OK, so I found out about Michael in the fall of 2018, at that point not knowing he allready passed away :-( Since then he is one of my top level favourite Guitarists ever! I guess I watched this demo a million times, the sounds are so lovely out of his hands. So, it's no surprise that I also needed one of these amps. DONE! Wow, it's a brilliant amp. It can not really compete with my Laney Lionheart (yet) but that might be because I'm more into EL84 Vox sounding amps and not into Fender's. Tube sound and feel however is brilliant! Absoloutely recommend this peace of super portable gear!
Oh no. He’s gone? So freakin sad. This is the first time I ever heard of him and I wanted to say hes such a musical and charming dude. Totally dig the style and personality.
You know what, I own two of these (stereo pair) and it was only by watching this video that I noticed that the controls go to 12. Take that Tufnel! ;-)
Ive had the Blues Cube Hot for a few years now and loved it so much I recently bought this Artist version for the extra features plus the tone capsules. What a versatile amp. Stock you obviously get the tweed sounds and the Ultimate Blues Capsule gets you big compressed Fender blackface style cleans allowing you to get into the ever-coveted SRV and Mayer tone realm. I do really wish the artist version had a 5 watt setting as well.
Just had a couple of days with the stage 60 watt it’s pretty awesome. The sound is similar to Fender baseman/ early Marshall amps so great for Clapton/Green style blues it’ll even have a crack at ac/dc it does clean but that’s something I haven’t explored yet. First thing to not the power switch if you’re playing in you bedroom don’t bother with 0.5 watts just put it on Max run the channel volumes on 12 and then use the master volume to control how loud you want it 2 and below is bedroom. The beauty of this amp being solid state is even when you turn down the master it keeps the running wide open amp character and still sound good, that’s not so easy to do with a valve amp.
Such a great player. I really like the way Michael uses the vibrato bar. As several commenters have pointed out, he makes anything sound good. I think Roland and Peavey both do a fairly good job with solid state. I think this amp would be a great buy at $499. Sadly it's $899. There are better sounding amps in that price range.
+budgetguitarist.com This amplifier is so complex and rich in features that it simply couldn't cost 499 dollars, unfortunately. This review just scratches the surface: Mr. Casswell didn't plug into the low gain input, nor used different wattages, and doing so is supposed to "revoice" the amp. Just don't assume that "transistor" necessarily has to mean low price.
+MrFidelcaster Busted! You're right, of course - a transistor amp can sound great. And I haven't sat down in a room and played this amp. What I'm going by is the fact that for a slightly broken up warm blues tone I have never heard a transistorized amp that sounded as good as a good tube amp. But there's always a first. Still, I don't see a market for $899 transistor amps. I will definitely try one of these out if I can find one in a store.
+MrFidelcaster Except it's made in China. I think it sounds great, but when you outsource labor to save money, it should reflect in the selling price. The 4x10 cab for the head is $1400. Where is the "technology" in that? The pricing on this entire line is absurd. But let's not stop there, the Boss Waza Line has surpassed Bogner, some Marshall, and Friedman cabinets. There must be some serious mojo in that cabinet.
I watch this video a lot ... man this is a SIR beyond belief. To me he is one of the better modern rock players. Over EVH, Vai, Satriani, whatever .... and man he will be missed!!!
Hey, The Artist still costs less than a Klon Centaur. This amp is on my radar. My 64 year old spine likes this almost as much as my ears do. It's up there with a Magnavox Panoramafafafa and the apex Swart Space Command.
Very nice sounding guitarplayer. Better demo than most I have heard. Some Jeff Beck like wammybar sound here, and very interesting tone register. This artist model is more versitile than the smaller Blues Tube amp. Most Jazz guitarists prefer transistor(solidstate). Maybe this amp can be prefered for them?. The Henriksen Jazz amp is best for acoustic guitars and archtop guitars. Can't define the spanky twang of a telecaster. Maybe for Ed Bickert's telejazz sound.
Review should have included a couple of pedals in the front, and some mod / delay in the FX loop. So many reviewers "say" it takes pedals well, but too little proof.
It sounds good, but I wouldn't normally stick a 414 directly in front of the centre of the cone. I always wonder how much post processing is done with demo videos - is there compression, EQ, exciters or reverb added after the fact?
Love the tones on these, but after having worked on some of the older cube 60’s, I know these just won’t hold up past a decade or so. Then again who keeps an amp that long?
A good review, but I wish Michael had used a more "normal" guitar like a Fender American Standard Strat or a plain Gibson Les Paul. That Tyler is a high end instrument and don´t really tell the truth for the regular customer. Just saying.
Hi Michael, at apprx. 2:24 min you state this amp is an 80W is 1 by 12" amplifier. This is a misunderstanding. Roland home page specs state it is a 85W 2 by 12". The smaller version Bluse Cube Hot is a 1x12". Elsewise great - and I mean really great - review. Not the usual "distortion-to-the-max-and-pentatonic-show". Thank god you can play guitar and show the versatility of this amp. Some other reviews give the impression you only can play slightly distorted blues with it - while youshow the entire bandwidth of the amp.
Life would be perfect, for me at least, if they could get some more gain in this thing. It really is an amazing amp as is though. The lack of gain is the only thing stopping me at this point.
Took a 98% of new condition one home today. When I turned it on, I thought the flashing tap-tremolo meant it was broken or something was wrong until I watched the video. 😅😅😅😅
+John Benoit Not at all, I own both the Bluescube artist and the Cube 80 that are new. The cube doesn't even come close and you can tell the cube is SS at all levels and drive/crunch. The Artist is easily worth double the Cube's price and more. I compete with a Marshall plexi at jam nights without a problem.
maybe it sounds different with your playing, but this sound responds the same way my cube does when I set it right. I don't really care though, as I wouldn't use either as my main amp anyway, or as anything other than a practice tool given a choice.
+J. García Hmm... you think? I can't follow that notion. You mean the one Rob Chapman who does these gear demos with Lee Anderton, right? I can't seem to find much resemblance, in playing or otherwise, Rob's a Hard Rock/Metal shred-head with a few additional tricks, while this Michael Casswell here seems to be more of a refined and pretty complete Classic Rock player.
+DerEchteBold: It may be the proclivity to artificial harmonics. Furthermore, it seems many guitar players in RUclips seem to influence each other and do similar licks. But, I agree, this guy has more tasty licks in his playing.
I've never understood this bullshit about solid state amps not being able to keep up in the mix with drums and bass in a live situation - loads of bands used them from Dr Feelgood, Buzzcocks, Skids, Big Country, Gang of Four, The Specials, T-Rex etc etc and no issues - what is it all about - by the way RIP Michael
China is malking some awsome instruments ask Yamaha who`s $300. guitars play and sound as good as any $1,000-2,000 guitar made! Plus Eastman guitars are some of the best if not the best guitars in the world! China is the new world while Gibson and Fender aren`t worth the money ,are they?
One of thousands of videos, lessons, etc., that makes us miss Michael a lot...
oh wow didn't know he passed away already. i've been watching lots of his works in the past 10 yrs.
That’s awful- I had no idea.
Is the man playing named Michael, and has something happened to him do you know?
What a shame! What can I find on you tube featuring him?
Aww!
I bought this amp and it really sounds and responds like a tube amp without the downsides of a tube amp. R.I.P. Michael. A brilliant guitarist.
From what I'm hearing of the clean sounds....if I didn't already know it was transistor I would say it was definitely a tube amp. Sounds amazing!
+univibe23 True! Same here.
What a pleasure to sit and listen to Michael's playing. I look forward to all his video demos.
This is the demo that made me buy the amp. It lives up to the hype.
Rest In Peace , Michael.
So sorry 💔
I still miss this dude
Oh man guys! I miss him! Wonderful human person and a wonderful guitar player & TEACHER!
The trouble with your reviews, you make anything sound awesome. Thumbs up!
Amen to that!
OK, so I found out about Michael in the fall of 2018, at that point not knowing he allready passed away :-( Since then he is one of my top level favourite Guitarists ever! I guess I watched this demo a million times, the sounds are so lovely out of his hands. So, it's no surprise that I also needed one of these amps. DONE! Wow, it's a brilliant amp. It can not really compete with my Laney Lionheart (yet) but that might be because I'm more into EL84 Vox sounding amps and not into Fender's. Tube sound and feel however is brilliant! Absoloutely recommend this peace of super portable gear!
Oh no. He’s gone? So freakin sad. This is the first time I ever heard of him and I wanted to say hes such a musical and charming dude. Totally dig the style and personality.
That James Tyler seems to love that amp, especially on the humbucker. I just love Mike's playing!
I remember Michael telling me about it a gig. It's only now that I'm looking to get one! Awesome guitarist and so missed by many around the scene.
This got to be the 30th time i have watch this video rip mike thanks for your beautiful gift of music
You know what, I own two of these (stereo pair) and it was only by watching this video that I noticed that the controls go to 12. Take that Tufnel! ;-)
Awesome demo & sound ! RIP Mike
Just ridiculous playing, easily one of my favorite guitarists, superlative touch. Headstock on that Tyler hurts my eyes though.
Ive had the Blues Cube Hot for a few years now and loved it so much I recently bought this Artist version for the extra features plus the tone capsules. What a versatile amp. Stock you obviously get the tweed sounds and the Ultimate Blues Capsule gets you big compressed Fender blackface style cleans allowing you to get into the ever-coveted SRV and Mayer tone realm. I do really wish the artist version had a 5 watt setting as well.
RIP Mike!
MIchael could make any amp sound great, really love his reviews, super guitarist.
Mr. Casswell has sold me another product. Thank You sir.
A little Jeff Beckish around 14:00 :-) Awesome playing into an awesome sounding amp. You've convinced me that SS has grown up big time!
Damn, I guess I can't be a tube snob today...
I have one !! And it Rocks !!
another great guitar lesson thanx Michael
Just had a couple of days with the stage 60 watt it’s pretty awesome. The sound is similar to Fender baseman/ early Marshall amps so great for Clapton/Green style blues it’ll even have a crack at ac/dc it does clean but that’s something I haven’t explored yet. First thing to not the power switch if you’re playing in you bedroom don’t bother with 0.5 watts just put it on Max run the channel volumes on 12 and then use the master volume to control how loud you want it 2 and below is bedroom. The beauty of this amp being solid state is even when you turn down the master it keeps the running wide open amp character and still sound good, that’s not so easy to do with a valve amp.
Can you gig with the Stage? Small/Med venue?
TheLadsBand4ever sure no problem.
Thank you very much for this review ..., it's very helpful for me !!!
Michael Casswell, you are missed.
Such a great player. I really like the way Michael uses the vibrato bar. As several commenters have pointed out, he makes anything sound good. I think Roland and Peavey both do a fairly good job with solid state. I think this amp would be a great buy at $499. Sadly it's $899. There are better sounding amps in that price range.
+budgetguitarist.com This amplifier is so complex and rich in features that it simply couldn't cost 499 dollars, unfortunately. This review just scratches the surface: Mr. Casswell didn't plug into the low gain input, nor used different wattages, and doing so is supposed to "revoice" the amp. Just don't assume that "transistor" necessarily has to mean low price.
+MrFidelcaster Busted! You're right, of course - a transistor amp can sound great. And I haven't sat down in a room and played this amp. What I'm going by is the fact that for a slightly broken up warm blues tone I have never heard a transistorized amp that sounded as good as a good tube amp. But there's always a first. Still, I don't see a market for $899 transistor amps. I will definitely try one of these out if I can find one in a store.
+MrFidelcaster Except it's made in China. I think it sounds great, but when you outsource labor to save money, it should reflect in the selling price. The 4x10 cab for the head is $1400. Where is the "technology" in that? The pricing on this entire line is absurd. But let's not stop there, the Boss Waza Line has surpassed Bogner, some Marshall, and Friedman cabinets. There must be some serious mojo in that cabinet.
great sounding amp! Would love to hear what it sounds like with a Boss heavy metal pedal along with chorus and Delay?
you can make any amp sound exactly the same with those pedals,save yourself $800 and just buy any amp that does cleans and is cheap
I watch this video a lot ... man this is a SIR beyond belief. To me he is one of the better modern rock players. Over EVH, Vai, Satriani, whatever .... and man he will be missed!!!
Michael great run through on this amp. I definitely want to try it out. Thanks
I want one it's sounds fucking brilliant you can't tell it's a transistor amp
Just learned a great way to play that chord progression starting at 3:55. Thanks for the great playing and review. Nice amp by the way.
R.i.p Mike Casswell. One of favourite teachers on Lick library
Nice tones.... and that marbled/swirled finish on your guitar is sweeeet! Kudos for the great tones in this review!!! Thanks.
Always enjoyed his reviews.
You're a man worth listening to. Are you doing anything with other musicians on you tube?
Sadly this brilliant guitarist is no longer with us ....
This amp knocks quilter out of the ball park, wish my Katana had this clean tone
Fantastic playing as always. Unfortunately makes me feel like giving up my attempts.
Let it inspire you instead!
Fantastic review from a fantastic musician ! I didn't know him but I'll be checking what he does
Nice amp. Amazing playing. 5:15 Whaaaaaat?!
Hey, The Artist still costs less than a Klon Centaur. This amp is on my radar. My 64 year old spine likes this almost as much as my ears do. It's up there with a Magnavox Panoramafafafa and the apex Swart Space Command.
Very nice sounding guitarplayer. Better demo than most I have heard. Some Jeff Beck like wammybar sound here, and very interesting tone register. This artist model is more versitile than the smaller Blues Tube amp. Most Jazz guitarists prefer transistor(solidstate). Maybe this amp can be prefered for them?. The Henriksen Jazz amp is best for acoustic guitars and archtop guitars. Can't define the spanky twang of a telecaster. Maybe for Ed Bickert's telejazz sound.
that guitar is soooo SICK!
Review should have included a couple of pedals in the front, and some mod / delay in the FX loop. So many reviewers "say" it takes pedals well, but too little proof.
Great review and a great musician, thank you.
Fantastic and inspiring playing. However, sounds like there's a bit of ambient noise unless it's just the pickups and amp proximity.
What an amazing player.
Roland é foda !muita tecnologia! Sei não em ... Quem tem é sortudo
It sounds good, but I wouldn't normally stick a 414 directly in front of the centre of the cone. I always wonder how much post processing is done with demo videos - is there compression, EQ, exciters or reverb added after the fact?
sounds to me like the good old valve is finally being superseded !!!! 👍😎🎸
Dude this amp is unbelievable 🤣 I bought the sparkle clean tube thing my god is the tone just wow
Love the tones on these, but after having worked on some of the older cube 60’s, I know these just won’t hold up past a decade or so. Then again who keeps an amp that long?
The Gold Standard - of guitar amp youtube reviews.
GIM/Michael Casswell (sadly missed)
great sound and tone..... !
Didn't knew Tony Stark could play guitar so well!
A good review, but I wish Michael had used a more "normal" guitar like a Fender American Standard Strat or a plain Gibson Les Paul.
That Tyler is a high end instrument and don´t really tell the truth for the regular customer. Just saying.
I played one with a classic vibe tele wow!
Nice review
Hi Michael,
at apprx. 2:24 min you state this amp is an 80W is 1 by 12" amplifier. This is a misunderstanding. Roland home page specs state it is a 85W 2 by 12".
The smaller version Bluse Cube Hot is a 1x12".
Elsewise great - and I mean really great - review. Not the usual "distortion-to-the-max-and-pentatonic-show". Thank god you can play guitar and show the versatility of this amp. Some other reviews give the impression you only can play slightly distorted blues with it - while youshow the entire bandwidth of the amp.
there are 2 versions of the Artist, this is the 1x12 which is 80 watts.
Actually.this is the 1x12 version. There is a 2x12 version which may have slightly more wattage,
Errrrr….it’s Roland not Boss !!🥴 Great review by the way !!
Same company I believe
This guy is obviously a Michael Landau fan!
;-)
an amp is the last thing I need, but this sounds super
Life would be perfect, for me at least, if they could get some more gain in this thing. It really is an amazing amp as is though. The lack of gain is the only thing stopping me at this point.
Lean540 I'd suggest one of those new fangled overdrive pedals, mate! they're gonna be big, I tell Ya!
I took your advice and purchased the AXE FX II XL + driving two Friedman ASM 1-12s. Couldn't be happier. ;)
Took a 98% of new condition one home today. When I turned it on, I thought the flashing tap-tremolo meant it was broken or something was wrong until I watched the video. 😅😅😅😅
Just sounds like my cubes drive basically, with a little more warmth and compression.
Thats my concern, underneath i cant help but think its the "tweed" drive setting from a cube... Lol
+John Benoit Not at all, I own both the Bluescube artist and the Cube 80 that are new. The cube doesn't even come close and you can tell the cube is SS at all levels and drive/crunch. The Artist is easily worth double the Cube's price and more. I compete with a Marshall plexi at jam nights without a problem.
maybe it sounds different with your playing, but this sound responds the same way my cube does when I set it right. I don't really care though, as I wouldn't use either as my main amp anyway, or as anything other than a practice tool given a choice.
Is it worth it?
RIP, Mike.
Is that Rob Chapman? Great artist!
+J. García
Rob? Haha, I guess he couldn't sound like that ...and he probably never was this thin ; )
+DerEchteBold He plays the guitar identical to Rob Chapman.
+J. García
Hmm... you think? I can't follow that notion.
You mean the one Rob Chapman who does these gear demos with Lee Anderton, right?
I can't seem to find much resemblance, in playing or otherwise, Rob's a Hard Rock/Metal shred-head with a few additional tricks, while this Michael Casswell here seems to be more of a refined and pretty complete Classic Rock player.
+DerEchteBold: It may be the proclivity to artificial harmonics. Furthermore, it seems many guitar players in RUclips seem to influence each other and do similar licks. But, I agree, this guy has more tasty licks in his playing.
how dare you, Sir!
Michael looks like he went to bed at 5am and was woken at 6am
His looks are not what we are reviewing...
Everything about this video is awesome...except that headstock. Yikes.
RIP Mike.
Boss??
I've never understood this bullshit about solid state amps not being able to keep up in the mix with drums and bass in a live situation - loads of bands used them from Dr Feelgood, Buzzcocks, Skids, Big Country, Gang of Four, The Specials, T-Rex etc etc and no issues - what is it all about - by the way RIP Michael
Lol. 00:14
Its not by boss. Its by roland
boss & roland are the same company
Is it just me or does the crunch channel not sound very good?
I'll have whatever he's on.😂🤣😂
the second channel is kind of sterile..
Robert Downey Jr, is that you???🤨🧐
I think Roland are on too something.
Ok fantastic guitar but the ugliest headstock in history.
I think it actually looks kind of cool.
Nine hundred dollars! I'd go as high as $400.00
Nope.
Made in China .. ?
Hi friend this amp is made in Malaysia I got one about a month ago and I really like it a lot
China is malking some awsome instruments ask Yamaha who`s $300. guitars play and sound as good as any $1,000-2,000 guitar made! Plus Eastman guitars are some of the best if not the best guitars in the world! China is the new world while Gibson and Fender aren`t worth the money ,are they?
Wow.....that is an amazing amplifier....
No line out.....that sucks.....that killed it for me.....
What delay are you using?
+slimturnpike Im not sure slim.
None.... It's all in the amp...
what does the little black knob on the tyler do?
+slimturnpike That is an onboard midboost.
+Kane Miller thanks
it's a mid range boost nob