Roland Mobile Cube
Because of the nature of a violin and the audience it tends to attract, the need for high volume amplification is occasional at best. I am a fan of distortion-free “loud,” but for live performances it is important to be able to scale down appropriately. This happens when one is basically engaged to perform as background music. In contrast to the dance band for a wedding, violin music may be put far enough in the background that people can talk over the playing.
The Roland Mobile Cube is almost perfect for this purpose. It runs on multiple AA batteries and has reverb and delay effects built in. It’s set up so that it can be used for guitar or electric violin, supports a microphone, and is plenty loud for so-called “background” live performances. Because my performances rely on stereo effects, although the Mobile Cube is a stereo device, I use two of them for a widely separated (> 30 feet if possible) stereo effect.
