Customer Reviews

Roland CUBE15X Guitar Amp Combo

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

When I first picked up guitar, I inherited a really trashy Gorilla brand amp that was intended for keyboard and bass. Fortunately the music store down the road from me was having a clearance sale, and I picked up the Roland Cube-15 for about $150.

As a practice amp, the Cube-15 is good. It's got a good clean tone on it, and the distortion is also okay, although not great. It has four different settings - Distortion, Overdrive, Metal and Metal Stack. You can of course change the gain level as well. Of those, I found the Metal Stack setting to be the best for me (I mostly play hard rock/ grunge type music). But, I'd recommend getting a distortion pedal for convenience sakes.

Overall, if you can get this amp cheap, then go for it. It's great as a practice amp, it's small and light weight, easily portable. However, if you're looking for something more serious or something to gig with or record with then you might want to look a little more.

I just want to say that while the "overdrive" settings on the amp are about what you'd expect on a $100 amp, I love the "Fender" setting - it just nails the Fender glassy, slightly OD-ed combo sound at nice, low volume. From there the switch moves on to I think "Brit Combo", (Vox) "Classic Stack" "Meta" etc.... those are "eh..." but if you play roots, country, blues, anything not needing a huge amount of distortion, this is your widget. Plug your Ipod-backing tracks into the back and jam....

This was the first amp I ever bought. It is extremely basic, but with just enough options to keep you occupied for a while if you're a beginner. Of course you'll eventually grow out of it (I did after a little short of a year) but in the long run you'll only be set back about $100 and compared to most moderately priced amp, it could be a good investment if you're not even sure if you want to continue guitar.

However, there is an awkward step after growing out of this amp if you're on a budget. I now wish I had purchased the Roland 20X initially. It comes with way more built in effects, and if your knowledge on pedals is limited (especially since the 20X actually has an input for them), the 20X would've been an extremely useful stepping-stone/learning tool.

Overall, get this amp if you're unsure about the whole guitar thing, or if you picked up your first guitar on a midnight run to Walmart. It is not a bad product at all; its just very limited. Get the 20X if you're more confident in your interest. Its only about $50-60 more.