Sorry but I have to say it... JC120

J

Jeries

Power User
I'm going to make some enemies but I thought this for a while...

The Roland Jazz Chorus model in the Axe Fx II- in every firmware- sucks.

There it is... I said it.

It's not better than the real thing or near as good...

I wish it were better. I still have/own/use the real thing.
 
I still own mine also, i agree it is hard to dial in but with the redwirez jc120 ir i am close enough.
There is something typical in the jc sound that is hard to catch though.
I like my preset now better than my real jc (more rich) but i agree it is'nt 100 % the same.
 
Well to me it isn't as bright and shimmering...

I've heard shitty modelers do it better... for example James Hetfield since 2009-2010 has left his JC120's at home and brought on some tours a Line6 Pod X3 just for the JC tone... and that is signature metallica.

The real thing has more of a presence... its there- its loud...

The axe- it's not as clean and natural... I don't find it very usable. While when i plug into the real thing- at any setting it sounds there and has the signature tone.

Funny how on a product that does tube amps better than the real thing- i find the biggest weakness a solid state amp.

The fender twins have a better clean tone and in real life I'd pick a JC in a second.

Someday I'll try running its fx loop out into the axe with the built in JC120 Cab/IR

I think think it could be a ton better...

It does the $3000-5000 Diezels and Soldanos like the real thing is a toy- but doesn't have what the real JC120 has.
 
I had a Roland Jazz Chorus with 4x10 in 1976-77. It's difficult to really remember how it sounded but if you mean a shimmering tone without the chorus engaged I'm not sure it was there.
 
Well- there's two channels...
The first channel has no reverb/chorus and it is an amazing clean on its on... its very transparent- you put any pedal in front of it- you get that exact pedal sound perfect-
Great full tone... clean with power but always prestine.
I don't think the Axe effectively does that channel... if that's what its going for.


The second channel is dialed in a little different- added reverb and chorus/trem... even when bypassed still much more brighter/shimmering/better than the Axe... and with the chorus on its the best thing in the world. lush, full, prestine, shimmering...

It's instant Cult/Metallica/etc

The Axe presets and sounds and tweaking- isn't instant Cult/Metallica and doesn't come close.
 
It's the only amp sim I still think sounded better on my old Vetta.

I just ignore it and play with all the other clean choices.
 
I've not been able to pull this off either. Allot of it is a JC120 is open back and that makes a huge difference.
 
No- but I could run the axe fx into my JC120 stereo effects loop and see where its at with a JC model w/cabs off
 
Yeah that might work, I'm not sure.

The sound in the control room is usually considerably different than the "in the room" sound that is talked about so much here.

What you monitor with has a huge effect, not that it always makes it sound bad, but you can't count on the sound to be the same either.

I believe most of the various opinions bandied about on this forum are due to the various types of equipment used to monitor and much less the AxeFx itself. I personally get all kinds of great "in the room" amp sounds from my setup but I have some of the best speakers for live use that can be found.

Like I said its been a few years since I've owned one, but what I'm hearing seems passable. Let us know what happens if you try the effect loop idea.
 
My thought is... some of the marshalls are instant marshalls- Instant Slash Tone, VH tone... the Boogies are close to 'instant metallica' with some work...

in real life the JC is instant metallica clean- in the axe i've yet to get a desirable result...

I'm just saying- maybe some more work can be put into it...
 
There really isn't much to a JC-120. If you have the real deal, you should be able to tone match it for pretty exact results.
That said, the distortion in those is something unique and bizarre. Believe it or not, I've seen it used on some major recordings for texture.
 
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