'How To' Articles

Amp Up Your Ukulele

The ukulele, which has never lost its popularity since its introduction by Portuguese immigrants to Hawaii in the late 1800s, is a continual best seller in Australian music stores. At Roland, we have several staff who play ukulele in many different styles and we realized that several of our new amplifiers are ideal for many ukulele applications.

When any acoustic instrument is used in a noisy performance venue, it benefits from quality amplification. The audience needs to hear you over the hiss of the espresso maker. No uke player wants to drag along a stack or high powered combo amp to amplify the delicate tones of the ukulele. We have chosen three of our new amplifiers that have unique features that ukulele players will appreciate and enjoy using for different music applications at home, outdoors or in concert.

Contributed by Roland Canada

Roland MOBILE AC Acoustic Chorus Amplifier

Designed to travel, the MOBILE AC gives you big sound in a small package that can fit in your backpack. It’ll operate for up to 15 hours on six AA batteries, so you can take it anywhere. This little amp gives you clear, spacious stereo sound you can enhance with the lush-sounding onboard effects, like reverb. Even alone at home, plug into the Mobile AC, put on your headphones and enjoy listening to your ukulele in a spacious concert hall environment. A whole new playing perspective!

Roland CUBE LITE Guitar Amplifier

Roland’s CUBE Lite compact combo amp is a fresh concept in home-friendly instrument amplification. It features professional COSM guitar tones (try overdriving your uke into the psychedelia zone!), iOS device integration, rich and full-sounding 2.1-channel audio, and contemporary styling that complements your living space.

The CUBE Lite’s 1/8″ i-CUBE LINK lets you use it with your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, while the CUBE JAM app lets you play along with minus-one tracks and record your playing mixed with the track. Looking for tracks? Try thousands of iTunes karaoke tracks or visit Karaoke Version for even more great sounding accompaniment music.

Roland AC-33 Acoustic Chorus Guitar Amplifier

Roland’s compact AC-33 stereo acoustic amplifier runs on AC or battery power, so you can truly take this big-sounding 30-watt (20 watts on battery power) rig anywhere you play. Its dual-channel configuration means you can plug in a mic and your ukulele, turning this amp into a true mini PA! AND, it features a built-in looper, so you can record your own accompaniment for on- your-own practice sessions.