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.