Line 6 Spider II 112 Combo

This 75W Line 6 is one of the best amps I have ever tried.
I have been playing on marshall and Hughes and Kettner before
and I can absolutely compare them to this one.

*75W
*many good effects
*footswitch
*nice looking
*powerful volume

I use a Gibson SG with original humbuckers. The amp hanldes this guitar very good. When your not touching the strings this amps is completly quiet. The clean sound is perfect especially with the chorus added. I use BOSS pedals for my Hughes and Kettner amp in my studio but i hardly need them for this anp. The phaser, tremolo, chorus and delay is almost better than my boss twin-pedals. Another good thing is the four channels where you can store your sounds and control them with the including footswitch.

This amp is great but its got a lot of crap-effects. The insane channel is way to brutal. You can even hear the tones when you play a solo. You dont have a clean chorus on the amp only a chorus/flange but it works okay though.

I have only been using this amp for 1 month so I doesnt have an opinion yet. it seems to work ok but im a bit worried because of all the digital stuff. This amp is equiped with a lot of lamps which i thing will break from time to time. But that doesnt disturb the sound.

I bought this amp at the musicstore I work in. I got some discount on it. If theres ever any trouble with it i will just talk to my boss.

This is a powerful amp with a great soundou play 70's or 80's rock music like me the crunch-distortion is the sound for you. If you play black/death metal the metal dist is the best one.

I have been playing for over 7 years and i am quite demanding when it comes to amps. This one got the best sound for this ammount of money.
This amp has the best clean sound i've ever heard,I havent tried another guitar into it but it works great with my SG's humbuckers.

This is very well spent money. Use a good guitar, use good cables and use this amp and you will get far =)

I look at other line 6 amps like the flextone and think wow I wish I had all those effects, but then i realize that I have everything I need in my spider II and I go back to it's awesomeness and forget about it.

I use single coil pickups. I play mostly punk rock. Other people reviewed it and said it had scratchy heights DON'T LISTEN TO THEM! I completely disagree! the one reason that kept me from buying this amp was thatI thought it had scratchy heights. GUESS WHAT... IT DOESN'T! This amp is awesome! I have yet to see a better amp for a better price.I look at other line 6 amps like the flextone and think wow I wish i had all those effects, but then i realize that I have everything I need in my spider II and I go back to it's awesomeness and forget about it. The clean is as clean as it gets and stays that way even when it is cranked all the way up to ten! The distortion is as brutal as it gets on the the green insane model. When I think about the volume I sometimes wish i had the 212, but then again IT GETS AS LOUD AS I NEED IT TOO. IT IS EASILY GIG READY!!! MY DRUMER DRUMS LIKE A MANIAC AND I AM AT LEAST 5x AS LOUD AS HE IS!!!

I haven't had any problems. It seems pretty well built but I'm still getting a travel case.

Dunno, never had to deal with them and I hope I won't have to.

I have been playing for a long time and I can tell you that this amp is a dream.I FIND ABSOLUTELY NO FLAWS WITH THIS AMP YOU SHOULD GO GET IT AND ABANDON ANY HESITATION YOU MAY HAVE! Seriously it's awesome.If it was stolen I would definetly get a new one!This amp is an awesome value but is still good at any price! This amp also works fairly well with the FBV4 four button footswitch. (but the manual mode dosen't work Boo line 6!)

The best thing about this amp is the delay, its pretty good and can do a lot more than most. it has a few distortions and a few clean sounds, 3 delays, rverb and a built in tuner.

at first i loved it but thats because i was using a p.o.s befor that. but now i find that its not as good as it could be most distortions come out very muddy, its hard to get a good clean sound on this amp most of them kind suck. basicly once you get the good sound save it and keep it forever.

its dependable ive used it a lot for playing gigs and its held up ok. the most anoying thing is it reset all my saved sounds once, that sucked.

ive been playing guitar for like 6 years and had this amp for 6 months and basicly it made me dislike line 6, it works good for $300 but id prefer something better. there are some other line 6 products that work way beter for just alittle more money, id say put out a few hundered more and get a flextone 3.

Lots of features. I want to address some issues that many people have opinions on. I've been biting my tongue for a long time in regards to the dispute between Modeling amps and Tube amps.

First off a Mesa, Marsahll, Soldano etc... when played full tilt in the style that many younger people seem to like. Really is not a very complex sound, as a matter of fact it becomes alot less dimensional. And to many people this is absolute heaven to there ears. And many manufacturters are pointed straight at this. It is not a complex sound. Now I know this whole topic is going to piss-off a lot of people. As soon as I go into my background as a musician, people are going to take offense, thinking that I'm some sort of "tube snob" . So here goes. I'm 52 years old and have been playing guitar for 39 years. I grew up playing tube amps mostly Fender tweed and blackface amps. Something magical happens when a tube amp goes into compression (distortion to most people). And if you listen very carefully you can hear the many complex things that happen to your tone. Sometimes this is a very subtle change. You can hear it when you play a single note and listen to the spaciousness, even order harmonics, articulation and other sonic wonders. Many people live in this subtle and complex world. Now-a-days many Boutique builders have addressed this issue with great success. Builders like, Matchless, Carr, Bad Cat, Budda, Bogner, Dr. Z, Dumble, Two Rock (my favorite) and many others. These type of amps if you listen closely, sound so pure and complex that it nearly sounds like you are plying through a very good reverb. The sound is huge and I don't mean a Marshall or Boogie stack kind of huge. And there is a difference. But it depends on what you want your amp to do. Many bands that are mentioned in previous reviews are not going for a complex tone. Good thing too, because these modeling amps can reproduce this. A freind went on vacation and lent me his Spider. I played this amp for three weeks about four hours or more a day. And my Impression (keep in mind my frame of reference) is that this amp does not come close to the amps it's trying to imitate, other than the massive distortion amps. It is more succesfull in this when the frame of reference is that of the afore mentioned Mesa, Marshall high gain not terribley complex tone. Just brutal distorion. And i'st flexible enough to be fun. For me it just can't reproduce what I know about tubes amps that aren't used for massive gain. But believe me if you have spent any time around tube amps and actually listen closely to the complexity of these amps (some people don't care about the complexity, just how brutal the distotion is)you will then realize that these modeling amps are far from accurate reproductions of anything other than massive distortion. Some people could spend ten years with a blackface deluxe and be nothing but dissipointed with the sound and think it's a gutless wimp (and it is) and no use to him at all. Money is certainly an issue for many people and these types of amps fill a void. Money aside how many pro' who are really talented musicians play these things. People like Al DiMeola, John McLaughlin, Jeff Beck, Steve Vai, Tony Mac Alpine, Eric Johnson and the list goes on for an hour. Even more so for blues players who don't live in the RED LINE ZONE of massive distortion.These people have BIG Ears folks and they play music that demands complexity and dimension in their tone. Many bands don't have the same requirements. I don't want to try and say something like my music is better than yours or anything like that, just that many people have different ideas of whats good. Eric Claptons amps are useless to people like Korn, Slipknot etc... as there gear is useless to Eric. Fell free to contact me with your opinion as long as you aren't some maniac who wants to just flame me for your difference of opinion.

Everyones alreadys knows this, but if you don't go on the line 6 website for all the info.

This is a beautiful amp with versatility and some amazing sounds. The clean is perfect for what i use ( the light passages of songs) and the distortion is brutal yet defined. It is an amp that plays to YOUR needs and has everything available to be able to play the sounds in your head. I play death metal (in flames, nile, kataklysm) and Alternate rock/metal (lost prohpets, tool, slipknot, korn)and have been playing for about 5 years. I have a SMALL BUDGET and therfore cannot spend 3000 grand on a stack. Of course this baby MAY sound shit when compared to a ENGL or MESA stack but they are also 10 times the price. For a person on a budget this cannot be beaten. The only reason it gets a 9 is because i wish it were a tiny bit louder.

It seems durable but then again i have only had it for a month. If any probelms occur i will post again. Go solid state, NO TUBES!!!

one year warranty is ok and i haven't spoken to line 6 yet. Hopefully i don't have to.

I own three electrics( two Ibanez's and Gibson les paul studio). Amp wise I Own This amp now, a Mesa Nomad 45, and a Marshall mode four. (I have rich parents)
I love this amp as something i can carry around anywere and has everything i need on it.

This posting is a follow-up. I installed an Eminence guitar legend 121 speaker in the spider2, and here are the results two weeks after( the speaker has not quite broken in but 20 hours of loud playing).
The sound stays tight till full speed, and I really enjoy the clean sounds that stay clean. Man they are loud loud, no way to guess there are only 75watts here.
The blues and dirty metal sounds are better, because they don't lose their definition when played loud. I also noticed that the honkiness of the celestion is gone(...) and it makes a good deal of difference.
The overall sound is a bit warmer, fresher, less ear-splitting, while still stiff. And the treble is not gone so don't worry you'll cut through the mix, only louder.
Given that the new speaker costs only 50euros there is no excuse not to install one in the spider2, it delivers a huge improvement in sound quality. Did I say this amp is way loud now?
Cherry on the cake, the weight is still the same, more or less 16 kgs, a real pleasure to travel with when you can't take the car (train, subway...).
Thanks for reading, rock on!

Absolutely killer for the price, and quite fun to play with, gigging is perfectly manageable (more than with other amps I've owned), the tuner and noise-gate are a blessing on stage , and so on. A ten, if only the fbv4 switch would work as advertised... Boo line6!

First of all, the switch fbv4 doesn't work as it could(and advertised as): you get tap tempo, but not the manual mode! It means you only can switch channels 1-4 and tap the tempo, you can't activate chorus, booster, delay or reverb. At the price they sell it, it is a shame. I feel I am stolen on this one, BOO line6!
Stick with the provided fbv2 switch, works as well.
The amp is very ez to use, what makes it perfectly manageable under stress situations where you have to react fast(and in the good way hem). The hidden functions are fuzzy to call, especially for checking where your settings are. The tuner is fine, why does it works only for standard tuning (E-flat is common nowadays after all)? It is because in real life situations everybody sticks to the stndard tuning...
Far enough power, but the celestion stock speaker doesn't stand the power since it breaks up fast, hence baddening your beautiful tone. I Have ordered an Eminence legend121, will post a follow-up after some time with it in the spider2. Theoretically it should stays clean, with more warmth and louder too.
Channels switch very fast, a real pleasure. With the fbv2 switch you can use this amp as a 2channel amp, like an old fashioned amp, just copy patch1 and 2 in the 3rd and 4th locations respectively. This way you don't have too look at what you do with your feet, like in the old days...
No loop, spkr out whatsoever, this one is an autist. I like it, because I knew when buying that I wouldn't lose any time with outboard effects, just plug'n'play. Also, no way to destroy it because of wrong connections etc. Fine with me.
Headphone out is convenient, but the amp then sounds very bad and lifeless, just like the pods... The xv amp behringer sounds 10worlds better in this regard.
Better be careful with the line out, you need a 6.3 stereo-to-6.3 mono jack adapter or you could destroy something, just like the first version.
Apart from that, this amp is like r&r: simple and effective

I only use humbuckers(although with autosplit in-between positions), and my current axes are Ibanez rg7321 and squier stagemaster7. Lots of bottom-end, then. I need very clean sounds because I slap the funk and it is the first reason I don't like common guitar amps: they doesn't stay clean when playing loud. So far I only found big keyboard amp, or bass combo, through a sansamp.
Modeling amps stays where you set them, regardless of the master volume. At least if the speaker is well chosen...
No noise, but even if there are some the noise gate works pretty good.
You have to try every possibility to find your tones from it , and that takes a lot of time. For instance I like full round clean sounds, and the best I found hides in the red crunch with gain at min!
The same way for good power blues(glenn hughes, rory, you get the idea) , the red or green metal with drive backed off. For this style I tend to play in the in-between positions, I get delicious harmonics. I use a clean booster to solo.
It works far better than the opposite, and more common, way.
Big thanks to the reviewer here who mentioned this: without him I wouldn't even have tried this amp. Thanks again, pal!
Full blown metal sounds are incredible as they stay tight and definite, and with 7strings guitars it is tough on amps.
I am absolutely amazed in fact, and am no newbie at all.
Because of the fbv4 problem mentioned above I use a booster for soloing (curiously the best I found is 1:a boss 2:the ds-2 model. Full round warm sharp tone, and lots of volume boost).
Since the built-in booster is very good at his job it is a real pity that the expensive fbv4 board doesn't do manual mode. Boo line6!

Seems well built, big radiator on the back, no connections to fool with: autists lasts long!
The knobs seems bit exposed, so I bought a rockbag case for the amp: for 85euros just perfect to travel with (casters, trolley, light, foam protection around the amp), be it in the car or the subway. Highly recommended, since the amp only weighs 16kgs(checked myself).
No ratings, only 2months old.

From what I hear I hope I won't have to deal with them.

I play since 18years, seven strings since 92. I had peavey transtube bandit(american one, not chinese), transfex208, stereo chorus. None of them can compare to the spider2.
I also had sovtek mig50 tube head with marshall 4x12 greenbacks box, aand I couldn't stand this(past 4 it is not clean anymore, what a ****), and a fender hotrod 112(same problem, with much more noises).
I really don't like guitar amps, until this little gem.
I love the possibilities of this, the simple-and-effective mood. Well set and well played nobody in the audience can tell it's not a fine amp. And it cuts through with clarity, what so many others (costing up to 8times much) don't.
At this price you can't find a better deal: light, fun, convenient, full of good sounds. Mates very well with a booster in front of it.
I only wish the f****ing fbv4 could work in manual mode. Boo line6!

I play many styles in a covers band and wanted something easy to carry around and easy to set up for practice. This amp seems to do that well. It means I have less gear to stack in the back of Steve's People Carrier.

I use Ibanez guitars, mostly RG which are great (shame about the locking trem. Does anybody else think like me?). Blues is geat for the lead work I do, and the tap tempo, well no-one does that like Line 6. Great sounds alll round. The only down side is the chorus. Yuk!! How can such a good versatile amp, have a chorus that sounds like zebedee in the magic roundabout. (showing my age and nationality here)

No problems here. I will have the reverb checked out, but that's probaly the way I set it up.

N/A Never needed them

I own a wide range of guitars and they all work well with this amp. It is more versatile than the advertising would suggest. I am an old guy who plays everything from modern era back even as far as the Shadows and I do that through this and using an Ibanez guitar. I guess that will horrify Ibanez and Line 6. The only reason I bought a Spider over a Flextone 3 is because I didn't want to get bogged down with deep editing and press buttons for speaker stimulations when I could not really see what I was setting up. Straightforward and effective. That's what I wanted and that's why I bought this really good amp. But the Chorus!! Line 6 please! Are you joking?

Every body ought to know them by now!!! Four FULLY programable channels, more with FBV. I have the four button one it's enough for me... for now. Instantly swithes, no delay at all. Well maybe a micro second. I gave it a less than perfect rating because there is no effects loop. This might be the one amp that can do without one but come on, sonic maxamizer, EQ, pedals. You got have a loop man.

I also have the 212 version so obviously I liked the sound alot or I would have got somthin' else. It's obviosly not as deep as the 212 but it's smaller man. PERFECT for practice or jams. I play death metal and hardy slaps of thick distorion typr shit. It also has a great Metalica Meshuggah esque clean tone. That's what I use it for. I'll jam out some blues, Satriani, Malmsteen, Skolnick type stuff. very great tone. I use a B.C. Rich ViRGiN with EMG-81 bridge and 85 at the neck 1 volume 1 tone three way toggle switch. Not much of a difference tone wise from the stock passives, but there is a difference and theese pich-ups behave differently, very quiet, more sensative, O.K they sound alot better. My point is this amp sounded great with shit pick-ups. I would also say like others you got spend time tweeking this mutha, tweek it again for loud volumes. And believe me it gets friggin' loud. Yeah it takes some time to week it right where you want it, but when you do it sounds perfect. I use the insane green with my volume rolled back on the guitar then I turn volume up for solos. More gain than satan himself could ever use. They sound better at high volumes than any solid-state amp I've ever owned played or heard(Marshal, peavey, crate). I like crate and peavey ss but turn em up and they start to sound like ass. Also the ditortion on this amp is not so trebely and DEICIDE sounding like most Crate I've heard. To get a good idea of what this amp is cabable of listen to the ney SLiPKNOT. Those are some of the tones I get. I don't know what the hell is wrong with you tube "PUREAFISTS" or whatever you ares. It would be nive if we could all play Boogies cranked to 10, but my budget, ears, neighbors, police, and landlord wouldn't tolerate it. I have seen many people play on Mesa and other top end valve amps and still sound like porcupine shit. Like stated by other reviewers true tone comes from your mind and fingers, your heart and soul, your... well ya know! If you can't get good tones out of this amp 9 out 10 says you suck armadillo dung and should just quit playing guitar and like start building shitty tube amps or somthin'. However if I were a pro playing arenas every 2 or 3 days, then I'd consider a great tube amp. But I'm not playing large venues, and neither are any of you piss-ants who bash this amp. Do you tube freaks play for 20'000 plus people regulary cause if you don't this is a great amp. F your tubes!!!

I take good care of my gear. It does not get abused in any way exept when I crank it. I usually scoop the mids and have alot bass and treble and it hasn't farted out on me yet. I hope it stays that way. There is no need to turn this thing past 7 and it handles that volume nicely with scooped sound. It has plastic knobs but is otherwise built like a tank. I would give it a higher rating but I feel amps that have been around for 10 plus years deserve high marks in this catagory. Time will tell.

They were very helpfull with my questions. Comprehensive web-site. Got back to me within 24 hours. But I have'nt really delt with them for anything major soooo...

As far as I know you simply cannot beat this amp for the value. I have been dying to try out a Berhinger I hear there good to. Especially for the price. FANTASTiC VALUE.I love my axe. I love my amp. Try one and you'll love it to.

This is just to correct what the crazy below says about speaker wiring. NO NO NO! DON'T DO LIKE THAT! Here is why: 1.Chances are high, that Spider 2's power amp is rated @8 ohm minimum charge. It means that going under 8ohm by connecting anything in parallel could very well destroy the amp period. And don't expect warranty there...
2.Never use a guitar cable to connect speakers, since there is voltage there, while on the guitar signal there is almost none. What you will do is melt down the conductor, hence shorting or cutting the wire, in both cases very dangerous or lethal for the amplifier.
A tube amplifier won't survive by any means, and a trannie could die fast.
3.Wiring two 8ohms speakers the more "logical" way gives 4 ohm total, and not 16. This is why it is dangerous for beginners.
4.Most amps don't survive with low charges(less than 8 or 4 ohm), most amps do accept high charges (e.g.16 or 24 ohm instead of 8) but some don't, and go figure which ones... So it is better to stick strictly with the original impedance of the amp (8 ohm for the spider2).
Now, if you want more volume with ,say, a 412 cab, do as follows:
First, double check that your cab impedance is 8 ohms. Then, make a cable with loudspeaker specifications(2x2.5mm2 for instance) and connect it in place of the original speaker. (Car accessories for the little plugs)
Now that only your 8 ohm cab is connected to the speaker wires of your spider2 (check polarity) you can switch the amp on.
You shouldn't have any problems as long as you properly do the job with acceptable materials...
I own this amp and find it has more than enough headroom for real life situations, and a mic is not that expensive or a big deal to travel with...