Roland Cube-30 Combo

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

As a 50 year old player who started at age seven, I've learned to play various styles including pop, classic rock, country and jazz. I play two main guitars, a 1991 Fender Stratocaster Plus (w/ Lace Sensors), and a custom archtop jazz hollowbody made by Heritage in Kalamazoo, MI. My other amp is a Fender Hot Rod Deville 4X10 (Tube), which sounds awesome with the Strat, but hideous with the Heritage. Hence, I was looking for a solid state amp for my jazz box. The Cube 30 seemed well built, sounded great in the clean channel with my Heritage, and was compact and relatively light. (The Fender is very heavy, and I'm getting too old for that stuff.) All I needed was the clean channel, so I bought it. It sounds just like the Roland Jazz Chorus at a fraction of the price. Good thing too, because the effects are not very good. I use external foot boxes instead.

I was not prepared for just how good this amp sounds modelling the various amp types however! It is awesome, as long as I don't use the digital effects, and just play it through the various amp models. I have so much fun playing the Strat through this thing because it pretty accurately reproduces any type of sound I need. I can get all of the rock and blues sounds that I want, and still come clean for the jazz box. Since the thing is so much lighter and less fragile than my tube amp, i probably will use the Cube whenever I'm playing outside my own home.

It seems to be built like a tank, and being solid state, should be very durable. I'm very happy so far, although I've only had it for a month or so.

At $250 (with tax), it is well worth the money!

Normal features of a Cube 30, 2 channels, some effects, no effect sloop which is making me think a lot about using effects with this amp since with most amp the pedals sound better when connected to the effects loop, recording out/headphones jack, nice features for a practice amp

Ok, to be honest I only use it for the clean sound and it's a great clean sound. I use it with an Epiphone Les Paul Custom with an EMG 60 on the neck and an EMG 81 on the bridge and the EMG 60 shines with this amp. I tried a Vox AC-30 and comparing it I think the Cube is better! I think it's a pretty good amp for any clean sound that you want, just choose an adequate guitar and eq it, it's that simple! It's not noisy unless you use it at maximum volume.

By the way, I have played live with it and it works. These 30 watts are loud enough!

I've gigged with it, rehearsed with it and it still works. Bought it 10 months ago

Never dealt with them

I've been playing for 8 years and i have only one electric guitar, an acoustic guitar and 2 amps, one of them is the Cube. If it was stolen or lost i'd buy a new one, that clean sound is worth a lot more than the price of this amp!

Only a handful useable models from all the ones on the amp.

The JC clean channel with reverb is the nicest sounding channel on this amp. If you like some of the low-gain settings or the clean channel, it might be worth buying. The high gain settings like r-fier has too much mud in the signal, and not enough clarity or attack to be usable. There is also huge volume jumps when selecting the blackface or acoustic from the other models. The E.Q. seems to do nothing, even when sweeping the dial 100% the bass E.Q. knob still didn't remove the mud from the signal. It does the same with headphones, so its not the room acoustics. Even with a 7 band E.Q. pedal and an active EMG 707 pup I could not get any note definition on the f-fier channel.

I havent owned it long enough, but it seems to be built like a tank, like all of Boss' stuff. Too bad it's high gain models sounds so-so.

Never called them.

This amp has one of the best sounding clean channels I have ever heard. The Dyna-amp sounds like continuous distortion, but I use actives, so it might be better with lower output pups. The acoustic channel and blackface are pretty cool, but they are 4 times as loud as the other settings. The E.Q. knobs do nothing,the bass knob does not work at all. The high gin settings are 'mushy' sounding, not good for cutting high gain sounds.
I think Roland was expecting everyone that plays metal to immediately scoop all the mids out, but I hate that weenie scooped tone. Any mids in your signal will turn your sound to complete mud.

Standard features for Cube 30. Look at their website. I find them more than satisfactory for a small solid-state modelling amp.

The only things missing, that I can think of, is a different EQ for clean and lead channel and an FX-Loop if you wanna mix in other units.

I use an Epiphone Les Paul Standard (stock humbucker pickups) through the cube.

The clean channel is really clean and nice, even at high volumes. The lead channel has some interesting models, like the "Tweed" (Fender Bassman), the "Classic Stack" (Marshall) and the "R-Fier" (Mesa/Boogie Rectifier). Nice response and sound variation with the "Gain" knob. I didn't use very much the other models. The acoustic simulator was a totally bizarre bad-sounding model. I don't know if that's a problem of my unit or they're actually selling this stuff.

This amp can cover quite a large soundscape (in my practise/bedroom recording setups): from perfect clean (if you wanna hear just your pickups), to subtle bluesy, to classic-rock crunch, to fluidly distorted thrash.

EQ: It's OK for the lead channel but I couldn't get much of drastic change in the sound for the clean channel (or the "Blackface" lead model, a Fender Twin simulator). Perhaps its my guitar with the poor quality stock humcuker pickups...

The reverb is nice and the delay is OK but you cannot get really long delay times or repetitions. I'd say about half a second max delay time, dying out after 3-4 repetitions in a bedroom volume configuration.

The modulation FX - Chorus, Flanger, Tremolo, Phaser - are just OK. The problem, again, is that you can't really tweak them. Here, the little knob changes a little bit the "tempo" of the modulation. I don't really like/use them, except perhaps for the phaser, but they can be useful if you want some variety.

I also got myself a foot-swith, the Boss FS-5U, to switch between Clean/Lead. That's a cool feature.

The overall amp is very quiet, and it gets just a little noisy if you start pumping up the volume over the bedroom level. I'm normally below 10% of max, and the amp is dead quiet there, for the lead and clean channel.

I should also note that the Headphone output is quite nice, and for some models I'd say it's even better sounding than through the actual amp speakers. It retains nevertheless a "digital" sounding aura. I have never used it (yet) as a direct recording output.

Problem here: About 12-13 months after I got the amp, the selector knob that switches between the 7 different lead models blew it.

When you turn it, you get the actual model sound you want for 1-2 secs and then it disappears leaving something sounding like the clean channel. You're into the R-Fier with full gain, the red LED on, and you get just clean sound. Fortunately one position kept working: thank God it was the Marshall simulator and not that acoustic crap.

I opened the amp to have a little look inside, and I didn't find any striking problem. Looks like this switch sits on a small circuit board, which must have died out. I'm planning to get it repaired, but I don't think its gonna be cheap.

Too bad. I bought the Cube partially due to the high quality and durability of the company's pedals (BOSS), and it let me down.

The warranty was 1 year. My amp presented a problem right about that time. I'm planning to have it repaired but I haven't dealt with them yet. Seems like Roland has a repair place in Greece, so that could be less of a problem than I first thought.

I've been playing strictly in my bedroom for 8-9 years. Electric guitars for about 6. I like rock, blues, jazz and some more hard-rock stuff now and then. I'm not a talented musician nor have I a good "ear", but through a decade's experience with guitars and music I can tell a nice sound from a bad one.

I used to have a small Park 10W amp (Marshall licenced product of the early 90s, replaced by the Marshall MG series), which is a terrible mess compared to the Cube-30, but was functionning really well for over 15 years (I got it from a friend).

Before I bought it I also checked some small Marshalls, Fenders and Line6s in that price range, but they didn't quite hit it like the Cube.

If it was stolen I would probably buy it again. Perhaps I'd go for a smaller cube (the 15 or 20), cuz the 30 version is way too loud for my bedroom action. The other amps I want to check are the small Orange Crunch and Vox Pathfinders. I found the on-board DFX are not really mature yet, and I can settle for just a reverb. I'm also intrigued by those small tube amps that start to appear (Ibanez, Epiphone, Behringer).

To conclude, I liked the Cube30 amp - especially the clean channel and the Bassman/Marshall simulators - but I was disappointed by the switch problem I mentioned. Thus the 5.