Roland Blues Cube Artist - All 4 Tone Capsules and Comparison
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- Опубліковано 18 жов 2024
- Roland Blues Cube Artist - All 4 Tone Capsules and Comparison
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This video shows the difference between the standard tone of the Roland Blues Cube Artist against the amp with the custom tone Capsules. The Tone Capsules in this video are the Eric Johnson, Ultimate Blues, Robben Ford, and New York Blues. Can you hear a difference? Which one do you like best? Are they worth the price? I test it on the clean and dirty channel at full gig volume so you can hear it at its best.
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I thought the differences were so small I'd probably stick with the stock and twiddle a tone knob or something. Nice demo.
That's exactly what I would do. I can't imagine these things selling very well.
Yes, agreed. I don't get it. I think maybe... if you pushed the amp with the modules you might hear the difference. The humbuckers push the circuit more and you can hear the grain buildup.
ArielsSmartyPants Yeah that's right. They just tweaked the amps themselves in the Making of video
opinions are like buttholes, everybody has one
Brilliant, rory person.
I never felt I needed one of the tone capsules. The amp is fine as is.
To my ears: New York Blues. Really nice review and thanks.
I agree - the gain tone was the best by far (to me).
I was shocked to read how expensive these capsules are. Just stick with the stock amp. It sounds great as-is.
Clearly that EJ capsule is voiced for use with a single-coil when it gets into the dirt.
once Roland comes out with a peavey bandit 112 tone capsule I'm getting a blues cube
lol 😂
If you mash peanut butter into the tone capsule socket, you don’t have to wait.
Yo tuve un Bandit 112 Scorpion!!! era un tanque !! muy versatil,
I'd rather have one that didn't do anything but light up so that the amp looked like it had a little tube in it. I'd pay $20 for that :)
Now that was funny!
I'm fond of the Ultimate Blues, it matches the sound in my head. All of them are good, though. The EJ is pretty strat-specific.
I ended up getting a NY Blues for my Artist and it made a world of a difference! The cleans are bright, chimey & Vox like and the drive channel is a nice warm brownface tone. The amp was good stock, but with the NY Blues it's become the perfect amp for me!
Great comparison, I always wondered what these sounded like and comparing all of them end to end is cool. I have the Blues Cube Hot which won't accommodate the tone capsules. Like the amp itself, people will either love what they do or find them too pricey for what they do. Horses for courses, I can hear differences but it's subtle and I guess it has a lot to do with how the amp "feels" when you play through it. Thanks for another great review!
THIS IS THE REVIEW I WANTED A YEAR AGO.
Thank you shane. This is whats up.
My favourite tone capsule is the one that comes standard in the amp when new. Great demo Shane now I really know what I’m not missing. The standard amp is fine, I own the artist 1 X 12. Thanks for doing this demo Shane, you have saved a lot of us a lot of time effort and money. Now that is a worthwhile demo. 👌🏻🌠🌠🌠🌠🌠
The Sparkle Clean (Skunk Baxter) capsule is perhaps the best of them all.JMO...
Great demo. I like the Ultimate Blues capsule best. The NY Blues capsule is a very close second place. Robbin Ford's capsule comes in third.
That EJ tone capsule was probably optimized to work best with single-coil Strat pickups rather than the PAF humbuckers in a Gibson Les Paul, although EJ does have a Gibson ES335 with PAF humbuckers in it, it might have also been optimized for a certain gain setting too.
Ultimate Blues, and agree that the amp is great as a stand alone. My skill level would struggle to out grow the amp so no mods needed for me.. Nice demo..
I think I would stick to the stock amp.
The clean channel sounds smooth as hell I could listen to that all day! dirty channel also sounds incredible
Thanks for the overview! It's a good idea in concept, but unless these things were $10-$20 each, they were always destined to fail. They're basically boost/drive/eq pedals without any tweakability. Pretty colors though 😁
I agree, and I got like 12 drive pedals already....,just bought the 60W Stage...
The moment you said "why would you want that, it doesn't work" I thought it sounds absolutely awesome, would totally work for me and I want it...
NY Blues I believe was voiced by the wonderful late great studio ace Chuck Loeb he had much influence on the early stages of development
Shane, by far you are the best review source on the net. You seem to present everything in a fair light but with the right amount of " Sniff around " to present the good and the bad of any product ! Know of several Texans that consult your postings first. Myself included. Thank you !
The amp stock, sounded the best to me Shane!
The price of these capsules is crazy. You can buy a good practice amp for the price of one.
Absolutely. The "capsules" are nothing but software patches for the digital modeling cpu inside the amp. If they were $25 each, maybe. But $200? Hell no.
Sounds like the amp and a Couple of Good EQ pedals in the Loop would make All the Difference . Dump the Capsules.
Good Demo Video. Love the Honesty.
Cheers
I have the Ultimate Blues Tone Capsule in my Blues Cube Artist. It's fabulous.
The Clean Channel is based on Kirk Fletcher's Fender Super Reverb and the Crunch is based on his 59 Marshall Super Lead.
The instructions and marketing about the UBTC say it's 6v6 based which is clearly wrong - not sure why they didn't fix it.
I like the "New York Blues"! The other ones are way too compressed. Even the Robben Ford Capsule is not the Dumble sound I would look for. Regarding the price-tag you could by a cheaper Dumble-Pedal and get a better result. But the N.Y. Capsule is definitely the one if you wanna spend the money. Thanks for the vid!
Very versitle and sonically great! Got both the EJ and Robbin Ford tone capsules. Close enough to a tube for my JM Strat and Gibson SG!
Man, your playing has grown so much even since I started watching! Sounds great!
I liked the ultimate and new york blues capsules. There's a perfectly clean Jeff skunk baxter capsule that's awesome
When I saw the video of Eric Johnson playing this amp with his tone capsule in it... I thought... I MUST HAVE THIS. But after seeing real world videos of this amp with the EJ tone capsule.... I would have been SoOoOo pissed off had I preordered this amp and capsule. I understand it's UA-cam, so it may be a little different standing in the room, but not THAT much. I could barely detect a difference between them in the clean stage. In the gain stage more so, but not in a good way, for the amount of $ you're going to drop on the amp AND capsule... I'd have to pass. Awesome playing as always. Your playing, reviews and opinions are always stellar and a great resource here on UA-cam!
Nice demo, but for this demo to be accurate representation you should do the EQ properly as per the instruction manual's of each different tube. The Eric Johnson one is designed to sound like a Marshall 4x12 so it will have a lot more bass build up etc. It sounds fantastic if EQ'd properly in my opinion.
Totally agree with your top 2. But not much better than without. Cheers.
i have the blues cube stage and i love it, very light 14Kg, i use mostly clean and warm tone for jazz an soul, i put in front my mad professor royal od, and it's sound awesome.
I like the cleans on the EJ and the overdrive of the New York Blues.
Thanks for the video. Great playing as always. I didn’t like the capsules at all really. I think they hit it out of the park with the amps already and the capsules weren’t really necessary. Seems like a cash grab type deal to me. Luckily for my needs the blues cube hot was perfect so I don’t have to worry about these tone capsules. But I had to check out this video anyway. Good job Shane
🎶🤘🏻🎸
The differences became MUCH more apparent when you went to the crunch channel. New York Blues FTW!
I wondered if something wasn't wrong with the Eric Johnson module. I thought to myself: "That cannot be the target sound Roland were going for." But then I listened to the demos on the Roland channel and concluded: "Yes. Yes it is." And then I scratched my head.
You missed the boat on the Eric Johnson capsule- it's meant to be played at high volume preferably with a single coil. There's other videos on YT that display just that. Otherwise a good review.
Why does that amp sound so good, I'm going have to try one out !
Thanks for the great demo Shane. Blues On...
thanks mate.
Must say it sounds great
"Why would you want that?" - and delivered with such honesty. Absolutely the best comment I've heard on the web today.
Sounds Really good! New York Blues sounds amazing! The Drive channel on the Eric Johnson sounds like it is trying to emulate a Plexi.
Andrew Bruff The drive channel on the EJ is indeed emulating Eric Johnson's '69 Marshall Plexi I the crunch channel. Eric is famous for his 'violin' sound but using a strat, not a Les Paul. The sound is very low/mids heavy...but you can use the presence control on the Blues Cube Artist to compensate. (The Blues Cube Stage doesn't have a presence control.) I've got an Artist amp with the EJ capsule and love it...but it is an acquired taste. Definitely interested in the New York Blues capsule, next!
Always felt Eric Johnson's tone was questionable.......just my opinion....I agree with your choices of New York and Ultimate....difficult choice - ultimately you'd have to go instore and try them out - great review. By the way I bought three of the Joyo pedals - American British and AC30 pedals thanks to your reviews and haven't looked back - keep up the great work - your channel has become my go-to for honest, straight ,unbiased reviews without the childish crap out there. I lived and played in Melbourne for many years cutting my teeth as a player in just about every venue there before moving to Europe. Great to see a fellow Aussie making an impact.
Great video. Thanks for the comparison. Where did you get the TC switching unit? I've looked all over and haven't been able to find one. I have an Artist 212 and prefer the stock cleans and Ultimate Blues for distortion. It would be great to be able to switch between them without plugging/unplugging TCs.
I have been waiting for this. When I heard about the tone capsule concept I was kind of excited. Now I'm not. I think the amp alone is great and I'm buying one. The tone capsules are just as expensive as a pedal. I don't think the amp needs a pedal. Good job on the video. Thank you for your work. Always watching, Lonesome Dave
I liked the Robben Ford capsule best for both clean and dirty. The NY Blues and Ultimate Blues capsules are tied in a very close second place. I didn't care for the EJ capsule at all. My Blues Cube amps are first generation BC-60's from back in the 90's so they can't use them anyways but it was a fun video to watch. :o)
New York Blues seems to have a more "Fender-y" sound than the Ultimate Blues, but both sounded great.I was underwhelmed with the other two. Great demo, as always, Shane..
I think the Ultimate Blues sounded best, followed by the base amp tone. The Robben Ford and Eric Johnson distorted tones both sounded weak (albeit in different ways). The New York Blues sounded good. All of the cleans were nice.
Muy bueno,la Ultimate Blues me parecio como mas versatil tanto en limpio como disto y en pickups simples como dobles. y despues la New York
Very helpful video, Shane. Thanks for helping all of us out who are trying to make up our minds about which capsule we might want to buy. Obviously, they need to be played in person, but this definitely shows the tonal differences. I wish the Blues Cube had been voiced for a Blackface rather than a Tweed tone. Tweeds simply sound too congested for my taste, especially with humbuckers. I'll probably try the NY capsule first, as it seems to offer a tone that's closest to what I hear in my head as the ideal Fender tone, even if it is modeled on a Vox !
I love all of your reviews. This particular one was very interesting! The 2 best to me were the NY Blues and the the stock sound for both clean and dirty. The EJ capsule sounded like crap! I was hoping for more with the Robben Ford capsule. The Robben Ford capsule sounded thin compared to the NYB capsule and the regular stock sound. When you watch the official Roland videos for the Robben Ford and the EJ capsules.......they sound wicked awesome. I have purchased a few pieces of gear because of your videos and I have not been steered wrong so far. My most recent purchase of the Joyo Husky Drive was an awesome purchase. I finally dialed that pedal in and it sounds majestic!!! I bought that pedal based on your review. I think I will purchase either the Stage or the Artist. If you can, can you review the Sparkle Clean Tone capsule. Very curious with that one. Thanks again for the wicked cool reviews.
I really like this demo, the Eric Johnson lead setting sounded very harsh; however, I do like that sound in some situations. Eric has a very deep sound on his gain settings, I think It would have sounded better using the Mexican Strat.
NY Blues. Both clean and drive. Robben Ford drive is cool too :)
Sorry if this has been answered in any comments below but I'm wondering if that Tone Capsule Selector is available for retail purchase. I can't seem t find it anywhere.
EJ is renowned for strats so it may sound better than the LP type guitar
Great and useful demo as usual. Thank you
What is the name of this accessory where the 4 valves are, I'm from Brazil and I have this hub, but there's no such part for sale here, help me.
I love this amp
From other reviews I've seen, the EJ is a niche thing, that thru a Strat with the proper gain and modulation pedals actually does nail that Cliffs of Dover sound, but takes some major tweaking.
waste of money...for the price you should get all 4 and the switcher
Thanks for this Shane. I love this amp it's just perfect for me as it is. If I were to choose a tone capsule I would say The Ultimate Blues but I mostly play clean. For overdriven tone I use a Marshall Guvnor and it sounds brilliant with my PRS. The only amp I've ever had where I am happy plugging straight in with an MXR EQ pedal but I do like a bit of delay too.
The UB sounds great. But if you want to turn your BC (bassman) into a Fender tweed you could buy a pedal which does the same. The pedal is portable and could be used with different amps.
What is the name of this accessory where the 4 valves are, I'm from Brazil and I have this hub, but there's no such part for sale here
Bought the Artist 212 a week ago, very pleased with it. To me the tone capsules seem like the result of a meeting at boss where the agenda was "how can we keep selling stuff to people that already have lots of pedals and one of our BC amps?".... The amp is excellent and you can get a whole range of tones by turning the knobs! And the glow, give us a break boss... I'm guessing that is purely cosmetic? Make a good product then leave it alone and in time it will become a classic. I have played through BJ for years but love the BC, more flexible. Nice demo.
I just bought Robben Ford Tone Capsule....and the sound is amazing. But that's it!! The sound won't change significantly even when I use pedal board :-)) Still sound like Robben Ford even when I set gain on maximum on my pedal fx???
Like always, very imformative and detailled.
You have most all of the tone capsules. Your missing the Sparkle Clean module for Jeff Baxter!
I have all four (I'm a little OCD) and really like the stock sound, but it's nice to have a variety.
Great demo mate! tyvm :)
NY blues for me really just on clarity. Not sure I would buy one though, the price seems outrageous for these things over the sound of the stock amp on its own, which sounds fantastic. Great demo though Shane.
Hello, Or can we buy the "Tone Capsule Selector / switcher ", thank you !!!
I have an old Super 60 Cube that 's great for backup and to run a line out from my Vox.
ERIC JOHNSON :
The Eric Johnson Tone Capsule reconfigures the Blues Cube away from its Tweed voicing, and towards an all-time classic formula of American clean and British crunch. The CLEAN channel replicates Eric’s clear, bell-like tones that he achieves using a pair of “Blackface” amplifiers. The CRUNCH channel transforms into Eric’s world-famous “violin” tone - a tone achieved using particular settings on a classic British ‘Plexi’ amplifier.
ULTIMATE BLUES :
The development of the Ultimate Blues Tone Capsule saw a collaboration with contemporary blues guitarist Kirk Fletcher. Whilst many players love the Tweed-inspired tones of the regular Blues Cube, Kirk is fond of 6V6-powered “Blackface Deluxe Reverb”. The Ultimate Blues Tone Capsule gives players instant access to that classic tone with an added benefit of an overdrive channel that can deliver the warm sting of a dimed “Deluxe”… all without the blistering volume you’d usually need to do so.
ROBBEN FORD :
The Robben Ford Tone Capsule is a very special one. Robben is well known for his thick yet clear fusion tones, famously generated by a Dumble amplifier - an amplifier which (if you can find one) costs more than most people earn in a year. Robben worked hard with Roland’s engineers to deliver both clean and crunch tones that aped his favourite Dumble settings. At the end of the Tone Capsule sessions, he declared himself impressed with the result of the technology.
NEW YORK BLUES :
It takes the amp into the realm of the traditional British EL84 combo-often referred to as the “class A sound”-while still offering fundamental elements of the Blues Cube’s American tweed heritage. Voiced for classic chime at lower settings, the Clean channel becomes sweeter, creamier, and more overdriven as the volume is cranked. Switching to the Crunch channel kicks in a bolder tone with thicker midrange that’s perfect for rock rhythms and fat lead solos. Dynamic and versatile, the New York Blues Tone Capsule delivers a unique tonal fusion that captures the international diversity of the New York City music scene.
Is there a bit of dirt mixed in the clean channel? It doesn’t sound completely clean. I’m seriously considering buying one of these amps and want know how much clean headroom these have.
Totally agree on the EJ capsule, awful. Great vid Shane. Thanks.
play with Strat by Eric Johnson Mode!
These tone capsules just seem to be tone setting you could dial in
On the eq? Just mind blowing prices for a led bulb. Who is buying them? The stock amp sounds good.
Ok i checked this video earlier - i thought there's no much difference between capsules and stock - but checked the video again ..the gain channel with les paul starting @2:44 and New York capsule kicks in and makes a difference
I have the New York blues capsule. Not bad at all, it's based on AC30. And this is very good copy. But i must admit, i prefer the stock Bassman for most of the time. New York blues capsule still a good option for people who are looking for british's tones.
Why is the ultimate blues capsule green?
the eric johnson one, at least on the crunch setting, is set up to work with a low output strat type single coil pickup, that's why it sounds like that with the les paul. not that I would like it either way, but it's clearly meant for a lower output single coil so it won't have that transistor clipping sound in the lows.
Hey mate, love your demos .. How do you rate this amp against your deluxe reverb? Do the cleans compare well?
I wonder how the Eric Johnson capsule sounds on the dirty channel with a strat?
Probably almost as bad as it does with the LP. 😳
Haha! Probably right.
THe EJ tone capsule sounds fine once you crank the presence up and give the EQ a bit of a tweak.
But for anyone that owns the BC Stage I'd be telling them to avoid the Eric Johnson TC like the plague.
tdunster2011 The amp sounds fantastic on its own. Reminds me of when I bought the Joe Bonamassa Fet driver, it sounded absolutely horrible and I tried every setting possible lol so I sold it.
i just learned EJ used a Gibson 335 to do Cliffs of Dover, so I don't think youd need single coils. While the EJ capsule isn't my favorite at all, I have heard videos with it tweaked to at least sound good. I think the problem here was using the same eq settings. however, even when tweaked well its still not my cup of tea and also enjoy the Ultimate or New York (green and Purple) also the stock sound is great
I like the ultimate blues best
I managed to A/B the stock Artist model with a Fender Blue Junior III and I was more impressed with the latter. Then with a Victoria Double Deluxe and whilst the Victoria was better there was not that much in it. Finally, my good old Sessionette 75 with Retrotone upgrade was very similar to the Roland.
I realize this demo is several years old, but I'm looking for the Roland Tone Switcher you have in the video and nothing is coming up. Do you know where I might find one?
Not commercially available
@@DeltaJazzUK Thanks for letting me know. Cheers, Michael
Hey Shane, could you check out some of the effect pedals from CKK Electronics? I heard they're pretty good and doesn't cost a lot
The Eric Johnson module was made for a Strat not a Les Paul.
I have owned and gigged the BCA for over a year and I could not be happier. So much so that I got rid of all my tube amps. I mainly use the Ultimate Blues Capsule but I also own the Robben Ford and like that one quite a bit too. The one thing I will say is you have to EQ the amp differently with the different tone capsules. You wouldn't use the same settings for a Tweed amp that you would for a black face amp or for a vox. The thing this amp nails that most other solid state/digital/modelers don't is the feel and response to your playing. Even the Peavy bandit doesn't get that part right.
The thing that "saves" the EJ tone capsule's dirty sound is running the BC in Dual-Channel mode .... in this case, you can balance the overly-woofy sound with the clarity of the EJ modeled clean in channel one, and achieve an overall better tone for standard applications. Of course, we must keep in mind that EJ achieves HIS brilliant dirty sound with his specialized rig, which (apparently) is difficult to model ..... of course, lest we are amiss in including his brilliant hands in this picture.
It would be really cool to see a Blues Cube Artist vs Katana 100 Artist comparison. Isn't one out currently.
I liked the clean sound of the UB capsule, but the dirt of the NY capsule. regarding the dirt setting on the EJ, I'm almost certain it's because EJ himself uses quite a bit of gain for his signature tones. that being said, he doesn't run his eq settings past half, most are either set to 9 or 10 o'clock. that combined with his strat is probably why it sounded a little woofy. just my 2 cents...
So Shane, does it beat your beloved peavey bandit? 😀 I love the bandits too but this thing is pretty hard to beat, even with a proper tube amp. I think my favourite is still the supersonic 22 but only JUST. Cheers mate.
How can I get a multi capsule selector instead of having to switch in and out inside everytime
I liked the Ultimate Blues and the New York Blues. I felt a volume loss with the Ultimate Blues. If that could be compensated through other means or if it can be cranked up to compensate, the Ultimate Blues would be my choice. If it looses too much power, then I would prefer the New York Blues for dirty and Ultimate Blues for clean.
Stock amp with a BOSS ME-80 and you get all tones you could ever want. The only thing I like about the artist is the power settings. Will have to wait for a used one down the road as the price is too high new.
Doesn't Eric Johnson play a Strat? Guessing the EJ tone capsule might not work so well with a Les Paul?
Wow! I completely agree. The Eric Johnson model sounded like crap. Maybe if the knobs were tweaked a little bit it would sound better or if you used a Strat. Nice playing and good demo, though. Thanks!
You should have tried to play the dirty Eric Johnson tone capsule with a strat, that's what Eric Johnson mainly uses and it's way less boomy than a Les Paul (it should probably give you a nice fat tone).
I think playing both the clean and dirty setup on both guitars would give poeople a better palette of the sound capacities this amp can provide.