Sept 23 2002 By Destrudo ' Welcome to the second installment of “Here’s Some Gear,” and this issue | will be reviewing the Roland Cube-30 guitar amp. This little practice amp is pretty sweet. It fea- tures a small selection of amp models for someone to mon- key around with, as well as some limited effects. Roland’s COSM technology (Composite Object Sound Modeling) allows the player to choose from an acoustic guitar simula- tor, a Fender Twin Reverb (Black Panel), a Vox AC-30TB (Brit Combo), a Tweed Fender Bassman 4x10 combo (Tweed), a Marshall JMP1987 (Classic» Stack), a Peavey EVH-5150 (Metal), and a MESA/Boogie Rectifier (R- Fier). COSM technology is a technique by which the char- acteristics of an instrument’s sound, or in this case amplifi- er’s sound, is emulated digital- ly. The dynamics of an ampilifi- er are emulated at every stage of gain, volume, or guitar vol- ume. Essentially, this little amp will emulate the analogue or digital dynamics of these given amps. The Cube-30 also fea- tures the Roland JC-120 Jazz Chorus (JC Clean) as the default clean setting. Here’s Some Gear Now to the meat and pota- toes; how does it perform? Roland should have made a giant version of this amp because | wanted to hear how it sounded in a jam setting. Unfortunately, this amp has one 10-inch speaker, but it still has a big sound. Most modeler amps have models that are ciently fuzzy enough to make any classic tone hunter happy. The effects featured in this unit are quite limited but this is because it is more of a prac- tice amp than a professional amp. Regardless, these limited effects would give a beginner a rough idea of what different effects do. Unfortunately, the The Roland Cube 30 is a perfect primer for a beginning gui- tarist. Affordable, educational, surprizingly good and fun to use, it comes highly recommended. either too dry or have the gain sucked out of them in an effort to make them sound “ana- logue.” The Cube-30 was quite surprising in this respect; the saturated models were satu- rated and the low gain models did not sound neutered. The rectifier model was quite sur- prising. Usually, a_ rectifier model is an incredible let down but this model had the “balls” that a MESA is supposed to have, and the Tweed was suffi- Come Celebrate with Us! OKTOBERFEST SEPT 28 Presented by the Kinsmen Community Complex & the Rheingold Club 3:00pm-4:00pm Ps | Coffee & Cake (25th Anniversary of the Rheingold Club) 4:00-7:30 Outdoor Beer Gardens Enjoy live authentic German music Dance to follow- $15.00 each Tickets available at Pastery Chef & Kinsmen Club dp For ticket info call Sponsored by: 620 CJCI FM/94 PWB SmashLab user only has one parameter control of each effect. On the modulation side of the effects you can only adjust the rate of the modulation, and on the delay/reverb side you can only adjust the time of the delay and the level of the reverb. However, | feel this does not necessarily take away from the amp as | said that it seems to be a beginner amp. Also, featured is an auxiliary input which allows the user to plug in a CD player so that you can play along with your favourite songs. You can also use a footswitch, through another input, to select between the clean JC and the gain models, as well as turning ’ the effects on and off. The last little gem this unit features (there’s that features word again) is the recording out/headphone jack output. With this you can listen to the amp with headphones (duh) or record direct into a mixing board or sound card. For $300, this little amp is quite worth it. My only problem is that the user cannot store presets but that probably is not necessary for the beginner. So if you are interested, check out this unit at Electron Sound & Percussion 3658 Massey Drive. Now that things are getting underway, you may thing that everything is fabulous. Just remember that the wind that fills your sails also blows the stench into your face. This means even at a party, it can smell like pig shit. Taurus Watch out for flying kods. Don't know what kods are? Spend some time on yourself. | suggest reading a dictionary. At the very least it could improve your miniscule vocab- ulary. Gemini Guess what? You're brutally retarded! Cancer Watch out for hippies in VW vans. They want to race you! Fight the urge, there is no need to shamelessly disgrace them in front of their tree hug- ging buddies. Always exercise control. Leo The time is perfect for experi- ments with silly putty. See how creative you can get without joining the silly putty cult. The people that join that cult are very strange. They have not yet proved to be dangerous, but still, be aware. Virgo Music is and amazing experi- ence. Your stars indicate that this week is a prime time to enjoy all that is auditory. Just don’t get to hedonistic about things. Libra Time is running out. Following all those sappy cliches, do now what you know you must do. Seize the moment. Take wee Over The Edge Page 18 this opportunity to get out of the hair of all the happily mis- erable people around you. Scorpio Your love life is awesome. Just don’t brag about it, the rest of us unhappy, bitter, burned people might kill you in the night. In fact, we may just leave stale Cornflakes in your room out of spite. Beware the aged cereal. Sagittarius In case of a total lack of friends, take up talking to yourself. Not only will this cre- ative pastime keep you amused, it may be the only way to have an intelligent con- versation. Just don’t talk to trees, then the funny farm people may come to lock you up. Capricorn You anger me greatly. No horoscope for you. Aquarius This is going to be a time span of close association with mashed potatoes. This is per- fectly normal occurrence, so sit back and enjoy your starch fix. Be very careful not to take you roommate’s potatoes however, or you will induce the wrath of a starving student. Pisces Buy a fish, or maybe more if there is a two for one sale. The calming influence of these swimming critters will help improve your mindset. This in turn will allow you to deal with your current prob- lems. Like how to that sauce stain out of your white shirt, or how do they get the Caramilk in the Caramilk bar.