I'm carless and need a small amp portable enough for gigging if I have to use public transport. I don't want to have to be reliant upon other muso's for my being able to gig places. I do have a Blues Jr for when I can get lifts, but this is a little too heavy for public transport.
It'll be a long while before I have a car (for various reasons). I'd be using it mostly in duo/trio settings, with either tpt or sax, and maybe also dbl bass (tho I could go through the bass amp in some cases where bass is present). Am looking to use it for restaurant and quiet bar gigs.
Obv, I'd be using it for jazz. Fairly traditional jazz (e.g. everything up until fusion - no mad distortion sounds needed, it's all about the clean tones here). I have solidbodies and acoustics, but no hollowbody jazzboxes or semis. That said, if luck holds out, I hope to be the proud owner of a hollowbody or semi within the next year. So, I'd ideally need something that could get decent clean tones from acoustic, solidbody, and jazzbox.
For the price, I know not to expect sonic greatness, but I was thinking of trying out the Roland Cube 30X for my needs. It retails around £160. Any others to try in this price range? Any thoughts on my choice so far? Might I be better looking for an acoustic amp in this price range and size (size/weight is v. v. important here) and running my solidbody through it?
If the world was perfect, I'd be the owner of an AER and my solidbody would sound sweeeeeet through it (I've tried a few of those, and they're awesome). But alas, it isn't. So, until my finances get a lot better, the £200 price limit is in place for this. Thanks!
Oh yeah, I'm hoping to take my electro-acoustic into town this week sometime to try it through the Cube, so any thoughts before then, or suggestions of other amps to try of similar spec would be massively appreciated before then.
Well as you know, I'm a big fan of the Cube 30X - I love the range of tones you can get with a modelling amp. For the SPECIFIC tone you're after....the Clean Channel on the Cube 30X is modelled on the Roland JC-120 Jazz Chorus guitar amp. I know Wes Inman, for one, is a big fan of that particular amp.
A similar amp in the price range would be the Vox ADVT 30 (or something like that, anyway!) - Darth Ordinary used to have one of those, sounded sweet to my ears when we used to jam together.
FYI, these are the other amp models available with the Cube 30X:
Clean - as already stated, modelled on the Roland JC-120 Jazz Chorus amp.
Acoustic - (Quoting the owner's manual here....) "By combining acoustic guitar simulation with COSM amp modelling technology, this original amp model gives you a dynamic acoustic guitar sound using a standard electric guitar." Here's a quick clip of the acoustic model in a pub setting, to give you an idea.....BTW, there weren't actually many people in - about a dozen or so - and the amp volume was set at around #3. It can get MUCH louder than that!
Black Panel - model of the Fender Twin Reverb amp.
Brit Combo - modelled on the Vox AC-30TB. My preferred go-to classic rock setting.
Tweed - modelled on the Tweed Fender Bassman 4 x 10 combo. Lots of crunch!
Classic Stack - modelled on the Marshall JMP1987.
Metal Stack - modelled on the Peavey EVH-5150.
R-Fier - Modelled on the Mesa Boogie Rectifier amps.
Dyna Amp - (Quoting the manual again.....) "an original amp sound that lets the player create previously unobtainable tonal changes according to the picking strength. Soft picking produces a transparent clean amp sound, hard picking results in a deeply distorted high-gain sound."
:D :D :D
Vic
"Sometimes the beauty of music can help us all find strength to deal with all the curves life can throw us." (D. Hodge.)
If it's an easily transportable amp that's inexpensive, which puts out great cleans that you are looking for, try out a Vox Pathfinder 15. It doesn't have all the fancy modeling stuff, but it does have a very nice tremolo and reverb sound. My Pathfinder is my go-to amp for gigs with cramped stages, and with it's light weight, external speaker out and line out is getting quite a bit of use for my larger gigs too - edging out the Blues Jr.
Here's a demo of the amp by Paul Kramer (LOL moment - he runs the tone controls right where I do!):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXJiGmnLb0g&feature=related
Playing guitar and never playing for others is like studying medicine and never working in a clinic.
Vox VT30 should be considered. same "class" as the Cube 30, but it has a following all its own.
-=tension & release=-
So that's two votes for the Vox VT30, then? I'm now planning to go to the music store on Monday or Tuesday (I'm in the Doc's on Friday and meeting up with friends, and tomorrow is a busy busy organising day) and will try both the Vox and the Roland. Oh, and the Roland AC60 if they have it. Ideally, I want to try the amp with both my solidbody and my acoustic before buying, to get the best amp for both.
I don't know what they sell for over there, ut the Super Champ XD fits the requirements. I bought mine early on and changed my speaker. BUT, it does have that Fender Tube-tone I love so much. L levave mine on the clean setting most of the time. Iy has these 16 voicings, one of which is an acoustic tone I think made for ral acoustics to be played on it. Mine sounds nice. The one knob fits all controls is a bit of a pain though. But,you can at least still control the level of the effects wotha seperate knob.
OK, I've never played on ther Vox and have not comment. I'm sure it's more than goo based on what people we know here say.
I did have some experience on the Cube 3X. The Roland employd it'd COSM software I have a lot experience with, as it's on my GT-10 MFX Guitar Processor. The Fender Tweed and the Brit Combo have preamps on my unit that cover them and I suppose I like that really well. The Fender Clean Twin Reverb is emulated by the Blackface setting s Vic described. All's I can say is get a drool bucket.
Vic, can you run two channels with that? If you can, go channel 1 with the blackface and 2 with the Vox. Give each a little gain and you are some kind of Keith Richards brit invasion stuff. I can run that from my GT-10 and into my Fender SCXD and it's a veddy nice,. you see.
That vox amp moonie posted sounded really neat, eh?
My only gripe is that the acoustic simulators only get you so far. They get you acoustic like tone, which is to say, some shared charactaristics. It lacks the lod-low/mid warm tone. well, that cetain color in the tone that just doesn't come through. I have faith that another few years..... Vic's example was fair representative, though. You could also crank down the highs and play in the neck position and get some of that deeper Country tone.
Well, rambling aside, either the JC-120 model or the blackface will get you plenty jazzy. :)
Roy
"I wonder if a composer ever intentionally composed a piece that was physically impossible to play and stuck it away to be found years later after his death, knowing it would forever drive perfectionist musicians crazy." - George Carlin
It's cheaper online. A lot cheaper online (like £20-30 per unit). So, I just ordered from thomann.de
I'm getting a Roland Cube 30X, and (for home practice use on occasion) a Roland MicroCube in red with the bag for it, also in red. I'm hoping they might turn up by this time next week (fingers crossed!!!) so I can push to get a rehearsal a week Friday and have my 30X available for it. The MicroCube will find use in mainly sitting in my practice room and being used for when I'm doing techie stuff and don't want to fire up a tube amp to test stuff out, but also it's easily small enough to cart around to other rooms on a whim if I'm trying something out and need an amp. Plus, it's red. :lol:
Anyway, I'm happy with the quality of Roland's stuff, and I needed something quickly, and I needed something solid state (the last thing I need is e.g. tubes falling out as I'm carting it onto a bus or train, plus tubes generally = more weight and/or size). So, this will be my first solid state amp since my crappy Kustom practice amp that came with my first guitar all those years ago. (Scrybe takes a moment to wipe the tear away). Can't wait for it to get here, tho! Gah, I LURVE ordering gear!!!!! It may not be the AER I love so much, but it is mine, and it may help me to buy an AER at some stage in the future, so..... :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:
I've been keeping busyish with a few things that I'm hoping will pan out - if they do, I'll be able to order some more gear before Christmas, Woo Hoo! (And still save some for Spain and/or America next year........deffo doing the jazz course again next summer, and have fingers crossed for some US jazzing and/or other jamming).
Thanks for the help in choosing guys, appreciated. :wink:
The only problem is....now that I've ordered some gear, I want to order some more. :roll: But I have no moneys for it (not to mention no coherent gear list right now), so it must wait. I'll have my fun with the Rolands, and then work up a new GAS list.
Order has been shipped!!!!!! The joy of the 3-7 working days for delivery email..... :mrgreen:
Roll on Monday!!!!!!!
That's good Scrybe! Way to go, and enjoy when you are delivered your new toys! :D
I didn't say anything, your good friends here who really luvs 'ya and care had you covered, didn't they?
Count me in the group, tho late, but I'm all for the Roland Cube - I just have a 20X because it's all that was here and the price was right. But the COSM FX are great, they are so portable, and have a GRRReat sound many times their size. :wink:
Like a bird on the wire,
like a drunk in a midnight choir
I have tried in my way to be free.
