Roland GC-405

The clean tone is great, very tube like, and the distortion is quite versitile IMO. It is 25 watts with the cab connected and has a 3 band eq section with a presence control. There is an effects loop, headphone and footswitch jack, plus an ext. speaker output (I got the unit with the ext. cab giving me a total of 8-5 inch speakers)

For the price I paid I think it's an excellent sounding amp (it's a mini-stack actually). In my situation it's perfect because I have neighbors and can't go totally balistic. This amp sounds great from med to very loud volumes and that's what I've been looking for in an amp. These little 5 inch speakers really pump out some low end contrary to what I expected (they do rattle a bit when you go nuts though). I prieviously had a 200 watt ADA stereo amp and 2-2x12 cabs so I'm comparing it to the sound I had with that setup. Of course it doesn't have the volume capabilities of my old gear but it comes damn close "tonewise". I play metal and punk styles mostly and use a fender strat with emg's and a fender jagmaster. I also have a digitech RP-7 but this review is based on the Roland alone, NOT with the RP-7 hooked up to it)

Too soon to tell but it seems resilient.

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I just got it on a close out sale and am extreamly pleased. This is the best practice amp I've ever played through and for the price It's almost hard to believe. It has the tone of a stack IMO and I think I'd use it to gig (via a PA of course). Again I must mention that the speakers do rattle a bit at very high volume but overall this amp is a great deal at $199 (this price was for the stack, I think the amp alone was marked at $129.)

A pretty simple (and Pretty) little amp setup, suitable for home recording and practice mostly. 20 watts, 25 with the extension. A gain switch (some people's definition of 2 channel) Pre and Post volume gain (this is great for a Practice amp) Line out (You can gig this amp) Ext Speaker out. The thing about this is that this amp/cab combination features a total of 8 five - inch speakers. Line in, doubling as an effects return, effects send, gain footswitch option. This is a pretty well specified 'practice' amp, although with the cab, it's pretty big. Oh yes, Tube Emulation circuitry (Oh yeah?). Slight 'Vintage' vibe with really beefy chrome corners and nice chickenhead knobs tough and chunky vinyl covering. Looks great (especially as a stack). Wouldn't miss the distortion sounds but that's down to a personal preference rather than a comment on quality. No onboard reverb which might be percieved as a disadvantage, personally, I don't care, I have an effects unit.

I use a Godin TC-2(Zoom 505 in constant companionship) which (if you don't already know) is vaguely a Tele - style guitar with tapable 'Hot Rails' S/c sized humbuckers. Don't know what brand of pickups it has but it kicks the ass of any Fender Standard model I've played (Tone and Volume). I play mostly Celtic tinged Blues with a bit of Country Americana (re - unite ethnic influences now!). What this boils down to is that I need a fairly 'rich' clean sound. Something fairly neutral to reproduce the sound of my Zoom/Guitar combo. Listen, people, it works. The sound without the zoom is so good, I'm thinking of buying a switching unit to isolate the Zoom properly and use the 'straight' sound as an alternative... It's a 'Juice' machine, people. I'm a natural sceptic about these things but the 'tube emulation' is pretty impressive. It's not clean all the way up, once you get to about the '2 o'clock' position, it begins to break up gently, much like a tube amp. It is possible to make those little 5-inch speakers rattle in a nasty way, though - take care. As you would expect from Roland it isn't very noisy - in fact it tames the noise of my Zoom 505 slightly, making the almost legendary hiss from this effects unit tolerable. If you are into that sort of thing, the distortions, via the pre and post volume gain pots give you a pretty wide range of sounds, from gently broken up distortions, to Death Metal and everything in between. The 3 band eq works fine and there is also a Presence control which is really effective and helps give a lovely 'glassy' quality to the sound. Both the combo and extension are closed back designs and removing the backs doesn't improve the sound, leave them as they are. I've never used the 'perfect' amp but bearing in mind the cost/convenience and it's suitability for my playing style, it's getting a 10.

I would gig this amp in confidence, although I haven't tried the line out through a P.A. Really, you can do so much through a desk etc. that it probably doesn't matter. I only bought it in January '98 so I can't comment on long - term reliability.

When I bought it, I had to schlep it home without even any packaging. Probably more a comment on the music store than the Company. Roland have a good reputation, I'm not worried. Got a standard Year's warranty from the store.

I'm a 2 decades player and I've used a lot of amps. The extent of my gear at the moment is the Roland, the Zoom, the Godin (I'm not a gear junky). I would buy the same model again in complete confidence. If I couldn't get one, I'd be tempted by a Roland blues cube or one of the smaller Jazz Chorus amps, one of the new Randalls. If I had more money, anything small with tubes; Fender, Peavey, SJB, Mesa/Boogie Carvin............etc. I really like small amps, they sound sweeter. I wish I hadn't sold my old 1968 vintage Marshall 25 watt head/column speaker setup. It was a truly beautiful amp..... The Roland comes close. I couldn't wish for more, but I would gladly do without the distortion circuit although it's fun for frightening the cat/small children. Sorry to sound devoted and gushing but it gets top marks again. Really, a great recording/practice/gig amp for 99 English Pounds!