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Roland Jazz Chorus is the name given to a series of solid-state instrument amplifiers produced by the Roland Corporation in Japan since 1975. Its name comes from its built-in analog chorus effect. The Jazz Chorus series became increasingly popular in the late 1970s and early 1980s new wave and post-punk scenes because of its clean yet powerful sound, durability and relatively low cost when compared to the more commonly used tube amplifiers of the time such as Marshall or Fender. It also found favour amongst funk players in America. It also became popular to use for clean tones in heavy metal, with the most famous users being James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett from Metallica.
The Jazz Chorus is one of the most famous and successful combo amplifiers from its period and its earliest users included Albert King, Andy Summers (The Police), Robert Smith (of The Cure, although he used the rarer 160 Watt JC-160 with 4 x 10" speakers), Billy Duffy (The Cult, Siouxsie and the Banshees) and Pat Metheny. Summers' use of the amp in turn inspired, for instance, Jeff Buckley, whose first amplifier was a Jazz Chorus. Ex-Supertramp keyboardist Roger Hodgson ran his Wurlitzer electric piano through the amp on several songs on their album Breakfast in America (1979), including "The Logical Song" and "Goodbye Stranger". Paul Simon can be seen playing through a Jc-120 on the concert in Central Park.
Most models have controls based on the JC-120's standard setup. There are two channels, one clean, the other with effects. The built-in effects include stereo chorus, vibrato, reverb, and distortion. The amplifier features high and low inputs, a bright switch as well as a three band equalizer and volume for each channel.