Do you know how, as a younger person, you might fall in love, just a little, with someone you don't know very well, but you get to be with that person and they're as wonderful as you'd hoped they'd be? That's more fantastical than real of course, but it happened to me.

I found the Marshall JCM601.

I ran into it at my local music store, plugged the treble side of my Stick into it, and while the distorted channel sounded brash and enthusiastic, the clean channel just got to me. It made the tactile experience of playing chords and melodies substantially different. The sound was tubey, warm, and gentle, and somehow there was a feedback loop within me that made my Stick feel different. Can't explain it any better than that. The shop owner let me put it on layaway. It took me four months to raise the cash, but I've got it home now, and what a sensuous experience it is. I play its distorted channel some, but mostly I play it clean, with a little bit of reverb and chorus.

What a sweet sound. I'm never letting go of this amp.

The forums I've visited that talk about this amp mention now poorly designed it is on the inside, what a nightmare it is to service, and how likely it is to overheat while playing loud, but I don't care. I have found my sound.

R

Congratulations! It is as you describe: once we find the sound that resonates within, it's all that matters

I have the same relationship with my Fender Deluxe Reverb. It is the sound of my dreams...

Greg,

Can I ask what pickups you are using with your Fender?

R

I use it with all of them, mostly the EMG, but also the Railboard, Stickup and PASV-4.

Amazing amp. Very clear, but not brittle.

I had a chance to play through two of them at once in stereo at Interlochen, thanks to Dave J, and it sounded truly delicious, especially the rotary effect I like to use...

Thanks for that. I know what to check out next time I'm in a music store...

R

I like the JC-120.
I bought two of them.
$300 for one, $600 for the other.
Inexpensive amps, great tone, easy to work on.

That would be Roland right? I've heard great things about them. So with two of them, you could do lots of cool stereo effects.

I've got the Roland Cube Street and also the Cube Street Ex. I'm sure their experience with decades of solid-state amp manufacturing the JC series have impacted the Cube series. They've that that COSM modeling now.

I love the way the Cube amps sound. And if I ever get a chance to plug into the JC series of amps, I will.

R