I must admit that when Dana B. Goods first said they were sending a Blue Cab 30 amp for me to review, I was a bit…umm…under-enthused about the project. Throughout my-20 plus years of being a professional musician, small practice amps were not really anything to write home about, let alone write a review about. After all, what can you say about a small practice amp other than it is small?
Then the UPS truck dropped off the Blue Cab 30 and my whole attitude changed.
Yes the Blue Cab 30 is small, but when I lifted it out of the box I was immediately impressed by its weight. This little combo is solidly built and weighs in at 46 pounds. I can remember checking out small bass amps a few years ago and when I pushed on the sides of the cabinets they actually flexed in! When I tried compressing the sides of the Blue Cab 30, they didn’t budge at all. The combo is covered with the same tough fabric that covers all Warwick cabinets, and the speaker is protected by a heavy steel speaker grill. This little 30-watt combo is a tank!
The layout of the front panel is very logical and easy to understand. There are two inputs on the far left – one for passive basses and one for active basses. Next to those inputs is the volume knob, followed by the bass, middle and treble tone control knobs. Each tone control knob has a center notch so it is easy to set them to the flat setting. After the tone section there is the auxiliary input section, which is a cool little feature that I fell in love with. There are stereo-to-mono RCA inputs and an auxiliary volume knob that allows you to plug in a drum machine, CD player or other such devices and the sound will come through your Blue Cab 30 12-inch speaker. The volume control makes it very easy to balance your bass’ volume with the auxiliary level.
To test this feature I first plugged in my CD player (see photo at right) and popped in a Tower of Power CD. The auxiliary inputs bypass the tone controls so you can dial in a tone for your bass without affecting the CD’s tone. It was very easy to balance the volumes and within no time I was playing along with Rocco. Next, I plugged in my Yamaha QY-100 sequencer (see photo at left). Everything worked the same as with the CD player, and I was playing over the changes to Joy Spring that I had programmed into the sequencer the night before. This auxiliary input feature is a really powerful practice tool that I can see being very helpful to all players.
The last feature on the front panel is a simple headphone jack that shuts off the speaker output when you plug into it. If you have ever been told that you have to stop practicing because everyone is going to sleep, this feature will be your best friend. I have an 18-month old daughter who goes to sleep at 7:30 every night. I can see how the auxiliary input section and headphone jack will give me the facility to practice and learn songs well after my little girl has gone to bed. Before getting the Blue Cab 30, I used to practice with a little mixer, some headphones, and a bunch of patch cables that allowed me to play along with my CD player and sequencer. The set-up took at least 15 minutes to get ready and it wasn’t that easy to work with. Suddenly, everything has gotten a lot easier for me.
Turning my attention to the back panel of the Blue Cab 30, I found a simple effects loop interface there. To test this feature I pulled out my old Alesis MidiVerb 4 and plugged it in. I dialed in my favorite chorus setting and started playing. The effects loop is surprisingly quiet for such an inexpensive bass combo, even when I cranked the volume and really started bothering my wife!
The other cool feature on the back of the Blue Cab 30 is the cool little tilt-back foot that is mounted on the back of the cabinet. I was doing the testing in my home office and by tilting back the Blue Cab I could sit in my chair and the combo was angled right at my head. I can see how this feature will be popular with most players. I sure liked it.
So how does the Blue Cab 30 sound? BIG. The tuned and ported cabinet really projects the sound out loud and clear. I didn’t have any gigs on the books, so I asked a friend of mine to come over with his acoustic guitar. We jammed for about 30 minutes and he kept asking me to turn down a bit! Not bad for a 30-watt amp. I can honestly say that the Blue Cab 30 will be powerful enough for most small-venue vocal or acoustic gigs.
Since many Blue Cab 30 owners might not be experienced with dialing in different amp tones, I thought I would take a moment to show you my settings for some popular playing styles. I used a Warwick Thumb Neck-Thru 4-string to set the tones, so you may need to make slight adjustments to the settings depending on what bass you use (although they should be a good starting point for you).
1) Slap Tone: This is a good, modern slap tone with meaty lows and snappy highs. (See Tone Example 1)
2) Pick Metal: This is a killer setting for playing metal on your bass with a pick. (See Tone Example 2)
3) Fingerstyle Metal: This tone is heavy on the mids and gets that cool Steve Harris “click”. (See Tone Example 3)
4) Blues/Jazz: This tone setting is warm and smooth with muted highs. Perfect for walking Jazz and Blues bass lines. (See Tone Example 4)
5) Chord Melody: For those bass players who like to play chords and chord melody pieces on the bass, this setting is clean with good definition. (See Tone Example 5)
6) Tapping: For you tap fiends out there, here is a setting that I like to use. Crisp and clean without being brittle. (See Tone Example 6)
7) Classic Country: I set this tone up to match the bass tone on Johnny Cash’s classic “Folsom Prison Blues”. It is big and fat, with just enough highs to define the notes. (See Tone Example 7)
So there you have it! At a retail price of $299, the Blue Cab 30 is a phenomenal bass combo, with a big sound and some killer features. I can easily see this amp being used in lesson studios or on small coffee shop gigs. I plan to use mine for practicing and you can count on me taking it when my family goes on vacations!
As always, stay tuned
Dale Titus
©Copyright 2004 Warwick Gmbh/Dana B. Goods, Inc.
