Well!! The little beast arrived today. Naturally, it's covered in rat fur -- dunno, but this seems wishful thinking on such a small cab.
I'm totally fried from the Day Job, but first impressions are good. No, it's not gonna cause the house's foundation to settle. However, the four-band EQ gives it plenty of leeway for usage; I raised the mid-high knob & discovered that I reallyREALLY need to work on my left-hand muting of open strings, but when I trimmed that & the highs I could happily whang away.
And I need to correct myself -- it's actually the LowDown Studio
110. I got it confuffled with the Roland Cube Bass 100.
Is it worth $300? Hmm.
Well, let's make that a "qualified yes." It's a hell of a "beginner" amp, the tone is good, & it has plenty of options without overkill. I could see this being a pro player's backup amp -- if a player's already used to running straight to the PA, this could actually be a step up, as well as making the sound guys very happy. The preamp out is pretty much what everyone's used to, but the XLR direct out feeds a simulation of a miked cab, offering a unique richness.
It's listed as having four amp models: Clean, R&B, Rock, Grind. Each has a pushbutton, & the change is mostly seamless. I can see where some might want a four-button footswitch, but really (IMO) that'd be overkill on something this small & lean.
At a fast run, I'm not (yet) impressed with the Grind sound. Both Rock & Grind suffer a bit when the Drive knob is brought up, giving a slightly farty buzz rather than proper wounded-rhino overkill like John Entwistle or Felix Pappalardi or Jack Casady -- Les Claypool would probably laugh his ass off; I could see where it'd work best with the B of a five. But with Clean (& to a lesser extent R&B) the Drive adds a nice bit of edge.
Now, I say FOUR models, but that ain't quite so. If you push the middle two buttons, it brings up a Synth voice. I thought I'd hate this, but it may have its uses. Downside: tracking. I have to play very clean or it latches onto the wrong note. Then again, I could (see above) use this to keep track of my sloppiness & help me tighten up. I don't yet know how to defeat the envelope follower. It'll never replace a keyboard synth bassline, but it does offer an onstage option.
And there's another sim: hold down two buttons at power-on, & it pulls up a 1970s Marshall sound.
Those four buttons are easy to reprogram with user tweaks -- just dial up a tone that suits you better, hold a button down for two seconds, & it locks those settings into memory.
Downer: using the "Brit" tone apparently erases user settings.
The chrome knobs are okay, & not easy to read. I may replace 'em with mini-chikens.
It really IS light (officially 24 lbs). I could walk into a gig with this in one hand & a guitar in the other without straining.
More later, maybe some photos.