Roland Blues Cube - which version?

Littlejonny

I keep ending up carrying my hot rod deluxe (or worse, pro reverb) considerable distances and every time I swear I’m going to buy a light weight amp

the other guitarist at the last gig had a Roland blues cube artist and it sounded awesome. I think it’s about 10lbs lighter, and there’s a smaller version called the stage. 

Is the stage as good as the artist or would I be disappointed? I think the head would be the best option but you can pick up a stage for about 300, the artist for 400 and I think the cheapest I’ve seen the head is 650.

Maybe a TMDR would be better?

exocet

Get the Artist 1x12. I have both HRD and BC Artist and I'd say that the 80 watt model is a good replacement for HRD in a live context. At home volumes, the BC is hands down a much better / easier amp to live with. 

Now that's the sales pitch done....I'll sell you mine for £375 because I've gone down the Fractal route and have decided that my amps are going...although my wife is probably more the reason

PAL

Having owned the amps you have mentioned I would say none of them. I think the Boss Katana Gen 3 100watt combo is
  a much better option. I own one of these. Also I have a Laney Lionheart  Foundry 60 watt amp ( LF60-112 ) which is really
 good. My valve amps are Rift PR-35. DR Z Maz18JR & Fender 68 Custom Princeton reverb.
 My best advice is take your time and try out a few amps and yours ears will tell you what is right for you.

lustycourtier

I got a stage in a trade recently and made mistake of gigging it. Incredible amp, loud enough for anything. 15 gigs or so in, Genuinely cant see myself going back to other amps.

HAL9000

I owned a Stage and it was IMO a very decent sounding piece of kit. Unfortunately it gave up on me after I hadn’t had it that long and Roland were quoting something like eight weeks to get the necessary bits to repair it. I’ve known other people though who have had them with no issues whatsoever.

One of the blues jams I attend has one as part of the back line and it’s been 100% reliable for years and easily loud enough for a decent sized pub.

edit - just remembered another friend who has the Blues Cube Hot which I think is 30W. I think it’s a simpler affair with no provision for the tone capsules but it still sounds good.

stratman3142

I've got an HRD IV which weighs 41 lb and a Blues Cube Artist which weighs 35.3 lb. So the difference is only about 6 lb, but the Blues Cube Artist certainly feels more manageable to carry.

I use them clean as a pedal platform. Comparing them side by side, I think the clean channel of my HRD IV has a bit more warmth or body (for want of a better description), but the Blues Cube Artist sounds good.

I don't use the drive channel of either amp live. But when I compared them at home, the drive channel of the Blues Cube Artist sounded quite nice to my ear, whereas the drive channel of my HRD IV isn't to my taste, shall we say .

I got a Blues Cube Hot (27.8 lb) a few months ago, after suffering the embarrassment of taking my Blues Cube Artist to a Blues Jam, and it was twice the size of everybody else's amp. However, I did establish that the drive channel of the Blues Cube Artist sounded good at a Blues Jam.

I'm pretty impressed with the Blues Cube Hot. It never gets past the 15W setting at Blues Jams and is plently loud enough. The Boost channel is actually like adding a distortion pedal, and isn't too bad but I prefer to use a separate drive pedal.

I compared my Blues Cube Hot on the 30W setting to my HRD IV and Blues Cube Artist at home. I was surprised how much it held its own against the other two when I cranked it up, until I was worried about annoying the neighbourrs. But I havent had chance to try it in a full band gigging situtation yet as I'm not in a band at the moment.

I find the Blues Cube Hot to be a very bright amp, but it's OK when I back off the treble quite a bit to about 3 to 4.

Barquentine

I had the Blues Cube artist and returned it - tried very hard for a few weeks but I gave up on it. Also had a Katana (worst amp I've ever owned) and had the Laney Foundry combo for a day before returning it. I really like my Quilter Cub US which I think is the best solid-state amp out there. 

Titch

I owned an Artist 1x12 and had a similar experience as Hal9000, it packed up after about three weeks and again getting it repaired was going to take time so I took a refund from the dealer, however it was decent sounding amp, I mostly used the clean channel and rarely the drive channel and I only used it on the 45W setting.

Littlejonny

Sorry I’ve been super busy and slow to reply - Thanks all - lots of food for thought here. I tried the (I think latest gen) Katana and found it a bit honky tbh. Maybe that disappears in a band.

Shane from intheblues thinks the bandit is as good as the blues cube, although the bandit is a pretty weighty beast so that defeats the point!

TBH I’d like to go lighter than the BC Artist. Maybe it’s time for an FRFR cab. 

Greatape

Haven't tried the stage but another upvote for the Artist. Sounds 90% as good as my valve amps, but lighter and more practical. Very good with pedals. 

Must be getting on to the point where they revise that range. I think they're pushing ten years old. 

richman6100

I had an BC Artist 1x12 combo for a few years. Surprisingly good amps in my experience. I eventually paired it with a valve amp in a stereo setup too and it was in no way outclassed. No reliability issues with mine and it was used pretty much every day.

stratman3142

I wonder whether there might have been early reliability issues. I got my Blues Cube Artist fairly shortly after they'd been released, and it packed up while it was still under warranty.

Since the repair it's been fine for many years.

Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but I've noticed a few posts on problems with the Artist model but not with the other versions.

stratman3142

Something to bear in mind (see link below) if you're using multiple digital effects feeding into a digital modelling amp.

https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/123716/modelling-amp-latency-and-cumulative-factors/p1

It's fine if there aren't too many things in the signal chain with ADC/DACs. But as I often use a Helix in stompbox mode into my Blues Cube, I start to feel the cummulative latency sooner than a full analogue chain, as I get further from my amp. But it's rarely a problem, as I'm usually pretty close to my amp or there's a monitor nearby on bigger stages.

Littlejonny

I’m borrowing a Blackstar Amped 1 this week, with the hope that I will be satisfied enough to go with a class-d pedal sized amp and a lightweight cab. 

I did love that BC Artist but I think 16kg is not enough of a weight saving for me. I would totally have one in the studio though for reliability and great sound.

relic245

Littlejonny said:

I’m borrowing a Blackstar Amped 1 this week, with the hope that I will be satisfied enough to go with a class-d pedal sized amp and a lightweight cab. 

I did love that BC Artist but I think 16kg is not enough of a weight saving for me. I would totally have one in the studio though for reliability and great sound.

I replaced my HRD with an amped1. To my ears the amped1 into a decent cab was the equal of the fender all day long. 

It sounded good direct too but I preferred it with a cab.

Littlejonny

Thanks @relic245 ;What cab are you using?

relic245

Littlejonny said:

Thanks @relic245 ;What cab are you using?

I don't have it any longer (long story but I wanted to have very detailed control via midi and it couldn't do what I wanted)

I mainly used it through the speaker of a Peavey bandit so nothing high end and it sounded great.

I used it once through a blackstar artisan cab, 2 x V30s in a good quality cab and it sounded absolutely massive.

V30s on paper are probably not the best match but it was ace 

Put it on the 100 watt setting, turn up the master and it's the equal of most valve amps.