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Anyone record with a Johnson J-Station?

Slater

Slater

Leave that thing alone.
Apr 17, 2000
5,630
8,249
The Great Lakes State
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#1
I'm thinking about picking up a Johnson J-Station to do some recording into a digital recorder (not a PC). I like the fact that the J-Station has both Bass and Guitar patches (I'll be playing and recording both bass and guitar). I'm just wondering if the J-Station has any noise issues, or if there are any other pros or cons that I should be aware of before I pull the trigger on one of these...

As always, any helpful comments about your experience with the J-Station will be much appreciated! :)
 
#4
Dave Martin said:
What don't you like about your current bass sound - what makes you feel like a DI (or a mic on your amp) doesn't do it?
Click to expand...
Actually, I want something for recording guitar tracks, but the J-Station has a few bass patches, so I thought I might give it a shot.

FWIW, I've had very good results going directly into the board with my MusicMan Bongo.

So far, no love for the J-Station :hmm: ...
 
#5
The J station is tough to beat for spdif output at that price, with pretty good effects. The amp models are pleasant, but it is possible to bypass modeling and speaker emulation. Recording bass direct is a good thing.

The SVT model is ok. The unit is not noisey unless get into the ultra high gain guitar models.
 
#6
I have a J-Station and I think it sounds great as far as modeled amp sounds go.

I prefer using a real amp of course. Real tubes pushing real air can't be beat. That being said, the J-Station actually sounds better than the POD, and the V-Amp. (The V-Amp is junk).

I don't know about recent pods, but the old ones were only 16Bit also. The J-Station is 24bit, with spdif, so you get a nice clean recording. Now, many people get fooled by the pod because they have cooler effects patches and sound better on first listen, but for getting an amp-only sound the J-Sta rules. You don't record with too many effects really anyway. FX are usually added in the mix, so you really just want good amp tone. Me and a friend ordered a Pod, a J-Sta, and a V-Amp all at the same time to compare them, planning on returning the 2 losers. We "A-B-C" compaired them for a good hour or 2. The J-Sta won hands down.

The thing that I have noticed is these modeling amps sound better than they feel. While playing and listening through speakers they feel soft and a little off somehow. Probably because you aren't feeling the volume in your chest. But when you listen back to the recordings they sound pretty real. I have had complements from other producers on guitar tracks I recorded as scratch. I tool the J-Sta to my drummers house to record his drum track, but I plugged in my guitar through the J-Sta, and the Bass plugged in straight, and we all recorded with headphones. I didn't want bleed so the J was the way. Anywho.... When dumping the tracks from the ADAT to a friends Mac, he thought I had miced up a nice guitar cab for the recording.

Bass is pretty good too, but I haven't used that in a ling time, but I remember a couple of patched I really liked. Sansamp may be more the ticket (I haven't tried one, but I have heard they are the shiznit). The thing is that Line 6 had the marketing and beat out the J-Station until it was discontinued, but the fact is that for straight amp models the J is way better, and a higher resolution (24bit).

The software is easy to use though you need midi link up to that. You can get mucho patch files from the J-Station web site.

Still, a good amp and mic will sound better, but if you want the convenience this thing offers you will be pleased I'm sure.

Good luck.

Chadfish
 
#9
I used mine to record guitar on a Tascam Porta 03. If you know the Porta 03, it usually sounds like you're recording through a paper bag, but the J Station produced some better depth of tone. I also found it somewhat useless for bass. For playing song ideas on the guitar, I thought it sounded pretty awesome. One day, it just stopped producing sounds, and I tossed it in the garbage. This might have been a major mistake because I didn't try to reset it first.
 
#10
Used one years ago. Felt the clean patches were better than the gainy ones. Liked the Fender bassman patch for bass. Not as dimensional as a mic on a cab but for sketch pad and demo recording it was useful to me.

These. Days I would just use an iPad and Audio Bus apps ...
 
#11
Wow, zombie thread!

I have one here somewhere. The excellent editing software will not run on a later OS than XP, though.

It's a primitive piece in terms of its computational resources, which keeps it sort of grainy and funny-sounding.

I no longer use outboard DSP except when needing expression pedal effects. There's just no sense to it. VSTs do the job better. If you're going to do digital processing, do it IN the computer.
 
#12
Not true ,Bongo;I run my J- Editor software in win 7,works fine.Not so easy to find copies of it though,...(I know this is Old,but as I still use my J-(as effect through E loop on an Egnater tweaker)and as a recording tool) thought I`d weigh in.Still bitchin good sounds after 20 years.Love `em so much,I have 2 !!!!have not tried loading in 10 yet.
 
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