Line 6 Flextone II HD

I'm not sure when the amp was made but I purchased it in 2002 used.

Versatilty - This is a very versatile amp. I play almost everything from country to heavy rock and this amp does the job.

I use this amp in rehersal and at shows, it has plenty of power for what I need, but I notice that the volume doesn't increase all that much after you reach half on the volume knob.....not that you need to be that loud anyway.

I run my flextone head through a line 6 4X12 cab. I like the sound but one time we played a show where the backline was supplied, I plugged my head into a mesa 4X12 cab and the amp has never sounded better, this review is for the amp only so the sound difference between cabs is for another review.

The in-line tuner (when you have the line6 floorboard with volume and wah pedal) is a must when playing live. It can be switched on via the floorboard and you can tune withought playing the tuning song for everyone to hear.

The floorboard allows you to save and switch through 36 channels, as well as a volume pedal and wah pedal. I've had to take the floorboard in to an electronics guy to get the buttons re-done, becuase some of them stopped working, but since that I've had no problems with it.

There are a couple of reasons why I would sudgest this amp over any tube amp.

1. The ability to mimic several types of tube amps. Even if the sound is only "close" to what the real deal sounds like, it's close enough if you're in a cover band trying to get several tones from one amp rather than 5 very expensive ones. It's a reasonable compromise if money is an issue.

2. The clincher for me with this amp is the ability to download patches/tones off the internet which is very cool, but if you happen to see another player who uses the fextone or the line 6 pod and you think he has a killer tone, you can transfer that tone via a midi interface, to your amp. This has happened to me twice now. Very handy indeed. And speaking of midi, you can use that interface and line 6 software to tweek sounds on your amp as well as SAVE YOUR TONES as back up on your CPU. I have the Flextone II HD and the line 6 pod, both have the same tones/patches because you can dump patched from one to the other, so if the head goes down durring a gig I have the exact same tones on the pod (worst case senerio can be plugged direct into a P.A).

I use a gibson studio, gibson SG, and an american strat.

Classic rock is a no brainer for this amp. Classic rock tones are easily dialed in, although you can hear the absence of a tube amp.

Country sounds ok, you can dial up the fender twin sound, it's close but not the real deal.

If you're a metal head this is the amp for you. Line 6 has it's own custom insane tone, very loud and very metal.

Overall I give the sound quality an 8. You can get all the tones you want from this amp, but if you put it up against it's tube counterpart there is a differnce, but lets be real here, only dudes that play tube amps will notice, the average Joe drinking beer and rockin out to one of your shows doesn't know or care there is a differnce as long as it sounds killer, and the amp does sound killer.

As I stated above this amp does sound better through a mesa cab, I'm assuming the better the cabinet the better the sound.

Solid state amps are very relaible but they don't sound this good. I've never ever has a problem with this amp. The floarboard however is different story.

I have never dealt with Line 6

Overall I give this amp an 8. The amp modeling technoloy sounds close enough for me. I can compromise on the real deal sound with the ability to get several different amp sounds. And the ability to share tones/patches via the internet or with other guitar players in your town (there are 4 guys in my city that use the flextone)

This is a GREAT amp for a recording studio to use in certain situations where crazy effects (phasers, tremolos, chorus, delay) are needed. It's a POD in amp head form. It tries to emulate the tones of metal, classic rock and beyond....it succeeds to some extent.

I run a recording studio that specializes in indie rock/punk/metal. This amp satisfies most metalheads with its ability to get more gain than most tube amps. It however does not satisfy punkers and indie rockers in that they (and I) feel the tones sounds fake, lifeless, sterile and the tone NEVER sits well in a mix. It however is great for clean guitars in my opinion with its massive effects tweaking parameters. And yes, it is VERY silent when you're not playing, I'll give it that...

This amp has two modes, live and studio. Live mode sends signal to your cabinet. Studio mode sends the signal via XLR to your recording interface. I used this amp on stage 10 times, one night the live mode burned out and the whole venue started smelling like burning wires. Not sure what the hell happened.

Here's the kicker. Once my amp started smelling like burning wires, I needed it fixed. Since it's a digital amp, there are VERY few places willing to fix it. The nearest Line 6 warrantied repair shop was an hour away. They looked at it for a month, couldn't fix it, couldn't even diagnose it. They told me, get this..."just let us keep it man, it's busted, they don't make this anymore either." I took the amp home despite what they said. A year later, I put it into studio mode and it worked perfectly, so I guess the the live mode was messed up. If you have a tube amp, everybody and their brother knows how to fix/replace tubes so it's best you go that route.

This amp is pretty terribad (so bad that the word 'terrible' won't cut it) for the serious rock musician. It just depends on how you use it. Bands I work with love to use it for it's effects, thus they have turned this head into a POD. However, if you use it for it's distortion, BEWARE. It does an okay job emulating the real deal but if you need the real deal then get the real deal. And by real deal, I mean tube amp. I wish that I had spent my money on a Peavey 6505 or a used Mesa Dual Rec. Oh well, every studio owns a POD so I guess I do too. :-(

okay. i bought my flextone used a couple years ago and it was great for what i used it for which was home use for the most part. includes so many guitar tones and effects modeled ater vintage and famous amps! has 36 banks to save tones. foot switch controls everything. truly, this is a super versatile amp. i was able to produce just about every tone i was after with this guy. loved the delay controls and used them often. 60 watts was plenty of punch too for a solid state amp. the wah and volume pedals are nice. overall a very versatile amp.

despite its versatility, the overall tone just isnt the best out there. while you can get whatever tones you are after, its just not perfection. i could see this amp working great for me 5 years ago but not today. i went ahead and bought a tube amp a few months ago.. tone just doesnt cut it- cant beat the smooth, bright, and loud tone of a tube.

mine was used but the drive chips broke and had to be repaired (lost 120 bucks on that)... but it served its two year term well before that.

i havent dealt with line 6. the only other product by line 6 i own is the DL-4 delay modeler (which is fantastic!)

im selling it so that says a lot. it'd be a great amp for the young "grasping" musician. a lot of cool features. just doesnt sound quite as good as a tube amp. but go for it because of the fun times you'll have with it. sweet effects! good value!

All the features and specs have been amply chronicled by other reviewers, so it???s not necessary to reiterate the details, yet again. Considering the Flextone II was one of Line 6???s earlier offerings, my opinion is they covered a lot of ground and managed to pack a useful number of features into this amp. Although some of the editing functions can be a little awkward to manipulate, they still work, so that's really what matters.

It may be slightly lacking in the features department by today's standards, but appreciated in its historical context, I'd have to give it a 10.

I???m going to turn up the RANT knob here, so for all you diaper-wearing babies out there, just move on to the next review. No one is arguing that tube amplification isn???t a unique, awesome and irreplaceable technology. This would include the people at Line 6. The fifth paragraph of the Introduction in the Flextone II owner???s manual states, ???Tubes, we can all agree, are the heart and soul of every legendary guitar amp and are responsible for the warm, harmonic-rich tone quality of those amps.???

That???s the end of the concession speech.

Whether you like it or not, modeling technology isn???t going away anytime soon and in capable hands, it is a viable alternative to tube amplification. If you tried the Flextone II, or any other piece of equipment for that matter, and didn???t like it, that???s cool. Say so and move on. When you spew your totally subjective opinion as if it has any bearing on objective reality, then you look like an imbecile. Statements like, ???This amp is only for beginning players???; or, ???only for tone deaf guitarists???; or, ???no professional would ever use this amp???; or, ???it just doesn???t work for playing live??? only spotlight how ignorant and worthless your opinions are. Here is one undeniable bit of objective reality that annihilates those assertions.

The guy who hipped me to the Flextone II is a recording and touring guitarist for some indisputable heavyweights in the world of music. He was the touring guitarist for John Entwistle up until the end of John???s life. Maybe some of you kiddies are too young to remember that Entwistle was in a band with a guitarist known for, among other things, the murderous volume and chunk of his ???tube amps???. The guitar player is now the touring guitarist with Jack Bruce (again, for benefit of the children) who was in a little trio with a guitarslinger who became a legend playing ???tube amps???. In addition, he is also the touring guitarist of choice for a guy named Alan Parsons, who earned his reputation as a genius by engineering Pink Floyd???s ???Dark Side of the Moon??? (and for writing and recording a few well-received songs of his own). The guitar player in Floyd is also pretty renown for the sound of his ???tube amps???, so it???s likely Parsons knows a little bit about good guitar tone.

And what does this guitar player use to tour with these legendary musicians? Anyone want to guess? Yeah, that???s right. Line 6 Flextone II. Not because he has no choice, but because they work for him. They obviously also work for his bosses, otherwise they???d make him use something else on their tours. But they don???t. I saw him recently with Jack Bruce and he totally nailed Cream-era Clapton tones. Sorry to burst the bubble of you experts who can tell just by listening that the power grid on your tube amp is off a couple of cycles because one of the 6L6s sounds about 3 degrees Fahrenheit cooler than usual.

So all that blah-blah-woof-woof about how no self-respecting guitarist would be caught dead with this amp should be effectively laid to rest. Another complaint about this amp is that it doesn???t ???cut??? in a band setting. That???s just more unmitigated bull kaki. I???ve seen the above-mentioned guitarist and his Flextone IIs sharing a stage with a keyboard player, a bass player, a drummer, singers, and two other guitar players and you could hear every note he played ringing like a bell. I can???t speak experientially to how it does with another guitar player since I???m the only one in my band, but if I???ve witnessed it working with others, I don???t have to experience it personally.

If being swallowed up by your band is not the result of being drowned out by the sheer VUs of the other instrumentation, then you have an equalization problem. ???Cutting through the mix??? has just as much to do with EQ as it does volume. Low and high frequencies dominate human hearing at volume, swamping the mids. EQ

The only problem I've experienced with this amp is the master volume control is a little twitchy at the lower end of the potentiometer's sweep. It isn't really a problem, so I've done nothing to address it. I've read that the longboard can be temperamental, and that's quite believable. The only thing I've had to do to it is adjust the tension on the wah pedal.

I've never contacted customer support, so I don't know anything about them.

I started 35 years ago with tube amps, a 1950-something brown tolexed, wheat grilled Fender Princeton, and there's always been one around me somewhere since. I've owned Fenders, HiWatts, Boogies (when they were "boutique" before there was such a thing), Musicmans, and Marshalls. Some were "not all that" and some were no doubt better than I appreciated at the time. Nothing survives from the old days, but I purchased a Mesa Stiletto Ace combo a few years back that I think smokes.

I have a great time with my Line 6 Flextone II HD which runs through a Marshall 1960 AV cab in stereo. It does exactly what I want it to do. I play Gibsons, Hamers, Godins and Fenders, and with this amp, they all sound different, as you would expect to be the case through any good amplifier. I'm as satisfied with this as I've been with any amp I've ever owned. But so what? It's just a subjective opinion.

Bottom line. If you don???t like modeling amps, Line 6 or otherwise, then that???s good. Use something else. But trying to clown all of us who do use this technology by impugning our experience and abilities, and in the process, trying to make yourself out to be some kind of ???professional???, well, that really only serves to make you look stupid. Even in this post-modern era, when your opinions and reality don???t square, your opinions will take it in the pants every time. And all of us who are paying attention will see you standing there with your bare face sticking out.

Not sure what year it was amde in but I got it in 2001 and have been using it till this day. The amp totally covers every aspect of my playing. From the heavy riffage to the most subtle of clean parts. Has 4 channels, with the effects board with the volume and wah you can have up to like 36 pre-set channels. Does have an effect loop and head phone jack. Can't mix and match the built in effects. I can't say I've used every single modle availble on it. Maybe because I just found 3 or 4 that I really like and dont feel a need to look for anything else, but i'm probably wrong. I've gigged with it since 2001 in all types of venues and has proven to be more then sufficient as far as volume goes. Best solid state head ever.

From heavy refined distortions to real nice cleans which never buzz even at high volumes. It holds it self together very well in that accpect. The distortion are great sounding, not real tube by any stretch but a very good try. Right now i'm using either an Ibanez Talman with War Pig Bareknuckle pickups and a Schecter 006 Elite with an EMG 81. Also use a 93 Gibson SG custom shop standard with Dimarzio Evolutions. Now the bad part is that i noticed with when this thing is set on some high gain'ish setting and cranked, it tends to not hold it self together very well. So you get this real omphy sound and all this other noise around the notes. I was able to fix this by buying a boss compressor and just pluging my guitar into it and then st8 into the amp. I guess you could also plug it into the effects loop but i have never been able to figure that stuff out.

left this thing i nthe rain, dropped it, left it i nthe hot ass sun, spilled liquid on it, you name it . . . still works as good as the day i took it out of the box. The peddle board is what you need to watch out for, but thats another review I guess.

never had to call them, hope I never do.

very versitile. has some cool effects (flangers, delays, rottorey speaker, swells, tremolo) but other then being mixed with delay you cant mix and match the effects together which sucks. You can tweek the delays, and most of the other effects fairly well (volume speed) but maybe not as in depth as some might want.
the amp makes a very good attempt at modleing some popular amps, but note the word ATTMEPT. Amp does not have the same brightness or balls as lets say a real JCM900 or Triple but none the less it does provide some exalent tones and crazy volumes for a tube amp. I'm sure you can find one for like a few hundred bucks on E-Bay so If you ever want a good bedrooom/recording amp, a back up for your tube amp, or want to upgrade but dont want to spend a shit load of $$$$$ this amp will work fine.

before i start i want to take a second to adress a couble of issues that a few reviewers have had with this head.

first, a number have people have said that this amp sounds great on its own but when its in a full band setting with another guitarist it fails to cut through the mix (especially if you're other guitarist is using a tube head). this is basically just totally not true, my bands other guitarist uses a triple rec half stack and this thing cuts through the mix just fine, these people probably just dont know how to properly eq thier amp.

second, i've seen people write that this thing sounds great at bedroom/practice volume but at gigging volume it sounds bad. basically this is another case of people not knowing how to eq thier amp. of course if you turn you're amp up really loud you will need to adjust you're eq accordingly, let me tell you, this thing sounds amazing loud.

I bought this amp in november 2006 on ebay, the seller said they bought it new from guitar center two years ago so the model year is 2006. This is a 200 watt solid state head with the ability to run up to 4 speaker cabs out of it. I use this amp to play in a progressive death metal band, and let me tell you, despite being a solid state head this baby has power to spare, just last night i played in front of 500 people and had my volume somewhere between 3 and 4 so no worries about that. im not sure exactly how many channls this thing is cabable of having but right now i use three. also this is a stereo head.

i play through this amp using an ibanez universe 7 string, like i said earlier, to play progressive death metal and it fits my style perfectly. basically i have three presets programmed into it that i use. a) "riffing" tone which i use for basically everything that isnt a solo... b) my "lead" tone, used for solos and c) an allan holdsworth/steve vai sort of fusion-ish lead tone, which is also used for solos. the distortion on this thing is not only totally brutal, but incredibly defined and precise. it blows the 5150 II head i used to have out of hte water in basically every way. i love this thing and it has turned me into an instant line 6 fan.

now, if you want an amp that is going to sound like a mesa mark IIc+ or a fender bassman on the clean channel... buy one of those amps. of course this is not going to sound exactly like a tube amp, what it does sound like, is awesome. i havnt messed around with hte clean channels that much, but i'll still give it a 10 because that's not what i bought it intending to use it for anyways.

basically this thing sounds amazing, just the other night i had a guy who plays and engl and a guy who plays a vht come up and tell me how awesome my tone was through this thing.

rock solid

never had to deal with them.

basically i love this thing. iv it where lost/broken/stolen i would buy it again for sure. this thing slays.

Just an update on this from last review. I decided to go all out and buy a new rig. I'm now using a Music Man HD130 head with a Marshall 1960A cab, MT-2 distortion, DD-6 delay, Echo Park delay, TU-2 tuner. It is much louder and cleaner than this head. I've been doing a lot of research on amps and while to an untrained ear (which mine was only a few months ago), this amp can simulate almost any amp sound you can think of (mostly because it takes some practice to hear real differences). However, when you become aware of what really makes tone, this amp does not cut it. It's great for starting out, but it's nowhere near as loud or musical as a tube amp (this coming from someone who used to support the hell out of this amp). Bottom line: if you're trying to do music for a living or anything more than just a hobby, save for a tube amp or a really really really great solid state. If you're just doing band practice or want high high high gain without care for tone, this may be the amp for you.

This amp is great for all different sounds. If you want to play metal one day, switch it to insane. If you want something jazzy, kick on something like tweed or jazz clean. I have used this amp for live shows as well as time in the studio. I went to a studio in Ohio called Recording Workshop. My rec. tech was a dude who did a Metallica album. He was telling his students about my amp and the pluses to it. It has a direct input so yo can record direct from the amp with beautiful tone and quality. I love this baby. Boy can it crank during those rehearsals without another source of guitar amplification. I have a half-stack which can get tiresome to lug around after constant late night rehearsals and preformances. The floorboard is awesome and is everything that I need to get down. I do not need to use any of my other pedals.

I play underground rock, gospel, and R&B. This amp can tackle all the extremely various styles. There are so many different combinations you can obtain. I went from a schecter (humbuckers) to a Tele (singles) and this amp whipped both these battle axes into submission. I do not see a point to limit yourself to one kind of amp when you can have them all in a Flextone II. The technology is here.

This amp has been tossed around. Boy has it been tosse around. It has noticable battle wounds from running into doors and other items. Although the exterior quality of this amp is slowing deminishing, the insides are holding as the first day I got this powerhouse.

... my input jack broke somehow. I need to get some customer support so I can get it replaced. I have been playing it still and it is still giving me everything its got.

I have been playing for about eight years. I've got a yamaha 1x12 with various pedals and a Fender Tele. This amp has been the bomb to me. Fans at shows dig it real hard. It has cool lights that light up on the head. When they introduce you on stage and yo walk up and take your throne, a simply switch on of the power turns on these cool red lights. It kinda pumps you up a bit more. Yeah get this amp ya'll. Its something hip. It is also easy to use.

I bought this amp new in 2001 and have been using it religiously to play death metal since day one. It?s still running the factory firmware 2.0. Upgrades require a new E-Prom chip, but I like it as is. The HD II is a digital preamp with a solid state power amp.

Amp Models 32, customizable
Digital Effects 16
Factory/ User Presets 36
Digital Out 24-Bit AES/EBU and S/PDIF
Direct out Dual-Mode XLR
Fx Loop/ Series or Parallel
100 watts per side @ all ohm loads (200 watts total)

Floorboard adds
Remote channel switching, Wah, Stomp box-style Effects, On/Off Volume Pedal, Tap Tempo, Tuner

Right out of the box this amp gives the user access to simulated amp tones, cabs, delay, reverb, flanger, chorus, compression. You also get 4 presets to store custom sounds (36 with the floor board). FX can only be used one at a time, with the exception of the reverb which has its own control. Ex: if you run the compressor then the delay cannot be used, but reverb is always accessible. Amp models and cabs can be paired any way you like, or you can bypass these if needed. This amp also provides enough volume to make your ears bleed? It has way more level than I ever use.

MIDI is the secret to unlocking all the parameters that cannot be reached from the front of the amp. With the use of Sound Diver software, it is possible to run multiple fx, edit the noise gate threshold and decay, and change reverb types. You can also customize the wah parameters, presence, boost channel, distortion, cabs, amps, and the A.I.R. sim. Everything is reachable through MIDI, but not necessary to find good tones. I waited four years before I even bothered with this edit function.

This amp has more flexibility that anyone will ever use.

My rig is simple? I think.
Ibanez RG7620 with stock pickups
Marshall 1960B cab (run in stereo)
BBE 362 sonic maximizer (boosts the bottom and clean up the highs)
DBX 266 comp/ gate (gives me a little more flexibility than the head can)

The internal noise gate absolutely quiets all the high gain hiss. It works so well that I don?t need the DBX, but I like to have it just in case. I don?t use fx on my rig; however, I have played with them and found them comparable to Boss pedals. I use the Insane amp model with no cab or AIR sim. This is still the best tone I?ve had in ten years, and I used to play through a 5150. I like the solid state feel. It?s precise and not spongy like tubes. The clean tones are good at best but nothing like a warm tube amp (beware). The distortion channels are great. This thing will produce a nice crunch all the way to a wall of distortion. Tons of low end, useable mids, and clear highs. Channel and fx switching can produce a noticeable gap in your sound. It may only be a millisecond, but you can definitely hear it. Volume boost, presence, and wah are all seamless with no cut in sound when they are turned on or off. Just for fun I ran the direct outs of the HD II through my QSC amp which powered my cab. There was no change in tone.

I probably only use this amp at 5% of its capability. But it?s that 5% that this thing does best for me. It?s absolutely brutal for death metal. I use it live on stage, practice, and I?ve recorded 3 demos with this amp. Great sound for all applications.

The only reason I lowered the rating is because of the gap in sound caused by switching fx and some presets. The tones are a 9, channel and fx switching are a 5.

I?ve been using this thing hard for almost six years. I had it clipping on me once due to extreme internal heat. But I was running the head at 4 ohms per side and it was hot as hell in the practice space. So I installed a rack fan inside the head to pull cool air in and blow hot air out. Since then it has never had a repeat. This amp has been more reliable than any other amp I?ve owned... they include ampeg, peavey 5150, and crate.

Never needed it. Amp is rock solid after six years of use.

I?ve been playing for 12 years and was a die hard tube guy. Not any more. People who tell me that solid state has no tone? are out of there minds. I?ve compared this to Mesa, 5150, Marshall, and several others. I think this amp is the best out there for metal. The only thing that might trump it is the line6 XT gear? which I have not used. If you use this for a pro or semi pro environment, then I recommend you buy outboard gear for fx, or go with the POD Pro and do a full rack set up... that way you get the most flexibility.
If you are just going to jam or don?t need certain options readily available, this thing is hands down the best out there.

I?m looking to buy the Pod Pro so I can build a complete rack rig rather than use a head and a rack combo. Why? Simply because I want everything patched in the rack. Quicker set up times and I?m slightly redesigning my rig.

If you find one of these and need a great metal amp, buy it.

This amp is just plain awesome! It can do literally anything you want it to. It's good for anything from jazz to metal players and all in between. I have now gigged it twice over the past two weeks and it can easily hold up against a tube amp. my band's other guitarist was using a Mesa Mark IV and this thing is easily as loud. in my band we play softer type stuff and funk and blues.(maroon 5, john mayer) but as an individual player i play a lot of metal. so of course i have tones dialed in for metallica and i play a lot of mudvayne too. tons of effects. i don't ever use them but if i need them they are there.

I have an ltd F-50 that i keep in D or drop C. the thing absolutely kills on it. the mix is very good. i also use an agile les paul copy that i use for nearly everything. both guitars have humbuckers. i play just about every style of music. i play jazz, smooth rock, classic rock, metal, you name it. it is not noisy at all because it's got a built in noise gate. that's a feature you just cannot beat. the clean models all sound amazing. low volume or high. its very crisp and nice and well.......clean. the distortion is brutal as heck. i love it. there are also a bunch of marshall and vox models that sound awesome for some of that more classic rock stuff. my distortion sounds are the mesa boogie rectifier for my main distortion. line 6 insane for newer drop tuned metal. and marshall plexi for the other stuff.

I just got the amp about a month ago but so far it's awesome. i have already used it at two gigs without backups and didn't have any problems. it has also been to several practices.

Not any experience and i bought it used so no warranty

i have been playing for a while now. before this i had a behringer combo and this thing crushes it. if it were stolen i would buy another in a split second. i love pretty much every little thing about it. i compared it to voxes, line 6 spider, the new flextones which suck in my opinion compared to this, marshall, and some crates.