I liked it, I think it has great tone - the fact it will hardly ever break down is a major plus. I don't care for these tube comparisons. The breakup sounds really good to me, I think this amp has the ability to translate the tone from my fingers in an accurate way - I would definitely buy this.
As a pedal designer I can say without a shadow of a doubt, it can be done. All it takes specific jfet pre amp stages and individual stage bias tweaking. This level of skilled attention isn't cheap and doesn't lend itself to mass production the way emulation does...
6 years later and I finally bought one to "replace" my black star ht5 after having to replace tubes and not liking the sound all too much. I played blues cube hot vs the blues Jr and a used bass breaker and was shocked that I preferred this in almost every way other than that it's just not a tube amp. I preffered the sound of this by far at the volumes I play at, I would never be able to crank a blues Jr in my house. I'm so impressed and I won't be spending $70 on tubes again. The blackstar is officially retired for now
i have one of the original late-90's blues cube bc-60s and the dynamics are great! i tried one of the new ones in my local shop (recently bought a sweet candy apple green '89 Clapton strat from them too, screw guitar center ;) ) and, i have to say, the new models PERFECTLY model the analog tone that mine has, which is inted to emulate a fenderish tube amp. i also own a hot rod deluxe, and sometimes i find myself playing my old roland blues cube just because the clean channel sounds so good when driven with the +15 db boost in my strat paired w/ the lace sensor gold pups, it is just a killer tone! although i don't scoop the mids like Lee did at first.
Had to say, after listening to this on other sites recently, I bought one. There must have been something going on with the sound in this vid. So 5 months later I'm eating the words I left in the comment below. This amp does fender better than fender. It's only downside is like all digital amps it doesn't do distortion well. But I only want it for the cleans. I have a boogie and a jvm if I need dirt :) Top class little amp for practice when you can't be bothered warming up and cooling down your valves.
Yeah it is not digital. It's analog solid state. I love the entire line all the way to the 100 watt head. But as an affordable really dependable gigging amp it's great. The boost function gives you a soloing "channel." Set up fairly clean I get my "dirt" with a Blues Driver. Works very well. I am not a "pedal guy." I use my pickup choices for tonal nuances.
The main argument for an amp like this over a valve amp is the issue of volume. Valve amps, even when turned right down, are still too loud for normal home use.
+Lufie Alice nope, i've got a homebuilt ~10w all tube head that works great for home use, I can play it at low enough volumes for my brother in the same room to not complain about it, it runs off of 2 6k6 power tubes and 2 12ax7 pre tubes, have to use pedals for high gain, but it works and sounds great thru the 7080s in my randall rg100 combo; and actually I recently took it over to my grandparents house to see what it sounds like cranked outside and it wasn't even loud enough, all the note definition was lost and it was super muddy when the gain and master were cranked, and it's not really a high gain amp anyway
That's the dumbest fucking comment ever on youtube. I play an HT5, Dark Terror, Rocker 32 and Tweaker 88 at home at civil volumes and they sound just fine. Granted, they sound better louder, but to say you cannot play them turned down is silly.
No, there are well-designed tube amp that will sound fine at low volume. ToneKings with their built-in attenuator or a Mesa Lonestar will do very nicely.
To my ears this amp is one of the best sounding guitar amplifier ever heard on TH-cam. I really like this demo but when I see Brett Kingman's reviews of the same amp.. I always ask myself why I have really bought Katana 100...
I have tube amps, SS amps and hybrid amps, and I have a BCH. If one can get past the idea of needing to nitpick everything you're hearing - as these guys always do - and keep saying "well, it's not a tube amp" you can discover that these Blues Cube amps are great amps. It doesn't really matter what the guts are. I know that the guitar world runs on "tubes are better", but there's so much needless prevaricating in reviews like this that it just gets a bit annoying. Bottom line - it's ok for you to like this amp, or dislike it, but the reason should not depend on it not having tubes. I love my Blues Cube Hot with no reservations. I also think it sounds best with the midrange at least at noon. It's not really about a scooped Fender blackface sound. And I say all this as a longtime Anderton's fan. Fantastic job with the loop at the end, Lee.
I think you are looking for problems that don't exist with Blues Cubes. They sound great at all volumes, light to carry, reliable and you can plug your electro acoustic in too. With pedals, effects units or just straight in I love mine. Just forget it doesn't have valves.......
I'd watched this a couple of times and had been trying to read the Captains face. I've decided it's the face of a man desperately looking for the BC to fail in some way, for further proof that non-valve can't compare. I think John Pomfrett's being a bit unfair though. I think they have a natural bias in favour of tube amps but they don't make unfair comments about the BC, and also they want to sell amps.
Of course that may have been a cunning ploy to play the cynic who gets convinced at the end but I think these 2 chaps are pretty straight in their videos.
Listening to this, I think Roland have made a rod for their own back. If they had styled and released it as just an original amplifier, there would be no need to make comparisons. They would just have a fab, chewy amp in their roster. Thumbs up from me.
I'm hearing sa little bit of "tube bias" in this review. I think it's actually exceeding your expectations and you're having hard time admitting it to be honest. That Gretsch just sounds amazing!!!
it definitely does sound great. But here in Brazil this not tube amp is as expensive as any other tube amp, like the fender blues jr... In my country, that amp would work for very few people... but beautifuly done
There is a lot of divided opinion on this amp, some love it, some hate it. I bought one, A/B'd it with a Fender Vibrolux & it's hard to fault the sound. If I could take a valve amp on the road reliably I probably would but this little amp sounds close enough, is light, reliable and requires no maintenance. I think it's a winner but it's entirely up to the player, if you like it great, if you don't then use something else. Not saying it's better than a valve amp just that it does work as an alternative.
More blues jams from the Captain, PLEASE. Review more blues stuff, pedals, amps, semihollow, you name it, but more Captain, you really standed out in this one. Really enjoyed it Mr.Lee.
Overall: This Roland Blues Cube Hot amp is everything it’s advertised to be. I have always been a Fender tube amp guy. I purchased this amp and a Fender Blues Jr IV within a week of each other to compare the two for home use.Well I hate to say it and to my surprise the Fender Blues Jr IV I sent it back for a refund. The tone of the Blues Jr is very good over all but the issue is when you try to play at lower levels for home use. It just loses a lot of its tone and character at these levels.The Roland Blues Cube Hot on the other hand does not loose any of it’s tone at lower levels. It’s consistent with tone levels set on the .5 or 1/2 watt setting the 5 watt setting the 15 watt or the 30 watt, It just plain rocks the tone across the board and has it in spades. The EQ ability of the Bluest Cube Hot amp is really good and was more precise than the Fender Blues Jr. The Reverb on the Blues Cube Hot is also very good and very usable.In summery, to my ears at the the end of the day my conclusion was after playing both amps back to back for an afternoon of playing I just preferred the Blues Cube Hot to the Blues Jr IV. Also to be honest I can not tell by the tone ore the feel and response of the Roland Blues Cube Hot that it’s not a valve amp. With that said I was a bit skeptical of all that was being said about Rolands Tube Logic amps but not anymore. Roland did a fantastic job and I am sold on this little amp for my needs.Oh Ya...also the Blues Cube Hot it can get very loud as loud or louder than the Blues Jr IV. It also takes pedals with no issues. Also the Blues cube was modeled after a tweed style amp not a hot rod series Blues Jr. Keep this in mind when comparing it to a Fender Blues Jr. I call it like I see it and with that said I am glad that I am not a tube snob. I do hands down love Fender tube amps but if I had turned my noise up to the Blues Cube Hot amp I would have missed out on a great little quality amp for my needs.
Couldn’t agree more. I’ve owned every single amp you could think of including the tone master deluxe, valve amps, you name it. Wish I’d kept my blues cube.
I demo'd one of these for a few hours and came to the following conclusion. For an extra $AUS100 you can have the Blues Cube Stage, and for another $200 more than the stage you can get the Blues Cube Artist.I think the hot is a good little amp but at the current price it's simply not competitive with the other products in Rolands Blues Cube range. I ended up choosing the Artist to get the dual channels [clean+ Crunch], FX Loop, Tremolo, and for the extra headroom provided by the 80watts of power available. I have no regrets at all. Those here commenting negatively about the amp should be stating the play back system they are using because few if any of us would be getting anywhere near the actual sound of the amp on out severely compromised playback equipment.
+John Smith because whether Roland, line 6 and Kemper etc try and get the sound exactly perfect, it still isn't the actual amp and people like to have the genuine thing.
+John Smith I believe his point and mine is that you can have a copy amp sound absolutely exactly like the original (or better), but as soon as people *see* that it's not the same, it's automatically panned as "not quite there yet." This is what I referred to as "hearing with the eyes."
+John Smith It's fine we disagree. I've personally witnessed this over and over and over again. Sometimes people go as far as A/B'ing sounds and picking the 'fake' one, then dismissing it as soon as the results are revealed. If that's changing nowadays, then it's all for the better.
+James Russo Sound is subjective, tones and sounds you like are not the same others will like. My opinion is the Blues Junior tramples all over these Blues Cubes....The Blackstar TVP series amps do a better job of emulating the tubes in a Fender amp than these Rolands.
Wow that Gretsch when Cappy plugged in mid jam. Wows. And I probably should have waited till the end to comment previously as my words were almost said verbatim. Lol. Great job guys. Now I want one and another new guitar.
Great vid guys n Capt Lee you were smokin when you played along to your loop track, you have really excelled over last cupped of years !! All power to you !!
I mean no disrespect to his former ability, but I love how Lee's playing has gotten better. It's been really great to see that transformation and I enjoy listening to EVERYTHING he plays now! Kudos to you Captain!
I like the new Rob style in these very recent videos, you know, where he demo's properly by playing a much wider style of playing which , BTW, also shows off far better his talent. Lee as usual delivers an informative and very well demonstrated review at the high standard he intends. I don't understand why Rob went through the individual pup tones towards the start.
I think years ago I would just bleed for just all tube but, the trans amp tech has come a long way and Ive played some absolutely brilliant 'non'tube amps as I'm sure a lot of people have. The Roland is a great example
Interesting. I'm a ss guy and it smokes my USA made bandit 112. But but and this is important 10:21 it does get toooo muddy. But maybe lower power and more pedal? It does sound great and the reliability can't be beat of a solid state amp. But but and this is again important and Chappers would probably agree for a gig the Audience isn't going to care. Is it realistic enough to not get arms folded and sighing eye roll (tm) but can you rock to it. For recording, you probably still want the toobz. And a blues Jr. is ubiquitous enough to use it.
Tried this amp out at my local music store yesterday. it is a really good amp but for a little more money you can get the Fender Blues Jr which IMHO outplays this amp.
Holy crap Lee's playing is great here. I mean I already thought he was a good player, but man, he really breaks out of his usual boxes in this one, swear i dont think he played the same lick twice! sounds awesome captain
In other reviews I read that the BC Hot was intended to emulate the tone of a Fender Bassman, not a Blues Jr, so I wonder if this is the right comparison. In all reviews the Cube does sound bassier and 'saggier' than the Junior (esp. when pushed) and that, to my ears, is what I'm hearing in this demo (YT compression notwithstanding). Just a thought. I think it sounds pretty good, I have to say (and the fact that it's light - and reliable - is a huge bonus).
+Joshua Lessore Yeah, but on the other hand, valve amps are usually easier / cheaper to fix. So there is that as well. But in the end, it all comes down to taste / preference. I love the jazz chorus 40, at the same time I also like the Blackstar HT5 / HT20 and the Fender 65 Deluxe Reverb, but dislike Marshall's tube amps. As long as you sound good with a guitar and amp, I am the last one who cares whether it is tube or solid state. What works, works. :)
+ktulu193 Not true at all. All my solid states have died given enough years of use. Not a single tube amp has, other than the one an ex roommate ran without a speaker load. Still pissed to this day haha.
...4+years later...I've got 2 blues juniors from new(1992),great amps,when they're running right!..both have just gone bang,taking the '84's,the output transformers,and 'caps.Have rebuilt one,with new boards and mains and output transformers ,a couple of mods to stop it eating the valves...and it sounds superb.The point here is that if you add up the cost of valves and repairs over the 18 years(and if you do gig,IN NORMAL NON COVID TIMES YOU ARE ARE CHANGING OUTPUT VALVES TWICE A YEAR)then you have to admit that the alternative is A Roland Blues Cube,or similar(?).It would not take you long to really dig into the Roland and MAKE IT DO WHAT YOU WANT IT TO.From the demo both Cap and Chap extracted tones that are equal to the FBJ,at a LOT LOWER VOLUME,....and it takes pedals superbly ....4 +years later,....has anyone had any issues with a Roland?
Fuck, that loop session was proper gold!!! If I can sit down and belt that out one day when i'm old and gray then I will have completed my guitar journey...shit made me cry!!! lol well done!!!
Haha, indeed seems so! Actually, I think he does have fairly light left hand touch, just based on hearing how flows on the fretboard when he's in Shred Mode. He does have really great, wide vibrato though. But yeah, def seems he's got a more lead-like right hand. ;) Must be all that djenting.... :P
I had this amp. Bought it used for $319.00 on ebay. It wasn’t bad at all...at the same time it gave you a distinct feeling that you were missing that last 5% to make it feel complete. It was like using a knife that is sharpened “good enough”...
The thing is, the roland gives you 95% of the tube sweet spot sound 100% of the time. This includes how it reacts to pedals. Slam it with the right fuzz and it's a thick rich saggy mess of awesome. In the same vein, you could say most tube amps give you 100% of the sound the 5% of the time you.can crank them to where they sound best. I had the infamous peavy bandit and the same pedals through it were as dull as a plastic butter knife. The roland slays all non valve amps near its price range and its build quality is superior to the low end tube amps in said price range. It keeps up in a gig or rehearsal too.
Drove from Cardiff today to visit Andertons and it was brilliant. Tried loads of stuff including a Blues Cube Hot with a Gibson Les Paul 50's Tribute in Gold and sounded amazing. Bought the Les Paul, got dragged away by my Mrs otherwise I would have bought the amp too :-D
+David Oakes Hm - good question. Maybe in one of the old acoustic demos? Surely he must've played Lola or Knockin' on Heaven's Door or something in one of those.
Good demo of the amp. It is hard to really hear what an amp sounds like on TH-cam, but you guys are getting better and better at it. In terms of the amp, to my ears it sounds like a $300 transistor amp with bad modeling. I know a lot of folks like this amp, but I'm not hearing it.
+budgetguitarist.com I dont think it's hard to judge the sound of an amp on youtube as long as it's recorder with an external mic rather than a built in camera mic. you are pretty much bang on with your opinion about this thing. the clean sound was ok but the overdrive sound was horrible.
Fair enough, I think that some amps are awful that people think are great. I mean I hate the really expensive Waza Craft amp and have preferred the new Katanas in sound too it.
The Blues Jr. has a master volume, and works great a most volumes. Also, the tweed version smokes anything in the price range. If you wanna drive the output tubes hard, yeah, a Blues Jr. gets fairly loud.
Noel E thats exactly right. I sold my jnr 3 and replaced it with katana 100, then replaced that with the blues cube 30 hot. Sounds a cross between a jnr and bassman.
captain! In the name of all things holy please make an album that we can buy. I love the soul you put into your guitar playing! I could listen to you play all day long.
i own this amp as well as well as a fender blues jr. III w/ a cannabis rex speaker and i have to say that this is a great amp, but different to the bj. i think it's more akin to a bassman than a bj, but if you dial it the correctly you can get "close." it's an amp that's especially good for woodshedding late into to the night, when you've got no shed, and noise is a problem. the fact that there's no maintenance required and a headphone jack make it a fantastic tool... not to mention it's gigging possibilities. i think at some point i will try to run my bj and this together in stereo... i have a feeling that they will pair very nicely. last thing to mention: as an avid tube guy, despite this coming close feel wise, tonally it still fallls somewhat short. but when you think in terms of a good PA or the roland jazz chorus then i almost guarantee you that there's nothing to worry about :-p. try one if you get the chance!
you should do a 'Valve vs solid state blindfold challenge'. The kind of 'copy' solid state amps such as this one, vs the real deal, without looking at the amps.
+keiren stimpson They did it and it was a fail because they used a tube amp they they're very familiar with and also had the reverb on. The Artist and Stage are based on a Fender Bassman. That should be the real test but no seems willing to do that. They just put them against amps in the same price range like a Hot Rod Deluxe or a Blues Jr.
Hate it when people say, "Solid State amp... I'd definitely take it as a back-up." Same was said about the Orange Crush Pro... These amps aren't advertised as "back-ups" in the same way they're not advertised to "replace valve amps". They're just another different kind of powered amplifier... Valve, Solid State, Digital etc., they all have their place and it's down to people's subjective views. People prefer any one of these style of amps over the other. And, Solid State amps aren't just a "home thing".
***** You miss the point. Some people, i.e. Chappers, seem to think Solid State amps are just good enough for back ups, or as he put it with regards to the Orange Crush Pro CR120H, "a back up to 'your' Rockerverb or for using in [dodgy] places where 'you' won't want to take a Rockerverb." Which with regards to these particular amps is just bollocks, regardless of which kind of powered amp you prefer. If one doesn't like a certain kind of powered amp, it doesn't mean they're not up to the job of performing. That's my point.
+MancRanger Trouble is, there are a few great brands Andertons don't stock and I don't think they do Cort. I've bought a couple of things recently (Pigtronix) I would have got from Andertons to say thanks for all the great TH-cam entertainment they put out.
+Pulse2AM I was thinking this as well. I cant shake the felling that the break-p sound too regular - rather than a noisy irregular break-up, it sounds like a saw-tooth signal being mixed into the clean channel.
Billy Wardlaw Yeah, I've tried every modeler, every modeling software, and most solid state amps and they just can't get that tube sound right. The closest one has been the Vox stuff that has the tube in it but it's only a preamp tube so not like driving power amp tubes.
As much I love Rob like a brother, Lee has some impeccably tasty leads. Lee sells himself far too short. Rob is an amazing player in his own genre, and Lee is the same in his genre. I am listening to this demo at the end, and he could have recorded this in any studio and sold it. Kudos to the Captain.
+tak178 we are getting a serious problem now. lee is as good as rob. rob is technically better, but lee has the better touch. hahaha. this is funny to watch. lee's progress is almost untrue. i don't know how this will end but it won't take long.
Lee and Rob are both excellent musicians. I wish I could say the same. I just bumble around on the guitar and something sounds good every so often. :-)
You two are hooked on the valve vs SS thing. The amp should sound good or not? The good Captain is twisting himself up over this. Love ya guys, the Brit in NY.
I have a few Roland Blues Cubes. I will never own another Tube Amp. These Roland Blues Cubes are as good as ANY tube amp. I have a Hot, "British Hot," Artist, and Artist 212. I wish Roland made a Blues Cube combo with a 15" speaker like my Peavey Delta Blues amp.
![กิโลเมตรที่ 0 เดินทางรอบโลกไม่ใช้เครื่องบิน [Around The World Ep. 1]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/toJG9oofLFY/mqdefault.jpg)
Just forget the question, wether the Blues Cube sound exactly like tube amps. They are great amps, that's it!
I liked it, I think it has great tone - the fact it will hardly ever break down is a major plus. I don't care for these tube comparisons. The breakup sounds really good to me, I think this amp has the ability to translate the tone from my fingers in an accurate way - I would definitely buy this.
As a pedal designer I can say without a shadow of a doubt, it can be done. All it takes specific jfet pre amp stages and individual stage bias tweaking. This level of skilled attention isn't cheap and doesn't lend itself to mass production the way emulation does...
"I've got a Blues Junior, and it goes from nothing to too loud." Truer words never spoken about modern Fender tube amps!
agreed....
Nothing better than my blues junior
@@jrsoper6524 I love my Fender amps, though. Truth told, there's a Blues Junior I've been wanting.
6 years later and I finally bought one to "replace" my black star ht5 after having to replace tubes and not liking the sound all too much. I played blues cube hot vs the blues Jr and a used bass breaker and was shocked that I preferred this in almost every way other than that it's just not a tube amp. I preffered the sound of this by far at the volumes I play at, I would never be able to crank a blues Jr in my house. I'm so impressed and I won't be spending $70 on tubes again. The blackstar is officially retired for now
I have an older Roland Blues Cube. Roland does a great job with their solid state amps. Very reliable.
i have one of the original late-90's blues cube bc-60s and the dynamics are great! i tried one of the new ones in my local shop (recently bought a sweet candy apple green '89 Clapton strat from them too, screw guitar center ;) ) and, i have to say, the new models PERFECTLY model the analog tone that mine has, which is inted to emulate a fenderish tube amp. i also own a hot rod deluxe, and sometimes i find myself playing my old roland blues cube just because the clean channel sounds so good when driven with the +15 db boost in my strat paired w/ the lace sensor gold pups, it is just a killer tone! although i don't scoop the mids like Lee did at first.
Lee I have to say, that last looper bit is INSANE. I have replayed that section 4 times and I think I'll keep replaying it! Cheers man
Valve or not, that amp sounds pretty great!
Had to say, after listening to this on other sites recently, I bought one. There must have been something going on with the sound in this vid. So 5 months later I'm eating the words I left in the comment below. This amp does fender better than fender. It's only downside is like all digital amps it doesn't do distortion well. But I only want it for the cleans. I have a boogie and a jvm if I need dirt :) Top class little amp for practice when you can't be bothered warming up and cooling down your valves.
Except it's analog.:-)
Yeah it is not digital. It's analog solid state. I love the entire line all the way to the 100 watt head. But as an affordable really dependable gigging amp it's great. The boost function gives you a soloing "channel." Set up fairly clean I get my "dirt" with a Blues Driver. Works very well. I am not a "pedal guy." I use my pickup choices for tonal nuances.
The main argument for an amp like this over a valve amp is the issue of volume. Valve amps, even when turned right down, are still too loud for normal home use.
+Lufie Alice nope, i've got a homebuilt ~10w all tube head that works great for home use, I can play it at low enough volumes for my brother in the same room to not complain about it, it runs off of 2 6k6 power tubes and 2 12ax7 pre tubes, have to use pedals for high gain, but it works and sounds great thru the 7080s in my randall rg100 combo; and actually I recently took it over to my grandparents house to see what it sounds like cranked outside and it wasn't even loud enough, all the note definition was lost and it was super muddy when the gain and master were cranked, and it's not really a high gain amp anyway
get the carr
That's the dumbest fucking comment ever on youtube. I play an HT5, Dark Terror, Rocker 32 and Tweaker 88 at home at civil volumes and they sound just fine. Granted, they sound better louder, but to say you cannot play them turned down is silly.
No, there are well-designed tube amp that will sound fine at low volume. ToneKings with their built-in attenuator or a Mesa Lonestar will do very nicely.
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, START A SERIES WHERE YOU REVIEW PEDALS AND AMPS CALLED "AnderTONES"
ohhhhhh nice imagination
+John Ray That's what I'm saying!
To my ears this amp is one of the best sounding guitar amplifier ever heard on TH-cam. I really like this demo but when I see Brett Kingman's reviews of the same amp.. I always ask myself why I have really bought Katana 100...
Hi
I have tube amps, SS amps and hybrid amps, and I have a BCH. If one can get past the idea of needing to nitpick everything you're hearing - as these guys always do - and keep saying "well, it's not a tube amp" you can discover that these Blues Cube amps are great amps. It doesn't really matter what the guts are. I know that the guitar world runs on "tubes are better", but there's so much needless prevaricating in reviews like this that it just gets a bit annoying.
Bottom line - it's ok for you to like this amp, or dislike it, but the reason should not depend on it not having tubes. I love my Blues Cube Hot with no reservations. I also think it sounds best with the midrange at least at noon. It's not really about a scooped Fender blackface sound.
And I say all this as a longtime Anderton's fan. Fantastic job with the loop at the end, Lee.
Exactly, too many gear snobs in the guitar community!
I think you are looking for problems that don't exist with Blues Cubes. They sound great at all volumes, light to carry, reliable and you can plug your electro acoustic in too. With pedals, effects units or just straight in I love mine. Just forget it doesn't have valves.......
More info on how well a roland blues cube takes an electro acoustic please? :)
I'd watched this a couple of times and had been trying to read the Captains face. I've decided it's the face of a man desperately looking for the BC to fail in some way, for further proof that non-valve can't compare.
I think John Pomfrett's being a bit unfair though. I think they have a natural bias in favour of tube amps but they don't make unfair comments about the BC, and also they want to sell amps.
Of course that may have been a cunning ploy to play the cynic who gets convinced at the end but I think these 2 chaps are pretty straight in their videos.
Andrew Butcher I disagree that you need to forget it doesn't have valves, because if you do you might try to replace valves
John Pomfrett Eric Johnson was only involved in the creation of his tone cap, which this particular amp doesn’t utilize. The artist version does
Listening to this, I think Roland have made a rod for their own back. If they had styled and released it as just an original amplifier, there would be no need to make comparisons. They would just have a fab, chewy amp in their roster. Thumbs up from me.
I like it. Being an apartment player, I find the .5w and 5w power settings appealing. Loud at 15w and 30w enough for those 2xto 3x year jams.
I'm hearing sa little bit of "tube bias" in this review. I think it's actually exceeding your expectations and you're having hard time admitting it to be honest. That Gretsch just sounds amazing!!!
Yeah you can totally tell haha. This thing kcks ass, enough said!
it definitely does sound great. But here in Brazil this not tube amp is as expensive as any other tube amp, like the fender blues jr... In my country, that amp would work for very few people... but beautifuly done
I want to find a girl that looks at me the way rob looks at the caption when he's playing a strat.
So how do you like your caption or Captain?
+Austin Humphrey I was just smiling to myself seeing him be that happy hearing Lee play. :) And I totally agree - that was beautiful! :)
OMG that's funny as all hell!!!!!
I'm loving that black Strat and that oh so tasty jam with the looper.
Great job guy's.
Captain's sense of spacing, when improvising, is really a pleasure to listen to.
There is a lot of divided opinion on this amp, some love it, some hate it. I bought one, A/B'd it with a Fender Vibrolux & it's hard to fault the sound. If I could take a valve amp on the road reliably I probably would but this little amp sounds close enough, is light, reliable and requires no maintenance. I think it's a winner but it's entirely up to the player, if you like it great, if you don't then use something else. Not saying it's better than a valve amp just that it does work as an alternative.
hearing the capt play that hendrix riff made my day.
What I took from this video is just how far Lee has come as a player. Tasty licks man.
More blues jams from the Captain, PLEASE. Review more blues stuff, pedals, amps, semihollow, you name it, but more Captain, you really standed out in this one. Really enjoyed it Mr.Lee.
Lee killed it in his jams. Very well done
Roland's clean tone is legendary...beyond that, it's wide open for discourse.
Overall: This Roland Blues Cube Hot amp is everything it’s advertised to be. I have always been a Fender tube amp guy. I purchased this amp and a Fender Blues Jr IV within a week of each other to compare the two for home use.Well I hate to say it and to my surprise the Fender Blues Jr IV I sent it back for a refund. The tone of the Blues Jr is very good over all but the issue is when you try to play at lower levels for home use. It just loses a lot of its tone and character at these levels.The Roland Blues Cube Hot on the other hand does not loose any of it’s tone at lower levels. It’s consistent with tone levels set on the .5 or 1/2 watt setting the 5 watt setting the 15 watt or the 30 watt, It just plain rocks the tone across the board and has it in spades. The EQ ability of the Bluest Cube Hot amp is really good and was more precise than the Fender Blues Jr. The Reverb on the Blues Cube Hot is also very good and very usable.In summery, to my ears at the the end of the day my conclusion was after playing both amps back to back for an afternoon of playing I just preferred the Blues Cube Hot to the Blues Jr IV. Also to be honest I can not tell by the tone ore the feel and response of the Roland Blues Cube Hot that it’s not a valve amp. With that said I was a bit skeptical of all that was being said about Rolands Tube Logic amps but not anymore. Roland did a fantastic job and I am sold on this little amp for my needs.Oh Ya...also the Blues Cube Hot it can get very loud as loud or louder than the Blues Jr IV. It also takes pedals with no issues. Also the Blues cube was modeled after a tweed style amp not a hot rod series Blues Jr. Keep this in mind when comparing it to a Fender Blues Jr. I call it like I see it and with that said I am glad that I am not a tube snob. I do hands down love Fender tube amps but if I had turned my noise up to the Blues Cube Hot amp I would have missed out on a great little quality amp for my needs.
6 years later, it seems this is still the best solid state amp available...
Couldn’t agree more. I’ve owned every single amp you could think of including the tone master deluxe, valve amps, you name it. Wish I’d kept my blues cube.
Well, you do have the Fender ToneMasters now...
@@borojammin6509 Wonder how the new tm Princeton compares to this
This was probably my favorite jam you guys have done. Great vid keep it coming guys!
i've demoed one of these amps at the local music store with a variety of les pauls and strats and was quite impressed with the sound.
I demo'd one of these for a few hours and came to the following conclusion. For an extra $AUS100 you can have the Blues Cube Stage, and for another $200 more than the stage you can get the Blues Cube Artist.I think the hot is a good little amp but at the current price it's simply not competitive with the other products in Rolands Blues Cube range. I ended up choosing the Artist to get the dual channels [clean+ Crunch], FX Loop, Tremolo, and for the extra headroom provided by the 80watts of power available. I have no regrets at all. Those here commenting negatively about the amp should be stating the play back system they are using because few if any of us would be getting anywhere near the actual sound of the amp on out severely compromised playback equipment.
people are still gonna want the actual amp with Valves no matter how great they replicate them!
+Andrew Watson I just want whatever sounds good, there are instances where I want solid state or modeling.
+Andrew Watson Yep, those are called "people that hear with the eyes".
+John Smith because whether Roland, line 6 and Kemper etc try and get the sound exactly perfect, it still isn't the actual amp and people like to have the genuine thing.
+John Smith I believe his point and mine is that you can have a copy amp sound absolutely exactly like the original (or better), but as soon as people *see* that it's not the same, it's automatically panned as "not quite there yet."
This is what I referred to as "hearing with the eyes."
+John Smith It's fine we disagree. I've personally witnessed this over and over and over again.
Sometimes people go as far as A/B'ing sounds and picking the 'fake' one, then dismissing it as soon as the results are revealed.
If that's changing nowadays, then it's all for the better.
I actually love the sound of these Blues Cubes. The Blues Junior sounds like crap when cranked anyway
+James Russo Sound is subjective, tones and sounds you like are not the same others will like. My opinion is the Blues Junior tramples all over these Blues Cubes....The Blackstar TVP series amps do a better job of emulating the tubes in a Fender amp than these Rolands.
Right, tone is completely subjective. And billion times we heard that statement
I have a Blues Cube Artist that I love. I like everything about this demo except the lead tone. Gorgeous Blues Cube cleans especially..
The last 10 min.'s was awesome. Nice playing. Sweet tone. I have all tube amps.but now I'm not to sure. Have to check that amp out. Nice job. Thanks
I've been saving up a lot of money to buy a chapman guitar because they're just so cool so far I got like $97
Wow that Gretsch when Cappy plugged in mid jam. Wows. And I probably should have waited till the end to comment previously as my words were almost said verbatim. Lol. Great job guys. Now I want one and another new guitar.
about as happy as you'll ever see a man, complete bliss... at 19:00. awesome.
They are enjoying the jam like children in a candy store. fantastic to see Rob and Cap'n having fun :)
Great vid guys n Capt Lee you were smokin when you played along to your loop track, you have really excelled over last cupped of years !! All power to you !!
Captains looped chords at the end were like , tonight's the night by rod Stewart , cool to play over, nice job capn, rad amp
I mean no disrespect to his former ability, but I love how Lee's playing has gotten better. It's been really great to see that transformation and I enjoy listening to EVERYTHING he plays now! Kudos to you Captain!
That Gretsch is georgeouso
+Kintrap Like he said, mui bueno!
I like the new Rob style in these very recent videos, you know, where he demo's properly by playing a much wider style of playing which , BTW, also shows off far better his talent.
Lee as usual delivers an informative and very well demonstrated review at the high standard he intends.
I don't understand why Rob went through the individual pup tones towards the start.
I always liked my Roland Cube 15, one of the best sounding combos i've ever played.
haven't played a lot of combos have you
not really, haha just the beginner ones Marshall mg15, Fender Frontman
+antonio banderas yeah dude… out of these three pieces of shit, the Roland is the best.
Lee, your playing today blew me away, lovely lovely stuff!
I think years ago I would just bleed for just all tube but, the trans amp tech has come a long way and Ive played some absolutely brilliant 'non'tube amps as I'm sure a lot of people have. The Roland is a great example
Interesting. I'm a ss guy and it smokes my USA made bandit 112. But but and this is important 10:21 it does get toooo muddy. But maybe lower power and more pedal? It does sound great and the reliability can't be beat of a solid state amp. But but and this is again important and Chappers would probably agree for a gig the Audience isn't going to care. Is it realistic enough to not get arms folded and sighing eye roll (tm) but can you rock to it. For recording, you probably still want the toobz. And a blues Jr. is ubiquitous enough to use it.
Tried this amp out at my local music store yesterday. it is a really good amp but for a little more money you can get the Fender Blues Jr which IMHO outplays this amp.
I love seeing how Chappers loves Captain's playing :)
Holy crap Lee's playing is great here. I mean I already thought he was a good player, but man, he really breaks out of his usual boxes in this one, swear i dont think he played the same lick twice! sounds awesome captain
Hey guys, why don't you guys make a review of the Quilter amps? They are amazing solid state amps, and not that well known.
In other reviews I read that the BC Hot was intended to emulate the tone of a Fender Bassman, not a Blues Jr, so I wonder if this is the right comparison. In all reviews the Cube does sound bassier and 'saggier' than the Junior (esp. when pushed) and that, to my ears, is what I'm hearing in this demo (YT compression notwithstanding). Just a thought. I think it sounds pretty good, I have to say (and the fact that it's light - and reliable - is a huge bonus).
The best jamming ever! Guitar swapping and more looping from Captain Lee please.
Great Video!!! Love my Blues Cube Hot!!!
Fender Blues Jr - £465 - Roland Blues Cube - £429. There's just not enough price wise to make the Roland preferable.
+Joshua Lessore Yeah, but on the other hand, valve amps are usually easier / cheaper to fix. So there is that as well. But in the end, it all comes down to taste / preference. I love the jazz chorus 40, at the same time I also like the Blackstar HT5 / HT20 and the Fender 65 Deluxe Reverb, but dislike Marshall's tube amps. As long as you sound good with a guitar and amp, I am the last one who cares whether it is tube or solid state. What works, works. :)
+Ove Ohlen Valve amps may be easier to fix (I wouldn't know) but a solid state just doesn't need fixing ;)
+ktulu193 Not true at all. All my solid states have died given enough years of use. Not a single tube amp has, other than the one an ex roommate ran without a speaker load. Still pissed to this day haha.
+ktulu193 nothing is harder to sell in my area than a used solid state amp. this one does sound great though.
+Charl Coetzee Agreed, only time will tell if these have a resale value, where as a Blues Jr will resell for not much less than you pay for it.
...4+years later...I've got 2 blues juniors from new(1992),great amps,when they're running right!..both have just gone bang,taking the '84's,the output transformers,and 'caps.Have rebuilt one,with new boards and mains and output transformers ,a couple of mods to stop it eating the valves...and it sounds superb.The point here is that if you add up the cost of valves and repairs over the 18 years(and if you do gig,IN NORMAL NON COVID TIMES YOU ARE ARE CHANGING OUTPUT VALVES TWICE A YEAR)then you have to admit that the alternative is A Roland Blues Cube,or similar(?).It would not take you long to really dig into the Roland and MAKE IT DO WHAT YOU WANT IT TO.From the demo both Cap and Chap extracted tones that are equal to the FBJ,at a LOT LOWER VOLUME,....and it takes pedals superbly ....4 +years later,....has anyone had any issues with a Roland?
ever end up trying or buying one?
most romantic jam of all time, nearly cried
Fuck, that loop session was proper gold!!! If I can sit down and belt that out one day when i'm old and gray then I will have completed my guitar journey...shit made me cry!!! lol well done!!!
Wow! Lee's playing has gotten so great!
The artist model sounds amazing
Wow good point at the end, to para phrase Chap . It doesn't matter if it sound like valves or not
if it sounds good.
Rob always hits the strings so hard they all sound out of tune the first milliseconds... =) =) =)
Brutally...
Mikael Nilsson Yeah, and he says he has a light touch :)
Haha, indeed seems so! Actually, I think he does have fairly light left hand touch, just based on hearing how flows on the fretboard when he's in Shred Mode. He does have really great, wide vibrato though. But yeah, def seems he's got a more lead-like right hand. ;)
Must be all that djenting.... :P
I'd buy one of these used in a heartbeat. Probably not new. Them cleans.
the captain playing Hendrix made me very happy! More please!!!
Never thought I'd hear Rob singing R. Kelly, but there goes one thing I never thought I'd actually want to hear a full cover of.
I had this amp. Bought it used for $319.00 on ebay. It wasn’t bad at all...at the same time it gave you a distinct feeling that you were missing that last 5% to make it feel complete. It was like using a knife that is sharpened “good enough”...
The thing is, the roland gives you 95% of the tube sweet spot sound 100% of the time. This includes how it reacts to pedals. Slam it with the right fuzz and it's a thick rich saggy mess of awesome. In the same vein, you could say most tube amps give you 100% of the sound the 5% of the time you.can crank them to where they sound best. I had the infamous peavy bandit and the same pedals through it were as dull as a plastic butter knife. The roland slays all non valve amps near its price range and its build quality is superior to the low end tube amps in said price range. It keeps up in a gig or rehearsal too.
Sounds great! I am really digging the Captain's playing more and more!
Drove from Cardiff today to visit Andertons and it was brilliant. Tried loads of stuff including a Blues Cube Hot with a Gibson Les Paul 50's Tribute in Gold and sounded amazing. Bought the Les Paul, got dragged away by my Mrs otherwise I would have bought the amp too :-D
Nice demo. I like the sort of built-in compression that amp has, even on clean sounds.
I like it. Actually I like it a lot! Nice job guys.
Has Rob ever played a C Major chord in any of these videos ?
+David Oakes Hm - good question. Maybe in one of the old acoustic demos? Surely he must've played Lola or Knockin' on Heaven's Door or something in one of those.
+David Oakes yes 5:52
He does a couple of times in this video
Not a Cadd9 ?
+David Oakes You've got a point, looking back, it seems his style is to play Cadd9 most of the times.
Rob playing clean,must be dreaming!
The blues junior blows it away.
I have the hot rodded red nova blues junior, it's the best amp I've ever owned.
Good demo of the amp. It is hard to really hear what an amp sounds like on TH-cam, but you guys are getting better and better at it. In terms of the amp, to my ears it sounds like a $300 transistor amp with bad modeling. I know a lot of folks like this amp, but I'm not hearing it.
+budgetguitarist.com I dont think it's hard to judge the sound of an amp on youtube as long as it's recorder with an external mic rather than a built in camera mic. you are pretty much bang on with your opinion about this thing. the clean sound was ok but the overdrive sound was horrible.
Fair enough, I think that some amps are awful that people think are great. I mean I hate the really expensive Waza Craft amp and have preferred the new Katanas in sound too it.
I'm so glad you realized you don't need dreds to be loved.
I thought about getting a Blues Jr. but thought it'd be too loud for my house/bedroom. This seems like a good substitute
The Blues Jr. has a master volume, and works great a most volumes. Also, the tweed version smokes anything in the price range. If you wanna drive the output tubes hard, yeah, a Blues Jr. gets fairly loud.
That’s just it, you buy a tubes amp to drive the tubes hard to get that break up. It’s pointless to get a tube amp and not get the tubes hot
Noel E thats exactly right. I sold my jnr 3 and replaced it with katana 100, then replaced that with the blues cube 30 hot. Sounds a cross between a jnr and bassman.
This is exactly the reason why I got this amp.
love you both guys! awesome stuff as usual
Thanks for doing this demo. I'm so down!
captain! In the name of all things holy please make an album that we can buy. I love the soul you put into your guitar playing! I could listen to you play all day long.
Got to agree, I much prefer his playing. Great style
I'm very happy after watching your videos thank you!!!
i own this amp as well as well as a fender blues jr. III w/ a cannabis rex speaker and i have to say that this is a great amp, but different to the bj. i think it's more akin to a bassman than a bj, but if you dial it the correctly you can get "close." it's an amp that's especially good for woodshedding late into to the night, when you've got no shed, and noise is a problem. the fact that there's no maintenance required and a headphone jack make it a fantastic tool... not to mention it's gigging possibilities. i think at some point i will try to run my bj and this together in stereo... i have a feeling that they will pair very nicely. last thing to mention: as an avid tube guy, despite this coming close feel wise, tonally it still fallls somewhat short. but when you think in terms of a good PA or the roland jazz chorus then i almost guarantee you that there's nothing to worry about :-p. try one if you get the chance!
Best jam in a long time! More looping please!
Amp sounded damn good. I ordered one the other day and I have to say this video didn't give me any buyer's remorse.
Damn ...... Captain HAS been practicing his guitar!! Good on you Lee, maybe we'll all get there in the end?!
you should do a 'Valve vs solid state blindfold challenge'. The kind of 'copy' solid state amps such as this one, vs the real deal, without looking at the amps.
+keiren stimpson They did it and it was a fail because they used a tube amp they they're very familiar with and also had the reverb on. The Artist and Stage are based on a Fender Bassman. That should be the real test but no seems willing to do that. They just put them against amps in the same price range like a Hot Rod Deluxe or a Blues Jr.
They have exactly done what you said
Hate it when people say, "Solid State amp... I'd definitely take it as a back-up." Same was said about the Orange Crush Pro... These amps aren't advertised as "back-ups" in the same way they're not advertised to "replace valve amps". They're just another different kind of powered amplifier... Valve, Solid State, Digital etc., they all have their place and it's down to people's subjective views. People prefer any one of these style of amps over the other. And, Solid State amps aren't just a "home thing".
***** You miss the point. Some people, i.e. Chappers, seem to think Solid State amps are just good enough for back ups, or as he put it with regards to the Orange Crush Pro CR120H, "a back up to 'your' Rockerverb or for using in [dodgy] places where 'you' won't want to take a Rockerverb." Which with regards to these particular amps is just bollocks, regardless of which kind of powered amp you prefer. If one doesn't like a certain kind of powered amp, it doesn't mean they're not up to the job of performing. That's my point.
***** Again, you're missing the point. Sorry, I don't have Crayons to write
with to bring the point down to your level.
It’s based on a 59 bassman, and does a very good job of it.
With that Timmy pedal, this amp sounded quite convincing to me.
Would like to see you guys demo the 'Matthew Bellamy MBC' It looks really good.
+MancRanger Trouble is, there are a few great brands Andertons don't stock and I don't think they do Cort. I've bought a couple of things recently (Pigtronix) I would have got from Andertons to say thanks for all the great TH-cam entertainment they put out.
Always love your videos Rob. If I am ever in the UK and would love to visit your shop.
it's got a nice clean at least
Sounds a bit metallic for lack of a better word, not bad for solid state. I've owned several Cubes but always ended up selling them.
+Pulse2AM I was thinking this as well. I cant shake the felling that the break-p sound too regular - rather than a noisy irregular break-up, it sounds like a saw-tooth signal being mixed into the clean channel.
Billy Wardlaw Yeah, I've tried every modeler, every modeling software, and most solid state amps and they just can't get that tube sound right. The closest one has been the Vox stuff that has the tube in it but it's only a preamp tube so not like driving power amp tubes.
The old Peavey red stripe Transtube is the closest to a real tube that I’ve heard.
As much I love Rob like a brother, Lee has some impeccably tasty leads. Lee sells himself far too short. Rob is an amazing player in his own genre, and Lee is the same in his genre. I am listening to this demo at the end, and he could have recorded this in any studio and sold it. Kudos to the Captain.
+tak178 we are getting a serious problem now. lee is as good as rob. rob is technically better, but lee has the better touch. hahaha. this is funny to watch. lee's progress is almost untrue. i don't know how this will end but it won't take long.
Lee and Rob are both excellent musicians. I wish I could say the same. I just bumble around on the guitar and something sounds good every so often. :-)
You two are hooked on the valve vs SS thing. The amp should sound good or not? The good Captain is twisting himself up over this.
Love ya guys, the Brit in NY.
That was very cool Captain.
I have a few Roland Blues Cubes. I will never own another Tube Amp. These Roland Blues Cubes are as good as ANY tube amp. I have a Hot, "British Hot," Artist, and Artist 212. I wish Roland made a Blues Cube combo with a 15" speaker like my Peavey Delta Blues amp.
sounds great
Great duo!