Roland Blues Cube after warranty support and Orange CR120 info.

[Rozz]

Hi all,
I wasn't sure how to title this, but it is worth reading I think.
I have a Blue Cube Artist, had it for about a month and really like it. I now take that and my Orange CR120H to Gigs and my TH30c generally stays at home these days. Still can’t beat the Orange for classic rock, but the BCA is very versatile. But what this is about is: if you are considering any of the Roland BC range, you might want to be aware that it seems that getting help post warranty period could be difficult. I have put a link to the Fretboard discussion below. This chap has had it repaired but had to use someone other than a Roland/Boss repair centre and he apparently had little help from Roland. I thought you might be interested. If it is true and I’m sure it is, it is pretty poor customer care. They aren’t cheap (£800’ish) and if you want a solid state amp for supposed reliability but have to worry about support after the 3 year warranty period, well…. I bet Orange wouldn’t treat people like that, I KNOW they don’t as I have had great support from them. Somewhere in the thread, one of the guitar repair guys comments on the innards of the CR120 and says what high quality it is.
Just thought you might want to know.

http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussio ... rreparable

FYI, I switch between amps, the Orange does most things we do, but the BCA is good for some other more mainstream stuff. I bought it for a cleaner clean than the Orange. I did also try a Fender Blues Deluxe Lacquered Tweed which was beautiful, but it started crackling and popping and I thought, no. I also tried and bought a MIM Tele and really like it
Cheers.
Phil

[lunchbox]

Here's the post:

RE: CR60/120:

Yes - it's not only discrete components, it's all through-hole apart from on the DSP board. The PCBs are high-quality through-plated ones, it has a conventional transformer power supply, and the only remotely questionable design/construction point is the use of integrated circuit power modules instead of discrete transistors - but they're very well heatsinked, and I haven't seen or even heard of a dead one of these amps yet.

The real puzzle is why, given there's really no new technology involved, almost no-one has managed to make such a good-sounding solid-state amp in the last twenty or thirty years.

I love mine. It does everything I need it to do for my style and band, and seems to be built like a brick s-house.

[Mystic38]

seems a strange story to me.. and the exact opposite of my experience.

I have had a lot of Roland products mostly synths, workstations and groooveboxes. You can find an authorised repair center on their site, and they gt all the service documents and schematics, and these are things that are 10-100 times the complexity of amps. I have had a 15 year old groovebox and an 8 year old synth repaired for decent money, including them sourcing parts i couldnt find.

The one part i agree with the poster about is that unless you are a Roland service center, you wont get the circuit diagrams by official means.. and i can't disagree with that position.