Line 6 Flextone II "Ranchero"

Not sure of the year of this amp, but I know it was an earlier version, b/c the original speaker was not a custom celestion. Features are overkill to list here, but to note I think it has just what you need. It's a great practice amp.... and if it's mic'ed to a PA, then it would work fine under any other condition too. Lots of features though. Useful ones. But you can't use more than one modulating effect at a time, even with the pedal board(like only flanger OR chorus OR tremelo, not a combination). That's annoying.

So here's the story....from feeling so-so, to hating, to loving this amp.

I play a PRS McCarty.... used to just run it straight to the amp, with the line 6 pedalboard connected. It was ok.....sounded very shrill though, and never quite sounded how I wanted it to unless I was standing to the side of it. I tried alot of things, like tweaking eq settings and playing with cabs.... no good. Also, the speaker crapped out as the volume got past 4.... no high-gain palm muting happening there at all, unless I dialed out all the bass and did not use any cab models.

So, the first thing I did to try to improve the sound was replace the stock speaker with a celestion vintage 30. This was.....pretty good. I was able to turn the amp up a little more and add more bass to my presets and play it at slightly louder volumes. I had by then also learned to bypass cab settings, because obviously I was playing through a cab already.... so with these two things, I tolerated the sound a little longer. However, after the novelty of the new speaker wore off, I was still hating the amp. I just thought there was no way of getting good tones out of this thing.

So time came around and I bought a Boogie Maverick 4x10. This was better....tone was not quite as piercing, and it sounded great. But....still, shrill for my tastes, esp. facing the amp at speaker level. And I was frustrated, thinking maybe I had made a mistake with the amp or should have bought another. Or maybe I was wrong in thinking I should be getting good tones with the speaker at ear-level?

However, while on vacation I was surfing the web and stumbled upon www.amptone.com, and was especially intrigued by its continuous emphasis on have pre-distortion eq and post-distortion eq. So I bought a fish 'n chips, threw that in my pedal chain going into the amp, and put an MXR 10-band eq in the effects loop.

One of the amptone.com recommended cutting some bass and adding treble pre-distortion, and then filling it out post-distortion. HOLY CRAP. After actually giving it a few minutes and tweaking the eq, I got some serious tones out of my maverick. The key especially was boosting mid frequencies and cutting out some of the piercing treble frequencies with the 10-band eq in the effects loop, and adding some clarity pre-distortion with the fish 'n chips. My maverick was sounding like cream.

So back to the flextone II. I plugged my pedal board into the amp, with the fish 'n chips out front and the mxr 10-band in the effects loop. Within a few minutes, HOLY CRAP. I like the sound of my maverick, don't get me wrong, and the response of a tube amp is definitely different, but I was almost thinking that if this amp was a 2x12, I would like the sound coming out of it better than my maverick. The shrillness was totally gone, and I was getting some fat, creamy AC30 sounds..... my high-gain sounds were no longer shril and piercing.......hell, everything just sounded amazing.

This has also been great for my bandmates and for live playing too, because now my guitar amps are not competing as much in the same eq range as the vocals, and so both can be heard without competing. Friggin awesome.

I am SO sold on eq's now. I can't even imagine playing a guitar through an amp without at least one in the effects loop. At any rate, this has helped me to embark on rediscovering the tonal possibilities of the flextone, because now its versatility presents real possibilities! This is now a very cool practice amp and also great for venues where the cab is mic'ed. Because I am getting fatter tones now, though, I am still having volume problems. I couldn't play this thing in a bar gig... you don't get a rich, thumpy palm mute of decent volume without the speaker starting to crap out. BUt that's not the amp's fault. It's not a closed-back 4x12 or anything.

Still.... I am a believer again. I was SO ready to sell this thing for a few hundred and get rid of it, but I am glad I didn't. Now that

Now, I beat up this amp alot, and so it has somehow ceased to be completely reliable, especially if I turn it up a bit. Sometimes the volume will suddenly decrease, and I will have to turn the amp on and off to restore the regular volume.

The fuse has blown out several times, but half the time it's because I was leaning the amp against a wall and it slid and thumped the ground on its back.

My headphone/line out jack, though has always sounded really fuzzy on the direct out and is totally unusable.

Oh, and my pedal board is all jacked up. The buttons don't always work.

I don't really consider this amp very reliable.... but I suppose that is sort of my fault for beating it up so much. I give it 8 for that.

haven't really dealt with them much........so not much to say.

Been playing for 10 years, but as far as electric guitar specifically goes, only 3 years experience, really. I own my PRS, the flextone II, a Mesa Boogie Maverick 4x10, and a few pedals, including the 2 eq's I mentioned. I play rock, with emo influences, and also play at church too, for which this thing is great because it sounds good at lower stage volumes.

If this amp was lost or stolen, I would be pretty sad now.... it's really grown on me, especially the brown "limited edition" appearance. Dunno if I'd buy a new one.... maybe I'd find a used one.

I love it because it's smaller than a 4x10 and it's damn versatile, and it sounds like cream. I hate it because it's just a few clicks short of being loud enough to take it to a bar venue or anywhere else that you're not mic'ed into a PA.

Oh yeah, and the response is still not as good my maverick. I definitely can "feel" the solid-stateness of it. And like I said before, the harmonics are not quite as rich as a tube amp... or maybe I am just biased... but in the mix of a band setting, you probably won't really notice

In the end, the versatility of this thing totally wins. You can't beat it.

Yes it has all kinds of goodies, however after a couple of months of messin with it I just learned to hate it. It could not compete with my 2-12 fender tweed for true tone. I paid $1,000 Canadian (with foot control, 4 channel). As far as Im concerned I wasted my time and money. Digital truly sucks.

I use a 91 Strat with lace sensors (silver, blue, gold) and a Gretsch Duo jet. For the strat the only sound I liked from the line 6 was the 1964 Fender Blackface. I managed to get a pretty good verb & delay clean Rockabilly sound for the Gretsch but thats it. I get more from my floor pedals including control.

No problems...yet! But a buddy of my works in a repair shop. He tells me he has all kinds of burned out line 6s in. They cannot handle continuous high power demand.

No!

I have been playing longer than I care to remember. I wont need to replace it if stolen. I usewd it for a trade in on a Mesa Boogie Nomad. Nows there is balls to the wall power! I have 2 Strats, 1 Gretch Duo Jet, a fender lectric acoustic, and an extremely old El Degas acoustic. Pedals = RAT, cry baby, Ibanez Chorus (purple), danelectro delay, Dunlop Univibe. Amps = Fender 2x12 Tweed (1993) Yamaha 4x10 (older n dirt) and now a Mesa Boogie Nomad.Once a tube guy always a tube guy.

Just like it is stated in other reviews. No need to go over it again.

I am playing a Ernie Ball John Petrucci. I play Metal and Rock mostly.I love the distortion sounds on this amplifier but i have trouble getting the desired clean sound,but knowing how versatile this amp is i will get to it soon.
Don't expect real tube sounds...but DO expect to get what you paid for! it has truely amazing sounds...too bad you have to have the foot controler (an extra $200-$250) to fully utilize it.

Didnt have any problems so far...

Never had to deal with them.

Great amplifier. At last i have that Mesa-Boogie sound!!!
I would definently buy it agin...i am going to throw away mt Marshall 8080.

Lots. See their super web site. I don't use all the setting (I'll take off for that) but the feature I do use are more than fine. Other than that it's a bedroom picker's grin machine. More (applied to my tastes and style) that I'll ever use but it's ON! This is the same amp as the Flextone II just different "Ranchero" covering.

Here's why I got it. I'm pushing a tele or McCarty via the Klon Centaur into a A/B/Y box and simultaneously running my Dr. Z Route 66 and my '71 Twin Reverb. Ah, but when I'm at home getting those tools to sing, frankly, they have been known to blow the windshield out of my neighbors VW (kidding). But what's a musician to do, volume-wise, when the practice bug hits? This baby will probably never leave my home but I can put it on volume 3 or 4 and do my thing... it really satisfies. Playing out? I personally wouldn't do it because of what I'm using already but I guess you could. It says 60 watts but my 32 Watt Dr. Z BLOWS this out of the water in volume (and sound). I have recorded with it--real nice--nice enough to do an album. Guess if you miked the amp (don't forget to allow for the tone settings btwn bedroom volumes and live applications--they ARE different) for a live gig it would work well. haven't used any effect boxes with it because it really doesn't need them. This is a really well thought out amp. Have had it for three months now (honeymoon's over) and I still dig it highly. It's fun to mess around on but the best thing is to be able to get those low volume tones and still enjoy the heck and be satisfied, whether just diddling or actual practice. I did not get the floor board--you have four 'save' settings and I can save exactly what I need there. Every part of this amp is easy to use and it sounds great for what I use it for (neighbors and I are back on speaking terms :) OK. These will not nail exactly a tube amp--because they're not a tube amp! But they get MORE than reasonably close to most of the tones you hear. Really! But, like I mentioned, while this thing probably won't see the sun 'o shinin' outside my home it is on and being used a lot. Plus (grin) there's absolutely no warm up time. None! Push the button and do your thing. Big plus when you've got 15-30 minutes to put a shine on your chops. Have heard that the Flextone II was just a POD w/a speaker strapped to its back; well, it is and it isn't. I tried the POD via my Twin and Dr. Z--that sucked, plus I was defeating all bunches of personal purposes for the Flextone II in the first place.

I got what I paid for (I say that in a very positive way). Lots of support sites out there:

http://www.theflexfiles.com/
http://listen.to/malhavok
http://www.dthraco.com/http://www.line6.com/Main/The_Lup/Tone_Transfer/tonetransfer_POD.cfm
http://www.line6.com/Main/The_Lup/Tone_Transfer/tonetransfer_POD.cfm
http://home.earthlink.net/~radsystems/links.html

to name just a few... that said, I also called the company a few times talking tone. They know their product (plus they didn't badmouth the competition). I was also looking at the Trademark amps--it's just that the Flextone II gave me more for what I am using it for. The Line 6 guy (BTW, they're easy to contact) said that while I may void my warranty, he knows some folks swap out the Line 6 spkr for a Celestion Vintage 30 with better results--I can also imagine that if you do this you may alter the original multi-purpose generic spkr Line 6 uses to cover all bases but I'll bet it would be a good thing. I just haven't done that yet. Reliable? So far, yes; it's just that digital crap grates on me. But bottom line is that I don't use it as a snowboard and it remains in a controlled environment. If it breaks I'll either throw it out or get it fixed (swap out a card??). Think of it like this: if your treat it like a Pentium VIII CPU or a real nice high-speed lap top then it'll probably last longer than Peter Jennings. If you treat it like an old TRS-80 or an old sofa (same things) then it'll eventually give in. It appears, in every way, quite durable--innards and outards.

Real good. Spoke to two different folks their. No party line (save for the "you'll void your waranty if you..."); just good phone. I hope they maintain their good-dudedness! Got it from a local Guitar Center (totally disrespect the people who work there in a big way--another story: OK, I walk in feeling good and walk out being frustrated or pissed off and the consistent deception). That said, kudos to GC 'cause I think they may have mismarked this pristine instrument of battle. GC sales dunkees don't have a clue about tone or their products--do your homework people!

I'd highly recommend for it's features and value. It's not a toy. But it doesn't have those coke bottle-like glowing KT66's in the back. Kind of like drinking frozen OJ vs fresh squoze--both do the trick but you know one of them is the real thing. I've been twanging for 23 years and if it were thieved then I would, on my own good time, probably get another. Great value. Super good realism (truly does not sound plastic). Love the lack of warm-up time too.

This has already been covered in other reviews, except this amp is the Ranchero, which is a "limited edition". Actually, this is a precursor review, since I do not own one YET. When I get one, I'll do a more in-depth review. A friend has this one (and I want one too, I like the cosmetics of the amp, being the vain musician that I am).

Let me, however, point out the very important, simple fact that the amp really opens up onstage. What is also important is that you have to realize that the whole amp was optimized to play onstage, so the amp models are not going to sound real at all in the store. In fact, this is the only reason I do not own the Line 6 Flextone already, because I thought, "it probably sounds the same at all volumes, since it's digital". Yes, but the power section (although solid-state) and speakers are very real and very analog. In fact, I hear more difference in this amp at lower and higher levels than in most tube amps. Also realize that settings that you use at lower volumes are going to sound much different loud, so when setting presets for the stage, do it at stage volume. Most of this has to do with bass knob settings. When at high volumes, the bass will get real splattery at high volumes, so keep it low, and it will tighten up and actually sound deeper (this works on a lot of amps, so keep this in mind even if you don't have this amp). I really think that if guitar players knew this and could try the amp out in stores at high volumes, every gigging guitar player would own one. Realize that all this is coming from a self described "tube amp snob". With the master at halfway, or actually a little over, this little 60-watt beast is loud, and the amp sounds like it's about to come unglued (I mean that as a compliment). Try keeping the Master volume between 10:00 and 2:00 for best tonal results.

Okay, if you had it side by side with the real deal, I could tell the difference. Most people would be hard pressed to tell the difference even then. From the stage it won't matter. But I tell you what, with my friend playing the amp, when I walked away to go to the can for a second, it didn't take a lot of imagination to picture him playing a tweed Deluxe in the living room (In fact, it's pretty close to the Victoria Double-Deluxe sound). And when I played, it responded incredibly as well.

And no, I'm not crazy about the reverb, and I really hate the fact that you have to pay $250 extra for the stinkin foot controller (I mean, it's nice, but doggone!). Would I prefer a combination of Dumble, Bogner, and Marshall amp rigs to switch between onstage? Yep. BUT, this thing is probably the best workhorse amp I've seen in a long time. And your back will thank you. It won't quite pull off Pantera sounds to a tee (needs maybe a little more "kerpow" on the Rectified model), but it'll get just about everything else. Get Nirvana and Smashing Pumpkins gain on the Line 6 Insane model, and all kinds of other goodies on the other amp models (No, I'm not a punker or grunge guy or anything - I like good sounds). But, anyhow, I'll post more in my "real review", whenever that will be (after I get the amp I guess).