Friday, July 5, 2013

Roland Cube 15xl: Gear Review

When you play a lot of jazz you need to have an amplifier that is clean, loud enough for the playing situation, and can accurately reproduce the sound of the instrument. This combination is found in the Roland Cube 15xl which offers a myriad of other pro features which we will discuss later. But first the amp and its specifications:





- 15-watt guitar amp with 8” high-performance speaker
- Two channels: independent Clean and Lead
- 3 authentic BOSS Lead tones including METAL ZONE, plus new EXTREME
- Power Squeezer for full gain at low volume
- AUX IN jack to connect portable music players
- Width (W) 335 mm/13-3/16 inches
- Depth (D)240 mm/9-1/2 inches
- Height (H)335 mm/13-3/16 inches
- Weight 7.2 kg/15 lbs. 14 oz.


My first impression of this amp, which was purchased for my lovely girlfriend for her Christmas gift, was very good. I was happy with the built quality, compactness, and rugged look of the amp. Of course I assumed that this amp was only large enough for the practice room, but I was mistaken. After plugging in with my Fender Telecaster I was pleasantly surprised at the capable volume this amp puts out. I would be comfortable playing with a trio with brush drums and bass (maybe even a piano quartet). All this only on the clean channel!

The Tele also ran through all the distortion settings, all of which are very nice and usable. I personally do not use much of the overdriven sounds these days but my personal favorite on this amp is the "Overdrive" preset. This selection is a mild, mid range enhanced classic tone. My guess is that it is modeled after the Boss OD-3 pedal. The "distortion" is based on the DS-1, the "Metal Zone" is obvious and the "extreme" may be based on the Boss ML-2 Metal Core.

Once I plugged the old ES-175 into this amp and switched to clean then put all the EQ controls at 12 o'clock I had the classic "Polytone" jazz sound. This tone is warm, dry, detailed, bell-like in the highs and slightly thumpy in the lows (due in part to the flat wounds) and most of all very clean!

One point of suggestion I may add is that due to this combo's 8 inch speaker you may experience some speaker distortion (breakup) as you increase the volume. My remedy to this is to decrease the bass (down to "0" if you can handle it) and slightly boost the middle control past 12 o'clock. This will prevent speaker breakup and still sound full.

I tend to be impressed by the finer details in gear so here is what I observed: light weight, rugged construction (metal grille, big corner protectors), heavy duty control knobs, real jacks, simple control layout, power switch on top (not on back leaving you feeling around for 10 seconds), line cord attached (so you don't get to a gig 20 miles away without it), long line cord (8 1/2 feet), double insulated line cord (has 2 prongs yet is grounded so you can play out in the sticks at Uncle Grumpy's hamburger joint with plugs from the 1840s and not get zapped), line cord retainer (so you don't trip on your cord as you are leaving Uncle Grumpy's and fall in the hamburger grease), closed back design for a tight sound in a small package.

The Roland Cube amp series is just an incredible value and provides a road worthy, good sounding amp in any of the models. This one is a great unit for the money and really does have a professional sound. This company reminds me of the watch I wear, a Casio G-Shock; they are built right, no frills, does the job, never fails and lasts forever. If you have never played a Cube I suggest you do so; every one I have played is great!

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