Roland Cube? Vox AD?

vernplum

New member
A friend of mine recently started playing electric guitar. I took him to Swee Lee sale and he got one of those $99 Squiers, which he is quite happy with.

Now he wants a small amp.

I heard those Roland Cubes and the Vox modelling amps are quite good.

What do these begin at in terms of price and size, anyone know please?

I think he doesn't want to spend over $250-$300.

Any alternative recommendations? Zoom? Line 6? I think he would prefer something small.

Cheers

vern
 
Roland Cube 30 is pretty solid...compact too..list price 500 in sweelee..300 after discount i believe...alternatives are line6 spider II, around 280 i think..pretty ok amp models..the vox valvetronix amps are quite expensive...
 
Valvetronix 15 or 30 should be in his budget. Best is ask him bring his guitar down and try all of them and see which one suits him most.
 
Where are these sold (Roland, Vox etc...) I know City has the Zooms and Line 6.

Do you guys know ig the Roland comes in smaller than Cube 30 and how much it is?

Cheers.
 
rolands at sweelee..there's microcube and cube 15..cube 15 lists for 250 if i'm not wrong..line 6 spider can get at luther's too..zoom and vox and line 6 at citymusic you're right..
 
+1 for the Roland Cube 30, or the Microcube. the Roland Cube 15 does not come with fx i believe. for a beginner, or any bedroom jammer for that matter, the cube 30 rocks. i've tried the Vox AD15VT and the AD30VT as well, not my kinda sounds but it does classic rock and blues really well. Line 6 i cannot tahan. too digital for me somehow, but then some folks really like it. one man's meat is another man's poison.
so far, i've tried lotsa amps under the $500 range and below, top on my list is still Roland Cube 30. for sounds and versatility. covers every genre very well.
Roland has the Cube 15 and the Microcube. not sure about price tho...
 
Don't get that Line 6 unless the kid is super heavy metal kind of dude.
My friend bought it and he's ranting at me, even though I told him to get a MG-15CR. :?
 
+1 for the vox ad30..

Sweet cleans on the blackface or vox ac30tb channels.. But I find the high gain channels quite lacking but the overdrive channel is quite decent and can be further tweaked with an external overdrive pedal for more gain and more natural overdrive.. The onboard effects are also pretty decent for those who like to experiment. Oh and the inbuilt attenuator is quite useful since I play mine at about 10 watts at night.
 
I just placed an order for a Vox Valvetronix AD50 2 weeks back.

The AD30 sounds similar and should come within the price bracket you are considering.

For what its worth, P00n's comments on the Vox and OD simulations are spot on. I'm quite keen to try the Roland cube given everyone's favourable comments but as of present, the Valvetronix takes the cake as the most natural "feeling" amp simulation in my books.
 
perhaps with the AD50 and the 12" speaker the high gain channels would sound better. the 10" speaker on mine has pretty bad bass response, producing either a muddy or farty sound, so i back off the bass on mine. the mids are rather well pronounced but i think having higher treble does the trick for cleans and makes the high gain channels more usable. adding a pedal on the OD channels can give a pretty nice classic rock drive.

*sorry for the use of relatives (pretty, rather etc) but a modelling amp is a modelling amp and is only capable of coming rather (lol again) close to the original, but having a separate character of it's own.

Btw the only channels i use now are the

- Vox AC30TB: For both dirty and clean rhythm and passable leads (both with the help of a Hughes and Kettner Tubefactor to give it a more natural tubeish flavour
- OD: Heavier less brit overdrive, bordering on distortion (again with Tubefactor, but alone it's capable of ok tubeish breakup)

Pros:
- Natural enough overdrive channels for it's price
- Exceptional cleans in it's price bracket
- Above average effects
- Attenuator
- Sensitive EQ + Gain (makes quite a bit of difference with a tweak of the gain knob)
- Vintage Vibe 8)

Cons:
- So far i've never found a decent lead channel without using a pedal (if you do pls tell me)
- Inaccurate high gain channels; the only partially usable one is the NuMetal channel (Mesa) but too scooped and bassy for my liking at cartain settings, but at lower gain, with a OD pedal, the OD is surprisings natural
- Saving the channel doesn't save the master volume setting together with it, so your clean and dirty channel would have quite a big volume disparity
- Bad bass response
- Doesn't respond well to some pedals. I could barely get a usable sound when i put a GT2 i got for a steal together with it. it's either a) they just don't go well together or b) the GT2 was err 4 years old. In the end sold the GT2, discovered that i'm an OD guy. Oh but for the settings that did work, i got this fabulous Santana smooth tone with mucho sustain and also a close Megadeth like tone.

In the end it all comes down to YOU in deciding whether this amp deserves a space in your room. For all i know you may like scooped muddy hi gain tones 8)
 
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