OT, while everyone is talking amps...........

[Jonny Dubai]

i tried one in dubai..... yes the place is now awash with line 6 gear. To be honest it was a pretty decent amp. I am not too into all of the preset stuff, but i could squeeze some decent sounds from it when you take out all of the modulation and sruff. A decent price tag too.


J

 

[PBGas]

I actually sold my 2x12 Roadster combo and got the Spidervalve as an alternative. Quite frankly...I love it! I've used it on a pile of gigs thus far and I have an extemely loud drummer and bass player. I was worried it wouldn't cut enough but holy moly, for a 40 watter....it works great and I'm coming from a closed back 2x12 100watt combo.

Again, going into the store and fooling around with it for an hour isn't going to give you a fair assessment of how good or bad it is. Never dial in the stock presets! I've yet to find an amp that actually has presets I would use. Make your own up and go from there. Turn off all of the effects, get the basic tone and flavor to taste. I've used it live and it sounds great. Lots of push and a nice bottom end. I also hooked it up to my 1x12 Roadster cab and combined with that it's:



For what it is and what you are paying for it, it does the job very nicely. I don't have to carry around an arsenal of effects and pedal board with it, either. Just hook up the FBV shortboard and start mowing! The effects are decent enough....I'd like more control with them but it isn't the way it was designed for the price that the amp is sold for. One thing for certain, it is much more solidly built than the previous line 6 amps.

People tend to be a bit tube snobbish when it comes to these things. If it doesn't have the brand name of a certain company on it, it just isn't. I took home a JVM combo to gig with and all that I came back with was a cold, harsh sounding amp. I mean, you want to talk about digital distortion.....yikes. Beside my Recto, this thing was a mouse. I've always loved Marshall amps but this turned me off. The Spidervalve at least sounded much better. Do I miss my Roadster....yes. I loved that amp. Do I miss the 95 lbs that I had to lug each night? No way. There are pluses and minuses with anything. This amp works great with a small cab attached to it. As with any amp, you have to adjust your eq section as you increase your volume. Are you going to run full bass when you crank it full through a 1x12? No. It won't work that way and of course your going to drive the speaker beyond what it can do. If you are running a cab with it, you will be able to get a bit more bottom out of it. Personally, I hate the open back design and it is one thing I would change about this amp but with the cab attached, it doesn't bother me as much.

Needless to say, without the cab, the amp sounds great. Crystal clear and very punchy! The $$$ I save on the amp allowed me to get another BFR which was more important to me. The amp I can adjust settings, the guitar.....I'd rather start with the best.

 

[Sub1 Zero]

It scares me in terms of survivability. Made in China, rather complex, and tube amps do have a rep for being a little less rugged by design... I don't know if I'd feel safe gigging it, plus it costs an awful lot when you consider where it's made (again, back to survivability).

Personally, I'm taking the advice of another forumite and going with a rack system and effects processor

 

[JeffreyB]

We just got one in this week (the 212 combo...and I've been too busy to try it out!)
I'll see if I can get some clips with it soon...
It's sitting next to a Mesa Stiletto Head and 412 cab....hmmmmmmmmm

 

[dwells]

YES ive played one a few times < not bad but really compared to a real amp dont bother, just buy a proper valve amp why wast money on an amp that models other amps then tries to be a valve amp then models a valve amp into a non valve amp what the hell buy a boogie

 

[Jimmyb]

or a Hiwatt

 

[PBGas]

It scares me in terms of survivability. Made in China, rather complex

THis is true. I have this amp for now because it's easy to carry and I don't have to take a lot with me when I gig. So far, so good. I pulled the chassis on it to look and compared to the Flextone crap, things look a bit cleaner in there and well put together. Still.....with chips and circuit board, you never know.

 

[roburado]

I tried one of the Spider Valve combos. Maybe, the problem was that I was scrolling through the presets. I hated them all. Man, how many presets are there with tremolo? It seemed like every other preset had tremolo. To me, it sounded like the Spider. The "Valve" part didn't seem to make a difference. Maybe, I need to strip out all the darn effects and just listen to the amp models.

Personally, I prefer tubes.

 

[petruccirocks02]

I tried one of the Spider Valve combos. Maybe, the problem was that I was scrolling through the presets. I hated them all. Man, how many presets are there with tremolo? It seemed like every other preset had tremolo. To me, it sounded like the Spider. The "Valve" part didn't seem to make a difference. Maybe, I need to strip out all the darn effects and just listen to the amp models.

Personally, I prefer tubes.

I definitely agree with the preference of tubes. The Spider Valve sounds just like the Spider III to me. I couldn't even tell that it had tubes in it because they both sounded exactly alike. Mesa all the way! Haha.

-Phil