Great Amp or Just Too Quirky? Line 6 Spider 3 In Depth Review

[@stevegroves]

I did try my Fender Jaguar and my Gibson Explorer through this amp, conclusion was the Fender sounded awful! and the Explorer lost its normal fantastic tonal balance. Not all guitars suit all amps especially these Line 6 models. This is just my own view and opinion, always try for yourself :)

[@Reginaldborington]

This is the first and only amp I've ever owned, had it longer than I can remember... and now that I'm looking up videos like this I think I can attribute the poor quality of this amp partly as to why I never really put much effort into learning guitar. I hate the sound of it, the volume issues really put me off, it seems prone to surrounding electrical interference quite badly, I can't stand the sound of the effects on it, so I kinda fell out of love with wanting to learn my guitar and just thought this was how it is.

[@stevegroves]

Yeh its a massive fail for them to not fix the original issues on what should be a usable amp. Have to admit I am a Fender amp fan as they just do the job. have had some Marshall small amps and didn't keep them long due to background hiss / noise issues. Thanks for your comments, always appreciated to hear peoples experiences.

[@mhden_agan]

I have the exact same amp but when I change channel e.g. from clean to metal the volume goes off the roof! When I get the master volume a bit over zero it even sounds "loud" and i have to turn down the volume from the guitar buttons and this seems to affect the distortion and make it sound "cleaner" than metal or insane. I tried factory reset but still the same. The effect changes have to be made for every channel I choose I suppose, but I am not sure if sth is broken with the master volume button, as most channels are unplayable loud even with the lowest master vol setting. Is this normal? should I get to a music shop and ask for a service maintenance?

[@stevegroves]

@@mhden_agan These amps seem to have an inherent design issue from the start. The reason you lose effect when lowering the guitar volume is that the guitar signal is decreasing which will affect any overdrive or distortion Fx. It could be the pots need cleaned, but in all honesty a service might not fix anything and full repairs will likely be beyond what the amp is worth. In my opinion I would put the cash towards another amp instead but obviously its your call. Plenty of really good cheap second hand amps out there.

[@Reginaldborington]

@@mhden_agan Off memory I think there was a channel volume knob as well? But I ended up just chucking this thing in the loft and bought an Orange Crush RT amp instead, it's night and day better. I can't get over how badly designed that Line6 amp is, the most annoying thing for me was the way it automatically applied delay or phaser effects when you changed channel even though those settings were turned off. After changing channel you had to twist each knob out of position then back to the off position to turn the effect off, which was infuriating. The only thing I like about it was the fact that the power cord is recessed into the amp so you can place it flush against a wall, but that's hardly enough to look past the rest of the issues it has.

[@zackmartin2743]

Your experience sounds exactly like mine. I too have only ever owned one of these amps and HATE everything about it. Currently in the market for a good quality one to help rekindle my love for guitar and start learning again

[@malcolmarmstrong7761]

Man, you nailed the quirks! I just had a problem with what you describe yesterday during a band practice with this Line Six amp. I've had the Spider for about 5 years and hadn't encountered any issues until now. I couldn't figure out why the amp was doing up the volume full blast when I didn't touch anything! I told my wife (who wasn't building cabinets in the next room ;-)) that you proved I wasn't going crazy! Love you!

[@stevegroves]

Cheers Malcom! Always great to hear peoples findings and experiences on gear, much appreciate the comments.

[@gamer6550]

I have the 30 watt version with a 12" speaker and I love it for playing Blues. Sometimes I'll use my Line 6 as a speaker cab for my Vox 30 watt that has a 10" speaker with 10 different amp settings and 10 effects settings, and sometimes I'll use both amps at the same time with one guitar. Yes it has it's quirks but all in all it's a good amp. Got mine 2 years ago used for $80

[@stevegroves]

Thanks for watching and for the comment! really appreciate the feedback from owners. These amps really do have something, and when they work with what you have, they are great and yep great value.

[@b3rs]

11:55 I think you can customize each channel's tone, gain, volume, and effects, and save the settings by holding the channel button. Then you use master volume to change the well.. master volume.

[@stevegroves]

Awesome! Thanks for the helpful comment. Its not my amp but I hope that in all my vids folk will share their experiences, good, bad and helpful. Much appreciated :)

[@Cor430vette]

I have had this amp for 15 years 30W never had a problem. Works great and I think the hate is BS of course I never play clean and play Hendrix, Trower and SRV etc so distortion .. sounds really good so I have no complaints.

[@stevegroves]

Yeh I think when these are working well they are superb. Its odd that so many have had issues with them yet some have no problems at all. Cheers for the comment, its good to hear peoples views and experience with gear.

[@radboogie]

I've had a few Line6's over the years, always liked them for jamming metal tones. Metal tones are a bit on the fizzy side for serious stuff but OK on a budget.

[@stevegroves]

Yep they seem great value, and for starting out saves spending on pedals to get a metal style sound. Definitely a tad thin on the high distortion, but quite like the overall sound via the clean side, seemed well balanced. That said two of my guitars did not gel with this amp at all.

[@gamer6550]

I just turn off all my effects except a little reverb. Then I hold in the clean button till the light flashes. Then restart it and it starts with just the reverb and no effects.. Works for me

[@stevegroves]

Cool! Thank you for the comments, much appreciated. This is what can help folks and the whole reason I do these vids.

[@gamer6550]

I own the Line 6 Spider 3 30 watt version with a 12" speaker . I got it at a garage sale for 50 U. S. dollars. Would I buy one brand new, NO. Even if I do a factory reset by holding in the Clean button when I turn it on it still starts with the effects on. What I hate most about this amp is if I go from Clean to dirty my volume doubles and then when I go back to Clean I got to reset everything again. It's definitely not a gigging amp. The only time this amp really sounds good is when I use it as a speaker cab for my Vox 30 watt amp that I plug into the MP3 input and the 12" speaker gives me some really nice bass tones for playing the blues... Thanks for posting...

[@stevegroves]

Yep its just too quirky for me! Good for second hand at the right price though. Thanks for watching and for your comments.

[@gamer6550]

@@stevegroves 👍👍

[@Archivist953]

Hey There (Very Nice Demo)! How did you record the output? Miked? Or 'Line Out'? I don't see a 'Line Out'? Thanks Again!

[@stevegroves]

Hi and thanks for the comments! I use a Shure SM57 mic set close to the centre edge of the speaker. The mic is then plugged direct into a Zoom Q8n-4K camera or the older Q8 as have both and still use both. They have superb audio recording.

[@Anotherandoman93]

I bougut the 75w version for 100€ like 10 years ago, for the price its unbeatable

[@stevegroves]

Yep great value and well built

[@Anotherandoman93]

@@stevegroves if you have an Arduino lying around you can build a pretty simple footswitch, don't need much else with this amp, you can have 5 levels with 4 presets each I think, can pretty much handle anything. Of course it's not the best sounding amp but it barely scratches the bank.

[@dronedotguy]

Dealing with "quirks" I have this exact model amp with a squier and yeah I have an issue not getting that metal sound I hear from others.

[@stevegroves]

Its a great little amp but it doesn't suit all types of pickups / guitars. I hope to be trying out the bigger version at some point, will be good to compare them. Thanks for watching and for the comments.

[@omusialo]

The guitar and it's single coil pickups are the issue. You need dual humbuckers for an attractive true heavy distorted sound

[@ECCarolan]

I just bought a 15 watt for $32.50 at the pawn store, and I may have overpaid considering the current market conditions and sentiment towards this over-produced amplifier ... clean channel is perfectly acceptable for a little front of the big T.V. practice amp ... would not consider it in a band situation, it would be a struggle.

[@stevegroves]

I think the quirks of the amp are a real shame, I may get a chance to review one of the much bigger ones. Will be interesting to see if these have the same issues. Thanks for watching and for your comments, always good to hear others thoughts and views.

[@mrs.midnight1091]

Is a good tremolo possible with this amp?

[@stevegroves]

From memory the Tremolo sound wasn't bad, not as much control as a dedicated pedal would have but did work ok

[@J0Diaz]

I came here because i found one of these, 75w for $50. Is that a good deal?

[@stevegroves]

I would say absolutely good for that money! They have their quirks but overall they are good amps.

[@J0Diaz]

@stevegroves Thanks, I'll try to check it out.

[@vincentvandervaart8019]

It's exactly the same as the previous model, what?

[@stevegroves]

I tried out an older Line 6 Spider amp and it had exactly the same issues. No video on that one though.

[@patriots5628]

I have a line 6 spider 4 15 w and it's the sound volume or electronic sounds a little quirky when it push the buttons it gives a surge a power loud and then reduces to a lower level and if I move one of the you know sound level potentiometers they seem to affect the sound so it's something love electronic is going on and I'm wondering if there are place that I can take it to get it looked at and repaired if that's the case maybe it's the volume knobs and the level knobs I'm not sure but at least it works but I get a headache from it because it's just doesn't sound that great I don't know if it needs a better speaker or not maybe a celestian replacement

[@stevegroves]

I found the out of two of these amps I tried they both had the same issues. Also found that some guitars just don't get on with the amp and just don't sound right. Could be that on yours the volume pot needs some contact cleaner put through it. They usually crackle as well if this is needed, but I think the issue is most likely in the design itself possibly. They are great little amps but not for everyone it seems. Thanks for your comments and for watching, much appreciated.

[@patriots5628]

@@stevegroves thank you for the reply.