New Roland Blues Cube

[richard]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVsogVUr9Yk

What do you think of this ? After years of modelling amps that cover every amp you've ever heard of Roland produce a modeller that basically does one amp - a tweed Fender. My problem with Line 6 etc has been that, while they do a million things, none of them are that exceptional. If someone produced a modelling amp that did classic plexi tones from clean to full bore and did them perfectly I'd buy it like a shot. I'll reserve judgement on this amp until I've tried one but the demos are pretty good. Their promo blurb says that it reacts to pedals like a tube amp - I'd like to see them demo this because we all know how bad o/d pedals usually sound into a s/s modelling amp.

So what do think of this amp ? Would you buy a modelling amp that's basically a one trick pony ?

[Kiichi]

Something small, light, and most importantly cheaper certainly has an appeal if it does a good version of something. If this thing actually does the sounds properly I would be interested, because of volume and portability.
Price has to be right though, but when it is that might be a nice things the market does not currently have.

[gordiji]

great vid, i'd be tempted.

[Telerocker]

Quite pricey for a nontube amp.

[Dmoney]

I don't think it's a "modelling" amp as such. The Roland marketing stuff says it goes "beyond" modelling. I think it's just a solid state amp reading through the blurb. Could even be fully analog, although I imagine the reverb may not be. Roland has in its history made of few SS amps. The JC120 is a classic amp for cleans and it isn't a valve amp.

If someone produced a modelling amp that did classic plexi tones from clean to full bore and did them perfectly I'd buy it like a shot.

Why not buy a plexi? You'd be pretty much guaranteed to get those tones then, right?

[richard]

Because: Plexi's are expensive and they're too loud for the pubs I play in. If I could get a modelled plexi in a package similar to the Blues Cube and at a similar price I'd be a happy man. A Rock Cube maybe ? I wouldn't mind betting that Roland will come up with one soon.

[Dmoney]

I think a lot of people have been trying to come up with something like that for a long time. Sounds like the holy grail of solid state.

[mecca777]

I've got one of the original BluesCubes from the 90s, and it's a fantastic little amp. Obviously if you push it to extremes you can accentuate its "solid-state"-ness and get some unpleasant tones from it, but it really does a pretty good job of low-gain drive sounds and bright cleans, and takes pedals very well. I'm definitely keen to try one of the new BluesCubes to see what improvements have been made.

[Philly Q]

My initial reaction was that it doesn't look much like a Roland Cube amp, but it seems to sound good on that Don Filder clip and other clips I've watched.

I was interested in Dmoney's comments about it being just a solid state amp rather than a modeller.... is it time for solid state amps to return from the wilderness?  Presumably technology has moved on a lot.

I get a slight nostalgic feeling whenever Roland Cubes are mentioned, my first semi-decent amp was one of these:



Didn't sound very good at all, from what I remember, and I quickly moved on to a Sessionette 75.  But it looked cute.

[Telerocker]

My initial reaction was that it doesn't look much like a Roland Cube amp, but it seems to sound good on that Don Filder clip and other clips I've watched.

I was interested in Dmoney's comments about it being just a solid state amp rather than a modeller.... is it time for solid state amps to return from the wilderness?  Presumably technology has moved on a lot.

I get a slight nostalgic feeling whenever Roland Cubes are mentioned, my first semi-decent amp was one of these:



Didn't sound very good at all, from what I remember, and I quickly moved on to a Sessionette 75.  But it looked cute.

My first amp was a Roland Cube 100. My Princeton Reverb II (18 watts) blew it away.