Cube 20X Review

With great new features such as Power Squeezer for maximum sustain without maximum volume, a fully equipped guitar tuner, a mini-jack aux in for playing along to MP3 and CD players, and of course that incredible Cube sound, this amp is built to rock!

Features:	8.8
Sound:	8.7
Reliability:	9.7
Impression:	9.2
Overall rating:	9.1
Users rating:	9
Comments:	66

overall: 8.5

Featured review by: chaoticgeek, on january 30, 2007

Price paid: $ 159.99

Features: It has many good features, including a tuner, clean channel, lead channel, built in effects, delay/reverb, aux In, recording/headphone out, 3 EQ knobs, power squeezer, and foot Switch jack. For a beginner it has more than enough features to keep me busy. The Lead channel has 6 different Boss effects for different distortions: tube drive; metal; metal stack; overdrive; distortion; and acoustic. Other than tube drive they are pretty self explanatory. Tube Drive is set up so it adds distortion based on how hard you hit the strings. The power squeezer makes it so you can have high gain and distortion at lower volumes. It does get quite loud while in my room. I can't say what features I would like it to have because for a beginner, like me, it has everything I could possibly use currently. Although down the line I could see the effects would not hold up to a better guitarist. The on board tuning is great though for me. 8 because it is not perfect, but very good and for the price you can not beat all the extras it has. // 8

Sound: I have a Squier Strat SSS guitar and I get nice sounds out of it. No it's not the best ever and it will not even compare to a top of the line tube amp like many people try to do. It gets a wide selection of sounds I can get very clean to metal sounds. I love using clean with flange or phaser and full deal; or tube drive with just a touch of reverb. I'm going to guess it is guitar but at full volume with my guitar turned up all the way I get a slight hum, but nothing very strong. Once I hit a string you don't hear it any more and as soon as I turn my guitar down to 8 it goes away. The distortion is very nice, although with the gain cranked all the way to max with volume at 9 to 10 (dial has guide numbers, 0, 5, and 10) it gets muddy. As a practice amp I don't see myself getting this high while I'm not testing it out for this review. I can get a good rock tone out of it and still be able to switch to something more mellow with a few quick turns of the knobs. I like the effects and delay/reverb. The effects include chorus, flange, phaser, and tremolo. No they are not like having a pedal for which ever one you have switched on, but it is very nice and adds depth to your music. Great for a beginner to find out what they like. You can have one of the four effects and either delay or reverb. It has a LED for when you have one of the four effects turned on. 8 because of the wide array of sounds you can produce. Nice effects, and it is pretty decent as long as you don't max the volume out, but at around 8ish it is still pretty good. // 8

Reliability & Durability: It is durable, I've rest my foot on it while changing settings around fiddling with all the knobs. I've dropped it from about six or eight inches and it still works fine. I'm very cautious with my gear so I don't think I'm gonna be dropping it above that anytime soon. You could jam with some friends but you can't go too gig worthy loud because it is only 20 watts, but it definably puts out some good sound. I would defiantly gig with it if I had a higher wattage Cube. Roland defiantly put it together nicely and gave me a great first impression. Light weight for its looks so it is easy to carry around. 10 because it is well built and I trust it. I took it home and it was on the bottom and came out just fine. // 10

Impression: I play rock and alternative stuff right now and it fits me nicely. For practice this amp will get me through till I destroy it. I have only had this for about a month and kinda playing for a little over two months. Kinda because I had a friends guitar before and practiced and now I've got my own and practice even more. Having an amp changes everything when it comes to playing a guitar. The only thing I would love to see changed is the tuner interface, when I first got the amp it was very confusing to start off with but I quickly adapted to it. I like how it has manual and chromatic tuner mode, but I normally use manual. One tip when tuning turn your guitar's volume up to max to tune with, it helps it identify the sound quicker. I love the distortion models and clean channel. I hate the user manual. It gave you a few different settings but left you high and dry after that. I don't think I can really hate anything about the amp. Another thing I love is the price, 160 plus tax is a great deal I think seeming how most amps with similar features were $200 or more and were still 15 watts. Overall great amp for beginners or practice. If someone stole this I would buy this one again, or find the person and beat them down. 8 overall because things could be better, but overall it is an awesome amp and will last me for quite a while. I also tried to be very critical, yet not compare it to my friends amp that is twice as expensive or more than this one. I listen very carefully to his and figure out what a good amp should sound like. // 8

Reviewed by: unregistered, on april 14, 2008

Price paid: $ 187.74

Purchased from: The Groove

Features: The Roland Cube 20X has a clean channel and a second channel where you can access 6 different distorion and simulated settings. A footswitch is available but sold separately. There is also a headphone jack that can also be used for recording and an effects loop jack for external effects as well as an aux in jack. The amp is a 20 watt solid state with various onboard effects(phaser, tremolo, delay, reverb, chorus, and flanger) as well as an acoustic simulator, 4 distortion/overdrive settings, and a tube Drive setting that simulates a tube amp. There is also an onboard tuner, 3 band EQ, and power squeezer that drops the amps wattage to 2 watts while maxing out the chosen effect so that you can let it rip without knocking the doors down. // 10

Sound: The amp is shockingly loud for its size and sounds really big. More impressive is that it is dead quiet. JC clean is the clean channel and is based on the Roland Jazz Chorus amp. The clean channel is where this amp really shines. Sparkly and tight, very impressive when you add in a bit of the reverb. The second channel allows you to access one of six different effects. They are as follows:

Tube drive - the most impressive of all the overdrives, it simulates a tube amp and allows you to control the amount of overdrive through the dynamics of your picking. Basically, the harder you attack the string the more breakup you get, just like a tube amp. Very authentic and as a tube amp fan a real treat.
Metal stack - more low end than the metal setting, very big sound and quite thick. Plenty of harmonics and loads of distortion. My favorite setting for solos.
Metal - high gain metal setting, much more high end than the metal stack setting. Once again, plenty of harmonic detail. I don't use this channel much as I find the metal stack setting to be a more rounded sound.
Distortion - less gain than the previous two but excellent for rock and soloing. I use this quite often for hard rock/classic rock stuff.
Overdrive - simulates an overdriven amp. Very thick and bottom heavy. I find myself using this the least of the bunch. Still, good for blues and rock.
Acoustic - simulates an acoustic guitar. I like this a lot. It does sound a bit like an acoustic but I like it more for the fact that it gives you a second clean setting. You get that real poppy and metallic sound that you would get with an acoustic. Very nice! My only complaint is that there is a slightly noticeable hiss on this setting.

Effects - they are split into two dials. One dial is for delay and reverb. The other dial gives you the choice of chorus, tremolo, phaser, and flanger. You can use two at once but only one from each knob. Basically, you can choose from delay or reverb on one knob, and one from the other four on the other knob. The delay and reverb are quite good. Delay has a decent range and succeeds in widening the sound. The reverb I really like and you can get a very wet setting with it. With the clean channel it sounds fantastic. The other dial is chorus/tremolo/flanger/phaser. I must say that from the four I only use the chorus occasionally. It has a sort of spacey and open sound. You do get a slight hiss sometimes with all of these four effects. I personally do not think that these effects are where this amp shines, though it is nice to have the versatility. They are decent but not the reason why I would buy this amp. The onboard EQ consists of your basic bass/mid/treble and is effective. It works sufficently in tweaking out the sound and I can't complain about it. The tuner is very cool and allows you to tune one specific string(by holding in the button first) or tune one after the other. It also cuts the sound out when activated so you don't tune for everyone else to. There is obviously a clean volume and a volume and gain dial for the second channel. The other option is the power squeezer, which I find very cool. When activated it drops the amp down to 2 watts but leaves the effects as if the amp is fully cranked. I use this all the time as you can get some wicked harmonics and sustain. I engage the power squeezer and then crank the amp up. This way you can let the amp scream without killing the neighbors. Even with it engaged though it gets quite loud. As mentioned above, there is an input jack, headphone/recording jack, effects/footswitch loop, and aux in jack that can be used to hook up an MP3 or cd player to play along to. // 9

Reliability & Durability: The cube is built like a rock. Very sturdy. They didn't pull any punches when they constructed it. It is very loud for twenty watts and, though I haven't cranked it all the way, it sounds good at higher volumes. Very dependable little amp for home and recording use. For gigging situations they do make a 30 and 60 watt version. // 10

Impression: Overall this amp has astonished me. The range of sounds is amazing and the little guy is extremely versatile. For the price you simply can't pass it up. I have been playing blues and rock for 20 years off and on and have owned numerous amps, the majority tube amps. Recently I moved into a smaller apartment and I wound up selling all my amps because they were simply too loud. I needed a small amp for home use with recording capabilites and I found this. What really sold me on this amp was the clean setting and the tube Drive setting. Great stuff! If it were lost or stolen I would just buy another one because it's incredibly affordable. I don't know how Roland does it. It is worth noting that I tried out the entire line and the 20X was by far better than the 15 and 30X. The 15X lacked some of the effects and the tuner that is available on the 20X. The 30X sounded quite sterile in comparison to the 20X and for whatever reason the effects were much better on the 20X. The 60 watt version I didn't even try because that's too loud for what I need. Anyway, this amp has it all. Great little toy to have around the house. It doesn't get a 10 because, well, nothing gets a 10! // 9

overall: 9

Reviewed by: Tele Echoes, on september 17, 2007

Purchased from: Walter's Music

Features: Considering I'm very picky about the style of amps I appreciate, and solid state amps always fall out of being a favorite based on the fact I feel that they're a lower class amp. Still, when you get over the fact it's a lower class amplification style, it sure has a lot of features. Personally, I feel the Boss pedals are second only to Electro Harmonix. The great thing about Roland is that they own the Boss pedal line, which means that this amp, that happens to come loaded with effects, are of a very high quality, it comes with reverb, delay, chorus, phaser, flanger, tremolo, and several different preset gain sounds (overdrive, distortion, metal, metal stack, and lastly tube Drive). It even has a built in tuner, and it has an aux jack, and a headphone jack, as well as the standard equalization. The features make this amp, since it is solid state. // 10

Sound: Okay, first off, I will never give a solid state a 10 for sound, or even a 9 for that matter. You don't get those type of numbers for sound when you're dealing with an amp with inferior construction. However, I can easily say that this is the best sounding solid state/practice amp I've ever used. This amp can achieve anything you ask from it, although you'll obviously never get that authentic tube overdrive out of it. I've used my Telecaster through it and it sounds good with ever pick up option, although I feel it sounds best on my neck pick-up (although that's my prefered pick-up position). It's got a small, small buzzing sound that'll be overpowered if you were to slightly tap your neck. The distortion options are decent, although I've always prefered using my Electro Harmonix Double Muff for using distortion. // 8

Reliability & Durability: How most people can fill this one out, I'll never know. This amp is only a day old so I think, and hope that I won't have to write anything in here again. So far nothing has been wrong, and it seems quite durable. Hopefully it is a tough as it looks. I guess that it looks like you could drop it a few times, but I don't feel that you deserve a working amp if you're going to be careless with something you're supposed to respect, since it sends out your sounds. // 9

Impression: I love playing classical, classic rock, and lots of stuff, and I've been obsessively playing for over 4 years, and took lessons for 3 years and got to use top of the line amplification during my lessons, so I know how an amp should be. I guess the only thing I regret not asking is if they sold anything besides Peavey and Roland, since I would have rather owned a Epiphone Blues Jr. or Fender Champion. I love the features included in this amp, although I hate solid states. I really like the amps reverb and the built in tuner. I'd still rather have the Epi Blues Jr. or the Fender Champion, but I wasn't the one Who wanted to go amp shopping (my dad bought a new Godin at the same time), so I won't complain. Hhhmmm, what do I wish it had? Some tubes! If it were stolen, I'd say "shit", and get a tube practice amp. When it comes to solid states, Roland makes them well. // 9

overall: 9

Reviewed by: Ruchitya T Anan, on september 30, 2009

Price paid: $ 210

Purchased from: Reynolds

Features: I think this amp was first showcased at the previous year's NAMM convention but I'm not too sure. I always go in for power-packed music with a punchy feel and this amp blows me off in that! It has two channle, one for clean(based on the famous 80watt jazz amp) and a lead channel which comes with many features which the previous reviewers No Doubt have explained so I won't go into details there. It has quite a handful of effects inbuilt. I love the metal and Metal Stack effects which come with adequate bass and very good feel. However too much has been tried and the Acoustic simulator is a bit of a let-down. Actually it is not that torrid but when the other features set a benchmark, all the others gotta follow suit. The simulator also generates a bit of a buzz and this seems underlying no matter what you play and the louder you get, the more audible the buzz is. It comes with a 3-way equalizer with knobs for adjusting bass, middle and treble. There is also an in-built tuner which is pretty darn sweet and accurate! I use this just for practicing and jamming a little and it utilizes the 20watts of power VERY effectively. It also has headphone and aux-in and line-out jacks so no problem with adequate back-up features(the COSM effects). Only other problem is that you are not supplied with any proper mechanism to change channels(I mean a footswitch) so purchasing one is totally required if you wanna get down with this amplifier. But that's all I'm complaining. // 8

Sound: I use this amp with my Ibanez GRG220DEX(which I have reviewed thoroughly btw in another page. This amp picks up the sounds my guitar produces very well. The response is also very good with very good feel and vibe seeping though. My styles vary from thrash to heavy and hard..right to country folk and country classical and this amp is versatile enough to handle all that and more. I wouldn't term this amp noisy as much as it is loud. However the sound is balanced and nicely spread-ut and this amp holds it's mettle even at high volume settings. And the distortion must be given special mention here because it bloows me away! I use only the in-built setting for distortion because I never really felt the need for a new pedal when I got this amp. Now that is something I don't hear often about Marshall amps. // 9

Reliability & Durability: I would keep my life on this thing and not worry a breeze because this thing is so damn rock-ish man! It is made of very quality and durable materials and you are imparted this emotion even when you just feel this baby's shell. It is probably some kinda HARD plastic. The panel also has a metallic silver finish around the cluster so that looks pretty good. This amp has been with me for about 7-8 months now and it has not broke down even once. It also has a tube-amp simulator and even yet has not broken down and that ladies n gentlemen, is pretty impressive eh? // 10

Impression: This guitar matches my predominant style of music really well(which is the sub-genres of rock. I have been playing for over 1 1/2 years now and this is a very good amp for my tastes. I definitely would buy this baby again if it ever was stolen(and bang the thief's head with the stolen amp!. Just loove the metal stack simulator, but am pretty less affectionate about the Acoustic simulator. I just compared this with a few Marshall amps before buying it because I was pretty much a novice then. This also was with me when I gradually evolved my styles and skills so I do have a soft corner for this amplifier.

Now I know that this amp does not "float on water"(or do all the other shit which many of you mention), but the marks I have given this are really unbiased and I do wanna help anyone interested in purchasing this amplifier. // 9

overall: 9.3

Reviewed by: splamron, on january 19, 2009

Price paid: A$ 270

Features: The Roland Cube has some awesome features like the EQ, built in Effects, delay, reverb, on board tuner, clean channel, lead channel, gain, Aux in, footswitch jack and a recording/headphone out and Power squeezer. Power Squeezer lets you play at really low volumes still with a lot of distortion. On the lead channel, there are 6 different Boss effects, Tube Drive, Metal Stack, Metal, Distortion, Overdrive and an Acoustic simulator. As a 'beginner' amp, a new player couldn't ask for anything else. The tuner is really handy as well. It is a great beginner or intermediate practice amp. // 8

Sound: For this review I will be using a Schecter guitar with double humbucking pick-ups. I play predominatly metal and blues, and this amp suits me perfectly. The metal setting can get brutal distortion for almost all styles of metal, while the distortion/overdrive setting is good for blues. The acoustic simulator is awesome as well. The tube Drive acts exactly like a tube amp, allowing to comtrol the dostortion from relativly clean to metal, but is better for classic rock stuff. The JC clean sounds great with the reverb. This amp could do almost any genre. This amp is designed for home playing, as it is only 20 watts. It can get very loud, but you start to get some feedback when cranked full. It stays clean on the clean channel until you crank it to about 8, but I don't play with the volume over half. I chose this amp over the 15x because of the effects. New players could have a lot of fun with this feature. Power sqeezer is great for playing in your room etc. as you can still get maximum distortion. // 9

Reliability & Durability: As I said before, you could not gig or play with drums as it is only 20 watts, but prefect for home playing. It is very durable too, built as hard as a rock. I rest my foot on it sometimes and it's fine and I've dropped it from around 20cm but there are no marks on it what so ever. It is extremly sturdy and does what is designed to do extremly well. // 10

Impression: This amp could do almost any genre of music. My previous amp was a Peavey Rage 258 and it owns it, especially with the effects. I would buy it again for sure if it was stolen because it does everything what I want to do with no problems at all. I love the metal setting, sounds great with bands like Trivium, Metallica and Avenged Sevenfold. Overall it is perfect for beginning or intermediate players, like me. I highly reccomend this amp. // 10

overall: 8.8

Reviewed by: Squirrel1993, on august 06, 2009

Purchased from: borrowed

Features: I don't know what year this amp was made because I'm borrowing it from a friend. This amp is extremely versatile. I play Jazz, Funk, Blues, Most Types of Rock, and Metal. All of these styles can be played on this amp. There are two Channels, since this a modeling amp, each channel is modeled after distortion type, not actual amp models like the 30x on up. That is the big difference here, its based on types of distortion. The clean is modeled after a Roland JC Chorus and the distortion models are: Acoustic Simulator, Overdrive, Distorion, Metal, Metal Stack, and Tube Drive. For people who play extreme metal, such as death metal or such, they probably wont like this amp. This amp does lack the distortion for extreme metal playing, but its just enough for me. The amp can Switch channels, I'm actually using a footswitch from a different amp and it suprisingly works on this amp as well! But I can only switch channels, I cant turn off effects. Theres no looper like the 80x, thre is a headphones and recording out.

I do wish it had a boost switch for your lead channel and a brightswitch for your clean. It would be nice if each channel had a seperate EQ as well. I don't use a lot of effects, but its nice to have them on this amp to mess around with. But ya, this little amp is solid. This is a solid state modeling amp. I use this amp for bedroom practice BUT I did bring it over to a friends and it was actually loud enough! I wouldn't suggest using though for an actual gig, unless it was extremely small. The lead channel could use a little more volume, but the clean was deff. Loud enough for a loud Jam session. // 9

Sound: I am using a Squier Fat Strat on this amp, so a humbucker at the bridge and two single coils. So I'm using a pretty low end guitar on this and it still sounds great! Both my guitar and amp suit my styles that I play. They can handle rock, jazz, blues, funk, and metal just fine! When you crank the volume on 10, it will feedback, but its sort of the good feedback for looong sustain, not the really terrible hissing noise. So its really not too noisy. Like before, this amp can pretty much make any sound you're looking for. It DOES take some tweaking though. The clean channel, once on 10, it does start to break up a bit. It turns a lot warmer and sounds a lot more tube like. The distortion on this amp is great for me, but once again, you just play metal and no other style, this amp really wouldn't be for you. This amp I'd say is for some metal, hard rock, classic rock, blues and jazz. More for players who play more than one style. // 8

Reliability & Durability: Yes, you can totally depend on this amp! You wouldn't really do large gigs with this, but you could so smaller gigs with this amp, I would gig without a backup. Its made so extremely well that I doubt that it would ever break down. This amp has never broken down so far. // 10

Impression: I play blues, jazz, rock, and metal, This amp was deff. A good match. I've been playing for 3 and half years, I own a Squier fat strat and a DigiTech distortion factory. Note: I did not use any pedals on this amp. I also own a 70's Peavey amp.

Nope, nothing I wish I would have asked. Um if it was stolen, I'd have to buy another one to give to my friend because it is his. BUT, if I bought this on my own, I'd probably upgrade to a louder version of this amp.

I love its size and versatility. I wish it did have just a tad more distortion. My favorite feature is the medel stack model. It just sounds great! Comparing this to Line 6, this amp totally blows it out of the water. Line 6 tones don't even come CLOSE to this! Compared to a Peavey Vypyr, the Vypyr is more for metal so metal players might actually like that amp more. // 8

overall: 9.8

Reviewed by: ninjaface, on january 26, 2008

Purchased from: Musicians Friend

Features: It is a small yet loud solid state practice amp with enough features to cover all the bases. This amp has a clean channel and a lead channel that are switchable via a Roland/Boss footswitch. The downside is that you must purchase this separately. It's got a tuner, but I never use this function. I'm not a great fan of the way the tuner works, so I use an external tuner (hence the 9). I generally use this amp when I can't use my full size rig, mostly for quite practicing. // 9

Sound: Here is the part that gets me excited. This amp sounds amazing. Roland can emulate a clean tube sound like nobody. The clean channel on this amp is to die for. I won't say that it's as good as the Roland JC120, but it comes damn close. If you like a full bluesy, bell like tone, full of great sustain, buy this amp now. The amp is dead quite even on the distortion channel. The distortion on this amp is pretty good for it's size. I'd dare say that it's about as good as you're going to get in an amp of this size. There is only so much bottom end you can get out of a tiny amp, but either way this little fella surprised me. // 10

Reliability & Durability: Rock solid all around. I cannot say anything negative about the quality or reliability of this unit. It's awesome. So far so good. I've never gigged with this thing, but I wouldn't hesitate. As for a backup. I'm pretty sure yow wouldn't need one, but Who knows. That depends on things that are usually out of our hands. // 10

Impression: I play any and all styles from blistering metal to sweet sounding blues, to staight up weird shit. The Roland Cube 20X will do anything you want it to. I'm not thrilled about the effects section on this thing, mostly because the settings are limited. However, you can get some very interesting things going effects-wise with a bit of tinkering. If this amp was stolen I'd find the son-of-a-bitch Who stole it, kill them with the amp, and then proceed to shred with the bloodied powerfull unit that is the Roland Cube 20X. I've used a ton of small amps and this is the cream of the crop. Stop thinking about the other stuff. This is it. // 10

Reviewed by: unregistered, on july 30, 2007

Price paid: $ 139

Purchased from: local store

Features: I play whatever hits me at the moment, from my friend's favorite funk records to some arena-rock mega-distortion lick I just came up with. The various preamp modes are nice because I can think of a tone, twist the lead tones knob and have an approximate tone down in a couple seconds. One of the features I never use is the Power Squeezer. Don't listen to the hype about "maximum sustain without maximum volume" (as Musician's Friend puts it) - all it actually does is limit the power from the amp from 20W to 2W, as outlined in the manual. One little problem with it is, I used to use it, turning it on and turning the volume up accordingly. When you turn the amp off, then back on, it doesn't re-enable the Power Squeezer, giving potential for surprising volume. I have used this in a couple of jamming situations, and although infinitely better than trying to be heard over a small jazz band with a cheap acoustic, I found myself a little let down. Also, after cranking it up by myself, I found that (at least on my specific amp) at about 1:30 on the volume knob without Power Squeezer on, the speaker couldn't seem to handle the power. However, don't discount the volume; this is quite a small amp capable of much higher volumes than those needed to play at home or with a friend. // 8

Sound: This amp comes up with about every sound I can think of. I can get a clean tone which is definitely clean, if a little sterile. Distortions range from a touch-sensitive overdrive (~10 o'clock gain on tube drive mode) to ridiculous levels of distortion fringing on fuzz on the maxed-out metal modes. I use the acoustic simulator as the clean channel because it counteracts the abundance of (slightly annoying) upper mids that my humbucker-equipped guitar (Ephiphone SG-style) puts out. The problem is, this effectively gets rid of the functionality of a 2-channel footswitchable amp. The absolute best thing about this amp is it's level of noise. The first thing I did when I got it was turn up all the knobs to see the kind of noise it would make. There was a soft hiss (like an endless shh) that quickly disappeared beneath the quietest playing. If you use the headphone jack, the hiss disappears altogether and all that's left is the pleasing tone of the amplifier itself. The clean channel breaks up at remarkably high volumes (~4 o'clock on the JC clean), but I believe I may be the unlucky recipient of a slip in quality control; however, I am fine with simply turning down the volume a little. As far as the distortion goes, I'm not sure exactly what face-melting is defined as, but on extreme gain settings, my friend over the phone actually had to ask me what instrument I was playing. This might be good or bad, I suppose. // 9

Reliability & Durability: I believe this amp is going to last me for a very long time. I will try my best to make sure of that, because it's sound is what really piqued my interest in guitar-playing once again, just like I hoped it would. Other than the mediocre speaker, Everything feels tough. I wouldn't gig with it unless there was a PA handy to supply the volume. // 8

Impression: Whatever music I'm playing, this amp can follow because it models (with decent accuracy) all of the amps I would want to play on. If it was stolen, I might not buy it again because I would like more volume (cube 30/60, perhaps? ). I love the tones on this amp, and the fact that with just about everything I can think of to do with my sound, this little baby can pull it off. I hate that I can't directly connect it to a recording console without it shutting off the internal speaker, making a hassle to monitor myself while recording. My favorite feature is definitely the TUBE Drive mode, which is like having a dynamics expander before the distortion, making the distortion more touch-sensitive. With my guitar's volume dimed, I can go from disappearing in the fuzz to nearly clean just by controlling the force of my hand. This adds a whole new dimension to playing. Overall, I see this amplifier as perfect for me, with the one exception of wanting some more power. Even there, however, there is good. When the clean starts to break up and the speaker distorts, I know that I should turn the volume down because I'm definitely damaging my hearing anyway. This amp is great. I highly recommend it. // 10

overall: 9.3

Reviewed by: dutchrockstar, on january 25, 2008

Price paid: $ 246.96

Purchased from: DaanSmit

Features: This Amp is one of the later models from Roland. It has 7 channels, 1 clean and six over drives including tube drive (the harder you play the note the more distortion is added), metal stack (a combination of metal and distortion usually for heavy metal), metal (speaks for it's self), distortion (speaks for it's self), overdrive (noise increase and a lower sound) and acoustic (to get a nice sound turn the base down). It is a great practice ampand can get pretty powerfull. It has multiple EFX including the phaser, tremolo, delay, reverb and a few more (can't rememba them at the top of my head. It also has a CD player input which I se to plug my laptop in so that I can use my itunes library as back up music when playing songs. // 9

Sound: I'm using a QTX starter pack guitar with single coil pickups, it ain't the best of guitars but it still sounds just great on this amp. I would imagine that if you were to be playing it with a much better guitar the sound would be much richer. But even with this guitar of mine, it still sounds like a miracle. // 8

Reliability & Durability: I don't have the amp for too long, but it looks strong, is heavy and I have a 3 year gauranty so I do not expect it to break down any time soon. I have carried it to different locations for jamming with my friends and it still sounds and looks as good as new. // 10

Impression: I usually play metal and rock and this amp is awesome for me it give me just the right sounds I need, I have been playing it for a month now and so far it has not let me down. If I were to ever need to play a gig in public I would just grab my laptop and that is all the backup I need, this amp will do the rest. If this thing were stolen I would chase down the thief and make him give it back, or hang "have you seen my amp"posters every were since I don't have the money to buy a new one but if I did I would run back to the shop to get a new one. // 10

Comments

[angus69]

For the hum, it's the guitar, it's just a caratteristic of single coil pu's, don't worry

[chaoticgeek]

I figured as much, but I just wanted to put it in there for others just in case it was not.

[chaoticgeek]

I just noticed under the sounds I say "and full deal" I meant "and full delay"

[frusciante_5]

I jusr purchased this amp after playing with a marshall mgdfx for 3 years.

Saying that its a better amp would be an understatement. This amp owns

[the_random_hero]

These little suckers are some of the best SS hybrid amps you can get for your money. I've used a Cube 30, but I'm interested in the Power Squeezer

[chaoticgeek]

I like the power squeezer, at school I hardly ever take it off, it lets me practice quietly and have some good distortion as such low volumes.

[rykoff sexton]

my teacher uses these for lessons, and they are a great little practice amp. I also used one at the Museum of Music Making in Carlsbad, great tone, very impressive for a little thing.

[aksak]

Hi! We bought one of these nice little Roland amps at the beginning of January. We use it for practice. We take advantage of its footswitch capability (which is one of the reasons, with the power squeezer, why we have chosen it instead of Cube 15X) with a Boss FS6 footswitch. Pedal B allows us to switch channel from Clean to Lead, pedal A to use or not EFX effects. GREAT!!

[aksak]

Oops I forgot! One guy was complaing here in his reviews that the 20X users' guide is poor regarding possible settings. True it gives only four examples (Clean Space, etc...).
I recommend you to go to Roland Germany webpage, to the Products (in German, Produkte) section, then to the Guitar products (in German, Gitarrenprodukte) section and then to the Roland Cube 20X sub-section. There, by clicking on Soundliste, you get access to a PDF file with a list of settings of your 20X amp according to the style of various famous guitar players. Even if you don't speak German, you should be able to manage. Enjoy it!

http://www.rolandmusik.de/hauptseite.shtml

[giezoe]

great amp, even with a cheap amuse guitar it still produces a good sound,
also good if you dont like to use pedals, has quite some effects build in, what I like most is the Aux in port, easier to mix music

not bad, not bad at all

[chaoticgeek]

Thanks aksak.

[chaoticgeek]

angus69 wrote:

For the hum, it's the guitar, it's just a characteristic of single coil pu's, don't worry

Your right, I was messing around and if I put it on one of the positions that use two it stops humming, and on one pickup it humms, but very little.

[Satch_Boogie]

Vox AD15VT or this?

[chaoticgeek]

I've never heard a Vox AD15VT... But this is a solid amp. Try them both out. There were no Vox's within my price range where I went shopping.

[Mer2112]

aksak,

Thank you for the German site. Their knob settings refer to a clock in 24 hour format, right? (11,5 would be 11:30 and 13,5 would be 1:30)

Thanks Again,

Eric

[metaldud536]

I tried this amp at Sam Ash and man does it sound awesome with the exact same guitar i have especially on the metal preset.

[Mattmakesmetal]

Getting this amp tomorrow, i believe it really suits the bedroom jammer and the garage band. not to mention all the s*** they packed into this amp!!

[Silky Smooth]

The best SS amp EVER imo

What got me hooked on these was the micro cube, then I tried a 20x and was blown away. The sounds and effects are all top notch everything about it is awesome

[killsPEACHES]

would this amp suffice for a reggae/ska type of sound?

[BIGD2]

aksak thanks for the link. I'm seriously considering a 20 or 30x.

[Key Master]

this amp is nice

[imnotanoob]

I read your review and bought this amp. Very nice. Roland should really pay you!

[Krauser]

would this amp suffice for a reggae/ska type of sound?

I personally don't play that type of music, but you could get by with it on the 20x if you set it up the right way.

[MetalManiacal]

"Okay, first off, I will never give a solid state a 10 for sound, or even a 9 for that matter. You don't get those type of numbers for sound when you're dealing with an amp with inferior construction"

coming from the guy who plays a tele.

If i ever needed a new practice amp, i'd get this one for sure.

checked

[deaththrashcore]

This amp sucks, period. They sounds like crap and are useless for practicing, even by yourself. They have less tone than my Marhsall MG.

[The Charm]

deaththrashcore wrote:

This amp sucks, period. They sounds like crap and are useless for practicing, even by yourself. They have less tone than my Marhsall MG.

Are your ears damaged? Your full of shit this amp is WAY WAY WAY better than a Marshall MG.

[deaththrashcore]

The Charm
Are your ears damaged? Your full of shit this amp is WAY WAY WAY better than a Marshall MG.

This amp is like an even crappier Line 6 Spider. Too many useless settings and no good sounds. And the power squeezer is like opening the gates of Feedback Hell.

[KenG]

I tired the CUBE 60 version about 1-1/2 years ago and found it quite different from the original version from the 80s (anyone remember the orange tolex?). To be honest I thought the 80's version was better built and had better sound overall even though it didn't have the extra effects you get with the newer model.

[M13M]

Its a pretty good amp compared to its price. And its pretty easy to carry round. Good practice amp as well

[Dutchone]

my first amp. not much to compare with... BUT I DARN WELL KNOW IT ROCKS. and that Charm is right, and Deathtrashcore isn't.

[hminh87]

Ok. I always though my friend Roland Cube 30X sounded weird for some reason. When I took my Kustom Arrow 16 and compared to it side by side. I was right. The sound the Cube gives is way too digital and "cold" with too much bass sometime(yes, cold as in possosite to warm).
The only good thing about this amp is it can models several amp models with some good effects.
I know I will not buy this amp for my next. Instead it will be a basic one with good clean and distortion channel.

[hminh87]

Ok. My friend's Cube is not of the X series so i was not exactly giving my oppinions about the amp of this review. I doubt the sound is any different between the two series, though...

[JessicaGonzo]

Ha Im Going to get this amp just to play with in my room. Dosent Sound that bad.

checked.

[Me@UGC]

aksak wrote:

Oops I forgot! One guy was complaing here in his reviews that the 20X users' guide is poor regarding possible settings. True it gives only four examples (Clean Space, etc...).
I recommend you to go to Roland Germany webpage, to the Products (in German, Produkte) section, then to the Guitar products (in German, Gitarrenprodukte) section and then to the Roland Cube 20X sub-section. There, by clicking on Soundliste, you get access to a PDF file with a list of settings of your 20X amp according to the style of various famous guitar players. Even if you don't speak German, you should be able to manage. Enjoy it!

http://www.rolandmusik.de/hauptseite.shtml

Thanks for the tip

I have a Cube 30X. Leader of his market. You can't get anything better for the price.

[The Charm]

deaththrashcore wrote:

The Charm
Are your ears damaged? Your full of shit this amp is WAY WAY WAY better than a Marshall MG.


This amp is like an even crappier Line 6 Spider. Too many useless settings and no good sounds. And the power squeezer is like opening the gates of Feedback Hell.

Well then there must have been something wrong with the cube you played, because all the cubes i've played and heard have sounded great. And I know tons of people who agree with me. Best practice amp in that price range in my opinion.

[Sean-Man]

this amp rocks my balls off, although keep in mind that is a practice amp

[the_axis]

i freakin love this amp to death!
exept the overdrive and acoustic sounds could be alot better, but other than that its great
and the clean channel is exellent and makes up for the acoustic anyway

[chris70dx]

could this amp make distortion anything like plug in baby, and the delay effect on fury? and if not whats the cheapest effects i could buy to get a decent plug in baby sound?

[georghi]

hi

i was just wondering if you use any pedals in conjunction with the ROLAND CUBE 20x amp ?

I have a Cube 20x and am trying to run a TS9DX tubescreamer and Boss ME50 through the Roland Amp but am not sure if i should be using the CLEAN channel or the TUBE model on the LEAD channel.

what would you recommend ? --

[dutchrockstar]

georghi :
hi

i was just wondering if you use any pedals in conjunction with the ROLAND CUBE 20x amp ?

I have a Cube 20x and am trying to run a TS9DX tubescreamer and Boss ME50 through the Roland Amp but am not sure if i should be using the CLEAN channel or the TUBE model on the LEAD channel.

what would you recommend ? --

that depends on what you play, though I would recommend the tube side =D
Cheers Vincent

[sakis133]

Is this amp suitable for playing metallica?

[mrb0ston]

hey, i heard somewhere that you can't use pedals with this, is it true? this amp looked really good but i don't want turn my wah into a brick!

[Shredx]

20x or 30x for a practise amp that would be taken on the bus to school with a guitar at the same time? eeeeek

[brownbear27]

I use a digitech Scott Ian Black 13 through the clean channel on this amp and it rocks. it boosts the signal and gives a louder meaner tone even at low volumes

[uaemetallica]

hey guys am planning to buy a new amp but i waz confussied which roland should i buy 20x or 30x...i play almost everything nd play home bt smtimes i go jamming wid a friend((another guitarist))which one should i get to sound almost perfect??plz fast..thanks guys

[uaemetallica]

hey guys am planning to buy a new amp but i waz confussied which roland should i buy 20x or 30x...i play almost everything nd play home bt smtimes i go jamming wid a friend((another guitarist))which one should i get to sound almost perfect??plz fast..thanks guys

[chuckred21]

Mattmakesmetal wrote:

Getting this amp tomorrow, i believe it really suits the bedroom jammer and the garage band. not to mention all the s*** they packed into this amp!!

Yeah, thats basically why I want it. Seems good for that.

[jkielq91]

how goods this amp for tapping?

i have to wait to test it because all the shops near me have sold out.....must be good lol.

im definetly getting this or the vox valvetronic lol.

[jkielq91]

just ordered this off amazon

[Zach7Foo]

How loud is thing amp? Loud enough for band practice and jamming?
can it be louder tham drum?

[brownbear27]

Zach7Foo ... this amp is really loud for its size and rating. Definately loud enough for band practice in a reasonably sized room. In a hall you might struggle a bit but I reckon it will hold up - especially if you boost the signal with pre-amp effect or pedal.

[Freedomer]

Hey guys should I buy this or Orange crush 30r or Marshall mg15fx? Would Orange be better?

[uttam]

I got one yesterday. The Clean Channel is good. But the lead is disappointing.

[roundwoundsound]

this is a great amp

[jomamaisfat]

[acamhi]

uttam wrote:

I got one yesterday. The Clean Channel is good. But the lead is disappointing.

i agree, i have one too.

[lefty01]

None of the knobs are makered between the "0" thru "10". How do I know when I'm on "5", "8" etc...??

[Mrasi]

I've had this amp for about 15 months and it is starting to break down. The overall sound with distortion is very broken up. I agree with uttam, the lead isn't very good but it has served it's purpose with it's clean capabilities. Maybe my effects are just too much for it tho....

[raichu016]

aksak wrote:

Oops I forgot! One guy was complaing here in his reviews that the 20X users' guide is poor regarding possible settings. True it gives only four examples (Clean Space, etc...).
I recommend you to go to Roland Germany webpage, to the Products (in German, Produkte) section, then to the Guitar products (in German, Gitarrenprodukte) section and then to the Roland Cube 20X sub-section. There, by clicking on Soundliste, you get access to a PDF file with a list of settings of your 20X amp according to the style of various famous guitar players. Even if you don't speak German, you should be able to manage. Enjoy it!

http://www.rolandmusik.de/hauptseite.shtml

can you send to me the file of that pdf?? cos' we can't open it..

[mightymartin]

i got a cube15x for years now and im searching for something with some more options, just to practise with in my bedroom, though im not sure if i should get a footswitch with these options or get an amp like the 20x, normally i'd pref an amp with the options but since i already got a 15x i feel it could be wasted money, and i dont want a expensive/high watt amp, i'm not sure what to get.
anybody has some advice?

[rockstar16]

LOL i dunno if i like this amp, i own it but you cant get a decent f***ing punk sound out of it, its all metal, you'd be better off with a line 6 spider 3 30watt amp. if anyone knows how to get a decent greenday or blink 182 sound, pleas email me or post back. Please do not post that freakin german website with all the setting you can use, its balls LOL.

[NSX-S2K]

this is a pretty good amp, i just kinda wish it had a longer delay, and were able to pull out a more punk feel out of it

[Ruchitya T Anan]

NSX-S2K wrote:

this is a pretty good amp, i just kinda wish it had a longer delay, and were able to pull out a more punk feel out of it

It is a good amp..but gettin punk out of it is out of the question. But it does have a sufficient delay. I own this amp and i do love it because i play rock and this amp is very suited to that kinda muzik. I have written a review on this amp. Read n lemme know.

[louisclassic]

i think this amp is awsome...but after about 4 months the input jack broke just before a gig...it pissed me off and i dont know how to fix it