I WAS AMAZED, might stray away from TUBES

[gary mitchell]

I thought that only tube amps, were the only amps that really made decent sound. The only transistor amp that ever came close was a JC120. But then I went to a club last night, and heard a guy play a Roland 80XL cube. He was using a Fender strat and a ES335. He was playing a mix of Jazz Fusion and Blues. Man was I amazed of his talent and the sound he was getting from that little amp. My guitar buddy's thank I am crazy, but I have a Fender Blues Deluxe Reissue. I just might trade straight across for one. I have not even had it for a year yet, never gig with it. Been playing bass alot lately. Do you guys think I am nuts for trading my fender for one.

[AlohaJoe]

Originally Posted by gary mitchell

Do you guys think I am nuts for trading my fender for one.

No, but it would be ideal (if financially possible) for you to have both and decide which to keep after you've lived with it a while. I'd prefer the Deluxe myself and I'd trade you in a heartbeat if I had the Roland.

I'm not saying don't do it, just that I've gotten stoked about specific gear by listening to great players only to find that it was their playing that made it sound so good. The same issue came up with a jacket recently... it looked cool on somebody else, but when I put it on I just looked like me.

[gary mitchell]

You might be right, right now I have only one guitar. I have a Prestige Heritage LP from Canada. Its a Les Paul copy, I loaded it with TV Jone Classic humbuckers. On my other Fender Deville it sounded very clean and nice. That amp just kept costing me money, always needing repairs. So I went to the Guitar Center they gave me a good trade on the Deluxe. Even with the Deville having a blown speaker. For some reason my guitar just don't sound the same on the Deluxe. I wish I had kept my JC 120 I use to have, right now being 60yrs old laid off jobs are getting hard to find. Think God for my wife she has a fair job, I have become a house husband for a while. So buying music equipment has slow down some. If I want something different I might have to resort to trading if I can. Like you said that guy was an awesome guitar player, He could have made a Peavey Rage sound good. I do like the effects in the Roland, everytime I see one I like a moth to a flame now.

[AmundLauritzen]

The cube is a good amp. I use the cube 30x for gigs and practicing and it works very well. There are of course better alternatives out there, but few are as compact, mobile, cheap, and good sounding all in the same package.
Good luck carrying a Fender Twin from gig to gig without getting slipped disks.
The sound is good, but you risk your back, unless you're some high class cat who have someone to carry it for you.

[jorgemg1984]

IMO there are better transistor amps than the JC120 or the 80XL... And both tubes and transistors can sound good - although probably different.

Don't buy the Cube just because one guy made it sound good - maybe have a lesson with him instead

[fep]

I had this same experience years ago. But it was the solid state Yamaha G100 II being played by Pat Metheny and then later I saw Mike Stern using the same amp.

[Meggy]

I have three solid state amps (and no tube amps) - a Yamaha G50 112, a Polytone Minibrute, and the Roland Cube 80XL. They can all do jazz well, but I often find myself using the Polytone for that role, as it has (IMO) a very nice tone quality, and is the most portable. The Yamaha is actually an amazingly good jazz amp though - I should use it more really. The Cube is a great amp too - not my first choice for jazz, but to me it does have a personality of it's own, and easily the most versatile of the three.

[oldane]

I use to say that the Fender Twin Reverb is the best amp I have never owned. Every time I have been tempted to buy it, I have been put off by the weight - plus the fact that it isn't really at it's optimum at low volumes.

I have with pleasure used a solid state Evans FET500JE for 15 years, and it has been an excellent amp, which had both depth and sparkle.

The Evans broke down beyond sensible repair costs, so it has now been replaced by an AI amp head with a Redstone RS-10ER speaker cabinet (a Raezers Edge cabinet would also have worked fine). One detail with the AI amp head I love is the adjustable low cut filter, which makes it possible to remove the bass boom (and nothing more than that) in a particular room. The center frequencies of the tone controls on the AI amp head are not optimal for magnetic guitar PUs, so I use a Tech 21 Sansamp ParaDriver DI analog pedal in front of the amp, set the amps controls flat and dial in the tone on the ParaDriver. The ParaDriver is extremely flexible and it provides any sound I want.

Today there are many preamp pedals with EQ available, and I believe that one shouldn't feel locked up with the tone a particular amp can provide as the sound can be shaped in many directions with such a pedal. One can plug in the preamp pedal in the preamp input of the amp or in the FX return (if the amp has an effects loop). Many guitarists use such a pedal either directly into a PA system or into a small portable PA amp or into a powered PA speaker.

The Sansamp ParaDriver DI, I use, can be phantom powered (the AI amp provides Phantom Power), which is convenient, though it will hiss a tad more than with a conventional 9V power supply. Tech 21 makes a number of other good analog preamp pedals modelled on famous tube amps. Of those, the Sansamp Blonde (Fender type of sound) may be the most appropiate for jazzers. Some use the Boss FDR-1 pedal (mimics the Fender Deluxe Reverb), but it's a digital pedal, not analog like the Sansamp pedals, and to my ears the Sansamp pedals sounds far better. There are no doubt other good sounding pedals out there.

There's also the option of using an EQ pedal/unit without preamp. There are several graphic EQ pedals available and at least two 3-band parametric EQ pedals (Empress Para EQ and Carl Martin).

[gary mitchell]

Years ago I played Christain Metal, we were trying to reach some hard core kids. I just got burn out on distortion, the best distorion to my ears is maybe Santana. I like to play clean very clean, right now I can't just go out and buy anything. The amp that I like is Fenders Twin with the 15 in it. They still make it. Evans amps I have heard have a bad rep of breaking down. The only reason I bought my Deluxe Reissue, is because Guitar Center gave such a deal on it. They took a trade on a amp I goodn't even get rid of on Craigslist. Right now if I want something I have to trade. At my age I want to get stuff and be done, and injoy playing. I have a Fender USA P bass, a MarkBass Jeff Berlin Combo, Takemine acoustic, and my Prestige Heritage LP. My next buy is a Amp I like a Strat are Tele and Jazz style guitar Prestige are Peerless with P90s. and I am done. Right now I make most my money playing bass.

[Greco]

Originally Posted by jorgemg1984

IMO there are better transistor amps than the JC120 or the 80XL...

Which specific amp(s) in the same price range did you have in mind when you wrote this...I'm referring only to the Cube 80XL, not the JC120

Thanks

Cheers

Dave

[jorgemg1984]

I was thinking mainly used amps like Bandit 65, Fender M80, old Roland Cubes, Yamaha G series.. usually cheaper and less sterile / digital than the 80XL (I never bounded with JC120, always felt artificial to me, don't know why).

In a higher price range I like my jazzmaster ultralight better than any of ther others above mentioned byt far my favorite solid state amp (and in some ways an Henriksen also). Never tried an Evans and tried once an Acoustic Image very briefly so I don't have an opinion.

These are of course my own subjective opinions on tone...

[gary mitchell]

I have seen some nice JC 120s used on Craigslist, for the price of a new 80XL. Its just the guy I saw playing in the club, was using a 80XL. And he was making it sound very good. He was also a awesome guitarist. I am just trying to settle down, and get something I am happy with. And I don't want to have to lose the house to get it. My wife is the only one working right now. I like less weight and all, but not at the cost of good sound. Most of my life I have played tube amps

[jorgemg1984]

You only have the Blues Deluxe these days? What kind of jazz guitar players sounds you like? Some of us have very different ideas for tone... And also on what budget are you talking?

[vinlander]

I have a Cube 80XL and could not be happier.
I use to own 2 JC120s, a Marshall and a Peavy tube amp but now keep a very small setup.
Small, not heavy and packed with various amp simulation and effects.
I like the fact it is using modelling without the annoying dependance on tweaking endless menus or using external softwares from a computer to load patches because presets are always sucking...
Its quite straight forward and effective.
I play from Jazz to metal with it.

[gary mitchell]

I got laid off, and at 60yrs old finding a job is not easy. My wife is a nurse, but I don't like asking her for much, she bought me all I have now. She is a wonderful woman, I am a Bless man. I make a little money her and there as a sub at the local schools. Some months nothing, but there's a big God and something will come up. It always has and I have never went hungry. Once in a while my wife will surprise me, I am a good house husband right now, and she don't have to lift a finger cleaning house and stuff. I make a little money playing bass also, seems like bass players are hard to find around here.

[gary mitchell]

Its suppose to say here and there not her and there. MY BAD

[gary mitchell]

You know its almost 2 oclock in the morning, I think I've decided just to keep my Fender. I just recently Put a Eminence C Rex speaker in it, and changed the v1 tube to a 5751. I don't even have the speaker broke in yet. I will just wait tell things look a little better, I need another amp anyway. I need one for when guys come over. I think AlohaJoe might be right, I was taken in buy the guys playing style. It is a cool amp and it will be my second amp. I have a buddy who plays in K.C. MO. keyboards and makes good money. He said that their guitar player uses a Carvin SX 200 and it sounds really good. Don't remember if I have ever heard one. He said that guys love's is Carvin and uses a Gibson ES175 and a Fender Tele.

[pingu]

Played through a Cube 80 at a Jam Sess couple
weeks ago ...... very impressed.
Don't know what the settings were , it was a nice big warm sound

[LtKojak]

Nowadays, the best modeling amp for the kind of sounds I'm looking for is the Fender Mustang amp.

Having used a '72 silverface Twin for most of my life, I can only say that this little amp comes so close to the real thing it's scary! I currently own a III, but I started with a II.

Using the FUSE software will help you to create wonderful sounds. Any amp model will benefit of the following tweaks: SAG=minimum, BIAS=maximum, Speaker=212C. After that you can tweak the tone controls, effects, gain to your hearts content.

HTH,

[barrymclark]

More and more are hearing what I heard.

These are just SCARILY good sounding amps. Now, you can have tastes that might make the Cube not your amp... but these are GREAT amps. I mean GREAT!

In fact, after some tooling around and nearly a year of knob twiddling.. I found the tone that makes the amp all but impossible to turn off. Until my tastes change... I can't see the need for another amp.

I have the 80x and am considering an 80xl just to have a back up. Not that I will need one. Roland/Boss makes wickedly reliable stuff.

The trick is, as with most modeling amps despite how they market them, to not use it as a modeler. Just use it to get a good sound. You'd be surprised at what the amp will turn up.

[jorgemg1984]

Good decision, keep the fender and wait and get a good solid state amp as a backup. I hope 2012 will be a better year for you!

[gary mitchell]

Thanks. I Hope You All Have A Great 2012. And Thank You All For Your Help, Your Good People.

[Russ Kapp]

I had a Cube 60 back in the day until it got smoked at church with a bad power socket ( unknown to me at least )....I recently replaced it with the new 40XL Cube.....I can't say enough about how my L5 is in LOVE with this thing!

[jorgemg1984]

You can also try other mods on the Fender. The speaker and the tube probably helped a lot already, maybe re-biasing or a different tone stack might help you (I think the reverb can also be improved a lot). I played one of those once stock in a music shop and thought it sounded nice, wouldn't trade it for an 80XL (but I am starting to think I need to give the Cubes a new try since everyone loves them here)

Fromel Electronics

[bborzell]

I have a Cube 60, a Polytone 101B and a Princeton Reissue. If I woke up one morning with only one of them, I could easily live with whichever was left behind. Neither is fundamentally "better" than either of the others. They have tonal differences that basically fade from memory soon enough after starting playing. These differences are very subjective, I believe.

[Richard-H]

Originally Posted by LtKojak

Nowadays, the best modeling amp for the kind of sounds I'm looking for is the Fender Mustang amp.

Having used a '72 silverface Twin for most of my life, I can only say that this little amp comes so close to the real thing it's scary! I currently own a III, but I started with a II.

Using the FUSE software will help you to create wonderful sounds. Any amp model will benefit of the following tweaks: SAG=minimum, BIAS=maximum, Speaker=212C. After that you can tweak the tone controls, effects, gain to your hearts content.

HTH,

I agree, the Fender Mustang II is an incredible amp. But I lik ethe SAg at minimum, the BIAS at -25% and either the Princeton or the 4x12M cabs. I use the triangle Flnger, the '65 frender spring reverb and the simple compressor as my 'standand' post effects chain.

[TieDyedDevil]

The Roland Cubes are good amps. Like ainy amp, they may or may not be to your taste. In the right hands, though, they sound great. They have a midrange focus that sits well in an ensemble. The choice of amp models and built-in FX is an added bonus.

Some of you may already know that I stopped using tube amps eight years ago, and haven't suffered the slightest bit of regret. I thoroughly enjoy the independence of tone (sound quality) vs. volume that's only available from amp modelers. The freedom from unexpected failures and spurious unwanted tube noises is nice, too.

I believe that the instrument is far more important than the amp, anyhow. Having a comfortable, responsive, consistent guitar will advance your playing much further than any choice of amp.

[gary mitchell]

What amp do you use Mr.TieDyedDevil.

[TieDyedDevil]

An Eleven Rack into a PA.

Or, if I don't need FX, a direct box into a PA.

[gary mitchell]

I can't believe it, some guy wants to trade me a very nice condition JC120 for my Fender Blues Deluxe Reissue. Now my mind is crusing again. I don't care about weight if the tone is good.