Cube 15, 20 or 30? any good

fguihen

I want a versatile amp that at present will be mainly used for blues.

A valve is kinda out of the question as there is no headphone jack or attenuator built into most small valve amps meaning they will be very very loud when cranked up, which is where they have to be to get a decent tone.

Im wondering if a good bluesy tone is easily obtainable from the Cube amps? if so, which one out of the above 3 would be recommended?

Voodu Child

Yep, the Cubes are good amps. Most modellers these days give good tones, perfectly acceptable for noodling around. Nothing amazing, but exactly what you want for low-volume practice etc.

Get whichever one suits you best in terms of size/budget/features etc. Don't discount the other modellers too, there is a lot of competition and overlap in terms of price and quality.

fguihen

i just picked the cube as I saw a recommendation for them on the Fender forums.

Is there something that would be recommended over the cube, for a budget of lets say 200'ish quid?

Voodu Child

fguihen wrote: »

Is there something that would be recommended over the cube, for a budget of lets say 200'ish quid?

They're all about the same; most people just recommend what they have themselves.

Vox, Roland Cube, Peavey Vyper, etc. they'll all give good and similar tones. I'd go for the one that you think suits you best in terms of power, value, features etc. Try them out if you're really pushed.

If you're leaning towards the Cube you won't go far wrong anyway.

IamMetaldave

+1 For the Cube.

I've got a 15, it's super! Everything you need for a bedroom / practice amp.

Thomas from Presence

Somewhat predictably, I prefer the micro spider from Line 6. Just prefer the sounds I suppose and I can run it off batteries and plug a mic in.

darrenw5094

I own a 15w Cube and is fine for practicing. 4 overdrive modes and a clean. No reverb though, but no need for private rehersal.

Although, some of those 5w valve amps from Fender and Peavey do look tempting on www.gak.co.uk
The price is nice on those too.

Red Sleeping Beauty

+1 on the Cubes, they're great amps... well I've a Micro Cube and it's the mut's nuts as they say. Mind you it's been sitting in the attic for ages...

Anyway, other suggestions would be :

[COLOR=""]Vox Valvetronix[/COLOR]

Hiwatt also have some sort of busking amp.
And Fender have the G-Dec which is worth a look.

Red Sleeping Beauty

http://www.fender.co.uk/products/gdec/ericjohnson/

adox

I was in X Music today looking at the microcubes as I was considering picking one up as a small and compact option for messing around at home. They had the new RX there and boy its not really that small anymore. And whats the story with the four small speakers in such a small holding? Surely one big speaker would be better.

Anyways, it looked the same size as the 15, more or less, so I`m going to look for the original microcube elsewhere.

fguihen

I actually picked up a Cube 30x over the weekend. I played the 15x, 30x and 60x and both the 15 and 30 sounded better than the 60x, so i went with the 30x. I also tried out a few line6 spiders but after 45 mins i coundnt get anything remotely like a nice tone out of them.

for a 200 quid amp it sounds very very good. its not a fender blues twin or anything but its also a tenth of the price. Some really nice rock blues tones from this, great for playing along with Rory Gallagher.

also, the "squeezer" function is great. its just an attenuator so that you can crank the amp to full volume to get a nice gruff tone but without the volume.

for anyone looking for a practice amp, or folks who live in apartments where the walls are thin and cant crank a valve amp to 5+ where the tone gets good, and LOUD, this is an excellent compromise.

BostonB

fguihen wrote: »

I...also, the "squeezer" function is great. its just an attenuator so that you can crank the amp to full volume to get a nice gruff tone but without the volume.....

I don't get this. How would that make a difference on a tranny amp? The whole point of using attenuator is the effect on the valves. I have a 20x bought mainly because its has a headphone socket. I'm not conviced about the squeeze function myself.

fguihen

believe it or not, theres a noticable difference in tone.

with squeezer on, the volume can be up full and with full gain.

with squeezer off, the same volume can be had from the volume knob being at 3, roughly 1/4 of a turn.

the thing is theres a noticable difference in tone with squeezer on at full volume, vs squeezer off and amp at 1/4 volume.

try it yourself if you dont believe me. maby they put some extra sound modification circuitry under the squeezer button, but theres a difference.