Roland Cube 80x vs. Fender Mustang III V2

**snoskier63** · 12-29-2014, 08:25 PM

Originally Posted by bob32069

Just purchased a III v2 and really like it but it kind of depends on what type of sound you are looking for. Fender amps can get a great jazz sound (but it is a certain sound, distinctive fender), and I don't think it will ever sound like a polytone or jazzkat or henriksen.

I recently got the IV v2, and I have a Henriksen as well. Try the Pre-amp amp setting on your III v2 if it has it, and mess around with the other settings. I find that gets me pretty close to my Henriksen, only with better reverb.

**TimGee** · 12-29-2014, 09:03 PM

I have had both the Mustang III and currently own a Cube 80X. The Mustang is not a bad amp, but I think it tries to be a jack-of-all-trades: country settings, jazz, blues, metal, and then over-the-top weird settings. In reality, there are a few settings out of the hundred that any one player would actually use. Plus the effects have a rather digital aftertaste (if you know what I mean). Having said that, the clean settings (e.g., Fender Twin) is quite passable for jazz. And snoskier63 is right, the Pre-amp patch gets pretty good jazz tones. The Fuse software, however, is a lot of hassle just for backing tracks. Just load mp3's onto your iPod or cel phone, or use a looper pedal like the Digitech Jamman or Boss RC-x... sheesh. You can mess with the effects settings and create your own patches but I found it was a lot of work for mediocre results. YMMV.

I have had three different Roland Cube amps over the years, and am really liking the Cube 80X. It's very straight forward, gives you very usable effects (e.g. spring reverb, chorus, and delay) that to my ear were a little warmer than the Fender, and of course has the classic JC (Jazz Chorus) setting. This amp has the 12" speaker which produces fuller, richer jazz tones than the smaller Cube versions. The looper requires an extra foot switch but proper looper pedals are (obviously) more versatile.

In summary, if you like plug & play, try the Cube 80X. If you want almost endless tweaking, try the Mustang III. I don't think you'll be disappointed with the sound of either amp.

Cheers. Let us know what you decide.

**bob32069** · 12-29-2014, 09:19 PM

Thanks for the heads up snoskier. I believe the III does have the preamp setting. I'll check it out.

**spiral** · 04-04-2015, 02:08 AM

I don't think you would go wrong with any of them. I have an Evans RE200 and a Blues Cube Stage. They both have excellent cleans, very Fendery. You won't be getting any overdrive out of the Evans but it sounds great with pedals and has a big sound for such a small box with a really big range of tone. I think the Blues Cube and Evans are better built, but they are double and triple the price of a Mustang, respectively.

**Alder Statesman** · 04-04-2015, 11:31 PM

I am a Mustang guy. My main amp is the IV V 2 and a Mini for busking. There is a learning curve with this line of amps, but once you understand Fuse, you get any tone you want out of either. Very flexible and reliable. The ability to move presets between the two is great.

**blackcat** · 04-27-2015, 02:09 PM

The Cube 60 was clearly the defining Roland Cube amp for jazz tone in recent times. The 80x has passed. The current model ( for maybe 2 years now ) is the Cube 80GX. Many of us have a loop pedal in our artillery already and are more concerned to know if the 80GX has a. an improved speaker? b. a METAL jack socket and hexagon nut? c. improved delay and reverb. Is there anyone out there using the new/current model for jazz? Reviews ( other than Roland's own 'rock-centric' videos ) are pretty sparse indicating perhaps that sales have been poor?

**Sandy Renda Wannabe** · 04-28-2015, 11:16 AM

Originally Posted by blackcat

The Cube 60 was clearly the defining Roland Cube amp for jazz tone in recent times. The 80x has passed. The current model ( for maybe 2 years now ) is the Cube 80GX. Many of us have a loop pedal in our artillery already and are more concerned to know if the 80GX has a. an improved speaker? b. a METAL jack socket and hexagon nut? c. improved delay and reverb. Is there anyone out there using the new/current model for jazz? Reviews ( other than Roland's own 'rock-centric' videos ) are pretty sparse indicating perhaps that sales have been poor?

I bought one last week to use as a rehearsal amp with the band. I also bought the footswitch that turns on/off the FX, RVB and Delay in addition to switching between the JC Clean, Lead and Solo channels. I play clean with a bit of reverb and this amp sounds great for what I intended it for- Jazz. I sometimes need a crunchy sound and a OverDriven solo tone so I thought this amp would be great to leave at the rehearsal studio and keep in my trunk during a gig as a backup in case my gig rig blows a tube. The solo channel is programmable as far as the amp mode, bass, mid, treb and presence. You can also save this tone with FX, Verb and Delay.

It is loud enough, portable enough, dependable and sounds good enough to gig with, but I prefer to lug my heavy Peavey Delta Blues 1/15 combo with a small pedal board to play out.....for now

The Tweed setting and the Black face have the best (realistic ) OD tones. I could use this amp at a open mic blues jam no problem. The Bass, Mid and Treb are not flat at 12:00. They are flat at 9:00 so keep that in mind when you dial in your tones. It is a closed back amp so it has plenty of bass and I never dial in more than 4 (11:00).

The JC clean has a bright switch, but I found if I use that the Lead channel and the Clean channel don't have the same voicing. Instead I use the shared presence knob to dial in more mids and treble and then when I switch channels for a slightly crunchy sound the voicings are similar.

I have yet to experiment and use pedals in front of this amp because the FX/ Verbs and Delays sound really good and I barely use the OD sounds so I just deal with the average OD tone. This isn't a Plexi or a Vox. I bought this cube for it's portability and clean tone.

The only thing I would change about this amp is I would add an ext spk jack.

**boatheelmusic** · 03-02-2016, 06:47 AM

For Roland owners - is the "icube link" feature a true digital output? It appears to be an analog output that travels to an ios device via the mic input, and provides an "aux in" to the cube.

The Fender has an actual usb interface that sends the signal to the computer or iphone digitally.

Thanks,

**abelljo** · 03-02-2016, 10:20 AM

I like the 60 when compared to the 80XL. They sound different but I don't know why...

**Bluedawg** · 03-02-2016, 11:12 AM

I have a Mustang III v2 and an older Roland Cube 60 .....

Both are great amps imho and can hang with more expensive SS and tube amps for clean jazz sounds when matched to the right guitar

The Roland is plug and play, as has been already said, and sounds good with almost any guitar imho

The Mustang needs tweaking to get what I like .... and that's already been said, too

Mustang is more versatile, but the Cubes can cover a lot of ground, too .... both do decent rock and blues sounds

**drbhrb** · 03-02-2016, 05:41 PM

I recently got a Cube-01 for practicing. It's essentially a Cube 10 gx without the effects and less amp models. I wish they offered this simple configuration in the higher watt amps. The 80 gx sounds great but I'd rather not have all the extra crap on it I'll never use. The mustang goes even further with customization which turns me off.

**blackcat** · 03-03-2016, 03:39 AM

Originally Posted by drbhrb

I recently got a Cube-01 for practicing. It's essentially a Cube 10 gx without the effects and less amp models. I wish they offered this simple configuration in the higher watt amps. The 80 gx sounds great but I'd rather not have all the extra crap on it I'll never use. The mustang goes even further with customization which turns me off.

Roland are probably well aware of the existence of (in their eyes) the existence of a market for such an amp but consider our numbers far too small to be bothered with. Of course, one soon begins to ignore the existence of most of the other crap on their and leave the amp set to maybe one or two defaults.

**neuroscan** · 03-10-2016, 03:52 PM

Originally Posted by drbhrb

I recently got a Cube-01 for practicing. It's essentially a Cube 10 gx without the effects and less amp models. I wish they offered this simple configuration in the higher watt amps. The 80 gx sounds great but I'd rather not have all the extra crap on it I'll never use. The mustang goes even further with customization which turns me off.

So, how is the Cube-01 as a practice amp? I agree with you that the regular Cubes offer all sorts of extras for which there is little need. Does the 01 sound OK for what it is? I noticed that for some reason they are not available in Europe...

**Gitfiddler** · 03-10-2016, 05:08 PM

Originally Posted by Sandy Renda Wannabe

I bought one last week to use as a rehearsal amp with the band. I also bought the footswitch that turns on/off the FX, RVB and Delay in addition to switching between the JC Clean, Lead and Solo channels. I play clean with a bit of reverb and this amp sounds great for what I intended it for- Jazz. I sometimes need a crunchy sound and a OverDriven solo tone so I thought this amp would be great to leave at the rehearsal studio and keep in my trunk during a gig as a backup in case my gig rig blows a tube. The solo channel is programmable as far as the amp mode, bass, mid, treb and presence. You can also save this tone with FX, Verb and Delay.

It is loud enough, portable enough, dependable and sounds good enough to gig with, but I prefer to lug my heavy Peavey Delta Blues 1/15 combo with a small pedal board to play out.....for now

The Tweed setting and the Black face have the best (realistic ) OD tones. I could use this amp at a open mic blues jam no problem. The Bass, Mid and Treb are not flat at 12:00. They are flat at 9:00 so keep that in mind when you dial in your tones. It is a closed back amp so it has plenty of bass and I never dial in more than 4 (11:00).

The JC clean has a bright switch, but I found if I use that the Lead channel and the Clean channel don't have the same voicing. Instead I use the shared presence knob to dial in more mids and treble and then when I switch channels for a slightly crunchy sound the voicings are similar.

I have yet to experiment and use pedals in front of this amp because the FX/ Verbs and Delays sound really good and I barely use the OD sounds so I just deal with the average OD tone. This isn't a Plexi or a Vox. I bought this cube for it's portability and clean tone.

The only thing I would change about this amp is I would add an ext spk jack.

Excellent amp review.

I bought one of these (80gx) off of my local Craig's List in like new condition...and sounds great for band rehearsals. I play mostly Jazz/RnB/Blues genre. Mine lives in my trunk. Great grab-n-go cube.

**rhoadsscholar** · 03-12-2016, 10:56 PM

Another mustang fan here take the time to tweak and learn fuse.

**richb2** · 03-18-2016, 12:02 AM

My new Cube 80gx arrived and I really like it. I don't play very loud. I was considering getting a 20 or a 40 but decided to go with the 80 because at my low volume it is super clean, yet with a lot of middle. Pretty happy with it.

**artcore** · 06-13-2016, 05:25 PM

you have to plug the fender into your computer and mess with it....its actually fun....you make up your own presets for the tunes you play....I don't know if I like it or what...I would love to have 3 or 4 amps to try out for a few weeks...since I'm not a wealthy person...that isn't going to happen.....its too bad guitar center isn't set up to loan out demo amps....

**Bluedawg** · 06-13-2016, 05:34 PM

Originally Posted by artcore

you have to plug the fender into your computer and mess with it....its actually fun....you make up your own presets for the tunes you play....I don't know if I like it or what...I would love to have 3 or 4 amps to try out for a few weeks...since I'm not a wealthy person...that isn't going to happen.....its too bad guitar center isn't set up to loan out demo amps....

Some people take advantage of the liberal GC return policy to use it like a loan program .... LOL

I get a kick out of messing with my computer and Mustang III .... I've gotten some nice sounds for my archtops on it.

**TedBPhx** · 09-26-2016, 12:01 PM

Picked up a Mustang II v2 off Craig's List for $135. Lot of fun! Cheap! I've seen the IIIs for as low as $200.

For me the II sounds digital but in a live gig with a drummer and keys and bass that may not matter.