Roland MicroCube
As someone who makes his living playing and teaching guitar, I love the tone and power that large, loud amplifiers provide. But there are many times and places where a big amp just doesn't work. Sometimes it's just carting it around; sometimes it's space issues. If you live in an apartment or townhouse, playing a large amp at supersonic volumes can make for some really bad neighbor relationships or even get you evicted. You really can't take a large amp camping either, unless you use a power inverter and drain your car battery. Also, you have a difficult time taking it traveling on business or vacation.
What to do? For all those places, the Roland MicroCube is perfect. This little amp has been around for about four years and is loaded with features closely related to its larger, louder cousins. The controls on the top provide a wide range of sonic possibilities. Along with a knob for tone, there are controls for gain (think distortion control) and volume. Most importantly, the MicroCube uses digital modeling to make it versatile and good sounding. What's digital modeling? That's where you take a bunch of great-sounding full-size amps and digitally sample the sounds they make and then apply that to the sound architecture of another amp.
The models on the MicroCube make it very versatile. Models include Black Panel (an early 60's Fender amp style), Brit Combo (a Vox AC-30TB), Stack (Marshall JMP1987), R-fier (think Mesa Boogie here), JC Clean (based on the popular Roland Jazz Chorus amp) and a setting for microphone and acoustic guitar. There's a "tuning fork" switch that puts out a three-pitch tone to make tuning easy. There are also various effects such as chorus, flanger, phaser, tremolo, echo, and reverb, which makes it sound as though you're playing in a big room. On the back is a headphone output (that shuts the speaker off when in use), an auxillary line input and power in for a 9 volt DC power source. I love portable, and for such a small amp this thing puts out, and with great tone. My favorite setting? Brit Combo with a little distortion along with my lapsteel.
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A cool tool is anything useful that is superior to comparable items. If you think this tool is inferior suggest a better one. You are welcome to insult a tool, but comments containing insults to individual people will be deleted. Corrections of fact are always welcomed, if stated politely. Recommendations of better tools are dearly wanted and may be elevated to the front page.
Kozmik
I wonder how this would sound with keyboard/accordion.
Kellie Miller
Thanks Jeff for a very useful review. This baby is going near the top of my wish list.
Peter
Thanks for the informative review. As an apartment dweller looking for my first electric guitar, this was very timely. And it's so affordable.
Richard Bacchus
I love this little amp. I have the red one great for plugging in an MP3 player at the beach. It actually has a great battery life. I just picked up a Fender Super Champ XD, it's a lot like this amp, not as portable but I've been able to do club dates with it.
VonRiesling
I've had this amp for awhile and like it a lot. For playing with a full band I run a line out of the cube into a Jazz Chorus 77 (sacrilege!) and it sounds great as well. In relatively quiet practice the little onboard speaker sounds pretty good.
Victor
What's the best small amp these days for a bass guitar?
Jeff Bragg
The Roland Micro Cube CBRX Bass Amp if you are looking for the same portability of the Micro Cube guitar amp. Battery powered with lots of features, also. One caveat: usually the bass versions of these amps do not satisfy a lot of bass players. Not enough bottom.
Darryl
I can't play well at all, but I do love the sounds from my little Smokey Amp, and talk about portable!
http://www.smokeyamps.com/Smokey_Pages/smokey.html
Also, an amp in a recycled cigarette box is just so friggin cool.
Tom MacWright
Hmm, if you're going to get a small amp, it makes more sense to go with a small tube amp that you can also use for recording, like an Epiphone Valve Jr. or one of the small Fender recording amp reissues...
Ed C
I don't know a thing about guitars but I love the video post. My son is learning to play the guitar and what a "cool tool" for him perhaps... Thanks so much!
Joe V
April 7 10
Congratulations on one damn-fine review -
Does the following seem familiar?
_ UG Newspaper > 'Flash' Gorden > JWHS _
if not…no problem -
(an old friend with the same name
and excellent lefty style as yours...)
Thank you for the easy-to-understand
highly informative review }{
Joe
oceanpotion
as far as the bass amp question i love my pignose hog 30. which also has a battery pack which you can rechange the battery compartment to play for hours. little pricey but worth it ..
any feedback on this/
Pon-chyan
Thank you for turning me on to the MicroCube. I went out and snagged one on sale at Guitar Center over Memorial Day weekend. It is the sixth amp in my collection of tube and solid-state amps. It won't replace a full-size amp, but this tiny package provides huge tone and great flexibility. It's great for practicing at low volumes, though it gets quite loud when you turn it up. The built in circuitry provides decent distortion and time delay effects without a tangle of pedals, cables, and power supplies. I haven't even tried it on battery power yet, but I am totally satisfied.