OK, Since The Spider Valves Have Been Out A While...

gt5litre

gt5litre

New member
what is the word on them as far as giging ability, reliability and Madison Square Bedroom use? I wanted to give them some time to be out in the hands of other guitarists before I jumped.

I never bought the POD, but bought the POD XT when it came out and basically liked it...a lot. Now I moved on the the Digitech RP350 and like it better than the POD. Should I wait for the next Line6 valve amp or is this the one?

gt5litre
 
Re: OK, Since The Spider Valves Have Been Out A While...

I have monkeyed with one in GC and I liked it. They don't try to emulate other amps directly 100%, but most of the channels are very nice sounding. I could enjoy playing that amp for quite some time.

I would wait until they come out with the next version personally because this version lacks the programmability of the Vetta etc. Why make a next gen amp and not make it as programmable as your last gen amp?
 
Re: OK, Since The Spider Valves Have Been Out A While...

Maybe they're planning a Vetta Valve :) I think the Spider Valve is a great amp. It has a lot of usable, nice tones, and decent, simple effects (though not world-class when they're cranked).
 
Re: OK, Since The Spider Valves Have Been Out A While...

I broke down and demo'ed one. I wasn't that hip to it at low volumes but the thing came alive when I cranked it. Not surprising. Just like any tube amp they sound better when they power tubes start to get involved.
 
Re: OK, Since The Spider Valves Have Been Out A While...

Just picked up mine on Saturday, I've been wanting one for awhile. I've used the Spider II and Flextone II previously and I really enjoyed both. The Spider II and Flextone did not cut through in a live mix (2x12 of both). I picked up the 1x12 combo of the Valve and I absolutely love it. It's warm and sits nicely in the mix, cuts through when it needs to. Beware of running this amp direct though, when run direct it's basically the same as running the POD (at least that's what the manual says.) I ran it direct into a little recorder that I borrowed for the week and it sounds sterile, but running it mic'd with some volume fixes that right up. Takes some tweaking and working with the presence but I really dig the amp so far. After my first show with it I'll post up how it did.
 
Re: OK, Since The Spider Valves Have Been Out A While...

i actually tried one at GC the other day, and it definitely sounded better than any of the other Spider amps i've heard. it had about 10 times more gain than i needed, and it was kind of hard to figure out how to tweak, mostly because whenever you change the mode or channel, the volume jumped up drastically, but then when you hit the volume or drive knob, it went to the level shown on the knob (if that makes any sense).
but it definitely had the big, robust sound of a tube amp, much more so than other Line6 amps i've heard, and at reasonably low volumes. overall, i was pretty impressed. wouldn't buy one, however, as i'd rather have a straightforward, good-sounding amp than a decent one with a million features i'd never use.
 
Re: OK, Since The Spider Valves Have Been Out A While...

That sounds like it acts like a POD does, which means it stores your settings for the different channels independently :)
 
Re: OK, Since The Spider Valves Have Been Out A While...

Yeah if you are flipping through the presets you have to watch out for volume jumps, all the presets are saved at different channel volumes...I'm not sure why they didn't just even them all out in the end...who knows. Once you've got your own presets in (channels A-D or more if you're using the Shortboard), you can set your own channel volume. I run my channel volume low on my presets so I can adjust my volume using the master volume, but yeah flipping through presets can be scary sometimes!
 
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