JOHNSON AMPLIFICATION J-STATION
A tone toolbox for the recording guitarist.
By Steve Broderson

  Adding to a line of products that includes the Millennium, Marquis, and Mirage series guitar amplifiers—each of which uses physical modeling to simulate a variety of classic amps—the folks at JOHNSON Amplification have now unveiled the J-Station modeling preamp. The J-Station is a standalone tabletop unit featuring models of 12 classic guitar amps, 3 bass amps, and 2 acoustic guitars. It also features Cabinet Imaging technology, which JOHNSON Amplification says re-creates the characteristics of 12 different amp cabinet/speaker combos. The J-Station’s presets allow for extensive editing, which makes it possible to run, say, a Marshall JCM900 through a Fender Twin cabinet—without consulting a custom shop. The rig also contains a respectable number of effects for further tone tweaking.

Although you might find the J-Station in your retailer’s stomp box and multi-effects section, its features make it especially suited for the personal-studio recording guitarist. That’s not to say it doesn’t perform as an effects unit; it does and very well. But the J-Station shines in its ability to funnel giant-size guitar tones straight into a sound card or hard disk recorder—without waking the neighbors.

The Once-Over

The JOHNSON Amplification J-Station provides models of 12 different guitar amps (and a slot for extra software-updatable models developed by JOHNSON), 3 bass guitar amps, and 2 acoustic guitars. Its versatile effects section can be edited at the Top Level and Deep Level (click for larger image).
About the size of a drum machine, the J-station is a well-built unit with a hefty metal chassis. The J-Station’s control surface provides 11 knobs, 7 buttons, a 2-digit numeric display, and an LED tuner indicator. The six large knobs control the usual amp parameters, labeled, from left to right, Gain, Treble, Mid, Bass, Level, and Master Volume.

A separate knob on the right side of the panel lets you select among 17 amp models: J Crunch, J Solo, J Clean, Boutique, Rectified, Brit Stack, Brit Combo, Black Face, Boat Back, Flat Top, Hot Rod, Tweed, Blues, Fuzz, Modern, British, and Rock. The model name lights up when selected. An 18th selector position, labeled More, lets you gain access to a bank in which future software-updatable amp models (developed by JOHNSON) can be stored—a nice bit of obsolescence protection. On the unit I tested, the More bank contained models of a ’78 Marshall Master Volume and a Hiwatt Custom 50.

The J-Station’s effects section has a Data knob for selecting presets and adjusting parameter values, as well as three smaller knobs for dialing in, as labeled, Effects/Speed, Delay/Fback, and Reverb. A Shift button gives you access to the alternate functions. The other six buttons are labeled Effect Type, Comp (compressor), Tap-It, Gate, Tuner, and Store. The compressor, delay, and noise gate are always available, but only one of seven effects—chorus, flanger, phaser, tremolo, rotary speaker, auto wah, and pitch shift/detune—can be used at a time. The selected effect’s name lights up in the matrix.

You can gain access to effects parameters at two levels: Top Level and Deep Level. Obtaining access to parameters at the top level is straightforward—simply select the effect and turn any of the three edit knobs. As the name suggests, Deep Level editing is more involved.

The J-Station ships with 30 factory settings and locations for 30 user settings. As a bonus, JOHNSON’s Web site features a Patch Library where users can both upload and download user-created patches. Fortunately, saving user presets on the J-Station is a quick and easy one-click process.


 


Reprinted with permission from Magazine, March, 2001
© 2000, Intertec Publishing, A Primedia Company All Rights Reserved


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