Roland Blues Cube Amplifiers

View
Showing all 0 Items

No products found in this collection.

Since the 2014 release of the Blues Cube amplifiers, Roland have been quietly changing the guitar world – turning traditional values on their head by producing a unique high-tech amplifier that delivers authentic vintage tone, feel and touch sensitivity comparable to the classic tube amplifier.

With the fast rise in number of cheap tube amps, guitar players are often all too happy to rely on the 40-year old mantra of “tubes are best” – when in fact, technology has come a long, long way since.

TUBE LOGIC

Tube Logic is the driving technology behind Blues Cube amplifiers, and is in itself, the reason these amplifiers are able to deliver dynamic, powerful tube tone found in the most coveted vintage guitar amplifiers.

The Blues Cube engineers understand what every seasoned guitar player knows: The guitar amplifier is as much an instrument as a guitar itself. They have succeeded in making an amplifier that players can fall in love with. An amplifier whose notes bloom, sag, breathe, and roar in perfect response to the player’s touch.

The Tube Logic journey began with Roland’s engineers dismantling and carefully examining a late 50’s tweed amplifier (regarded by many as the quintessential holy grail of guitar tone) in order to truly understand its circuitry. Through exhaustive playing, measuring and testing the minute electrical interactions within the amplifier, the engineers worked tirelessly to fully understand the physics and behaviour of these classic amps. Everything was analysed, from the input jack to the filter capacitors, rectifier, the phase inverter and all in between.

The final result was Tube Logic – a marriage of solid-state analog technology and DSP that goes way beyond modelling, and enables the creation of amplifiers that exhibit the precise behaviour and tone of a vintage tube amplifier using modern, reliable, lightweight technology.

POWER CONTROL

The output volume in a tube amplifier has an effect on the overall character of the guitar tone. Push the amp volume harder and musical elements of sag, compression and increased harmonic richness began to manifest.

For many players these characteristics are key elements toward making a guitar amplifier come to life. The trouble is when turning up a guitar amplifier to achieve these levels of drive and complexity; it gets very LOUD, very quickly.

The Blues Cube engineers have worked passionately to deliver the same character of an overdriven power amplifier but maintain control over output volume – all while keeping the response and harmonic tonal ‘mojo’.

The Blues Cube’s POWER CONTROL feature drops all of the critical internal operating voltages of the amplifier, to deliver a consistent, harmonically rich tone at a number of volume levels. This comes with absolutely no change in sound quality, or feel to the player.

Simply set the CHANNEL and MASTER volume controls on the amp to find the perfect level of drive, compression and harmonic bloom. Then, dial the power control in to a volume level that suits the playing environment. Every Blues Cube has a POWER CONTROL dial that selects between four steps of power, from MAX power all the way down to 0.5 watts.

REVERB / BOOST / TONE

To appeal to a wide range of players, some of the most common effects often found on classic amps have been incorporated into the range of Blues Cubes:

  • All Blues Cube amplifiers feature a remarkably good quality on-board REVERB. Rather than using a traditional spring reverb tank, the Blues Cube features a studio-quality reverb algorithm to deliver complex, 3-dimensional tone. The Blues Cube reverb lends remarkable depth to the sound without ever overshadowing the fundamental guitar tone.
  • Each amplifier channel also features switchable BOOST and TONE switches:
    • BOOST offers a front-end gain boost. It has a similar effect as adding an extra preamp gain stage to the amp; lending the tone more drive.
    • TONE is similar to a “bright” switch but with a more finely tuned response than a traditional amplifier. It can be used to add clarity and edge to the tone without ever becoming harsh.

FLEXIBLE OUTPUTS

The modern guitar player demands flexibility – a trait which all Blues Cube amplifiers exhibit. Every Blues Cube features a Speaker Emulated LINE OUT for direct connection to a PA or recording console (no mic required) and a PHONES output for silent practice.

Incredibly useful is the USB REC OUT interface. By connecting a USB 2.0 cable between the amp and a computer, the audio of the Blues Cube passes directly into a DAW with no mic or audio interface required. The guitar signal can even be captured directly from the amp’s input jack and used later for re-amping.