• Fun little practice combo amp

  
  As reviewed by ProgHog on 12/18/2008

  This is cool little practice amp that comes with lots of extras, like some basic effects, different tone emulations (e.g. Ampeg SVT), a tuner, metronome, and basic percussion patterns. All of this makes for lots of dials to turn, and it's just fun to play around with. The sound and volume isn't bad for a practice amp this small. You know you're playing a bass, but let's face it, you're not going to rattle the rafters with this. But the compact size let's you move it easily...it can even run on batteries. I'd recommend this for a beginner with a little more to spend. My view is having fun is more important at this stage than having the best sounding equipment. For others, this might be a good choice for ultra portability -- for instance, when I travel, I'll often take along a bass and a DB-90 metronome to practice. The Roland is small enough to maybe lug along. Only downsides: a bit pricey (although you get a lot of toys); the tuner is really basic.

  23 of 23 people found this review helpful.
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• I found a gem!

  
  As reviewed by Joab on 7/2/2009

  This is the best amp for practice. If you live in an apartment this is for you. It is very loud for its size. The bass tone is very good and my bass guitar shines on this amp. It is loud enough yet its not making your ceiling vibrate that will cause your neighbor neighbor to irritate at you. The guitar tuner is very good and accurate. The built in drum machine is also good and handy. I wish a knob is choosen for the tempo instead of a button. The EFX are nice to have. The delay/reverb is a bonus. It is light and very compact and yet looks very good. I would recomend this to a friend. All in all I am very happy Roland made this product as if it is tailored made just for me.

  16 of 16 people found this review helpful.
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• Cool little amp with batteries, but no Line Out!

  
  As reviewed by Bigbill on 9/22/2010

  For a little box with little speakers this amp puts out an amazing amount of sound and the tone shaping controls actually do something. This was purchased primarily for portability and the battery operation so that the bass can go where only acoustic basses usually go. That's cool. It's light, small, uses a fair number of batteries and does what it says, so far. It doesn't have has much power on batteries, but it goes pretty well. I've not had it long enough to judge longevity. Customer service was responsive to questions. They even allowed that the unit could run on rechargeable or lithium batteries rather than the hard and fast rule of alkalines only, though Roland has yet to officially rule on that. The biggest disappointment here is no Line Out jack. This would be a nice little bass monitor on stage IF it could patch through to a P.A. board. How difficult is it to put in a Line Out connection? Or a switch to allow signal to go to either or both the speaker and headphones, rather than cutting off the speaker when plugged in to the headphone jack? Another disappointment. Why not a place to carry the power cord and converter? A pocket. A shelf. A trap door. Some clips. Something. Right now the cord is loose in an accessory bag or pouch away from the amp, just begging to be lost. I don't care about the special effects. I play with acoustic bands so I'm a 1-4-5 bassist. Even the drum machine is generally superfluous, though it's cute. I want a Line Out. So it will be used in the field and where portability is paramount. Otherwise, I guess another amp with the needed patch is in order.

  5 of 5 people found this review helpful.
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