cheetah1's Full Review: Roland Microcube Guitar Amplifier
The Roland microcube certainly has been a success story for the Roland corporation. To date they have sold almost a half million of these small portable amps worldwide. The microcube has inspired Roland to create other portable amps like the cube street and the just released microcube RX.
This is a small portable modeling amp that weighs in at 7 1/2 pounds without batteries. The approximate dimensions of the microcube are 9 !/2" by 6 1/2" by 9" inches, not quite a cube but pretty close. It uses 6 AA alkaline batteries or an included AC adapter.
The amp has a power output of only 2 watts but sounds a bit more powerful than the wattage rating would lead you to believe. The speaker is listed at 5 inches however the paper speaker cone is only 4 1/4 inches. If the speaker is measured diagonally a 5 inch measurement of the entire speaker can be taken so technically they can can get away with saying it's 5 inches.
The microcube is a high quality amp with excellent attention to detail in it's construction. The entire amp looks like it was designed to handle some serious abuse with it's thick particle board cabinet and perforated metal speaker grille. The microcube has an unusual industrial look to it. There is a large carry strap on the microcube so you can sling the amp around your shoulder.
This portable amp has the Roland COSM amp modeling which stands for composite object sound modeling. A lot of amp manufacturers come up with fancy terms for their own personal modeling applications and Roland has the COSM as their selling point.
There are 5 different amp models plus an effects knob which controls the chorus, flanger, phaser and tremelo. The effects knob controls the intensity of each effect. Only one effect at a time can be used. There is a separate delay/reverb function that is controlled by a different knob. Like the effects function the delay/reverb can be adjusted in intensity and only one at a time can be used with the 4 different effects. It looks like the amp was designed by a pro guitarist. Everything is laid out logically and the effects are all very useful when playing your instrument.
Some of the other features on the microcube are the electronic tuning fork which I think is a good idea for portable use. A 1/4 inch recording out/headphone jack and and 2 different sized auxiliary jacks which can connect to a CD player or other device.
There are 5 different amp models as I mentioned previously plus an acoustic setting and an open mic setting for vocals. The first clean model setting is modeled after the Roland Jazz chorus amplifier. The second clean setting is modeled after a Fender twin reverb. The two clean settings sound nice at low volumes but they can get raspy as the gain increases. The VOX setting is modeled after a Vox AC-30 amp. The VOX setting can be played clean or turn up the gain and some distortion can be dialed in.
The classic stack setting is modeled after a Marshall JMP 1987 amp and the R-fier setting is modeled after a Mesa Boggie amp. The R-fier sounds better than the classic stack setting, it has some balls to it and it can get loud. The classic stack setting sounds o.k. if the tone knob is kept below 12 o'clock. Forget about trying to get any clean tones from the two distortion settings.
I purchased this amp because of it's good reviews and low purchase price. I don't really have a specific use for my microcube. The microcube sounds o.k. but I get a better perspective of the amps tone when I play the microcube and then switch to one of my other guitar amps. I own a couple other solid state amps in the same price range as the microcube and they both make the microcube sound kind of lousy. These are wall plug in amplifiers, not portable amps.
The microcube competes well with other portable amps but I don't think it fares to well against some of the other larger solid state amps in that 120-150 dollar price range.
If a musician has a specific low volume requirement or needs a portable amp for on the go use then I would recommend the Roland microcube. I would also check out the just released Line 6 microspider and Vox DA5 combo, both of which have larger speakers and more power than the microcube.
Fantastic prices with ease & c...(Stock status: N/A)
With the new Micro Cube, guitarists get a genuine Roland Cube amp in an ultra-compact package that even runs on batteries. Weighing in at just few pou...More at Amazon Marketplace
Fantastic prices with ease & c...(Stock status: N/A)
With the new Micro Cube, guitarists get a genuine Roland Cube amp in an ultra-compact package that even runs on batteries. Weighing in at just few pou...More at Amazon Marketplace
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