Practice amplifier - rock songs lessons

Hey.

I'm a beginner guitar player. I'm following the Guitar Fundamentals here on GuitarTricks. I'm practicing with an electric guitar. For the moment without an amplifier.

[br]I'm thinking of buying a Roland Micro Cube GX as an amp. I've read good thinks abut it. But I've looked at some rock songs lessons here on GuitarTricks. Most of the lessons give an advice about how to set up your amp to get the wanted sound for that particular lesson. They usually give settings for Bass, Middle, Trebble, Pressence... The Roland Micro Cube does not have different knobs for this. It only has a Tone knob.

[br]So, I'm thinking if I'll have problems setting the Roland Micro Cube amp to get the same sound on the guitar when doing a song lesson. If you have a Roland Micro Cube amp, did you had any problems doing rock songs lessons here on GuitarTricks? Or do you have an advice for a better practice amp?

[br]I'm also thinking about these amps:

- Fender Mustang GT 40[br]- Marshall Code 25

[br]They are a bit more expensive and I'm wandering if they are too loud for an apartment and if they actually sound better then the roland micro cube. Also, what I like about the cube is the fact that it can run on batteries and when I want to practice in another room I don't have to drag my power cord with me.

Any advice? Thanks

Hi and welcome, rather than type my thoughts I shot a quick vid of mine. And I forgot to mention that there are apps like Tone Bridge that will give you exactly the tone for a certain song, you might want to check that out on youtube.

Cube

The Roland micro cube is a good little amp for it's price and you'll be able to get plenty of good tones out of it, another option in that price range could be a second hand line 6 pod, you'd have to use headphones with it but you can link it up to you laptop through the aux input and play along to the lessons with it and it has loads of different amp models so you should be able to match the sound of whatever lesson or song you are doing.

Wow, man. You took the time to make a video. Thanks :)

So, from what I got, you managed to learn and play different songs, that have different tones, using the Roland Micro Cube.

I know that from a practice amplifier you will not be able to get the perfect sound. I just want to get a pretty similar sound so that the song sounds ok when played. And, from what I got from you, you can do that with the roland micro cube.

But let's go with an example. Let's say you want to learn: Tainted Love ( https://www.guitartricks.com/lesson.php?input=27517&s_id=2307 )

In the lesson it says the settings for the amp are:

Fender Deluxe Model:[br]Drive: 35% Bass: 45% Mid: 55% Treb: 60% Presence: 65%[br]Spring Reverb:[br]WetDryMIX: 35%

How do you set you Roland Micro Cube since it does not have knobs for Bass, Mid, Treb, Presence? You probably do it by ear and try to get a similar sound like in the lesson. Right? If that is right, then this might be difficult for me since I am a beginner. And it might be easier on an amp that just has knobs for this settings.

Thank you

Originally Posted by: zeveionut

I know that from a practice amplifier you will not be able to get the perfect sound. I just want to get a pretty similar sound so that the song sounds ok when played. And, from what I got from you, you can do that with the roland micro cube.

But let's go with an example. Let's say you want to learn: Tainted Love ( https://www.guitartricks.com/lesson.php?input=27517&s_id=2307 )

In the lesson it says the settings for the amp are:

Fender Deluxe Model:[br]Drive: 35% Bass: 45% Mid: 55% Treb: 60% Presence: 65%[br]Spring Reverb:[br]WetDryMIX: 35%

How do you set you Roland Micro Cube since it does not have knobs for Bass, Mid, Treb, Presence? You probably do it by ear and try to get a similar sound like in the lesson. Right? If that is right, then this might be difficult for me since I am a beginner. And it might be easier on an amp that just has knobs for this settings.

Thank you

You're actually over thinking this. Find a tone you like and go with it and then get your practice in. All these little amps give enough tone variations to work for any genre.

On a whim i drilled 3 2" holes on back of the mustang 1 to see if it would improve the tone.. it did in spades and effects like delay come alive. It gets rid of the boxiness in tone and let's the amp breathe giving more articulation, depth, and makes the tone's sound like they are coming from a much bigger speaker.... Just used a 2" holesaw blade with a drill on the back board lower left and right corners and up a tad in center for the 3rd hole.. the 2 port's on left and right should be adequate though.

I've had a Roland Microcube for many years. And I do dig the little thing. Just pulled it out of storage this weekend in fact. Been in the closet for about 8 years. Realized I didn't take the origial batteries out before putting it away. Was expecting a leaky catastrophy when I opened it. To my great relief, everything was ok. On a whim I hit the power button. IT WORKED! Mind blown...

On a side note, just picked up a Boss Katana 50. I would get one of these instead if the budget allows. It's delightful.