Spider III 75: A Lot of Firepower for a Little Price
Written: Mar 17 '07 (Updated Sep 23 '07)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Great volume and sounds for the price
Cons: It's a solid state amp. You get what you pay for.
The Bottom Line: The Spider III is a great modelling amp for a very reasonable price, offering a wide variety of tones and good volume for the intermediate, value conscious player.
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| buffoonery's Full Review: Line6 Spider Iii 75 |
Line 6 is arguably the preeminent manufacturer of modeling amps. I own the flagship Vetta II combo, which provides some 73 amp models with an untold number of effects and delivers a serious bang for the buck, if you don't mind solid-state sound and the fact that you're dealing with software (versatility and convenience have their price). The firm produces a wide number of amps at different price ranges and for different niche markets and the new Spider III line hits the target market dead center: intermediate level guitarists who want power and effects and still want to have enough money left over to buy a decent guitar.
The Spider III combo is a 75 watt solid state modelling amp that is simple to use and will cover virtually any type of modern electric guitar effects needs, so long as you're not looking for too much insanity on the modulation and synth ends. The 1x12 Celestion puts out plenty of power and is certainly sufficient for small venues but remember, this is solid state wattage we're talking about here so this is not nearly as loud as even a 50 watt tube amp.
There are the usual volume, bass, mid, treble and master volume controls. The guts of the amp lie in the effects and amp models. You can select three simultaneously effects of the seven that are provided: Tape Echo, Sweep Echo, Standard Delay (all with Tap Tempo) Chorus/Flanger, Phaser, Tremolo, and Reverb. All are quite adequate for the money you're paying. Note that there is NO distortion: you'll either get your distortion through your own pedals or by selecting one of the higher gain amp models provided.
Speaking of amp models, there are twelve provided, all of which are based on popular tube amps that Line 6 has modeled before. They include either Line 6 creations or brands such as:
Clean
Hiwatt 73
Fender 60s Blackface
50s Tweed
Blues
Vox 30
68 Marshall 50
68 Marshall 100
Mesa Dual Rectifier
Hi Gain
Insane
Insane Solo
These models are accurate enough and provide the usual with sufficient tonal versatility to play virtually any kind of electric guitar style. Trust me that there's enough gain here for metal heads and shredders while country pickers, jazzers, and straight ahead rockers should be satisfied as well.
The amp is controllable with an optional switchboard (recommended). There are output jacks for direct out recording.
Right here, there's plenty to justify this amp's very reasonable $300 price at Musician's Friend. But what's more, besides the 36 user programmable presets, the amp comes with a total of four hundred artist (250) and song (150) presets that provide an enormous range of tones that should satisfy even the most bored weekend shredder. Just hit the control knobs, dial up a tone, and you're off and running. What is really useful about these is that there is a number of nice bluesy and traditional rock tones to complement the usual high gain sounds that most users of this amp will desire.
It's pretty tough to go wrong with the combination of volume, sound, and versatility that the Spider III provides. So let me make my recommendation: This is a very fine value-priced amp for intermediate players (teenagers especially) who are really starting to understand the guitar. It's also a fine practice and session amp. Even pro players will appreciate the lightweight package if they're just trundling off to a jam session at somebody's house and don't want to drag around their full rig.
I find it pretty tough to duplicate what this amp provides by buying components separately. Sure, you can get a Korg or Digitech modeller for about $100 that provides more or less the same modelling components as the Spider III but where do you find a $200 amp to go with it?
One note: I think $300 is about as low I would go in buying an amp in this model line. I think the other Spider III's don't quite provide the same value as this amp at their lower prices. Put another way, I think the Spider III is a great buy for $300. The presets alone are worth the dough.
Here are my other amplifier reviews:
Marshall Super 100 JH
Peavey Classic 30 Combo
Crate Power Block
Roland Micro Cube
Mesa 5:25 Express
Mesa Stiletto Ace
Fender Cyber Twin
Line 6 Vetta II Combo
Mesa 5:50 Express
Line 6 Spider III 75
Mesa Lone Star Combo
Vox Valvetronix AD60VT
Mesa Stiletto Deuce
Mesa Triple Rectifier Head
Fender DSP 65
Peavey Triple XXX Head
Fender Super Sonic 1x12 Combo
Hughes and Kettner Switchblade 50 Combo
Fender MH 500 Metalhead
64 Fender Vibroverb Custom Blackface
Mesa Dual Rectifier Roadster
Peavey Penta Head
Peavey JSX Joe Satriani Signature Head
Line 6 Spider II Head
Crate Acoustic CA30
Line 6 Flextone III Plus
And you may also be interested in a few books such as:
Hugo Pinksterboer – Tipbook Amplifiers and Effects
Ritchie Fliegler – Amps: The Other Half of Rock and Roll
Michael Ross – Getting Great Guitar Sounds: A Non-Technical Approach to Shaping Your Personal Sound
Recommended:
Yes
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