Johnson J Station

Description

Johnson J Station
Guitar Recording Preamp
Reviews : Preamp
Physical modelling has always held out the best hope for producing realistic miked-up amp tones from a DI processor, and many recording guitarists found their prayers answered when Line 6 launched the Pod. But does this new contender in the field have anything more to offer? Dave Lockwood gets physical with the J Station.
The J Station, from the Johnson Amplification arm of the Digitech Corporation, is a guitar recording preamplifier offering physically modelled simulations of guitar amps and speaker cabs in a compact desktop unit. It was Line 6's ground-breaking Pod unit that was undoubtedly responsible for persuading many recording guitarists that physical modelling really could offer a radical improvement in realism compared to previous DI recording systems. The J Station unashamedly follows in the footsteps of the Pod in its format, but does actually have something different to offer in terms of its sound and user interface — the dedicated effects control panel, and the S/PDIF connector lurking unobtrusively round the back may well be enough to ensure that the rather visually understated grey/black J Station gets a fair hearing alongside its more eye-catching rival.
The rotary controls, arrayed across the front of the wedge-shapedhousing, are pretty standard: Gain, Treble, Mid, Bass, Level (which is programmable for each stored preset) and Master Volume. Amp model is selected by a dedicated rotary encoder, with an appropriate cabinet chosen by default (see 'Amp Models' box). The J Station's dedicated effects/processors control panel scores some points with those frustrated by the Pod's rather limited implementation in this area — the J Station allows independent access at all times to Compressor, Gate, Delay, Reverb and one real 'effect' from the following: Chorus, Flanger, Phaser, Tremolo, Auto-Wah, and Pitch Shift/Detune. The unit ships with 30 (10 banks of three) unerasable factory presets, with 30 user memory slots available. An onboard tuner completes the facilities.
Connection is via quarter-inch jacks for the single input and main output pair, augmented by a stereo headphone jack and S/PDIF connector. Remote control options include a simple three-way footswitch that just allows you to select from the presets within a single bank, the 'full works' remote in the form of the Johnson J8 foot controller, or MIDI. The 9V AC power supply is external, but of the altogether less annoying 'lump in the cable' type, and the provision of a power on/off switch on the unit itself means that, in a studio situation at least, the power connector will not need to be subjected to the strain of constant replugging. Build quality is generally fine, but the recessed control knobs really shouldn't wobble as much as they do — if you lobbed a J Station down a flight of stairs alongside a Pod you'd have to back the Pod to be the one still working at the bottom.
A dedicated editor program is available for download from the Johnson web site, although this is presently only for PC. In contrast to the Pod, however, the full functionality of the unit is still available using just the front-panel controls. Fortunately for Mac users, all editable J Station parameters respond to MIDI continuous controllers, rather than SysEx, making it relatively simple to create your own editor within your preferred sequencing software. If this sounds altogether too much like rocket science to you, I shouldn't worry too much — shareware Mac editors will probably be appearing in the various sequencer user group forums before long.
Shipping to EU - 20 euro.
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