Line 6 is famous for its affordable combination of solid-state power and amp/cab/effects modeling. A recent addition to its offerings is the Flextone III line, including the Plus III being reviewed here.

The Flextone III Plus is a 24x18x11 combo amp that includes a 75 watt mono speaker and Line 6’s amp modeling capabilities. The speaker delivers more than enough power for home use or a small club; any more gig size than that, and you will probably want to mic it. In other words, it’s plenty loud and there’s gas in reserve when you have to kick things into gear.

The left of the panel had the input jack and amp selector (more on that later). The middle of the control panel contains knobs for drive, bass, middle, treble, presence, and volume. The first five control the amp that you have selected to model. The others control. There additional controls for reverb, delay, and modulation (along with selector buttons for each). The master volume control is on the right.

There are additional buttons for programmed presets, tap tempo, gate, and compression.

The guts of the Flextone, of course, are its modeling and effects offerings. There are 32 different amps. Eight of them are unique Line 6 models. The others are wide selection of Fenders and Marshalls with enough specialty Mesa, Bogner, Gibson, Vox, Matchless, and other amps to keep most gearheads happy. The selector switch has sixteen settings; press it to get to another amp. In addition, there are 16 cabinet models, primarily Fender and Marshall models with some Rolands, Mesas, Gibsons, etc. thrown in for spice.

There is also a good number of effects. Besides compression and noise gate,

While Flextone’s selection is not nearly as vast as the big brother Vetta II, for a moderately priced amp, this is a very powerful combination of effects. There are six or seven delays, a number of modulation effects including chorus, tremelo, flanger, phaser, univibe and rotary, plus reverb. Various knobs control the parameters of the specific effects.

The back of the amp contains jacks for headphones, the FBV footboard (not included, and you better buy one if you want to gig with this), MIDI In and Out, effects loop, XLR outputs, and speaker outs.

The Line 6 website offers a software update for those who have early versions of the amp. In addition, if you go to www.customtone.com, you can download many additional custom presets for your amusement and edification.

The key question is: how do things sound. For my purposes, much like the Vetta II combo (which I own), the Flextone III meets the 80/20 test. In other words, it may not be perfect, but it’s good enough for me. It’s an excellent moderately priced amp. If you want more power or more effects, you can pay for them. /This should run you around $660, while a Fender Cybertwin will be around $1200 and a Vetta II combo about $1600 new. But if you’re on a budget, this is a fine place to start.

Other amp reviews from buffoonery:

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
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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