dimed it, I enjoyed a Keefed
up grind of dirty-clean
honkytonk skronk. Engaging
the boost pushed the clean
channel even further for
a truly touch sensitive
clean-to-grit dynamic.
Flipping over to the
crunch channel, I was
immediately reminded
of Pete Townshend’s
Bandmaster bashing early
‘70s era and found myself
digging into the chord
break bit of “Won’t Get
Fooled Again.” Speaking of
getting fooled, the tubelike response of this amp
is frighteningly real. This
next generation of circuit
modeling will be disarming
digital amp skeptics if they
give it a chance. The Tube
Logic technology nails every
idiosyncratic dynamic, right
down to the cushy sagging
voltage drop of a tuberectified tweed Bassman—
which is what the stock
Blues Cubes are modeled
after. If things get too furry
for more complex chordal
work, one can engage the
dual tone switch and blend
in some cleans to add
sparkly definition to the
fray. Did I mention this thing
takes pedals like a champ
(literally)?
WHAT WE LIKE
Portability, expressively
realistic tube response,
and the onboard
attenuator make for
an amp that will
consistently deliver
the sonic goods in all
scenarios. The onboard
reverb is very usable with
a perfect amount of predelay, so it won’t swamp
out picking dynamics.
Nothing was overlooked
in development and there
is even a headphone jack
that works a treat for silent
practice. There is also a
USB connection feature
for slotting right into your
favorite DAW if you don’t
want to wake the baby.
As luck would have it,
I had rehearsal the night
of the amp’s arrival, so
I got to crank it against
our hard-hitting drummer
and there was more than
enough volume on tap. In
fact, most of the night I
ran it on the 15W power
setting. Perhaps the coolest
prospect of this series
is the Tube Logic Tone
Capsule slot lurking under
the chassis. This will enable
modular tone transplants
going forward. Eric Johnson
has one coming out that he
modeled after his favorite
vintage Deluxe Reverbs
and ’69 Marshall Super
Lead—and I am all ears.
CONCERNS
I imagine that some
potential customers will
simply see the word Cube
and look at the price and
not give this thing a chance.
The crowd that thi ́