Roland JC-22

I am mainly a jazz player. For several years I have been using either a Peavey Classic 30 for larger gigs and an AER Compact 60 for smaller gigs. the latter for reasons of portability. I was never that happy with the sound of either although the Peavey was good for the occasional rock/function gig and the AER was good for electro-acoustic guitar or vocals. Neither worked particularly well for semi-acoustic guitar. I recently bought a Roland JC-40 which sounds excellent but is generally too big for jazz gigs in terms of portability, headroom and appearance on the bandstand. I bought the JC-22 a few weeks ago and have used it on a handful of jazz gigs, some of which were quite loud and some of which were much quieter. It has performed extremely well in every situation so far. It has a very clear sound with plenty of projection. It is very portable and looks perfect onstage with a jazz combo. It outstrips my other amps (including previously owned amps such as a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe and a Fender Blues Junior) by a significant margin. I would recommend this amp very highly indeed.

I was really curious about this amp. Won't it be too loud for my home use ? Is the chorus a gimmick I don't need ? Won't I regret not having ordered a Katana ?

I was positively surprised immediately. Some aspects :
- It has a real nice and firm low end wich I didn't expected
- The chorus knobs: This is something totally different than the effect knobs on other amps. It mixes the chorus in the air, by using the stereo speakers. Unique and the nicest chorus you can have. No gimmick at all.
- The bright knob : I like chimey sounds. This is just the knob I needed.
- It has stereo in for stereo pedals. If I want to do a pan tremolo or a stereo delay, this is very easy. Just in one amp.

Apart from this, it had a nice sound. Because of its transparant clean sound it is perfect for pedals. I also use my ampcabsim pedal in front of it. Because it is quite transparent, you can make it easily sound like other amps with such a pedal. In this way it is a bit of a modeling amp too, if you already have ampcab sim pedals like HX stomp, Iridium, ... No really need for Katana models if you have those.
It also sounds good on lower volume, a relief.

I am really satisfied with this amp. It is simple and powerfull. It gives lots of possibilities. Very fast delivery too.

A basic amp, but just made for my requirements.
My needs are few, only to amplify my guitar and sometimes a little extra, bright button is perfect for my finger picks, notes really ring pleasantly like a bell, and a hint of reverb & maybe a pinch of chorus 'sometimes'.
I am mostly a chord player, be it gypsy or jazz, pull a few melody notes from the chord shapes, but I want to hear a natural guitar sound, always, the JC22 responds perfectly to my needs.
Parallel & series switch for effects loop is interesting, mostly a stereo effect processor used sparingly and sometimes my looper is used 'pre'amp', all makes for some very interesting 'effects' if I am solo.
My 'sometimes' lady vocalist certainly prefers an 'open backed' guitar amp, she tells me "the open back spills sound around us" makes it much easier for her to hear the music.
JC22's sound output is certainly enough for my local gigs, mostly around 10 by eight meter rooms and up to 40 talking audience whence this little amp is on a 0.75 mtr high table to get the sound out.
The jc22 has a steel frame around the whole cab (plastic corners) so its ready for the odd careful collision into or out of the venue w'out much fuss.
Supplied mains cable is well more than 2 meters long, and looks plenty durable too.
My regular 3hr gig this evening was a breeze with my new jc22, my usual 60 watt acoustic amp did only vocals.
Happy customer :-)

When I moved from the US to Europe I left two very good amplifiers behind, including a JC-120. I knew the JC-120 would be totally impractical in Europe due to its weight and volume, but I was really hoping to get that same sound. I deliberated between the JC-22 and the JC-40, ultimately going with the JC-22 due to its lighter weight.

I'm happy to report that the JC-22 is VERY close in sound to the JC-120. It has slightly more or less bass than the JC-120 depending on the volume, but that's easy to adjust with the EQ. It's quite loud: I play in a 16 piece Latin jazz big band and have yet to take the volume past noon. Yes, it has the same hiss as the JC-120, both through the speakers and through headphones, but remarkably I don't hear any hiss when I connect the line out to my DAW!

The JC-22 has some nice improvements over the JC-120, including the stereo inputs and the adjustable chorus. The two key missing features from the JC-120 are vibrato (which I never used) and distortion (which I never knew anyone to use).