Roland Cube-60 112 Combo

Made in 2004. 60 watts into 8 ohms, 1 X 12, 32 pounds. 2 channels: JC Clean, and Lead with 8 amp models. 6 built-in effects: chorus, flanger, phaser, tremolo, delay, and reverb. All except the reverb are adjustable for time/rate only. Luckily, the fixed effect levels are such that they don't swamp whatever tone is dialed in. Versatile? Are you kidding? One can cover country to metal and everything in between with this amp. It's got power, too. I've had the amp at three club jams unmiked and it cut through fine, using the Tweed model of the Lead channel. My only wish is for a simple footswitch that would let the player dial through all the amp models and effects, instead of just switching channels and turning on a selected effect on or off.

I play mostly blues and old rock. Main axe is a Highway One Telecaster. The Cube 60 sounds amazing! Amp modeling is coming of age, folks. The EQ is voiced really well, especially the midrange. The Cube 60 handles the low output of my Hwy. One Tele's pickups very well. So far, I've pretty much used the Tweed model of the Lead channel, which is warm and grinding with the gain turned up. I've also used the Classic Stack(old Marshall)model, and was rewarded with a sweet,crunchy tone with plenty of vibe, but a lot less bass than the Tweed model. Strange. The F/X are a ton o' fun. Turn the knob to the Classic Stack model, dial in a medium-rate delay, and it's time to play the solo in "Red House". Or, dial in a clean tone with chorus and delay, and you're Andy Summers playing in The Police.

Seems like a dependable amp. It's built pretty tough, with these inudstrial-looking plastic corner-protectors. The knobs feel reasonably firm. I don't know about the bright and channel select push buttons, they feel a little bit cheap. But, I take good care of my gear, and I think the amp'll hold up just fine. I noticed that the speaker is secured with six screws instead of the usual four.

Never dealt with the company. Cool website, though.

I've been playing 19 years. I also have a Tech 21 Trademark 60, another celebrated solid-state guitar amp that sounds cool, but it takes more time to tweak and dial in. Roland really did their homework. If you're in the market for an amp and you don't have to have exact 100% tube tones, RUN, do not walk, to your local music store and check out a Cube 60. Beginners, amatuers and Pros alike can't go wrong buying one of these, it's THAT good. Sorry if I sound like a commercial.

Instead of listing the features, I will rate most of them by how useful I find them.

Bright Switch: Have not played a guitar yet where I needed it.

3-Band EQ: Very effective. However, each amp model has to be optimized with the EQ, in order to get close to the particular sound that is being modelled. I did not find a sweet spot of EQ settings that sound good for all of the amp-model.

Presence: Subtle, just right

Digital effects selector: Very cheesy sounding wave modulation effects (phaser, chorus, flanger, vib). When engaging any of these they make the amp sound worse, IMO. Therefore I chose to not use them. If I need chorus, I play an old JC-77.

Reverb and Delay: Not the greatest, but a slight amount of reverb actually makes the amp sound fuller.

Modelling selector: Unfortunatly, one can select only between "clean" and "overdrive" sound, and not between several overdrive sounds. (Maybe that's too much asked for at this budget.)

Gain: Very subtle, however, chrunch and overdrive level depends strongly on what model is selected. Also, at higher gain settings, the high frequencies roll off, and bass gets boosted. EQ adjustments may have to be made dependent on gain setting.

Cabinet with port holes in front and open slot in back: This is actually one of the best cabinet designs I have come accross. It makes the amp sound huge!!!

I played the amp with single coil and humbucker guitars, such as Fender Strat, Tele, Gibson ES-175, PRS Mc Carty, Hamer w/P90. I have been using the amp at home for about 4 month.

The clean channel (JC model) sounds very good. When I compare it directly to my old JC-77, it comes very close - although not identical. The JC-77 (ca. 20 yrs old) sounds a bit more mellow. The clean channel is dynamic and touch sensitive, and that makes the amp very fun to play. Lots of punch too. This amp can keep up with bigger amps anytime.

I personally find the "Acoustic" model sound absolutely unattractive. "Black Panel", "Tweed" and "Classic" models nail it amazingly well. I have not figured out though what "British" is supposed to model. The "Metal" and "Rectifier" sound a litle bit overboard, but nevertheless are useful for folks who want a Heavy-Metal sound. "Dyna-Amp" I personally find not attractive (too harsh, sterile).

The Black Panel model sounded so good that I sold my '65 Super Reverb R.I. It does however not come even close to my 65 Twin R.I.
I hoped I would be able to simulate a clean Plexi tone, but the overdrive models only sound really good at medium to high gain settings.

If the amp is cranked and placed into a corner or in front of a wall, it almost sounds as huge as a 4x12 - unbelievable!!!

Based on my personal taste, preferences and expectations, I would give this amp a 7-8 rating. But on a sound per bucks scale, the Cube-60 deserves a "10".

Looks well made and sturdy.

Have not dealt with.

Have been playing for about 30 years. Have been a "Fenderholic" and owned at least a dozen of Fender amps, besides others. This amp is attractive because it offers a lot of tonal versatility at a low price. The Cube-60 simulates most of the intended sounds amazingly well, IMO. Of course, it does not exactly sound like an original; but it comes close enough for many gig or studio application, I guess. I can imagine that many people would choose the Cube-60 for a gig over of hauling a big rig. Also, at a retail price of $325 for the Cube-60, one has to think very hard if spending big bucks for a tube head and a 4x12 is absolutely necessary for getting a big tone.
Looking at what you get for the money, this amp deserves an "11" as overall rating, IMO.

See the other oposts or got to the rolandus website for the details. No need to repeat...... I'm on my lunch break anyway! I give it a nine for lack of FX loop.

I have numerous Strats with different pickups and a Parker Fly Classic. This amp is very versatile from blues to whatever. I play rock, new rock, metal, blues. I do not find it very noisy. There is obviously a noise gate of some kind built in. You can tell. I have nailed the Skynrd sounds, Hendrix, SRV, 3 Days grace, Tanric, Dire STraits etc etc. I can simply find a sound that works for what ever I am playing. It also works well with my AC and RC Booster pedals in front of it... Believe it or not! I wish it had an FX loop so I could put an EQ pedal in there for boost and/or reduction. I won't degrade it because of the FX section. I haven't found an amp with onboard effects that really move me anyway.

Most importantly... IT FEELS right. Your guitar feels like you are playing through a tube amp. There is some kind of subtle compression or squeezing that feels like a cranked deluxe reverb.

The reverb and delay are okay and I can use them. On the FX side, I like the tremolo but I think the chorus, phaser, and flanger are not usable because the is no means to adjust parameters. ROland has provided what they think is a usable range for each effect but it doesn't work for me.

I haven't had any problems with Roland gear ever. I can depend on it. I am not ready to gig with it yet; but I will soon. I always carry a back up whether I think I need it or not. What kind of musician would you be if you were'nt prepared for a breakdown? It has performed well so far. I have used it daily..yes daily for about 2 to 3 hours a day for 2 months so far

Have never dealt with them except to order a user manual that I lost. They do not offer downloads of their product manuals. You have to purchase the manuals. That, in this day and age, is absurd! Pure crap! I will be nice and give them a 5.

I am 46. Been playing since I was 7. I would replace it if it was stolen or lost. I will get a second as a backup anyway. That's how I operate. I like its size and sound. I really cannot believe that I like this amp. I have had and still have most of my old Fender tube amps, Boogies, Marshall, Crate (all tubes). I love the Fenders the out of all of them but I still like the Cube 60 as much as my pro and deluxe reverb. Unfortunately, I have wasted more money than I will admit buying and trying every new "tube emulation" and and effect that ever came out. I have gotten rid of all of them. I like the cube 60, sounds great, feels great. I am not a tube snob. If it sounds good then it works for me. I have had so many tube amps overr the years that I understand each tube amp has its own sound and character.... even if you are comparing 5 of the same amp....they will all sound different.

This is a follow up of my other post. This amp is is it for me! I now rate it a ten! in the fender department! Turn the gain up to about 1-2 o'clock and it gets that nice saturated grit like that new 2000 dollar tweed twin. No kidding! Roland did this right!
OK ROLAND! NOW MAKE ONE IN STEREO!

MY FENDER TUBE AMPS DONT SOUND THIS GOOD!

Got it today 1/08/05
The amp has alot of tone going on in there. The ones i like the most are the jc120,fender, vox and the marshall. the others i dont care for.The modulation effects na--- but the delay and verb are pretty darn good! imo the modeled amp section needs it own eq. or a bright switch. It is loud! in a more comfortable kinda way. Like a good power amp on a pa system.its loud but you dont notice how loud it really is till you try to talk. its clean power.
I dont gig anymore so i'll use this amp mainly at home. But it is enough power to gig with. For classic rock, blues,country, jazz this amp will shine brightly. for metal, well thats for the metal heads to deside.The amp models on the ones i like are pretty true to the orignals. All ia all, its a real good deal.

I use a godin sd guitar and it works well with this amp. The clean channel need a bit more compression imo i just put a cs3 in front of the amp and it does the job well. A loop would be cool so you could use a volume pedal after the preamp. Overdrives? man theres enough flavors to please anyone. smooth-gritty to all out nasty yeah its got the good!

3 year guarantee on parts and labor if something goes down. the only thing i dont like is plastic input/output jacks. If someone trips over one of your cords, bam! broken jack! seen that before.Other than that it looks pretty heavy duty.

they back their stuff. Three years parts and labor on this amp.

been playin over 30 years. other gear i use?Br864, boss pedals,fulltone,maxom. mackie,JBL

Here we go: REVIEW FOR ROLAND CUBE 60 GUITAR AMPLIFIER (in case you didn't know what you were reading yet).

This amp was made by Roland in 2004. I play just about any kind of rock along with some blues and the occasionaly oldie, and I've yet to find a sound I can't get out of my Cube. It's a two channel amp - one for clean (based on a Roland Blues Cube) and one for the other amp models. Those models include, but are not limitted to, acoustic simulator, Fender Blackface, Fender Twin Reverb, Vox AC30, Marshall JCM 800, Peavey 5150 (aka 6505), and a Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier. There is also Roland's "dyna-amp," which is supposed to react to your picking. I'll touch on that in the next section. The amp has six digital effects: reverb, delay, chorus, flanger, phaser, and tremolo. There's no effects loop but the quality of the built in effects mean that you should rarely need outboard modulation effects. It has a very good headphone jack, line out, speaker out (8 ohm for cab), and tuner out which sends the signal unaltered. I use this amp for jamming by my self and with my band. I can easily drown out my drummer without having to crank it, all though he's not the loudest drummer in the world. For medium gigs, the clean channel may not have quite enough power before it starts to break up, but the distortion will be plenty loud. You can always mic it if not. The 4 band EQ (low, mid, high, presence) is fantastic. It really allows you to taylor your tone. The bright switch on the clean channel will take you from sparkely fender to dark marshall with the push of a single button. The only thing this amp is lacking is an auto-wah effect, but who wants to rely on a built in wah? This is a deffinate ten.

I play my Schecter 006 (dual humbuckers) through the Cube and it sounds absolutely fantastic. The combination suits my sort of random music style perfectly: I can play whatever I want depending on my mood and it will sound good. I can go from a Sweet Home Alabama tone to a Master of Puppets tone in a matter of seconds. There is virtually no noise through the amp. On the higher gain models, you can get some good sounding feedback if you stand close enough to the amp, but it's one of the quietest I've ever played. I have yet to com accross a tone that I can't get fairly close to with the Cube. It's all there if you know how to get to it. The clean channel does tend to break up when the volume gets turned up, but it gets loud enough to hurt your ears before it does. Even then, it's a much less offensive sounding breakup than you would get from most solid state amps.

The dyna-amp is a great concept. The guys at Roland did a good job designing it. The problem though is that the technology for it just doesn't seem to be there yet. It does what it's supposed to do, but not in a way that sounds great or would actually be useable. When you turn the guitar volume knob down enough to clean up the sound, you're too quiet compared to the distorted volume.

My rating of 10 is compared to other amps in the price range. Obviously there are many amps that sound better, but not for under $500!

I tend to be careful with my stuff, but with this thing I get the impression that I could kick it off a stage and it wouldn't even get scratched. Heavey duty particle board, closed back construction, rubber corner guards, and a metal grill. What more can you ask for. I'm taking off a point for the plastic knobs, but really, what do you expect? You can't have your cake and eat it too! (At least, I think that's how the expression goes.)

I've never dealt with Roland directly so I can't give a rating for this, but...

I also own a microcube. A few days after I bought it, it started giving me a sort of hissing sound when I tried to play lower notes. I brought it back to the Guitar Center I bought it from and they replaced it with little hassle. I never figured out what the problem was, but I'm still not positive it was the amp. Oh well, it's all good now.

I've been playing guitar for just over five months, but I'm progressing very rapidly. I've played other instruments for years so I like to think I know good tone when I hear it. If this were lost or stolen, I'd most certainly buy it again. One of the main reasons I chose this, apart from the great sound and versatility, was the fact that it's smaller than most amps of similar power. The speaker size is the same but the cab is smaller. When I go jam with my band, I put my guitar on my back and carry the amp. It weighs just under 40 pounds so I'm tired by the time I get there, but it's doable. I returned a Crate GLX to get this and it also beat out a Vox AD50VT (the closest runner up), Peavey Classic 30, and Line 6 Spider II (not even close). It's got pretty much everything I want.

One final note - the footswitches. It uses three seperate Boss footswitches to change channel, reverb-delay on/off, and other effects on/off. These three $30 footswitches are NOT INCLUDED. Also, the footswitches do not include cables - you must purchace a normal instrument cable seperatly. Boss makes two types of single button footswitches: latching and non-latching. They are very unclear about which one you need. You need the non-latching. With the latching, you have to push the button twice to change anything.

On that happy note, I will say that I wouldn't hesitate to recomend this amp to anyone. There is not a single amp under $500 that beats it.

Now Lookie Here... This amp is a 2004 . I am a bluesman. I just
used this amp to my play guitar through at a gig in a pretty big room
at a Blues Club here in town. This little amp
kept up with the other big amps in the room, doing so quite well.
I was looking for an amp like this for quite a while!
For its size this thing did really well! Other guitar players had
Big tube amps with them and this amp held its own. One of my guitar
players was just as interested in it as I was to see how it would do.
He had a modern Fender with two 12's in it. The Cube was right next to his amp. He said he might get one to use himself for backup.
I have played some big venues with my other amps. At those venues
they can mic you up. So if the time comes maybe I will use this
little thing even at a bigger venue.
That would be kind of cool, just because it is pretty
small. (Or get two and have a "cube stack"... Wow.)
I used just a little bit of reverb and that sounded fine. I used
a little chorus on one song (which I never do) and we got a laugh out
of it... but really... it did sound kind of keyboard like on the
chords. A bit wierd for the blues on the lead. I did it anyway(once)
I was looking for a small, powerful amp with a good sound...
I guess I finally found one.

I was playing an Epiphone Joe Pass Emp. 2 guitar.(Big Arch Top)with
two humbuckers. (I think that what it has, two pickups anyway)
I like the Joe Pass for the Blues and with this amp it sounded great. I actually used it on the Jazz Chorus setting and on the Dyna Amp setting. The JC on the amp stands for Jazz Chorus. The JC Channel
is the clean one modeled after the "Jazz Chrous" amp of yesteryear.
The Dyna Amp setting is a unique Roland amp sound that lets you
go from clean to break up depending on your "attack".
I did that. It worked well. I just got this amp so
I really haven't used the other settings yet in a live situation.
Big Arch tops can feed back so at the end of the last song I did
a controlled feedback thing that worked quite well. No harsh harmonic
overtones like other non tube amps. Seemed pretty good.
I have other guitars I use to play the blues with but haven't had
a chance to use them with this amp yet. With the Joe Pass guitar this
thing was pretty good. Jazz guys usually use a guitar like this and
let me tell you the chords sound very nice and full thru this amp
with this kind of guitar. Nice.

It seems to me some real "thought" went into the construction of
this critter. I think it is perfect for someone who needs a small,
powerful, dependable, easy to carry amp to gig with. I think it is
pretty well made, but haven't had it long enough to comment on
reliability.

No dealings with the company yet.

I am 49 years old and I have been playing for 34 years or so. I own
a whole assortment of amps, guitars, etc. I am trying to lighten my
load so I can get into a gig without repeated trips to my van. I am
also a professional harmonica player and might even get one more of
these amps to blow harp through. One for guitar, one for harp.
I love the fact that this thing has such a great sound in a small
package. It is not perfect, but doggone close. For a blues guy it
looks a bit "solid state" but who cares at this point?
I haven't had a chance to blow harp thru it yet but I bet you
could come up with some pretty good sounds thru the "tweed" channel.
I have yet to experiment.
I play guitar and blow harp at all my gigs so it is my hope to
have my guitar (or two) on my back, my gig bag on my back, my harp
case and cube 6o in one hand and my other cube 60 in the other...
ONE TRIP AND I AM DONE. Yes one trip. Not Three trips with giant
amps, etc... Wow,,, THANK YOU ROLAND. I will trade the looks and
size for that ONE TRIP. I will use the Big Stuff for backup now.
I like this little amp so if it got stolden I would get another.
I like the line out so if you need to be louder you can do that too.
I looked for quite a while until I came upon this amp. I think it
is the best tool for the job at the price. If I get tired of it I
can pull the heavys back out and use them. But for now I like
the ONE TRIP and you are done aspect.
It doesn't have the "coolness" factor of the retro stuff, and nothing sounds like many of the great tube amps...but if you are
tired of carrying that stuff into gigs , or on a budget, or just would
like a cool little amp that has some fun sounds to play with , for
the money you can't beat it. It isn't a toy. It does a fine job in
the "real world". I wouldn't get rid of my other stuff, but for a
near geezer who loves the blues , this amp is pretty cool.
ONE TRIP, and you are set up and drinking your first lite beer of
the night while the other guys are going back and forth , back and
forth, with their gear...
I know some great players who have roadies to set their stuff
up... so they can use the 4x10's + , etc. But for the local
Blueman who has yet to move that far beyond the barroom... make mine a cube 60.
" ... I'm lookin' for my tools now, lookin' for my tools now...
yeh lookin' for my tools now ... when I get my tools... I'll take
you back to school... I'm lookin' for my tools now." ;)
(Harmonica Fats Song) The cube 60, a good tool for the
giging bluesman.

I purchased this amp 2 weeks ago. '04 I assume. JC channel is really clean and spongy with a nice chord bloom when you dig in. The digital effects really shine on this channel, although they could be more flexible, but not bad. Drive channel has some really good realistic sounding models, and the reverb/delay are average.

I am using a 93 PRS CE, 79 Fender strat with EMG/DG pickguard, stock 04 Fender Tele. I was searching for a smaller amp to gig with when I tried this amp at my local music store. It sounded good so I picked it up assuming I would use it for rehearsals with the 3 bands I spot with. I didn't think my search was over, thinking that only a tube amp would suffice for my style of playing. I play in a classic rock band and spot with an original rock-a-billy band and a country band. I had a week to tweak it before my next gig and it really grew on me. Realizing I couldn't crank it up until my next gig, which was a large venue; 500 people or so. I decided to take it along..do or die..but I brought my Twin just in case. The sound man miked it up with a SM57 through the house p.a. I set the amp model to Tweed with the gain at 12 o'clock and cranked it up. I could not beleive my ears. This little amp sounded great! Really loud too, my channel volumes didn't go past 4. My other guitar player uses a 04 Mesa Road King combo, he was speechless!!

Roland is the best in the business and I have never had problems with any of my Roland gear. I only used it for one gig so far, but really pushed it. No problems. Nice and quiet too.

N/A Never dealt with them.

I've been playing for 30 yrs now. I stick with what works for me, but I like to be flexible. I also use a '75 Twin Reverb, Trace Elliot C100, GK micro amp with a Marshall cabinet. I would definetly buy this amp again. Definetly a diamond in the rough. I wanted to lighten up the gear but not sacrifice the sound quality and I think I found the answer.

Here is what I would change:

Put the clean models on the clean side, and the gain models on the other. Having the JC as the default model on the clean side is stupid.

I would also use mini pots for controling effect parameters. This would have given me more control over the delay, which is the only effect I used. In fact, an effects loop may help those who dislike the onboard effects to choose this amp anyway.

How about a tuner?

Finally, why no XLR out? I mean, if it's cabinet-voiced, why not give us the ability to go direct to the board?

I hit the clean channels with a Boss Limiter and really enjoyed their punchiness.

The medium gain models were so-so. The Vox produced pleasant feedback like a tube amp does. I was surprised.

The higher gain channels can produce some of the best chest-thumping tones from a 12" I have ever heard.

I found the amp was sufficiently loud to play live.

But alas, I sold the amp. Why? It just wasn't as good as my current set up (DG Stomp). The amp suffered from two flaws--the note attack was always a bit harsh and the sustain was often lacking. On many of the settings, the notes would just suddenly cease instead of fade away.

After my initial impression subsided, I decided to plug back into my DG Stomp + KC-300 set up. The DG had: a warmer attack, better feel, better note decay, higher clarity, and superior response to guitar knob adjustments. Also, the DG has a tuner.

Like anything, if at all possible try before you buy.

I suspect these will be reliable.

Don't know.

See above. I have nothing to add.

What a great amp. It has a clean channel and then it has 7 other amps to choose from in the "lead" section. I actually haven't used the clean channel with the band yet, I get all the clean I need from the "lead" channel. It's plenty loud, I play with a really loud drummer and didn't have it anywhere near max. I could see using it on any gigs. It also has an speaker out, direct out, and headphone/recording out (speaker compensated). Plus footswitches for channel, delay/reverb, and effects on and off. I wish you could use more than one effect at a time (though you can use delay or reverb with any of the other effects), but this is nit-picking, up until now, the most any of my amps had was tremelo and reverb! Really for $350.00 I am knocked out. Oh, I forgot to mention the acoustic simulator, it's not bad, I've never really heard a great one, it's just another cool feature.

I use vintage Strats that are stock and I play blues, funk, jazz, Hendrix type rock, Bjork style anything goesness. It was not noisy at all, and as I said, I had it turned way up. I was playing a group of friends and we were playing mostly funk, blues, and jazz, but we also were pleasing a sit in drummer by coming up with a death metal piece and the amp just went ahead and did that too. The thing i like best about this amp is that it really worked dynamically with my picking and volume know changes. I normally play through tube amps and old fuzz pedals, so I am used to being able to go from sparkely clean to crunch to bloated fat a$$ fuzz, all with my volume knob. This is the first transistor amp that has ever really let me do this type of thing. Without the fuzz pedal turned on, I set the amp for a medium distortion using the classic stack setting. Then with my guitar's volume knob I could dial in a great clean tone or a crunchy ryhthm, or allthe way up for solos or whatever, it was great! I have always wished for a solid state alternative for tube amps and, in my opinion, here it is. People say that there is perhaps less dimension than a good tube amp, and I agree that you don't get that exact bloom from the notes, but it isn't like a solid state amp either, it has it's own type of bloom and it was extremely musical. I really enjoyed listening to my notes coming out of this amp and it inspired me improvisationally.

I have had it a week.

n/a

I normally use tube amps. I am the kind of player who likes to play the amp and this is the first solid state amp that would let me do that for this price. I know that the Line 6 Vetta should let you do this, as well as Vox's super modeling amps. I haven't tried anything else in the $900 and above range because I wasn't looking to spend that on a solid state amp. I should say I loved the Vetta, but I really would only spend that kind of money on a great tube amp. The Fender Cyber Champ was really close and it offers a little more flexability for a little more money (but no ext. speaker out), but not enough in my opinion to ask for another $100. I was just looking for a good back up amp for my tube amp and found it, but I got so much more. I have no problems with taking this out as my main amp, I can't wait to try it through some different cabinets. I would buy another if I lost it, it's small, loud, musical, versitile, cheap, and works with your hands. Thanks Roland.