First Impressions: Phil Jones AAD Cub AG-100

[TieDyedDevil]

First impressions:

1. Man this thing is small...

2. ... and light. You really can lift it with a finger.

3. Nice construction. Tolexed cab, bumper bars to protect the controls, lots of allen-head screws holding the back panel in place.

4. The included carry bag seems robust enough.

5. It comes with a 12 foot IEC power cord. Nice touch...

I first played my Koll DL Thinline #1 (humbuckers). I had the amp up on a stool a couple feet below ear level. The amp sounds fine with the EQ flat.

The Cub doesn't have a ton of volume. It sure as heck wouldn't keep up with most tube amps at rock 'n roll volumes. But volume and the ability to "cut through" a mix are not design goals for this kind of amp. Transparency is the rule, and the Cub has it.

Pushing the amp hard enough invokes the built-in limiter, which sounds OK as limiters go. I can tell when I'm pushing too hard and need to back off a bit, but the limiter's sound doesn't make me think "eeeew, I never want to hear that again..."

My first reaction was that the amp might be a bit understated on the treble, but I was more than 45 degrees off-axis at the time. Moving closer to on-axis balanced the treble nicely; it doesn't seem to get harsh even when fully on-axis.

The low-end response is smooth and full. You'd never guess by listening that this amp runs a pair of 5" speakers.

The EQ controls have a lot of range; a little goes a long way. The turnover points seem to work well with my guitar.

The size of the amp pushes all the controls into a very limited space on the back panel. It takes a bit of deftness to adjust the EQ. The EQ controls do have a detent at the center position, which I find very helpful.

Next I played my Koll DL Thinline #2 (P-90s). Again, great sound.

There are no effects built in to this amp. It has an FX loop.

The Kolls (which are constructed like a cross between a carved top/back archtop and a thinline semi-hollow) sound really good through this amp even without my reverb "crutch".

To add reverb I used a Digitech DigiVerb reverb pedal with the Cub. It works. Honestly, though, I like the sound of these guitars through the Cub enough to play without the reverb.

One anomaly that I haven't yet figured out is that running the reverb pedal in the FX loop seems to increase the volume of the amp. This doesn't happen when I put the pedal between the guitar and the amp.

Just to add a bit of perspective regarding the size of the amp: The Digitech pedal is the same size as the standard Boss pedals we all know and love. Four of these pedals on top of the amp (stacked two across by two deep) would only leave about an inch of the amp uncovered side-to-side and front-to-back.

[mfarkas]

so how do you see this working at a gig? with drums, bass ect?

[TieDyedDevil]

I won't know for certain for a while. I usually play solo. Much less often with my trio, which consists of a drummer, a cellist/bassist and me.

I'll hazard a guess, though, that the Cub will hold together just fine for a trio gig. The types of gigs we do are either intimate gigs in small rooms (restaurants, art galleries) or on stages where everything is mic'd or DI'd. In the former situations we tend to play pretty close to conversational volumes. On stage the Cub would be my monitor.

Let me add a bit more by way of comparison. I also have an AER Compact 60. My initial impression is that the Cub has less headroom than the Compact 60. On the other hand, the Cub has a more present sound than the Compact 60. The difference in headroom may be less significant if the Cub is EQ'd differently - that's something I've only begun to experiment with.

Most players are more familiar with the Roland Cube amps than any of these acoustic amps. I used to own a Cube 30X. The 30X is more of an electric-guitar amp. It has a lot of midrange energy and can seem quite loud since the ear is most sensitive to the midrange frequencies.

I played the Cube 30X with a rock drummer and it held together fine. I'm certain that the Cub would not be able to keep up at those volumes; I'm not so sure about the Compact 60. But these acoustic amps (the Cub and the Compact 60) have the transparency that really brings out the nuances of fingerstyle guitar playing.

[mfarkas]

hey would you happen to know how this amp would work with a solid body electric?

[NSJ]

Very cool. Thanks for taking the time to write a detailed review. Wonder where you can go to test drive these babies? I wouldn't think the local Geek Center and Sam @ss would carry it.

[TieDyedDevil]

NSJ, I bought mine from SamAsh.com, so they just might stock it locally. (They had the best online price I found, BTW.)

Mfarkas, the Cub works fine with my solid body Kritz guitar (an interesting cross between a Strat and a Tele, with a lot of technical innovations). The amp really doesn't *add* anything to the sound of the guitar; you get out what you put in.

[Scolohofo]

wow,nice review for a lovely amp

[msr13]

Hi TDD-

Any updates on your perceptions of the Cub six months later? Do you still love it and use it? I am thinking about springing for one. I am sure others would be interested in an update, as well. Thanks.

[TieDyedDevil]

I still love the Cub.

I've played through the Cub in a jazz combo with horns, drums, electric bass, keys, vocalist, other guitars, etc. This was a recital for a jazz improv class I took. We played in a medium-sized hall to about 100 people. It was an attentive audience. (In other words, no significant background noise while we played, unlike the situation had we played in a club.) The Cub kept up fine in that situation, but it was at its limit. It would almost certainly not hold up in a combo with horns in a club situation. I still think that the Cub would hold up just fine in a trio situation (guitar, bass, drums) regardless of venue.

I received information from AAD regarding the volume boost when putting a pedal in the FX loop: it's an impedance issue. The loop is designed for use with the lower input impedance of rack gear. Ultimately it's a non-issue given that this is a clean amp. Stompboxes work just fine in front of the amp. If you have rack effects, run them in the loop.

The 11-pounds-and-change carry weight is still a joy!

[msr13]

Thanks for the reply. They just came out with the Super Cub, which is bigger, but comes with a second channel. I found one already used online for a little more than the original Cub is selling new. I may regret this since the 11 lbs was a big attraction, but I took it, figuring I would never find another Super at that price again. I've been searching for a solid state for months, having tried a JazzKat, Acoustic Image, and Henriksen. My favorite of that batch was the Henriksen, but I find the Super Cub intriguing since it is set up to take both acoustics and electrics without having to add a tweeter or turn the tweeter off manually.

The only input I've seen on it is from Premier Magazine. They reviewed both Cubs in this month's issue and posted a video review, as well. The video is:

Video Review-Phil Jones AAD CUB AG-100 & Super CUB - PremierGuitar.com

Anyway, hopefully, they followed the same quality design you describe on the original. Thanks again, and I will post some clips once I get it (although, I am still not that good as recording ).

[BigDaddyLoveHandles]

Has anyone played through both the CUB and the ZT Lunchbox? How about a comparison of these two 10 pounders?

[Pierrot]

The CUB is a great little amp. It's relatively OK with archtops (humbuckers, P90), but IMO it really shines with piezo systems. MUCH more volume, and the treble pot becomes meaningful.
I think electric guitar amps have their treble eq centered at around 2---5 KHz, while acoustic guitar amps (and this is the first purpose for the CUB) get their treble eq at much higher frequencies, i.e 8----10KHz, in order to be able to interfere in the "sibilance" proper of acoustic guitars.
In the same way, impedance and signal levels differ from humbuckers to piezo...hence the difference in volume.

I own one CUB, and also 2 different Polytones, a pair of Roland Cube 60 and a Roland AC60, and definitively both the AC60 and the CUB work better with my Eastman er0e (Piezo) and the other amps are the ideal complement to my Jaen jamaica or my Ibanez GB15 (Humbucker).

Anyway, personal experiences are just that, personal experiences.

[tejastani]

I think a higher input signal helps. I use an ART Tube MP (cheap) to boost the input and the amp is quite a bit louder. Still clean and responsive. I have a Holy Grail Nano pedal, but reverb sort of squashes the tone of the P90 -ish single coil of my Wechter.

[kris]

small amp ...not good with loud drummer!!!