Re.Roland 80XL

John Davis · Post by **John Davis** » 26 Nov 2012 12:00 pm

For all those agonising over wether or not to purchase the Roland 80XL ..... Don`t do it!.... You don`t need one...
Purchase the discontinued 80X instead, you can find them a lot cheaper than the 80XL and the "improvements" they have put on the facelift 80XL model are IMHO not anything your average steel player is gonna need anyway......, apart from that they appear to be the same animal..... as I found out by mistake when purchasing what I thought was an 80XL on Ebay..... dissapointment turned to delight when I discovered I had all the features that my XL had and played just the same.....
Only thing left to do now is rip it all apart and build a new cab that will accomodate my beloved JBL E120..... This mission now accomplished photos will follow..... If anyone else wants to go this route, I can tell you that you have to drop the speaker by 60mm to get it in and there is no way of geting the space in the original cab......
I have yet to gig this little tone monster, but it has passed the front room test with flying colours.......
My thanks to B&Q for cutting up the panels for me F.O.C. and with a precision that I could never have achieved.....
It looks just like a cube just 60 mm taller..........

John Davis · Post by **John Davis** » 26 Nov 2012 12:06 pm

Darvin Willhoite · Post by **Darvin Willhoite** » 26 Nov 2012 6:44 pm

I have an 80X, and an 80XL and I can't tell a nickels worth of difference in them. I really like them both, I leave one set up for steel and the other for guitar.

Ken Byng · Post by **Ken Byng** » 27 Nov 2012 4:39 am

Great job there Mr Davis. I had an opportunity a couple of years ago to buy a Roland 80X when I first bought my 80XL. It was on eBay in excellent nick, and was priced at £60 - Buy It Now. I really regret not buying it now, but at the time I was led to believe that the 80XL was a considerably superior amp. Not true!

Scott Denniston · Post by **Scott Denniston** » 27 Nov 2012 7:57 am

I've looked a bit but don't see an 80X anywhere for sale. Any suggestions?

Post by **Brad Bechtel** » 27 Nov 2012 9:14 am

They were discontinued and replaced by the 80XL. You'll only be able to find them used or possibly on eBay.

John Davis · Post by **John Davis** » 27 Nov 2012 11:41 am

Thank you Ken,...re finding them, I have two on my Ebay watch list at the moment both under 200 quid (at the moment) ....I won`t buy another unless it is silly cheap as I have two Xl`s and this X that I have re-cabbed to house the JBL...

David Langdon · Post by **David Langdon** » 27 Nov 2012 12:30 pm

Thanks foe the info John. That's a 'heads up for the year award'. There's one up on the bay on my doorstep at the moment too! Thanks again! Dave.

Howard Smith · Post by **Howard Smith** » 27 Nov 2012 4:37 pm

Did the JBL speaker make a really huge difference? Or was it marginal?

John Davis · Post by **John Davis** » 28 Nov 2012 12:03 am

Howard, I would say most would think marginal, but to my (one remaining ) ear worth every bit of the effort involved. I would describe the sound as slightly warmer and sweeter and a little closer to my old Fender twin sound .... just less clinical and sharp but still retaining the amazing string seperation that the twin did`ent give me.
Bottom line is..... I will probably give one of my XL`s the same treatment..

David Mason · Post by **David Mason** » 28 Nov 2012 6:37 am

One of the reasons the Roland Cubes work so well for their size is that the Roland engineers followed the Thiele-Small parameters in designing their closed-back amps. The reason most guitar amps are open-backed is because it's so easy - you just need to have enough wood to hold stuff. But converting a Roland Cube to an open-back design is going to wipe out the advantages it has being designed like a high-end speaker cabinet. You may very well lose volume and the tone is bound to change, I would guess you'd lose bass response.

P.S. I would be extremely wary if you're planning to crank it after you "close up the back because that's the way the stock one was." You've changed the interior parameters, and that's kind of a pricy speaker to blow.

John Davis · Post by **John Davis** » 28 Nov 2012 7:13 am

David, I do have some cabs for the E120`s that were designed with the T/S parameters and they are not a lot bigger than the enlarged cab I have built but I do know how well the E120 performs in them and yes there is a difference but my techy tells me that the quality of the E120 will overide the mismatch and I am unlikely to blow a 300 watt speaker with an 80 watt amp. Either way I figure its worth it I have quite a few JBL`s should it decide to go south>>>>
I also have two in a 71 twin reverb (open back) never hurt the sound but needs two men and a boy to lift it!!

Dave Hepworth · Post by **Dave Hepworth** » 29 Nov 2012 2:06 am

Hi John,
Dave Hepworth here-(spoke to you a few weeks ago ref.Stonecreek reunion gig and bought a set of SITs from you !?).
I too have started using a Cube80x at rehersals-as you say there is no difference sonically to the newer XL.I use an extesion cab loaded with a Peavey scorpion.I find a slight volume drop but with a wider sound as a plus -do you find this using an extra cab?Both drivers are 8 ohms and using 2 speakers are by factory default wired in series.
Using JBLs sounds a great idea(put one in my old Fender concert and it became a tone monster).Maybe I should drop the Scorpion and use a JBL.in the ext.cab.
Looking at the circuit diagram for cube I notice that the speaker connections also include a speaker chassis earth tag.How did you achieve this on the JBL.
Going back to the Cube on Black Face it sounds superb with my GFI Ultra SD10.as you say string separation is superb.
My reunion gig is next Tuesday-plucking up courage to take cube and ext.cab to gig(200 seat club)we will not be micked up and Cube will have to used for Tele.duties as well.Wish me luck!
Dave.

John Davis · Post by **John Davis** » 29 Nov 2012 1:18 pm

Hi Dave, your reunion gig might turn out to be the first of many

Hope you have a good one! Re.the amp, my earth bonding is as good as I can make it and infinatly better than my old twins

.... go for the E120 they do the business imho and I don`t think you notice the volume drop with a more efficient speaker.... only downside I see is I am back to half the weight of the twin... but I can still manage it with one hand...

Howard Smith · Post by **Howard Smith** » 30 Nov 2012 8:43 am

John you should maybe take a look at some new technology with Neo type magnet technology. Eminence is really making some good stuff, as well as most of the the speaker manufactures these days, but basically the magnets are much more effcient at removing heat from the voice coil, and your magnet weight is a fraction of that compared to the old big ceramic magnets used on the JBL E120. Consequently your weight reduction is huge, and makes moving them much easier. Just my two cents. I love the old JBL speakers, but have learned that the new stuff sounds even better, and is a whole lot easier on my old back to move around.

John Davis · Post by **John Davis** » 1 Dec 2012 12:19 am

Howard, I have tried the Neo stuff with both Goodmans and Jenson in my twins but they just did not cut it for me as far as the sound goes compared to my JBL`s

... though I have not tried "Eminence"
But your right they make a 50% weight reduction.
I never thought anything would wean me off of my "antique" Twins but the cube is a great compromise
Manageable weight and a good sound.....

Kenneth Kotsay · Post by **Kenneth Kotsay** » 3 Dec 2012 4:21 pm

Ordered a Roland Cube 80xl on Saturday from Guitar Center, Hallandale, Florida. Should be arriving by Friday.

Dave Hepworth · Post by **Dave Hepworth** » 6 Dec 2012 6:51 am

Hi John,
Reunion gig was fabulous -old fans came as far as Wirral to see us!.Repeat gig/s mentioned.
However I CHICKENED OUT on the Cube80x for one reason only-not sure it would cut it on Tele.duties!Iused my old Vegas 400 and a Fender 53pro in true stereo .Maybe next time!
Regards Dave

John Davis · Post by **John Davis** » 7 Dec 2012 12:16 am

Dave , IMHO you are swimming against the tide! Are you talking sound? or volume? For sound my guitar sounds great through the cube and you have so much variation to choose from

For volume you could make your ears bleed if you wanted to??
If I want to be loud I take a "line out" from the back of my cube put it through a passive direct box and straight into the input of the next cube ....thats loud.

Dave Hepworth · Post by **Dave Hepworth** » 7 Dec 2012 3:02 pm

Hi Again John,
I value your comments seriously -the steel is a different set of values to the Tele.I dont know why but the steel is fine thro the Cube -what I play seems to be valid and I feel it is heard by people in front of it as I do.The Tele is different I feel it lacks something which I cant describe despite the EQ.It not a matter of volume -the cube has plenty.To add more complexity to the problem my Gibson Les Paul seems fine thro it !! .Despite my concerns the Cube is DEFFINATELY a keeper.Perhaps I just need a bit more courage.
Regards Dave

richard burton · Post by **richard burton** » 8 Dec 2012 1:07 am

I've been 'swimming against the tide' since 1987 when I bought my Vegas.

I also bought a second-hand Session 500 ten years later.

It's a 15 inch speaker driven by solid-state amp technology for me, nothing less

Ken Byng · Post by **Ken Byng** » 8 Dec 2012 8:12 am

Richard
I bought a Session 500 in the early 80's after having played through a Fender Twin and Super Twin for years. I hated the hard, mid-rangey sound, and Peavey UK exchanged it without charge for a brand new Nashville 400. The NV 400 was an improvement but still a long way from the sweet tone of a Fender valve amp.

I have owned 8 Peavey amps in total, but they all have the dreaded mid range honk. 3 or 4 years ago I bought the best steel amp that I have ever played through - a Bradshaw Webb which has one setting that is close to my old Fender Twins. It came at a price, but I thought that all good things in life did.

That was until I came across the Roland 80XL a couple of years ago. It was not designed for steel guitar, but ironically sounds better than any of my Peavey amps especially when coupled with my Sarno SG Black Box. The 80XL is not perfect by any means, but it is simple to dial in a good sound for both pedal steel and 6 string electric. It also delivers a lot of poke for an 80 watt solid state amp. Bang for the buck it is close to being the best value amp on the market. It's a good amp to record through too.

Brad Malone · Post by **Brad Malone** » 8 Dec 2012 9:00 am

Hey Gents, David Mason and Ken Byng know what they are talking about..the Roland Engineers did a wonderful job designing the Roland 80XL amp..it is the best amp I have ever played through and the best $360 I ever spent on an AMP..no need to modify...just learn to use the controls..they are very sensitive..why search the world over to save $50 or so buying a used amp that probably has been beaten up when you can get a new 80xl with less hassle and a return policy if you do not like it. Do what you want but like I said before, the Roland Engineers DONE DID IT..why mess with success?

Ken Byng · Post by **Ken Byng** » 8 Dec 2012 9:41 am

Good point Brad. My 80XL came with a 3 year warranty from Roland once I'd registered the purchase with them.

However, the 80X makes a good alternative or addition if you can find one at the right price.

John Davis · Post by **John Davis** » 8 Dec 2012 10:36 am

Richard you don,t need one ! You would get a good sound out of a plastic fiddle...