General Music Chat

Hey, it's me again. I currently own a Squire SP 10 amp (very limited, but it was great for a beginning amp. ive been playing for a year or so now and Ive been looking around for an amplifier for a while and ive come down to two choices; the Fender Mustang I 20W, and the Line 6 Spider IV 15.

I have tried the Line 6 Spider IV out in the music store, and i liked how it sounded. it was much better than the one that i currently have (since the one i have has very terrible distortion) and was impressed at all the thing it can do. The only problem i have is, I have heard many people online say how "Line 6 amps suck". Can anybody give me their opinion on this and HOW it's bad?

The Fender Mustang I 20W, on the other hand, i have not tried out just yet. I saw it today at the shop, but didnt have my guitar with me, so didnt bother trying it out. Can anybody give me input on this one as well.

These are the 2 ones that i found that are within my price range. Both amps are $109.

THANKS FOR ANYBODY THAT HAS INPUT!!
P.S.
I play 70's and 80's hard rock / heavy metal, and some blues.

A friend of mine just bought a Mustang III. Actually two friends of mine bought them. I don't know what the Mustang 1 and II are missing, compared to the Mustang III, but if they are even close to similar they will be a really good versatile amp.

One of the guys that bought the Mustang III has a very busy and popular recording studio. He bought the Line 6 with the two 12" speakers years ago and loved it. He wouldn't use anything else. But when he heard the Mustang III he bought it and he all but retired his Line 6. He uses the Mustang III in the studio and on stage. When that 100 watts isn't enough power at the outdoor gigs he mikes it.

Gentle suggestion: Save money now, buy a better amp later. Wash cars, mow lawns, fix bikes, remove graffiti... anything. With $400-500 you can get a world class tube amp that just oozes sweet guitar tones. Any love you have now for a $100 modeling amp is going to wear off very quickly.

These are a few great sounding budget amps that you could gig the rest of your life with and all regularly show up for sale at less than $500 used.
Fender Blues Jr
Fender Hot Rod Deluxe
Mesa Studio 22
Orange Tiny Terror
Roland Cube 60 (not tube but sweet sounding)

I don't consider myself among the "golden ears" crowd but tone is tone. Buy quality and never look back. I have owned perhaps 20 guitar amps over the years but never paid more than $650 for one. I have never owned a new amp.

"Line 6 Sucks" is partly backlash because the market got flooded with the entry level Spider amps.

Long story short:
I used a Spider IV HD for a couple outdoor gigs - one of the gigs, a strong wind came through and toppled my stack. The head fell from about 6ft.
After the wind ceased trying to turn the tarped stage into an aircraft, I set it back up plugged in, and it fired right back up.
Worked fine.

So - they may have some issues, depending on luck of the draw, but that was a good enough quality test for me.
I have heard that the combo style ones switch their own buttons at high volume due to vibration - don't know if it's true or not.


Peavey Vyper 15 is also in your price range. Has a lot of different distortion 'sounds'.
Check one out if you can.

Line 6 sucks so bad, Geddy Lee uses a POD onstage, rather than real amplifiers.

As has been suggested, save up your money for a bigger, better amp.

Depending on what kind of music you are playing, a solid state amp may not be the best bet for you. However, if you want a variety of sounds and FX built-in, it's hard to go wrong with the Line 6 Spider IV amps - 75 watts and bigger. The 15 and 30 are very limited.
If you want some 'tube-warmth distortion' on occasion, you can get a stompbox pedal for that. On the other hand, if you are playing blues and want tube warmth all the time, go with a used tube amp.

Line 6 sucks so bad, Geddy Lee uses a POD onstage, rather than real amplifiers.

Yes but,
Don't confuse this with a $109 Spider 15:
http://www.americanmusical.com/Item--i- ... HDPRO-LIST
High end Pod gear is all pro. The Spider 15 is not even close.

I'll echo some of comments above. Save your money and buy a better amp (regardless of brand you choose).

If I remember correctly the lower end Line 6 amps (Spider IV 15 Watt for example) don't have many of the features the more expensive ones do. So if you're gonna go with a Spider IV, at least go with the 75W model as I think that's where it matches the feature sets of the more expensive Line 6 models. I think the 75Watt Spider IV has a Celestion in it as well. That one is ~$300 at GC. 15W Spider IV is about $110.

I have a Spider Jam with is basically a 75W Spider III + a JM4 looper. I bought it b/c of the inputs available on it, recording/looping, backing tracks + multiple amp modeling. For certain sounds its pretty good (cleanish or really heavy). But there's a certain tone I can't seem to get out of it (could be, probably me). It can also be a bit muddy.

One of my band mates has a Line 6 MKII (modeling amp + a Tube amp) and it generates some decent tone/sound.

Or even try to find one used-- they're out there. Or fine a used, smaller tube amp.

Yes, the Spider IV 75 has a 12" Celestion speaker, souunds damn good! The amp also has a short (20 second) looper in the FX bin. $299 new, so you can typically find $30 off deals, but you also need to get the control pedal for it ($99 for the FBV Mk II Express) to let you switch channels and download more presets and software updates. Well worth the investment, compared to the 15, which is basically a 'throw-away' amp (cannot even be repaired if anything goes wrong with it).