Members danswon Posted January 9, 2011 Members Share Posted January 9, 2011 Can i get some opinions on this amp please? It's being offered fairly cheap and I'd normally snatch it up but I lost my job recently so I need to spend very carefully. I'm mainly interested in hard rock/metal tones from this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wimpy77 Posted January 9, 2011 Members Share Posted January 9, 2011 can you play it before you buy? if so do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members niceguy Posted January 9, 2011 Members Share Posted January 9, 2011 Well, I had the Spider II 50W combo amp. For hard rock/metal tones at home, it was splendid. I'd imagine the Spider III isn't too far off from the II. Live or in a band situation, it's the usual harshness, but still, it was a good amp for what it was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members cratz2 Posted January 9, 2011 Members Share Posted January 9, 2011 About three years ago, I wanted something reasonably big, but lightweight and capable of a little more than minimal volume level so I bought a 30W Spider II... the highest gain tones were decent, the clean cleans were decent, not great if you've spent decades with a decent clean tube amp... but the bluesy, barely breaking up type tones were severely lacking in my opinion. I mean, they are there, but it sounds REALLY transistorized to me. I went back and got a Vox AD30VT. The highest gain tones weren't quite as big and crushing as on the Line6, and it was more expensive and sounded almost too focused, probably because of the small closed back design, but the cleans and the barely breaking up tones were literally eleventy times better and that's not even a real number. Having said that, when my daughter switched from bass to guitar, I got her a used 75W Line6 Spider III. For pure cleans and for full on Insane gain tones, I think you'd be hard pressed to get anything better and louder for $75 - $150. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members danswon Posted January 9, 2011 Author Members Share Posted January 9, 2011 yes well i'm mainly interested in higher gain tones, think 80s hard rock/metal like Ratt or something. I'll try it but not if you guys tell me it's just dog{censored} anyway - need to know if it's even worth bothering Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members HELSTRUME Posted January 9, 2011 Members Share Posted January 9, 2011 I had one. Cleans and total metal sounds were alright. But the rock distortions were horrible imo. If you can get a Vox, do it instead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Flatspotter Posted January 9, 2011 Members Share Posted January 9, 2011 I have a Spider IV 30 that I use in my living room as my playing-guitar-while-watching-TV amp. I kicked it out of my music room because it has a nasty resonance on notes from about A to D on the 6th string. It goes away if you turn the bass way down, but I don't want to do that. I thought it was the cabinet/speaker, but I plugged the amp into a 2x12 extension cabinet, and it was still there. I agree with cratz2's assessment. The overdrive stuff isn't too good. I use a Demonizer in front of it, and it solves that problem nicely. If you can play one before you buy it, or get it from somewhere that has a good return policy, it's worth a listen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members cratz2 Posted January 9, 2011 Members Share Posted January 9, 2011 yes well i'm mainly interested in higher gain tones, think 80s hard rock/metal like Ratt or something. I'll try it but not if you guys tell me it's just dog{censored} anyway - need to know if it's even worth bothering Like I said, for modern high gain tones, I liked it well enough to get another for my daughter. But only for those tones. For mild breakup, I'd say the Vox stuff is worth three times as much and for probably less money than the Line 6, the Fender Mustangs are top notch in that price range. I see you are in the UK and I know they like to kill you on the exchange rate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members danswon Posted January 11, 2011 Author Members Share Posted January 11, 2011 It would have helped if the HC user reviews weren't totally {censored}ed. Well I went to buy it today anyway, will post an update once if given it a proper test. Any other opinions would still be appreciated eg. good settings, speaker swaps, etc.Going to crank it at rehearsal on Friday - do you guys think it'll hold it together at volume? I'm thinking it'll be ok because I was using a 60w SS amp that was too loud at anything past 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members danswon Posted January 12, 2011 Author Members Share Posted January 12, 2011 First impressions are not good. Plating a tele at bedroom level at home - the clean sounds nice, but the other 3 channels (varying levels of distortion) sound absolutely terrible. I had it in mind to put humbuckers through it at much higher volume so I will give it a proper test. Even if i just end up having it as a nice clean amp to noodle on at home it's still worth it to me, got it pretty cheap and have no other amp at home at the moment Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members scuzzo Posted January 12, 2011 Members Share Posted January 12, 2011 there are a lot of ASS hats who just dump on line six gear with little or no experience with the stuff.. i dont know about the spider.. but i do think Line 6 makes good stuff as far as the PODXT and the like.. i would try it before you buy and then look at the other options Mustang, and a few other options are out there... but just give it a go..the Vyper also may be a good deal... VOX has afew of those model amp kinda things.. just head to the music store with an open mind.. and try um all out.. mho Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members acefreely Posted January 12, 2011 Members Share Posted January 12, 2011 I've got the Spider III 75 watt. It can make some decent sounds, I guess, if you feel like mucking around with it, but it's not for me. The presets are crap, they just sound like noise (not too mention there are like 400 of them). I used to like the cleans from it, but now that I've got my little Peavey tube amp I don't even like those any more. What really annoys me is that the amp resets to presets every time you power it on and off, leaving you to sort back through how you had it set again. Actually I want to sell it, it's not good for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members cratz2 Posted January 12, 2011 Members Share Posted January 12, 2011 I thought you said you were interested hard rock and heavy metal tones? :poke: Put some fairly high output humbuckers into the Insane channel... heavy metal tones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Special J Posted January 12, 2011 Members Share Posted January 12, 2011 Throw a DS-1 in front of whatever decent clean amp - boom, instant 80's metal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wimpy77 Posted January 12, 2011 Members Share Posted January 12, 2011 I have a spider II. If you want good tones from a spider amp YOU MUST play with it. You have to turn the knobs to get the tones you want. High gain channels imo a very decent. The crunch tones are iffy but if you throw a pedal in front it might help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wagdog Posted January 13, 2011 Members Share Posted January 13, 2011 I had a spider II for a while. Sounded pretty good by itself, but when playing with a band it was completely lost in the mix. I got rid of it. I'd say it could be usable as a practice amp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wimpy77 Posted January 13, 2011 Members Share Posted January 13, 2011 IMO they are definitely for practicing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members dparr Posted January 13, 2011 Members Share Posted January 13, 2011 I had a spider II for a while. Sounded pretty good by itself, but when playing with a band it was completely lost in the mix. I got rid of it.I'd say it could be usable as a practice amp. I have a friend that had one and this is exactly what he found out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Doctor49 Posted January 13, 2011 Members Share Posted January 13, 2011 I have a spider II. If you want good tones from a spider amp YOU MUST play with it. You have to turn the knobs to get the tones you want. High gain channels imo a very decent. The crunch tones are iffy but if you throw a pedal in front it might help. read the manual and then do this. You will feel much better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members craigny Posted January 13, 2011 Members Share Posted January 13, 2011 I had a Spider lll 15W it was ok for metal tones, i ended up trading it for some rack gear, but not a "bad" little amp for fooling around at home...but the metal tones diddnt sound good when i used it with my Parker when i had one...with high output HB's you should be ok...the bass was always way high, i had to turn it way down on the high gain settings...play with it and see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Hurtzher Posted January 13, 2011 Members Share Posted January 13, 2011 I use a Spider IV 75 as a practice amp. I feel it's the greatest practice amp ever (well, that I've tried, at least). As others have said, the barely broke-up sounds are not that great...but, it does good Van Halen and sooper clean and chorusy sounds really well. GREAT phaser and flanger too. If it came to it, I could easily gig with that amp (smaller gig fo'sho). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members LikesLoomis Posted January 13, 2011 Members Share Posted January 13, 2011 Throw a Keeley DS-1 in front of whatever decent clean amp - boom, instant 80's metal. fix'd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members dcooper830 Posted January 13, 2011 Members Share Posted January 13, 2011 I have a Spider II 150 2x12 combo and a Spider II 75 watt 1x12 combo. I love 'em! All the delay, reverb, chorus, flange, and some other cool effects easy to dial in an instant. And I get a really good rock tone by setting it on Insane Green and dialing back the gain a bunch.... also turning the Treble all the way down and MID and BASS all the way up. It gets a really growly crisp full sounding distortion that is completely useable at gigs. Although it does sound a little plastic-y..... but nothing anyone but me would notice. I rarely use them for gigs cause I have my Marshalls and my Peavey Classic 30s which sound better. I keep my Spider II 150 2x12 (with an FBV Shortboard) at the band rehearsal room....... and my 1x12 75 watt one in my living room for practicing. They're awesome! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Misha Posted January 13, 2011 Members Share Posted January 13, 2011 I'm glad to see a thread about a Line-6 amp with people admitting they like 'em without getting flamed because I have a little Line-6 Spider IV 15 Watts and I like it. I wanted an amp for heavier sounds and it does its job well. It looks sturdy and well built. I like the cleans and the crunch sounds too... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kayd_mon Posted January 13, 2011 Members Share Posted January 13, 2011 I picked out some gear for my dad so he could get back into playing guitar. I played the Spider back-to-back with a Valvetronix. The Vox was better in every way, IMO. I've never played a Line 6 amp that I've liked (and I'm not a tube snob), but I do like their PODs. I use an X3 Live sometimes, and I used to record with a POD 2.0. I used to have a SS Fender amp - they're the Frontman series now, I think - and I liked its gain channel better than the Line 6. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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