Everyone seems to be thrilled with the third in the series of Spider amps. Thanks to special powers, Spider amp can do what other amps can't! Spider III delivers power and versatility.

In other words Wow, this is one fun Guitar Amplifier! . I got tired of fighting with my son over our one Fender Practice Amplifier, and decided to purchase another amplifier for our home. I couldn't decide what sort of sound I wanted, I love the sound of a lot of different amplifiers. That cool echoey blues tone of Stevie Ray Vaughn, that psychedelic sustain of David Gilmour, the Garage Crunch of Neil Young, the crisp attack like sounds of Eddie Van Halen, and dozens of others.

Obviously there was one simple solution! Lots more guitar lessons, and for amps: a few sets of Marshall stacks, a HiWatt Amp, and old Vox Amp, a Fender Deluxe Reverb, a Fender Twin Reverb, and maybe a Mesa Boogie or two for good measure. Oh, and lots of overdrive effects, chorus effects, and reverb and delay effects! Well, I did not have the money to bring home all these famous amplifiers, so I had to make a choice!

What is the Spider III Amplifier?

This is a practice size "Modeling" amplifier, but with 75 watts and one Celestion 12" driver, it is probably a good size for small gigs as well. It weighs 42 pounds. It is the most affordable of the new line of Line 6 Spider III amplifiers that has a full range of amplifier models and presets included. A Spider III 15 watt, and Spider III 30 watt are available for less money, but only include 4 amplifier models and 150 presets. If you want more power, the Spider III also comes in a 120 watt and 150 watt version. It is a combo amplifer, that is the power supply and the controls are all built into one easy to carry unit. Line 6 does offer the Spider II in a 75 watt Head unit to power the cab of your choosing.

Amplifiers Imitated

This Line 6 Spider III is what is known as a modeling amp. Using electronics it mimics the sound of other famous tube amplifiers used in the history of Rock n' roll (and music in general). The first dial sets the basic Amp sound to 12 different settings.

Clean The first setting is a basic clean setting that just give you a nice clean tone. The second setting is also a clean tone based on a 1973 Hiwatt amp.

Twang The two twang settings are based on a number of Vintage Fender amps, like the 65 Twin Reverb and a 53 Fender Tweed Deluxe.

Blues The first blues setting is loosely based on a Marshall sound with that fat blues sound. The second is early British pop imitating a Vox AC-30.

Crunch These two settings are based on a 68 Marshall Plexi 50 and 100 watt respectively and gives an early heavy metal sound.

Metal The first setting is a Mesa Dual Rectifier with a tight punchy high gain metal sound. The second is a hi gain amp model.

Insane The final two settings are the crunchiest and give you today's speed and death metal sounds.

An LED turns red or green to tell you which of the two settings each click takes you to.

Standard Knobs

Of course there is a drive knob to control the amount of distortion you want. You can also tap the Tap button to get even more distortion out of it. I suppose that is a good thing, but I just found it confusing. To me, simply turning the knob more should result in more distortion and no other action should be needed. Of course the various amp settings seem to have built in distortion as you move from clean to metal.

Bass, Midrange and Treble knobs are next. Even though I am a beginning guitar player, I see no reason to explain the purpose of these three knobs. If you don't know, you really shouldn't be playing guitar! (or adjusting your stereo for that matter)

Finally a Channel Volume knob is present. I believe that it dials up or down the amount of effect that you have, I am not certain.

The Effects Knobs

The first effect knob gives you chorus flange, phaser or tremelo.

The second knob gives you delay, tape echo and sweep echo.

The third knob adjusts reverb effect.

The final knob is the Master Volume Control.

The Tap Button and channel buttons

I still haven't figured out how to use the channel buttons, but the Tap button blinks constantly when the amp is used in any of the presets. Apparently holding it, you can use the blinking LED lights to tune your guitar, providing you memorize which LED lights refer to which string and which LED lights mean sharp flat or in tune. You can also use the Tap button to put in a noise gate, or get extra distortion when used with Reverb and Drive respectively.

Presets / banks

A four way toggle switch lets you go through the 400 presets programmed into this amp. The title of the "sound" is abreviated in the digital window. Some like "Back in Black" and "Cinammon Girl" are self explanatory, they give you that particular songs sound. Others, because they are abbreviated, you just have to listen to and try to figure out. The Amp manual does NOT come with an explanation of the 400 presets, or even the name of each preset. A call to customer service got me access to a hidden pdf file on the Line 6 website that actually has a list of all 400 presets spelled out in full, but sans any explanation of the sound.

Ins and Outs

You can plug in one guitar and an MP3 or CD player. There is an out for using as line out or headphones. There is also a line out for using a variety of foot pedals. I don't have any of the foot pedals.

The Manual and the Website

For a complex modeling amplifier, the user manual is woefully deficient. Since this is priced as an entry level amp, it should be assumed by the good folks at Line 6 that beginners like myself may purchase this amp and not have a thorough understanding of amplifiers. The manual did VERY little to change my understanding of how to use this amp, and I am certain that the amp can do more than I know because of the lacking manual. The website is no better. It was only after a call to customer service that I was able to get info on a hidden pdf file of the fully typed out names of all the preprogrammed effects.

On one of the amp models, the manual briefly states that the midrange knob will control the amount of tone and distortion. Huh? Different knobs do different things depending on the amp setting? The reality is that the people who can afford this amp are not ones who have a ready familiarity with the variety of amplifiers this models. It is only because I read a lot that I know for example that The Who used Hiwatt amps in their early days or that Deep Purple used huge stacks of Marshalls.

I seriously wish that this amplifier came with an hour instruction DVD in which you could watch a guitarist show how to get the various effects out of this amplifier, instead of letting me learn by trial and error what the various presets did, or what the various amp and effect settings did.

How Does it Sound?

I will say this, this amp sounds great! Seriously, when you pick a preset, and play the song, you get that SOUND. AC/DC's Back in Black setting really does give you that same crunch that you hear on their album. Cinammon Girl really sounds like Neil Young, Sweet Child o' Mine really sounds like Guns n Roses. If the setting is in there, or if you can figure out the settings for songs and styles not in there, I think this amp can mimic it!

One thing this amp won't do (but comes close) is truly emulate a tube amp sound for cleaner sounds. I've sat and played on Fender Blues Deluxe amps, and Fender Twin Reverb amps and some other nice tube amps, and you can't quite get that rich tube sound to come out of this amplifer. However, for a solid state amplifier that only costs $300.00 you can come pretty close, and imitate a vast array of amp styles and settings.

Pros

Great sound, lots of versatility, loud! good modeling of hundreds of amp styles and settings. Affordable Price

Cons

Horrible instructions, difficulty in finding the setting you want, hard to switch from setting to setting. Many controls are NOT intuitive, but in fact counter intuitive.

User Conditions

This amplifier is used as a practice amp in my living room. My son and I use it to practice. Guitars played on it are a Fender Telecaster, Fender Stratocaster and a Gibson SG.

Summary

I really wanted to give this modeling amplifer 5 stars for its price and amazing versatility, but the lack of instructions either in the included manual or on Line 6's website cost this amp a star. If anyone knows of a good site explaining all the tricks and settings for this otherwise amazing amplifier, let me know!

Recommended: Yes