Roland Blues Cube Artist: kaput and irreparable

xDottore

Bit hacked off by Roland. Bought a Blues Cube Artist from one of our members here a few months back. Excellent nick and faultless until it just stopped working the other day. Took it to my amp fellow who said almost certainly knackered board and nothing he could do without either (a) a replacement board or (b) a schematic, neither of which Roland will supply. Went online to check Roland site. V unhelpful, but finally at least got as far as Rose Morris as "official dealer". Went to Rose Morris in Denmark Street. "No, we can't do anything". "Can you at least give me a contact number for Roland dept". Man checks with manager. "Roland don't want to deal with customers out of warranty, but we can give you this number as their recommended repair people." I phone said repair people. "Sorry, we don't do out of warranty repairs, and no we can't suggest anyone else who does". 

So, my Blues Cube Artist seems now to be a hunk of junk. Bit of an odd way for a company to service an amp that goes new for north of £800. Very farking irritating to think that it could probably be fixed easily if it were under warranty. Has made me think long and hard about buying anything too spendy from Roland/Boss again.  A Katana could be viewed almost as disposable, so I could sympathise there, but for something as pricey as the BC, it seems very poor business.

BTW, do I buy the Katana, chaps? Or something else? Home playing for the most part, usually only clean, FX loop would be nice for all my delay pedals ;-)  I'd be happy just sticking to my wonderful 35 year old Jazz Chorus 77 but I have a (perhaps absurd) feeling that I don't want to 'wear it out'. 

hywelg

I'd start raising stink on their Facebook page. And Rose Morris too. Completely unacceptable attitude. 

Legionreturns

/\ /\ /\ 

Absolutely that. It's one thing saying it's out of warranty so it'll cost you, but amps not far south of a grand are not supposed to be consumable / disposable. 

Reputation is everything... Social media is a great leveller. 

mbe

That's a disgusting attitude to take. One would think they would honour support for an amp that's quite a substantial investment.

I asked a question on Roland facebook if this is true. 

ICBM

Dottore said:

I'd be happy just sticking to my wonderful 35 year old Jazz Chorus 77 but I have a (perhaps absurd) feeling that I don't want to 'wear it out'. 

Using it is the best way to keep it in good working order. Caps tend to fail faster when not used than when used, and they're the biggest problem in an amp that age.

It also has the advantage of using only discrete components which should be relatively easy to replace if it ever does need to be repaired.

Yes, Roland's attitude on the new amp is very poor. They should at least make boards available at cost if there's no other way of repairing it outside warranty - if it's still a current production model they must have them.

richardhomer

Given the bullet-proof nature of Boss pedals, I’m really surprised by this.

I’d try Twitter - I know a friend who had a problem who was overcharged by an energy supplier who got precisely nowhere on the phone. It was sorted within hours when she tweeted them....

HAL9000

Dreadful attitude from Roland. I can accept (up to a point anyway) that up to maybe £150 - £200 an amp is fairly disposable. Not so with something that sells for over £800 and which Roland imply can replace a valve amp. If it replaces a valve amp then I’d expect it to be repairable plus I’d expect parts to be available.

I had been toying, admittedly not very seriously, with the idea of getting the Blues Cube Stage. However, if this is Roland’s approach to out of warranty issues, it won’t be happening. Especially when amps like the Katana 50 are a third of the price.

My main amp is an Orange CR60C which has been totally problem free for several years now. However, I suspect that if it ever did stop working that Orange would be more helpful than Roland appear to be.

Neil

Shocking reaction from Roland.

It's not as if the Blues Cube is a cheapie.

Give them a right seeing to on social media and hopefully prod them into the right direction.

Very poor. 

TheBigDipper

Before stirring up a s**tstorm, I'd have a go at phoning Roland UK in Swansea. You don't seem to have spoken to Roland themselves, yet - only their agents in one form or another. It's amazing how helpful companies can be when approached nicely. You'll be helping them by explaining how their support infrastructure doesn't work when an expensive piece of gear fails and is out of warranty. They'll be able to see how this might affect future sales if it became widely known. That means they should want to help you and be seen to do the right thing. 

If that fails, then start getting angry! 

stratman3142

As an owner of a Blues Cube Artist this is very worrying. Mine was repaired once under warranty. I'm concerned that it's not repairable outside of warranty.

Let me know if you want me to lend my voice to anything. If this is true, then people should be advised not to buy these amps and we need to kick up a stink about it.

mgaw

/\ agreed i was about to buy one, not now though,

Danny1969

I'm not familiar with these amps but why does it need a whole board ? what kind of fault does it have ?

stratman3142

Have you tried taking the amp to a repair shop that does standard amp repairs? I see you're in London. I always take my non warranty guitars and amps to Charlie Chandlers Guitar Experience.

Musicman20

Your best option, after all this messing about, is go straight to social media. Big companies do not like attention like this, (well, no companies like it) so I suggest calmly post the same post on Facebook/Instagram/Twitter.

If it comes to it, refer to this thread.

I have nothing but praise for Boss/Roland's products and when I've registered gear for warranty they seem to have a good policy.

They really need to deal with this asap....and obviously you don't mind shelling out a bit, but c'mon, if it is a bombproof amp, they need to just get involved and help!

I don't want to just make a blanket statement, but unfortunately I find that the UK dealers/UK office of foreign companies NEVER seem to have they level of service that they should.

RiftAmps

The Roland website has a list of mnfr approved repairers for gear, whether in warranty or not

EDIT: Just called Roland spares dept. They recommend this guy for out of warranty repairs

Puretech - Dan 0845 128 4362

http://www.puretechsolutions.co.uk/

jpfamps

Main issue is that these is SMPS which to be honest unless you have A LOT of experience in fixing and the correct technical documents to hand is not an easy fix, and beyond most repairers (myself included).

Even if you can trouble shoot these to the component level then it can be a time consuming, and hence often uneconomic repair.

Most manufacturers buying SMPS OEM so any warranty repairs would be fixed by a PCB swap.

If you have a huge number of products like Roland then trying to stock parts for obsolete products will result in a massive inventory. 

Worse the key parts in SMPS often become obsolete after a few production runs, so it's getting parts a few year down the line can be problematic.

I've just looked at a Blues Cube. Power is getting into the SMPS board, but nothing coming out.

xDottore

jpfamps said:

I've just looked at a Blues Cube. Power is getting into the SMPS board, but nothing coming out.

That's pretty much what's happening on mine, I think. When plugged in I can hear some sort of static-y noise but nil out. And that squares with what amp repair guy said. Thanks

jpfamps

Incidentally I can't see how the dealer is at fault here; the amp is out of warranty and they put you in contact with the manufacturer how didn't want to deal with it.

It's difficult to know what else they could do.

darthed1981

RiftAmps said:

The Roland website has a list of mnfr approved repairers for gear, whether in warranty or not

EDIT: Just called Roland spares dept. They recommend this guy for out of warranty repairs

Puretech - Dan 0845 128 4362

http://www.puretechsolutions.co.uk/

Making sure this shows up for the OP, exactly what this community is for

xDottore

RiftAmps said:

The Roland website has a list of mnfr approved repairers for gear, whether in warranty or not

EDIT: Just called Roland spares dept. They recommend this guy for out of warranty repairs

Puretech - Dan 0845 128 4362

http://www.puretechsolutions.co.uk/

Mr Rift, you are a lifesaver! Just called Puretech and waiting for a call or email from Dan to see whether he can fix and, if so, how much. 

But I think you'd have to agree that Roland could make this process rather easier. I couldn't find a spare or repair number to call (though that may be me just being dim); perhaps easier if you're actually in the amp business, I suspect?

Thanks again

xDottore

PS. As I mentioned in OP, the people given to me by the Rose Morris guys (who to be fair really did try and help) after consulting with their manager (who has main dealings with Roland), as "the only people" who dealt with repairs explicitly said they wouldn't do anything out of warranty.