Spider III vs MG100HDFX
- Thread starter NTK88
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Guitardude324
New member
Sloan
New member
The MG and Spider lines are definitely amps to stay away from. For the price, you can usually score something much better.
Yeah they both work and produce sound, but all the MGs I've played are very brittle and just kinda gross, and the Spider amps tend to wow you with "cool" effects at the store, but, to me they aren't a guitar amp - they're a powered multieffects unit with with a speaker.
Yeah they both work and produce sound, but all the MGs I've played are very brittle and just kinda gross, and the Spider amps tend to wow you with "cool" effects at the store, but, to me they aren't a guitar amp - they're a powered multieffects unit with with a speaker.
JPXTom
New member
I have a spider II 150W head, through a 4x12 with Celestion G12L-35's. I love its sound compared to a marshall MG...however, i am soon upgrading to a tube amp whether it be a peavey classic 30, valveking, orange tiny terror etc. Its awesome to start with...i couldnt ask for a better sound coming from a 350 dollar rig(bought it used). However, it will probably leave you asking for a "realer" tone. The Flextones actually i think are a bit better than the spiders..im also thinking about one of those as well.
tc4b
Yeah I been drinkin, SO!?
I am a regretful spider owner. I bought it for the variety of tones, but after a couple years with it every one sounds like cheap shit to me. Now I'm trying to cobble together funds to purchase a Tiny Terror and a cab of some kind, or at least a blues jr. If I could go back in time, I'd buy a real amp the first time. I used to think people bashing digital amps were just snobs, and maybe they are, but I am a convert based solely on personal experience.
ocnor
Lord Of The Thighs
That depends on whether you prefer dog crap or horse poop.
I've heard from a couple people that the guy from StaticX uses MG's live. I've recorded one several times and while it isn't the best it certainly isn't unusable. Of the two I'd go with the Marshall, again, not great but IMHO it's far better than the Spider, hell even the Spider Valve blows.
prestomation
New member
I love all the hating around here.....
I have an older MG15 with a busted driver. I run it into my other cabs for recording sometimes, I think it's solid for what it is, It was one of the ones with the dual gain knobs.
I gig with a Spider 2 1x12". Our other guitarist gigs a 2x12" with Mesa F-something(50 maybe) with a dozen stompboxes. I run straight into the Spider, and, besides a little bit of Line 6 fizz, I think the Spider holds its own. Not worth 4 times the weight and price tag for live use, IMO.
But between those, definitely the line6.
I have an older MG15 with a busted driver. I run it into my other cabs for recording sometimes, I think it's solid for what it is, It was one of the ones with the dual gain knobs.
I gig with a Spider 2 1x12". Our other guitarist gigs a 2x12" with Mesa F-something(50 maybe) with a dozen stompboxes. I run straight into the Spider, and, besides a little bit of Line 6 fizz, I think the Spider holds its own. Not worth 4 times the weight and price tag for live use, IMO.
But between those, definitely the line6.
Sorry to disagree but the line 6 doesn't hold a candle to any mesa or any other tube amps for that matter. The spider is by far the crappiest amp I've ever had the displeasure of recording. Even the spider valve is pretty crappy.
JPXTom
New member
Maybe if you take it from the common listeners point of view, or even someone like me that is half common lister, half studio/musician/gear-crazed person...where sometimes its hard to hear the difference between a 200 dollar piece of gear and a 1000 dollar piece of gear. Maybe its a possibility with tweaking and the right placement etc..u can get some sick tones..i believe that. And this is also someone hearing it in the moment...placed side by side so...you never know.
marshall vs line 6
mesa blows well,for the dollar amount anyway the Peavey JSX is what im using now if I had the money to blow ,it would be on a VHT pitbull I put it up against a mesa rectifier and the VHT stomped it as far as the line6 and the marshall goes, the mg is a joke it is definately a powerful amp though my old rythm guitarist had one and we were constantly having to mess with the sound to get it right I ended up settin him up with my old digitech RP1 and we ended up giving him a good digital signal into the clean channel on his marshall as far as something you can plug straight into and get a decent sound as far as overdrive,the line 6 kills the marshall for that but then again youre still running a digital pre so whats the real difference? the amount of money spent!! with that said go with a line 6 if you cant afford a good tube amp and if you can afford a good tube amp ,get a JSX
sorry everyone mesa is decent but not worth all the hype,neither is KRANK
mesa blows well,for the dollar amount anyway the Peavey JSX is what im using now if I had the money to blow ,it would be on a VHT pitbull I put it up against a mesa rectifier and the VHT stomped it as far as the line6 and the marshall goes, the mg is a joke it is definately a powerful amp though my old rythm guitarist had one and we were constantly having to mess with the sound to get it right I ended up settin him up with my old digitech RP1 and we ended up giving him a good digital signal into the clean channel on his marshall as far as something you can plug straight into and get a decent sound as far as overdrive,the line 6 kills the marshall for that but then again youre still running a digital pre so whats the real difference? the amount of money spent!! with that said go with a line 6 if you cant afford a good tube amp and if you can afford a good tube amp ,get a JSX
sorry everyone mesa is decent but not worth all the hype,neither is KRANK
Mesa's aren't any more expensive than any other amp in that range. JSX's are between 1300 and 1400 bucks and a comparable Dual Rec is in that same price range. However I will agree the JSX is a bit easier to work with but it's not a "blown away" feeling I get when I compared the two. The Pitbull, to me anyway, was somewhat thin sounding and no matter how much I tweaked it there was still something lacking and that was thru a Bogner cab with tons of balls. Also Recs aren't mesa's only amps(which everyone seems to think is the only mesa) some of their affordable stuff sounds amazing. I have a DC3 that'll hold its own with just about everything I've worked with and that includes the above mentioned amps. I also just recently worked with one of their new Express amps which IMHO can hold its own with the likes of Orange, Bogner, Hiwatt, etc... I also will continue to stick to my guns and say of all the many many amps I've worked with the Spider is pretty much rock bottom.
Well I've worked with spiders side by side with quality amps and the differences were pretty damned obvious. I had a buddy with a spider who never seemed interested in borrowing one of my amps for live use(he thought 30 watts wouldn't cut it). One day he called me in a panic because his spider broke down. I let him borrow my AC30 and after the show he wouldn't shut up about how amazing the tone was. I literally took him to get a quality amp the very next day. Now a casual listener may not notice a huge difference but I do think if it was pointed out to them they probably could.
Superhuman
Shagaholic
I have an MG100DFX amp (not the head) that I got a few years back, it may not by top shelf gear but for the money it still bangs out a nice tone. My biggest complaint is that it lacks serious power for rhythm but I can still generate a damn fine lead tone with mine. Also, more than loud enough for playing with a drummer. Still though, I rarely use it now as I favour my Rocktron Prophesy or Mesa Rig
niether are good but If i had to choose between the two I would take the Marshall. In my last band the lead guitarist played a Marshall MG50 and the rythmn guitarist plays a Spider 2x12. The lead guitarist got a fine enough tone for what it was but nothing close to great. The rythmn guitarists tone though is/was just crap. The guy w/ the MG got kicked out I took over his spot but before that I would cover for both of them when they missed practice. It was hard to get a good tone out of either amp and damn near impossible to get a useable tone out of the Spider.
I've had many people come up to me after shows and ask what was wrong with the rythmn guitar players amp.
As you can tell im not a fan at all of the amps.
Try getting something used thats a step above. Even a Marshall AVT50 although not high end marshall is alot farther along.
Or save a little bit and get a Ceriatone amp www.ceriatone.com
I've had many people come up to me after shows and ask what was wrong with the rythmn guitar players amp.
As you can tell im not a fan at all of the amps.
Try getting something used thats a step above. Even a Marshall AVT50 although not high end marshall is alot farther along.
Or save a little bit and get a Ceriatone amp www.ceriatone.com
prestomation
New member
https://homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?p=2387751#post2387751
This was a WIP almost a year ago. Nevermind what I think, it got a lot of positive feedback in that thread. Guess what, my $300 Epiphone through my $300 Spider 2 comprise the guitar tracks.
I'm glad you guys can spend that kind of money on amps, but, as a poor college student, I appreciate the tone L6 gives me for the money.
This was a WIP almost a year ago. Nevermind what I think, it got a lot of positive feedback in that thread. Guess what, my $300 Epiphone through my $300 Spider 2 comprise the guitar tracks.
I'm glad you guys can spend that kind of money on amps, but, as a poor college student, I appreciate the tone L6 gives me for the money.
ocnor
Lord Of The Thighs
If harsh and brittle was the intended guitar tone then you nailed it. You can get pretty much the same sound running a Metal Zone pedal direct into a soundcard. I agree with you that Mesa amps are overpriced and Line 6 are cheap but in between those two price extremes there is a bunch of good sounding amps.