Roland Cube-30 Combo

Good and simple effects that you couldn't get in another amp without buying many pedals.

Great despite the fact that it's made of all hard plastic and metal, so tone is sometimes lacking.

I have played this amp for practice and gigging, it's been in cold and hot weather, it's gotten splashed on while playing, it's been turned to the max, and still everything works the way it should. Solid as a rock.

Never needed it.

Awesome little amp, no dissapointment

I somewhat hate this amp, so I'm in the minority here. I'm popping in just to warn you that although the cleans on this amp are very respectable considering the price, the distorted amp models have that awful gritty, brittle Roland COSM sound to them that makes you want to turn to self-mutilation after playing (or listening) for 10 minutes.

The worst thing about them is that they sound kind of okay when you're quickly auditioning the box. It take a little longer for the literally harsh reality to creep up on you.

I bought one of these things to be a lightweight complement to my tube amps, thinking it would get lots of use in the living room at home and also down at my photographic studio when I'm skiving off. And, you know, I'm actually NOT THAT FUSSY. If this amp were bearable, I'd be bearing it.

Instead, it's sat around mostly unused. I'd sooner cart my Mesa Express around at three times the weight than have to put up with listening to this ugly unmusical thing.

I've never been a pro but I have been an enthusiastic amateur player and sound recordist for the better part of 30 years. I know my Nyquist Theorem and my Phrygian mode. I can play.

I know other musicians who think these Cubes sound great. Well, they must have ears made of tin and string. Sorry to say so, but it's the only possible explanation.

Jazzers, however, may enjoy the basic clean tone of this amp with all the whizz-bang stuff turned off. I'm not one of that exalted company, but I think I know what they listen for and I'd suspect they'd like the Cube 30 quite a lot. Just make sure not to turn on any of the effects! They're better than the amp models, but still a little cheap-sounding and brittle.

Everything I need...simple as that!!

Blows away any other small solid-state amp I've tried, and close to the small tube amps like the Pro- and Blues Junior in clean and overall tone. It's also absolutely silent...no electrical noise at all. The more I play it, the more impressed I become. I'm seriously wondering whether to get a Cube 60 for jam sessions (the 30 just doesn't have the output when played live with a band, though the tone is great). Best amp models for me (blues) are Tweed and Blackface. Gain on about 3, volume 7-10 and a touch of reverb. The guitar controls do the rest.

Full confidence in it. Appears very well built and solid.

Never tried to contact them

A very impressive little amp!! Best practice amp I've ever come across, and has the ability to gig at low volumes. Beats the direct competition by a long way IMHO.

I got this little corker right after they first came out, so that must make it about ten years old now. 2 channels, clean, which is a jazz chorus sound and the dirty/ odrive channel which can do various sounds from black face fender to mesa hi gain. Lots of other very useful sounds inbetween. The effects are quite ok, I like the tremelo a lot and the phaser. I don't tend to use chorus or flange much but they all slot in with the amp sound really well and although there ain't a lot of tweakability (which may be a good thing) you can just get on with the business in hand. The delay is ok on the slapback/short setting but just too subtle for me on the longer settings. The reverb is actually pretty nice and agin slots in very well with the rest of the amp's overall sound. As for power, this little baby well kicks it out, I have used it mic'ed and unmic'ed on countless gigs, just don't expect it to compete with that 100 watt 2x 4x12 stack but who wants to lug all that stuff around?..not with my bad back.

I play psychedelisized blues/soul surfin' Syd style freak out plus various function band rock'n'roll gigs...jeez all sorts really...I've been round the block..twice. My guitars are; 1965 baldwin burns semi (lovely,lovely yum) 40th anniversary strat, squier japan jagmaster and my home brew frankentele thing. I also have a modded laney lc15 and a very ancient bird golden eagle 1x15 combo which is the heaviest 17 watt amp ever made,I don't gig it much but for recording it sings. I ramble on here and back to the cube...I just love it, plug in set the vox ac 30 sound to mid way and off you go. Want some country? the black panel is great and very very loud.I don't really do metal or if I do I prefer to use a fuzz box for heavy sounds but the cube can really do it all and it's so much fun to play with. I think I play my best through this little cazy amp it's just so versatile and useable.

I have dropped this amp once or twice, strapped it on to motorcycles/bicycles and hauled it all over the show. No problems at all it will probably survive nuclear holocaust or at least the current global financial meltdown...all those poor bankers, sob weep.

No Need.

I have been playing MY GOD 30 years now,(I started when I was 2 years old...thats an obvious lie) I have owned Hi Watt stacks, Fender Super Reverbs, Vox AC30's, Marshall Super Leads.. so many amps lost in the drug -crazed haze of the past and to be quite honest, financial considerations apart ( and who gives a **** about money, its the music we dig right?} I would not swap any of them for this mini-marvel of amplifier magic that is the Roland Cube. This is the best amplifier ever made (if you are a 44 year old cash- strapped hippie with a dodgy back) No seriously turn up to a gig with this and when all the other crazy fools have lugged their Marshall 4x12s etc which they've had on about a half of 1 on the volume control because it's 2008 and venues have PA systems now you can blow their minds with all the rightious tones coming out of this little tiny box. Best Amp Ever. Love it.

I have been using this amp since they came out. Mine is not the 30X model. Just plain cube 30. As far as features..just read below, as they are all listed. I wont repeat here.

This is where I would like to add something for folks reading these reviews. This amp sounds 'good' or 'OK" for jazz on the clean channel. I play jazz and other styles. Out of the box, it can sound a bit sterile and have that cheap sounding SS sound we all are used to. But, again, out of the box it really is just fine. Here is what you do to make it GREAT. Simply change out the sterile sounding speaker.
I put in an Eminence Delta Demon and I am getting sound that I can hardly get on my tube amps. In addition, out of the box the amp models sound wimpy and thin as most have noted below. HOWEVER, with a decent speaker they REALLY come alive. ALL of the models become VERY useable and very musical. It very simple. Put in a delta demon. Its the perfect match for this amp. My 10 is because of my speaker mod. Out of the box i would give it a 7 or 8.
Just for reference, here is a list of some of my other amps.
68 Fender dual showman w/ JBL
66 Fender Pro Reverb black face
68 Vibrolux
70 Marshall super lead
2006 Rivera Jazz Suprema
90s Polytone 112
Reverand Hellhound
Fender HRD (i have many of these all modded for different sounds)
other assorted fenders and marshalls.
For jazz gigs, weight and convienence, i use the cube 30 more than any of the above. I may go to a cube 60 ...but i cant think of why yet.

The plasic jacks break quickly and must be replaced. Other than that, since i have opened the amp to change speakers, I noted there is really nothing to this amp. Just a small pc board and cheap cabinet. Roland must make a fortune on this thing as there is nothing in it.
However, i beat this thing and it never fails to sound great.
I do not use this only for practice. You can easily do jazz gigs with this.

I own a LOT of roland product including synths, VGs, DRs, loopers and customer support basically sucks. But they are no worse than anyone else out there.

THese amps are great..i would buy another ..and a speaker to go with it.

My second cube 30, since I made the mistake to let a friend use it a couple of weeks (he paid me the amp, so no offense taken!)...
In the meanwhile I got me the cube 20x, a quite different concept (clean amp with a bunch of distortion boxes, not amp modeling), and the cube 30 may be better at low volume and by itself.

I got an empty cube60 on ebay, couldn't wait to put the cube 30 in it (a breeze) and find the right speaker(12 inches 8 ohms).

Stock you won't find a better 10'' speaker, the roland is very good at its job(loud, round, warm and much details).

In the cube60 housing and with a sheffield 1230 speaker, the cube 30 sounds incredible. Very loud, punchy, all models very usable, more realistic than stock.
This said, balance between ch1 and ch2 is only correct when metal-rfier are used, eq-wise.
If other models are used, you have to tweak the common eq to get satisfactory results, and you loose the ch1 in the process.

The sound quality is quite shocking, so better than the average.

The guy who said the epi valve jr being so superior has obviously forgotten something (if provided at all) somewhere: I had the epi valve jr head for a whole year and no matter what guitar/box/fx it always sounded strange (no bass, no treble, honk-honk and farty when pushed-that stinks big time).
The cube 30 is a very strong practice amp, with astounding sound quality, period. It likes telecasters, and is responsive to the guitar you plug in.

Rock-solid, as all the rolands I have (20x, gc405x, bluescube 60-310, microcube, cube 15) or had.

In the cube 60 housing it is only a tad bigger but the 12''speaker makes a big big difference volume/tone-wise.
One could even adapt a 12incher in the stock cube30: just cut a 25mm thick 304 per 297mm piece of wood, then cut a 280mm baffle hole in the centre, and install the speaker from outside. Dead easy, and the cube30 only gains 10mm in depth.
For the speaker check about the sheffield 1230 from peavey, others I tried (eminence alnico 122, celestion seventy-eighty, randall jaguar 50) were not as good. I think I read something about the sheffield being peavey's vintage30, do some research.

I have about 20 guitar amplifiers, and the cube30 definitely has its uses while not having to hide behind the others (such as bassman ltd, randall rx120d, peterson, peavey transtube bandit, yamaha dg60 to name the good sounding ones).
The cube30 can do so much, the perfect practice amp, no excuse to postpone your homework uh...

My friend even uses his stock cube30 at gigs (mic'ed of course) and nobody ever complains, quite the opposite.
In fact, for the non-guitarist audience it sounds more beautiful than most amps, clearer and non-aggressive. That's a fact we should learn, and fast (if we want to last on stage).

Now if you intend to hang a cab, the cube 20x may be a better choice (mine is hooked to a jensen alnico loaded 210 bass box, with great results).

OK less see, solid state amp with two channels, one designed after the JC120 amp made by Roland, the other with multiple effects and amp simulations. The effects are; chorus, flanger, phaser, tremelo, delay and reverb. The amp simulations are; acoustic, black panel (Fender Twin), Brit Combo (Vox AC30), Tweed (Fender 59 Bassman), Classic Stack (Marshal stack), Metal (?), and R-Fier (Boogie). It has Bass, middle, and treble controls. It has an Aux in and recording out/ headphones jacks. And it has jack for a footswitch for switching between the clean and effeects chanel.

Wish it had an extension speaker out.

Play a Tele, Strat, and Les Paul Custom. Use an Ibanez Tube Screamer and an occasional chorus pedal.

Ok, first let me say to the folk who already have one of these. Tell me these little amps aren't a kick in the *** to play. For practice I mean. This little amp just tickles the hell out me to play around with.

For the folks who don't have one, don't go thinking this is some kind of amp to compare with some main line amp. It's not. It's just a good little bedroom amp to practice with. It's emulations are not just like what they are labeled as. So don't think your gonna get a Marshal stack in this little of an amp.

Now having said that, I like the sounds the amp can produce. It's good enough to work on songs with in what ever catagory you need. The space/time effects are not the best, but do a good enough job to have fun with. The amp emulations are not spot on but are close enough to work with.

The JC clean chanel is pretty darn good in my opinion. Very clean and works good with an acoustic/electric guitar as well.

The emulation chanel has an acoustic setting which does a fair job of making an electric sound acoustic.

The Black panel is, to me, the best selection on this side. Pretty fat sounding.

The Brit combo is a lot of fun and brings the mid range honkiness with slight over drive of those type combos.

The Tweed selection is good territory as well. More fatness than the black panel but can get muddy if you don't tweak the EQ.

The Stack through rectifier territory has enough grit and grind to work through most any metal stuff or clean up enough to do some classic rock.

Again, keep in mind what this amp is. It's a very small practice amp. But it is a hoot to play around with. If you can get around the fact that it's not gonna be as good as a main line amp and will only be just a good little tool to practice with, then you'll like this amp.

It's thiry watts and loud enough to play over a quiet drummer. And though I've brought it to practice and played it in the context of a band, I would'nt recomend it for venue playing. It doesn't have enough volume to really get the job done. Unless you just loved it's sound and miked it through the PA, I'd leave it home for practice and bring you gigging amp.

It might make for a good recording amp. I don't know though. I haven't done this with it.

I bought this used out of a pawnshop for little to nothing and really don't know it's history or when it was made. I've had no issues with it so far in the year and a half I've had it. I probably play it every day and so far it's done just fine.

I've used several of roland pedals over years and if their reliabiliy is any indication of what this amp will be like, then it will probably last a while.

I've never had any dealings with Roland other than using their products.

I've been playing a long while now and have owned a lot of different gear.
If this little amp were lost or stolen, I would get another one.
What I like about this amp is it's convenience. And that it's a good amp to chunk in the car and go jam with in someones living room or out on the patio or something of the like and not embaress you sounding crappy.
Again, I wish it had an extension speaker out jack.

I could bore you with all the guitars I've owned and all the amps and stomp boxes I have or had, but that's really beside the point in talking about this little amp. It's value really doesn't have anything to do with all that.
On it's own, it's a very good little practice amp and a lot of fun to play around with. Try one if you get the chance.

If you are looking for a bedroom/practice amp---LOOK NO FURTHER!!There are many usable features on this amp--Clean, Several amp models for distortion, delay,Reverb,chorus,flanger, phaser and tremelo. They all work very decent--remember this is not an amp for playing gigs with--this is a VERY portable small practice amp with a 10 inch speaker so with that in mind it will do more than you need it to!

I play a PRS singlecut(10 top with Birds!) and it sounds amazing thru this thing. I play everything from blues, rock, hard rock, classic rock( Allman Brothers to Zeppelin, Eric Johnson to Satriani and everything in between)I also play a little Jazz, classical and whatever suits my mood at that moment.When I play live I use a Mesa Boogie Lonestar and at rehersal's I have a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe. I really wanted a versatile, portable, small bedroom amp so I do not have to set up my Mesa and pedalboard----I FOUND IT! Roland Cube 30X does everything I need it to and then some! Please do not expect the amp modeling to sound exactley like the amp it is simulating--cuz it doesn't but the types of distortion it does offer will satisfy your desires for Metal,Hard rock, Classic Rock, Blues, Jazz and the clean channel is beautiful--add a little phaser or delay and just play,play,play!!

This thing is built VERY well and Roland gives you a full year's warranty on parts and labor so how can you go wrong? There are no tubes to break down and replace, I have not had any problems, from what I know of Roland if there is ever a problem they will fix it without any hassle!!

I have not had to contact them---They do give a full year's warranty!

I have playing for over 30 years--I still play live (though not as often as I used)I have been playing PRS guitars for the past 18 years and when I play live I have been using Mesa Boogie amps for the past 12 years---The LONE STAR is incredible!!!)I am loving this Roland Cube 30X---30 watts are more than enough for your bedroom or living room---It is very portable so when I go on vacation it is coming with me!! The features work very well--I do not like every type of distorion it offers but then again I don't have to---the 2 or 3 I do use I am VERY satisfied with---that's one of the beauties of this amp it has something for everyone and for the price---It's a NO BRAINER!! The tuner is very acurate and a very nice feature to have---tune up anytime quickly and easily!! Need a reliable,versatile, great sounding practice amp? LOOK NO FURTHER!!

I got this amp 2 years ago and it sounds great. This amp can handle any style of music and it sounds surprisingly good. It is 2 channels, clean and Distortion. It has channel switching via optional foot switch and it also has a headphone jack and an aux input. I wish it had a direct out. I use this amp in my room and sometimes I take it to church. It is a little beast, it is quite loud for its size. The built in cosm emulation is very good for the price and i have recently discovered some secrets while practicing with this amp.

As I said it is very versatile for almost every musical situation. It is not noisy at all.
Clean channel: JC120 Jazz Chorus emulator is excellent.

Acoustic: Sounds good but it tends to be a bit hissi.

Blackface: This is the loudest of them all. I have found a secret with this channel. The EQ controls work like the original. If you roll down the EQ there will be no sound coming out because they control the input signal prior to distortion.

British combo: This one sounds very progressive. I like the fact that it has punch.

Tweed: This channel is one of the best. It works like the original as well, The EQ controls act as the volume i.e the higher they are the more distortion you get. This is because fender left the EQ controls before the distortion Circuit, so the EQ acts like volume controls. Check this out

Set the EQ controls low and the Gain low and the Volume High and this amp sounds like an old fender tube amp and yeah it adds compression to the tone.

Classic Stack. GOOD very powerful and raw sounding

Metal Stack: Very much like joe satriani.

Rectifier Stack. It gets very UGGLY in a Good Way.

The effects are alright not that good though.

Delay: SO SO it could be better.
Reverb: I like it acutally it fills the room.


The speaker is loud.

It is Roland need I say more. I used to have a JC77 which was my fist amp and Roland/Boss has never let me down.

never had to deal with them

I have been playing for 7 years or so. It is pretty good for a practice amp. I think that there amps that are better than this one but cost way more.

It's a pretty decent amp for the money. Really what can you buy for $200 bucks that's awesome? Sure you can get a bunch of pedals, but look at how much money you spend on that. There are a few things that I don't like. The effects are either all or none. I also wish it had an speaker output.

Not too bad for a practice amp. I've owned practice amps in the past that were top-of-the-line, like peavey, crate, line-6, etc... They all sounded like s*#t. And still do.

Solid.

The best solid-state practice amp on the market. Don't argue with yourself. Vox, peavey, crate, marshall, line-6, fender and countless others don't compare with the sound and durability of this amp. Peace