classic sounds and sought after tones of
precisely tuned vintage tube combos,
along with user-friendly modern features and reduced weight. In developing
the Blues Cube, Roland engineers integrated the ability to re-voice the amplifier via a Tone Capsule socket on the chassis, a powerful capability unveiled for
the first time at the Winter NAMM
Show. To learn more about the Eric
Johnson Blues Cube Tone Capsule and
its backstory, visit
www.RolandUS.com.
MSRP is not available
at press time.
By David Gedge & Jeff Elbel
NAMM-INATIONS
Strange Brew
The Percolator
Cubes & Capsules
Roland Eric Johnson Blues Cube
Tone Capsule
Allen Products/ATM Flyware • Konig & Meyer/K&M • HSA • Apogee DrumDial Crown International • Drawmer • Furman
Lexicon • Marantz Professional • ELectro-Voice • Sennheiser • Shure • Soundcraft • Tascam/Teac Rolltop••Ashly • Cord Lox••Ashly • JBL Professional Sound
Roland's new Eric Johnson Blues
Cube Tone Capsule, a user-installable
voicing (a.k.a. modeling) circuit for the
innovative Blues Cube guitar amplifier
series was developed with the Grammy
guitarist Eric Johnson. The Tone Capsule
changes the sound and response characteristics of Roland's Blues Cube amps to
provide custom voicings tuned and
approved by the Johnson himself.
Roland's Blues Cube team asked the guitarist to work closely with them on the
Tone Capsule project. “I am very interested in pursuing new paths to getting
tone,” Eric told IE. “When the Blues
Cube team asked if they could present
an amp with new tone capabilities, I was
intrigued.”
Roland’s Tube Logic design approach
reinvented Blues Cube amps deliver
Chicago-based
Zeppelin Design Labs
has released its beautifully designed first product. The finished 2-Watt "Percolator" tube amplifier
is a classy guitar amp for practice at
home or gigging at small clubs. It’s also
ideal for blues harp. The design is flavored by a single General Electric
Compactron tube, created in the early
1960’s for television circuits.
Although available pre-built, the
Percolator is mainly offered as a kit. It’s
not a beginner project, but with basic soldering skills and healthy respect for electrical safety, Percolator is a fun and educational build. Zeppelin’s website offers
a detailed instruction manual and helpful demonstration videos by engineer
Brach Siemens.
Unlike many DIY amplifier kits, the
Percolator package includes everything
for a completed unit – all the way down
to old-school grille cloth for the cabinet.
Once built, the amp can power your own
small speaker box. If you don’t have one,
Zeppelin has an inexpensive kit for a single 8” speaker cabinet to match the
Percolator.
The best thing a