Roland Cube Series : )

[characterzero]

Yeah, I know they're just solid state. No vintage tube glory... but on the other hand they're small tough and loud! I just came from a band practice where I brought my 30 watt Cube. Mid-way through a song our guitarist blew out a power tube on his nice old 80's Laney. For a minute he was freaking out, but I just told him to run through the Cube. I went into the PA, and sure enough only turned up half way the guitarist was plenty loud for the practice, and the amp sounded absolutely great! As a matter of fact, I thought it cut through the mix better than his Laney.

Through the year I've owned my Cube, I've totally been impressed with it. It can stand up to most anything, has great build quality, and an very nice clean channel. I don't really use the onboard effects often but they're a nice plus. I have nothing but good things to say about these amps if you're looking for a small portable back-up or practice/travel amp.

:w:

[MetalMac]

Yeah, one of my buddies bought a Cube as his first amp and he says it does great for everything except a warm bluesy tone. He's a :w:head anyway, so who needs bluesy warmth!! :w:

[characterzero]

That's true, the warm blues tone is the one thing where the cube isn't great. Sometimes I run through a little Behringer tube pre-amp before the amp and it actually warms it up a little bit. Still it's not a substitute for a bluesy tube amp, which is basically the tone you mentioned. I know a guy with a Fender blues jr. and he got this great tone running a hollowbody jazz guitar into it. That's great for a small tube amp, but I like my overall toughness of the cube for what I'm using it for.

[Redline68]

I'm really gonna have to try one of these things. I've never heard one or played through one, but I unconsciously shy away from them. I think it's because some of my disappointing amps were solid states with small speakers. I pretty much look over the small speakers. I'll have to make it a point to noodle with one the next time I have a chance.

[characterzero]

Speaking of small speakers, I just saw that Roland just came out with the new Rx Cubes. They look like they're small and battery powered like the Micro Cubes, but with 4 4" speakers! They look pretty cool, but are pretty expensive for their size ($230) right now. Apparently you can run the single amp in stereo between the four speakers, which sounds interesting, but I'm not sure how "stereo" it really is with the speakers only being a few inches apart.

I understand why you'd be worried about being let down with a solid state, but keep in mind the clean channels are modeled after the JC120, which is supposed to be the be all end all of solid state clean amps. Since I only paid like $140 for my 30 watt, its portability and toughness alone have made it worth it (of course I like the sound too).

Edit: Roland's site site says something about true stereo... but how can that be? Looking at picture the amp only has one input. Maybe it's just for the built in effects?