Line 6 Spider 112 Combo

blah blah blah, everyone knows the features by now.

NOW ON TO THE FUN PART. I USE THIS AMP STRICTLY FOR HOME PRACTICE.
CLEAN: SEEMS FULL , EMG 89s WITH COIL TAP ON MY LES PAUL MAKE FOR LOTS OF TONAL VARIATIONS. GREAT FOR A CREED TYPE CLEAN / CHORUS SOUND.
TWANG: GREAT FOR "COUNTRY" TYPE LICKS. TOO BAD I DONT KNOW ANY.

BLUES: SOUNDS OK FOR ON THE EDGE BREAKUP.

CRUNCH: SOUNDS REAL BOXY COMPARED TO THE OTHER OVERDRIVE SOUNDS.STILL HAVEN'T DIALED THIS ONE IN THOUGH.

RECTO: GOOD FOR THAT RECTO TYPE OF SOUND. LESS DISTORTION THAN THE REAL THING THOUGH. FOUND IT BEST TO TAME THE LOWS AND HIGHS AND GIVE IT SOME MIDRANGE. IT'S A LITTLE MORE REALISTIC THIS WAY. MORE OF A MODERN SOUND.

INSANE:THE MAIN REASON I BOUGHT THIS AMP. IT TOTALY NAILS THE STRYPER SOUND. GREAT FOR SHREDDING. EVEN IF YOU DO LOSE DEFINITION.NOISE GATE WON'T WORK AT HIGH GAIN SETTINGS AND THIS CHANNEL IS NOISY WHEN YOU STOP PLAYING. BUT IT'S ONLY FOR PRACTICE AND WHO STOPS ENOUGH TO HEAR THE NOISE ANYWAY.

EFFECTS ARE EASY ENOUGH TO USE AND SOUND FINE FOR WHAT THEY ARE.

BOUGHT IT USED, HAD IT FOR A FEW DAYS.. NO PROBLEMS YET.

HOPEFULLY NEVER NEED IT.

IF THIS AMP IS USED ONLY FOR HOME PRACTICE, IT IS A GREAT DEAL.DECENT CLEAN AND HEAVY DISTORTION SOUNDS. PEOPLE HAVE SAID THAT THE SOUND GETS SHRILL ETC... WHEN YOU TURN IT UP. WELL YEAH. THIS AMP WASN'T MADE FOR PLAYING STADIUMS. ALSO IT DOESN'T HAVE THE FEEL AND "PUSH" OF A REAL TUBE AMP. BUT IT ISN'T MEANT TO EITHER.I OWN TONS OF AMPS: MESA, MARSHALL, PEAVEY, REXX, ADA, METALTRONIX, PERFECT CONNECTION, SOLDANO, AND SEVERAL AMP MODELERS.THIS WONT REPLACE ANY OF THEM. BUT FOR HOME PRACTICE IT WORKS GREAT FOR ME.

It's a digitally programmed 50W amp, made in 2000. 6 programmed channels (Clean, Twang, Blues, Crunch, Recto, Insane) & 4 memory presets (which can be expended up to 12 with an optional floorboard, I own one as well) with usual EQ (channel volume, bass, mid, treble, gain). It's also got 3 modulation effects (flanger, chorus, tremelo) and 3 delay mods (delay, tape echo, ping pong), reverb and master output conrols.
Headphone jack is great for practice. It's a so called "AER-output", so you can also plug it right into the mixing console in the studio and record. (I still prefer mic-ing, 'cause you can benefit from the acoustic feaures of the room, and it sounds more dynamic.) No effect loops (pity). The amp is loud enough for me (one 12" speaker): I use it mostly for practice, jams, small club gigs and occasional recording. It's also lightweight (15kg) and quite compact, which is very important for me as I don't have a car.

I use the Spider with a Standard American Strat. I needed a versatile amp which can handle different musical styles (pop, country, blues, fusion, psycodelic, rock and occasional metal) and still be quite simple in tweakin' in the right sound. Well, this one handles it all ! I have changed all the presets using the original ones as basis and I'm quite happy with the result. Mostly I stick with the "Crunch"-mode with volume and tone pots rolled a bit down on guitar, so you get fairly juicy, slightly dark clean sound. For a good blues/rock lead I simply dial in more volume and kick in a VoodooLab Sparkle Drive. To make things more dramatic, I switch on to the "Recto"-setting which is also very good. "Clean" is good for Hank Marvin' kind of thing (together with tape echo en reverb); "Twang" goes well with some Gretsch-y tremelo action for a rockabilly sound. "Blues" is a bit one dimensional and dull, and "Insane" is way too noisy (though brutal enough to kick that metal ass, that for sure !).

Modulation effects are not high quality, but easily tweakable to get the right sound. Same goes for delays, though I really love tape echo and ping pong. Reverb is OK, but if you want better, you'd better look for an outboard unit.
The amp reacts good at volume and wah-pedals on the floorboard, though there is still some delay time (floorboard is directly connected to the amp). So if you need a really tight funky wah, you'd better use an external wah with guitar plugged right into it.

Overall sound is tight, bang-for-your-buck and quite convincing.

Due to the digital technology, this one doesn't react to any temperature/weather changes. You don't have to wait 'till the tubes are warm-and-glowing, with the Spider you can wail right away ! It's perfect for small stages as it doens't occupy much room, and, again, it's lightweight ! The only thing that's been annoying me for the last 4 months, is that volume pedal doesn't seem to cut ALL the sound in down-heel position, while the amp is in a 10-gain setting... As for the rest, it's a nice sturdy combo.

I'm gonna call the dealer to ask them if they could do anything about that volume pedal-thing. No comments so far.

I've been playing electric guitar for almost 7 years. Right now I'm looking for a second hand Mesa Boogie (Mark II or DC-5) for a REALLY good tube sound, but I might still choose for a Line6 Flextone III because of it's great diversity. I love Line6 stuff, also because of it's reliability and convincing sounds, and it's all for a very reasonable price. The Spider is great for small gigs,jams and rehearsals, and it can handle much more than only nu-metal or punk, especially if you got a versatile guitar (or several ones). You do hear the difference if you plug another axe into it, so it's quite transparant at that point. I'd choose now for a more up-market amp due to my needs (I went from amateur to semi-professional), but in it's own class Spider still beats all the rivals !

I think the features are really good for an amp like this bar one!!!! no line in, this was very annoying to me.
i too bougt the amp second hand and with being an owner of a marshall gr50 before that, i was impressed with the sound of the spider.

i'm playing a 1987 epihphone spotlight with Dimarzio Evolution pickups fitted and the sound on the insane setting is amazing but the only problem is that you have to set it then stick to it, you cant just change from insane to clean with out having to fart about with the other settings to get the desired effect.

i am rather annoyed with this amp now because of a dodgy channel vol knob making the sound rather dry at times then fine other times.
and that other thing is that when you change a setting there is a slight delay b4 the change takes place which is really annoying.
also the effects are rather tame especially the delay effect.
cant say i could depend on it for a gig cause its never the same twice over which is a shame cause it could be so much better.

dont know about customer sopprt but the site is very helpful with an active forum for ppl with the same problems.

well overall the amp is the best i've had but only good in my eyes for practising in the home.
too many faults compared to other plug and play amps. not sure how accurate my statments are because i haven't tried effects boxes or the like through it, but my experience so far with the on board stuff has been a little less than dissapointing. bearing in mind the only effects module i've ever had was a korg pandora px2.

Got mine second hand. But very good nick. Features already explained. But amazing. I have not seen another amp that is non-line 6 with these features.

I use a Les Paul standard and the DM4 and the MM4 line 6 stompboxes.
I like insane, i know many dont, but a few changes, a bit of chorous, and the sound is inspiring for me to write some music. At the top volume, the sound does suffer a bit. I always keep it on clean, to utilise the stompboxes to their full capacity. All the channels are useful, foe variety purposes, and a change of sound often goes a long way to writing new stuff.

This amp has been perfect, and i got it second hand. I am one careful owner, and so was the previous owner. The other guitarist in my band had one of the 212, and i bought mine without knowing what it was(yeh i know silly, but it all worked out) The two together in practices can make some pretty amazing music, one in twang, and the other in crunch or recto, for quite a slow rock song, can bring a tear to the eye.
This amp, is kept in my bedroom when practicing on my own, and i often use it to reach high shelves for example. It is sturdy as a brick shithouse.
The dials are rock solid, they aint going anywhere.

None needed, but I can only use it for the stopmboxes. But they are probably very helpful

I have been playing for 2 and a half years. I use it with an Epiphone Les Paul Standard. Awsome. A bit of a Line 6 fan, with the distortion and Modulation stompboxes. I have learned so much by myself with this gear. If the amp were stolen, i would probably buy a mark 2 head, and another a mode four or something to get a diverse setup. And a few cabs to get a beautiful noise.

2001 Great practice amp or small gig amp, four programmable channels, six amplifier model simulations and six different effects plus reverb.

Use with a les paul deluxe and a Ibanez 540. This amp has average clean sounds and very good dirty sounds, the recto simulation is really nice and contrary to other reviews the insane is useable if you tweek it. It was desinged to have to much gain you just have to back it off and you get some nice heavy distortion. The real minus is the speaker, like most budget combos it's lightweight and weak when you really push it. If you get a chance do what I did and replace it with a real speaker! I had a celestion g12h-80 left over from a project and the difference is amazing, it takes it from good sounding to great, now I can push it and thump it all day with no problem. I'd rate the sound a 6 with the stock speaker and a 9 with the celestion the clean could still be better.

Seems solid no problems so far.

never needed it.

Overall as a practice amp which is what I bought it for it is as good as it gets, but really if I didn't have my larger amps I think it would be very gigworthy in smaller clubs or miked for bigger and also great for band practice.

Not sure when it was made, I like the amp for its sound. It has a good distorted sound, I'm not too happy with the blues setting since I do enjoy playing blues. It has 4 channels, which could be better if it had more, headphone jack which I haven't tried yet. I use it in the basement while my band is practicing, we haven't gigged since I got it, but we will probably have one, at which point I will give another review saying how it did there. I don't use the Trem or Flange, the tape echo also sounds bad. I use Chourus occasionally, and almost always play with delay. The Ping Pong effect has a nice sound to it.

I am using a Charvel with a Seymor Duncan Humbucker in it(Not sure of brand). It is very good for what I play, which is new rock and classic (Zeppelin, Nirvana, BLink, ect.) Huge mix of everythign is what I play. It can be noisy, I haven't gigged with it as of yet, but it sounds great in my basement about 1/4 of the way up. I play it on Recto and Insane.

I have not had problems with the amp as of yet, but I always take care of all my equiptment.

Never Dealt With

I have been playing for about a year and a half now. I own 2 guitars, and another shit amp. If it were stolen, I would probably get something else, I like it, but I probably wouldnt get another one cause the new models are too expensive since I could pay 500 for a new one, or get a used Tube Amp for less. I wish it had a bit better of a distortion sound other than Insane and Recto (although Recto sounds great)

Amp was purchased in 2001/new. Had the amp 3 year+.
Play mainly country/rock, rock, blues and some fusion/jazz. Like many styles.
4 programable channels; switching is manual without pedal (pedal is overpriced); no effects loop that I've seen (only pedal I use is a DOD distortion or overdrive directly into guitar); there is a headphone jack (never use it).
Needs a "presence" response (I believe the new spiders have these--or was it the flextone model, hum, can't remember). I'm constanlty attempting to get a better treble/midrange response from this thing, but never quite satisfied. Always turn the bass down to zero because otherwise, the bass is overwhelming (thought I recall this being a problem with some of the older models--something to do with component fine tuning; not an electrical engineer, so don't know the science).
Power rating seems OK for me--I play in mostly smaller venues (small clubs, coffeehouses and outdoor farmers' markets)---also perform a lot of acoustic music.
Flange is weak; tremelo seems fine; chorus is OK in moderation; delay seems OK; don't like the sound of the tape echo, so never use it; ping pong echo is actually my favorite--nice "spacey" quality to it.

Use a fender tele and cheap squire strat, stock pick-ups and some mods at other times I switch out pups every so often just for a change).
Again, play a variety of styles, from blues to a more country-like twang. Haven't found a distortionI like from the amp, hence the distortion pedal. It's never gonna give a pleasant tube-like overdrive/dsitortion; didn't really think it would from the start.
I only use the clean channel (w/ pedal occassionally)--not to much impressed with the twang, blues (this one's particularly muddy--pretty miserable); and the retro/insane settings don't fit my style or tone preference. The clean setting seems adequate, particularly with a standard tele I recently purchased (I believe the guitar also has excellent tone, so that definately helps). I'll give it a "7" for the clean channel--"4" overall.

Here's where I'm sorely disappointed: last week the PC board scorched on me. Just had an outdoor gig--used the amp for about an hour only; got it home, plugged in and swoosh--waft of smoke and that disagreeable smell that goes with it,; something electrical burning. took it in to a shop 2 days later. Was told to purchase a new PC board, the old ones not worth fixing. $120 for the board, $30-40 labor and I've spent nearly half as much of the initial cost of the amp. The amp's been treated very well (I take pride in making things last and taking care of my equipment) and has been used only moderately over the years for practise and some giging. Very disappointed.

Haven't dealt with the company; dealt with an authorized repair shop nearby to home. Had to get it fixed, otherwise, no good to me anymore. And they won't let me keep the old board without paying an extra $40 (lotsa good parts left they can use again).

Been playing since 1970 (took most of the late 70s & 80s off from playing, however); own a number of acoustic guitars, PA system, and other performing gear for vocal performance, etc. If lost/stolen, would likely get something else.
Think the amp is overpriced for what it is; perhaps worth $200 max. Seems good for practise and maybe small venue gig, but the amp is very sensitive and finicky, and I'm often frustrted at having to reset settings at each performance (often don't have the time and like to concentrate on other things).
Would expect to get much longer from the product before a major break down such as this.

It's a 50 watts solid state guitar amp. You can choose between 6 amp models (Clean, Twang, Blues, Crunch, Recto, Insane) and you can save 4 presets (A, B, C, D). The controls are: Drive, Bass, Mid, Treble, Channel Volume. There are also some knobs for the effects: one for Flanger/Chorus/Tremolo, one for Delay/Tape Echo/Ping Pong (Delay and other effects lenght is controlled by a Tap button) and finally one for Reverb. Obviously there is also a Master volume. It's got a headphones output but not a real line-out. It's got a 12" Line 6 Tube Tone speaker.

I play mainly rock, punk, hard rock and heavy metal, but also country and poprock. I play an American Standard Stratocaster. It is difficult to give an overall opinion about this amp, so I will describe and comment the amp model it offers one by one.

CLEAN: Well, first of all, this isn't a clean channel. You can't get a real clean sound!!! It sounds unreal. The only thing that saves this amp model is that you can get quite good sounds with chorus or other effects... but don't expect to make your guitar play like an acoustic one.
I give it a 6.

TWANG: I like it more than the clean one. Obviously if you use effects...
I give it a 6,5.

BLUES: Well it isn't a bad amp model but I never use it. It doesn't sound so much different from the previous two.
I give it a 6.

CRUNCH: This amp model offers a light overdrive sound (even when cranked). I use this channel very often, but always with another overdrive pedal (Korg G3) which acts like a boost.
I give it a 8.

RECTO: Well it hasn't got all that gain that the name allows to suppose. I use this channel (always with my Korg G3) specially when I play at high volumes (rock and hard rock). It's a quite good channel, but it should have more gain and a more warm sound, in fact it sounds a little harsh (without a boost overdrive pedal).
I give it a 7,5.

INSANE: First of all, you can get conscious of this thing specially playing with this amp model, this amp sounds very good at low volumes (let's say until 10/11 o'clock on the Master knob), but when you play at high volumes you can't get a full and very warm sound, due to the fact that you loose great part of the bass frequences. So your sound become
thin. If you want to get a big sound even at high volumes you MUST buy an ALL-tube amp. In the end I must say that this amp is good for alone playing at home, but not so much if you play (like me) in a band (also because it hasn't got an high output).
Talking about this amp model, it's the one I use most often. Playing with a strat with single coils, I must set the equalizer in this way to get a big and powerful sound: Bass at 4 o'clock (near to the max), Mid at 1, Treble at 10 and Drive at 3. I usually don't use other effects, except for solos. Well, with this configuration I can get a real hard rock/heavy metal sound! It is fantastic! The distortion is full and warm. Sometimes I also play with Drive at 1 o'clock and with the overdrive boost pedal, to get an even more liquid distortion, but it isn't really necessary.
The distortion you get is really very big and very smooth. I tried an 80 watts AVT Marshall owned by one of my friends, and you can't compare the 2 kinds of distortion! I don't like Marshalls, and now I know why! Marshalls are good only for solos, but don't try to get a big and fat and specially smooth rhythm distortion from them! After having tried this Marshall I love my line 6 even more!!!
I love to spend a lot of minutes playing palm muted!!! It's fantastic!!!
I give it a 9.

In the end, if you love distorted sounds and if you play alone at home, this amp should be your fisrt choice!!!
Obviously speaking about solid-state amps... I play in 3 bands: with the first I play punk, with the second I play rock, hard rock and heavy metal and with the third I play '70s rock (Creedence and others...). My dream is to get a Mesa Boogie Mark IIc+ 100 watts head, but I would never abandone my line 6 112 spider!!!

Never had any problems. When it doesn't work it is surely a cable problem (I must repair my cables every month...).

Never had problems. It's got a 3 years warranty (if i remember well).

Very good amp for home (see the SOUND description). One of the best 50 watts solid-state amps.

Mine was a 1999 model. The features have been basically gone over. Six amp models, six effects plus reverb.

I have a Tom Anderson classic, an old ES 335, and a big DeArmond jazz box. The mosy usable sound for me is the "crunch" which is a plexi Marshall model. It sounds really good at low to medium volumes, but when you turn it up, instead of getting "sweeter" like a tube amp, it flattens out. The blackface Fender model is decent, but at high voulmes is annoyingly bright. The recto and insane models are also very, very top end heavy. I guess if you like that over processsed nu metal sound, then they're OK.

Very reliable, no problems at all

Never had to deal with the company, but I understand they are pretty good.

I've been playing over 30 years, and though I haven't made any big records, from what people tell me, I'm more than pretty good, and can play anything from Blues to Rock to Fusion and even a little bop. I also have owned some really high end stuff like VHT, Bogner, Mesa, and Marshall, as well as having played through just about anything you can name. I bought this to just have an amp to take to jams as I'm involved in a career that doesn't allow me the time to do a band thing right now. For the money this is a decent amp, but I just bought a Reverend Hellhound, and the sound of real tubes is just another world all together.

6 amp models: Clean, Twang, Blues, Crunch, Recto and Insane.
Digital effects including Delay, Echoe, Flanger and also capable of storing four settings
Lots of pretty lights as they guy said below but overall an ugly looking beast which could devalue a house by half by just
being in it!!

Hmmmmmmmmmmm......... where to start eh?? I use and Epi Les Paul Standard and a Squier Fat Strat...out of all the amp models and I can honestly say in my oppinion that Recto is the only one I was half pleased with... I found all the other setttings, from the muffled clean to the absolutely horrifying insane setting absolutely useless... the sheer awfullness of the blues and the cruch setting have to be heard to be believed... I played around with the equaliser for hours an end trying and even begging to get a decent sound out this thing but I just kept failing... perhaps if you are into metal and nothing else then this amp maybe slightly useful but if you are not, stay clear of this abomination... sure you can get a massive range of sounds out of this thing but are any of them actually good??? GOD NO!!!
My advice is to buy the Roland Cube 30 amp.... much better sound, much better amp models, much better digital effects, and all for a good #75 cheaper..

Never really had a problem with it breaking down

didnt need it

I've had this for 6 months and can't wait to get rid of the bugger... If it were ever stolen, I would hunt down the burglar and personally shake his hand... and then get something a million times better with the insurance... I urge people to buy the Roland Cube 30 if they want a great sounding amp with great digital effects and amp models...