Roland Cube 80 Modification.

[Vinni Smith]

I absolutely LOVE the Roland Cubes. Never met one I did not like. I took my current Cube 80 and did a few "slight" mods.....

New Speaker
Beam Blocker
Drilled 2 port holes in the back.

For a loss of better words, the mod made it very 3 dimensional sounding. Before, it was just so directional. Drummers could never hear me. I replaced the speaker a couple of weeks ago. The stock speakers are junk. I put in a Carvin Brit Classic that I bought about 15 years ago. Then I bought a Beam Blocker and installed it. These really get rid of the hot spot amps can deliver about 25 feet out front. I love the Beam Blocker design. The holes I drilled are about 3.5" diameter. I just used a regular hole saw on a drill motor and then colored in the cut with a thick sharpie marker. It made the clean channel very pleasant and smooth. It also gave the amp a lot more sustain. I think the closed cab kept the speaker from vibrating and doing it's job. It lost a little treble, but that is ok with me. The sound now just seems to come from everywhere, just like an open back cabinet. I keep the lead channel on the Marshall setting with the gain on 0. I use this for rhythm. Bass 3:00 Mids all the way open and Treble on 9:00. For the lead channel, I put the gain on 9:00. Absolutely AMAZING sounding!

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: Roland Cube 80 Modification.

Tidy.

Personally, I would do something to protect the exposed surfaces of the rear ports. Particleboard is prone to disintegrating at the least provocation.

 

[Aceman]

Re: Roland Cube 80 Modification.

You need to talk w/ Stratdeluxer...

Cool mods!

 

[Vinni Smith]

Re: Roland Cube 80 Modification.

You need to talk w/ Stratdeluxer...

Cool mods!

Who is that?

 

[Vinni Smith]

Re: Roland Cube 80 Modification.

Tell you what, using this thing live, it stands right up there with the big boys!

 

[Diego]

Re: Roland Cube 80 Modification.

Nice! I've got a Cube 60 and the stock speaker isn't very good, very spiky and scooped. With my extension cab is a different animal, it comes alive and sounds way more convincing. The porting sounds like a great call, the Cube 60 is a bit boomy by itself so that should give a bit more punch.Only way I could sit right on the mix is in the Vox mode with the mids real high. A bit honky but it did the trick.

 

[Vinni Smith]

Re: Roland Cube 80 Modification.

My 80 was just a bit boomy as well. The ports fixed that, for sure.

 

[zain]

Re: Roland Cube 80 Modification.

Sorry I cannot discuss as I don't have any experience of cube 80... However very interesting thread!

 

[Vinni Smith]

Re: Roland Cube 80 Modification.

You should buy one Bro.
They are cheap and worth the money, for sure.

 

[ratiug]

Re: Roland Cube 80 Modification.

I have the roland cube 80xl when I gig I sit it on top of an Ear Candy 1x12 open back cab with a Blue Marvel speaker.the drummer has no prob hearing it now and the cube is at the perfect height to make adjustments.I got the 3 Boss FS-6 footswitches .I throw the switches and cables in the back of the open cab now I don't even need my pedalboard.I never thought I would ever use a solid state amp but the cube 80 is loud ,simple,versatile and sounds great

 

[ErikH]

Re: Roland Cube 80 Modification.

I've thought about drilling a few ports in to the back panel of my Vox Valvetronix AD50VT. Already replaced the speaker with Celestion CL80.

 

[shel]

Re: Roland Cube 80 Modification.

While the ports seem like a cool idea, the design is a sealed back for a reason. A major issue is that the amplifier cooling is performed by the speaker. When it moves in and out, the amp chassis and ventilation system is designed so the air moves over the power transistor section. The air movement will follow the "path of least resistance" and by opening the back you've just about eliminated the air flow for cooling the amp. Heat is a semi-conductor's worst enemy.

 

[the toad]

Re: Roland Cube 80 Modification.

http://www.parts-express.com/flared...source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=pla

 

[Gulfcaster Guitars]

Re: Roland Cube 80 Modification.

When replacing the speaker watch out for the diameter of the magnet. Roland stock speaker measures 5.5 inches. Anything over that will hit the electric panel and will not fit. Checked with Warehouse and Eminence. WGS has an Alnico model called "Blackhawk" 8 ohm and 100 Watt at $275.00 or a more economic Eminence Texas Heat at $95.00

 

[Aceman]

Re: Roland Cube 80 Modification.

No idea this got bumped today. However...makes me think about modding my Cube 30!

Hey Gulfcaster - I'm over in Safety Harbor.

 

[Securb]

Re: Roland Cube 80 Modification.

Roland makes such great amps I do not know why they put such meh speakers in them. Even the JC120 could use an upgrade.

 

[ehdwuld]

Re: Roland Cube 80 Modification.

Yea my Cube 30 could use some ports