Queensryche clean tones. "So, we pulled those out, dialed up the EQ and threw a couple of mics in front of it, and we were off! "'Hello, it's like it's only been a couple of days, but I hadn't seen the guy in over fifteen years!'"
 
O.K., I'm thinking that's a "typo" ....
Totally different quote:

Its possible, but I have seen this several times in the past...little hints here and there in QR interviews...

It was a common technique in the 80s to run a distortion pedal in front of a clean amp to get that Shrapnel lead tone.

Satriani recorded his first album with a DS-1 and a JC-120.
 
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