Roland Cube-60 112 Combo

New 2005. So many sounds...no easy way to use them in a live performance setting. Roland has completely cheaped-out with a totally inadequate footswitch system (not included) for this amp.
THREE seperate footswitches (not included) are needed for channel and mode switching, each requiring a seperate cord to the amp. What a mess. Whoever the Roland bench-techy genius was who designed this footswitch system is certainly not a gigging player. My old 1980's Roland Studio Chorus came with a matched three-button footswitch (included) so that I could use all the features of the the amp. How sensible. Basic common sense.

Fine clean JC sound, plenty loud, lots of meaty overdrive tones and crazy fun FX. But...oh oh - Quick! you're doing a live gig - switch from clean sound to Marshall stack with some reverb! Wait, I must... walk...back...to...amp...first and play for a while with dials (footswitch not included) Or, I must buy THREE Roland footswitches (not included, but available at your friendly Roland dealer) in order to fully use this amp.

Roland makes solid stuff, including THREE seperate required footswitches that are not included (but available for additional cost from your friendly Roland dealer).

I called Roland, nice enough guy answered my questions, he told me I need to buy THREE additional footswitches in order to use this amp flexibly in a live setting. Thanks Roland. Maybe for your next amp models don't include knobs, speaker or power cord either (all available at additional cost from your friendly Roland dealer).

I've been playing 30 years and have played and owned almost everything at one time or another. Whatever. THIS amp as is might be fine for noodling on the end of your bed with knobs within arm's reach, but very frustrating to go through what is required to switch settings via footswitch (THREE footswitches required - not included). Additionally, the generic footswitch(s) for this amp is a basic design Roland uses to minimally cover a footswitch requirement for a number of their amps, apparently a cost-savings thing (for Roland, not me, as I need to buy THREE of'em). PLUS, the LED light just blinks when you step on the button, it doesn't stay ON or OFF to let you know what channel you're on...only furthering the frustrating lack of user-friendly engineering presently offered here by Roland. So even if you do buy the THREE required footswitches, they are lousy footswitches! If this amp came with a well-designed matched 3-button footswitch (w/LED's that told me something) that could be plugged in with ONE cord I would give this amp an Overall 8.5 rating. As is, too frustrating...and...inflexible...must...sell.

Built in 2004, the Roland CUBE-60 is a closed back, 60 watt solid state amp with 2 channels. Digital effects that include chorus, flanger, phaser, tremolo, and independant delay and reverb. Bass, Mid, Treble and Presence EQ. Clean channel models Roland JC-120, with Bright switch. Lead channel models the following:
Acoustic: Makes an electric guitar sound acoustic.
Black Panel: Fender Twin Reverb.
Brit Combo: VOX AC-30TB.
Tweed: Fender Bassman 4x10.
Classic Stack: Marshall JMP1987 stack.
Metal: Peavey EVH-5150.
R-Fier: MESA/Boogie Rectifier.
Dyna Amp: A model that can go clean or distorted depending on picking style.

Along with a recording/phones out, the amp has several line-outs at the back. There are footswitches (sold seperately) to switch on/off the Delay/Reverb, Effects and switch between Clean and Lead. Ext Speaker is for powering speaker cabinets, the standard Line Out is for connecting to a PA mixer, preferably through a DI box, and the tuner out for tuners and (apparently) connecting to another amp. The control panel sits on top of the amp at the back.

Now with all those features for a solid state amp for its price and size, you have no excuse to not call this amp versatile. Any kind of guitar music can be played here.

I use replicas because I can't afford the real thing. I use a Epiphone Les Paul 100 with humbucker pickups, and a Westfield electro-acoustic guitar. First off, a lot of people say the Acoustic amp is useless. Not with me. When I use my electro-acoustic through it, the sound is very rich, and more versatile and better than going through a PA. Not sure how this Acoustic model compares to other acoustic amps, but it's still pretty darn good.

My band plays funk, soul, jazz, rock and blues. Needless to say, the CUBE-60 caters to all of these. For funk, soul and jazz, I find myself using the JC Clean and the Black Panel models a lot: The Black Panel for a warmer, slightly distorted sound. For rock and blues, I go for the Brit Combo, Classic Stack, the Dyna Amp and (for really hard rock) the R-Fier. The Dyna Amp is great for when I want to go for the quiet-to-loud songs without the need of a pedal, and all it needs is just volume adjustment on the guitar. The R-Fier is great fun to use when I'm in the mood to play Metallica or Pantera. All the effects are very nice, especially the chorus, for when I want a full, airy clean sound, and the reverb is smooth too. This amp suits any style I play, and it has helped me play better!

The amp is 60 watts, but with the distortion models on, it sounds like it can exceed it. I've never had the chance to use this at maximum volumes yet, as I mainly play pubs, clubs and small halls at the moment, and it's loud enough to be heard. The JC Clean channel does start to get distorted at around 8-ish, but since the amp is still loud enough, I don't need to turn it up that high.

Roland has a well-known reputation of making durable products. With its rugged build, metal grill, and closed back, this thing looks like it can take a real beating and will keep working. Even my bassist said it looks like it's bombproof. That said, I've only had it for a few months now.

Never need to ask them anything. After all, this amp looks like it'll last a long, long time.

While I've been playing guitar for the good part of 10 years, I've not had any tutoring in ages, and only started to fully understand the details of guitar amps, because only fairly recently I needed to upgrade from my Crate GX-15 when I was starting to gig a lot more regularly. I decided to browse numerous sites to find the best amp on my budget. No way am I gonna be able to afford a MESA/Boogie of any kind or any tube amp. I saw that the Roland CUBE-60 was getting consistently great reviews, and decided to buy it over the Marshall MGs, Fenders and Laneys around that price. I suppose my only gripe about this amp is that you need to buy the seperate footswitches. Still, buying this kit at only #175 new from an online store was more than good enough. I'll no doubt get the FS-6 for this soon. Should it get stolen, I'll find the guy and bash that person's head in with the CUBE-60 (it can take a beating and still work), or I'll buy another one without hesitation if it ain't found.

There are too many things I love about this amp. Its versatility, the sounds are great, it's small and portable yet deceptively powerful and can be heard easily in gigs or rehearsals. It's just great fun to use, and it's recently become my best friend when it comes to my guitar playing, and it sounded great in recordings too. Best of all, it's very affordable. Now, imagine what a 100-120W model would sound like?

60 solid state watts. Pretty loud for solid state.
Made in China 2005
Good bottom end. Speaker can handle quite a bit of loudness.
Two channels: one clean JC (as in Roland Jazz Chorus preamp), and a push-button switch to a channel with several amp emulkations, including "Acoustic, BF, Classic, Tweed, 3 versions of hi gain amps, and last but not least - Dyna-amp!"
Effects and delay/reverb knobs too.
Output jacks in the back, plus a headphone/lineout jack on top.
Fairly intuitive controls. Not complicated.
Decent sounds for all occasions.

With my stock American Series Strat, or my modified Ibanez shredder with humbuckers, it can sound mellow and clean on the JC or "Acoustic" selection, and the rest can be varying shades of mild to wild, using the gain and master vol, and effects.
It gets all the most called for sounds, from SRV to sparkly Country, to crunch and grind and screaming dentist drill with harmonics, especialy on the "Dyna-Amp" setting, which is great fun and has tons of harmonics squeals and feedback you can milk. All at any volume you might want it at.
It also seems to have a noise gate built in that does its job pretty unabtrusively on the higher gain settings, though it can be kicked open with lots of single coil noise and volume. I have no complaints. It works with you pretty well, and doesn't compress the sound. Five stars.

I play gigs with it all the time.
Never any troubles.
It behaves itself very well, and delivers a good sound always.

I have no idea.

I think it's got a two year warrenty.

I've been playing semi-professionally since the early seventies (always had a day job too though).
I've had tons of amps and many guitars, but my present rig is this amp for everything, and either the US Strat, or the Japan-made Ibanez RG-570 with a Rio Grande "BBQ-Bucker" in the bridge (for Rock&Roll posing).
It screams. But can also do a nice Blackface Fender sound too.

I really like the "Dyna-Amp!" You can squeeze all kinds of singing and squealing tones from it, then just turn the guitar down for crunchy rhythm stuff.

I wish it came with a foot pedal for channel switching, and maybe a cover, but the grill is expanded metal so the speaker is at least protected. It also has corner protectors that run down the whole side to the back.

Loved tubes for years, but upkeep is just too expensive if you can't wtite it off (I can't).

I tried some Behringers, but don't like programing.
This Roland is easy like a J-Station to use. Just dial it up.

I don't much like the headphone/lineout sound, but live it records well with a Sennheiser 421.

Plenty of amp for the money, and can get loud enough for the clubs I play and the drummers I use (they're not gorillas).

My amp was built in 2005, bought in December. 2 channels, Roland JC ultra clean on one side, 6 amp models varying from jazz/blues to thrash metal in the other. Quality sounds alround. I play in a rock band with guys who have Marshall AVT's - the sound quality is in the same ballpark. Usable for all types of guitar music. Super little package alround - I'm very happy with this purchase.

For all you tight fisted moaners who can't handle the fact there's no footswitch provided for the miniscule amount of cash exchanged for an amp of this quality : to resolve the footswitch issue, you need to buy minimum one UNLATCH sustain pedal (not LATCHING, which is why some of you guys have to tap twice to change channels, etc.). I got two Bespeco VM20 pedals (http://www.harshnoise.com/product_info/bespeco_vm20) that are way cheaper than the Boss FS-5U and very tough. I use one to change channels and one to switch the effects on and off. The effects are sufficiently good for live use too. the Chorus and Flange are particularly good. The reverb is perfectly adequate and the delay is just OK - not really up to the standard of the other features. Likewise for the tremolo which I would never use anyhoo.

For the money, the sounds are excellent alround. Particular favourites are the JC clean for jazz, funk, new wave, Johnny Marr type vibe etc. On the dirty side, every stop has its uses and sounds great, particularly when turned up to about half volume (which is easily loud enough to overpower a psychopathic drummer). The bassman sounds excellent with my strat for SRV sounds, the marshall is also great and versatile and the 5150 and Rectifier scream like a pre-menstrual banshee when powered by my Les Paul Standard. Very similar in quality to the Marshall AVT 100 for me (and a lot less heavy to carry about !). No it isn't a tube amp, but for the money and for most real world gigging musicians this amp sounds the bollocks. It won't need servicing twice a year either.

To new to judge. Seems to be built like a tank though. No rattle at high volumes and good bass response too. My Cube 15 is still going strong 3 years after purchase. Hopefully this will do just the same.

Don't know. The website seems good (http://www.rolandus.com/Multimedia/Flash/cube60/) => coupla video demos for you there. Johnny DeMarco's is worth the download time for its comedy value alone.

This has to be rated as fantastic value. You get about 7 different classic amps, good reverb and 3 useable effects in a compact, light and loud package for a mere snip, mate. Built like a tank, loud enough for gigging and easily competes with an AVT without breaking your back. I have been smiling since I bought this metal grilled Hellbastard.

Little tip to sign off with => when you try it out in the guitar shop do the following : choose a bridge humbucker equiped guitar, select the mesa rectifier, gain at 3 o'clock, bass full, mid 12 o'clock, treble full, presence 3 o'clock AND MOST IMPORTANTLY => volume at half-way... now HIT that E power chord and feel your gonads tremble.

'05-Built, i don't know where it's from. Everyone else has given the features, so i won't bother. It is a very versatile amp for my music, which is basically anything from early electric Bob Dylan through to Muse. I wish it had come with at least a channel-footswitch, but at this price, i don't really mind. I would definitely have paid extra for an FX loop, which is what drops the mark here by 2. I use it in rehearsals and small gigs, and for those functions it excels. I borrow Marshall DSL amps for bigger gigs, when they come along. One feature that I use more often than I expected is the inbuilt phaser. i set it as low as i can get it, and switch on and off with one of the FS-5U footswitches i bought.

I'm using an '04 Japanese Fender Tele (stock single coils) with it, and the apparent inbuilt noise gate is excellent. It definitely suits all my playing styles. The biggest problem with the sound is that, regardless of EQ, the Marshall model ALWAYS sounds harsh and trebly. I usually use the AC30 Mod with gain at around 6.5 and bass-and-middle heavy EQ, and the Boogie mod with no gain and the eq more or less the same. The phaser sounds good at low volumes (small gigs/rehearsal), but the other DFX (verb, delay, trem, chorus, flange) sound crap.

I stand and jump around on top of this thing in my more insane moments, and it has held up fine, so...

No rating for this, but you really shouldn't have to pay for the manual.

I've been playing 2 years, and my current rig is Fender Tele -> ZVex Fuzz Factory -> Boss FV-50H -> Cube. For the price i got it for (500 Aussie, marked down from 800) it is fantastic.

Brand New 2005. Lotsa versatile features, ONE BIG DUMB DESIGN FLAW: (as the last reviewer also stated) in order to access all three main modes(A/B'ing between the clean JC channel and the modeling channel; and accessing the two sets of FX knob settings) you have to buy THREE seperate footswitches - one for each! With each requiring a seperate cord running to the amp!! Molto stupido! Sloppy design! (Years ago I had a little Roland Studio Jazz Chrous that had a simple three-button footswitch (Lead/Reverb/Chorus) that worked great!) Really dumb backward thinking here - as if a non-musician designed this without thought to using the amp in a live setting or any regard to its fully flexible use. And unlike my little Studio Chorus that came with a specific footswitch, the new Cube 60 includes no footswitch at all. (Am I supposed to run back over to the amp in the middle of a live tune and start pressing buttons and turning knobs between rhythm and lead breaks?) Of course, you can buy THREE footswitches at your local Roland dealer for an additonal cost. I have to lower my score here due to such poor user design planning.

Lots of sounds, unique design in how the two FX knobs spin seemlessly through various effects, kinda cool, kinda inflexible. The modeling knob gives decent impersonations of a variety of tube amps, though ultimately more hard crunch distortion than smooth singing sustain. Wish it had a second MASTER knob. Plenty loud, lotsa good clean headroom for small club jazz-combo stuff on clean JC channel. (Although I did A-B the Club 60 next to my old Polytone 1-12 Minibrute II and the Minibrute is still the KING for clean warm archtop jazz.)

Roland has always been very reliable. However now that they are subbing production out to China we will have to see...

I called customer support with my initial inquiry about the footswitch dilemma and after a couple prompts quickly got to a real person who was very personable. I was trying to find the 3-button switch that goes with their 3-mode Cube 60. I was told I needed to buy THREE seperate FS-5U footswitches! (Or OK, I could buy a 2-button FS-6 for FX switching but would still need two cords running to the amp - and a second FS-5U with a third cord for the channel switching.) Yikes. Thanks for the tip, Roland!

If Roland would design a 3-button footswitch specific to their new Cube 60 so that the amp's flexibilty could be fully accessed without having to turn around and push buttons in the middle of a gig this amp would be far more usuable. As is, it's OK for noodling around at the foot of the bed within arm's reach of the knobs. OR - if you are just playing straight clean jazz out of the clean JC channel it's fine as a backup to your Polytone.

I recieved this amp in 05. for x-mas. THERE IS NO STYLE OF MUSIC THIS THING CAN'T PLAY. nuff said. it has a external speaker out, as well as a line out for you to plug into a mixer.i have found the tunner output nice because i just plug it in with a 6 inch patch and set it on top the amp. it has one intstrument input, a distortion and a clean channel. the clean channel models the Roland JC famous clean tone. the distortion channel models various amps:

acoustic - (useless by the way)
fender twin reverb - (blackface)
Vox ac-30 - (british combo)
Fender Bassman - (tweed)
Marshall (60's-70's sound) vintage stacks - classic stack
Peavey 5150 - (Metal)
Mesa Boogie - (rectifier)

i wish i didnt have the acoustic amp. it's useless. they could have not made that but made a volume/gain boost for leads and such (also footswitchable).
its kinda lame of roland that they didnt make 1 single footswitch, but they had to sell 3 of them seperately. by the way the footswitch on my amp that i bought, has to be taped twice in order to take effect and switch channels or turn on the delay/reverb and effects. strange. but maybee it's somthing i need to adjust.

with this i mainly use a Epiphone les paul custom plus with a SD '59 in the bridge pos and a stock gibson humbucker in the neck pos. i have a squier strat also with a '59, but it's a mini humbucker. the strats single coils in the 3,4,5 pos sound very lovely with the clean channel. the distortion channel as i stated earlier, has 8 different models. i listen to alot of classic rock, LED ZEPPELIN, THE WHO, CREAM/CLAPTON. so when i play these styles in my room or with my band i use the Classic Stack model of course, with the distortion set to about half. my EQ is always set with the bass slightly cut (11:00), mids and treble given a 1/8 turn boost (about 2 o'clock). when not playing clasick rock i find the metal model very nice. only using little gain (9:00) i can get a versitile enough sound to play any hard rock sound, so thats what i use mostly for playing with my band. if i need lighter dist, i'll switch to either the tweed, or the british combo with about 12:00 on the gain.
the amp is only noisey when useing a lot of gain and vloume together. since i dont i dont have a problem. but even when i do crank it the noise stays pretty low for what volume is being put out.
all the fx are prime in their tasks. much better than most stock amp fx.
the dyna amp and acoustic amp are useless. the dyna amp just sounds bad and the acoustic is like having a second clean channel.

have only had it for a day, so it's hard to tell. but i can really see how well this amp willlast up. it's just so nice. i laughed out loud when i saw how small it was then i pluged it in and began to ROCK!! it's size and helpful features alone make it the awsome amp it is. i'd gig without a backup. oh yea.

i've been playing for a little over three years. i play alot of blues and hard chord laden rock. i really wish it had a three button footswitch to hookup all at once and not deal with three seperate cables and footswitches. but i still dnt get that having to tap the footswitch twice to get it to work. it's not the switch, because i've tried a fender footswitch on it and it did the same thing. the work thing abou the footswitch problem is that when you hit it twice the led goes off then comes back on, so you have a lit led in both channels.

I DO RECOMEND THIS AMP TO ANYONE, I'VE LISTED THE ONLY TWO BAD THINGS ABOUT IT AND THEY ARE VERY PETTY MINOR THINGS. DONT LET THAT INFLUENCE YOUR PURCHASE

The primary reason I bought this amp was because of it's many features. I was playing at church and needed something to go direct into the mackie board. I considered one of the many POD like pre-amp/multi effect processors but didn't want to spend $400 on something that I would only use for going direct at church. I bought the cube 60 because it offered both line out and recording out which bypasses the speaker and uses speaker emulation. I also use a little chorus and reverb which are very usable. I don't like the sound of going direct but since I had no choice the cube 60 did the job very well.

I use a Gibson 335 Dot and a Fender 35th anniversary custom shop strat with silver lace sensor pickups. While I still prefer small tube amps, I have to say that this is the best sounding solid state amp that I have played through. I was looking for an amp that I could get a good clean sound out of and the cube 60 does that very well. In either the JC clean channel or the Blackface model you can get very good clean tone. You have to tweak your settings but I have been able to get some great clean sounds out of this amp. The distortion sounds are not great but may be useable if you don't need a real tube sound. I use a fulltone Full Drive 2 pedal and it gives me many options for overdriven sounds. I compared this amp with many other amps including: Fender Hot Rod Deluxe, Fender Vibrolux, Mesa F-30, Marshall 401, Line 6 modelling amps, and a crate palamino 30 watt. While I liked the warmth and tube distortion on many of these amps, they were all noisy when playing at performance or recording levels. The cube 60 has no noise that I can hear in the clean channels. I can also turn up to high levels and not break up. Very good headroom.

I have never had a problem with any of my Boss products. The only amp problems that i have ever experienced have been tube failures and microphonic tubes on a Marshall 401 amp. I returned that amp before I purchased the cube 60. I have owned Fender tube amps and still own a Blues Junior with a Mojo tone speaker in it. I have tubes checked/replaced every year. With the cube 60 I have no maintainence to worry about. I expect this amp to outlive me.

I called Roland because I was getting some ugly feedback from the Marshall stack model with my strat. The lace sensor pickups are very hot and I found that when using this model I need to put the gain setting down around 8:00. Roland technical support were easy to get ahold of and answered my question regarding this issue.

I have been playing guitar for 30 years. If the cube 60 was stolen or lost I would probably buy another. I love the features and light weight of this amp. It's very easy to haul around and has good clean sounds. There is nothing that I hate about it but realize that it is a $345 digital modelling amp and has limitations. This will not replace a quality tube amp but is an ultra reliable and versatile guitar amplifier. I compared it with many other amps and found that in this price range nothing else came close.

come on BLOOZER, you can't submit such a harsh review of this amp. 99% of the people who reviewed this amp, love it. Also, you can't compare this amp to a $800 tube amp. For this type of amp (solid state with effects) its the best one on the market. I'm a tube guy also, but I play this baby more. Its a fun amp that is reliable, has many great tones, very easy to use and light weight. I agree, a professional might not use this amp for recordings. But, for the guy who plays for fun and plays small venues, this amp is perfect.


Do you know what year the amp was made in? 2005

Is the amp versatile enough for you and the styles of music you play?
IMO this amp covers all styles
What are those styles? Blues, country, Hard Rock
How many channels? 2
Does it have channel switching? Yes
Effects loops? Headphone jack? no effects loop, yes
What features do you wish it had? better control of the effects
Are there features you never use? hmmmmm, the effects
Where do you use this amp? skanky bars across USA
Does it have enough power for you? Yes

I think for this type of amp,Its the best.
a small 1x12 effects amp with great tone
no, its not a tube amp
but, if you don't feel like messing with tubes, want a light weight, many great tones and so on
can't go wrong

What guitar and pickup styles are you using it with? american strat
How does it suit your music style (and what is that style)? blues rock, RAP should be outlawed !
Is it noisy? no

What kind of sounds can the amp make? all type of heavy rock, good SRV crunch/Bite, some great pink floyd
How much variety? lots
Is the clean channel distorted at high volumes? no, great clean

its a ROLAND, they keep on tick'n
built like a tank

don't no

I paid $400. I felt guilty paying only $350. so, i added $50.

How long have you been playing? 15 yrs
What other gear do you own? fender super reverb and cube 30
If it were stolen or lost, would you buy it again or get something else? I'd buy it again, most denfinately.
what do you love about it? great tones, easy to use, light weight
What do you hate? no effects control
Did you compare it to other products? yes
Which ones? Vox, Fender, Line 6
Why did you choose this one? sounded better. its feels more natural.
Anything you wish it had? Yes, Buy One
Anything else you'd like to share? Yes, buy the Cube 30 also

Lots of "cheesy and wonky" features such as delay and reverb and sort of a chorus ( if you want to call it that). Offers simulations of various amps (hey, why not get the real thing)and no foot pedal. A beginners amp for sure. If you like cheap and cheesy, then these effects and features are for you.

One word,,,,STALE! Why on earth would anyone even consider getting a Solid State, Modeling or otherwise. It absolutely befudles me how anyone can rate this above a 4, and as compared to what?! Amy manufacturers are continually shoving newer solid states down are throats, when we all know they sound the same. This particular amp is no different. I played on this as a back-up when my Fender DR went out, and am happy to provide the readers,,,,stay away...NFG. Best to get another tube as a back-up. The clean was stale, sterile. and the ridiculously sounding effects only made it sound worse. The distortion, is just noise, not matter what amp simulation you select.

It's solid allright, will make a great boat anchor!

I would only want to call them and tell them they are about $300 too high.

Like I said, this was someones back-up I had to use. Never seen so many bad looks from the patrons at the bar I was playing, just sounded like shit, no matter what I did. How can anyone here at HC rate a solid state amp above a 5,,,,really,,,,who are you kidding? What are you comparing it too, another solid state? Why get one? Tubes are the real and only deal, no matter what your budget. Don't pay attention to anyone that rates it above a 5, go ahead, try a tube amp, any model and you will see what I am talking about.