In praise of the indomitable Cube amps

[jazzbow]

Hey there.

Many forumites here have spent time with a Roland Cube 60 back in the day.
It seems all guitarist either had a Cube 60 or Peavey Bandit and we were a happy bunch until the re-emergence of cheaper valve/tube, hyper digital thingummies and sooper solid state amps.
Then the chase for that elusive 'tone' took us over and the once treasured Cube was pushed into a spare room or attic and forgotten.

The Cube series has been with us 30-ish years and has seen many changes and improvements. It's a tough little bugger and fully equipped with loads of features no matter what size you go for.

The Diminutive Micro Cube.

Well this one I bought for practice. Love the features but that poor little speaker doesn't does it!
So that itch started, how can I improve it? A bigger speaker, that's what.
I considered making a new enclosure to fit the gubbins in with a 10" speaker but then again that negates the whole Micro thing dunnit.

So I skilfully pulled it apart, removed the original baffle and made a new one. Cutting a circle with a jigsaw and crossed fingers is challenging but hey ho, it were done



After trying a 6.5" car audio speaker (which added to the O/Drive channels but nothing to the JC) I popped in an old 6.5" Carlsboro practice amp speaker. Note the mini ports I drilled in!
The sound is much improved for these jaded old ears. I really like it. Oh, and I plug in my mobile phone and tune into radio stations through it in my workshop.
As you can see I have changed the name to 'Turbo Cube' and there is a reason why...



On the side I have put a strat input plate with a speaker line out for 4X12's! Mwaa ha haaa!
Oh boy, what a great sound, battery powered whammo matey.
I've made a box chair with two 10" speakers and it is brilliant with the Turbo and a compressor. What a laugh. I've also wired up a set of sound system speakers into a mono plug and that sounds great too with either a radio app or guitar or both!!

I was stashing away some coin for a Yammie THD 10C but in all fairness I cannot justify that outlay with this set up.

If you are thinking about messing with your Micro Cube be aware Roland put this super stay stuck tape on the top panel where the two chassis securing bolts are. I eventually freed it with a pallette knife and a hacksaw blade.

The Mighty Cube 60

Unusually for ole' Jazzbow I had some spare cash a long while back and I bought myself a Cube 60. They were being shifted out from a music shop that was liquidating its stock before closing down (real shame).
I was really happy with that amp. It had everything I needed. Brilliant times were spent at home and at friends houses with that amp. No dramas. Just worked and never protested.

Eventually an Ampeg joined the Jazzbow Jamboree. A 15 watt GVT. Poor old Cube 60 just gathered dust.

So in time Jazzbow became a member of a covers band doing low key entertainment events. The set up is bass, drums, keyboards, guitar and singer. With all the concern for loud music in public places over here in Brittleland we rarely blow out loudness. We have 2 PA's with one slaving into another plus keys and vox. My Ampeg + pedals works well and cuts through with the amp tilted back. And all the while the Cube 60 waits in the boot/trunk of the car ready to rise to the challenge when called!

Well last Saturday night the inevitable happened. Amp failure.....!!!

We were playing at a charity event. We got there early, set up, sound check and everything was hunky dory. All levels dialled in, set list jiggled around and then off to the bar for a complimentary beer. The first act, a 30 piece military band with kettle drums, take stage. Glorious stuff and it went down a storm. 20 minutes to go and we go on stage to move our bits out and then it happens!
'What? The Ampeg fell over and broke? A power valve blew up!?'
Nope. The bass players TC Electronics bass amp head decided it didn't want to work.
Feck.
The call goes out....
Heeeelp!!
Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No! It's SuperCube....
We fetched that old Cube 60 out of the car, soldered up a jack to connecton cable (thanks for that TC!) and plugged the bass cabinet into the Cube 60. Boosted the bass, dropped the mids and all within 20 minutes!
The bass tone was really quite good and the TC cabinet spreads the frequencies really well.


Here he is, Mr SuperCube. Where others falter and fail The Cube 60 sails past.


With the dust cleaned off its panel top left here's the settings and a gold star for an outstanding achievment.

So thanks Roland for making such versatile amps.
The Cube 60 is a brilliant first choice gigging amp and definitely worth its weight in gold for a backup.
They are all so well made and deserve all the praise heaped onto them.

[jazz.fred]

I love my Cube 40 XL. Although I own 3 amps including the wonderful Ampeg GVT 15-112 tube amplifier, my Cube 40 XL is the amp I play every day. The JC-120 modeled clean channel has beautiful tone.

The feature that I like best is the ability to reduce the power output from 40 watts down to 2 watts. The 2 watt setting provides a room filling, musically satisfying tone that is perfect for practicing. Plus, the amp is very solidly built and extremely reliable.

[Engine Swap]

I've always wanted an orange cube 60.

[Flat]

Roland has made some pretty great amps, between all of the Cubes and the JC-120 family.

I played a JC-60 for years, and now I've got a Micro-Cube that runs on batteries that is really a pretty amazing blackface model for about $120. Bang-per-buck, that's hard to beat. (especially if you don't have the skills to make your own Turbo Cube! That looks trick!)

[roegtr]

The Roland Cube 60 is a true work horse! I've used mine for hundreds or maybe even thousands of gigs and it never fails to sound good and it never broke down.

[goldenwave77]

I have an old "orange Cube" 40....best $75 I ever spent.

[jazz.fred]

Hey Flat,

I'm thinking about a small, battery powered amp. How usable is the clean volume on the Micro Cube? I tried one about 6 or 7 years ago and it seemed to me that the distorted tones were much louder than the clean tone.

What has your experience been?

[Endorphins]

I just plug the microcube into a Peavy keyboard amp for that sound.

[Flat]

Hey Flat,

I'm thinking about a small, battery powered amp. How usable is the clean volume on the Micro Cube? I tried one about 6 or 7 years ago and it seemed to me that the distorted tones were much louder than the clean tone.

What has your experience been?

Hi Fred,

I really like the clean tones on the MicroCube. I'm fortunate to also own Carr Mercury and a Polytone MB, but around my apartment I almost always use the MicroCube. Just too damn convenient.

I like the blackface and Vox models. I should admit that I think I get a little ear fatigue from pretty much any digital model after a long while. But I tend to play and practice in short sessions.

For an inexpensive, battery-powered amp, I think it's hard to beat. I sold my Pignose 7100 after I got the MicroCube. I'm also a little interested in the Lunchbox Jr., but that's out of production now and I'm not sure if it runs (efficiently?) on batteries. Still, it doesn't use digital models and is a straight-ahead solid-state amp, so I could escape the ear-fatigue issue (which is probably in my imagination anyway, but still...)

I bet the Vox 5W Mini is pretty good too, based on what I've read.

Good luck!

[jazzbow]

Hey Flat,

I'm thinking about a small, battery powered amp. How usable is the clean volume on the Micro Cube? I tried one about 6 or 7 years ago and it seemed to me that the distorted tones were much louder than the clean tone.

What has your experience been?

For me the 6.5" speaker swap has made it an essential go to amp. The cleans are really nice in this format. The spread of sound is much better.

The little 4" speaker is meh at best.

The line out mod is great for larger speakers too.

I'll try and rustle up a video of different speaker combinations in the next couple of days and post it up here.

[Michaelmm]

My orange cube 40 is arriving tomorrow! I already have an orange 20 and it's my favorite amp, great tone and nice reverb. I'm really looking forward to having the speaker extension on the 40 to see how the sound spreads out

[entresz]

I play with a double bass player who uses an old Bass Cube 60, it's the grey coloured version from the 80s. That is a great sounding amp, and quite powerful for 60 watts.

A while back I had a Cube 40XL, but I didn't end up getting along with it. For some reason I just couldn't get it to sound good. It had a particularly grating high end that was really hard to dial out, similarly it managed to be boomy at the same time. My trusty old 'beater' amp is a Peavey Bandit 65 from the early/mid 80's... $50 is what I paid for it. Sounds very good, but is a lot heavier than the Roland was.

[A440]

Great post jazzbow, I couldn't agree more. I have 3 Cubes:
Cube 60 - I have two amps for gigging, and this is definitely my preferred one. It has plenty of power, range, and the built-in chorus is very useful. The only negative is that the speaker is directional at the higher frequencies; however I have devised a way to improve that. It's a bit of a bodge, but it works. I have attached a shaped block to the back of the metal grill, in line with the centre of the cone.
Cube 30 Bass - what a versatile amp this is. It's great for bass playing, with enough power for most jazz gigs. It has a nice full range for electro-acoustic guitar. I also use it sometimes as a small PA, and it works brilliantly!
Microcube - I bought this as a practice amp, but I have a better-sounding amp so I don't use it much. I've been thinking about changing the speaker, so it's interesting to see what you have done. I was wondering if I could get a more efficient speaker to eke out a bit more power, as well as improving the sound.


I know one or two people who have tried the newer Cube 40 for jazz guitar but have found it too 'toppy', even with the treble backed right off. Strange that it should have a different sound to the others in the range.

[jazzbow]

Microcube - I bought this as a practice amp, but I have a better-sounding amp so I don't use it much. I've been thinking about changing the speaker.

Yeah, fanx.

What you do to get in is take out the securing screws from the pressed steel amp chassis, then take off the plastic corners, cut into one of the cabinet corners deep enough to break the glue and paint then the chassis kind wants to unroll. There are MDF glued baffles that need to be worked free with a scraper and chisels.
The speaker baffle will come out of its groove and all you have to do is duplicate the square and thickness with a fresh piece of MDF. 6.5" is the absolute max for speakers. I took off the amp part as I was going to graft it into a donor chassis but decided against it.

Before you screw and glue it back together you should but a shunt jack on the speaker output from the amp to the internal speaker. As the amp chassis is earthed you should put it on the MDF chassis.

[Durban]

I've always wanted an orange cube 60.

The 1979-83 Cube 60 Orange/White or Grey Chorus 60 all great,

The Cube 40 Orange/White also great with 10" Lil Buddy. The 10" has good bottom end, very punchy, plenty power
for most smaller rooms even with horns & drums.

[A440]

Fanx for all the advice jazzbow. I'll have a look when I get time. I already have a nice 4-inch speaker that may go straight in, but I guess I will still have to break into the box to get the old one out.

[jazzbow]

Fanx for all the advice jazzbow. I'll have a look when I get time. I already have a nice 4-inch speaker that may go straight in, but I guess I will still have to break into the box to get the old one out.

I'm thinking the larger surface of the 6.5" speaker will give a fuller sound?!?

Like when you plug into a 4X12 which effectively is a 1X24-ish.

Summink like that.