Roland MicroCube

[rockola]

After seeing and hearing Jersey Ray play his ADG-8 through a Roland MicroCube in Belgium, I decided to get one ASAP. Today I visited a local music store and walked away several Euros poorer, carrying an amp under my arm.

The MicroCube is very small. It has a 5" speaker, but sounds like a bigger one. The amp section has several amp models to choose from, as well as some basic effects. It weighs 3.3 kg (7 lbs 5 oz) without the batteries. Yes, batteries. This thing is the ultimate portable PA. I believe Jersey Ray was able to make it through the seminar week with just one set of batteries (6x AA).

I played my ADG-10 through it for an hour, and couldn't be happier with my purchase. This thing rocks :D Maybe now I'll actually practice a bit before next year's E-Tap. Even the bass response is surprisingly good for such a little box, at least at lower volumes. I'll just have to figure out how to go directly from my stereo instrument into the MicroCube. At home I can use my Behringer V-Amp (I use the AUX IN for the bass), but it would be good to find a cheap and small solution to join the two channels for the amp's input.

I paid EUR 125 for the MicroCube, you should be able to do better via mail order. By the way - Roland is not paying me to advertise this thing; I simply think it's way cool :cool:

Another tip taken home from Belgium: I also bought a metronome. It's a Boss TU-80, and the reasons I decided on that particular model were a) it was cheap (28 EUR) b) it doubles as a tuner. While I already had a tuner (Korg CA-30, also cheap & highly recommended), it doesn't hurt to have another, plus this way I only have to carry one gizmo with me.

[lemur821]

I saw (and heard) a guy busking with one of those the other day. I didn't know what is was at the time, since all I saw was the word Cube. I wondered what it was, since I didn't think any of the Cubes were battery powered. It seemed pretty darn cool.

[Jersey Ray]

As Ola stated, I was the guy with the MC at N-C. Hopefully, Roland will be sending me a cheque for 10 Euros for each Micr Cobe sold after my promotional tour with it, it created more of a stir than my instrument or my playing:)

I bought mine from Musician's friend, which was US$125, plus $15 shipping. i hear that it might be a little cheaper at the Guitar Center chain store. I'll also add that I had to wait an extra 2 weeks, because they were not in stock. I'll interpret this to mean that this is a hot little item.

For an 8 string or a mono instrument, this is perfect. I use my ADG-10 with this amp, and I use the Y-connector and it works just fine. The Bass response is good enough for this kind of thing. However, if I had to run the bass alone into one of these, and I was expecting a floor shaking bass presence, then I'd be disapointed. You can hear the bass through this, but you certainly won't feel it.

The higher frequenies are way loud, especially with distortion. I was playing the "rectifier" amp model with all the knobs cranked, and after a half hour, my ears were ringing. So, this battery powered amp can make you deaf if you are not careful! (I know, time for Traktor's sermon about preserving our hearing...)

The most useful amp emulation for a clean sound is the JC-120. When I ran this with the line out into the Neufchateau concert Hall PA, it sounded great. But, at the gig in Brussels, i just miked the tiny speaker, and that may have sounded even better!

It has chorus, flanger, and some other fx, but I find these a bit too much, they are preset at very strong settings, and it is too much for me, so I rarely use them. But that is a minor problem, the amp is a great buy.

At home I use the wall adaptor, and on the road, I have been able to get about 2 weeks of heavy play out of a set of alkaline batteries

JR