Plainsong
Well-known member
I have tried many an amp big and small, tube and solid state, acoustic specific and not, and nothing has come close to being it for me than this little guy.
My first guitar amp was a Vox, I think it was a 15w Pathfinder. That was a fine amp to match with a Japanese Fender Strat. My husband mostly played that one because I sucked at guitar, but for the purpose of an amp for an apartment on a budget, there was none finer.
Then when I got the Risa uke stick, everyone said "Get the Microcube." My husband was skeptical because he hates Roland from his keyboard days. But I got it and it did fine. It was bit artificial though, and not in a good way. It was just very cold and harsh. It's probably great with an electric guitar, but not nylon strings and piezo pickup.
So I decided to get a budget acoustic amp, a Kustom Siena blah blah whatever it was. It was fine, but it hummed and hissed, and my George-L cable may not be the best, but it's not that bad either. Plus, like acoustics are, it was freaking huge. I'm playing in a living room, not pretending I'm in a stadium. If volume is no issue, I'd prefer to match small instrument with small amp.
I tried a Vox DA5, and found that much nicer than the Microcube, while doing much the same thing. Vox knows a thing or two about what people want in a cheap amp. So I got that, but then I discovered that firstly, no acoustic tone of course, and secondly, too many options. It's the same problem for me as the Microcube: I spend 2 minutes playing and an hour trying all the different settings to settle on one I like. I do still say though that it's better at being a Microcube than the Microcube is though.
Then I picked up an Orance Crush Micro for 30 bucks and that was and is a fun little guy. It's got a dirty sound but in a good way. I'd probably take it with me more if not for one tiny issue: No handle, and it won't fit in a gig bag. It's always the little things..
Then I stumbled upon the Mobile Cube. It looked cheap and plastic, and expensive with less power than a DA5. But hold on, it's got an acoustic channel, because it's basically a keyboard amp that they made a do-everything amp. And it's a Roland. Hmmm... But I got excited and pulled the trigger.
Wow wow wow! This is 1000% better than the Microcube! It's built like a freaking tank! It's got enough bells and whistles to play with, but few enough that you don't spend much time doing that. The acoustic channel is great, and I've not tried the mic channel yet, but I suspect it might be more purist. The chorus isn't adjustable, but it's darn nice so who cares. The reverb and delay are subtle but if you're a reverb and delay junkie you probably have pedals for that. I like subtle. It's more believable sound. The chorus is not subtle, but that's how I like my chorus. There's only one tone control, but it works. There's also plenty of room on the volume dial.
It even works as computer speakers, but I'd like to find my mini-to-RCA, since the amp will take that. It obviously does mini-mini as well. There's a mids bypass if you want to karoke, and it's not 100%, but it's close enough for jazz, as my favorite band director would say.
Of course you don't have to use just the acoustic channel. You could use the mic, or switch the dial to normal or fat keyboard sound. Or you could pretend it's a steel string and choose E. Guitar. The clean setting is crunchy and dirty in a good way. It's a nice difference to the acoustic setting. And the overdrive and distortion are the best I've heard from an amp with no pedals and a uke yet.
So to some it up, there's nothing this little guy can't do. It sounds better than the cubes that came before it, it's built like a tank. The two speakers give less of a boxy sound (although we're not talking miracles here, it's still a small amp), it's all the amp I'll ever need. There are lots of great acoustic amps out there, but my needs aren't for those.
Roland, you've converted me with this one! You make me wish my Kanile'a had a pickup.
Edit: I forgot to mention the tube amp, the Harley Benton.. forget the model number, but it's an Epiphone Valve Jr internally, plus tone control. It's your basic warm tube amp sound. It's what my husband uses if playing guitar. I have nothing bad to say about it really, except it was too big for my needs.
My first guitar amp was a Vox, I think it was a 15w Pathfinder. That was a fine amp to match with a Japanese Fender Strat. My husband mostly played that one because I sucked at guitar, but for the purpose of an amp for an apartment on a budget, there was none finer.
Then when I got the Risa uke stick, everyone said "Get the Microcube." My husband was skeptical because he hates Roland from his keyboard days. But I got it and it did fine. It was bit artificial though, and not in a good way. It was just very cold and harsh. It's probably great with an electric guitar, but not nylon strings and piezo pickup.
So I decided to get a budget acoustic amp, a Kustom Siena blah blah whatever it was. It was fine, but it hummed and hissed, and my George-L cable may not be the best, but it's not that bad either. Plus, like acoustics are, it was freaking huge. I'm playing in a living room, not pretending I'm in a stadium. If volume is no issue, I'd prefer to match small instrument with small amp.
I tried a Vox DA5, and found that much nicer than the Microcube, while doing much the same thing. Vox knows a thing or two about what people want in a cheap amp. So I got that, but then I discovered that firstly, no acoustic tone of course, and secondly, too many options. It's the same problem for me as the Microcube: I spend 2 minutes playing and an hour trying all the different settings to settle on one I like. I do still say though that it's better at being a Microcube than the Microcube is though.
Then I picked up an Orance Crush Micro for 30 bucks and that was and is a fun little guy. It's got a dirty sound but in a good way. I'd probably take it with me more if not for one tiny issue: No handle, and it won't fit in a gig bag. It's always the little things..
Then I stumbled upon the Mobile Cube. It looked cheap and plastic, and expensive with less power than a DA5. But hold on, it's got an acoustic channel, because it's basically a keyboard amp that they made a do-everything amp. And it's a Roland. Hmmm... But I got excited and pulled the trigger.
Wow wow wow! This is 1000% better than the Microcube! It's built like a freaking tank! It's got enough bells and whistles to play with, but few enough that you don't spend much time doing that. The acoustic channel is great, and I've not tried the mic channel yet, but I suspect it might be more purist. The chorus isn't adjustable, but it's darn nice so who cares. The reverb and delay are subtle but if you're a reverb and delay junkie you probably have pedals for that. I like subtle. It's more believable sound. The chorus is not subtle, but that's how I like my chorus. There's only one tone control, but it works. There's also plenty of room on the volume dial.
It even works as computer speakers, but I'd like to find my mini-to-RCA, since the amp will take that. It obviously does mini-mini as well. There's a mids bypass if you want to karoke, and it's not 100%, but it's close enough for jazz, as my favorite band director would say.
Of course you don't have to use just the acoustic channel. You could use the mic, or switch the dial to normal or fat keyboard sound. Or you could pretend it's a steel string and choose E. Guitar. The clean setting is crunchy and dirty in a good way. It's a nice difference to the acoustic setting. And the overdrive and distortion are the best I've heard from an amp with no pedals and a uke yet.
So to some it up, there's nothing this little guy can't do. It sounds better than the cubes that came before it, it's built like a tank. The two speakers give less of a boxy sound (although we're not talking miracles here, it's still a small amp), it's all the amp I'll ever need. There are lots of great acoustic amps out there, but my needs aren't for those.
Roland, you've converted me with this one! You make me wish my Kanile'a had a pickup.
Edit: I forgot to mention the tube amp, the Harley Benton.. forget the model number, but it's an Epiphone Valve Jr internally, plus tone control. It's your basic warm tube amp sound. It's what my husband uses if playing guitar. I have nothing bad to say about it really, except it was too big for my needs.
Last edited:
