Good things come in small packages - MicroCube review

Counterparts · Post by **Counterparts** » Tue Dec 12, 2006 2:35 am

I wanted to get myself a little amp which I could use in my living room for practicing (my new geetar) on. I hunted 'round all of the music shops in Bath until I came across Roland's Micro Cube amp. It's very small, can run on batteries (20 hours life) or mains (external PSU) and has a handy carry strap for lugging it about.

The sound (for a 2W amplifier) is simply unbelievable. The Micro Cube offers 6 different COSM amplifier models as well as a setting for Mic input. As well as this are very passable modulation and delay/reverb effects: Chorus, Flanger, Phaser and Tremolo are on one control, Delay and Reverb are on another. You can't tweak the parameters that much, but the effects just work very well.

Also included is Roland's "Tuning Fork" - press the button and this sounds an 'A', 'Ab' or 'Abb' (A = 440Hz). This is a really nice tone to tune a guitar (or other instrument) to.

There's a line out at the back for recording and a stereo Aux in (1/4" or 1/8" flavours) for e.g. playing a CD though.

I can't really fault this thing at all, I've no idea how roland have packed so much into such a small space at a very reasonable price.

Counterparts · Post by **Counterparts** » Tue Dec 12, 2006 2:37 am

p.s. forgot to add that I've been using it with my SansAmp stomp box in front of it. Damn thing sounds like a freakin' Marshall stack!

Post by **garyb** » Tue Dec 12, 2006 2:53 am

these are very good.

astroman · Post by **astroman** » Tue Dec 12, 2006 4:11 am

I completely disagree - I had one at home and was shocked about the sh*t that came out of the phones, in particular that COSM stuff.
One doesn't immediately notice it with the speaker on, tho - in that context it's well designed, but it's a pity if you can't record it

a found a recent small Marshall bass amp (selling around 100 Euro) a much better value, and amazing on guitar (15 W or so) .

cheers, Tom

katano · Post by **katano** » Tue Dec 12, 2006 7:31 am

i sometimes use a roland basscube 30, absoluty fantastic also, especially for it's size! good for recordings, too!!

braincell · Post by **braincell** » Tue Dec 12, 2006 8:23 am

Thanks, I need this. I will buy it next week. I saw them stacked at the front of the store but I thought they are just toys. Astro, The way to record an amp is with a mic. Which Marshall?

astroman · Post by **astroman** » Tue Dec 12, 2006 8:42 am

agreed, Katano - a dude from the local shop (a good bassplayer btw) had the same as his favourite rig - and I've heard it a couple of times.
Which made the purchase of the guitar version a 5 minutes affair on a saturday afternoon - but I didn't use it much longer at home, returned it after the weekend.
Obviously they are very different internally, not just 'scaled' in power.

The price for the MC isn't that stunning, an impedance converter/preamp and a small integrated poweramp and the driver cost Roland less than 5 Euro, the COSM stuff R&D is paid elsewhere, imho they make a pretty good profit on the device.

I found it disappointing also because I have Roland DS30A Monitors, which are pretty well designed regarding the electronic inside.

cheers, Tom

ps: Marshall MB15 Basscombo
played it with a 335 like guitar and it ruled
my Ibanez has a record out after the end transformer - ok, I miss the speaker then, but it's a damn good input.

pps: just in case someone is tempted to make a purchase
the speaker of the MB15 performs reasonable well, it's a nice practizing unit and can be set pretty punchy for it's size...
BUT: with headphones it's (white) noisy as hell (prbly -50db), even with all dials down and the cable unplugged - I assume the record out is on the same line, so beware if you're after that feature... try it before you buy
imho the unit is spoilt intentionally to make the 'bigger' ones stand out more than they'd do otherwise - the respective parts would cost less than 1 $...

anyway, it makes the Ibanez Valbee (twice the price, tho) look a great deal.
My unit had some (initial) trouble with the internal ground level and a not properly decoupled heating - after that was fixed, it's almost noise free with nothing plugged in and gain and volume full up.

braincell · Post by **braincell** » Tue Dec 12, 2006 8:58 am

I see the Marshall MB15 Bass combo is the same price and I also own a bass so I think I will get that.

Counterparts · Post by **Counterparts** » Tue Dec 12, 2006 9:12 am

I'm going to check the phones/line-out output this evening and will report back to this thread

Atomic Marshmallow · Post by **Atomic Marshmallow** » Tue Dec 12, 2006 4:36 pm

Hi,

I have the Roland Microcube and love it!!! Great sound for such a little thing. I haven't tried recording it from the record out so can't comment there. But I'll give it a try and tell you what I think.

I recently got the Dynatube bundle, though have to say I am not that impressed. Pity I couldn't demo it before buying, otherwise I wouldn't have got it. I bought it on faith alone. For me Amplitube and Guitar Rig sound much better (and my Pod Pro does too) and more controllable with regard to sound. The dynatube for me lacks balls and has a kind of metallic undertone to it. A bit like sticking a piece of tin foil in your mouth and having a kind of mettalic after taste for a while (if you know what I mean). The Dynatube lacks balls and punch in the distortion department. The clean tones are OK though. Also what is annoying are the horrible clicks and pops when you change presets. Final point is that there is not much variety in the tones you can coax out of it.

Well, thats my opinion.

Counterparts · Post by **Counterparts** » Wed Dec 13, 2006 1:05 pm

astroman wrote:I completely disagree - I had one at home and was shocked about the sh*t that came out of the phones, in particular that COSM stuff.
One doesn't immediately notice it with the speaker on, tho - in that context it's well designed, but it's a pity if you can't record it

I have to agree with you. Tried it out this evening and the line output is rather nasty, it sounds very 'digitized'.

It's still a great little practice amp though, and that's the only reason I bought it

Post by **garyb** » Wed Dec 13, 2006 1:58 pm

yes, of course.
i'll bet it sounds good miced....

braincell · Post by **braincell** » Wed Dec 13, 2006 3:39 pm

I'm getting the Marshall. I don't need to stand on the street corner and have people toss money in my guitar case. Not good enough anyway.

Post by **garyb** » Wed Dec 13, 2006 3:52 pm

i have a rat fink.
it works.
i've used it for a regular friday night gig for over a year(the gig is done now).
i miced it and people would come over looking for my amp, wondering if i had some real cool tube amp.....