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MGR/mowse « Roland BC-3 Blues Cube »
Published on 12/15/02 at 15:00I found myself in need of an inexpensive guitar amp fast when a band member knocked my borrowed Fender Blues Jr. off a chair and it developed a nasty reverb buzz (not to mention an irritated owner). Blues Jrs. have doubled in price in the last three years. I recalled a positive experience I had years ago with a friends little Roland solid state, and so I persued some online reviews of current products. I suspected I was onto something when reviewer after reviewer raved about the BC-30, a little solid state, single 12-inch speaker combo configured much like the Blues Jr. and clearly aimed at the same market, that is, players of blues, 60's rock, country and the like. (That the couple of negative reviews came from shred rockers who felt bitterly decieved by this amp's claim to tube-like sound only confiremed that I was on the right track). At a list price of around $400 dollars and a sale price of $189.00 at Musician's Friend, I felt safe enough to take a chance, and clicked.
Four days later my blues cube arrived at the front door. With some trepidation I pulled the sharp looking beigy tolex unit with the brown grille from the box and fired it up with my 1960 Kay F-hole electric. I almost fell over.
This amp is unbelievable. It is, first of all, silent (a nice change from tubes and especially so when one uses single-coils pickups, for which the manual says the amp is optimized). The bass is rich, smooth, and natural, and with none of that thin hardness of older solid states. The mids are detailed and natural, and subtleties of pick attack and dynamics are beautifully captured, detailed without being clinical. Ah, the all important highs; clear enough to use the neck pickup of a strat, natural enough to use the bridge pickup with no apologies or adjustments. I took it out to a gig the next night in a medium sized club and discovered that as well as being plenty loud, this amp is considerably more versatile than the blues junior, cutting through especially at the top end with more authority and delicacy.
Nothing! Could use a reverb but with my Boss ME-5 I don't care.
Solid.
Buy one! I play 50's through 2000's rock, lots of chuck berry, beatles, motown, everly's etc. Perfect. Unimpeachable. Haven't gotten to the overdrive channel yet but it produces enough distortion in the normal channel that I doubt I will.
This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com
Four days later my blues cube arrived at the front door. With some trepidation I pulled the sharp looking beigy tolex unit with the brown grille from the box and fired it up with my 1960 Kay F-hole electric. I almost fell over.
This amp is unbelievable. It is, first of all, silent (a nice change from tubes and especially so when one uses single-coils pickups, for which the manual says the amp is optimized). The bass is rich, smooth, and natural, and with none of that thin hardness of older solid states. The mids are detailed and natural, and subtleties of pick attack and dynamics are beautifully captured, detailed without being clinical. Ah, the all important highs; clear enough to use the neck pickup of a strat, natural enough to use the bridge pickup with no apologies or adjustments. I took it out to a gig the next night in a medium sized club and discovered that as well as being plenty loud, this amp is considerably more versatile than the blues junior, cutting through especially at the top end with more authority and delicacy.
Nothing! Could use a reverb but with my Boss ME-5 I don't care.
Solid.
Buy one! I play 50's through 2000's rock, lots of chuck berry, beatles, motown, everly's etc. Perfect. Unimpeachable. Haven't gotten to the overdrive channel yet but it produces enough distortion in the normal channel that I doubt I will.
This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com