Line 6 Flextone

I'm updating my previous comments, and I'll try to be a little better typist this time. I've had time to set up some of my own sounds and get more familiar with the amp, and the bloom is still very much on the rose. Versatile? Why, yes. What do you want? A clean little tweed; a dirty little tweed; a super-phat Boogie; a jangly Brit-pop thing; Stevie Ray? I have to say that I've not been able to crank the volume past about six, and around there the "clean" stuff (Roland, "Flextone Clean")is noticeably quiter than the others. Others have noted that if you crank the drive in the clean models, it defeats the purpose because they distort when driven hard. I guess you just have to turn the channel volume up to ten and be satisfied.

Again, I am mostly playing an Epiphone Les Paul copy, a Guild T-100 (like a Gibson ES135, not a 335 as I said previously), and a Silvertone. I play in a band whose style I will describe as New Hybrid (rock/hip-hop/American Roots/Euro/techno) and I'm the sole guitar. I've discovered that I can use a lot more effects in the songs with this amp because it transitions so smoothly between effects. It's a bit tricky getting volume levels correctly when switching between sounds that employ different amp models, but once you get it, it's amazing. To my surprise I find myself tending toward the Fender models most, with the "Modern Class A" and "Flextone Clean" right behind. I bought it because I love Vox amp sounds and this one is pretty accurate ("Brit Class A"), but this model is a little brittle for our band sound. The Marshall models are just too scary for me, but other players who've toyed with them love them. The amp is very quiet, being solid state. Again, the clean sounds are a little quiet and do distort at higher volumes. Distortion has potentially harmful properties, but it is very controllable (and boostable, with the Floor Board button).

It's pretty rugged - thick plywood, good tolex and grillecloth. I hope it's dependable. I will be using it without backup, because I would need an identical backup rig to get anywhere close to what I have now for sounds.

I hope support is as good as the product. Again, Line 6 seems like they are completely dedicated to their products. Their on-line tech support are very responsive questions. Still don't know what the warranty is.

I'll be upgrading to the Flextone Plus, as soon as I can find one and an extension cabinet. One of my correspondents informs that he heard Line 6 is going to put the Flextone out in a 150w head-only version this summer. I'll buy one of those, too, because I think it could use better quality speakers. I could also use four additional user preset channels, since I've already maxed out the user presets on this one. There is certainly room for improvement, but this amp has all I expected and more.

The great thing about these new Digital Modeling Amps are the features. Much more than the typical tube amp. Even though there are a lot of features in this amp I think there could have been more. I owned the AxSys which had everything you need and more. For the Flextone I am giving it a 8
There are a lot of things lacking on the Flextone. If you don't have the floorboard you can't get the digital tuner, and user banks. The Flextone misses out on the Acoustic sims. With the AxSys you get 128. With the Flextone I think you get 32. Also you can't get Distortion boxes such as the tubescreamer, big muff and rat. I don't miss these on the flextone because I just crank up the drive if I want more distorition. In addition you don't have much control over the effects as you do with an AxSys. This can be good though because this thing is dialed in to sound good.
It has a send and return jack in the back, which is used for PA. And a headphone jack which sounds excellent.
There are 16 different models to choose from, all of which are excellent. In addition to the classic amps, Line 6 has also included a Flextone clean, crunch, drive and layer. Layer is cool because it is the drive mixed with the clean. Sounds good.
The flextone also has chorus, flange, reverb, rotary speaker, tremolo, delay and volume swell. At 60 Watts it can be used in band situations. It is mono which kinda sucks. Sounds great for my application, practice.
I guess that not having too many features is a good thing because this amp isn't overwhelming like the AxSys. All you really do to dial in sounds is turn the knobs. Very simple. Only three tone controls and one of tweeking effects.

One of the biggest differences is the sound. IMHO I really think the Flextone sounds a lot more convincing than the AxSys. I don't know.I'm not saying that the AxSys sounds bad, but the Flextone is a definete improvement across the board. A lot of people that I have talked to have said that the Line 6 amps sound too midrangey. I think this has something to do with the speaker... Regardless, the Fuzz Face is really killer and much better than the AxSys model. The Marshall models are really fat sounding, as they are on the AxSys . I'd have to say that the biggest improvements were made in the Rectifier, Soldano and Fuzz Face models. I always thought that they were OK on the AxSys.
The reverb sounds great. You only get two choices depending on the model but both sound very realistic. The effects sound great, as they are supposed to. No surprises there.
The first night I got the amp I played it straight for 5 hours. I keep on getting amazed at how the amp changes completely with flick of the switch. You litterally can go from playing Foxy Lady on the Fuzz setting to a beautiful rendition of Little wing on the black panel model with just a hint of rotary speaker. The Modern Hi-gain (Soldano) patch is very 5150ish. I got the new guitar world and played the opening lick to Van Halen's "Ain't talking about love" on it and my jaw dropped (Damn I wish I had a whammy on my Les Paul) you can play the blues on the 3 Marshall patches which sound great although they do have that mid-range peak to them (I'm assuming the original amps sounded the same way). I don't care for the Modern Class A or the Jazz Clean models...they just don't do it for me like the Fuzz with the gain cranked (Which is the closest to the Pumpkins sound that I have ever come). All settings are very musical and have their own characteristics.
The built in noise gate cancels all hum. When you aren't playing...complete silence.

It looks pretty sturdy. The tolex looks like it was sprayed on somehow. It's not like the fender glue on job. The knobs are on the top so they are fairly protected. There is only corner protectors on the bottom.
I don't see anything that looks flimsy or cheap. Looks solid to me.

Line 6 customer service is the best that I have ever dealt with. George Van Wagner is always on the forum and can be easily reached there. When I had the AxSys it got updated for free. I've heard of a lot of stories where amps have failed but were replace within days.

Overall I think the flextone is a great improvement over a already great modeling amp. One of the great things about having an amp that uses software to model amps is that you don't have to crank it up to drive the power tubes into distortion. You can get a great driving tone at bedroom levels...try doing that with a 100W Marshall Plexi.
If you don't need all the features I think the Flextone is a great alternative. I think this amp is targeted to tube-amp users who don't want to be bothered by all the buttons and knobs that the AxSys has. The amp looks like the offspring of a AxSys and Hot Rod Deluxe. I think that Line 6 designed it this way so that tube amp users could get into the Digital Amp revolution without being overwhelmed with something like the AxSys.
The only thing I don't like is that you need to purchase the floorboard to access the 8 different banks the digital tuner and the effect on and off. I mean if you could do it with the floorboard then why not build it into the faceplate of the amp somehow. The fact that you only can have 1 user bank without the floorboard blows my mind! Maybe they did it this way to boost sales of the floorboard? It also would have been great if they included the FB4, which is a small four button switch, with the amp. I haven't even seen it in stores.
For the Flextone II I would like to see more user banks and have them built in so you could access them WITHOUT the floorboard. This is the only thing holding it back from getting a perfect 10. Otherwise the sounds are to die for. I mean for $570-$600 where can you get an amp that is as versatile as the Flextone.

This is a solid state, 60 watt, 1x12" speaker (Eminence) combo that features four channels, effects loop, direct out, headphone jack. Its main attraction is an apparently quite sophisticated tube amp modeling program with emulation of 16 "classic" vintage and contemporary tube and solid state amps, including Fender Tweed, blackface Twin, Vox (AC-15), various Marshalls, Modern Clas A (think Matchless or Top Hat), Roland Jazz Chorus, Soldano, Boogie Dual Rectifier, and others. It also offers a fairly deep selection of on-board effects, and a pretty attractive package. I had looked at the Line 6 AxSys previously and was impressed with the features, but I certainly agree with other of our correspondents that, gee, does it look awful. The Flextone series, on the other hand, has a pretty convincing "vintage" look. I had it in a room with a '69 Vox AC-30, an Ampeg something-or-other, a giant Boogie Dual Rectifier, and several Gibson Skylarks (Jaquir likes them, for some reason), and it looked right at home - especially after I unscrewed the Line 6 logo plate from the front frame. There are three models available (Flextone 60 - 60w, 1x12"; Flextone Dual - 100w stereo, 2x10"; and Flextone Plus - 100w stereo, 1x12", with out to connect 1x12" extension cabinet). I got the regular 60, because the Plus hadn't been received by the dealer in time to meet my purposes. I'm now rethinking whether I need the power or if the stereo effects are necessary. I auditioned the amp in a store a couple of weeks ago and was very impressed. I have been using a Boogie .50 Caliber + and have been frustrated with the unusable, one-dimensional overdrive channel (just my opinion). I got the amp on Friday evening (2/13/98) and used it in rehearsal with my band on Saturday afternoon. Didn't have time to program my own sounds, just found some presets that worked OK. There are essentially four channels in which you can store your own sounds and recall them either with manual controls on the amp control panel, or by using the Line 6 Floor Bord foot controller (which I also got). It's the same arrangement as the stomp-box set-up, but quite a bit more convenient, since it incorporates a volume pedal, a wah (and not a bad wah, when you get the proper amp selected), and bank selections to work around and through your sounds. Not enough time or room here for a technical tour, and I don't really know enough at this point to be an authority. However, I think it's going to work out brilliantly for my uses. I am the sole guitar player in a six-piece, and need sounds that cut but don't dominate. This amp has sufficient power and incredible versatility.

I haven't had much experience with the sounds yet, but from my limited exposure and use I can say I am mightily impresses with this amp. I am currently using a Guild T-100, an Epiphone Les Paul Gold Top copy (which I think is really a fantastic bargain, by the way), and a Harmony/Silvertone junk guitar for a rubbery sound here and there. The Guild has two of those big ivory-colored P-90 style pickups, and the Flextone set on the "Modern Class A" gives it a really full, singing quality at a medium-low volume, just perfect. The Les Paul is lent an unbelieveable range of possibilities. The Silvertone is, well . . . still a cheap-ass guitar sound there, but this amp seems to pull a little more out of it, especially in the sustain department. Our band style is kind of a new hybrid of roots stuff, hip-hop, and rock. I don't play a lot of outside things, so this amp won't have to breathe very hard. So far, suits the band better than anything else (and I won't have to tote 50 lbs. of stomp-boxes and floor rack and converters and patches and on and on. The amp is very, very quiet. Others have noted the little hum and vibration when you first turn it on - kind of warm and fuzzy. I have run through all of the amp emulations at a pretty broad range of volumes, and I think Line 6 has done a magical job of getting these things right - all of the emulations sound different, each of them has some sort of charm and a huge array of manipulation possibilities. I have given only cursory attention to the effects, but the reverb is very nice and nicely thought out - for instance, if the emulated amp ahd no reverb as standard equipment, you can dial up a pretty rich and smooth room reverb. Effects available include two levels of chorus, two levels of flange, tremolo, Leslie, delay, compression, certain comination effects, a couple of others I can't remember right now. They seem pretty controllable and versitile. I'll update this when I get inside it a little. I'm not a big effects freak, so I think I settle for less than others might. I can say clean is clean, distortion is ditorted. The Soldano and Marshall JCM emulations will be the perfect launch pad for anyone needing a lot of fire.

It's brand new, so moot point. It seems pretty rugged. I'm having a road case made for it. Shouldn't be a problem.

I sent a couple of e-mails to Line 6 and they got answered right away. To be honest, I haven't a clue about warranty because I've been too busy playing around with the product.

So far, I really like this amp. I would buy another, and may just trade this for the Plus model and an extension cab as soon as the dealer gets one in. The stereo effects and additional power are very attractive. I've been playing for about 25 years, and have always stuck with basic gear, such as Les Pauls, Stratocasters and Telecasters, the occassional 335 (the Guild T-100 is a honkier version of that style of semi-acoustic archtop). I've been through some Fenders (Twin Reverb is still one of my faves), a Kustom (candy apple red Nauga!), the Boogie .50 caliber, a Randall, and a hot rod Traynor (no, really). This one promises a lot and so far I can't complain. I wish the Floor Board had a good cast-material housing, insted of sheet metal, but I'll live. I think I could have gotten a better deal, but I guess I paid about what most people will pay.

I am updating my previous review on this amp so see the features listed above.

I finally used the amp with a band tonight at rehearsal. We didn't use our regular practice room and the one we used was a very live and loud room. The amp managed to get some volume happening but the sounds seemed to lose just a little of their character at loud volumes, so I miked it and it worked pretty good. The clean sounds worked great and really cut through. I tried using the soldano and the matchless sounds for a couple of heavier tunes. They sounded pretty good but I think they seem a little more tonally accurate at lower volumes but that could just be the room I was in. I did notice one thing that I did not like though, and that was in the high gain amps like the Soldano and the Boogie. They seem to incorporate some type of gate and compression effect that helps to acheive the tube feel of the amps. When I backed the guitar volume down to clean up some passages this gate would not "see" enough volume out of the guitar and the decay of the sound was unnaturally chopped off. If anyone else notices this let me know. I don't have the foot pedal yet or else I could use a cleaner setting for these parts and it would not be a problem but I am used to cleaning up my sound with the volume pot on the guitar so that was a bit of a drag. I don't know if all the flextones are like that and I will contact Line 6 about it. Otherwise I still think the amp is awesome and it works great with external pedals. I used a TS-9 tube screamer in the front end and it smoked on the Fender settings. Real Stevie Ray type tone. The neatest thing is that the Flextone reacts so much like the amps that it simulates. For anyone looking to use it primarily as a live tool: if your band is loud-go with the Flextone Plus which has an extra speaker out jack and an additional 50 watts to drive a cabinet. For Top 40 or lounge type acts, the 60 watt model should do the job nicely. I'll drop my sound rating down a notch from a previous 10 to a 9 because of the weird gating thing on high gain settings.

It made it through a 4 hour rehearsal so that's a plus. I think it will be fine.

I e-mailed Line 6 today with a question and George responded to me within an hour. I get the impression that they are really interested in feedback from their customers.

Still a very musical and tone filled amp and with where they are at now, Line 6 may be the first company to actually design an amp that even the most hardcore tube fanatics(like me) will convert to 100%. I will still give it a 10 overall beacuse it's just so damn useable.

This amp could not be any more feature packed or versatile for the money. It's set up like one of the old Fenders or Vox amps with the knobs on te top and has 16 software modeled amps to choose from on the top. It captures the tones of some of the greatest amps you could ever want and it does it GREAT! It has an effects loop, single 12 inch speaker, reverb, 3 band eq, and 4 programmable memory settings to save your favorite sounds.

I have owned or still own most of the amps that the Flextone simulates and I am just digging this amp like crazy. I have played professionally for 17 years and have a recording studio that I mainly want to use this amp for. It's very quiet. Someone else's submission mentioned it was noisy but that's only if you are sitting 2 feet away from it and facing it with the guitar. The only other thing I noticed is that at loud volumes the metal plate on the back of the chassis vibrates a bit and you can hear that. This amp has sounds that were software modeled after various Marshall, Fender, Vox. Matchless, Boogie, and Soldano amps. All of them are accurate depending on what guitars you are using and what sound you are looking for. I love them all but I am partial to the Blackface Fender setting, the Matchless setting, and the Soldano setting. I have a Soldano and this sound is so close in tone and FEEL that it freaks me out. I also own some 5150s and you can get close to that as well. The effects are great also. It has the usual assortment of guitar effects like delay, chorus, leslie, flange, compression etc. There is a drive control to get your sustain level and it covers all levels of distortion well. It also works well with a tube screamer type pedal inserted in line. These engineers thought of everything and the manual is informative and funny to read.

I have only had the amp for 24 hours so I can't speak about this but it appears to be well made. I have not had the chance to play it in a live situation yet, but if it stinks I will update. I am the curious type and usually like to look inside my amps and see what's going on in there but I don't think I will look inside this amp. This amp is so cool that I am afraid to try and figure it out. When you turn it on it it quietly vibrates unlike anything I have ever seen. I don't know what's going on in there but whatever it's doing is good.

I had called the company for information on their first amp, the AXSYS 212, before it ever hit the market and they had a brochure in my mailbox almost before I hung the phone up. They have great website that I would urge everyone to see. I think it's at line 6.com but it's linked to this site as well.

As long as the amp keeps working well I have to give this amp a 10. It's the first machine I have used in a while that really is a glimpse into what the future holds for guitar amps. I am going to sell some of my other amps now because this will cover the job quite well and with the super low price of the Flextone I will be making money on the purchase of this amp. Every project studio should have one of these.

This amp has Master volume, drive, channel volume, bass, mid. treble, reverb, "effects tweak", effects select, and the all-powerful "amp models" selector. The knobs are on the top of the box like an old-fashioned amp. There are 16 (!) amp models to choose from, and while I don't know how accurate they are, they ALL have very different character than each other, which makes this box a very versatile one. I was not impressed with this amp's big brother, the AxSux or whatever; I think it looks like a synth from the 80's with a speaker attached to the bottom of it. Cheesy. I would feel like a nerd standing in front of that thing. This one is cool looking, which does count for something.

My main criterion for judging an amp's sound is how good a time I have playing through it. I've played through Boogies, Marshalls, etc., and not had a good time. I played through a Johnson Millenium and liked the sound, but the salesman was a little prick and he was sitting right there, so I didn't have a good time with that amp. With this amp, I had a great time. I especially like the "Modern Class A" (Matchless) model on this amp. It sings, baby! It's shag-a-delic. The "Rectified" setting turned it into a fire-breather. The "Black Panel" setting sounded like a good Twin. The "Old Tweed" model sounded like crap, but I think old tweed amps in general sound like crap, so I give that model a thumbs up, too. There are others that sound great, too: Some Marshall models, a Roland Jazz Chorus model, and 3 FlexTone models that sounded pretty cool. It was pretty darn noisy when I was playing through single-coils while sitting 4 inches from the amp, but I don't normally do that. On humbuckers, it was as quiet as a dead mouse. Also, I was playing at talking volume, and could get great feedback from it. I've always thought "What if someone made a portable combo amp that kicked ass?" I guess someone does. I'm in the middle of buying a house, so I can't buy one right now, but as soon as I can, I'm going to!

I have no idea whether this thing could be depended on. It seems fairly solid, but this Line 6 is an unknown to me. I have never owned any of their products. When I gig, I do it without backup, because I have a day job, and I'm too cheap (poor!) to buy 2 of everything. It did kind of freak me out when I turned the thing on in the store... I've never felt an amp vibrate like a Swedish sexual appliance when I turned it on. This one did though. There must be a little go-cart engine in there or something.

I've heard they're pretty friendly. I don't know, though. I would hope so. I'd hate to think that a building full of jerks could make an amp this cool.

I've been playing for about 20 years. I've played through a lot of crappy amps that just didn't "do it" for me, and a few that did. There was a Boogie MkIV that did, a VG-8 that did (in kind of a synthetic way), and this amp. Maybe I'll buy a house later... I give it an 8, because I don't know about the reliability or the customer service. It's a pretty cool amp on all other scores, though.