Line 6 amps?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Metal Titan
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mjbphotos said:
Utter crap. I'm sure the thousands (milions?) of Fender Twin Reverb and Deluxe Reverb combo amps would disagree as well.
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So you don't believe in the laws of physics? Google "combo amp tube vibration" and you will realize that you are talking out of your ass.

mjbphotos said:
The sound difference may or may not be significant between open back and closed cabinets
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Anyone that can't hear a significant difference between an open back and closed back cabinet should give up music and learn to build bird houses from popsicle sticks. Or maybe take up basket weaving.
 
Uh-huh.

And again.

If the amp is well made and the tubes and tube sockets are well mounted ...

Obviously bass vibrations would be the worse. If you are going to use a tube combo amp cranked up to very loud volume a lot, it's probably worth it to buy a separate head/speaker set.
 
the line 6 AX2 or something was a staple of Todd Rundgrens setup.... they can be found for $175 with pedal.
there's some really wild stuff on those amps....but they dont seem to be something for clean tones etc..

if your going ,multi-fx, maybe get a foot pedal and go into the board? Line 6 Pro even $100 used , and run it into a tube amp? a nice old Carvin $200, and a seperate speaker cab, Jensen for $50...
 
Todd used the old Flextone Line 6 amps. Not sure what model he is using now (mini-tour with Todd Rundgren's Utopia, prog-rock version), but if anyone is interested, I can find out what the backline is for him.

Don't have to worry about tube vibration/microphonics with the Line 6 Spider IV combo amps, they're solid state.
 
mjbphotos said:
Utter crap. I'm sure the thousands (milions?) of Fender Twin Reverb and Deluxe Reverb combo amps would disagree as well.

.
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plus a head sitting on a can gets as much vibration as a combo amp.

And my Mark V combo is hardly 'cheesy sounding.'

As for the OP's original question ....... personally if a studio told me they had a Line 6 amp I could rent that'd be all I needed to make sure I brought my own.
 
ocnor said:
Anyone that can't hear a significant difference between an open back and closed back cabinet should give up music and learn to build bird houses from popsicle sticks. Or maybe take up basket weaving.
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of course there's a significant difference. As you say ..... simple physics says there's gonna be a big difference.
That's NOT the same thing as 'open backed is cheesy sounding'
 
Metal Titan said:
Well id love to build a real pedal board. The problem with that is I want to keep things affordable for me and be able to have diversity in my effects. I play mostly a hard rock/ metal style but I often deviate. Also id like to be able to offer this to any bands I might be recording as some extra effects for them to use. Im mostly looking at line 6 for the pedals and such but im not sure about the amps so I want to be able to use them on any. Which I found out you can't do with the fbv shortboard mkii. Upseting for me because that has the sounds I like and is only $200
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You know, I've always thought having an amp with a lot of different "sounds" to it to play different styles is kind of overrated, and in fact I've always preferred live bands who stick with a couple "core" amp sounds live rather than using radically different channels/models for different sounds - it's part of a band's personality, I think, having a consistent guitar sound. Bonus - you'll learn how to coax different sounds out of the same amp sound using your pickups, volume knob, and touch on the guitar.

I've never been impressed by the Line6 Spider series (save for the surprisingly good clean on the Spider Valve - unfortunately the rest of the channels didn't live up to it), but for an affordable practice amp they're not half bad - certainly a cut above the Crate G-15R Flexwave I started on. However, you're not going to get much interest in renting out a Spider for recording.

Finding something better for $200 might be tough, of course, so if that's your budget then you might want to just go for it. However, if you can spend a little more there are definitely other good options out there - lately there's been a surge of low wattage high gain tube amps on the cheap - the Blackstar HT-5 really wasn't too bad, and I'd certainly take one over a Line6.
 
Somebody mentioned that alot of these solidstate Line 6 type sound really good at low volumes in the store. for example. And when people crank them up they fall apart. Speaking of the cheaper lines like Spider.

Also I think the speaker has a lot to do with it to. You may want to put a little back for a speaker swap...$40 $50. I bought a Jensen $20 on CL.

but most ss, in my shallow exp, sound like crap when cranked up.

if you're playing in a bedroom HR, a small used Line 6 might work fine. There's link after link of amazing sounding recordings using POD going direct and all that stuff.

as a lot of people posted you have to work harder when your gear is lesser, when you have top of the line of geardom, you can slap a 57 on it or a Neuman and you have a track...
 
CoolCat said:
Also I think the speaker has a lot to do with it to. You may want to put a little back for a speaker swap...$40 $50. I bought a Jensen $20 on CL.
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There is a reason why the solid state modelling amps do not have any of the name brand guitar speakers installed at the factory. A regular guitar speaker is not the ideal driver for a modeller that is - in theory - already spitting out the sound you need. Guitar speakers are intended for tube guitar amps where character building is part of the fun. With a modeller the character is already determined, and the speaker should be more hi-fi oriented, more custom design and custom spec tailored to the amp. Thaty's why Line 6 never put a pair of Jensens in an AX212 at the factory.
 
I know I'm a little late on this but I just have to say that I had no previous beef with line 6 personally. I've used a pod for about 8 years now with no problems and in several local country bars I've seen tons of little spider amps sound great when miced up. But at my last 3 gigs with my rock project ironically there have been one line 6 amp break down at each concert and the band had to bum an amp off of someone else mid set. This was enough to make me never want to own one in any pro environment. They were also the only people there using line6 equipment. I believe the amps were a flextone and two spiders one of them a smaller 30 watt ss spider and the other the larger 100 watt tube head (don't particularly know the model) I know you can't expect much from something in this price range but you also have to know when its time to upgrade.
 
Spider jam.

I have a spider jam amp. 75wat modeling and I really like playing it most of all the amps I have. That doesn't mean I don't like other amps. This amp has helped with my playing technics a lot .. It has really helped me with time, tricks, different scale runs and learning to play thinking out of the box. I don't think it would be a great amp for stage, but maybe a small gig or just goofing around with some friends.. It has 36mins of record time and a bunch of loops to really come up with some different tracks. The drums in it sound like some one is in the room playing with you. It's loud and sounds really good. When I'm done I just put a sd card in and save what I'm playing or hook to computer. It has USB out and RCA out in. It has xr jacks for a mic or guitar. And mp3. I us it every day and sometimes twice. It will fit right in with any DAW.
 
mjbphotos said:
Utter crap. I'm sure the thousands (milions?) of Fender Twin Reverb and Deluxe Reverb combo amps would disagree as well.

The sound difference may or may not be significant between open back and closed cabinets, but this is subjective, just like the sound of one guitar over another. What YOU like may not be the same was what THEY like.
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Perhaps he means the difference in sound may or may not be important to some people, even if it is easy to hear? Significant and important are both subjective terms and have similar meanings in this context, and I hope he did not intend to say that the difference is almost impossible to perceive.

I've never thought of open back as sounding cheesy, in fact it's a much more open and big sound. Stand behind your closed back cab and see how well you can hear yourself next to the drummer. Besides, I, unfortunately, love good cheese. Cheesy sound would be a Line 6 Spider.
 
I have the amp you are talking about (Line6 Spider Valve 212) and my experience with it is mixed. It offers a great range of sounds, you can program it, make presets, you don't even need other effects and it's great to play around (not to mention that it is pretty powerfull). But when it comes to professional recording / playing I think it is a little too not-good-enough (not to say the s word). Always had to use other amp for such occasions.
 
I have an original Flextone 1x12, a Flextone III XL 2x12, and the usual POD v2. IMHO (and it's just MHO), Line 6 got it right with the original Flextones. I'd have to say the original Flextone and the Flextone II are the best of the lot. The III is great for "oomph", but the sound of the I & II are just a tad better. None of them have that molten, saturated gain like the newer ones, but for a good clean Twin or a chunky Marshall sim, I really think they stand up super well.

To me, the hidden gem in the modeling/hybrid realm is the Peavey Vypyr Tube series. The Vypyr Tube 120 sounds immense, and the Tube 60 is excellent as well. I swapped out the stock speaker with a plain-Jane GT12-75 and it works wonders taking any edge off. The Eminence Delta 12-A is also great for a swap or extension.

Don't get me wrong . . . I love tubes amps, and have quite a few. But for small & medium gigs, the Flextones or Vypyr Tubes really come through. I was laying down a lead for a session a couple of months ago, and brought a Marshall DSL 50 with a 2x12 and the Peavey Vypyr Tube 60 loaded with a GT12-75. We ended up using the stock Bank 1/Patch 4 (Marshall high-gain) from the Peavey with the delay eliminated. Sounded exactly right, and was easy as pie . . .

Suds . . .
 
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