Customer Reviews

Line 6 Spider III 120-Watt Guitar Combo Amplifier

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Ok well the shipping is excellent with this amp, it came in two days which was awesome.
there are so many presets on this amp i haven't even been through them all yet, it does have an awesome saving feature though so when you find you right tones you hold down the channel button u want it on and it saves the sound which was handy to have, and when you save them you can also rename them which was cool, i use it at my band practices and it sounds decent and it can get very loud, i see no reason it ever has to go past ways, other wise you will rock the house, but when it's loud it doesn't sound as good. i havent used it in any gigs yet but i cant wait to try it.

pros- so many presets, saving the tone you like, loudness, effects

cons- only a couple of clean sounds, really bad sound quality when loud, better amps out their

Well......................... I think the amp modeling technology is cool. It comes with 400 preset amp models sounds.

The CLEAN presets: There is really only ONE clean sound that is usable.(The rest of the preset cleans are all covered with goofy effects). But, after minimal tweaking, that one clean sound turned out very nice - it had a nice, rich, bright tone I think. This tone ended up being my favorite thing about this amp.

The DISTORTED presets: There are a many, many to choose from. However, after turning knobs and grumbling for a couple of months, I could never find a dirty tone that I was happy with. Even with tweaking the stored presets ... nothing really sounded that great - at least at performance volumes. Sitting in my living room (at lower volumes), some of the dirty presets sounded pretty good I thought. But, during gigs, trying to keep up with the band mix, the distorted presets sounded harsh and the sound seemed to kind of "break up" and go away. This amp is PLENTY loud. It just didn't seem to have the power to create a good, loud, rich, distorted tone.

This amp also does NOT have a Line Out jack. Strange.

I also bought the FBV express with it and didn't like it. I ended up buying the Shortboard which was MUCH better but $200 more.

In summary: I'd say this is a great amp for learning, playing inside your house, or playing out at lower volumes with the one good clean channel. But, if you're looking for a gig amp, plink down the extra cash and buy a nice tube amp instead. There is no comparison.

I just want to say this is a great amp. $400 is not cheap, but for the money you get lots.
Sound? pretty darn good. Not a tone monster like $2000 twin reverb, but close. Thanks to stereo imaging afforded by 2 speakers the clean channels fairly well shimmer(try wiring them out of phase, cool). Where this amp really smokes is the massive amounts of gain. Some pre-programmed effects deliver massive gain. Not enough, your drive on max already? If you want even 2x that amount pres the "tap" button, back off on your drive setting past 12 o'clock. While still holding the tap button crank the dial back to max. Dogs in the neighborhood will respond.
I compared this amp to a Marsh-MG100DFX. I bought the MG but returned it. This one was $40 more. I would say for the money this amp is the one you want. If you want a twin reverb keep saving.

And it is a good quality amp. I have had no problems with it. I get good cleans out of it, and I get good distortion.

I have plugged it into a 4x12 diezel halfstack and it sounds great, or it has been mic'd and sounds great.

The tones are awesome.

If you want to to hear it in a thrash style band, here it is.

[...]

Alright, so i have heard MANY amps and many pedals, i have head the worst, the best, the unreal. So to speak. Let me tell you that this is not a rivera kr7 in any way, with tubey smooth clean tones and thunderous gain. Of course not :D.

SOUND
Clean channel
I have played a tube amp before and this is just more harsh then any proper tube amp you'll ever play. At the same time is rings like one.
The green LED is just more bassy while the Red LED is just more basic, boring old plain input signal type thing with some controls.

Twang Channel
Haven't played around with this channel that much, but the
red LED is little glassy while being able to be overdriven by cranking the gain knob, the green LED is more glassy while having a clean tube sound and also can be overdriven aswell.

blues channel
I'm not into blues and also i don't know much about blues amps but heres brief description, the green LED is basically an overdriven tube sound with some bassy sound the red LED just seems less glassy to me.

crunch channel
Yes, i have heard a Marshall solid state, yes they are lame. (played by a punk band at that, thats prob why, also they where just kids, cant blame them) and the real deal got some classic crunch(thats for sure), the red LED sounds alot like the real deal! to me at least, its got full body and really tubey "dirt" sound. The green LED again sounds more trebly and its got more overdrive "dirt."

Metal Channel
Alright, im a metal guy. As well, this is the most looked at channel of all by most. The red LED has to be dialed in to your liking before your gonna get any good out of it. I haven't really used it all that much but i think its pretty harsh sounding, depends on your guitar(mine is ibanez rg2ex1). I cant say much about it cause i haven't used it live. The green LED has a mid knob that simulates different tones, theres some quite interesting combinations. Besides that it sound the same as the red LED.

Insane channel
I have never heard a mesa boogie rectifier head in person before so no, i cant say much about one but to me it the red LED sounds almost like the real deal but with a little line 6 spin of their sound on it. Now the green LED is the one i fell in love with, its got so much distortion i cannot describe my feelings about it, and you can almost peavey 6505+ tones with it with proper tweaking, again its got a little line 6 spin* on it.

PORTABILITY
Haven't gigged with it yet but its got a really nice sturdy handle, and i have hauled it around a little such as to my practice place along ways away. Its pretty damned sturdy if your not like gonna throw it down the stairs or anything stupid like that, but who knows i think it would prob still survive and work, just that there might be some aesthetic issues.

LOUDNESS
My favorite part, so bascially if go into a garage and crank it up to 12(NEVER DO THIS PLEASE) your gonna be shaking the foundation of the couldesac. Turn it up to 6 its plenty loud and could do large gigs, but of course and good small amp can sound great through a good pa system.

AESTHETICS
Ok so you've got your basic controls, bass mid treble and drive(gain), and your channel volume, then you've got 2 smartFX effects knobs, spin the knob to your desired effect and intensity. Then your reverb knob and master volume.
Next you've got your channel buttons press A B C or D to gain access to custom presets you have made, then also you have the LCD screen and 4-way button, use this and the LCD screen to go through and organize presets.

SPEAKERS/SOUND
These have a direct impact on sound, the speakers in the cab are pretty well made and sound pretty good, but they lack quality. If where to replace these this amp would probably sound a lot nicer. Depends on your needs, i just don't like the speakers in the cab.

Thats it, I love the sound it produces, on a scale of good or not it sounds average which means its not a rip-off, does what its supposed to, and is not a tube amp. Thats that.

I am VERY happy with my new LIne 6 Spider III 120 Amplifier. It sounds GREAT!! It's also very easy and fun to use. I recieved my amp within days of ordering so I have no complaints at all.

I was expecting more options on this amp from the little video that was advertized. I found there was only one plug in for a guitar and that was it. I was looking for an amp that could possibly be more versitile. There was no back on the amp and I never even unwrapped it. I sent it back