Stereo Separation: Roland Jazz Chorus JC-120?

[tbryanh]

It seems this amp is popular for more than one reason, but the fact that it is stereo is a big reason.

Since the speakers are so close to each other, is there really that much stereo separation?

Anybody have any experience with this amp?

[Enzo]

Stereo separation at the speaker is irrelevant when recording.

CHorusing amps often use one side of the stereo as the dry signal, and when chorus is off, both sides will be dry - mono sound effectively. The chorus effect is made by a varying delay of the signal. In a little floor pedal, chorus mixes dry and chorused sounds to get the effect. In a chorusing amp like this, one speaker has the dry, and the other the effect only. So the two speakers play different things. Separation in space isn;t the point as much as having the two sound sources. The two sources combine in your ear.

[eschertron]

I saw this amp a few times when I was in college, mostly played by the jazz crowd. I think the reason it is valued is that it is essentially two power amps with the chorus built in *after* all the signal processing stuff. So, unlike a stereo chorus pedal that sends its combined output through an amp's gain (read: distortion) stages, this amp doesn't mix. The result, in this amp, is there is no intermodulation distortion generated by non-linear processing of the combined signal, since the signal is NOT combined at any point. Results in a cleaner signal even when the chorus is set to alien-watery (maybe why the jazz guys liked it).

Not sure what else it can do, you'd have to look up the details about the FX loop, and other patching options, to see how versatile it really is.

[tbryanh]

"Separation in space isn;t the point as much as having the two sound sources. The two sources combine in your ear."

"...there is no intermodulation distortion generated by non-linear processing of the combined signal, since the signal is NOT combined at any point."

Was it done this way because the amp is solid state rather than tube? I have heard tube amps have very little intermodulation distortion, so would chorus in a mono tube amp sound as good as it does in the JC as far as intermodulation distortion goes?