[budda]

no man, 20W IS loud.

hell 5W will render you stupid if you're standing in front of a full stack.

[neroceasar]

I was really surprised by the sound that came out of the 1X12 I was playing. I don't think anyone here is saying that it will compete with an all tube analog amp, but if your looking for a versatile decent sounding amp, it should work.

[petereanima]

Originally Posted by neroceasar

I was really surprised by the sound that came out of the 1X12 I was playing. ... but if your looking for a versatile decent sounding amp, it should work.

really? maybe i didnt spend enough time with this amp but when i tested it it really made me laugh out loud because of this shittiest of shitty shitshit tone that came out...no matter what we EQed, it always sounded like crap.

if it should be a modeler, but tubed - i'd go for a rack with pod xt as a preamp and a good tube poweramp like mesa 2:90, VHT or else.

[unconventional]

I tried one and actually got a 1/2 decent tone out of it at GC amongst all the idiots making noise around me playing or attempting to play Laid to rest.

I'm looking for something with a little more tone flexibility for vacation trips and such than my cube 20, but 700 bucks for a 1x12? What are they F'N high?

[drummerboy7816]

Originally Posted by zimbloth

You are absolutely correct Toshiro. I owned a SpiderValve and it is not a true tube amp. It is the most cold, sterile, lifeless tone I've ever heard in my life. The poweramp I could tell is a legit tube poweramp, but it could not make up for the God-awful tone in the preamp. This amp is pure marketing type.

And like you, I too own and love a digital amp as well so I'm not hating on digital amps in general, just this amp.

Completely agree. I had the Spider valve 212 few weeks ago before I sold it for a Recto and now a VHT UL. The SV just sounded so thin and honky in comparison, I dialed it in for a while (really not much to dial..) and A/B'd with the recto and it was just... really "non-organic" and thin sounding compared to the recto. It does sound a lot better cranked... but guess what? so does the recto!! even more so actually.

[DrakkarTyrannis]

Originally Posted by drummerboy7816

Completely agree. I had the Spider valve 212 few weeks ago before I sold it for a Recto and now a VHT UL. The SV just sounded so thin and honky in comparison, I dialed it in for a while (really not much to dial..) and A/B'd with the recto and it was just... really "non-organic" and thin sounding compared to the recto. It does sound a lot better cranked... but guess what? so does the recto!! even more so actually.

Lmao. Man that's so unfair. A Spider Valve against a Recto and Pitbull. Talk about the worst meeting the best

[Josh Lawson]

Originally Posted by drummerboy7816

Completely agree. I had the Spider valve 212 few weeks ago before I sold it for a Recto and now a VHT UL. The SV just sounded so thin and honky in comparison, I dialed it in for a while (really not much to dial..) and A/B'd with the recto and it was just... really "non-organic" and thin sounding compared to the recto. It does sound a lot better cranked... but guess what? so does the recto!! even more so actually.

Sounds like the power tubes weren't properly biased together. Each power tube has a separate bias pot, (a Bogner design) and according to the Line 6 forums, this feature is creating a widespread epidemic of bad tone come from these amps.

Tech's often don't know how to set them up right, they come come out of the factory set up wrong, Usually the consensus is that the power tubes are all set to a different Milliamp setting, and usually cold...resulting in a barking, honking and harsh sound. If anyone owns this amp and wants to know how to get this amp to sound like it should, set each Power tube to 40 MA, and then this amp sounds right and does what it is supposed to do.

[HighGain510]

Originally Posted by Josh Lawson

Sounds like the power tubes weren't properly biased together. Each power tube has a separate bias pot, (a Bogner design) and according to the Line 6 forums, this feature is creating a widespread epidemic of bad tone come from these amps.

Tech's often don't know how to set them up right, they come come out of the factory set up wrong, Usually the consensus is that the power tubes are all set to a different Milliamp setting, and usually cold...resulting in a barking, honking and harsh sound. If anyone owns this amp and wants to know how to get this amp to sound like it should, set each Power tube to 40 MA, and then this amp sounds right and does what it is supposed to do.

Yeah there's a few recordings over on TGP of a guy who has done that properly and they sound great. Even the one I had (not biased) still sounded decent so I'm curious what they sound like in person when you have them properly biased. I don't get all the hate for them though, if you've actually played one and taken the time to dial it in I don't see how you could hate one so much.

[Josh Lawson]

Originally Posted by HighGain510

Yeah there's a few recordings over on TGP of a guy who has done that properly and they sound great. Even the one I had (not biased) still sounded decent so I'm curious what they sound like in person when you have them properly biased. I don't get all the hate for them though, if you've actually played one and taken the time to dial it in I don't see how you could hate one so much.

I played one and thought it was awesome. All the guys that are having problems with tone I'd bet played on one that was improperly biased. With 4 separate bias pots and cascading milliamps, this amp is supposed to be a bitch even for a trained tech to bias. Once it gets dialed in and the user replaces the tubes with the same ones every time, this amp most likely will perform just fine.

[drummerboy7816]

Originally Posted by Josh Lawson

Sounds like the power tubes weren't properly biased together. Each power tube has a separate bias pot, (a Bogner design) and according to the Line 6 forums, this feature is creating a widespread epidemic of bad tone come from these amps.

Tech's often don't know how to set them up right, they come come out of the factory set up wrong, Usually the consensus is that the power tubes are all set to a different Milliamp setting, and usually cold...resulting in a barking, honking and harsh sound. If anyone owns this amp and wants to know how to get this amp to sound like it should, set each Power tube to 40 MA, and then this amp sounds right and does what it is supposed to do.

Interesting... now I wish I didn't sell it so I could try it out with it biased hotter!! Oh well.. I guess I'll just have to live with my UL and PB =).