Line 6 Spider Valve 100HD Head

See below reviews, bunch of different amp models from clean to super high gain, I think I found one decent sound on the Marshall gain setting, but that was about it. Yes, it's very versatile, but see below for my review of the sound quality, which makes not too many of the settings usable.

Here's where the inherent problem is... regardless of the tube power section, this thing still sounds like pure digital garbage to my ears. I played it through my crate V series 2x12 cab with tone tubby speakers, and it sounded like pure mud. I could fart better tone. The clean channels had no sparkle or brightness to them at all. I got this thing, plugged it in, played around with the settings for two to three hours, and sent it right back. I think I found maybe one usable tone through out all the amp settings. Absolutely horrible. Maybe if I spent another 6 weeks futzing with it, I might find a couple of more usable sounds, but who has that kind of time anyways. The effects were way too much, and sounded sterile to my ears, again, more digital garbage. For those of you who try it, roll back the volume on your guitar in the middle of a chord, you'll hear what I'm talking about. Sent this thing back, got a Fender Supersonic on the way, I'll get the sounds I need as far as versatility from my footboard with mostly analog pedals which sound great.

No idea, but due to the intense digital modeling computer built in, I probably wouldn't rely on it, but really can't say.

Never dealt with them.

I wouldn't recommend this amp to my worst enemy, or rival guitar player for that matter. If you have a shit load of time to waste and want to futz with it to try and get a good sound, be my guest. Let me know how that works out for you.

I purchased this amp within the last 30 days and have owned many amps in the past. From a JCM800 to a Lab Series L5. My favorite amp (past tense) was my Fender Duel Showman head with a Peavey 4x12 cab. I felt that you couldn't beat the tone but I had to lug around a crap load of extra equipment for versatility. It required a PhD between songs to stomp all the right pedals to get my next song in order. I have always been anti-all-in-one due to the fact that most all-in-one units do a couple of things really poorly.
Line6 has outdone themselves with this amp, song setup is one or two clicks away with the FBV. All I carry is the head, spider 4X12 and no adapters / power strips or patch cables to introduce noise.

I absolutely love it!!!

I play a PRS Custom 24 as my primary guitar which blends great with this amp. Sound quality could not be any better!

Most can not look past the Line6 stigma of "poor under powered " sound. I was one of those. Why they put those cheap "Custom" made Celestions in their gear amazes me. The 4X12 cab that has the vintage 30 speakers in it should be their mainstay for all their amps / cabs. Even if you play a Flextone or Spider Combo, replace the factory speakers with even mid-range speakers makes a huge difference.

You old school folks need to wake up and smell the coffee on this. This amp is better than the 4-5 amps you haul around with those noisy foot pedals.

No problems yet.

We will have to see what happens when the warranty runs out.

Documentation is crap!!!! At times it leaves you feeling like you are making a best guess at some items. Docs go into a great deal of detail on crap, most could care less about. No docs are available at all on the 4-12 which has switches and multiple inputs for different impedance and stereo options. All you get is what is labeled on the back. Can you include a schematic!!!!!

Thanks!!!

If you are looking to spend $2000.00US on you gear, this is the amp for you. You will not get any better unless you spend much more. Our other guitarist is selling his Peavey 5150 stack and replacing it with a spider valve!!

It will require a phone call / email into their customer support to get all the info their docs are missing.

Bogner designed line 6 spider valve hd 100. the first of its kind combining line 6 modeling with an all tube design.

Like everyone else has said, at a low volume it sounds like garbage. This is to be expected from a tube head. Ive been playing for a while and i have played my fair share of amps. i own a JCM 2000 as well as a fender bassman and this amp emulates them VERY well. I have hated line 6 up until stumbling upon this amp in my local guitar store. I plugged in, cranked the volume and fell in love. I MUST ADVISE YOU, DISREGARD THE LINE 6 IN THE NAME, ITS BOGNER QUALITY!!! it dials every tone in from a great Jimmy Page to a David Gilmore to even slipknot and stevie ray vaughn. THIS IS NOT TO BE TAKEN LIGHTLY!!! i bought it right away. its a must have.

I havent had it long enough to know.

Havent had the need

man if your like me and you NEED versatility, crave killer tones, and love to play, this amp is for you. the only think i wish line 6 would do is bring down the price on the foot switches. there so expensive.

This amp is loaded with features, anything you want do with 4+ channels is at your finger tips with the Spider Valve. Check the website, and most importantly download the manual, it is an easy read.

All right, here is where the rubber meets the road. I have played over 20 amps in the last two years looking for a marriage of versatility and sound quality as I gig frequently. The Spider Valve is that perfect marriage. For all you tube geeks out there relax, the Spider Valve does not 100% emulate a tube amp but it comes stunningly close. When using a high gain channel and using your guitar volume knob to create cleaner tones (like you are capable of doing with any tube amp) you start to hear a little "digital" on/off in the sound response if you are at very, very low volumes. The sound does clean up nicely though and you would never notice this playing out anywhere as you would never get that low in volume.

Other than that the real beauty of this amp is that you have so much available to create your own tone. I don't use the factory presets but have had a lot of luck creating my own unique sounds and they are all killer. The "Crunch" and "Metal" models for high gain sounds are very versatile, also play with the Mids and do not be afraid to turn down the drive.

This head shipped new and I have had it only a short time. It looks well built and I have had no issues but I am slightly concerned with the RJ-45 connector and cable to the foot boards, to me that is just not industrial strength enough but only time will tell.

With Line 6's website, and specifically the Spider Valve User forum on this web site, you should never have to pick up the phone.

So here is the deal, if you are looking to have a great sounding, flexible, cost competitave amp you can not go wrong with the Spider Valve. If you are playing a $2500 Soldano and you want the same sound for a third of the price you are dreaming. I love the amp and it will be in my rig for a long time. I am selling my effects pedals as we speak and only need outboard Wah (even though the pedal comes with Wah it doesn't have a ton of sweeping range). Line 6 hit a home run here and as the resolution increases in years to come on the analog to digital to DSP back to analog conversion you would never know the front end is a hybrid digital amp except becuase of the fact you can destroy any sound in your path and you don't need a but load of effects to do it with!!

This amp is very versatile, but in the end it all sounds fake.

Terrible, just terrible. This is a digital solid state pre-amp with a tube power amp. The digital stage uses the same technology as the old POD 2.0. And so it's no wonder it sounds plastic and artificial. The mids are mushy and the highs are fizzy. It doesn't make any fun to play through this. Gig with your band and you are lost in the mix. I disgusted the sounds.

This is cheap china crap, so don't expect it to hold it's vaslue. Mine had issues after two weeks. I gave it back.

Customer supprot from Line6? Are you kidding?

This is a very very sad construction. 10 year Old digital technology from the very first POD mixed with a cheap chinese tbe power amp. One of the worst amps I came across in a long time.

This amp was made in '07/08 not exactly sure. Tube/DSP hybrid 2 x 12ax7b and 4 x 6L6 100 watt tube monster dont be fooled by negative reviews this head will cover many styles: country, blues, classic rock, hard rock, and all out super gain metal and do it well. The cab you pair it with makes a huge difference as with most heads. Im using the SV head with a Hughes & Kettner Vortex 4x12. This H&K cab will make or break anything ive put through it and this head shines. I play blues, rock, country, and high gain metal. 36 user and 300 artist presets 4 channels that can be switched via head or footswitch. And it has delay, chorus/flanger, phaser, and dedicated reverb. I love this amp but it should have come with a footswitch and a half/third power reducer. This amp is the loudest amp ive ever heard!

Im using the head with a '78 ash maple Tele w/ a seymour vintage in the neck, an'06 Highway 1 strat alder maple with a jb hum seymour duncan in the bridge w/coil tap and american strat singles in middle and neck, Callaham bridge w/ titanium saddles, a maple top Les Paul copy with High Order alnico IIs, and a frankentele w/ korean body ash and mexi neck maple 3 mid grade humbuckers w/bridge and neck coil splitable. Its like a nashville-tele but with humbuckers. You can make any sound you could ever want with this gem of an amp. The cleanest cleans and the highest gain all in one box! Very quiet amp even at high gain settings. Bogner would not just put his name on something if it was crap. Enough gain to play just about any metal you want.

Ive had it 2 weeks and i have to say its built like a tank with nice soft tolex and nice looks. I would gig without a backup.

I have a service center here in town so that cool if something does go wrong. 1 year warranty.

Been playing 20 years and have owned marshalls, peaveys, fenders, and this amp will come very close to emulating any sound from old and new amps. I would buy it again if it were stolen. Oh and 1 last thing it it loves pedals. Best and most versatile amp ive ever played.

I'm very passionate about tone, so whenever a new product comes out that sounds intriguing, I make an effort to check it out. I've never liked the digital, cold, fake sounding tone that the majority of modeling amps sported - especially with distortion (they do cleans well). So, when I heard about Bogner and Line 6 teaming up for a tube amp with the digital front end, I had to buy one and see what I thought. Not to replace my main rig (VHT) but out of curiosity.

Unfortunately I've found this amp suffers from all of the
problems other Line 6 amps possess, simply - 2 dimensional tone that is very fake and lacking in good tone. Although this amp is very loud, unlike real tube amps, the louder you turn this thing up, the more this amp gets exposed as a dud. Very disappointing.

Feature wise, it does okay. The noisegate is useless. Everything else is middle of the road, nothing spectacular.

There's really no reason to go into a lecture here, the problem is very simple - it doesn't sound good. I use high-end guitars with excellent pickups, and I use a great cabinet w/ good speakers, no matter what I used it sounded terrible. Clean tones sounded okay, but once you tried to dial in a hard rock or metal tone, it just lacks any character whatsoever. The mids were buzzy instead of gutsy or brutal. The treble is harsh, the bass sounds solid-state and fake.

It's just not a fun amp to play, there were no inspiring or usable tones to be had here. I'm convinced people that like this amp are just not used to hearing legit high-end tube amps like VHT, Mesa, ENGL, Bogner, Diezel, etc. If you're used to a Spider II or a Flextone, then this may sound good in comparison.

I will give this a '2', there are no usable tones but i've heard worse (see: the rest of Line 6's catalog).

I had it for about a week before happily returning it.

See above.

I'd advise against purchasing this amp. There are far better options out there for the price. It was a nice attempt, but it's really just hype and the tone's are not there. You will not saying many pros using these (in reality, not endorser-speak).

For the record, I've been playing a long time. I play a VHT Pittbull half-stack with an assortment of custom shop guitars - 6 and 7 string. I use a TC Electronics G-Force processor in the loop. I also swear by Elixir NanoWeb strings and my modified Ibanez Tube Screamer pedal (modded by Bodenhamer Electronics), as well as Seymour Duncan pickups (passives and the new active blackouts).

Loaded with features. I have owned countless high end tube amps and the issue i have always faced is that they do one thing great, and that is it. You can't make a Boogie sound like a Marshall. You can't make a Marshall sound like a boogie, although I have gotten close with the right cab, speakers, tubes, etc, which is way too much work. I was in love with my triple recto until i got into strats, then i had to switch amps, AGAIN. I love my Super reverb, but I have enough pedals in front of it to pay for three of these new Line 6 heads. Anyway, the point is, I started relying on digital modeling preamps a long time ago. For the person that really likes to dial it in, and likes a couple different sounds, they are great. I have run my modeling preamp over tube power amps, either rack mount, or through the effects return jack of my tube heads for a while now and this works great. I have a JSX head now and I use my Behringer V-Amp Pro Rack mount preamp in the effects return to tap the power amp more than I actually use the internal preamp on the head. So for a long time, i have wondered why someone had not put something like this into production, a digital modeling preamp, with a tube power section. Well, here is where the story starts. Finally, Line 6 and Bogner got together and did it. Thanks Guys. I find that I do not care for the open back combos at all. But the head through a high quality 4 x 12" cab of your choice is really unbelievable. Now you have access to a million different tones and "preamp" all through a very nicely integrated tube amp. it has an effects loop, simulated direct out, and enough tight power to ring your ears. the effects sound good and are relatively easy to access. It does not come with a footswitch, but you can actually take your pick of which Line 6 foot swtich you want. It looks great, and sounds even better, and is very loud. I have 6l6s in my JSX which is my current head, and this is louder and punchier at 4 than my Peavey, so i truly think that Reinhold Bogner's presence in the design of this was real, and not just a marketing stunt.

It sounds great clean, crunchy, and all points in between, but what I really noticed about it was the high gain channel. Very brutal, tight, good sounding distortion, well defined, not muddy. Blues tones are great too.

Unknown

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If you are a tube amp purist who thinks digital modeling is stupid and only ancient crusty gear sounds good, i urge you to try this head. No, I mean really. Give it a chance. Open your mind and in less than 20 minutes, you will be thinking about what you can sell to get one, just like me.

2 12AX7, 4 EL34, Designed in cooperation with Bogner, Modeling, onboard effects,

The problem with Spiders is that most of the modeling is preset. I want the sound that I want..Not what someone else thinks I want.

The Chorus is a little generic..Not bad all in all!

I use it for jamming and practice

From metal to country. Sounds very good for a Line 6. The tubes are definitely evident. Way more power than the crappy solid state powered Spiders. The gain is actually quite good. Doesnt sound quite like expensive tube amps, but for the money its a good investment.

I would gig without a backup.

If it were stolen I would buy another one. Unless they came out with a Vetta Valve...Then that would be even better.

Dont buy this expecting a Marshall or Boogie. But it is unique.