About a year ago I decided that my 15 watt practice amp just wasn't enough anymore. Neither was my cheap lefty Strat copy. My choices: Buy a rather nice guitar to play through my puny amp, or upgrade to a much better amp, and stick with my Strat copy. I decided that a new amp would probably be the best way to go.

After trying out a few amps, smaller Marshalls and Fenders, I plugged into a Line 6 Spider. At the time I had only been playing for a year or so and the wide range of built-in effects immediate caught my eye. I was impressed. It had a whole lot for it's $400 price tag.

The most notable feature of the Line 6 is that it is absolutely loaded with features. First, it has 6 'amp models': Clean, Twang, Blues, Crunch, Recto, and Insane. Using TubeTone technology, a new digital signal processing technology, the crew at Line 6 have made the tone and warmth of a tube amp accessible by a solid state amp. With this technology, the amp can go from a clean Fender-style shimmer, to a deep Marshall crunch, to the sizzling distortion of a Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier. Of course they can't quite match the originals, but with a little care and effort, you can tweak the EQ and drive and get VERY close to the sounds you're looking for. The Spider also has two built-in effects knobs. The first controls flange, chorus, and tremolo. The second controls delay, tape echo, and ping pong. Each of the effects on the second knob can be manipulated with the 'tap' button, which controls the delay time. One draw back on the built in effects is that you can only use one effect from each knob at a time. So, for example, you can't utilize both flange and chorus simultaneously. Also, the effects aren't incredibly high in the mix. The flange is probably the weakest, but still very capable. The amp also has a built in reverb, but that's quite standard on most amps.

Another very handy feature is the four channel memories. When you're playing through this amp, you'll come up with some very nice sounds, some absolutely crazy, insane effects combos, and unique tones. You won't want to lose them. The channel memories allow you to save a full setting, from the EQ to the effects, at the click of a button.

One thing that really needs to be mentioned as well is that the thing is LOUD. It's only one speaker. 50 watts. But it can roar. The tones and effects keep up well at high volumes too. It does lack a few things, but they're not necessities. It has no direct line out, which helps in home recording. And unlike most Marshalls of comparable size, it only has one input.

All in all, the amp is a lot of fun. It has some really sweet sounds as well. If you really get into it you can sculpt out the sound you're looking for almost exactly. For most high-end players it probably won't suite your tastes. It isn't tube and the effects aren't as good as a pedal, but for most intermediate players it is a great little amp. The best way for me to sum it up is that it has made me a better player. It makes me sound good.

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