infernox
Hello all
Im new to all this but I dont want to make mistakes when buying gear as I believe that buying decent straight off the bat = longer love for the item.
Now when I was at the store today the guitar Guru told me about the Spider 15 and that he would recommend it above the Roland Cube 15x. When I asked him if its better he said personally he thinks so and that its debatable in some people's minds.
Now there are not really any clear cut VS comparisons online and thus I need to ask the people in the know what they think....
So what you think?
The Roland ill more than likely get for R1100+- and the Spider is about R1500+-
aja
There is not really "better" just different.
Unless you are trying to accomplish something specific? What kind of music do you intend to play?
You are still learning and for that the Cubes are great. I started learning on one. They are basic enough so as to not detract you from your main objective - to play guitar and not effects.
The spiders I have tried have not sounded so great, but to be honest I didn't spend much time with them.
Where are you based?
EDIT: Would you consider buying 2nd hand? That way you wont take a huge loss when you sell it on eventually. When you play better you will find your tone and move on from that amp. It is part of life and playing guitar....
MikeM
I'd say hunt for a Vox Ad15 second hand. WAY better amp.
Tokai-SA
Id say the Line 6 amp modelling is better than the Roland COSM amp modelling...but the Roland FX is better than Line 6.
It's a tough call, they're both cool little amps...you can't go wrong with either, and quite frankly it's incredible that you can get amps like these for as little R 1,500...which is less than the cost of a decent pedal.
infernox
Im not really looking for the FX, unless I wanna just screw around with the metal/rock setting at some stage for a few minutes.
Im in JHB, but I think id keep the small 15 as it would suit my life well in terms of travel and not really having massive amounts of space for gear in my townhouse.
Thanx Tokai for the post, I love reading the technical stuff and that normally makes up my mind.
BMU
I have a Cube 30x and a POD XT... they both sound good. As to effects on the Cube, they're purely a novelty in my opinion, you can't tweak anything. It's for screwing around and having a bit of fun, nothing more. I wouldn't even take that into the buying equation.
I'd go for the cheaper of the two, personally. R1100 vs R1500 is a big % difference.
TomCat
Just to broaden your horizon a little here.....Also have a look at a VOX Pathfinder 15R. Same price bracket as the Roland Cube and Spider15.
Has great tone for a Solid-State amp and takes pedals very well. It also has a great Vintage look. (ALA mini AC-15)
http://www.voxamps.com/uk/pathfinder/pathfinder15/
21Fretter
If it's between those two, always the Roland Cube. If you can, check out ultimate-guitar forums. you will see nothing but hate for the Spiders from many many people
infernox
but surely people are more fanboy than objective.
Why would spider still make it if everyone hated it?
21Fretter
Guitar shop employees work on commission most of the time and all those amps are decently priced so the employees throws around all the features "a million effects, a thrashy distortion to a smooth bluesy sound" and the beginner is just like "zomg zomg awesome ?" and beginners accept whatever the employee says pretty much because they don't know better and they haven't developed their ears tone-wise. If every beginner was directed to well known guitar forums, i rate spiders and mg's would probably go out of production.
All these amps are normally "stepping stone" amps while you're still a beginner and trying to decide if you're going to get serious about guitar and still trying to find your genre/sound (once you have your mind set that's obviously when you start looking for an amp specific to your sound) but if you are going to with a "stepping stone"for your first amp, nothing wrong with that, you might as well go for the best of them i.e. the Cube's or Vypers have come to be accepted as the kings of the modellers.
P.S. I was one of the beginners who got "oooh'ed and aaaah'ed" by all the effects ?
MikeM
I still say find a second hand Vox Valvtronix. They have a 12ax7 or something in em, and a triode is used in both the preamp and output stages so you get the awesome tube warmth. You might have to pay up to R2k but the amp will serve you much better, much longer. I sold my cube for it back in the day and still think it was a good decision. Also it has basic effects with decent controls and it models loads of other amps so you can get a feel for what tone you want to head towards.
infernox
Look I can always haggle with the store for cash prices, but secondhand one battles to haggle for good/pristine equipment.
I do however trust this Stuart oke at Marshall and I understand he works for comms, but I also know from the help I recieved yesterday that he know Ill be back should he give me a sh$% product.
Look I get what your saying and Im taking it all into consideration, everyone so far recommends the Roland and if thats the case then Ill more than likely go for that. I did see that the 20x is on special everywhere now and the price difference between the 15 and 20 is a few hundred but the 20 is regarded as being so much better.
Also just as a note, I used to play a bit of bass so I know the Ohhh Ahhh effect salespeople put on you, but I look at technical specs first and foremost before I get woo'd by the bylines.
Thanx again to all for the comments.
BTW: I saw the Vox amp and my gawd they are stunning.... just out of my price range as the wife wants me to start on a small budget and then move to more expensive stuff. Granted I spent 30K on new camera equipment in Feb...
infernox
Ok checked out the Vox Pathfinder 15 online... is this really better than the other two?
(<- how cant a person not be impressed?)
Tokai-SA
infernox wrote:
I do however trust this Stuart oke at Marshall and I understand he works for comms, but I also know from the help I recieved yesterday that he know Ill be back should he give me a sh$% product.
Stuart was trained for a few years by Jimmy Page's personal guitar tech Tim Marten...they worked in the same shop in London, they're good friends....Stuart knows his 'stuff' big time.
Ask him to take both the amps you're thinking of buying into the amp room, and let him play them for you.
Tweak them, mess around with the presets, etc...then choose.
infernox
Tokai, I might just do that. Thank you sir for shining light on this subject. Im going to ask him to show me the Vox 15 as well (the 1600 odd rands one)
infernox
guys and lady... I BOUGHT IT!!! My first AMP!
I went for the Spider... I know I know, but it offer more in terms of value than the Cube and for R100 more... I went for it, with a nice warranty and some picks!
djpauw
Congrats bro
And please let us all know how she performs and what you like and don't like etc... It's always good to have some reference info for future buyers.
infernox
Well my daugther just ran away when she heard it, but then I toned it down and she came to try play (she 17 months) and she stood here for a good 20 minutes hitting and playing the strings.
All I can say is that is FKing loud!
