Roland BC-60 BluesCube 112 Combo

This thing has plenty of features. Just read the other submissions for them. It makes not sense for me to type the same thing again. I find the Nomral/Crunch 1/Crunch 2 nod for the clean channel to be useless though. I don't like the crunch sounds so I just use it on normal.

Wow... So many amps claim to emulate real tube tones. And the Bluescube actually does. I also have a Marshall Valvestate...which is supposed to sound like a tube.... but, the Bluecube blows it away in terms of a warm tube sound. You can get a little bit of everything. The clean can get really clean or you can push it to add a little bit of bite. The lead channel is equally good. After a little tweaking, I'm getting a incredible warm overdriven tube sound. Sounds so smooth! FYI, I'm playing an Epiphone Del Rey. The Bluescube is perfect for rock, blues or jazz....not necessarily metal. I can get some cool Phish-like tones from it. It doesn't seem to get noisey, unless it's cranked to the limit.

It's built like a rock and I haven't had a problem with it. I'd use it without a backup if I had to.

Haven't had to deal with them yet...

I would buy this again in a heartbeat. If you want a solidstate amp that sounds as close to a tube as you can get then this is it. I can really see this amp becoming a household name. I'm very picky with my sound and play alot of styles...rock/jazz mainly...and love it. I just love the warm buttery tone it's giving me for a solid state amp. Plenty of power at 60watts for jam sessions, recording, and small clubs.

This is a Solid-State 2-channel, 1-12" combo with loads of nifty little features: Clean channel has switchable gain (positions of knob are clean, crunch 1, crunch 2), footswitchable channels and reverb, bright switch on clean channel, boost switch on lead channel, pre and post gain controls on lead, master presence knob, accutronics reverb tank (nice...), effects level control knob, effects specific switch (low for pedal effects, high for rack effects - optimized for each), rectifex switch for simulating tube or diode rectifiers. I really end up using just about everything on this amp! It may seem overloaded with features, but they are all pretty useful to me. If anything, I don't really use the reverb on/off switch, but that's about it. The amp is good for either constant tonal tweaking or setting the knobs at one spot and leaving them there all the time.

I'm using a Carvin Bolt Hardtail with it, and I have tried several pickup types with it - Carvin AP-11s (stock), DiMarzio Cruisers, DiMarzio Virtual Vintage, AGI Transensors, and soon a Seymour Duncan JB Jr. and some Duckbuckers. As you might imagine, I'm very fickle and find motivation to change my gear more often than I might like. This being said, I haven't been convinced by any other gear to get rid of this amp! The clean sound can be set to a wonderful, tight, shimmering Fender tone. Actually, it comes off like a cross between a blackface Fender and a high-end solid-state amp (I'm talking over $1,000). The tone controls in conjunction with the bright switch and presence knob can get you one of the sweetest clean solid-state tones I've heard. Great for jazz and country. The Crunch 1 and 2 settings are fairly useful, but are kind of a weak point for me. They don't have a whole lot of sensitivity to picking and volume; I generally just leave the channel on Clean. The lead channel is a real surprise: I've managed to get a thick, chunky Marshall Plexi-style tone with a good responsiveness to playing dynamics, even at higher gain! It's very smooth and musical. One important note - This is by no means a metal amp, unless you're thinking about early Judas Priest or Black Sabbath. The range of distortion gain this thing has is more like a Hendrix-era Marshall. That's why it's called the BLUES Cube, man!

Roland is the parent company of Boss, so I think that should tell you something right there. This amp is over-engineered to take about anything you want to dump on it. Hardware is sturdy, electronics seem solid and durable. I would think that you could use this amp to gig on a daily basis and not worry about it breaking down. If anything changes my opinion on this amp, I doubt it will be a reliability issue.

I haven't had to deal with the company for maintenance, but they do send around a Roland User Group brochure about every 3 months, as well as a Boss User Group brochure. I can't remember how long the warranty runs for, but I seem to think that it was a pretty generous period of time - maybe 3 years or so. As far as service, Roland/Boss gear is widespread where I am, so I don't think it will be a hassle finding a link to qualified service.

I've been playing for a little over 10 years, and along the way I've developed an appreciation for various guitar styles. The only area that the BluesCube would need a little help in getting an appropriate tone would be metal. I recently picked up a Boss ME-30 to help out in that area, as well as any other spacey-sounding effects oddities. I ran it up against a Tech 21 Trademark 60, a Peavey Transtube Express, a Rocktron Velocity 60 (which had a tube preamp!), a Fender Stage 112, and even a Line 6 Flextone combo. Here's how it went: Trademark: cool distortion, questionable clean, NOISY. Transtube: questionable clean and distortion, so-so reverb. Rockton: great overdrive, terrible clean, NO REVERB. Fender: great clean, terrible overdrive, so-so reverb. Flextone: good tones, but didn't "feel" right, like playing through a guitar synth or something. Yep, the BluesCube stomped all of them and rose to the head of the pack. I only wish that the cabinet was plywood instead of particle board for the sake of lighter weight and greater durability. Oh well, big deal.

I've been searching for an amp like this for a long time,leave it to the great minds @ Roland to make it. This is a two channel amp each w/it's own EQ.for each channel and a brite switch for the clean channel,you can use a foot switch to select the channel you want it has an Effects loop w/a mix knob This amp also has a Accutronics Spring reverb that sound like honey. The only thing I wish it had was an ext.speaker out.

The Blues Cube can sound like my fender Deluxe(But Better) and it also can sound like a Marshall on 12!. It very quite and sounds like a tube amp in my oppinion which I own a couple of. I use a LesPaul 3 Ibanez.s and Strat.

This is a solid amp!! NO Back Up Needed !!

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I Would buy this amp again in a heart beat. I'am consitering a second one to run in stereo I wish it came in black

Other people have already mentioned the features list. I'll highlight the fact that this is a two channel 60W combo with a 12" vintage style speaker. Each channel has its own EQ: Bass, Treble, and Middle. There is a Presence control on the power amp section. The "normal" channel has a crunch selector offering 3 choices. The "lead" section offers a pre and post volume. Each channel has a boost, there is a real spring reverb, and effects loop. The most interesting feature is the "Rectifex" circuit switch that changes the response of the amp from Diode rectification to that of a Tube rectifier. When it is switched to Diode, the amp has a faster attack and less compression and feels more like a stack. No Headphone jack, no dual inputs, very heavy at 43+ lbs. The blond tolex is looking to get scarred and marred. The construction is very solid, however, and the solid state circuitry makes the amp seem more durable. I think that the amp offers a great value now that the price has gone down to around $350.

My style is blues and popular, for these sounds, the amp works very well. I never went for massive distortion, rather I wanted a responsive amp that had a lot of power and presence. I like the fact that the amp can stay clean at higher volumes and the distortion can be kept right at the edge. The distortion can also be controlled nicely with the guitar volume. The amp isn't very noisy at all, the clean sound sounds accurate. When I practice I like to hear detail, and this amp gives it to me. When I first plugged into it, the amp felt like it was alive . . . it had a very musical quality. I'm using a Peavey Strat and it really gives the guitar a lot more potential.
Roland has really come a long way with their amps since I purchased a Boss MG-80 amp several years ago. That amp had way too much power for its tiny 6.5" speakers. The distortion on that amp was very ratty and not responsive. It had only one channel, no effects or loops, and was basically not versatile at all. By comparison, the Blues Cube is a musical instrument and very dynamic. I'm really not partial to any particular sound with regard to tubes or solid state, but I do want something that sounds good. This amp sounds good.

Very dependable. This amp will probably never need service if it is anything like the 10-20 other Boss/Roland products I have owned. This is partly why I bought the amp. I think Roland does a good job of over-engineering its products to be durable and reliable.

Authorized Service is readily available and generally very good, although it seems to depend on the actual contractor. I do know that Roland drags its feet about getting parts, so this delays repairs. But I doubt that amp will ever need a single repair. That says a lot.

Sometimes I think that Roland is the most mis-understood company in the music business when it comes to their guitar products. They consistently have the best technology but hardly anyone notices them because they are so weird about advertising, they don't have pro endorsements, and they consistently overprice their gear. Eventually, they end up blowing-out their products by year-end and cut their losses. I really like this guitar amp, I hope that Roland continues refining the line, and hope that people can objectively judge the variety and quality of sounds that can be produced by this unit. My only wish is that it were about 10-17 lbs lighter, like a BC-30 with all of the power and features. I really don't see the need to make these amps 3x heavier. It's just psychology.

"Blues Cube" Series, 60 Watt, 1 X 12 Combo, Accutronics Reverb,2-Channels, (Treble, Mid, Bass; separate for each),Presence Control (Master for both channels), Master Volume, Pre-amp and Post volumes for Channel-2, Effects Loop W/Effects Mix, Bright (Channel-1), Boost Switch (Channel-2),"Tubefex"/Diode Rectifier Switch, All Solid State.

This is the best sounding solid state combo I've found. There is some noise when the master volume is cranked, but the "hiss" is manageable and is the only pittfall that I've found with this amp. This thing be- haves a lot like a tube amp! It is responsive to the guitar's volume (i.e., it'll overdrive a bit as the guitar's volume is tweeked), the clean sounds are real sweet, and the amp growls when throttled. The overdrive is not skull-mashing (without an appropriate pedal), but very warm. I use a Clapton Strat (lace sensors and active mid-boost) and a TS-9, and the BC-60 gives back an impressive array of tones. The clean channel of the BC-60 includes a swith for two levels of subtle crunch -- a nice touch, but it is not footswitchable (see "Overall" below).

So far, so good. Had it for 2 weeks (two gigs) and no a glitch.

I'll post if it comes to that.

Great amp, for the bucks. If I could afford the initial cost and upkeep that a good tube amp demands, I would DEFINITELY have gone that route. But as an alternative, you can't beat the BC-60. I'm very, very happy with this bad boy.
One other problen, though -- the footsitching capability on this amp is lacking, and it's hard to imagine why a company with Roland's credentials would scrimp on something like this. The channel-switching and reverb EACH have a footswith jack, and the options are on/off only. With the versatility this amp provides with sounds and gigging potential, it would be nice to be able to select the "crunch" settings in the clean channel, for example.
Hey, Roland -- come up with a better floor module and refine the technology...you're almost there.

"Blues Cube" Series, 60 Watt, 1 X 12 Combo, Accutronics Reverb,2-Channels, (Treble,Mid,Bass on each),Presence Control,Master,Pre-amp on Channel-2, Effects Loop W/Effects Mix,Bright,Boost Switches,"Tubefex"/Diode Rectifier Switch, All Transistor.

For an Amp with "no tubes", Roland came up with an amazingly warm,versitile "tube like",Amp. After hearing a demo at the '96 Namm Show, I came away impressed! It's forte is a good crunchy,"Brown"sound that is well suited for 90% of Rock/Blues sounds. Nice Clean tone, but could use a bit more "headroom" before it clips. Noise is resonable for a transistor amp.Handle effects well in loop,with "Mix"control a nice plus.I would endorse this as good all-round practice/small Gig/recording Amp. Great value for the money, and gives a lot of expensive "tube" amps a fair scare!

Only owned a short time, but if like any of the zillion other Roland products I've owned, I expect no problems.

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See Above - Hats off to Roland, I've been a dedicated tube guy for years, but after hearing this amp . . . transistor amp technology may have finally turned a new corner !!