Line 6 gig report

[Franklin]

The singer in my band plays a Flextone III at rehearsal. It's got a great clean tone for sure!

[Franklin]

Originally Posted by buddaman71

Other than the 1% of guit-geeks in the crowd on a given night, no one cares whether it has tubes, chips or NOS capacitors covered in rainbow wishes and ground unicorn horn powder.

They just seem to care if you make them want to enjoy the music.

I'm glad we are all catching on to the reality of this!

[Franklin]

Originally Posted by GuitarTone

The discussion is not about whether the 1% of guit-geeks in the crowd can hear the difference. or whether they enjoy the music or not.

It's about whether a Line 6 Flextone is a killer amp or not.

Which "several" Line 6 amps are you referring to?

Here is what the OP said:

Originally Posted by Miles

This amp is killer, and I would have slagged it and burned it mercilessly for years before.

What a learning experience. I have swallowed my own foot on this one big time.

Your thoughts?

He asked what our thoughts were. buddaman71 shared his thoughts.

[heretic]

I used to play a Flex III a lot - Loved the simplicity and the tones were there, but in terms of feel, I'd say it was about 80% there, and it ran out of headroom pretty quick.
I also play a Vetta II combo, and that amp gets closer in terms of feel, mostly because of the better power amp and power supply. The Flex III power amp is not much different than a car stereo's.

[stratzrus]

Originally Posted by GuitarTone

If you went to a Robin Trower gig, paid good money for the ticket, and he came on and played a Flextone, you'd be satisfied?

It depends on how he sounded.

Some may be convinced that he could not possibly sound good playing a Flextone...so be it.

I'd wait and let my ears be the judge.

[Deville2Rocket]

Originally Posted by stratzrus

It depends on how he sounded.

Some may be convinced that he could not possibly sound good playing a Flextone...so be it.

I'd wait and let my ears be the judge.

With most off the tone being in your hands, I'll bet he'd sound amazing through a mid-80's Peavey Bandit.

[larry1096]

Originally Posted by GuitarTone

If you went to a Robin Trower gig, paid good money for the ticket, and he came on and played a Flextone, you'd be satisfied?

What I infer from your question is that, if he did, you wouldn't be satisfied. And that your dissatisfaction would be unrelated to how he sounded.

Hmmmm....


Larry

[gproud5150]

Originally Posted by buddaman71

Other than the 1% of guit-geeks in the crowd on a given night, no one cares whether it has tubes, chips or NOS capacitors covered in rainbow wishes and ground unicorn horn powder.

They just seem to care if you make them want to enjoy the music.

Rock on.

Originally Posted by GuitarTone

If you went to a Robin Trower gig, paid good money for the ticket, and he came on and played a Flextone, you'd be satisfied?

See, I think you're missing the point. Let's try 'If people went to an Eagles concert, and all the guys were playing Line 6 amps, the 1% guit-geeks would notice, and may even be disgusted; the other 99% who wouldn't know the difference between a Line 6 amp and a Dumble wouldn't give rat's a**, as long as the music was there.

It's too bad you rate satisfaction at seeing a great guitar player solely on the gear they use, rather than what amazing sounds they can get from that gear.

[BadAssBill]

I've always been skeptical...but glad to hear you found your sound...

[waxnsteel]

Originally Posted by Mr. Brady

Blasphemy. Stone him.

lol We need a stoning smiley for the heretic threads. For now, it's

[J.T. Guitar]

Went to a Rippingtons concert a few years ago and Russ F. sounded really good. I went up to see the gear... (I'm a 1%er). He was using a Line-6 2x12 mic'ed up with a SM-57. I was surprised at the good tone out of that amp...

And, even after I knew what he was playing, I didn't leave the concert! But I was tempted.

[crabby]

love the review, I am a proud owner of a couple high dollar amps,diezel herbert,splawn nitro, mesa triple rec,and just bought a new Line 6 hd 100 spidervalve,and I am a lil torqued like you were big bucks on the other amps and Heard one of these hd100 and was shocked,the other guitarist was using some nice heads and then bought a hd and it was my herbert vs him and his line 6,wow,so i bought one myself.They are so remarkable,for any style of music,we are hard rock.Line 6 and bogner are brilliant.

[Gtrman100]

Originally Posted by Miles

I realize at least 90% of the people here will care less, but...

I have always been a tube amp only person. I play in an all original alternative/art rock band. We're a bit of an amalgamut of sorts in that we range widely from melodic rock and roll, to experimental/industrial tribal music, to pop. I am the main writing source in this band and I write about 90% of the material. I am a minimalist of sorts as well because I never put anything down on disc that I cannot reproduce during live performance.

So, after gigging my voodoo modded dual rec, Rivera Chubster, Genz Benz Black Pearl, and Mesa Lonestar Classic with this band, I still didn't have all the sounds I wanted.

So, on a whim, I bought a line 6 Flextone III 2x12 combo with the FBV shortboard about 6 weeks ago.

I took two weeks getting to know the amp and originally intended to use it as backup only.

However, I took it to a rehearsal and it blew me and my bandmates away.

So, I started a thread here and got slagged saying " I would never cut through the mix "... to be honest, this stereotype scared me a bit, but I took a leap of faith, carefully programmed the Flextone at rehearsal and brought it to our next gig. Well, we played a decent gig at the Bluebird theater last thursday to about 350 people and my sound was superior than it ever had been before. Not only did I cut through, but I received huge compliments on how articulate and huge my sound was. My cleans...huge, light ODs...huge, Higher gains....huge... Everything dead quiet when not playing and all of these sounds plus some tasteful effects available at the touch of a button on a hell of a budget. I had a couple audience musicians asking which amp I had played through. When I said the Line 6, they just shook their heads and said "I guess the rules have flown out the window".

I wasn't even going to the board direct, just mic'd up on axis with a good old SM57. I turned up full enough on stage with a slight monitor mix. The soundguy said I made his job very easy and that this equipment, used well, is a great asset. I just used a good clean Plexi model, a lightly overdriven bogner XTC, and a well driven bogner XTC model for this gig. All patches totally dry with the effects programmed, but turned off ready to be turned on when needed. So, I used patches 1A, 1B, 1C, that's it, and I heard so much good feedback about my tone. I was almost disappointed. I KNOW how to dial amps in, I KNOW how to cut through, and now these people are telling me that my history of $1,500 tube amps was all for nought??? You have got to be kidding me.

Well, I love tube amps, and I realize there are superior digital guitar amps out there, but this one has beat out a lot of higher end tube amps for a pretty large theater.

THEN, two days later, we go into the studio at Monument sound here on Colorado. These guys know what they are doing, and they kind of griped a bit when I started plugging the flextone III in. However, I ran into the board direct and we recorded 6 very difficult songs live and got all of the instrumental scratch tracks and the master drum tracks done for these songs in four hours. The scratch tracks sound phenomenal. Monument sound uses everything from little smokies, to JCM800s, Prosonics, Bogners, and a '67 Bassman to record. BUT, Chris asks me to bring my flextone back on Wednesday for me to lay out the rest of my "official" tracks for the recording.

It's a good tool that does a good job for me, and I'm a total convert to the digital world from here on out.

The next jump for me would be a more advanced system like AXE-FX with the foot controller, into a poweramp, into an oversized stereo 2x12. But I am a private school teacher father of two at the age of 25, so, that won't be happening for a little while.

This amp is killer, and I would have slagged it and burned it mercilessly for years before.

What a learning experience. I have swallowed my own foot on this one big time.

Your thoughts?

I'm with you, Miles. I love tubes amps; have Matchless, vintage Fender, current Fender, Marshall, Groove Tubes and other amps. They all have their strong and weak points.

I've gigged with Line 6 stuff since the first Flextone amps appeared. The early stuff suffered from very flat sounding models, and a weak power amp section that made it hard to cut through. I had a Vetta I, and it had the same problem, so I sold it.

But, I've always been intrigued by the possibilities of being able to have a load of different sounds easily available for the wide range of material my band covers. So, I picked up a Boss GT-6, then a GT-8 but was never totally happy with the lower gain distortions, and then checked out a Pod XTL. Most of the sounds were much closer to the real thing, and it's great to tap one switch for all the effects, and amp model changes!

My band mates were amazed at how good the tones were through my Marshall and Groove Tubes amps. The tube power amp section just made everything much more dynamic, and I get sounds that I could never get with my analog pedals.

Now I've got a Variax 700 and Pod X3L and can go from a Les Paul through a Marshall for solos, a Strat through a Deluxe for the rhythm part, or an Martin acoustic through the PA, all in the same song. I use a Blues Jr for small gigs, Hotrod Deluxe or Groove Tubes for medium gigs, and Lonestar Classic when I really want to move some air.

Are the tones perfect? Probably not, but so close and so convenient that it's doubtful that a cork sniffer could hear the difference over our really loud drummer and bass player. There have been some reliability problems that others have had with the X3L, but I've had none and I think the problems have been mainly solved. I'd use my amps and pedals for recording most of the time. I still love my pedals, and use them for gigs where I don't need a great variety of tones, the the L6 stuff has been great for my cover band.

Bottom line for me- Line 6 stuff great for wide variety of excellent tones, running through a tube power amp(or Spider Valve) makes it much more tube-like, if you only need a few different sounds, stay with your pedals.

[gag halfrunt]

Originally Posted by Deville2Rocket

With most off the tone being in your hands, I'll bet he'd sound amazing through a mid-80's Peavey Bandit.

This misconception would be funny, if it wasn't so pervasive. It's absolutely ridiculous.

If it was at all true, we would not be wasting so much money on pedals, guitars with tone woods, new pickups, different speakers, new tubes, etc, etc.

SOME of your tone is in your hands, as is your style. But MOST of your tone comes from the MANY other links in your signal chain between your hands and your mic.

[Gtrman100]

Originally Posted by GuitarTone

I know for 100% certain that the Flextone or any Line 6 product cannot produce the tones that come out of Robin Trower (as ONE example) speakers...would Trower or whoevers skills still be apparent with the Flextone, yes they most certainly would, but the tone would not be there.

I mean with respect, can John Mayer's tone be produced by a Flextone, or Gary Moore, or David Gilmour.

Come now, you guys are losing it.

You know for certain? Really, I guess you'd have to go to every concert of your favorite player and go back stage to make sure! And I guess Steve Howe of Yes, Neil Gerardo(Pat Benetar), David Mustaine, Lincoln Brewster, Garbage, Trent Reznor, No Doubt, Pete Anderson, and many other Line 6 players sound like sh** because you said so.

I could really care less that you don't like Line 6 stuff, what I don't respect is the ignorant and arrogant way you express it on every thread that has something to do with Line 6. It's boring, pal.

None of the advocates of the digital stuff think it's the end all or be all, it's just a tool that doesn't get enough respect because of preconceived notions about it. We have success using it, and we'd like to share it with the others(with an open mind) in the guitar playing community.

I think I hear your mommy calling...