Question:
Last week I received a Roland BC-30 Blues Cube amp from Musician’s Friend. The amp is a 30 watt, 1 x 12” solid state, two channel unit that was selling as a scratch and dent special for $179 (regular MF price is $199).
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/...se_pid/480007/
The amp interested me because I was looking for a 12”, lightweight (>35 lbs.), reliable amp with solid tone for practice and small venues. The Blues Cube received high marks from the users at Harmony Central, some of whom claimed that they discontinued using their tube amps after getting this amp. The user reviews, plus the low price, prompted me to order the amp through MF.
I tried out the amp at worship service and weekly practice and it lived up to its billing as a quality amp with good tone. I wouldn’t go so far as to call the tone tube-like, but the clean channel sounds surprisingly creamy. The hi-gain channel is good enough that I don’t need to hook up my pedals during practice, just need to switch between the channels. All I brought to practice was my Blues Cube, a couple of cables, my Gibson ES-335, and, of course, the song sheets.
I recommend the Roland Blues Cube to anyone who is looking for a no-frills (i.e., no amp modeling, few on-board effects), economical amp that will tide you over until you save enough money to buy the amp of your dreams. I don’t know why MF is selling the amp for only $199 (list is $379) – it could be a close-out price, but IMO it’s a great bargain.
Answer:
Yes. As far as SS amps go, the cubes are very good. One of the few SS amps I'd ever reccomend. Cubes is good.
Answer:
The Fender Cyber Twin and Cyber Deluxe intrigue me. Plus, it's so cool watching the knobs move by themselves! Shame on me - I'm a tube guy.
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I haven't played the Blues Cube, but I've been very happy with my Roland Cube 30. It's great for what it is.
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The original Blues Cube (back in the day) was a tube amp, IIRC....
Nate
Answer:
Originally Posted by Hopeful The Fender Cyber Twin and Cyber Deluxe intrigue me. Plus, it's so cool watching the knobs move by themselves! Shame on me - I'm a tube guy.
I hate those.
Answer:
Originally Posted by rainer123 I hate those.
But the knobs move by themselves when you change the presets. Shouldn't that count for something? Seriously though, don't you think their Fender emulations would be better than Line 6 or any other manufacturer?
Answer:
Originally Posted by Hopeful But the knobs move by themselves when you change the presets. Shouldn't that count for something? Seriously though, don't you think their Fender emulations would be better than Line 6 or any other manufacturer?
No, the motorized knobs don't count for anything, and no, the emulations probably aren't better. This is because Line 6 is the leading authority on modeling amps, not Fender. Fender can model it's own amps, but it still won't be up to par with Line 6's technology. They both have the same amps to work with, the same schematics, but Line 6 just has more know-how on the subject of modeling then Fender.
I don't really like Line 6's either, BTW.
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i will vouch for the Fender Cyber Twin. when i went on a missions trip last year, the lead guitarist was using that amp along with a Kalamazoo made Gibson Les Paul w/ Mini Humbuckers and a vintage Gretsch solid body (i don't remember the model). that amp had some great tone, but i think his guitars helped it a bit. but all in all, it was a great sounding amp. i don't know a whole lot about the amp models themselves though, and if he was trying to emulate certain amps, but it sounded good none the less.
Answer:
Thanks for the rec! I really wanted this amp, but at the time no one was selling it for less than $400 so I went with the Roland Cube 30, which I love. As far as SS amps that have tube sound, I heard really good things about the Behringer amps (analog modeling). The one I was looking at was the "equivalent" (features wise, power wise) of the Cube30, but $100 less! However, I had to go with Roland's rep for quality and ruggedness and against the unknown reliability of Behringers.
Answer:
Um, my recommendation is for the Roland BC-30 Blues Cube (described above), not the Roland Cube 30, which is a modeling amp w/ a 10" speaker.
In any case, I've heard good things about the Cube 30 and I'm glad you're happy with it. Roland is a good, time-tested amp company. The Roland JC-120 is a classic amp for funk players, and Roland's current line is well-regarded.
The Blues Cube is my first Roland amp and now I'm tempted to get the Microcube for Christmas just for fun.
Answer:
Yes, I know you were talking about the BC-30, that's why I said I was looking at that amp but it was too expensive at the time so I got the Cube-30 instead. I was just bringing up other SS amps that I've looked at.
The Microcube does look fun!
Answer:
bmphan,
Ok, I gotcha. I was confused because Musician's Friend is selling the BC-30 for $199 (on-line only, not listed in catalog), while the Cube 30 is selling for $225. The $400 price must have come from a source other than MF.
You might be interested in a thread at Harmony Central about switching to solid state amps.
http://acapella.harmony-central.com/...hreadid=719365
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Thanks for the link, very interesting. Although I think it may have aggrivated my GAS disease
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I got a Cube 30, and it's killer for a solid state amp. Also check out the Blues Cube being discussed, that looks great as well.
-Nick