Line 6 Flextone II XL

Not sure what year this is. It's the Flextone II XL. I bought it for $666.00 with the floorboard (minus shipping). It's got most everything you could need. 32 amps, 16 cabs, "16" effects (really only 9, including wah on floorboard). This amp is great with the floorboard, you have 36 user channels, and the ability to use delay and reverb at any time. The amp models are versatile, I wouldn't mind a little more eq ability rather than the modeled eq parameters. The XLR outs with the speaker and mic emulation work great, it's also handy to have the studio(speakers disable, mic emulation on) and live(speakers still enabled and only cabinet modeling used for PA). The Headphone out (also has speaker and mic emulation) is also great, but it's just a headphone jack so no biggie. The speaker outs are a good idea, but it'd be nice if you could select to disable the internal speakers so you could run an extra cab instead of turning off the original speakers. Cabinet and speaker models are well done, very useful selection. They really could've made the amp models much closer in volume, but that's what the channel volume is for. I can't say the tuner is that great, I'll just stick to my little korg, hasn't failed me yet.

This amp also has seamless patch changing (the last channel still reverberates or echoes into the next channel selection). Something else very handy is the fact that you can make a delay, or efect setting and turn it off before you save the patch, then you can come back to the patch and turn, say, the delay back on, and it still has the settings you made before instead of reverting to some generic setting. very nice.

Now here's my chance to prove my worth. I've been playing for coming on 7 years. I've researched everything I've ever purchased beyond what people would call normal. My friends all trust me to equip there bands with the appropriate equipment. They even trust me to record tracks for them instead of a studio. I'm even going to be writing reviews for other equipment on there website soon.

I happen to use a Gibson Gothic series SG. I string it with Elixirs and it has the stock 490 series pickups. I plan on changing these out when I've got the money, but anyways. I also use a BBE 482 Sonic Maximizer (you should really consider one of these) in the effects loop, and for recording I run my amp into an Art Tube Channel. This helps to warm the tracks a bit, then you can use Cool Edit 96 to clean up any left over noise.

I play mostly harder rock a la Alice In Chains, and Korn. I also play a lot of very soft music, I'll be putting a piezo pickup in my SG soon and splitting the signal to my amps.

The Cleans on this amp are superb, very dynamic and punchy. Use your bridge pickup and you can get a very punky to twangy clean. The crunches are alright, they're obviously not as spongy as a tube's but they're useful. The distortions are the best feature. I'm not going to compare these to their supposed tube counterparts, because if you can waist your time saying it doesn't match something perfectly, go buy all the amps on the list and blow you and your grand daddy's life savings. The distortions are very friendly depending on your settings and as all of these things do, require a little bit of time to perfect them.

The effects are mediocre at best. Chorus, try the Dan-O Cool Cat, that knock your socks off. Flanger? well, ok. Try the Boss. The Delay is great. They allow you to make the echo louder than the hit so you can get U2 style echo taps. Fun stuff. The Tremelo, blah. I was really hoping to be able to adjust the type of wave it utilizes in Deep Editing but was dissapointed to find it only has depth and speed controls. Again, go with Boss. The compressor is rather friendly, you can only tweek the ratio but it works rather well. The noise gate is GREAT! Tweek it in Deep Editing and you'll be surprised at what you can do with it. The Swell, is ok, it'd be great if you could shut it off, but with the floorboard you have the volume pedal anyway. The wah, is not bad, I can't say it's better than my old Dunlop Crybaby, but it's cool that you can adjust the range. The rotary speaker is a n/a. I can't imagine using it in my music so I haven't experimented with it too much. Reverb-decent. It really requires the deep editing so you can adjust the spread and tone for each patch. Once you fine tune it, it is very usable. All in all, the Delay rocks and the rest are so-so.

Holy crap can this thing get loud. Apartment use, can't really get past the second dot. Live, this'll drown out your group if you let it. My friends have been borrowing this for their gigs, and love it. You can run the amp into the PA or just use it straight and it'll do the job wonderfully.

The Tone on this is Absolutely fabulous. Granted, it's not a tube amp, but again, YOU go buy all of them.

I hear some people get excellent results putting some real V30's in it. It'll void the warranty though.

I bought this amp used, and it has a few dings and the tolex is coming off on the top corners, I'm going to put on some corner covers and voila, problem solved.

The amp made it through UPS shipping fine, and trust me, that's pretty accomplished (I know, I used to work there, FRAGILE means don't throw it as hard). The problem mentioned most often is the volume dropout. The reason is voltage. Digital equipment is very susceptible to fluctuations in voltage and if the voltage drops to around 90v, it can completely shut off equipment and serious damage it. The easiest way to solve this, buy a VOLTAGE REGULATOR, not a power conditioner (two different things). You can pick up a rackmount regulator for a stiff $400, or you can look on the net and find a non-musical equipment regulator (does the same thing, just doesn't carry a name) for around $75.

The Floorboard seems to have some trouble. My Channel/Effects select button doesn't work sometimes, and is lately switching on the wah pedal though they are completely unrelated. Sometimes, it also will get stuck and not do a damn thing, requiring me to "reboot" my amp. I have talked to LINE6 and they said to reset my amp, and worst case scenario have it repaired. I have read a review with the same problem and they said it was the connectors in the amp that caused the problem.

I've always received prompt responses from LINE6 from all my inquiries related and non-related to this amp. My only complaint would be the incredibly short responses. Sometimes these are as simple as YES and NO. Not exactly the most helpful of chatters.
I don't know whether my warranty is any good being it was used, but I'm not sure the guy even registered it originally.

Despite the intrepid problems discussed in all of these reviews, the amp was well worth the money I paid. I've purchased marshall and other combo amps for a few hundred less, but I prefer choices and the direct recording system is a God-send. I am extremely pleased with this amp, and practically giggle every time I get to play with it. Well, I've blabbed on forever, but I think my experience in researching these things will help someone with less patience than I to buy this amp.

Amps, Effects, Cabs, yada yada yada

I loved the versatility of having so many unique distortions but the cleans sucked big time. Plus the reverb is SO metalic sounding I won't even use it. Its pretty bad so I just bought a pedal

No problems here, Had the amp 4 months.

To the people that had tons of problems with these amps:

This amp is a Computer and is best utilized in the studio or home personal practice. Gigging, or playing with a full live band exposes the amp to brown outs, surges, and black outs. Most of the below problems probably would have never been an issue if the owners would have used a UPS in those situations.

never delt with

I would have given it a 9 but the reverb is just to horrible

You know all the features by now.
Flextone with Floor board.
I play everything from Pink Floyd to Rage Against the Machine.

My main guitars are a Parker Fly Deluxe and a Fender Strat Delux with Fender Lace sensor pick up's.
I find that even with the hi output of the parker fly's pickups it's still vey quiet when not playing. No buzzing or crackles at all.
It takes a whle to set the effects right, you really cant expect great tones from a 10 minte fiddle. Clean tones at high volume are acheivable with alittle patience and the phat dual rectifier sounds are killer.

No idea about this really. Not had the amp long. I read all these reviews very carefully before buying this amp. I'm really not sure about the credibility of some of these reviews to be honest. More than a few sound like rival posts rather than actual amp reviewers. I may be wrong...but i doubt it :o)

Great. the shop i bought it from have been absolutly brilliant. Giving me details and specs, answering questions with patience and politness after the sale. Top Mark to the Guitar, Amp and Keyboard Centre.

I have been playing for about 14 years. I have a coupe of amps Fenders, marshalls. Varous pedals and mixers.
If this was stolen I would claim my insurance and go straight out get another...simple as that. I love the sounds, build, look and feel. Not sure yet :o)

The features have all been discussed already, so I won't comment much here. I like all of the features, and this amp has way more of them than the Peavey amp I traded for it, which was my motivation for buying it. I basically needed a clean sound and a distorted sound, and all the effects and other sounds were a major bonus. I use this amp in clubs and it has been keeping up with my band's lead payer's Marshall, so Kudos to Line 6.

I play a Brian Moore Millenium Series i9 guitar with Seymour Duncan humbuckers - and the guitar and amp seem to be a match made in heaven. I play in a hard rock/big hair 80's metal band, and both are perfect for that type of music. My fave sounds are "rectified" and "insane" but the crunch comes in handy, too. I mostly play rhythm, but do get to play a couple of dual leads.

I've only had the amp for about a week, so I cannot comment on this. I plan to use it without a backup, so....it had better not fail me!

Have not dealt with any of this yet. But will be dealing with the company soon, since I would like to have the manual.

I've been playing guitar and keyboards since the early 80's. I also own a Korg Triton and most of the PA gear my band uses, which is mostly Peavey stuff. I try to buy decent gear, and check all sources for gear reviews first, because as my dad used to say..."Ya' get what ya' pay for!" So far, so good. My current group (NASTY HABIT - check us out at nastyhabitband.com) has played almost every weekend for the past 2 1/2 years and so I can't afford for gear not to be reliable. As a matter of fact, we opened a show for Jefferson Starship last September, and they ended up using a lot of OUR stage gear! One more thing. I am a female rocker...which has not always been easy, since I prefer to play hard rock and metal. They gave me a lot of good advice on what to look for when buying gear, and I think I did a pretty good job with the guitar and amp. Since I just bought both of them within the last two months (because I was their keyboard player until our rhythm guitarist bailed), I won't have a long-term review for a while yet. Short term....just know the Line 6 Flextone II XL is and amp that definitely ROCKS.

I got this amp new out of the box in August 2001. I features 2 12" speakers with fifty watts a speaker, 2 XLR line outs (one for live performances and one for studio work), 2 1/4" line outs for each speaker (when used, the respective speaker switches off), and basically the POD 2.0 as a preamp. You can use the amp with just the channel switching footswitch ($70), but to get the max out of the amp, you'll want the $250+ floor board.
A lot of reviewers have questioned the quality of the speakers, and to be certain, they are not breathtaking, but if you play the amp a while at high volumes, the speakers will be broken in. You must do this with all new speakers, even the brand namers like celestion, eminence, and weber. After you do that, the speakers will sound much better, particularly at the low end because that requires a lot of cone movement which you don't get with new, stiff cones. Once this is done, loudness will not be a problem.
Compared to the industry standard of two channels with separate, this amp is extremely versatile. 32 separate models are available, and as far as I know, the only amp to beat that is the new Line 6 Vetta. I am going to subtract a point for the lack of any kind of footswitch (which now seems to be standard) and the lack of an independence selector (which forces you to use 8 ohm cabs).

Modern Gain Models:
The far and away winner in this category is the Rectified #2. It is powerful, articulate, and nicely compares to the real thing. A really nice metal sound is capable here. The only problem is the Drive control is really unresponsive. Going from 4-10 doesn't change a thing. The Line 6 Insane and Rectified #1 also good, but the latter does not have near the power nor the bottom end, and the former is a bit harsh and muddy. The Boutique #3, which models a Budda Super Overdrive, is top notch as well, nice and fat. I didn't really like the Modern High Gains and the Line 6 Drive (all based on Soldanos) as I found them compressed and treble happy (not treble heavy, which can be fixed with the Eqs, but instead, having a trebly fuzz in the gain apparent at all frequencies). They're also not very loud. I've never personally heard Soldanos, so I can't say if this was bad modeling or a bad model. Score: 8

Hi Gain Models:
I loved the Brit Hi Gain almost as much as the Rectified #2. With mids and trebles turned up and bass turned down, you get an incredible hard rock sound. The Boutique #2 and the Line 6 Crunch (both based on a Dumble Drive channel) are also really nice and very pick responsive. Be forewarned here though, they sound very unique, so copying someone's sound with these channels might not be easy. Score: 9

Low Gain Models:
All these are great, but the real stand out here is the Small Tweed and Small Tweed #2 with heavy emphasis on the treble. A really unique sound is achievable here that rivals any overdrive sound I've heard. The Class A's shimmer with a nice snarl and are very responsive to pick attack, and the Tweed Blues offers that standby classic blues tone. Score: 9

Clean Models
There are some problems here. First are all attempts to capture the Roland JC-120 (Jazz Clean and Line 6 Clean)--they're just not happening. Bad, dull clean sounds are all that result. The Black Panel and the Twang do not totally capture their intended model, but they are quite usable, if somewhat lifeless. The saving grace of this group is really the Boutique #1 (based on a Dumble Clean channel). Warm, responsive, and complex all describe this channel, though at high volumes, it does become apparent that this amp is digital (more on this later). Any of the low gain models are really better suited to capture a usable clean sound (with Drive turned down). Score: 5

Effects:
Compared to dedicated units, they don't stand up, but compared to any other on board effects, they are great. Score: 7

I really haven't played it that much, but it seems well built, and based on that I'll give it an 8. Other reviewers should note that computers crash all the time, an amp should be judged on its physical reliability.

No Idea

For the average player, this amp is more than enough to keep you occupied. It offers a myriad array of great sounds at a friendly price. Still, this is more amp than I'll ever need. I like a fixed sound. One that I can adjust to, so that my sound doesn't change character so much (though I still believe 70% of your sound comes from your hands and another 10% coming from the guitar). For me, a nice tube head works better. I do wish the Line 6 had models based on VHTs, Bogners, Engls, or Diezels.
Also, compared to a tube amp, this amp lacks presence. What I mean by that is, when I plug my VHT Pitbull into a 4x12 (or 2x12 for that matter), the sound is 3-D and reactive. Notes hang like they're surging with electricity, and I, or whoever is listening, believes in the magic of the sound. When I plug in the Line 6 to the same cabinet, I miss this. I've tried disengaging the noise gate and cranking it more and more, but the sound is still just not there. By the way, this is more noticable with the less distortion you have.
To sum up, this amp is great for someone looking for a wide variety of sounds without having to hassle with a large and/or expensive rig, blown tubes, or feedback. If you want just a couple or three great sounds, then get a more dedicated amp, particularly if it uses tubes (in the preamp section especially). I've been playing hard rock/metal for four years, and I am currently playing a VHT Pitbull 50/st through a 70s no name 4x12 with celestion T-30s and a Jenkins Sound Shop 2x12 loaded with celestion T-75s. I get a good clean sound with my neck pickup turned down, a light overdrive with either pickup cranked on the clean channel, a hi gain sound on the drive channel, and the best metal sound I have ever heard through the drive channel with the boost kicked in. Be warned though, if you follow my steps, you'll have to deal with all kinds of unpleasantness such as warming up the amp before you play it, replacing tubes and rebiasing, factoring in how much three hours of playing will change the sound (and does it ever), and a lot more cost and weight. Line 6 does give a nice alternative with the differences probably unnoticable in a band setting. For that, I give it an 8.

Bought in April 2001 from Guitar Center complete w/ Floorboard (a must!). See other reviews for features. Drawbacks - you're limited in the combination of effects, as well as their parameters.But they work in most situations. And you gotta have the floorboard to take full advantge.

Used with a Carvin Bolt-T Strat copy, mahogony body with maple neck/fingerboard, 3 AP-11 single coil pickups. Musical styles; popular music from 40s-present, alternative, classic rock, country. Seems to handle it all pretty well, considering you can't expect one amp to do it all perfectly. Amp has a low hum when turned on, but it's inaudible if you tweak the noise gate and/or play. Never had to turn the amp above 4 in live situations and it sounds great- inspires me to play better. Controls seem fairly responsive. Surprised at the warmth and tube-like characteristics coming from a digital amp. I use it in a duo and 6 piece band, using the direct xlr stereo outs to the board. Although it may not recreate amps 100%, they're pretty darn close when the guitar is in the thick of the other instruments. I get a lot of comments on how good my setup sounds right from the second I power up in soundcheck through to the last song of the night. ecently did a music video and sent direct outs to the board. It sounded better than the thin, tinny sounding mic'd guitars I'd seen in other videos from the same company- they're great sound engineers, so I have to think that the other guitarists had crappy sounds, even though they had great equipment. We even wound up using the music video tracks to burn audio cds!

This category is where I begin to feel some anxiety, but read on... So far, the switches on the Floorboard came loose once. Tightened them in a minute, no problem. Recently however, I was at a gig where the soundcheck sounded great. But when I went up to start the show, the amp was freaking out, the clean sounds were about 1/4 the volume and the distorted sounds were about 2x the volume. A REAL nightmare. Found out afterwards someone plugged the lights into the same circuit as the musical equipment causing a severe voltage drop. Line 6 amps are EXTREMELY sensitive to voltage fluxuations, which could account for many of the horror stories in the other reviews. WARNING: a simple surge protector willl NOT solve the problem. It only protects from voltage spikes by shutting down. Other protectors do the same if the voltage dips beyond a certain point too. You need to go out and get a line conditioner that outputs a *constant* 120V/60Hz (or whatever power you've got). It seems that most manufacturers these days are cutting corners on construction and the electronics are very sensitive. Combine that with the recent demands on power companies nationwide, and you're looking at a sonic disaster waiting to happen. I can't totally fault Line 6 for this, but I still feel like I have to treat the amp with kid gloves.

N/A

Been playing since I was 5 (35+ years).Have used Ampegs, Fenders, Music Mans, Rolands, Marshalls- you name it. Good amps for what they do. Had a Carvin 1/2 stack in the 80s that was great and versitile for its time. The Flextone is a great amp, in that you can do a lot without having to shell out a ton of money in stomp boxes (but at $1000, it's not so cheap, either). The stereo chorusing through 2-12s is enough to soil your jeans! ;-) I love the fact that with a midi interface you can download patches off the Internet. It ain't absolutely perfect at everything it does, but then, what is?

This amp is capable of any music you want to play. If your into blues, it will make you sound like Stevie Ray Vaughan. If your a shredder, it will make you sound like Yngwie. If your a metalhead, it'll make you sound like Anthrax or Metallica. It had four channels, which is more than enough to get a good variety of sounds. However, it's a software-based amp so you want to get a surge protector so it doesn't get messed up.

Like I said, it gives you any sound you want in the best ways. The Jazz Clean setting gives you some of the most beautiful clean sounds you will ever hear, and the Mod High Gain #2's distortion is just insane. Since it isn't a tube amp, you don't get output distortion, but no biggie.

Hasn't busted on me yet.

Never had a reason to deal with Line6.

I've been playing for about 2 1/2 years and this is the best amp that I've ever had. I'm definitely going to stick with Line6 when it comes to amps. If it were stolen, I'd definitely buy it again. The only thing I'd trade it in for is the amp head version, or a Line6 Vetta.

I play many styles of music from blues to metal and this amp cover's facets. I have read the above reviews of some would be "unlucky" owners. Or might they be Line 6 haters or jealous. Who knows. Doesn't really matter to me. I have owned one of amp or another of theirs and have had NOTHING but a good time with them.

Sounds....WOW. Check it out for yourself. But it from a GOOD MUSIC STORE that will let you return it within 30 days no questions asked (Guitar Center). And run that baby wild. Set it at all reasonable volumes and in many conditions then come here and whine if you need to.

I can totally depend on this amp without a backup. I have been using mine EVERY WEEK and have had NOTHING go wrong with mine. Could it be the ones with problems happened across a lemon?..............THINK ABOUT IT PEOPLE!

Here I can honestly say. THEY SUCK! They use to be much better. NOW THEY DON'T ANSWER YOU BACK IN ANY WAY ACCEPTABLE!
LINE 6 WORK ON THIS BABY. THIS COULD EITHER MAKE YOU OR BREAK YOU!.
I always call for general questions just to see their responce time. Kind of fun.

I was a devout vintage tube amp enthusiast until about a year ago when I realized I needed a lot more flexibility in my tone and did not want to cart around 34 pedals for my 70's Fender Twin. After much hemming, hawing and in-store experimenting I went and bought the Flextone II XL. The features are truly amazing--I could dial up more tone than I knew what to do with. After spending some time learning how to tweak the amp, (which was relatively easy even for a newcomer to smart amp technology...) I was absolutely hooked.

The sound quality for this amp is superb at low volume, direct and through headphones which makes it ideal for practice, recording and late night noodling. You can make just about any guitar sound good through this sucker too. From creepy airplane hanger reverb to thick fuzz I was nothing but delighted by the tones I could conjure up with the Flextone. I was particularly happy with the direct XLR outs on the FIIXL for live performance--experimented with this a bunch and felt this sounded better than a mic. Very convenient for the soundperson. At higher volumes it can hold its own, but still doesn't quite compare with nice warm tubes after hours of play time. The loud sound never got the thud in the chest feeling you get with driven tubes.

I've had this amplifier for 10 months of relatively light use. I've done a handful of shows at best, and it has been coddled for fear of damaging the delicate electronics inside. I've had an ongoing issue with a loud "pop" sound when switching out of tuner mode with the floorboard, and one problem with one of the floorboard switches (which was easy enough to fix--and anyway that's the floorboard, not the amp.) However, yesterday I plugged in my guitar and for no good reason there was no sound. There's some problem with the input that neither I nor the service support folks at Line 6 can seem to understand. When I compare the amount of playing time on this amp with the abuse my old trusty twin took from me, I have to say that after less than a year of light use I find it unsettling to have some sort of out of the blue mystery problem. For reliability reasons alone I am considering selling this amp and going back to the Twin with a Pod 2. I mean, who wants to take two amps to every gig? Not me--our band has too much gear in the van already! Simply not an option.

My experience with telephone support was okay. They were not terribly helpful, but there didn't seem to be much they could do with this last problem over the phone. I wasn't put on hold at all, (much to my amazement) and the technician answered my questions patiently and gave me an authorization number to have my amp repaired under warranty. Fine job with that. Email support is a different story. One time I used it and it was great. I received a reply in two days that was very helpful. At other times it was a royal pain in the ass. It seems half the time the website isn't working properly so you can't actually use their "faqtraq" system. If you write directly to service@line6.com or support@line6.com you get a reply telling you to use faqtraq. So I say pick up the phone.

If you want an amp to record with and you aren't often in high pressure situations where performance reliability is the difference between a great night and a migraine, then Flextone II XL is a fine amplifier. When it's working, it's a total pleasure to work with. However, I simply can't live with the fear that it might mysteriously stop working when I'm on tour and strapped for cash and time. I'm disappointed--I hope that the technology improves to a point where these become more reliable because they sure do sound good...

The Flextone II XL is a dream package. 32 different modeled amps, nice built in effects, programmable memory, and loads of input/output options, this amp is chuck full of features. An optional foot pedal can be used to add wah, more presets, and easy control on stage. All and all, the features set is incredible.

This is a great stand alone sound tool. True, it may not work well with effects pedals, but it has great effects already built in. I have only been playing for a real short time, but this amp rocks. Every amp setting is fresh, and the Line 6 insane will blow you away. I play a lot of punk and emo stuff, and this amp really fits my style. The thing I really love about it is you can just sit down, dial in an amp setting, and just play. I agree with the last post that this can be a great sound writting tool. I find myself experimenting more and more with the sounds, and it is a lot of fun. It may not be the best amp on the market, but it does give you some truly great sounds that make this amp really worth the money.

No problems. I was scared to hear that others have had bad luck, I hope I don't!

I never delt with them, and I hope I won't have to. I am pretty good with electronics, but the insides kind of scare me. Not sure if I would attempt to fix this one myself either

Like I said before, I am somewhat new to the guitar. I have played many instruments over the years, but just started the guitar 6 months ago. I love the amp. I am not planning on being in a band, or buying lots of equipment to use on it. I wanted an all in one package. Maybe this is not the best amp to tour with, but it is a great amp to play with and experiment on. I love it. If it were ever lost or stolen I would probably buy the POD2.0 instead of this simply because I went back and forth in the store, but in the end this was a good investment. I think the amp sounds great, it suits my needs perfectly, and is an all in one solution giving me tons of great sounds and loads of effects. Thanks Line 6, this amp rocks!