Roland 80 As a Combo Stage and Practice amp

John Ely · Post by **John Ely** » 6 May 2011 6:09 am

I just bought a Roland 80 XL here in Belgrade, Serbia to use while I'm working here 9 months out of the year. Pricey here in Europe, but I really like a lot of things about this amp. I've had a Nashville 112 and, while a lot of people love it, I didn't care for it at all. I did the Ken Fox mod to the N112 and still thought the amp sounded like it had a wet blanket over it.
I tried playing through other N112's, in case it was just my amp, and to me they sounded the same.
So I have a Fender SteelKing at home that I like a lot.
But I like the Roland 80 XL even better than the SteelKing.
John Ely
Belgrade, Serbia

Val Drummond · Post by **Val Drummond** » 11 May 2011 11:12 am

I wanted to write and ask a question about the Roland 80xl. Playing lap steel I use the destortion selections, like the extreme setting.
My problem is that I can't control the volume with my Hilton volume pedal when I select the high distortion settings like the "extreme" setting.
My volume pedal works fine with the Acoustic, Black Panel, DLX, and Tweed selections.
Don't know why. Any ideas about the problem with the distortion settings and my volume pedal?.

Thanks,

Val

Val Drummond · Post by **Val Drummond** » 11 May 2011 5:48 pm

I hooked up an old pot pedal. Everything works as advertised.
My guess is that the Hilton pedal had something to do with the descrepancy. Maybe the features of the Hilton pedal, active, I don't know.
Anyhow, the pot pedal works fine with all selections. The Hilton pedal worked well with everything but the high distortion selections.
I'll have to use the pot pedal for lap steel, and the Hilton pedal for pedal steel, "Clean", which is fine with me.
I'm using a double female, 1/4 inch plug with the amp.

Val

John Russell · Post by **John Russell** » 12 May 2011 7:53 am

Val, I don't want to sound like a shill for Roland/Boss but what the heck--I love their stuff! I bought the Roland FV500H volume pedal last year and I couldn't be more pleased. Only drawback is the front-mounted input jacks. I have to use right angle plugs on the input and output cords. This pedal uses their proprietary pot and linkage; it's sort of like a crankshaft mechanism. No strings or springs, you can't tinker with it and shouldn't have to. I don't know if any other steel players use this pedal. (see below)

I pretty much always use the Boss GE-7 till last week when mine expired. Probably needs a good cleaning--it's been used constantly for about 18 years. I played thru the Cube 80 using my Boss analog DM2 delay (out of production now). These pedals are getting kinda collectable now for good reason--they're sweet. Using this pedal and the amp's plate reverb and I'm off and running. Great sound, everybody was pleased and the amount of gain is always a surprise (volume set about halfway up).

Here's that volume pedal:

John Russell · Post by **John Russell** » 12 May 2011 8:09 am

Without the GE7 equalizer pedal, I have to run the Cube 80's bass all the way up to get my sound, I put the mid and treble about half way, also the presence. I found out that using the GE7, you need to run the amp's volume around 10:00 or more and keep the GE7's volume low. Otherwise you get clipping.

I'm considering buying a second Cube 80X and using only the amp (removed from the cabinet) in a piggy back head. This will output to my EV 15" speaker in a separate cab. Occasionally I'll hook this speaker to the external jack on the Cube 80 and the sound is way fine. (12" and 15" speakers in combination.)

Here's me and my dear friend Dr. Z

Mickey Adams · Post by **Mickey Adams** » 12 May 2011 2:45 pm

Joe, I have to agree with you. I didnt care for the NV112 either. Ive always wondered why Peavey didnt solicit input from US when making a steel amp...Who does the research?..It seems that theres always something about the stock amps that a lot of players dont like..theres no TOTAL agreement as to whats really good or bad about the Peavey offerings. My 80XL has been doing just fine for small and large venues as long as the PA is suitable for low stage volume, and I'll stick with it and my FOX NV400 for now!

Mike Terry · Post by **Mike Terry** » 24 May 2011 2:28 pm

I borrowed a friends Roland Cube 80x to try with my steel. How do i get it on the " JC 120 " setting that some of you have mentioned ?

John Russell · Post by **John Russell** » 25 May 2011 7:27 am

It's called JC CLEAN on the amp. To the right of the input jack is a volume knob; above that knob is a label "JC CLEAN"; to the right of that is a select button that switches from that setting to the amp model bank labeled "LEAD." The LED light indicates the setting. On LEAD you have an array of amp models--these all use the gain and volume knobs on the right. Keep it on JC CLEAN for steel. The amp models are good for distortion, lead guitar and slide guitar. This amp wasn't designed for pedal steel but. Hence, I set the bass all the way up and mid, treble and presence around 12:00. --JR

David Cook · Post by **David Cook** » 26 May 2011 4:17 am

HI, I have a Cube 60 and was wondering how much difference, if any, that you noticed between that and the Cube 80XL. Does it have more noticable power?

John Russell · Post by **John Russell** » 26 May 2011 7:42 am

David: I used the Cube 60 for a year or two before getting the 80. The difference isn't all that much. I could have kept the 60 and saved a few bucks. The Cube 80 has different FX setup whereby you can have reverb and delay together. I thought that was important but ended up using my delay pedal with the amp's (digital) spring reverb. I took a financial hit on the upgrade since I traded it in. Better to sell one then buy the other.

You might notice the difference on large stages. Even then, you can take a line out from the Cube 60 and feed it into the monitors and mains and it should work fine. The sound tech might be more cooperative if you used an XLR adaptor and a mike cable.

Post by **Brad Bechtel** » 7 Sep 2011 9:05 am

For those interested in this amp, today only (September 7th) the Roland Cube 80 is on sale through Musician's Friend for $220 USD.

( I removed the link since it's no longer valid.}

J Hollenberg · Post by **J Hollenberg** » 22 Sep 2011 7:20 am

I have bought the Roland Cube 80XL and it is a fantastic amp. I like it a lot better than the Nashville 112 which i had for a week.Build like a tank, in my opinion a fantastic sound and a lot of effects like reverb,delay,chorus etc which are not bad all all.
And all that for a very affordable price.
Thanks Mickey for giving me the hint.

Michael Remming · Post by **Michael Remming** » 17 Oct 2011 8:25 am

After a lot of thought I finally made up my mine and bought a Roland Cube 80Xl. It showed up Friday afternoon so I only had a 1/2 to play with it before setting up to play for the weekend. What a nice amp great tone, lots of power. When I showed up at the club to unload equipment our bass player and guitar player came out to give me a hand I handed the Cube to the bass player he said "you've got to be kidding me I hope you brought your other amp" by the end of the 1st set they amazed at the amps tone, power, and size. I only had the volume knob at about 10 o'clock and was able to keep up with our guitar player playing through 2 Fender Hot Rod Deville's a 112 and a 212. I was still playing through my Peavey Dual Delta Fex for delay and reverb has I like my presets a little better but quite honestly didn't have that much time to to much adjusting. Great amp I'm glad I heard about it here on the Forum.

Steve Pipkin · Post by **Steve Pipkin** » 18 Oct 2011 1:46 pm

I received mine this past Friday and a couple of hours later had it home and sounding very good. I like it much better than the NV112! Plus, the built in delay and reverb is really quite good. And this thing looks to be very solid. Now, all I need is the 80XL and my steel/volume pedal. Much faster and easier to set up. I've just started experimenting with the guitar (Lead) side, but so far with similar results.

Played with the band Saturday night and had a similar reaction as was mentioned here. "That's all you're using?" It worked great and they could not believe all that sound came out of the Cube. Sounds better, too. The NV112 has just never impressed me. I mean it will get the job done, but I was never satisfied with the tone.

Thanks for the post. I'm telling everyone about this amp.

Steve Ahola · Post by **Steve Ahola** » 18 Oct 2011 8:47 pm

I tried the "baby" version of this amp (the Cube-15XL) and the JC Clean mode sounded really nice, but the overall volume was much less than the Lead voices (with overdrive and sustain). But I guess that isn't an issue with the Cube80XL? I just looked at the specs and the power consumption from the 120vac outlet is 75 watts but I guess that there must be a way to get 80 watts out of that...

I picked up an original Cube60 keyboard amp from the 80's (with the silver colored tolex!) awhile back at GC since it was only $39. The preamp with the two channels for keyboards and guitar was pretty bad- plus some of the push pull switches were touchy. But running my Vox ToneLab ST into the input jack for the the power amp worked really nice. A huge sealed cab and a Roland 60 watt power amp (perhaps like half of their JC120?) how could I say No? Besides the amp was so butt ugly that no one would ever want to steal it...

Mickey Adams · Post by **Mickey Adams** » 19 Oct 2011 10:58 am

All these posts reinforce the idea that I'm not crazy!...I got similar responses from patrons standing in forint of the stage...A look of disbelief that this little dynamo was filling up the room and generating an awesome tone to boot...I have to agree with all of you on the NV112...i bought two....and I shouldn't have...they lasted about long enough to get Burr Brown chips, then I sent them on their way via the Forum..>!

Robert Hooker · Post by **Robert Hooker** » 24 Oct 2011 11:52 am

I bought a cube 60 several years ago...Though I'm a bass player by trade I also play some acoustic guitar in the show so I brought my cube 60...There's nothing better for a flat top..when I got my steel a few months ago I used it with the cube 60 but I wanted to hear the steeln through tubes.I found an Epiphone Galaxie 25 for $130.00 and to be honest I think my steel sounds better through the Eppi...The Cube 60 always surprises my guitar player friends though...they often ask me to bring it to gigs so they don't have to carry their amps..

Gus York · Post by **Gus York** » 26 Oct 2011 3:21 am

My back dictated that I get a smaller amp, this was about 6/7 yrs ago
checked out various amps around but nothing matched the Roland Cube 60!
I don't miss the big 15'' Eclipse in my Evans fet500 nor does my back!
I purchased two cube 60's and run them both as a sort of stereo on stage, for
bigger venues one amp is run through a DI box to the desk, and the sound is
awesome! I have been interested in the Cube 80xl, but then I thought why,
the only thing it would seem to have over the 60 is the loop, so for now I'm
happy, my ears are happy, and my backs happy, and by all accounts and reports
back from punters and other musos, they are blown away with the sound from these little boxes! Oh and they are a fraction of the price of any other named amp
with the same clout! More happiness!
Check 'em out the rest of you steel players still slogging around with back breakers!
Here is a link to a little gig with a scratch band-the Cubes are featured in this although you can't see them, or me, very well. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnOCJocMQp8

Fred Glave · Post by **Fred Glave** » 26 Oct 2011 8:50 am

I'm assuming that all testimony's are based on stage performance of the Cube amp NOT being mic'd into the PA? I noticed that the amp also has an external speaker jack. Has anyone tapped into a 15" cab with it? How does anyone think that would sound if needed?

Robert Hooker · Post by **Robert Hooker** » 26 Oct 2011 8:56 am

My Cube 60 has been mic'd many times...I prefer useing the line out which can be sent to the board using a Tip ring sleave

Jim Gilliam · Post by **Jim Gilliam** » 26 Oct 2011 9:07 am

Hey Robert,

I just ordered a Cube 80XL and saw that it had a 1/4" line out. Does the tip ring sleeve take the place of an XLR cable? My old amp has an XLR and not 1/4". Do you use and adapter of some kind to hook into the board? Thanks! (BTW, what part of NC are you in?) Jim

George McLellan · Post by **George McLellan** » 26 Oct 2011 9:33 am

I used the line out direct to the board on a session and it came through without any noise and it, to my ear sounded just fine. I just used a ¼ inch guitar cord into a DI.

I use it on most of the playing jobs with a 15" extension speaker, cab made by Rick Johnson. I prefer this set up over dragging effect units along and the weight is a big plus for me.

Geo

Robert Hooker · Post by **Robert Hooker** » 26 Oct 2011 10:10 am

Hey Jim , I don't know about the 80xl...My 60 is about 3 yrs old now...the line out on the back can be Hi or Low Z...I use a tip ring sleave to xlr cable to run Low Z to the board...I live in Zebulon...

Fred Glave · Post by **Fred Glave** » 26 Oct 2011 10:56 am

I would think that a light weight cab with a 15" external speaker would be a nice option for bigger rooms.

Jim Gilliam · Post by **Jim Gilliam** » 26 Oct 2011 11:13 am

George and Robert,

Thanks for the info. I just remembered that I still have a couple of direct boxes that I haven't used in a while that should do the trick nicely.

George and Fred,

I love the idea of using a 15" external speaker for larger gigs. But I wonder... Doesn't this affect the impedance?

Jim

The Steel Guitar Forum

Roland 80 As a Combo Stage and Practice amp

Roland Cube 80 XL

Boss Cube 80 and Volume Pedals

More on the Cube 80X

JC 120 setting

Question for John Russell

Cube 60 vs Cube 80

Just Bought One

Bought One, Too

cube 80xl

line out & external speaker