Roland Blues Cube Stage 1x12" 60-watt Combo Amp - Blonde Reviews

I've been playIng in bar bands for years: small clubs, large clubs, outdoor events, thru coffee shops. Blues, country, rock, singer songwriter… you know what I mean! Played thru Fender Hot Rod (way too loud and the solder kept breaking) Blues Jr (not enough for loud drums) Deluxe Reverb (loved it but too heavy for my old back) Finding an amp that can slide into all that without needing a forklift seemed to be unrealistic. I played a Blues Cube at a local shop and was intrigued, but they didn't seem interested in my business. So Sweetwater to the rescue! I did a blind A/B with the DR for my wife (professional singer and the real talent in the family) she picked the BC as cleaner and warmer. That was around 2015-2016. I've dragged that thing around to gigs ever since. I installed Fender tilt back legs so I could hear myself better and I made a long power cord so I usually dont need an extension chord. My only pedal is a TC Flashback for delay, the crunch channel with a Boss Fs-6 foot pedal gives me drive for solos. For the reviews complaining the BC doesn't sound like their JCM/Boogie/Vox/Blackstar etc: no it doesn't. This ain't your amp if that's what you are looking for. But for the tone, weight, $$ when I bought it? It checked all the boxes!! Btw, if you zoom in on the photo, you will see a lot of scuffs on the Tolex and beer stain on the grill. This bad boy can take a hit and punch back!

What I wanna say is 1 thing Solid as a Rock

This AMP blows most Tube amps away, I had a Fender 40 tube amp. The sound from the Roland was way beter, and on Stage you can put it on 40 watts with DI great sound. Cant beany beter.

I've got the stage and the hot (i think for about 3 years now) and they are both great - been playing almost 40 yrs.

ive also got 3 blues jrs (gen 1, 2 and 3), a blues deluxe, a jc120 and a peavy classic 30...my go to is the blues cube hot...i like it better than the stage and better than my blues jrs. Everything about the hot is just perfect. Theyve come down in price - plays like an old vintage tweed - feel and sound is perfect w my strats - especially w the cs 69 pups. Stage is good if playing larger venues but mostly i play smaller rooms and i never even go past the 15 watt setting

I've got the stage and the hot (i think for about 3 years now) and they are both great - been playing almost 40 yrs.

ive also got 3 blues jrs (gen 1, 2 and 3), a blues deluxe, a jc120 and a peavy classic 30...my go to is the blues cube hot...i like it better than the stage and better than my blues jrs. Everything about the hot is just perfect. Theyve come down in price - plays like an old vintage tweed - feel and sound is perfect w my strats - especially w the cs 69 pups. Stage is good if playing larger venues but mostly i play smaller rooms and i never even go past the 15 watt setting

My newly arrived BC Stage 60 just put my Fender Tonemaster Twin Reverb on the shelf, maybe even the on market. First thing when the Cube 60 arrived I set both amps side by side and set all relevant knobs to 5 on both amps. Going through all five positions on my 25 year old American Standard strat it was immediately apparent the Cube's untweeked tone and reverb exceeded those of the twin 12. Even at the neutral settings I got a rich full-range response from the cube, something that took a lot of tweeking to get on the Tonemaster. And the Cube just got better from there. I had diminished expectations when I ordered the Cube 60 from Sweetewater because I had previuosly owned a Cube 30 that went back because it was a bit too timid for gig work. But this Cube 60 is a different animal. Volume is not an issue. And volume with tone is even better. I can't wait to get my PRS CE24 back from the tech guys at Sweetwater and match it up with this amp. Oh, and an unexpected extra..... the simple line out on the Cube 60 plugged into my Mackie board/speaker system results in a no fuss, no tone loss, rich, full range guitar. No squeezing, tinning ot thinning of certain frequencies that always seemed to be present with other line-out or xlr connections.

I have been using this amp for approximately 2 years for rehearsal and gigs. There are several things about this amp that are unique to this amp and I really like. First, there is the ability to blend the clean channel with the gain channel...mix to your liking! This amp also has a built-in attenuator which allows you to be quiet, in-your-face loud, and everything in between! Also, this is the closest imitation to traditional tubes without being a tube amp than anything I've tried (and I've tried them all). Lastly, you can add the signature tone capsules and change the overall sound, giving you the ability to customize your sound or have multiple sounds out of one amp. Best of all, this is Roland quality....second to none.

If you are looking for one amp to do it all....here it is!
Enjoy!

Wow! I first heard a Blues Cube Artist at a local blues jam, and I didn't know what it really was but it sounded amazing. Later during the night I got up and played my 335 through the amp with the band and was hearing some awesome tones, like no matter what I played it just sounded so good I had to learn more about this thing. Later at home I began listening to video demos of the Blues Cube lineup and after a few weeks finally decided to snag a Stage 60 watt for myself. I had a 50 watt tube amp I was generally happy with, but it tended to be a little bright and also fairly heavy.
So..... after playing out with the Roland a couple times I knew I had my new go to amp. Just over 30 lbs, the cabinet and grill cloth had a great vintage vibe, and tone you can feel as well as hear. It really does respond beautifully to your playing at any volume. Superb tone whether using Clean, Crunch or Dual (combined). Love the different power settings. This seems a perfect fit for recording, live stage and rehearsals. Makes ALL of my guitars sound sweeter. Thank you Jimmy Hart for all your help and recommendations with this one... Roland knocked it out of the park.
This is one smokin' amp.

The Roland Blues Cube Stage amp is a gift from the Music gods. Breathtaking at hall volume and wattage levels. I"ve never heard anything even close to the clean purity at low volume. The crunch is perfect, and the mix of both clean and crunch is even more perfect. And the look is beautiful. Easily rivals tube sound and feel, with the advantage of maintaining sound quality at bedroom volume levels. I wanted to love this amp when I ordered it without ever having heard it except on youtube, and I do. Handles my pedalboard without a hitch. Best music purchase ever, even including my beloved Les Paul.

I've been playing guitar for 40 years and have played nearly ever amp that has come around, analog, tube, modeling, vintage, you name it. After checking reviews and watching countless hours of video demos of the Roland Blues Cube Stage I went and checked one out at a local shop and was blown away with the sound. It's no an amp that does a million things ok it's an Amp that does one thing and nails it perfectly. It nails the amps of old sound for great sounds, crystal clears, unmuddy crunch and soul right from the Mississippi delta. Not only does it look the part it sounds it. I can't believe it's not a tube. It is phenomenally touch sensitive allowing expression to come shining through the 12" speaker and flood the area with sound and don't let the 60 watt rating make you think it's not going to project enough. Holey cow even at it's lowest .5 watt setting it is amazingly loud at 60 it would easily keep up on stage and with the line out to a PA as a possibility it would handle larger venues easily. This amp lets the guitar really sound like it should and being touch responsive will really help you improve your style as trust me you can hear your mistakes because of it clean accurate sound. Mixing the 2 channels lends itself to a further layer of tonal bliss. If you truly want the vintage blues tone of a tube amp but the reliability of a solid state Roland nailed it right out of the box. And everyone at Sweetwater make every purchase pain and anxiety free.

My husband loves it! Everything and more than he expected. Great service as usual!

I've been playing guitar for over 30 years, I'm also a sound engineer with studio and live performance experience. This Roland Blues Cube Stage 60 totally nails the tone. I've used mine for formal jazz gigs and the power control really works well, it had all the sag you expect from a tube amp and very warm sounding with a tight bottom end. I own a Rivera-era Fender Twin, a '64 Fender Deluxe Reverb and other noteworthy amps. This is the most realistic tube type tone I've ever experienced, a very versatile amp indeed! We'll worth the price, sounds great with all my electric guitars ( Strats, Les Paul,SG's, Hamer archtop etc.) I highly recommend it!

I have used tube amps for years because of the lack of clean tone on most solid state amps...though I have owned a few Lab series amps, a few Peavey Bandits and a Jazz Chorus 120 (lbs?) a Peavey stereo Chorus 2 x 12 over the last 30 + years... They all had a certain character to them....none of them ever sounded like my Twin Reverbs or the Bassman I had in the 60's.....Until now...The Cube will be the last amp I will ever buy new...I got mine $528.00 from a different store on a blow out sale...The covering has been abused as a demo amp....But for the price I'll use it just the way it is....The only negative I see is the lack of a dedicated foot switch for it though ads say footswitch optional....what is it???...The over all tone is great ...the amp tones do not change hardly at all as you flip the power settings...the distortion side is not your heavy metal or even heavy anything ...which I like....my pedals do the rest and I need not worry all that much about the footswitch....though my gigs are not so high profile anymore so I am allowed to press buttons on my amp...I have an 87 Strat w/ maple board that has the sparkle with warmth the amp provides. Punchy. I have a 2000 SG that sounds huge warm clean or powerful grunged with the distortion on. The weight is less than my Fender Deluxe Reverb weighed by about I guess 10 lbs...I'd have to google that to be sure.....As I said before all the pedals I use ...not many...all sound good...all in all I never have to change tubes again. This amp is worth the full amount and another good feature ...this is the smallest Cube to still have the port for the tone capsules....I have tried the Eric Johnson capsule through this amp about 7 or more months ago....It was Eric Johnson...y ....but I am ordering a cheaper pedal that I know will give me a similar or better sound for a lot less money....at least better for me...

My main amp has been a Mesa Lonestar Special 2X12 which I normally run with the clean channel at 15 watts and the dirty channel at 5 watts. I wanted something that could come quite close to the Mesa's tone, that would be much more portable. I've been gigging with this amp for about 3 months now and am very satisfied. It comes WAY closer to tube tone and feel than I ever expected. I've used it unmiked in small clubs, miked in large clubs and miked for a few outdoor shows. It has performed well in all cases. I especially like the extremely versatile power settings......makes it easy to match up with the venue size!! I'd buy it again!!

my 3rd Roland..................best yet

I've been playing professionally for 35 years, and for most of that time, I've been an analog/tube snob. But tube amps are heavy (I'm getting old), temperamental, and expensive to maintain.

I'd owned a JC-120, along with over two dozen Boss pedals and all kinds of Roland gear. While not always know for pleasing tone purists, I've trusted Boss/Roland stuff to be the most consistently reliable gear there is.

So fter viewing stellar review videos, I tried the amp out. It sounds like a 1x12 Bassman! It reacts to dynamics like a tube amp, but it keeps its tone with power and volume changes better than a tube amp.

The Tone and Boost functions on each channel are helpful when using different pickups, I just wish the boost was footswitchable.

The clean channel is not at all like a Roland JC. It's very Fender-y, and it breaks up at higher volumes. On the lowest power setting, breakup happens at low volume, with a Champ-like sound.

The gain channel has a a good amount of overdrive, going into Angus territory, but not metal. I disagree with reviewer who said the amp doesn't have enough gain--maybe if the signal going into the amp is too weak, or some other factor. And the dual tone function is a huge bonus; it allows more picking dynamics to come through, and lets modulation pedals shimmer with overdrive.

Both channels share EQ, which is a minor bummer.

At the 60 watt setting, this thing is LOUD, with a good deal of headroom. At all volumes, it plays well with all kinds of pedals--very well. Nothing farts out like on even the best tube amps.

Overall, this is an awesome, gig-worthy amp for any style (just get a metal pedal for metal). At 35 lbs, it's a spine-saver.

I agree with all of the prior reviews. Been playing a Carr Rambler for years, which was my gold standard tube amp. I tries the Roland Blues Cube Stage and love it. Rambler is my backuP and stereo 2nd amp now. I amp also using the Eric Johnson Tube Capsule on a regular basis. Not so much on the overdrive channel but for crystal clean tones on the clean side.

Amp sounded a bit bright to me at first but with my PRS McCarty it is perfect.

I don't normally write reviews ( I know everyone says that but it's true) but I had to write one for this amp. I have spent a lot of money trying to get the blues tone that was in my mind. This is the amp that finally did it for me.

I am a bedroom guitarist playing a gibson es 335 and over the last few years I have played a roland micro cube, blackstar ht1-r, fender blues jr and blackstar id core 20. I was thinking about a yamaha thr until a few reviews made me want to try this one.

This is a plug and play amp. I keep the wattage at 15 with the bass , mid and treble at noon and it stays on the clean channel. The tones are amazing. It behaves like a true tube amp as you adjust your guitar volume. You can get great blues tone at any volume. I keep the volume around 3 and the master around 4.

If you want to crank there is a headphone jack but I personally didn't want to have to wear one to hear good tones and this fits the bill

If you are like me and have been frustrated trying to find a blues amp that gives you the tone you have been dreaming of, do yourself a favor and give this one a try.

My guess is you will love it.

This thing is terrific. Easy to move around, gig-able, a good deal louder than a Blues Jr. if you need it, USB out if you need that, reverb and overdrive on board. You can blend the crunch and the clean channel. No effects loop, but it has high- and low-impedance inputs, so accepts pedals easily. It sounds terrific, whether or not it sounds like a tube amp.

I have been playing guitar for over 50 years and this is the best amp I have owned. It covers Blues-Rock and sounds and just like a tube amp.Light pick attack nice and clean play harder and it has an nice attack.t First night at practice the boys were fooled when I told them,. Lots of variables with the power selection, channel selection inc choices of tone & boost and the crunch channel rocks. The Dual Tone is also another cool feature combining both channels. The 60W is loud enough for me and it only weighs 31 lbs High Recommendation from me!!

Got it out of the box, few minutes later, serious blues tones are now easy to find. Two channel amp that can combine the clean and crunch channel's to obtain great Sound. Boost buttons for both! Reverb sounds good, all in all this amp delivers everything in the ad copy! Variable power switch from .5 amps to 60 amps. Nice full sound at very low volumes! Perfect for my back bedroom den! Very pleased with this gear and at 30 lbs. Its easy to transport. NO more waiting for tubes to warm or cool!

I bought 2 bose model 2 with the b-2 base cabinets a while back and the advice i got from Brent about how to use the bose was the best. The local Guitar center in my home town will never see me again. Sweetwater has my business from now on.

I bought this, as I’d played through one and didn’t know what it was. I looked at it quickly and just assumed it was some tweed reissue or the like. I noodled around for a bit, and assumed it was pushing vavles. When the owner told me what it was and that it is SS, I was shocked and had to buy one. I’m by no means a tube amp only guy; I love my JC120 and 22. However, I do appreciate the responsiveness, and subtle and reactive timbral changes that valve amps supply. To have that without the hassles is brillliant.
I knew there was no effects loop when I bought this, and I don’t have much need for one. Still, I think Roland should include one in a model at this price point.

As always, my sales engineer, Jimmy Hart, made sure everything got out to me as quickly as possible

I had been looking for a great sounding SS amp that could be used at home as well as playing with a full band. I just could never find a SS amp that satisfied me (I always went back to my Fender '68 Custom Princeton Reverb tube amp). Until now. This is a great SS amp. It sounds fantastic, it's very dynamic, looks good, makes it easy to get a good sound, and I would not hesitate to play out with it.

Sweetwater and my sales rep Charlie Davis are always top notch.

If you need a footswitch for this amp, a Marshall type two-button will work in the same way as the BOSS unit. I picked up a clone of the Marshall two-button footswitch off eBay and it works perfectly.

Again... very happy with the amp and with Sweetwater!

In the late '60s – early '70s, I found "my sound" (Eric Clapton Live Cream for lead, "Live at Leeds" for rhythm) playing my 1961 SG Special thru a blackface Fender Bassman on 10. But by the mid '70s, it was TOO LOUD for the clubs I was playing in, so I traded the Bassman in on a SF master volume Twin Reverb. It was supposed to get "distortion at any volume" by diming the vibrato channel and keeping the master down, but the overdrive was scratchy and anemic. The "pull boost" on the master just made it more scratchy. So I ran an LPB-1 into the (dimed) normal channel and voila: "my sound" at any volume.

In 1979 I hung it up for while. Fast forward to 2004, I wanted to get back into playing, but I was done with tubes (the Twin Reverb crapped out on me twice during live gigs). My shtick is straight into an amp (preferably a blackface Fender), controlling everything from the guitar. So I bought a used Deluxe 112, and after some tweaking got a fair approximation of what I heard thru the Twin Reverb. Did it sound just as good? No – but "close enough for rock 'n' roll." The 112 started having issues, so I bought a Deluxe 90 (basically the same amp) in mint condition, but it crapped out after only six months. Now I'm done with antique solid state amps.

My shopping criteria: solid state, 1–12", decent onboard distortion, at least 60 watts, under 35 lbs. I tried out a Fender Champion 40, and was seriously underwhelmed. After a lot of online research, I narrowed it down to Quilter Aviator Cub (not enough power), Orange CR60 (too heavy), Blues Cube Stage. I got a brand new BC Stage on sale at a local shop. At first I was unable to dial in a good blackface sound, then I remembered: this is a tweed emulation (mid-forward). Blackface is mid-scooped. So I turned the midrange all the way down – nailed it.

After playing thru it for a month, this is my assessment: Tube-like response, dynamics and "air." Decent overdrive from the Crunch channel, enough for my purposes (see at top) – but not enough for metal. Not as "fizzy" as the Fenders, but it's still there. Cleans up good from the guitar. "Boost" button just adds more fizz. Good edge-of-breakup with the Clean channel volume up. Good reverb. The dual-channel feature does nothing for me, but some people seem to like it. The power scaling works well, and is handy for going from "loud practice" to "bedroom" without touching the other controls, but the amp seems to "open up" better at the same volume with the wattage up and the master down. You're supposed to be able to add "power amp breakup" by cranking the master, but I don't hear it. Turning the Crunch volume up and the master down adds a hair more distortion, but it's muddier.

All in all – everything I expected and a bit more. Four stars.

Newly purchased. Great clean sound. Wouldn't say it's tone matches my 20-year-old Fender Hot Rod Deluxe but it's close and at ~30lbs it's much easier to move. Love the tonal flexibility. Havent experimented much yet with dual tone setting. Sweetwater service was good. So far so good.

I just bought the Stage. The tolex cover is so bad, it is unbearable. Shame on Roland. Amp actually sounds really good. I immediately changed the speaker with a Celestion Green Back. Now it sounds great to my ear. It is a great amp to use at home. Output selection makes it very versatile. You won't wake up the kids while playing at night. Tone is the best when cranked up. To me it is way overpriced for the quality of the cablnet. I'd give it a three and a half stars out of five. My Vox ac30-vr beats this amp in good looks and quality of the cabinet but not on the tone. It is very close to tube tone.

I bought this amp on the strength of numerous youtube reviews and other written reviews. But for purposes of full disclosure I must say I wanted an amp to compete with the white noise created in noisy clubs, etc. I already have a Blackstar ID Core 100 but thought I could boost the volume with the Roland BC stage at 60w, while maintaining a warm tube like tone. I did notice that most if not all videos on youtube utilized a strat when demonstrating this amp. I play almost exclusively humbucker guitars such as Les Pauls and SGs and a few with P90s. I found the Roland BC stage to be boxy sounding...almost a "quack" sound. My 20yr. old Line 6 Spider ll sounds similar so I couldn't justify keeping the Roland BC Stage. I play in a trio that includes an acoustic player and a kettle drum/chimes/cymbals player. I am no longer in a rock band or any other group that can get overly loud. So this amp just didn't meet my needs. The Blackstar id core 100 has a more desirable sound and is more versatile for this arrangement. I've played guitar for 48 yrs. but transitioned to an electric about 20 yrs. ago. I've never personally owned a tube amp so clearly I'm not an authority on tube amps. I thought I could get a tube like sound and avoid the tube replacement issues. I did, however, find this amp to be well made and solid. it certainly was more than loud enough...just didn't care for the tones I got, even with decent quality pedals. So, all in all, I recommend trying one before buying if possible. I didn't have that luxury. Hope this helps a little!!

I purchased this amp at first and was really impressed with the tones, though if I were you, I would save up the extra couple hundred dollars and buy the artist, as it has way more features without including the ability to use the tone capsules

I was really hoping to like this amp. I've been playing tube and solid state amps all my life. This amp sounds solid state. The feel is better than most cheap solid state amps but a lot modeling amps are improving in this area. Where it lacks is in the "air" that surrounds the notes in a tube amp. Not ambience, but a sense of space or dimension around the sound. This amp sounds flat, end of story. For the money, I recommend a Blues Jr or similar style tube amp. This Roland is not worth $700 in my opinion. A good amp inspires you to play, this amp didn't do it for me. Great thing about the return policy, don't like it, send it back.

In my opinion, there is no way in the world this amp is worth the price. If - like the original Blues Cubes - this amp was less than 50% of the current price, my review would be much more favorable. That said, price is a very relevant to a review, and more specifically, whether the features warrant a high price tag. In this case, my answer is absolutely not. Being familiar with the previous generation of Blues Cube amps, and liking a few of the additional features on the newer version, I decided to take a chance and buy one of these. As expected from most any Roland amp, the clean sound is great, and there's good bottom end. That's the good news. Far as the features: the boost and tone switches available for each channel were nice additions - particularly the boost. To me, the Dual Tone feature which allows you to combine both channels was pointless; it felt like a waste of resources. The tiny bit of tonal variance available using dual tone did not add much to the amp. As for the power attenuator and drive channel, this is where the Blues Cube was most disappointing. The crunch channel wasn't very crunchy at all. And I had no unrealistic expectations for metal tones or anything. All I wanted was a good bluesy overdrive. Compared to my inexpensive and old Peavey Bandit 112, the overdrive on the Blues Cube was non-existent. While the amp has a fine clean tone, the tube tone claims are mostly hype. I like and respect Roland as a company, but this is nowhere close to being worth the asking price.