Flextone III

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JPXTom

JPXTom

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Since i kinda screwed up my last line 6...but still loved its tone, i was thinking about getting a flextone...any opinions? Oh and im not looking for "tube amps all the way!" responses here...i know, their great..but i'd rather pay 600/700 for an all purpose amp that has everything i need, that sounds exactly how i want. instead of like...4 grand for all the stompboxes/pedals and stuff. Im curious, for the people that have used it, how is it compared to lets say..the line 6 spider spider II/other solid state amps and in general?
 
Other options,
I read Gplayer shootout of a few SS with effects 30watt range and it chose some Kustom SS/effects amp for small HR.
But of the 4 voters, it seemed to me the Marshal SS/ DFXMG30 was picked by all of them as very good. (which kind of made it the winner).
But then after reading that some other guitarist forums a review said "it (Mg30) sounded great for the 1st week..." (then the Marshal had broken down).
Then I read more and the Marshal MG30 sounded to have numerous problems?
Totally going against what the shootout in GP said? confusing.

I heard the Flextones sound good at low volume. You crank it up for live and they smell of burnt wiring.
Thats all I read, I don't know ...you owned one.
what happened to it?
and why are you buying another if yours burnt out?

GC had some Flex for $259 new...Craigslist had one for $175 for a Flex 2.
GC had the MG30 for $190 new. Never saw the Kustom.

Speaking of stomp boxes Lt. Bob mentioned the Utopia pedals....plug that in your amp.
 
COOLCAT said:
Other options,
I read Gplayer shootout of a few SS with effects 30watt range and it chose some Kustom SS/effects amp for small HR.
But of the 4 voters, it seemed to me the Marshal SS/ DFXMG30 was picked by all of them as very good. (which kind of made it the winner).
But then after reading that some other guitarist forums a review said "it (Mg30) sounded great for the 1st week..." (then the Marshal had broken down).
Then I read more and the Marshal MG30 sounded to have numerous problems?
Totally going against what the shootout in GP said? confusing.

I heard the Flextones sound good at low volume. You crank it up for live and they smell of burnt wiring.
Thats all I read, I don't know ...you owned one.
what happened to it?
and why are you buying another if yours burnt out?

GC had some Flex for $259 new...Craigslist had one for $175 for a Flex 2.
GC had the MG30 for $190 new. Never saw the Kustom.

Speaking of stomp boxes Lt. Bob mentioned the Utopia pedals....plug that in your amp.
Click to expand...

MGs have crappy fans that are noisy as hell and don't do anything, not to mention no tone at all. Distortion sounds cheap, effects are crap, and clean is decent at best.

The Spiders are just as bad if not worse. The effects on them sound completely digital, which is fine, if you like playing guitar like a synth.

The Vox Valvetronix seems to be the best, if not the only good, modeler I've come across in the lower price range. Otherwise, the Vetta II is pretty nice.
 
I owned a Flextone III. They sound decent at lower volumes, as the last poster said. Turned up loud the stock speaker in mine rattled and was annoying and the sound gets brittle as it gets louder. Its a good little practice amp to get a wide variety of sounds from, or good for people who haven't quite honed in on what their taste in tone actually is.
I did like the clean tones, better than most solid state amps. But poor representations of the amps they are supposed to sound like. The biggest thing missing is the dynamics that a good amp would have. It still plays like a cheap solid state amp. Set up a "blackface" clean amp model and see how it responds to your pick attack. Does the tone or sustain change the harder you play, or merely the volume?? I've never heard a Line6 actually pull off a mildy overdriven sound. Spanky clean- check, heavy overdrive or extreme distortion- check. The sound of a Blackface Fender on the verge of breakup- can't do it and never will. Thats ultimately the reason I gave up on modelers after a couple Line 6 and a digitech unit. I could not get those crunchy clean sounds I wanted.
 
goodbyebluesky said:
a digitech unit. I could not get those crunchy clean sounds I wanted.
Click to expand...

yeah I got a digitech without listening to it, online buy....

after listening to it... i still went without it.:p

it was the RP shit-series, I think it was the POS model.
 
Oh and... the Flex is definitely a couple steps up from the Spider. Its like a Vetta without the full entourage of amp models, and the effects aren't nearly as fancy.
The only complaint I had about the effects on my Flex was the limited control. Especially the delay........ I like to get picky setting the parameters to get the delay like I want it, and you just couldnt do it with 1 knob.
 
COOLCAT said:
Other options,
I read Gplayer shootout of a few SS with effects 30watt range and it chose some Kustom SS/effects amp for small HR.
But of the 4 voters, it seemed to me the Marshal SS/ DFXMG30 was picked by all of them as very good. (which kind of made it the winner).
But then after reading that some other guitarist forums a review said "it (Mg30) sounded great for the 1st week..." (then the Marshal had broken down).
Then I read more and the Marshal MG30 sounded to have numerous problems?
Totally going against what the shootout in GP said? confusing.

I heard the Flextones sound good at low volume. You crank it up for live and they smell of burnt wiring.
Thats all I read, I don't know ...you owned one.
what happened to it?
and why are you buying another if yours burnt out?

GC had some Flex for $259 new...Craigslist had one for $175 for a Flex 2.
GC had the MG30 for $190 new. Never saw the Kustom.

Speaking of stomp boxes Lt. Bob mentioned the Utopia pedals....plug that in your amp.
Click to expand...

I had a spider..not a flex. Im going to GC(hopefully) tomorrow, to check it out in person...so i'll see..but i wanted to get other peoples impressions. And as for marshall MG..i really dont like them, their better than others, but i'd rather go AVT, if i was going marshall solid state..even though the AVT is kind of a hybrid. Like I said, i liked my spider's sound...but i want something a bit better...and if its a pretty nice step up from a spider, than i should enjoy it..and as for effects, im probably gonna get some pedals. But thanks for those that replied, especially the person that had the flextone. Oh and another sidenote, how good are the speakers in a flextone? I was thinking about bumping them up to Celestion G12T-75W.
 
The AVT is really just another solid state amp and sounds like it on a recording. Well I take part of that back, the cleans and light crunch sound better and less harsh than the mg but when you crank the distortion it starts to lose it.
 
a 12ax7 in the pre usually just equates to a harsher and more brittle tone. new marshall = fail

edit
that isn't to say that a full tube amp will sound brittle because of a 12ax7, quite on the contrary. most of the time it's the power tubes that give the great tone as well as the overall circuit, so don't buy into the "it has a tube therefore it must sound kind of like a tube amp" hype
 
yeah, it wasn't long ago the rack mount pre-amps with a pre tube was the "fad".:rolleyes:
#1 sellers..... Everyone was making them....kind of like the Class A 5watts having a resurgence.


How about a All Tube Amp with Effects unit built in? Like a TUBE Flextone?:D
 
JPXTom said:
I had a spider..not a flex. Im going to GC(hopefully) tomorrow, to check it out in person...so i'll see..but i wanted to get other peoples impressions. And as for marshall MG..i really dont like them, their better than others, but i'd rather go AVT, if i was going marshall solid state..even though the AVT is kind of a hybrid. Like I said, i liked my spider's sound...but i want something a bit better...and if its a pretty nice step up from a spider, than i should enjoy it..and as for effects, im probably gonna get some pedals. But thanks for those that replied, especially the person that had the flextone. Oh and another sidenote, how good are the speakers in a flextone? I was thinking about bumping them up to Celestion G12T-75W.
Click to expand...

The AVT is just a glorified MG, and it's pretty much just as crappy.
 
Guitarer said:
The AVT is just a glorified MG, and it's pretty much just as crappy.
Click to expand...

I guess..idk i liked it more when i was playing the avt than the mg, but their both pretty bad regardless...from what ive heard, from the person that answered my question...the flextone is better than the spider..and that was my question from the start, so thank you to that person.
 
check this out.

Guitar Player Mag 30watt SS amp shootout...

Marshall MG30

It did really well? this is the kind of shit that confuses.

I tend to trust the forum here more, as people are usually owners and weren't doing a 30minute shootout....and probably not getting free dinners from salesmen.

just thought to throw this link in, it almost had me buy a MG....GC said $190 brand new.

http://www.guitarplayer.com/story.asp?sectioncode=6&storycode=18096

how it relates to the Flextone Post? uhmm??? Solid STate small HR effects unit amp!:D
 
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