Roland BC-30 BluesCube

The features are very limited...not even reverb, which would make a big difference. There's no speaker out, no effects loop and only a shared eq section...these features and more are part of the BC-60 models, so shame on me for being too eager on ebay.

What is lacking in features is certainly made up for in tone. This is a beautiful sounding amp. I have the 2x10" speaker model. The lead channel is a little thin and I find that the eq is very subtle, so it takes a bit to key in a great tone. The clean channel is pristine...clear, crisp and precise...it also handles pedals very well. I use the lead channel for bluesy stuff and handle heavier stuff with pedals run through the clean side. I'm a fan of solid state stuff and Roland really hit a homerun with this line...too bad it was discontinued...it's hard to find a good solid state non-modeling amp, but this may be the best I've heard...a little cabinet buzz here and there, but nothing serious.

Too soon to tell.

Doubt I'll ever use it.

I'm a tone nut who likes solid state amps and effects pedals, with that in mind, this amp allows you to really key in your own sound. It is very clean and pure...it will bring out the positives and negatives to your technique and your instrument. I really wish it had reverb, but I must say, it is a real solid player and is quite handsome with it's vintage look.

Thirty watts, 12" Greenback clone speaker, two channels that work with a footswitch, one set of EQ for both channels and a presence knob. Master volume. Weighs about 35 pounds and comes in a beige tolex with a brown grillcloth. Nice looking amp, sort of like the old tweed fender cabs. Discontinued by Roland. (DUMB decision, Roland.)
There are few features beyond the basics, not even a reverb. The best thing is the amp's tone which is good enough that you won't miss any other features.
I play Telecasters with neck humbuckers, neck P 90s and neck SC pickups, and overwould bridge pickups from GFS. My current band is into classic rock and classic oldies, plus a few modern tunes tossed in. I play it clean for most tunes. The BC 30 is perfect for those styles using the Telecaster guitars.

The sound without pedals is decidedly high quality old school rock and blues. The EQ is very responsive and the amp reacts to guitar volume changes. I can get a sparkley, early Beatles, AC 30 tone or a Fender clean and even a Roland JC-type clean for my oldies tunes-no problem. As for blues, cranking up the clean channel's volume and backing off the Master volume will give you the ability to control the slight breakup with the guitar volume and or the pickup selection. The overdrive channel is good for dirty blues and rock. You can also play with how hard you pick the strings to get clean and gritty tone. The preamp on this thing is sensitive and the BC 30 "almost" seems like a good tube amp. I say almost because it does not have the 3-D depth of my Fender tube amps. That's the only thing that's missing from the Blues Cube and i only hear the difference when i'm rehearsing alone. When rehearsing with the band or playing live, you really wouldn't notice this 3-D ambience is missing. I agree with the assertion that Roland's Blues Cube amps have a particular lock on the "sounds just like a tube amp" title. As a gigging amp, this one does me proud.
When I do coffeehouse gigs by myself, I use small Fender tube amps because there is a difference that is noticeable when playing solo in those venues. Call it a dynamics and depth thing but the sound of a Fender Blues Jr seems less fatiguing to my ears when playing solo with a drum machine.
I hardly ever use distortion pedals but I can get a nice crunch from the overdrive channel that resembles the Marshall type crunch. It rocks for straight ahead heavy blues solos and 70s classic rock solos. It's pretty sensitive to the guitar's volume. No good for shred or metal. There is no lag in the sound when changing channels but there is a sort of morph process that is very, very cool and eliminates the abruptness that some amps have with switching.

Never had a problem. Don't think I ever will.

I play Telecasters mostly because I love the clarity and sparkle. I have a Strat and a Les Paul too, but my Teles are by far my favorites. With the bright switch on the clean channel will give those Danny Gatton or Roy Buchanan sort of tones. The amp can be EQ'd for just about anything though.
Overdrive and distortion is the sort you would hear on classic rock records. It's not geared for 80s, 90s tones but a pedal could cure that.
I bought my Roland Blues Cubes after hearing a friend's band. He plays standard Strats and slide resos through one. I was blown away by the tone and clean power. Bought one on eBay and went back for another. These are very, very good amps and i would only use Roland Blues Cube amps for my solid state choice. They really nailed the tone of tube amps except for that elusive 3D quality. For me there is no substitue for what the BC 30 can do. It's the best of the solid staters, period.

Not much on the features side. Shared equalization on two channels. No reverb but it has a good presence circuit.

Ibanez guitars with sc and hum pickups...solid bodies, hardtails, shredders, jazz boxes. I have a boatlod of Ibanez guitars. I'm using a Boss ME 50 with the Blues cube as my practice rig at home. This amp has a very tubey sound and it is pretty loud too. Both channels rock pretty good. For a solid state amp it is the perfect size and has a tone that will leave you shaking your head. Sounds too good to be true.

Musicians Friend sold out their whole stock of these for $200 so I bought one. I'm very very glad I did. I'm another 35 year player...I hope that when today's young players reach their 50s they have such fine equipment to choose from. These are damned fine amps at any price. For 200 bucks it was the deal of the century. Get one.

Year it was made? Who knows? Here's a little amp with two channels and that's about it. It acts like a tube amp and sounds like one. That's the standout feature on this amp. You want a bunch of computers and lights and buttons then get a modeler. Modeling amps can make all kinds of sounds. When you get serious about actually PLAYING the guitar you'll get something like this.

I use Teles. This little amp brings out all the brightness and character of the Tele vibe. It is sensitive so you can get a little overdrive with the volume up and back off for a nice smooth clean. I almost never use the overdrive channel but it sounds fine to my ears. This is a player's amp. Even with the overdrive it is clear and bright. No good for metal but perfect for rock, blues, country, jazz or rockabilly. Not much variety but enough tone control to play almost any style with your guitar of choice. Get a modeler if you want a million sounds. Get one of these if you want THE SOUND...capice?

Roland and Boss are the tops in quality.

Simple. Get one. It's a Deluxe Reverb with solid state innards.

Pretty light on features. This is a basic solid-state 2 channel amp, with no reverb and no effects loop. It's designed to be a straightforward small gig amp, giving mainly blues tones or clean jazz rather than all-out rock. What it does, it does very well.

There are times when I miss having amp-based reverb, but this little amp makes you concentrate on what you play. I sometimes use this amp live for pub gigs, often miked up into the PA. Otherwise it's for rehearsals and at larger gigs I go direct with a POD 2 and no amp.

I use a Godin strat, a PRS soapbar, and a Yamaha AES. They all sound great through the BC30, but especially the Godin which totally nails the strat blues thing.

Not at all noisy (this is solid state although it gets close to tube sounds especially on the clean channel). Very good a crunch sounds where you can break up the clean channel with heavy picking, or control your sound with the guitar's volume.

Because this is only a 30 watt 1x12 it's hard to keep the clean channel from breaking up at high volumes. You're not going to keep up with an acoustic drummer going at full bash.

The 2nd channel can get pretty dirty in a typical Boss fashion if you want it. It's not a metal machine but will do classic rock very nicely.

Roland and Boss are the BMW of the music world. This stuff doesn't break often, and if it does, you get top-level support from them. After a couple of years the speaker in my BC-30 blew. It's a custom made Roland cone from California and Roland UK got me one within a couple of weeks. I considered using a Celestion Greenback or something instead, but figured the original had sounded great, so why change? Cost about #70 for the new one I think, and I've had about another 3 years out of it so far. One event in 5 years - not bad.
The little metal inserts to the amp knobs keep falling out, and I lost a couple. New knobs only a few quid from Roland UK - easy.

See above - top support.

Bought this one new from Soho Soundhouse when they were on special after being discontinued.

Would probably replace with another Roland amp if I needed to. Might get a different model as these are no longer made.

Found this baby on Ebay still with the tags still on it. It is brand new and I'm hoping to wear it out for years to come. Came with all of the manuals and a foot pedal. Pedal works well for switching between clean and dirty channels. This thing is loud. It's nice to find an amp though that has a resonable scale for the volume switch.

1 is quiet, 3 is louder, 5 is loud 7 is crazy loud, haven't gone any higher than that.

Basic Feature but everything you need (except reverb)

I have a Yamaha Pacifica 521 with a Dimarzio AirZone in the bridge and a Dimarzio PAF in the neck position. I have only just purchased this amp but have found that for Blues, Jazz or classic rock, it has many combinations. Others here have mentioned that they love the clean sound but don't like the dirty channel. I feel the same about the clean channel but I also love the dirty channel. It actually breaks up a low volumes and is solid state ! I've never heard that before on any other amp. I have 4 different amps and this one might just be the new king of the hill. I have a Fender Super 60 Tube amp that also sounds great but for smaller venues, it blows everyone out of the place. The BC-30 is just right ! I really love this amp.

I'm guessing that it will be bullet proof. It is solid state. Time will tell.

Roland seems pretty good. I have a GT-5 and they provided some information for me.

I'm just getting serious about my guitar playing over the last couple years but do gig weekly in church. Being a small venue, it will fill the bill nicely. I've been a serious musician (horn player) for about 35 years playing jazz/blues/rock and have played with tons of different guitar players and different rigs.

For what I'm doing, this is going to do the job nicely - Nice amp Roland. Why did you discontinue it ?

Really it doesn't have a lot of features. What it DOES have is great tone and great response.
The clean channel is fantastic. I sounds at least as good as any old Fender tube amp of equal power. The overdrive is good...not fantastic, but good enough to make me happy. No reverb, but don't let that get in the way of auditioning this amp because it is a diamond in the rough. Nice cabinet. Vintage Roland (Eminence) speaker handles 45 watts and is mucho excellent.

I use clean mostly but I sometimes get a little boost from the overdrive channel with the gain at 3, using an old Fender footswitch. Playing a Fender Stratocaster mostly but I sometimes borrow our bass player's PRS and noodle around. I was going to purchase the Peavey Classic 30 but the Roland absolutely blew it away in all categories. I also thought I had to have reverb but to tell you the truth this amp is so warm and sweet that i'm already over the no reverb thing. For 200 dollars from Musician's Friend this was the best deal I ever got on a damn fine amp.
My Strat is heavenly sounding through the clean channel. On the overdrive with gain on three it still sounds unmistakeably like a Strat. Turn up the gain and you can get into Hendrix, SRV territory pretty easily. Go higher still and you can get some real Marshall tones if you like that sort of thing. The PRS sounds better than the Strat on the overdrive channel. Seems to be better for humbucking pickups if you use a lot of gain. Compresses like a tube amp, too.
Good feel and response to picking. DAMN! This is an unbelievable amp for such a small solid state wanker. It's plenty loud too.

I'm a long-time player who started in the 60's. I live in Utah these days, not far from Digitech. I teach at the university here and jam on weekends with students at a local coffeehouse for fun. I have a Strat and the Blues Cube now but I have owned a lot of different Fenders over the years. For $200 bucks from Musician's Friend I feel this amp is a fantastic bargain. It sounds like a tube amp, acts like a tube amp and feels like one. I'll find another one on ebay and buy it as a spare! If you like old rock tones from the 60s and 70s then this is the one. It is perfect for me.

I just bought the roland bc-30 blues cube in germany - before I read all comments on this website - AND REALLY THIS is for the little money (about 80 $ !!!) the best amp I heard - about the features - an amp has to give clean sound first and the bc 30 is clean and so pretty loveley !!! After all - I dont miss any features on this amp - becaus what you play is what you hear - nothin more - nothing less - and this is the most important - I use the bc30 too connected together with a fender hotrod (1x12") fantastic sound couple - fender has to think about it !! Only with this small bc 30 (stereo panorama) the sound becomes magic !

I use two fine guitars - one fender strat usa and a taylor ce 914 -
the fender strat give full sounds for all kind of music - in combination with POD XT live pedal - you realize all your sound dreams - on the other hand - connect just the taylor directly to the bc 30 - without any effect - WONDERFUL HARMONICS - even the much more costful fender hotrod can't give this warm and full sound - really -
very nice and clean.

I see the high quality of the components and I'm shure this amp will working 100 years without any problem.

I bought it used for only 80 $ - repairing ? I dont think that this amp need some intervention and if - I'm shure that roland will give any help possible - as I've experience with other roland equipment - the assistance was fast and professional.

I'm playing more than 20 years with all kind of equipment - this amp give me full satisfaction - I use it to warm up my playing and in small clubs - here the bc 30 is better than the fender hotrod because he is smoother and give a full warm tone at a lower sound level! If stolen - I would buy next corner the same. I love his practical size and the sound - he goes anywhere with me not any problem to transport. I choose this amp because I know that roland make things allright - and I read the critics on this page - people says here - that this amp has a tube sound - IT IS TRUE - search for a tube amp for this price - no chance - THANKS TO ROLAND to make things like that for small budget but with a great TUBE SOUND !!! (its almost solid state ...)

FEATURES: This model is discontinued. I don't know when mine was produced, as I bought it second hand. It has channel switching, shared 3 band eq, pre and post on the dirt channel, bright on the clean. Master Volume. No reverb. Active presence. Weighs in at about 33 pounds. Nice cab-no rattles. Looks very retro-cool in tan tolex with the oxblood grille cloth. Mine has the Eminence-made-for-Roland Vintage 12-75 speaker, removed from my BC 60. The original speaker is essentially the same but with a lower power rating, which is to say it sounds great and is the PERFECT match for the amp. The Roland Vintage 12 speakers are modeled after the famous Celestion Greenback 25. The eq section is very lively. Channel switching is quick and has no annoying glitches or pops. Not an amp with a ton of whistles and bells but then a nice old Fender Deluxe is fairly bare-bones, too. Don?t hear too many players whine about it though!

SOUND: Without a doubt this is the best sounding solid state amp out there for warm cleans crunchy blues and old school, hard rock tones. I know it?s been said waaay too many times but here goes; IT REALLY DOES HAVE THE TUBE-TONE THING NAILED! I guess it?s the overall balance and warmth that makes it shine so well. No harshness on either channel. I would compare the clean to lower wattage Fenders and the overdrive to older Marshall amps from the plexi era. It is not an aggressive, modern sounding amp and it is not at all suited for metal. Forget about it! If you like solid cleans crunchy overdrives and nice harmonics then this is the amp to have unless you just absolutely have to have real tubes inside. Experienced players would have trouble picking this one out of a crowd of tube amps?no, really.
First and foremost this really is an old-school player?s amp. It can get some pretty heavy distortion going for hard rock but it does its best at slightly-to-crunchy overdriven and clean tones in my opinion. I use a Les Paul and the BC 30 seems to be made for humbucking PUPs. Single coils are just fine through it (I have a strat-syle Ibanez, too) but humbucking PUPs really match up to the BC 30 in a very, very pleasing way. By the way, it?s pretty loud and responds well to picking dynamics for a 30 watt solid state amp, too.
For boost I use the Digitech Screaming Blues pedal. It is perfect for this amp and it actually adds some depth, bite and clarity to an already fine sounding machine. Although I miss the lack of reverb, the BC 30 is so warm and fat with the Les Paul that I almost don?t feel I need it. Can?t say that about any other solid state amp I know of, can you?

RELIABILITY: I own a Roland BC 60 112 and some other BOSS equipment along with a micro-cube. Over the years the most serious problem I ever had was a loose solder joint in a BOSS pedal board. ROLAND / BOSS is renowned for their durable, tough-as-nails build quality. I pulled this amp out of the wood to inspect it before buying. Pretty typical of Roland products in general. Clean, well laid out circuit boards and an adequate power supply section. The cab is pretty stout and stable with big fat rubber feet. The original speaker has a smallish magnet, but it?s well made and it?s loud. This thing has a very impressive carrying strap too. Quality everywhere. About what you?d expect from Roland.

OVERALL RATING: I think it?s the best in its class to be honest. If you?ve ever tried the Tech 21 amps you have an idea of the kind of gain and tone the BC 30 has going for it, but it?s much simpler in its approach to achieving those kinds of sounds and way cheaper than the Trademark 60, which is a pretty good sounding amp too. To me, it?s kind of like a Fender Deluxe from the 70s. Although I own and gig with a Roland BC 60, I actually find myself playing through the BC 30 more often at home and at jams with friends. I also play smaller venues with it because it has that ?magic? that just makes you want to play and listen. It?s loud enough (about as loud as the BC 60 actually!) and it?s versatile enough to cover country, jazz, classic rock, hard rock and blues styles quite well in clubs, halls and smaller outdoor venues. Roland managed to balance the solid state reliability / low maintenance features with a great sounding amp / speaker combination in the Blues Cube line. No doubt in my mind it will be on the list of ?classic gear? for many years to come. I?d buy another one in a new-york minute if it were lost or stolen.

I never write reviews but this amp is worth bragging about.
Very basic bare bones amp with just a ton of character. I really miss having a direct out or headphone jack but when an amp sounds this good for such an affordable price...it's worth the sacrifice.
Oh yah, reverb would be nice too but don't we all want everything for nothing.

I use a Yamaha SL 550S and an Ibanez RS 140 (modified) which both sound amazing through this beige baby.
I play everything from Sabbath to George Benson and it covers all the bases. Put a pedal in front and it shines. I've played other amps with pedals and they make the amp sound artificial.
Hard to believe this is a SS amp with the warmth it delivers. Get the Boss foot pedal for switching between clean and dirt...it will make your life so much easier.

This amp stays in the studio so I can't comment on roadworthy reliabilty. If it is anything like other Roland products, there will be no issues. I also have a JC 77.

I'm sure I won't be calling them

Been playing awhile. Girlfriend at 16 taught me to play Cat Scratch Fever and The Zoo (Scorpions). I was sold. Got lots of toys but have finally found an amp that I will keep.
Most of my gear is Japanese made because Japanese rule with design and value (their work values are the best in the world). Sorry North America but when I'm spending my hard earned money, I look for the best possible deal (price and quality).
In my opinion, Peavey U.S.A is the only other company that gives us such great deals (price and quality).