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Regarding sound on the Roland Micro Cube GX...

Hey all,

I have the Roland Micro Cube GX. First off, I really do love this little box! I have been using it for the last 3 months, but I am almost exclusively playing it with the headphones, and rarely play through the speaker...as I play most of the time late at night. Today, I decided to play through the speaker though. What I have noticed is the difference in tone from the headphones to the actual Cube speaker sound. I had really honed in on all my sounds while playing with headphones, but these same settings sound totally different through the Cube speaker. The most glaring difference is the Cube produces alot of bottom end sound, which I find somewhat annoying on alot of things I'm playing.

So, my question is for those playing through the Roland Micro Cube GX. How do I get rid of some of the bottom end...bass sound? What knobs are causing the bottom end/bass to ring? How do I tone it down? I'm new to electric stringed instrument sounds and controlling an amp. Tips? Advice?

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Permalink Reply by ChickenboneJohn on August 14, 2017 at 5:30am

The MicroCube produces very little real bass, as it has such a small speaker. I suspect that if you've been listening via headphones you'll have been getting even less bass and that's what you've been used to - that little speaker tends to break up and get quite dirty sounding when you crank up the volume. All you can do is roll on some more treble, and maybe turn down the amp. The Roland is a great little amp, but there's a limit to how much you can get out of such a small amp with relatively simple controls. To get more control over the tone you'd need to go to an amp with high, mid and low frequency controls. Just try the different amp voicings, find one you prefer and adjust the tone and gain to suit - the gain tends to shape the tone more than the volume control, particularly regarding how much "dirt" you want.

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Permalink Reply by Dustin Aurand on August 14, 2017 at 5:59am

Hi. I have one of these bad boys, too, and love it. I mainly use mine for busking, and outdoor gigs. I havesome questions about your settings and such.
1. What kind of music are you playing?
2. What kinds of pickups are you using?
3. Are you using heavy octave? That will really bring out the low end.
I asked about pickups and music because if you're playing harder stuff like rock and metal, try a a higher amp type setting, unless you have piezos. For blues, I use the JC or Brit setting, as I use piezos.

My settings are like this. Gain down, tone up, volume and master about 3. Effects, Brit or JC amp, heavy octave, and some slapback. My guitar has a piezo, a John Nickel bass pickup, and a tactile transducer, aka bass shaker, running parallel to the piezo. The bass shaker cancels out the tinny sound of the piezo, and brings out the low end. It also lets me play percussively, gibingva bass drum sound when I tap on the guitar. I play blues, so I prefer that dirty low end growl. I also run both pickups through a splitter, and through a preamp pedal.

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