There’s a particular kind of magic that happens when a musician sets up on a street corner, opens a guitar case, and starts playing. No stage, no ticket prices, no intermediary between the sound and the crowd. Street performance is one of the oldest live formats in the world—and for the past decade or so, the Roland Cube Street EX has been the machine underneath a lot of those memorable corner sessions.
This is not the amp Andy Summers played when he layered chorus through the Police’s “Every Breath You Take.” It’s not the amp Robert Smith used to define post-punk shimmer, or Johnny Marr used to chase chiming jangle-pop perfection. Those three all made history with the Roland Jazz Chorus JC-120, a different amp entirely. And James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett built their careers on Mesa/Boogie high-gain rigs—the idea of them busking with a battery-powered 50-watt combo is a colorful fiction. The spreadsheet attribution that connects these five artists to the Cube Street EX is Roland brand equity spreading sideways across a product line, not documented gear history. We’ll deal with the actual verified players shortly.
What the Cube Street EX is, is something more interesting than a celebrity endorsement story: it is the amp that democratized professional-quality portable sound for working musicians who perform in parks, plazas, subway stations, festival fringe stages, and intimate outdoor venues worldwide. That’s a different kind of legacy—and a legitimate one.
Origin Story: From CUBE to CUBE Street to EX
Roland introduced the original CUBE amplifier series in 1978, and the line has been a cornerstone of the company’s guitar amp portfolio ever since. The CUBE’s defining characteristic from the start was portability combined with respectably voiced solid-state amplification—something that didn’t exist in that form before Roland built it.
The busking-specific CUBE Street arrived at Summer NAMM 2007 as a direct answer to a gap in the market. Street performers needed an amp that could run on batteries, handle microphones as well as instruments, and survive outdoor conditions without being so heavy that carrying it defeated the purpose of being mobile. The original CUBE Street delivered 5 watts through two 6.5-inch speakers, eight COSM amp models, six digital effects, and up to 15 hours of battery life on six AA cells. Industry media—Guitar Player, Guitar World, MusicRadar—gave it top marks in every “best busking amp” roundup it entered. It showed up on street corners around the world almost immediately.
Ten years down the road, Roland redesigned the concept from the ground up. The CUBE Street EX was announced on May 31, 2014, and represented a generational jump rather than an incremental update. Wattage went from 5 to 50—a tenfold increase. Speakers upgraded from two 6.5-inch drivers to two 8-inch woofers paired with two 2-inch tweeters. The channel count expanded to four, enabling configurations that rivaled a small PA system. The result was an amp that could handle a full acoustic duo-with-vocals performance, or a solo looping artist with a backing track running through the line input, without compromise.
In 2021, Roland transferred the CUBE Street lineage to its BOSS subsidiary. The BOSS CUBE Street II carried the concept forward with an onboard looper (up to 45 seconds of stereo recording), an automatic harmony feature, USB connectivity, and a weight reduction to 9 lbs. The CUBE Street EX is the bridge model between the pioneer and the current generation—discontinued in new production, but still widely available used and still relevant as a reference point for what a professional-grade portable amp looks like.
Specifications
Famous Players: The Honest Accounting
Before getting into the people who actually use the Cube Street EX, it’s worth being direct about the people who don’t. The spreadsheet-circulated artist list for this amp cites five names: Andy Summers, Robert Smith, Johnny Marr, James Hetfield, and Kirk Hammett. These are some of the most identifiable guitarists in rock history. They are also unambiguously documented on other Roland products—or on non-Roland gear entirely—and none of them have a verified connection to the Cube Street EX.
Andy Summers (The Police) built his signature tone through the Roland Jazz Chorus JC-120—a 120-watt stereo amplifier introduced in 1975 with no COSM modeling and no battery operation, built for the opposite purpose from a busking amp. Robert Smith (The Cure) similarly defined his sound through the JC-120’s pristine clean channel and built-in stereo chorus. Johnny Marr (The Smiths) is another well-documented JC-120 player. All three names appear on the Blues Cube Artist artist list in the same form, and were flagged as false attributions in that article. The same brand-equity inflation has been applied here.
James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett built Metallica’s guitar tone on Mesa/Boogie high-gain amplifiers and extensive custom ESP/ESP Signature rigs. The concept of either of them using a battery-powered combo intended for acoustic duos and busking is not plausible. No source of any kind connects them to the Cube Street EX.
The actual documented user base for this amp reflects what it actually is: a go-to for ambitious singer-songwriters, indie-acoustic acts, and street performers who eventually grew their audiences large enough to catch people’s attention.
Dea Matrona — the Belfast-based sister duo of Mollie McGinn (guitar/vocals) and Orlaith Forsythe (bass/vocals) — are the most clearly video-confirmed Cube Street EX users in the Equipboard record. Their cover of “Johnny B Goode” documents Orlaith using the Cube Street EX Amp, with the band noted as sharing gear and swapping instruments depending on the song. Dea Matrona built their reputation partly through exactly the kind of live setup this amp enables: high-energy duo performances that can work with or without a conventional stage.
Ren (of The Big Push) is documented on the Roland Street Cube EX in a 2020 YouTube busking video, “Watch Out (live busking 2020),” where the amp is visible at the 3:28 mark functioning as both guitar/bass amplification and vocal PA—exactly the dual-use configuration this amp was designed for. Ren has since built a substantial following on the strength of those kinds of documented street performances.
Ziggy Alberts, the Australian folk-acoustic artist, appears in an Instagram post using the Roland Street Cube EX while busking alongside Johnny Dustow, connected to a performance at Splendour in the Grass. Henry Lau, the Canadian-Chinese singer-instrumentalist, is photographed with one in a studio context. Amelia Murray is video-confirmed at a 2017 live performance.
That roster—indie artists, busker-to-stage graduates, duo acts, multi-instrumentalists who need a PA and an amp in one box—is not an accident. It maps directly onto what the Cube Street EX actually is. The amp doesn’t have the JC-120’s hall-of-fame artist list because it doesn’t do what the JC-120 does. It does something the JC-120 cannot: work in a park at 10am with no power outlet anywhere nearby.
It is worth noting that a generation of artists with documented busking backgrounds—Tracy Chapman, KT Tunstall, Rodrigo y Gabriela, Tash Sultana—built audiences through exactly the kind of street performance setup the Cube Street EX was engineered for. No verified connection to this specific SKU exists for any of them in primary sources; the BOSS historical article about the CUBE Street line names them in the context of busking culture generally. But the culture they represent is the context that makes this amp relevant.
How the Cube Street EX Actually Sounds
Sound on Sound’s Paul White reviewed the Cube Street EX in November 2015 and captured its essential character in a useful way: it is a sophisticated compromise that wins on versatility and portability more than it wins any single category outright.
The Clean COSM channel has what White described as “a springy, open sound, with a somewhat Fendery character”—the kind of chiming, articulate clean that makes acoustic-electric guitars and single-coil pickups sound polished without sounding processed. The Crunch channel responds to guitar volume-knob rollback, though it doesn’t clean up completely in Lead mode. White’s practical advice: run an overdrive pedal through the Clean channel rather than using the onboard gain modes for anything requiring precise drive control, because there’s no separate gain knob once you’ve selected Crunch or Lead.
The Acoustic Simulator (Acoustic Sim mode) is described as “very usable—importantly, it’s not overdone,” which matters: acoustic simulators that overcorrect sound like someone processing through a cardboard box. The A-Guitar preamp mode, designed specifically for acoustic-electric guitars with onboard pickups, offers a cleaner signal path optimized for the character of undersaddle or soundhole pickups rather than trying to voiceprint any particular acoustic body.
The reverb “sounds deep and musical” across both channels, and the chorus is described as producing “an almost 12-string-like shimmer” at its lowest setting. The delay is functional but fixed in level—louder than White preferred, with no way to adjust the echo volume relative to the dry signal. That’s a design constraint to understand before committing to it for live use; for anyone who needs precise delay mix control, an external delay pedal through the clean channel is the solution.
The eight-inch woofers give the EX genuine low-mid punch that smaller busking amps can’t match, though White notes the usual small-speaker limitations: “slightly ‘splashy’ high end and the usual lack of bass focus” for backing tracks, and a “familiar plastic-speaker ‘tubbiness'” at high volumes from the woofers working hard. At sensible volumes—Max mode for a busy street corner, Normal for a park, Eco for a coffee shop patio—the EX projects cleanly with enough dynamic range to feel like a real amplification system rather than a practice amp turned up.
The stereo image is present but limited when the amp sits on the ground with both speaker pairs facing forward. Mounted on the ST-A95 stand, the mono axis kills the stereo spread entirely as the cabinet rotates sideways. Two units in Stereo Link mode solve this properly, but that doubles the cost and the carry weight.
Tone Recipes
1. The Busking Clean — Solo Acoustic-Electric, High Foot Traffic
Power Mode: MAX (50W). Channel 2, A-GUITAR mode. VOLUME around 12 o’clock or slightly above. BASS: noon, MIDDLE: 1–2 o’clock (bring up the presence and definition), TREBLE: 11 o’clock (tame the pick-attack sharpness). REVERB: 9 o’clock (just a touch of room, nothing hall-like). Channel 1 for the vocal mic: separate VOLUME, EQ flat or MIDDLE cut at 9 o’clock if the mic is nasal. Keep the overall mix vocal-forward—the guitar is already present at street volume without help.
2. The Indie Singer-Songwriter Setup — Electric Guitar + Backing Track
Channel 2: CLEAN mode with a modest overdrive pedal (such as the Ibanez TS9 Tube Screamer) in the signal chain for anything beyond clean. VOLUME moderate, EQ shaped for the room—BASS cut slightly outdoors to avoid mud, MIDDLE forward. Line IN (stereo pair): connect phone/tablet for backing tracks, set Line IN VOLUME to blend underneath the guitar. REVERB on Channel 2: noon. Power Mode NORMAL (25W/10 hours) for a full set without worrying about batteries.
3. The Duo PA — Two Mics, One Amp
Channel 1: vocal mic 1 (XLR), balanced. Channel 2 in MIC mode: vocal mic 2 (XLR). Both channels: EQ to taste for each voice (typically BASS rolled back, MIDDLE forward, TREBLE adjusted for each singer’s natural resonance). REVERB on both: a touch for warmth but not so much it muddies syllables in a reverberant outdoor space. If a guitar also needs to come through, use LINE IN for an acoustic-electric with its own preamp or DI. This is the configuration where the EX closest approximates a small PA system rather than a guitar amp.
4. The Loop Station Partner — Crunch + Clean Stacks
Connect a loop pedal to Channel 2 input (clean signal in, loop output back to LINE IN). Set Channel 2 to CLEAN for the dry guitar signal. Loop playback through LINE IN, adjust LINE IN VOLUME relative to live Channel 2 so the loop sits a little underneath. For textural crunch on a loop layer, use a mild overdrive pedal before the loop pedal’s input—that overdrive is baked into the loop. Real-time playing on top stays clean. Chorus/Delay on Channel 2 at minimum setting adds just enough shimmer to separate the live tone from the loop playback.
5. The Electric Street Set — CRUNCH Mode, Single Coils
Power Mode: MAX. Channel 2: CRUNCH. Guitar volume at 7–8 out of 10 for the amp’s natural crunch character; roll back to 4–5 for cleaner passages. BASS at 10 o’clock (outdoor bass tends to mushroom), MIDDLE at 1 o’clock (cut through), TREBLE at noon. REVERB: 8 o’clock—just enough to give the notes a tail without smearing into the street noise. This setting works best with single-coil guitars; with humbuckers, expect the crunch to be thicker and consider switching to CLEAN with a drive pedal for more articulation. Footswitch the REVERB on/off between song sections if the venue changes from open plaza to covered arcade.
How It Compares
BOSS CUBE Street II — The direct successor. 9 lbs vs 16.4 lbs is a meaningful portability improvement. The Street II adds an onboard looper (45 seconds stereo), automatic harmony, USB, and Bluetooth MIDI. If you’re buying new, the Street II is the logical choice unless the EX’s 50W output ceiling and four-channel mixer are important to you—the EX’s mixer capability is slightly more flexible for complex duo or backing-track setups. Used EX prices and new Street II prices are comparable, making this a genuine decision rather than an obvious upgrade.
Roland Blues Cube Artist — The amp that gets you Tube Logic voicing, 80 watts into a 12-inch speaker, and a Tone Capsule slot for dialing in signature sounds. It requires a power outlet. As a home practice amp or rehearsal-room amp it’s a better guitar amplifier than the Cube Street EX; as anything requiring battery operation or multi-channel mixing capability it doesn’t compete at all. These are products for fundamentally different use cases that share a brand name.
Quilter Aviator Cub — 50W solid-state combo with three vintage-Fender-voiced input jacks and a custom Eminence speaker. The Aviator Cub is a better electric guitar amplifier than the Cube Street EX in a head-to-head tone comparison, with a more sophisticated voicing system and higher speaker quality. It does not run on batteries. It handles one instrument at a time. For the working guitarist who plays ticketed club shows with house PA and needs no portability, the Quilter wins. For the musician who needs to perform unamplified from a battery in a plaza, it’s irrelevant.
Fender Acoustic SFX II / Fishman Loudbox Mini — Mains-powered acoustic-specific combo amps in a similar price range. Both offer dedicated acoustic voicing and better bass extension than the EX’s eight-inch woofers. Neither runs on batteries. The EX’s advantage: a single unit that handles electric guitar, acoustic, mics, and a backing track simultaneously, without a power outlet.
Bose S1 Pro — A portable PA system at roughly twice the price of a used EX. Better dispersion, slightly better low-frequency handling, and a built-in rechargeable battery. Andertons benchmarked it against the EX in a “Ultimate Busking Amp Challenge” format. The S1 Pro wins on pure sound quality in controlled settings; the EX wins on cost, flexibility of the guitar-channel COSM voicing, and the ability to run on standard AA batteries (the S1’s rechargeable is not field-replaceable mid-set). Choose based on budget and whether you want a guitar-amp voice or a PA-flat voice.
Buying Guide
The Roland Cube Street EX is discontinued from new production but readily available used. Used market prices in acceptable condition run approximately $250–$400 depending on cosmetic wear, included accessories, and whether the original AC adapter is present.
What to check when buying used: Power switch condition is the most commonly reported issue in long-term ownership—some units develop switch contact problems after heavy use. Test all four input channels. Run a signal through Channel 2 in each COSM mode and verify clean switching between modes. Check battery contact integrity: the battery compartment is exposed to sweat and outdoor humidity, and AA battery springs corrode over time. Ask the seller whether the BATTERY CHECK/MUTE button functions correctly—it’s a diagnostic tool as well as a mute switch.
Battery choice matters: Alkaline batteries give approximately four hours at Max power, eight at Normal, sixteen at Eco. Rechargeable Ni-MH batteries at 2,450 mAh give 5/10/20 hours respectively and are significantly more cost-effective for regular use. Roland’s optional BTY-NIMH/A Rechargeable Amp Power Pack (when available) extends those figures to 10/20/40 hours—genuinely useful for all-day festival fringe performances.
The i-CUBE Link caveat: The 4-pole mini jack i-CUBE Link interface was designed for Lightning-era iOS devices. Modern iPhones require an adapter, and the original CUBE JAM app may not be available or actively maintained on current iOS versions. If this connectivity feature is important to you, verify current app availability before purchasing. The LINE IN stereo pair using standard 1/4″ jacks is a more reliable connection for backing tracks in 2026.
Footswitches: The BOSS FS-5U, FS-6, and FS-7 are compatible. Adding a dual-switch FS-6 or FS-7 to Channel 2 enables footswitched chorus/delay and reverb toggling during a performance without reaching for the panel.
The ST-A95 speaker stand: Useful for fixed-position performances where height matters for projection, but rotating the cabinet kills stereo imaging. The angled base allows the amp to function as a floor monitor when positioned at the right angle—this mode preserves stereo imaging and works well for small stage monitoring.
Ownership Notes
The ABS injection-molded cabinet was specifically designed to pass Roland’s outdoor durability testing, and used examples bear this out—the plastic holds up to the casual knocks and transport conditions of regular street use better than MDF-cabineted predecessors. Dust the grille cloth regularly, especially after outdoor use, to prevent debris from working into the speaker surrounds.
The amp has no ground connection on the mains adapter, which means that if it’s used simultaneously with an earthed amplifier (for monitoring or FOH out), body contact with the microphone and guitar strings simultaneously can produce an unpleasant static tingle due to charge differential. This is not a fault—it’s a design characteristic shared with many battery-capable portable devices—but it’s worth knowing. Using a power conditioner or ground-lift adapter on the earthed amp resolves it.
Store the battery compartment with the batteries removed if the amp will sit unused for more than a few weeks. AA alkaline batteries are especially prone to leaking under stored conditions, and leaked battery acid will corrode the contacts and potentially damage the circuit board.
The Stereo Link function pairs two Cube Street EX units into a stereo PA with eight total inputs. If you’re gigging regularly and want true stereo width on a larger pitch, a second unit is the obvious upgrade path—pairs appear on the used market occasionally and the Link cabling uses standard 1/4″ TRS connections.
FAQ
How loud is the Roland Cube Street EX at Max power?
50 watts through two 8-inch woofers and two tweeters produces enough volume to command attention in most outdoor street settings without a PA system behind it. Sound on Sound’s reviewer described it as capable of performing “equivalent to a small PA system.” For busier, louder urban environments—high-traffic intersections, festival grounds with competing sound—the Stereo Link pairing of two units or routing the LINE OUT to a larger PA is the correct step up.
Can I run the Cube Street EX through a PA system?
Yes. The rear-panel LINE OUT (L/MONO, R) jacks output the full stereo mix at -10 dBu nominal level and connect directly to a mixer’s line inputs. Switching between LINE OUT and STEREO LINK mode is done via the rear-panel toggle. In this configuration the EX functions as a stage monitor for the performer while the LINE OUT feeds the FOH system.
Is the Acoustic Simulator mode actually useful?
More useful than most acoustic simulators at this price point, and reviewer consensus across Sound on Sound and forum discussions is “convincing within its limits.” It works better with single-coil pickups than humbuckers, and better at bedroom or rehearsal volumes than at full Max power where the high-frequency content becomes more obvious. If you regularly need to pass a Les Paul through an acoustic sim convincingly, a dedicated acoustic simulator pedal in the signal chain will outperform the onboard mode.
What’s the difference between A-GUITAR mode and Acoustic Sim mode?
A-GUITAR mode is a clean preamp specifically voiced for acoustic-electric guitars with undersaddle, soundhole, or internal mic pickups—it adds presence and body while keeping the signal flat and natural-sounding. Acoustic Sim mode applies COSM processing to an electric guitar signal to make it sound like a miked acoustic guitar. They’re designed for different source instruments: A-GUITAR for an acoustic-electric, Acoustic Sim for an electric guitar you want to sound acoustic.
Can I use the Cube Street EX as a bass amp?
The EX can amplify bass guitar through Channel 1 (INST mode on the MIC/INSTRUMENT channel). The eight-inch woofers handle bass fundamentals up to a point, but at high volumes the low-end stress on these speakers can cause distortion or eventual damage. The amp is not rated or designed for bass amplification, and using it regularly for bass—especially with active pickups or at Max power—shortens driver life. For occasional use in a casual acoustic-adjacent session it’s functional. For regular bass performance, use a purpose-built bass amp.
How does the i-CUBE Link work and is it still relevant?
i-CUBE Link is Roland’s proprietary two-way audio interface that uses a 4-pole mini jack (similar to a TRRS headphone/mic jack). It connects an iOS device to the EX, enabling the CUBE JAM app to play backing tracks through the amp and simultaneously record the amp’s output into the app. The problem in 2026 is that the standard mini jack has been absent from iPhones since iPhone 7 (2016), requiring an adapter, and the CUBE JAM app’s current App Store availability and iOS compatibility should be verified before assuming this feature works. For practical backing track use, the LINE IN stereo pair using a standard 1/4″-to-1/8″ cable from any phone’s headphone adapter is more reliable.
The BOSS Cube Street II is available new. Should I still consider the EX?
The Street II is the better choice if you’re buying new and want the looper, the reduced weight (9 lbs vs 16.4 lbs), and current manufacturer support. The EX remains competitive on the used market if the four-channel mixer configuration and higher power ceiling matter for your specific use case—particularly duo or trio setups where two separate instruments and two vocal mics need to be mixed simultaneously. The Street II’s built-in features are more powerful per pound for a solo looping artist; the EX’s multi-channel capability is more flexible for small ensemble performances.
Can two Cube Street EX units be linked together?
Yes. The rear-panel STEREO LINK jacks (paired with the LINE OUT) enable two units to be connected with a standard 1/4″ TRS cable. In Stereo Link mode, the first unit’s full mix is sent to the second unit, which reproduces it through its own speaker pair. The result is a four-woofer, four-tweeter stereo PA with up to eight separate input channels. Setting the units far enough apart—at least two to three metres—produces genuine stereo imaging. This configuration is particularly effective for street or plaza performances where a solo artist wants to fill a wider physical space.