Line 6 Duoverb HD Head

Lots of amps to play around with, some models way better then others. 2 amps at once feature really neat, set up a JTM45 and a Plexi through 2 different cabinets and its like AC/DC haha.

So i read through the reviews quickly people have put bbe things in the loop....why? If you use the cab simulator in the amp its going to sound like a cabinet in a cabinet, set the switch to off, and it will sound like a real amp! WOW who would have thought.

1rst one broke within 2 weeks, got a second one second one under warranty, has lasted 4 years.

Never dealt with them.

Try it with cab switch to off and it will sound like a guitar amp, not a POD through a PA.

Purchased about a year ago. I find it to be very versitile for my needs as i play mostly covers these days. I use it with the FBV express pedal which allows me to use wah and volume expression as well as access the four availible presets. One cool feature is the channel blend which allows you to mix both channels for some really unique sounds. you can also spit the two channels into seperate cabs for some really wild stereo sounding applications.The amp is virtually limitless if you take the time to dial everything in but i must say...be patient, take your time and you will find a good sound.

I use a LP Standard with Bill Lawrence pickups and a LP studio with EMG 81/85 set. Both guitars sound great with this amp altough i prefer the standard to the studio more often thatn not. The big key to my sound is my speaker cab. I have it running through a vintage reissue marshall with celestion greenbacks. I can really get Zepplin, Hendrix, and other classic tones on the various amp models but i can also get some really great scorching metal tones from the soldano and rectifier models. We play everything from beatles to alice in chains so it has to be versital. I have had it hooked up to a carvin cab and a few others but the Marshall vitage cab sounds best. Last month i hooked a BBE Sonic Stomp pedal into the effects loop and WOW!! Even better that before! my setup looks like this:

guitar > boss tu-2 tuner > EH small clone > Ibanez Delay > Mxr Smart Gate > Amp. BBE Sonic stomp is through the fx loop.

Also have the FBV Expess that runs to the amp for channel swithing and Volume/Wah capabilities. Very happy with the sound but i'll give it a 9 because nothing is ever perfect.

no problems thus far. i used to own an older Flextone HD and it was built like a tank so i expect this to hold up as well.

never dealt with

Been playing about 22 years and i've been through about a dozen amps. Tube amps are great but not very versitile for my type of situation. If your playing multiple styles of music this is a great solution IMHO.

Many features including amp models, cabinet models via the foot controller, MIDI, etc. Two channels that are quiet between switching. Very loud if hooked up correctly (it is a stereo head, so it should ideally be hooked up on both L and R outputs). Try running out of the L and R outputs into either 2 cabs, or split a 4x12. Then select the cabinet feature (open back, closed back, etc.) to your cab.

I bought this amp only as a backup, but have come to find some great tones here. Many people give this amp terrible reviews. Sure, it's not a point to point all tube head, but with a little TLC, you can get some great sounds from it. I've found that the cleans and semi-distorted tones are the best features of this amp. The Soldano model sounds good with the gain set at "3" or below, but gets really muddy after that. I've gotten a really tight heavy sound out of this model which nobody could tell the difference between this or my Budda head especially when mic'd through a 4x12 cab. I've spent alot of time A/B-ing my heads to get a sound close to one another, and I've felt I've come as close as possible to my main amp. The amp also takes pedals VERY well, and it really surprised me how much clearer my Fulltone Fulldrive and MXR Phase 90 sounded through it. In the end, it will always have a slightly sterile sound to it because it has a solid state power amp.

It's my backup, and I've had it for four years with no problems at all.

Never had to deal with them, so I guess that's good.

I've been playing for over 20 years, and I play in a national touring hard rock band. We play over 250 shows a year, and our gear goes through hell and back. You name the amp (good one's), and I've played 'em: Bogner's (great), Mesa's (crap, except for the Mark series), Diezel's (cool, but I wasn't blown away for the price I paid), 1970's-80's Marshall's, you get the idea. I'm partial to the Budda Superdrive 80, and the Bogner Ecstasy. Those are the best amps I've ever played. The Duoverb does not compare to any of these amps, but beats anything in the low cost region (even some of the new expensive tube Marshall's). When setup properly, and mic'd properly, this amp works great for live shows. Even with road cases, your good amps take a beating on the road. It really sucks to have to replace a $3000 amp. Save them for the studio :). It's much less of a burn to lose $300, if the amp dies. Overall, like with anything, give it time and patience.

A lot of features . . . a lot of bullsh*t . . . the eternal laugh . . . this amp ( just like all the other line6??s ) is an insult to all great amps . . .

I could make 1000 sounds out of the amp . . . nothing sounds good . . . well . . it sounds good when is off !!
One thing i did like though , this amp can anticipate a phone call by creating robotic noises all around . . . and if u keep the call near by . . it goes on and on ( i think the amp is trying to communicate with the unknown ).

It??s reliable . . . it can stand 455 degrees for 4 hrs and keep u worm during winter time !!

that i can??t say . . . .

The thing is . . . it??s hard to beat the old good REAL amps . . . we all know that . . . but saying that this LINE6 amps sound like a marshall and boogie and soldano , fender , vox etc . . all in one it??s a complete joke !!! IT DOES NOT SOUND LIKE THOSE AMPS , AT ALL!!
Don??t buy them because of that . . .

this amp has been amply reviewed as far as features. its a very basic amp with quite a few "legendary" tones within. the number rating is just what it is, a rating. the design for this amp was met admirably. it was to give top amps a chance at getting in everyguy's hands. sadly, i dont think they hit the nail on the head with all the models. not that whats there isnt the cream of the crop. its just that they have been hoe-ing that row for a long, long time. there are other amps out there, and most just as stellar as the ones the company has already modeled to death. i would like to give line 6 kudos for making a lightweight amp. but i really wish they had made it international voltage capable. yes, i see the jumpers in the power supply for switching voltages, but there isnt enough information on the part itself, nor on the internet on how to jumper it for overseas voltages. this means i have to carry a heavy transformer in checked luggage for gigs that, had they put a switch on the back to change input voltages, i wouldnt have to hassle with at all. most amp companies make this omission, and its a damn shame for guys like me that actually gig all over the world with their stuff.

this is where i wanted to speak up. i have seen loads of reviews on here epousing the party line of "if it doesnt sound good, its your playing, your gear, or your ears.." i bought my amp partly based on the reviews on this board, so i feel i should contribute my 2 cents as i hope this will help someone else making a decision about this amp. i have owned several top of the line amps, and i would like to offer this analogy: imagine some guy that owns a ferrari. not just rents one for a weekend in vegas, but OWNS one. uses it for his daily driver, or races regularly. to the point where the steering wheel and controls become second nature. he KNOWS what the car is capable of. got me so far? OK, now picture that guy taking a look at one of those kit car ferraris that they built in the 80's on a fiero chassis. to someone that has never owned a real ferrari, it looks pretty close, its red, has the same look, etc. it might even have the right wheels on it. but to the ferrari guy, it is, and always will be, an imitation of the real thing. that physical knowledge and subconcious knowledge is what a lot of these guys on here are talking about when they say the sound is lacking, and sounds artificial. now. with that over, i would like to say that the fender models and reverb on this amp are quite good. most of the clean and "class A" models on this amp are pretty usable. if you play with a lot of effects, the amps lack of ?soul? might not be that noticable. yes, i tried the BBE sonic maximiser trick that most people suggest for this amp. i didnt think it contributed anything positive to the sound. this amps achilles heel is its distortion modeled amps (recto, marshalls, etc..) they always have been with line 6 equipment. for recording, and bedroom pracice this amp is a pretty good choice, but once you turn it up, instead of getting livelier, it just gets louder. line 6 has made huge headway in making their amps more 'real' sounding since the line 6 flextone I and II series, but, like 8 track tapes, its dated technology that doesnt age well. i'm afraid in a few years the duoverb will not have aged well as peoples ears evolve. remember what low bitrate mp3's used to sound like? what about now, compared to other audio codecs? bottom line: this amps sound quality is 'serviceable' but not inspiring, and certainly not tone heaven.

well, i wish i could report well on this amp, as i have a line 6 delay pedal that i use all the time, and rely on, my POD gets regular use as a practice amp. both have been stellar in the reliability department. this amp, however gets a big fat F for reliability. it was some studio guys closet classic that had very very little hours on it, and this amp developed a motherboard (motherboard! in an amp!) problem within 3 hours of playing at 'gig' volume through a 4x12. the amp is now broken and sitting in the corner of my house. i'm pretty sick of it, and had i not sunk a good chunk of change into buying it, i would be happy to leave it on the curb for the trash collectors or local homeless folks to re-purpose. the old motto was "if it has t*ts or tires, its gonna cause you problems". i think the new motto for this century is "if its got t*ts or a motherboard, its gonna give you problems". apologies in advance to the females in the audience. sadly, this was to be my gigging amp for a european tour, and with this kind of performance, there is no way i would trust it at a gig, much less a tour.

left messages with l6, and now, when i need this thing fixed, their website is down. 48 hours later, no call back. hey, i'm not eddie van halen, but it would be nice to get some love!

i've been playing a while (a long while), and i played this amp with the best gear i have, and it didnt cut the mark. but given the weight, power, and flexibility for gigging live, i sure wish it made the cut. they are very nicely designed amps. they nailed the vibe, and the kind of person that would buy it. their art and product design department are top notch, as far as im concerned, but their QA, and durability factor are pretty bad. inside this amp looks like a cheap digital clock. my first thoughts were "toy amp". the standoffs are nice, but the wiring, and PC board construction is clearly cheap-O consumer grade poop. i'm surprised that the wiring can take the amperage that they generate in the power amp section. they use a freakin hard drive cable to connect up the tone controls to the motherboard (theres that m-word again) i wish that if they were gonna componentise the guts like this, that i could swap out the parts as easilty as a dead PC. cos that would have helped loads in this reviewers opinion. in any case, its a shame that such a beautiful looking, and obviously well engineered piece of gear turned out so low rent. then again, i havent looked inside a marshall or other contemporary piece of gear in a long time, either.

Price Paid: US $300.00 used on ebay.

I bought this head used on ebay in mint condition,but judging by the condition, it appears to be a later model. I'm a home player (been playing for 25 years) and play mostly blues,rock,and metal.

Most are familiar with the features by now, but just to review, this amp provides 16 amp models with ability to blend two at once, reverb, master volume, and is 100 watts. I am playing it through a Behringer 4x12 Ultra 400 watt cabinet.


I have owned a Line 6 Flextone II Ranchero, and a Flextone HD and a POD 2.0. I really like Line 6 products.

I use a Tex-Mex Strat, a USA Hamer Special, and Washburn Dime Camo with EMG 81 & 85 through this amp, all 3 guitars sound awesome. The EMG's are insane through this amp! What I like about this amp is that the various amp models sound equally as good through either single coils or humbuckers. I can get a great clean tone out of this amp (the Fender Blackface model is great with the Strat), or a nice crunch, and even a heavy distortion, the Rectifier model is great!


Most of the amp sounds are really good from this amp, and it's hard to get a "bad" tone from this head. If you cn't get a good sound out of this amp you need to dial a few knobs. It's easy and requires little effort. Maybe the folks that can't get a good sound out of this head need to try a different cabinet.


This amp gets TONs of headroom. It sounds good at low volume levels but comes alive when cranked.

I chose to sell my Mesa/Boogie combo after buying this head.
This is a great amp.I have owned lots of equipment to compare it to and this thing is awesome!

I've owned several Line 6 products and never had a problem with any of them. I figure that this amp will be reliable as the other products I own or owned. I don't gig out but one of my friends does and he swears by this head.

Havn't had to deal with them.

This is one excellent amp. I've been playing for 25 years now and have owned numerous amps, and the modeling amps seem to be the way to go for us folks who want a tube sound, but simply can't crank a tube amp at home. Plus, I really can't see springing over $1000 for a Marshall JCM 900 (which I have owned and it sucked), or even a Mesa/Boogie. This amp seems to be right up there in terms of quality with the other products.


If you can't get a good sound out of this amp, chances are it has nothing to do with the amp...it's either your other equipment or you ears!!!

I bought this head used on ebay in mint condition, so I'm not sure of the year, but judging by the condition, it appears to be a later model. I'm a home player (been playing for 36 years) and play mostly blues and rock, and the versatility of this amp seems to suit me fine.

Most are familiar with the features by now, but just to review, this amp provides 16 amp models with ability to blend two at once, reverb, master volume, and is 100 watts. I am playing it through a Line 6 Vetta 212 cabinet.

Having owned a previous Line 6 Flextone III, I do wish this amp had some of the models featured on the Flextone, as well as effects. However, given what this amp offers at a reasonable price used, I can't complain.

I use either American Series strats or a Dillion DR1500QT through this amp, and both guitars sound remarkably good. What I like about this amp is that the various amp models sound equally as good through either single coils or humbuckers. I can get a great clean tone out of this amp (the twin reverb model is excellent), or a nice crunch, and even a heavy distortion (the Soldano model is great!).

Most of the amp sounds are really good from this amp, and it's hard to get a "bad" tone from this. I don't understand those folks who say they can't find a decent sound out of this amp. The soldano is noisy, but the gain and tone from that model are outrageously good!!

There is ALOT of headroom out of the clean sounds, and this amp sounds excellent at low volume levels or cranked. Using a Boss ME-50 for effects, it brings this amp to life even more.

It's ridiculous to compare this amp to a tube amp...it is NOT a tube amp and models the sounds as closely as it can. Tube amps are great, but to get a really good sound from them you have to overdrive both the preamp tubes and the power amp tubes which you simply can't do at home all the time. This amp provides MUCH more life than a solid state amp ever will.

This is a great amp. Period.

I've owned several Line 6 products and never had a problem with any of them. I anticipate that this amp will be reliable as the other products I own or owned.

The amp is solid, well built, and appears to be sturdy enough for gigging.

I never had to deal with them. One complaint I have though is that since Line 6 discontinued this model, it is hard to find alot of information on their website regarding the Duoverb. I understand they want to promote their new products and existing products, but come on, how about those of us who may need some support in the future?

This is one excellent amp. What I like about it is that it is useful for home use...I can't see getting a 300 watt head and pissing off my neighbors or destroying my hearing. I've been playing for 36 years now and have owned numerous amps, and the modeling amps seem to be the way to go for us folks who want a tube sound, but simply can't crank a tube amp at home. Plus, I really can't see springing over $1000 for a Cyber Twin or Vetta, or even a Vox as this amp seems to be right up there in terms of quality with the other products.

If you can't get a good sound out of this amp, chances are it has nothing to do with the amp...it's either your guitar or crappy playing.

I purchased this amp in summer, 2004 from Musician's Friend as part of a blow out sale. As previous reviewers state, it was discontinued and was an absolute steal at the time. I remember seeing this reviewed in a guitar magazine and thinking how much the DuoVerb would be the perfect modeling amp for my needs-- it has a diverse array of amp tones on board but is "stripped down" in the sense that it doesn't have any fancy programming features or effects built in besides reverb-- but feeling put off by the original price tag. What a nice surprise to find it had become affordable....

Its most valuable feature, the thing that really grabbed my attention, is its ability to run two amp models simultaeously and to thereby blend or split tones in stereo if desired. It does not have "channels" in the traditional sense of the term, but rather amp models that can be set as channels (clean, dirty and so forth). It comes with a handy footswitch for moving back and forth between them, an effects loop, XLR line out, optional cabinet modeling, and a very, very hefty power amp section, but more on that below.

There are several things I wish Line6 would have done in designing it: The "head" version should model only amp heads (and cabinets for direct out). It would be really nice to see things such as a Fender Tremolux instead of some of the combos in there... although this is probably my semi-purist streak talking. I would also like the amp controls to model those on the actual amps more closely. Yes, the DuoVerb has 4 EQ knobs and a Fender Princeton only has two. The Princeton, however, has tremolo rate and depth controls, and I think Line6 would have done well to emulate this feature instead of adding "mid cut" or "presence" which had no place on the original. The footswitch should also have a place for reverb-- it would be nice to be able to turn this on and off once you've programmed a patch. The amp should also be able to blend any two of its models-- it has them organized into banks from which only one amp at a time can be used... it completely shot all of my Kevin Sheilds fantasies to heck by not allowing the Bassman and JCM 800 to be blended....

This is actually the first modeling amp I've ever owned, and I was almost shocked at how tubelike most of the models sound. There are many great tones to be had in here, but it takes some time and a lot of tweaking to hear this amp at its best. Virtually every model has its uses, although I must admit I'd rather see a Mesa MkI or Heartbreaker or something instead of the Dual Rectifier, the JCM 800 is rather weak and would be better off as a Silver Jubilee anyway, and the Line6 Clean isn't exactly clean through most of its range... a Les Paul with Classic 57's will start to break it up around 4, and by 6 even a Strat with vintage style pickups starts to grow hair.

My biggest difficulty as far as sound goes, however, is the discrepancy in output between the models. For some reason, the 15-Watt Vox is louder than the 100-Watt Soldano. Even though this can be balanced in the preamp stage, it is annoying when switching patches: you have to adjust the master volume almost every time.

My favorite tones are the blends, but single amp models do sound good, too. I particularly like the '68 Plexi Lead... it even reacts to fuzzboxes like the real thing! You can also get pretty close to a cranked sound at bedroom volume levels. My other stand-out faves, as far as usability on their own is concerned, are probably the Matchless DC-30, the Gibson Explorer and the Budda Twinmaster. Almost any one of the models sounds good blended (including the much maligned JCM 800) with others, but you have to be careful matching volumes as well as with the other controls: the tone knobs react completely differently for each model and you may be disappointed if you expect your Plexi settings to sound good with one of the Fenders.

As other reviews have noted, it does seem to take on more character as the power amp is pushed. It still sounds fantastic at lower levels, but pushing it seems to bring out even more warmth, clarity and detail in its sound (regardless of the model).

The reverb is also lush and has more on tap than most of us will ever need. I've only rarely owned amps with built in 'verb and so am pleased to finally be able to leave my trusty RV-2 at home. The amp's reverb is, of course, a digital model of a spring reverb so you can't slap the side of the amp for fun. Sorry.

All in all, this amp provides an incredibly diverse array of solid, raw amp tones and can be tweaked to just about any playing situation. You have to bring your own effects if you want them, but my feeling is that anyone interested in this amp will be doing that anyway. The loop, incidentally, must have quite a gate on it: it is dead silent, even with a Boss daisy chain. It is still an effects loop, though, and your fuzzface will sound terrible through it-- keep such things where they belong: in front of the amp.

I've had this amp for over a year now and have but one possible complaint: when I tried running a George L's speaker cable out to the amp (yes, it was a speaker cable), after about two minutes at very low volume I noticed a frying circuit board smell. I promptly turned the amp off and replaced the cable I had been running, and there have been no issues either as a result of this or for any other reason since. This leads me to believe that some of its components are extremely sensitive to the proper resistance, so be careful. I have no further quips or quirks as far as this category is concerend, and am happy to have a reasonably tubelike tone from a solid state device.

???? How does a large corporation like Line6 feel about people who have issues with discontinued products???

This is my main amplifier. I own a Bassman reissue and a Sovtek MIG 100, and these ordinarily stay in the closet since I got the DuoVerb. I feel safer playing with it because it is solid state, but if it were stolen or lost I'd stand little chance of getting another one since they've been out of production for over a year now, and apparently were not exactly popular when they were being made. I'd probably look into another Line6 amp, although I'm a bit put off by the fact that all of them now have built in effects. I like my stompboxes.

This amp was a fantastic value at the time; if you're in the market for a good amp head and see one turn up in any sort of reasonable condition anywhere I do recommend it.

2004 model. Pretty good features, as far as amp modeling goes. A wide range of sounds to tweak with. Definitely usable. Cabinet modeling switch is great. Effects loop works nice. Self-destruct feature seemed to work perfectly (read on).

Ive got a few different guitars but i used my 68 reissue strat with a Duncan hotrail in the bridege position. Sounded pretty good just tweaking the knobs for the first 5 minutes. I quickly dialed in a setting I liked using the Mesa rectifier model and started playing at full volume with a friend sitting in on drums, to see if it could cut through, and it did a good job of that, as well as maintaining its tone and clarity at high volume. I also ran my lexicon through the effects loop and got some sweet echo and flange at high distortion and volume. I didnt get to check the other models because.......(read on)

Within 30 minutes of playing at a reasonable volume(knob at about 4.5 - 5) it blew up. Lights went off and that was it. no sound.

I guess as helpful as they can be. They referred me to their website for the list of authorized service centers. And if I know what I think I do about service centers(I worked for many years as an electronics technician for a big name camera company), and the modular form of the seperate circuit boards in this amp, the technicians will probably just replace whatever board is dead, instead of troubleshooting down to the component level. Making it easier for them to say "Yeah the whole board is fried, that will be $250) So I decided I'll have my personal amp repair guy fix it, since he has repaired Line 6 amps before, and says they all have typical problems that dont require much to repair.

I've been playing for well over 15 years, Ive owned alot of guitars and amps over the years. Some good, some bad. This was pretty good, except for the whole blowing up thing. If it were stolen, I probably wouldnt care too much about replacing it, unless I could get another one for cheap, and could be guaranteed that it wouldnt blow up. I give it a 5 overall to balance out the fact that it sounded great, but blew up in my face.

2004 model. All the details are listed on the Line 6 website and in other reviews. I give it an 8 for it's ability to be the only amp I would ever need no matter what style I play.

I play an '83 Les Paul Studio Standard loaded with a Duncan JB in the bridge and a Duncan Jazz in the neck and a ESP/LTD Viper 300 loaded with a Duncan Distortion in the bridge and a Duncan '59 in the neck. I'm currently tuned down 2 1/2 steps and have it strung up with 13's.
As for standard and drop D tuning, use an American Fat Strat and a Washburn V. Both of these are currently loaded with stock pickups.

With any of these guitars the amp sounds great. I mainly use the Soldano model for my heavy rhythm and leads. By pulling back the gain and bringing up the mid's the sound does not thin out at high volumes as reported by other reviewers.

Also, I do play in a metal band and have read reviews saying that you can't get a good heavy sound out of this amp. I simply don't understand where these people are coming from. I can get anything from ZZ Top to Pantera out of this amp. I think you guys need to work with you amps a little more to see what they are really capable of before passing judgement.

I have not had any problems with it plus I keep it in a road case when traveling to protect it from wear and damage.

No need has arisen.

I've been playing for over 15 years and this is the most versitle amp I have ever owned and I've had multiple Ampegs, Marshalls, Peaveys, and a Hughes and Kettner.

There are three guitarists in my band one uses a Marshall JCM 900, the other uses one of the Lee Jackson Ampegs and my Line 6 runs neck and neck with both of them in tone and volume.

If this were stolen, I would be hard pressed to find another one of these but I would happily get another Line 6 amp without question.