Roland MicroCube Combo

I bought this amp a few days ago for practicing at home, its everything i hoped for and then some in a small inexpensive box.
It has a few different sounds (channels) and also some built in effects.

I like all the sounds it makes except for the acoustic channel, however in all fairness i cant remember ever hearing a good acoustic sound out of a guitar amp.
There are some pretty silly built in effects in it that i doubt i will ever use (Chorus, Flanger, Phaser) and it also has pretty decent sounding Delay, Tremelo and Reverb.
I use a standard USA Fender Stratocaster with this amp and i play mostly blues and country music, i really like the way the British Combo channel cleans up when i roll back the guitar volume.
This is a really quiet amplifier, there is no hiss to speak of.

It seems solid enough, i wouldnt hesitate to take this amp with me to a studio without a backup, i wouldnt gig with this thing, its only 2 watts or something.

The store where i bought this amp is an official Roland dealership, it has been around longer than i have, over the years i have bought five or six guitars from them and a bunch of other stuff, two times i bought effects pedals from them that werent working properly and they replaced them instantly.
Im sure if my amp broke down they would repair or replace it.

I have been playing guitar for 25 years, i own a few other amplifiers, a Musicman 212, a 75 watt Randall and some old tube amps.
I bought this amp for practicing at home, its great for that purpose. Every other amp i own sounds horrible at low volume, they are made to be played loud but this thing sounds good even at low volumes.
I didnt even try this thing before i bought it but i had read a lot of good things about it.
Roland Amplifiers used to sound really horrible to my ears, back in the eighties a lot of people had these large cube amplifiers and i always thought they sounded like s##t, but that was 20 years ago, maybe their amp are better now than they used to be, i dont know.
Anyway, this one sounds just great and for the features and sounds it has its a great value.

I think the features have been well documented previously.

I don't push this amp at all.The setting i use mostly is the marshall/classic stack setting.I usually have the gain on 7 and the volume on 2 tops and use my guitar volume pot to clean up or dirty the sound.This is perfect for me to practise along with backing tracks on my stereo without annoying the missus or neighbours.
I don't use the effects at all, except for a pinch of reverb, but in saying that I don't use chorus on my main amp either.The chorus/flanger/tremelo effects do sound a little gimmicky however, but what would you expect for the money?
The sound I dial in is fine for for my practising needs, so I'll give it a 7

well built practice amp.I've had mine 2 years now and it's fine, although it has been in the same spot beside my stereo for the last 2 years, but it's a rugged little beast.Don't like the mains cable though, a bit flimsy.However, if you have it constantly connected (like I do)I don't see it as being a problem.

2 year warranty.I get all my gear locally and if i have a problen with anything they sort it out for me.

I've been playing 20 years and my main amp is a mesa boogie f-50.I've 2 electrics, a yamaha mike stern and a westbury custom.I also play some classical/acoustic fingerstyle.The roland is perfect for what it does- practising at low volumes and does a passable impression of the sounds it features AT LOW VOLUMES.
If it were stolen or lost, yes I'd get another and I'm going to get another one to have in my in-laws house so I can escape upstairs after dinner on Sundays.

A guitar gods full stack and effects all in one compact amp. It has 2watts and has 8 different distortion types including rectifier and brit combo. It also has 6 effects, which are chorus flanger phaser tremolo along with an independent reverb and delay channel. It is good for practice in small apartment or bedroom or a panhandling or maybe even rehearsals before big gigs.

It is very versatile, with sounds ranging from very clean to very distorted. also there is no middle ground in the sounds you get. If you want clean you get clean if distorted then distorted. It suits my musical style (most heavy metal styles with classic rock, blues and classical thrown).

Very reliable and trustworthy.

Never had to deal with them but they seem to be good people though.

Even though I bought it used, if broken beyond repair or stolen, I would buy another in a heartbeat. Overall, a very reliable piece of equipment.

Excellent selection of professional effects from a range of popular cabinets.

The sound quality is absolutely stunning of what offered. This a little more than a small practice amp as you can use this for professional recording when plugged into a system. The sound on the headphones is excellent. This amp will compete any normal 10-15 watt amp as it is very loud for room practice.

Believe it or not I have gigged once with this amp as plugged through a PA and it out performed my marshall as the r-fier on cube sounded exactly like the mesa boogie.

Never had any.The amp comes with a 3 year standard warranty.

So much in so little price. Iam most amazed with the compact technology and the power this baby can handle. It has replaced my marshall jcm cabinet and a lot of space freed up in my room. Couldnt ask for more.

Some guy was nice enough to post a bunch of amp settings to achieve a certain sound (see below). I'd be really interested to see if others have similar recommendations? I'm pretty new to the guitar, so this really helps me alot. Thanks so much! (or you can email them to me!)


DREAM THEATER - John Petrucci
TONE - 45%, EFX - OFF, DELAY - 50%, GAIN - 10, MODEL - R-FIER

NICKELBACK - Chad Kroger
TONE - 55%, EFX - OFF, REVERB - 50%, GAIN - 4, MODEL - R-FIER

CREME - Eric Clapton
TONE - 55%, EFX - OFF, REVERB - 50%, GAIN - 8, MODEL - BRIT COMBO

JIMI HENDRIX - Wind Cries Marry
TONE - 45%, EFX - OFF, REVERB - 50%, GAIN - 3, MODEL - CLASSIC STACK

ZAKK WYLDE
TONE - 50%, EFX - CHORUS 2 - DELAY - 50%, GAIN - 10, MODEL - CLASSIC STACK

SRV
TONE - 75%, EFX - OFF, REVERB - 60%, GAIN - 6.5, MODEL - BLACKFACE

A lot has been covered before. Great product.

Awesome...especially direct to sound board for recording. The sound is very good with no noise whatsoever. Not a lot of messing around to get decent sounds. Works with all sorts of pickups.

Built Like a tank.

Own lots of tube amps...this is in fact my only totally non tube amp. This is a practice recording amp and has been rated by that standard. For $100 it was a total no brainer. Yes, I a/b'd it with the VOX DA5. This amp sounded better. I own and ADVT15 and thought the VOX would "beat" the Roland. It did not. I like the red color. What ever the color, the sound and tone is really in there.

This amp is awsome, I have had many, many amps over the 17 years I have been playing ranging from 10 watt practice amps to 100 watt heads with 4*12 cabs and everything in between. For practicing at home this thing can produce any sound you are after. For example before i bought this I had a 30 watt marshall and a good effects pedal which produced great sounds, but this amp can can do exactly the same on its own, it is only rated at 2 watts but believe me it is plenty loud enough for practice. the amp models are great and the BOSS effects are really great.the clean sounds right through to the rectifire sounds are absolutley amazing and you can plug an mp3 player or CD player into it to jam along with and they all soung great, there is also a tuning fork button which is touch sensitive which is amazing.

built like a rock and a 3 year guarantee as standard.

not needed to use them yet.

I bought in 2006, so probably made in 2005. This is my second practice amp I bought in a year. The first one is Marshall micro. Of course, Roland is better. This one got more buttons and features to cater to whatever your style is. You can use AA battery, so it is portable. Size just right, not too bulky. However two bad things. Switch on button is strangely placed at the back, and I didn't understand reading manual of how to use the tuning fork. Easy solution, I bought a digital tuner. So for that I give 8, otherwise I would easily give 10/10.

Sound is brilliant. Digital effect together with delay/reverb is wicked. A lot of choices from acoustic to metal. Surely can fit into any kind of genre.

I have been using this amp for 6 months, mainly practising in dining hall. Possibly can do if gig is just for family members. So far so good, no problem at all.

Don't use it yet.

I bought my first guitar one year ago, so I'm practically novice to judge. But, I love this amp, simply because there is a variety of sound it can produce. My daughter also loves it. I'd recommend for any beginners like myself to try this one. It's worth your investment.

I think is 2006 made, and WOW this baby rocks!
I bought it because I had to spend 6 months abroad as an Erasmus Exchange student and I had the urge to have myself a light compact amp to travel with (and to let the girls go wild with my huge rockstar poses!!! -just kiddin'-).
My shop suggested me this little gizmo. I was skeptical about Roland (this brand gives me too a digital-like feeling) and I think that the looks of the Microcube isn't that gorgeous... But the guy at the shop played a couple of killer licks and I was like wooh.
The good features are the tuning fork, which can look a not so useful tool but lemme tell ya damn sure it is, and the speaker output and direct rec one. I think that I'll never use an external speaker with this puppy, but more expensive amps (like the orange crush series which was one of my possible choices) don't have one, so kudos. The direct rec is good for instant laptop recordings of riffs and ideas (which come and go with the same speed of an italian soccer player falling down after a french one's headbutt).
The on-off switch is in a ridiculously unconfortable pisition and it's ridicously small. I mean, come on! Just another little effort for a plain 10 guys!
Oh, and by the way it's battery powered too! Now I know how to collect some extra change, just rockin' down the street!
It's really small and light, it fitted in my baggage perfectly. Ok, I exceeded the maximum weight, but it was my dozen of pullovers' fault...

That's the interesting part.
Ok, I play my beautiful and sexy Epiphone Les Paul Custom Zakk Wylde model, bullseye finish with passive hambucking EMG's.
This little b#*ch has a bunch of amp emulations. The first one is, well, actually not an amp emulation, but an acoustic emulation. Not my favourite, though, but nice for a relaxing approach to the instrument. Like those nights you just, like, wanna play acoustic stuff.
The Roland Jazz Chorus emu is a little cold for my taste, but it's ok. The Black Panel (Fender Twin) gives a good clean, but whith the gain knob kranked could deliver the right amount of dirt to your playing.
The major problems come with the clean sounds: I noticed with some disappointment the consistent presence of distortion on the lows. Really bad, really bad indeed. But y'know, like good ol' Mick says, you can't always get what you want. I somewhat fix the problem by switching the bridge pickup and lowering the gain... Ok, it's the only real flaw of the amp, we have to admit it, but for the price and the type of the amp (just bedroom practice, I mean the OTHER bedroom practice) it kiks major asses.
And you haven't heard of the distorted ones!
Ok, let me chill out.
The brit-whatchamacallit delivers some awesome Brian May-like sounds, which I think is good if you like Brian May. I like him, I grew up with his mellow tones, his licks smooth like silk and solid rock rithm guitaring. But now it's the dist I use less, because I'm in my Zakk-Dime period.
For Zakk Wylde's kind of rough squealing tone I use the Classic Stack. It's Marshall, it's dirt without too much edges and I push it to the limit pluggin my Boss SD-1 with all maxed out. Good and dirty as hell.
The Rectifier-model is edgy, great sharp highs and punchin' lows (great response on the palm muting!!!) and with high gain pickups (or with a booster) it really SCREAMS!!!
The fx compartment is ok, I don't like those kind of effects so much but I like using some flange or phase every now and then, and the chorus on the distorted to have some cheesy, funny '80s metal sound, really funny. They're maybe a little too extremely biased for my taste, not so subtle, but hey that's all inside a 90 euro and (hardly) 2 kilos!
Good work, really. I cannot but warmly suggest you to buy it, or at least give it a try.

How would I know? I've owned it for less than a month. I keep my fingers crossed 'cause I hate that warranty stuff. It plainly sucks.
(Maybe it's irrelevant, but I have to say that it survived to two airplane travels, in the baggage between two rows of wool pullovers... cool, huh? or maybe not. whatever!)

Huh? Did you hear that?

Ok, basically I'm a bass player (I played for 15 years) but I've always had fun with guitar and drums. I'm good, at least I think so. And I'm good lookin too with the guitar on. Ok, I have just the Epi LP Zakk Wylde Bullseye, Boss SuperOverdrive, Boss DS-2, a russian made BigMuff. All the other stuff is my bass-related gear (some hot stuff but I assume that you might not give a damn about it, so I'll cut it off).
I think that this little amp was what I needed at the moment at the right amount of money I could spend in that very moment. I'm lookin for a good valve combo, maybe a Brunetti or a marshall. But I'm still getting used to serious guitar playing, practising scales and all that stuff, so I think this will do for now.
If someone steals it I'll cry and break something, but just for a couple of minutes. I mean, it's not that much, just 90 euros... but it would suck anyway.
I think that if at Roland the mad scientists could fix that annoying muddy distortion in the clean lows I could eventually consider to buy the new improved version of it.
Now I have to leave you guys: it's almost midnight and I suddenly have the urgent need to shred with my Zakky. And my parents are just next room: isn't it cool? It's a kind of magic...

I mostly play contemporary church music, which means pretty much a little of everything everything but metal. In my bedroom, the metal licks come out too from time to time. This little guy pretty darn versatile, as most digital stuff is. The knobs are really well contrived. They help you get the most out of a small package, but are simple enough that anyone could use them without reading the manual, and tweak on the fly. Admittedly There isn't great depth to the amount of control you have over the effects parameters, but they do what they are supposed to. I mostly only use delay (to cover my sloppy playing) with my other rigs anyway, so it does what I need it to.

Can go anywhere and run for 2o hours, which is pretty sweet. I also think the tuning fork is neat. Gimmicky, but neat.

This item is being rated for what it is: A battery powered practice amp which employs digital modeling. As of now, I've only used it with one guitar, albeit a very versatile one (my other is on another continent at the moment). It's a Hwy 1 Telecaster with a DiMarzio Tone Zone T in the bridge (very good guitar, great pickup). I want to go over the channels one by one but first I want to make some general comments.

The clean sounds distort at mid volume. The distortion is not really overly ugly, and can be cleaned up to some extent with the volume knob. This distortion sounds ok, it's just not, well... clean. So, not much head room. I think this additional distortion might be an asset to the gain channels though. It doesn't hurt at least. The low notes are a little mushy on all models, probably due to the speaker. It's not to bad on the Jazz chorus setting though. This thing also does remarkably well with booster pedals. I tried one with the Level all the way up, figuring I'd get nasty digital distortion for sure. Sounded good, much to my surprise.

Acoustic Model: Does what it's supposed, and sounds pretty good while doing it. me gusta. seems to like single coils much more than humbuckers though.

JC Clean: at bedroom volumes, this channel is CLEAN. really captures that high quality SS clean sound and captures all the nuance of your playing. When the amp gets loud enough to break up, the distortion is not so nice, but it breaks up last of all the channels.

Black Face: a little more mellow clean sound. Pile on the verb and tremolo, and you've got instant surf sound. I don't care for it so much at low volumes, but when breakup kicks in I actually like it better I suspect this is intentional. Good channel for using booster pedals.

Brit Combo: THE BEST channel on the amp. Lower the gain (or guitar volume), and you have a fat, mellow clean sound. At half way, my single coils are clean, and my humbuckers have singing sustain, smooth but articulate. Perfect, really. From there on up, the distortion takes on a bit of bite. It's a very Brian May kind of sound. an approximate Petrucci lead tone can also be found here. At high volumes, this model takes on a more aggressive character that is pretty ok too. I prefer it with the gain backed down a bit. however, This channel is best, in my opinion, at daytime bedroom volume, which is great, because that is where I use it the most. I really couldn't think of anything that would make this channel better.

Classic Stack: With just a little gain, and a neck position single coil (or bright humbucker, I assume), this channel has a very passable blues tone. reminds me of SRV. Does very well with booster pedals on this setting also. At higher gain settings, this channel is not so nice at bedroom volume. It actually sound better when the volume is up pretty loud, more meaty.

R-Fier Stack: This sound is a little to harsh for my tastes at low volumes. It really only sounds good louder, and it's still not really my cup of tea. Well, I take that back, it's pretty decent for metal rhythm actually, but to harsh for leads I think by itself. It does respond very well to external EQ though, so it has it's uses, and it sound pretty cool with phaser. Again, this one is better loud.

Mic: Haven't used it with a mic yet, but as another reviewer mentioned, it has a Hendrix fuzz vibe with the gain cranked for guitars. It's cool to mess with, but I don't usually stay on this channel very long.

At bedroom volumes I would give this a 9 or a 10, at band practice volumes I would give it a 6 or so. Since it's mostly for bedroom anyway, I'll give it an 8.

seems sturdy. Haven't had it long enough to know of any serious problems. It doesn't get hot at all, which is a good sign.

Customer support could be better. They are only open during normal business hours during the week, and they don't have a toll free number. When you can get a hold of them, they are helpful enough.

I've been playing for 5 years now I guess. Playing at church about twice a week, and occasionally doing 'worship concerts', which basically boils down to church music in a rock show format (ie: more work on arrangement and production, longer set, etc.). In terms of other amps, I have a Peavey Classic 30, which is great bang for the buck, but has it's limitations, and a THD Univalve, Which KILLS. The Univalve is an awesome amp which everyone should own. It's best sounding amp I have ever played (though Mesa Mark series amps are veeery nice too); but enough about my Univalve. I also used to have a Marshall TSL 602, but I sold it because it was really heavy and more I need. Sounded good though. I also a PODxt with floorboard that I have used live, direct to PA. It is now relegated use as an effects processor for the Univalve. I have a Yamaha MagicStomp, which I use for similar type stuff, depending on the situation. Finally, I have a Dano Fish&Chips EQ which really helps me get the most out of my C30. I have residence in two continents, so I basically have two rigs. The Micro Cube goes everywhere, of course.

I guess that should be a pretty good frame of reference from which to evaluate my review.

If it were lost or stolen, I would get this or the Vox thing. I haven't played the Vox thing yet. I might pick one up next year, but I am very happy with this for the moment.

Anyway, this thing rocks, and the sounds on it that are good are really good.