Roland Cube-80X

Hello, I just bought the 2009 Roland Cube-80X and am THRILLED with it!! I did see the Demarco video and was very impressed and went to a music store to try one out soon after. At the store, I immediately dialed in the Rectifier model and was in heaven. Great tone with warmth!! I decided to buy it within a minute. Since bringing it home, I have been messing with the different sounds and now love the sound of many of the models. I have never played Fender amps, however the models on the Cube-80X will be awesome to use when playing blues in cover bands. The acoustic modeler sounds great for mellow sounds & funk!

The amp does have channel switching and a cheap pedal works fine. There isn't a need to buy 3 of the Boss FS-6 pedals. I think 1 pedal for the looping / delay may be all that is needed. Cheapies can cover the other 2.

The only feature that I can think that I wish this amp has is an equalizer for each channel.

Enough power for sure + it will have mic on it in clubs.

I have played in clubs for many years and have used Marshalls, Peavey, Mesa Boogie and Ampeg amps. While these were great sounding amps, they were also heavier than sin! I am female and 46 years old with back problems. My requirement was to find a lightweight amp if I intend to keep playing guitar in public.

Initially I tried it with an Ibanez RG-750 and the amp played like a rockin heavy metal dream amp! The Rectifier tone again :). Plus the lead channel with the delays on the solos is just fantastic and inspiring.

Now, I have been using my American made Fat Strat with the amp and am VERY pleased. The warmth of the strat results in some very sweet clean tones. Am thinking of putting a compressor in front of the amp to get some extra spank.

Have not played the clean channel really loud yet, therefore don't know if it will distort, however have played at the volume that is needed in a club when using a mic and the sound was fine.

I have always played tube amps before this and had my eye on a Mesa Boogie Express 5:25. While I do love the clean spank that the Boogie has, I don't know if it is worth almost an extra $1000 to get that tone. For the $399 that the Cube-80X was, I can compromise.

Yes, I would depend on it, however I ALWAYS bring a backup amp to gigs. People that brag and say that they don't bring backups, are gambling on their luck. Eventually an amp will act up at a gig. However, while I have always played tube amps in the past, I like the fact that this amp is solid state. I don't think that I will have to worry about every little bump with this amp. Tube amps always have me worried when transporting.

I own Roland GR-30 guitar synth gear + the Roland sound modules. Roland is the top dog and I have no worries about the quality of their equipment.

Warranty for this amp is 1 year. I doubt if I will need it as my other Roland gear works fine and it is many years old.

Have never had to call Roland.

I have been playing guitar over 25 years. Have played professionally in many bands around Minneapolis, MN. If the amp were lost or stolen, I would collect my insurance check and buy another Cube-80X the next day.

I love the tone, weight, price and versatility.

It was this amp or the Mesa Boogie Express 5:25. The Boogie still was a little too heavy and quite expensive. If I come across a used Boogie Express at a better price, I'd get that and also use this amp too. It would depend on what type of gig I was playing I guess.

I love so much about this amp. If there was one thing that I wish it had, it would be a good tremolo sound. Otherwise the chorus, flange, delay and reverb are fine for local gigging. No need to carry extra effects with this amp. But an effects loop would have been nice :)

Thank you Roland!! I love the products that you make. For me, my love affair with your company started when I purchased the Roland GR-30. That piece of gear opened up music worlds, that I only could dream of!!

80-watt output into a 12" speaker, 10 COSM?? amp models including new DLX Combo model,two channels: Clean and Lead plus new SOLO memory function, new Spring Reverb, Looper, built in chromatic tuner and Aux input

Huge dissapointment, I mean HUGE! I already have Cube-60 (have had also Cube-30)and I was so stocked to get my hands on this one, the youtube demo was so sweet sounding. In my opionion Cube-60 beats this one 100-0, you can??t even compare these two, not at least in gain settings. This amp sounds so weak in lead channel. I put exactly same settings for the two amp (lead channel, r-fier-mode) and 60 is so much better. To my style of music (mostly metal) the amp has to have "balls" and 60 has and 80 doesn??t. In clean channel I must say 80 sounds better. The fact that you can no use delay and reverb at the same time is huge plus.

Built like a tank, never have had any problems with the 60 so I assume there shouldn??t be any problems with the 80 either.

I must take my hat of to my local dealer who was so kind to give me this amp for a test for weekend. By playing side by side this amp and the 60 I avoided making a big mistake by switching 60 to this amp.

I bought this amp. for it's "clean" channel. Roland amps, in general, have a solid (good) reputation in jazz circles, and I was very please to find that I could dial in a beautiful, dark, clean sound immediately after powering it up.

This amp. has a ton features: 1) 3 channels: clean, lead, and "solo"; all foot-switchable; 2) lots of different amp. models which range from the clean (JC-120) to brain-piercing dirty; 3) a good selection of effects (all from the digital domain): two kinds of reverb (spring and plate), delay, chorus, flanger, etc.; 4) a looper function with up to 40 seconds of recording time; and 5) and integral tuner. There's a lot more here than I'll ever use, but I'm pleased to have such an arsenal at my disposal.

While some of the amp. models are very good, some of them leave me mumbling "Meh" to myself. Of course, I didn't buy this amp. for it's pyrotechnics--I bought it for it's clean channel, and in that regard I couldn't be more pleased. The effects are decent enough and certainly good enough for a starter amp. All I'll use is a bit of spring reverb (very very little) and it sounds pretty good. It's not a real spring reverb to my ears, but close enough.

The Cube is whisper quiet. Even at full volume, you can barely hear any hiss at all. The clean channel acts like a reference amp and reproduces the sounds of my guitars very precisely, and I can color the sounds well with the built-in EQ. The sounds scale well at higher volumes and I think this amp will hold its own in the kind of venues I'll play in.

Too early to say, but if my Cube follows its predecessors, I'm expecting to have this amp. for a very long time. It appears to be solidly built, so time will tell.

I looked at a lot of amplifiers before settling on the Roland Cube-80x. I'd set out to buy its predecessor, the Cube 60, but that amp. has been discontinued and the Cube-80x is the replacement model. I don't think I would have considered Roland, but after reading numerous positive reviews and learning that their amps are extremely popular in jazz circles--that coupled with the amazing price point of $399--I couldn't resist. I would love to have a really good tube amp (e.g., and Kingsley or something similar) someday--but I'm very happy with my choice for now.

Powerful 80-watt output into a high performance 12" speaker,
10 COSM?? amp models including new DLX Combo model,
Two channels: Clean and Lead plus new SOLO memory function,
New Spring Reverb modeling for vintage reverb sounds,
Easy to use Looper for unique live performance,
Convenient built in chromatic tuner,
Aux input for connecting MP-3 players or other audio sources,

I was very disappointed with this amp. I had such high expectations. Like a lot of people,I saw the demo that Johnny DeMarco did on You Tube.
That sold me. I couldn't wait to get one. I already have a Cube 30 and I love it. Unfortunately,for whatever reason,it just doesn't sound good. It has all the bells and whistles,but as far as tone goes,it's not there. Maybe for a beginner or someone who's not really picky about their tone might like it. But if you're like me,and you're very picky about your tone,don't get this amp. I wasn't expecting a lot from the COSM amp models anyway. It was the legendary JC-120 clean channel I couldn't wait to hear. It's not there. My Cube 30 sounds better. I'm thinking it's probably the cheap *** speaker they have in there. But addition to that,is the size of the amp itself. I think even if you switched out the speaker,it still wouldn't sound good. It's not big enough of a cabinet. All in all,it just confirms the #1 rule regarding tone; it's in your fingers. This amp is a perfect example of that. To hear Johnny DeMarco playing it made me want it. Hell,he could play through a Pignose and make it sound amazing!

I didn't own it long enough. But if it's built like my Cube 30,it should
last a long time.

Like I said previously,if you're not picky about your tone,or you're just starting out,this would be a good amp to have. You could do worse for $400.00 I suppose.