Line 6 Spider III 150 75Wx2 2x12 Stereo Guitar Combo Amp

good practice mp

Sound	Most of the time, I forget about the rest of the amp and focus on the insane channel. It has a lot of different tones, but for me this is a one trick pony and does that trick very well. I think the Spider nails the 80's hair metal vibe. I use the insane channel and max out the gain and mids. Then I pile on the phaser and begin shredding. It sounds ferocious and sometimes I forget how bad the rest of the amp really is. Once in a while I use the clean loaded with FX for jazz, but that doesn't happen much.
Reliability	You could gig this, as its loud enough, but why bother? There are much better amps out there. I've put mine through hell and the only ran into one problem, where the master volume knob broke off. Fo the most part I'd give it a good reliability rating.
Customer Support	Line 6 offers great customer support and there's a bunch of info on their forums.

Liked about it	The insane channel pumping out 80's hair metal shredding tones and the clean with (sometimes)
Didn't like	Most of the amp. most of the sounds. The echo could be better.

Overall satisfaction:

3.0

By The Rossness
Jan 30, 2010

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at 2 stores

Made me understand why the "digital=sucky tone" stereotype developed

Sound	While I have not really played very long with the amp (I was only able to rent one while in my bandmate's music studio), I have been exposed to quite a lot of tones in the past, probably enough for me to judge which tones sound great and which ones don't. And while I was not able to tweak custom presets myself, the amp's stock tones surely didn't excite me, even the high gain ones which are supposedly the amp's greatest assets (based on metalheads' opinions). For some reason, distorted presets have this annoying digital fizz going on in the background while you are playing, even when I set my guitar controls to warmer and "creamier" settings. I tried lowering the treble on the amp itself, but I simply couldn't find the happy balance between "dark and dull" and "sharp and painfully cutting". Cleans were much better for sure, but it still kinda left me looking for that organic "oomph" that even analogue solid state amps seem to have. These amps were probably designed either for practicing (although the thing is pretty big and heavy) or live playing, where the volumes would drown out the background fizz of the amp, or it could be EQ'd out when miced. Most beginning guitarists would love this amp due to the specs (amp models, effects, 2 speakers, 150 watts) and it probably isn't necessarily a bad thing, plus they wouldn't be very choosy at this particular point in their guitar-playing lives since they would still be focused on honing their chops, so a nice, heavy-sounding amp is all they'd need for the job.
Reliability	N/A, I don't own it
Customer Support	N/A

Liked about it	For sure, this amp can sound decent with time and the right knob turns.
Didn't like	1. Digital fizz going on in the background 2. Lack of organic "oomph" in cleans 3. Fake-sounding gain rolloff when playing softly on distortion presets

Overall satisfaction:

3.0

By theapprentice
Nov 11, 2009

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at 2 stores

best solid state amp out there

Sound	in have to tell you this guitar amp is absolutely suprising and modern sounding. ive always followed line six because they give you tone for the buck.they prove time after time tube is for tube and they can make something new and exciting.the added signature tones sound great and give nice sustain and bite.
Reliability	not abused i think this thing is a tank and is virtually maintance free unlike some tube amps that need constant attention and maintanence. ive never suffered failure on any of my line 6 gear.
Customer Support	i have never had to deal with them.

Liked about it	i gotta tell you i love the sound of this amp and would recommend it to anyone whos looking for a small home setup to give great tone at low volumes.i also love the lcd readout that has always been a big thing for me on any of my gear its just the modern thing to have.this amp just diggs in to the distortion and i just turn it on and it goers to town.
Didn't like	the amp could have more options being line six there is usually no end to the tones. also the price is a little steep for a small solid state. and i wish maybe at real high volumes there wasnt so much loss of clean sustain.

Overall satisfaction:

4.0

By andrewsfury
Oct 18, 2009

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at 2 stores

Very loud, and digital.

Sound	My band mate has this and we play heavy metal with some mellower stuff too. It's very versatile but it IS digital. Don't expect tube tones because they just ain't there- it can't be something it isn't. If you don't want/need tube tones and you want sheer power this is ideal, it can do metal gain without a booster and it is very versatile. It has speaker outputs on the back as well, I will say again that it really is LOUD! (This amp has been used with EMG active pickups and Ibanez stock Infinity pickups in my experience and can sound amazing for a digital amp with either.)
Reliability	My band mate has had this a while, it's got a couple nicks and scratches on the outside but it's like new on the inside- no scratchy pots or anything either- seems great quality to me and the band!
Customer Support	No experience with Line6, myself or the owner.

Liked about it	Top 3 positive points: -LOUD -VERSATILE -FLOORBOARD COMPATIBILITY
Didn't like	Top 3 negative points: -DIGITAL -CHANNEL VOLUMES DIFFERENT ON EVERY PRESET (as with Spider Valve- why make such a silly design error?) -NO SUPERIOR TONE (good all-rounder, but it doesn't exactly excel anywhere).

Overall satisfaction:

4.0

By Guitarist-Jonny
Aug 10, 2009

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at 2 stores

You get what you pay for.

Sound	I played this though a friends B.C. Rich Virgo I think it was. It had an Emg-89 for the bridge and an SA in the neck. I play for the most part Metal, but I also play a little rock/jazz/blues as well. For the most part I was really unimpressed with this amp. It has a ton of options for different types of tone, but they all are kinda lack luster. It would work alright as a backup for a medium-small sized show. Don't expect to just set it to a preset and have a great sound, it's almost always far from the best it could be. All things considered, you get a lot of different tones to mess with for the price.
Reliability	Very reliable, looks and feels solidly built. Wouldn't worry about it as far as needing a backup if I were to use it live.
Customer Support	I've dealt with Line 6 on other occasions, having nothing to do with this amp. They were as helpful as I could hope for.

Liked about it	I really liked the built in tuner, cool little time saving feature. I also liked how much space they left for you own presets. The stock speakers were also pretty decent.
Didn't like	Sort of digital tone, almost no matter the circumstance. Most of the presets are pretty bad sounding. The display could also be a little bigger, it's impossible to see the preset from about 10 feet away.