Roland Cube 20X

Read about the features in the other reviews.......although I will say that this little solid state "rehearsal amp" is killer! I use it when I can't use my stage rig. Regardless of what others think, I like the delay, chorus, flanger, reverb, phaser, tremelo effects. I have a $2,500+ pedal board and considering what this amp is and what it is intended to be.....IT'S TOTALLY COOL!!!

The clean channel sounds fine but IMHO this little jewel shines on the distortion channel. I play blues and blues-based rock.... this little bad boy emulates an overdrive, distortion, metal and metal stack. I like all of these settings, and as long as you take it for what it is, I can't imagine a better product on the market for the price! The gain is a little noisy, but the gain is "a little noisy" on the dirty channel of my Soldano!

It's very heavy and well manufactured. Roland makes great stuff and I don't expect any problems from this fine little amp!

Bought it new....don't have a clue yet, but feel quite comfortable with it!

I've been playing since I saw the Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show. I've had many different amps, guitars & effects. I traded a Pignose Hog 20 and an old Digitech RP-5 pedal and a few $$$ for this little jewel and it totally rocks. This is without a doubt, as good as it gets for a small practice amp. I highly recommend....(would also be a great amp to start a child on).

Two channels, clean and lead. The JC-cleans are very clear and jazzy. The lead channel has six options, all of which are very useable. There are six built in effects; they work but they're not great. Auxiliary output lets you plug in a cd player or mp3 player and jam along with your favorite tunes. Power squeeze is amazing because it makes all the lead channels sound fuller at low volumes. It also has a headphone jack for near-silent playing.

For a 20 watt solid state amp, the sound quality is surprisingly good, but only at lower volumes. Take the volume past half way without the power squeeze and the tone goes down the drain. For a bedroom practice amp, this is the best sounding solid state amp I've heard so far.

It seems to be built very well. I don't forsee myself having any problems with it.

I'm a pretty experienced, gigging guitar player and I really like this amp. For extremely low volume playing, this is as good as it gets for less than $2000.

I A/B-ed this with its bigger brother the cube 30x, and the winner is: The cube 20x!
Where the 30 sounds typically modeling thing (with that nasty digital dark overall tone-or lack of) the cube20 is way more relaxed and natural, without "digital-zingg".
It is actually absolutely usable, while the 30watter sounds like mud on all distorted tones.
I think of the 20 as a clean amp with simple good pedals in front of it (only simpler), and I enjoyed it very much. The cube 30 was switched off after five minutes.
Why didn't I buy the 20? Because of the sub-par quality of the effects, quite a paradox uh?
The reverb is horrible, unusable, far worse than the one on the first generation of cube30. Now it is a room-type reverb, very ugly.
The delay section is better, but still no tap button so any mixing is impossible. Try use it loud...
The chorus/flanger sounds like plastic, the phaser is fun with slight overdrive, and the tremolo is just bearable.
No thanks...

I owned the first generation cube 30, and frankly the cube 30x is no better amp.
Both are blown away by the freshness of the cube 20x, which I consider the best amp in the category, effects apart.
The cube 20x is not your typical modeling amp, it is very different, more like a classic clean-amp-with-pedals setting.
I also own a line6 spider2 210 which I like to practice with, but again it sounds digital compared to the cube 20x.
My tip: use the 20x as a dry preamp, then into an analog delay then power amp-speakers.
And take it home with you after the rehearsal...

2007 Roland Cube 20X. Considered a practice amp. Check the sites for the total description. Too much to type.

Has a wide variety of sounds. It is dead quiet. I use both lead and clean channel volumes on full. Can play it in the house and my ears don't bleed. The various distortion channels are very nice. All the effects are typical of Boss pedals but easier. The reverb and delays are super. Would be a mind blower to play a club with it and mic it.

Never have had a problem with any Roland equipment. Not loud enough to gig with a band. Small jam session probably fine.

Been playing many years. Gear owned? Too much. Roland AC-60. Fender Deluxe 65 Reissue. I mess around with this amp with a Fender Hwy 1 Strat. I'm mostly an acoustic player. Nice clean channel when pushed. Great distortion selections to play with. As many have said could be the best thing in this price range going. Could have spent a few more dollars and got the 30 watter with a 10 inch speaker but for just a nice sound at home cant beat the price. For a teenager this amp would be really good as it won't blow the roof off. Only thing I did was replace the China Roland speaker with a Jensen Mod 8-20, 4ohm speaker. Seems to be just a tad louder and clean channel is a bit cleaner at full volume. Distortion channel could be a bit fatter if thats possible. Will have to wait till the speaker breaks in. Was only $20 bucks so what the heck. If the front was 1/4 inch bigger would have wacked in a 10 inch 4 ohm speaker. Still may. There was no need to do this as the stock speaker was fine sounding. I just can't resist hot rodding things a little.

If you've got this far you know what it's got. Very well designed and easy to use. I would like a line out or option to leave speaker on when using record/phones out, hence 9. Otherwise excellent. I purchased for students to paly through while I'm teaching. Ideal for this.

Very very good. JC clean is very sweet and usable for all styles in cluding clean jazz. Of the models my favourite is the tube drive. It cleans up nicely with guitar volume reduction and overloads well if pushed with a booster. Others seem very good but not used as much.

Seems well built and sturdy. A socketed mains lead would have been nice but maybe too much to expect for the price. Speaker seems better and slightly heavier than other amps in this class.

n/a

Sounds better than any other amp I've tried ion this class. Amp sims extremely good and would be happy to studio record with this. I would even use it live if I could run into additional amplification. Even so it's quite loud

See other reviews.

As far as I've taken it, excellent. I am an intermediate playing a gibson ES-135 semi hollow with p-90 pick-ups.

No problem in 2 months.

For electric, I've only ever played the inexpensive 15 watt Crate, Peavey, and Marshall low-feature amps that get thrown in on guitar buys. For the beginner on limited budget learning in bedrooms, this amp is miles ahead of those usual throw ins. My guitar sounds much more vibrant and versatile. Practice drills are so much more fun. All for $160. With a little more money, you might try the Cube 30X for $230, or there is a $300? Fender tube amp "junior" something I really liked. For the beginner or teen on a budget this is excellent value.

Very versatile little amp. Has 6 amp models including an acoustic simulater. 3 band eq, guitar tuner, effects knob [fanger/phaser/chorus/tremelo],and a [delay/reverb] knob. These 2 knobs can only apply one effect at a time per knob. It has 2 chanels, a foot switch input, and an aux input for tape cd jam along. There is a headphone recording out that cuts out the 8 inch speaker. Volume and gain knobs work each amp model like a real tube amp. There is a power squeezer button that works as a power soak to lower volume of amp without losing sound. The 2 chanels are JC clean and Lead. The Lead being your modeling section. Effects work o both chanels.

First this is a bedroom/studio amp. It is not loud enough for playig with a band. This being said it has all the volume it needs to do what is required. [8 inch speaker remember] This amp does a good job sounding and working like the real tube amps it is mimicking. The effects sound good but has minimum adjustments. I use a Fender American Strat and a Godin LG HMB with this amp. This amp picks up the difference between the single coils and humbuckers nicely. This amp even has a nice controlable feedback ability on higher gain. Like all guitar equiptment it probably doesn't like flouresant lighting. I use it for blues and classic rock. It would work well for metal and country. This amp has something for everyone. It is not the same as a big tube amp in a large auditorium. The big tube amp will sound like crap in your bedroom [not enough room for th sound to expand] It does sound amazingly good at recreating the large expanded sound in a small enviroment.

Seems sturdy but just like your home stereo I wouldn't abuse any audio epuipment.

Haven't needed them

Have been playing about 38 years with a few years of pro about 30 years ago. Doing classic rock before it was classic. Amps I've used in the past have been all tube Fender, Marshal, and Vox. The only amp I have now for jamming with friends is a Fender HRD. I love this little amp for the home studio/practice work I use it for and would replace it without a second thought. I chose this amp because of simplicity of operation. NO REGRETS. The only improvement I can think of would be an effects loop. The effects it does have sound excellent but it would be nice to be able to use other effects I have also.

I've had mine since the release date. There are several amps in this SS practice amp catagory but the 20x is fairly unique. Read all the specs., generally speaking it's got the range of amps mods plus effects, 2 channel. Nice little features, like squeeze soak and line input. The most noteworthy feature is how easy it is to use, designed more for a player than a techy. And, it's stands out from the other Cubes...it's a better product.

This is a personal amp, bedroom amp, not a band practice or even small gig amp, imho. Within that limitation is sounds fine. You can imagine the limitations of an 8 inch speaker, but otherwise the sound is very pleasing and the amp offers a great deal or variety that you can access very quickly and easily. Kind'a swiss army of a little practice amp. For woodsheding, this is my first choice. Twise a few knobs and go, none of the laborious digital programming, pre-sets, and little led displays of similar effots.

My sense of it is if you crank this amp all the time you will destroy that little speaker. Otherwise, all my Roland stuff as been bullet-proof.

At the price, pure winner. If you want a digital SS amp that you can gig with, deeply modify, save custom pre-sets, I suggest you look elsewhere. But if you want a benchtop personal amp you can just plug into to and start practicing, and sound good doing it, this is a gem.

The wife asked me what I wanted for xmas, and I said I needed a small, light weight amp for "portable-use. I suggested the Fender Frontman (25R), the Marshall MG 15dfx, or a box of chocalates. She somehow found this!

Made in 2006, brand spanking new, (the ink on the box was still wet), 20 heart thumping solid state watts of power, and all the effects and features of another Ocean 11, 12, or 13 motion picture.

I use this amp at home, perhaps some light gigging in the future, and considering the price, (you will see this a lot in this review), well,,,,read on. Comes with the standard effects and features of a typical Roland Cube,,plus,,,a tuner! Simple to use, can go manual, or chromatic. Additionally, this also comes with a "power squeezer", which goes from 20 watts to 2 watts, just in case it is late at night and you don't want to shake the walls..This actually does help in that you don't lose the "feel", especially on overdrive. Oh yes, also comes (new) with a CD or MP3 input,,,could be useful...some day. All in a 8" speaker. For the money, tough to beat in this catagory,,all it needs is a footswitch (why for home use?) and a partridge in a pear tree.

2 channels, one JC Clean, and the other, dirty. Doesn't say which amps the dirty side emulates (or is it "simulates"?), but for my purposes, I only use two:Distortin, which to me sounds like an overdriven Fender blackface, and "Heavy Metal", you guessed it, sounds like a Marshall Stack, (or half stack, or 1/4 stack..). Both,,well,,,impressive,,,very impressive indeed! The other dirty models I really havn't used much...yet...so not fair to opinionate (is this a real word?) on these yet.
The cleanm channel,,,well,,,I have been raised on Fenders so in some way this will not exactly be a fair review, but the clean is not bad. A bit "mid-rangey", but you can sweeten this up with the effects. Speaking of the effects, chorus, flanger, phaser, and tremolo,,all of them are excellent! The delay is pretty good as well, the reverb is workable. For the money, and comparing it to other models in this catagory, the sound is up there. Not sure if the best,,,but you should be very satisfied!

Too soon to tell.

Havn't call them yet! But I am sure, just like mission control, their is a team of crack experts just waiting for the phone to ring.

I have been playing on a hobby and scatch gigging basis for over 35 years. Most of the amps I have played on have been Fenders, (still have one, just too darn big to drag from the basement, and too darn loud when late at night) so as I said, I needed to lighten the load for portable playing. I have a strat outfitted with the fender vintage noiseless pick-ups, the mexican model. This sounds very good together.
Truth is, I am glad the wife found this, as it must have come out to the market days before she went on this whirlwind adventure. This little baby has tons to offer, sounds very good, light....customer freindly is the best term to use...and is nearly perfect for home use and small gigging. For the money,,,I don't think there is a better buy out there. It looks like Roland is raising the bar for amps in this catagory, so check it out.