Line 6 Spider Valve - The True Hybrid
November 16, 2007 – 2:03 am by Jonathan Grand
Line 6 teamed up with all-tube amp maker Reinhold Bogner and released a pleasant surprise to all faithful lovers of the “authentic tone”: tubes. 12AX7 in the preamp, 6L6 in the power amp, and even Celestion Vintage 30 speakers for the cabinets and combos. All tube Bogner-branded gear for super-affordable prices ranging $700 to $830.
Sounds like a great value, and it is. But I admit I was expecting better - even from Line 6 - and specially from Bogner. Read on…
I managed to get my hands on one of the combos for review. Armed with a Gibson Les Paul Custom and my faithful Michael Kelly Patriot with coil taps, and started with the cleanest sounds, without any effects, and went gradually up to the most high-gain settings. The dynamics were definitely more tube-like than a regular Line 6 modelling amp. Great for jazz if you have the right guitar, and definitely some blues. Cleans reminded me a lot of the Fender Twin signature sound. If you want something sounding more like a Roland Jazz Chorus, you can’t get it from this amp.
Crunchy (low gain overdrive) sounds were a little disappointing. I know the Michael Kelly is capable of incredible tones in this range of gain, and the amp didn’t deliver it.
Then I went up to the (supposed) Marshall simulations. I wasn’t expecting a close sound to a good 800 Marshall stack (6L6 power… Marshall sound by Bogner? nah), and I was right. Actually, it was probably the biggest disappointment of all. It sounded terrible. Line 6 shouldn’t have released this setting, at least not while calling it “based on Marshall” in the user manual :) It just sounds like plastic to me.
Then the Mesa sounds. Yep. Definitely, this amp was built for this. Exactly what I expected when I first heard about it. While not on par with a Triple Recto, Mark IV or Road King animal, it delivered serious tube tones with Boogie signature. The “Insane” setting was actually even closer to a good Recto, maybe with a little hint of high-gain (Soldano, JCM 2000) to spice it up, which is always a good combination. Still, something about it was fishy. I could have asked for more realism in the way the distortion grain evolves with the sustain. But maybe I’m being too picky for a $700 combo.
The effects were disappointing considering it’s Line 6 and they are respectable effect makers, specially in the delays and flangers. Delay and flanger sounded good, but the reverb was practically unusable.
The tuner is a very nice addition to this combo, very practical indeed, and so is the presets menu. Features that you wouldn’t find in any other all-tube, obviously. And I didn’t have the chance to try the recording output, but I’m sure it’s one of the main selling points for these amps, and I have to give that to Line 6: they are great at what they do, in terms of speaker simulation and getting a signal ready to record directly. Considering that the signal is, in this case, made with real tubes, I can only expect great things from that little out.
Overall, I admit, it is an amazing amp for the price, specially if you’re worried about features and versatility, more than tone. Even if you really want tone - as long as your tone lies only in the Mesa Boogie genre, you might be happy. But not so fast. If you’re expecting a handmade Bogner/Mesa sound, this amp might give you nightmares. Or at least confuse you a little. If you like Marshalls, stay away. Seriously.