Tried out a Line 6 Spider IV 150 watt amph today.

[Katastrophe]

I gotta say, I was favorably impressed. This amph sounded better to my ears than the Peavey Vypyrs I've played recently.

One of the things that impressed me the most was the EQ section. It was nice to see that small changes in EQ were noticeable. VERY noticeable. The "Insane" model sounded awesome with a Fender MIM Tele (I forget the exact model, but it had two lipstick pups and was all black with a black PG).


If I had to go on stage with one of these amphs, I wouldn't feel bad about it at all. Line 6 did a great job improving this line, me thinks.

Spider IV owners, speak up! How long have you had the amph for, and what do you think so far? Has any opinions changed about the amph?

 

[deeaa]

I sure hope the IV is greatly improved over the III which is what our guitarist has, because that one is quite a turd nah, seriously, I guess it's OK for high-gain stuff and now with a speaker change even more so, but still...nothing to write home about. Sounds real nice&polished when played at low volumes but when you crank it up it just doesn't stand its ground against real amps, the FX are too pronounced and when you cut them to sensible levels the sounds aren't so hot any more. All the drives have this similar buzzy quality to them that sounds very pronouncedly solid state when loud. It's also very unreliable, seems to me there hasn't yet been a practice session he hasn't had to 'reboot' the thing because it won't respond to any commands. Having watched his problems and also twice having wittnessed similar problems when watching some band play, I would NEVER gig with any Line 6 amp.

 

[Eric]

As noted, I think the big question on the Spider amps is how they behave at high volumes. I've heard a very similar complaint to elsewhere that they get too much high end and don't behave very well when loud, and that was from someone reviewing the Spider IV.

I would personally like to borrow any of the Spider amps and spend some time getting to know it, as I think I may have sold them short so far. I'm not a gear snob, but I've never been able to get a good tone out of the Spider III when I've tried it at GC, but I think I just don't 'get' them yet. They do seem to be really popular.

I will say that I am continually amazed by how bedroom and stage volumes are two almost completely separate things, and an amp excelling at one has little to do with how it performs at the other.

 

[deeaa]

I will say that I am continually amazed by how bedroom and stage volumes are two almost completely separate things, and an amp excelling at one has little to do with how it performs at the other.

Indeed. My Ceriatone, especially played thru a 1x12" or something sounds like crap when played quietly. Well maybe some very clean sounds are nice. But it is just nowhere near the same when loud. Any big tube amp is the same...sound great when cranked especially thru a 4x12", utter crap when playing @home...and vice versa. I once played a 15W 1x12" Laney all-tube combo that sounded real nice at moderate volumes@home, but when I played it at band practice it was laughable, like bees in a box.

 

[progrmr]

I've had mine for about 2 weeks - the only issue I've had is figuring the damn thing out! Also it sucks that you have buy a separate floor board to really use the thing (extra $200 for the one that is actually useful).

It get really freakin' loud (I have the 75W version) - while trying to work out the way to save a change to the channel presets (the defaults are stupid loud) I hit the strings to test and when I didn't have it right it actually rattled the strings my acoustic which was sitting about 5 feet away - sounded like I had strummed the thing!

I'm not sure I like to tone of this amp - but I haven't spent enough time with it to make that decision yet. I like to play blues, clean, some metal and metal with the Insane gain just for fun. The insane is so distorted any details are lost in the noise. But I guess that's what insane is supposed to be.

Jury is still out for me.

 

[Eric]

The insane is so distorted any details are lost in the noise. But I guess that's what insane is supposed to be.

That's pretty funny. I almost always think high-gain stuff is really fun at first, but then when I either A) play a clean amp and realize how sloppy I've become or B) try to actually use a tone like that as a legit band tone, I rediscover why I don't use those uber-distorted settings too much.

It's fun to just play and not care how cleanly you're playing sometimes, but I find that I usually get tired of it pretty quickly.

 

[Moander]

I have the Spider IV 15w practice amp... for what it is, very nice for the money.....

 

[Katastrophe]

Good to read, Moander! I've downgraded my wants a bit and am looking for a decent, cheap practice amp.

I've read that the 15 watter has a different processor and different speaker. Still, I'm gonna have to try one out!