The Line6 amplifiers
are deeply hated or appreciated by their users and that's normal. Digital
modelling amps can produce a variety of tones but not all of them sound good
for everybody. I've owned and played most of the Spider and Spider-valve series
amps, the PODs (portable + rack mount) and I've tested the Vetta mk1
2x12" combo. Surely, there are many more line6 products out there but in
this article I am going to suggest a few tweaks, mods and Easter eggs for
the Spider I-IV and Spider-valve amps.
http://www.zzounds.com/item--LINSPII112
Easter eggs:
Did you know that every line6
spider-series amplifier has a switchable built-in 23dB clean booster and noise
gate feature? Well, it does. The clean booster function is very useful even for
the insane channel as it allows you to turn the gain of the channel down and
get a more open/organic sound while maintaining the amount of overdrive and
signal sensitivity.
How to turn ON/OFF the Clean
Booster:
Turn the Gain knob from zero to
ten while pressing and holding down the TAP button. This trick will turn the clean
booster On. If you want to turn it off, turn the Gain knob from ten to zero
while pressing and holding down the TAP button.
What about the noise
gate feature? Well, you can turn On the built-in noise gate of your
spider amp by turning the Reverb/Delay knob from zero to ten while pressing and
holding down the TAP button. This trick will turn the noise gate On. If you
want to turn it off, turn the Reverb/Delay knob from ten to zero while
pressing and holding down the TAP button.
Channel tweaks:
Most of the line 6 spider amps
have four channels marked as A, B, C and D. These are essentially memory banks
where you can store your settings. The A channel is usually a clean setting,
the B is usually a crunch/mild overdrive tone and the C and D channels are high
gain distorted ones.
Here are a few tricks and tweaks
for these channels:
1. Don't simply use the stock memory
settings as they are usually awful! Don't be afraid to make changes to the
stock settings and store them by pressing the A to D channels for 10 seconds.
Always bear in mind that the current position of the knobs DOES NOT represent
the stored settings of the channel expect for the Master Volume knob. Line 6
does not use a "what you see is what you get" interface. Therefore,
you have to re-adjust the gain, EQ, level, modulation, reverb, delay etc. knobs
to your taste in order to create a custom setting and store it.
2. Don't be afraid to alter the stock
channels as you can always turn the amp back to its stock factory settings. The
factory reset process is described in the manual of your amp. Here are the most
common factory rest procedures for line6 products (Be careful though, this will
ERASE all your settings and stored channels): http://line6.com/support/page/kb/_/general-faq/line-6-device-factory-reset-procedures-r435
3. Turn the gain and treble down!
Yes, line6 amps do sound a bit trebly and the insane channel has some nasty highs.
That's because people tend to turn the gain and treble very high... Even metal
tones do not require tons of gain and treble & bass to sound go
he mids and level. Spider amps
can sound good at high volumes, just like any other amp with Celestion-designed
speakers IF you fiddle with the EQ/gain settings a bit. If you turn the gain
pot down but you feel the need for some extra boost, you can always turn the
hidden Clean Boost feature On and turn the noise gate Off! The
"metal" channels do sound differently with the noise gate turned
OFF.
4. What about the onboard
effects? Do they all suck? No, they don't. It's just that their stock
settings are not good at all. For instance, the stock clean/A channel has loads
of phase/chorus and delay which usually sounds terrible if you are used to
clean tones with just a bit of reverb.
MODS!
There are quite a few mods one
can perform on his/her line6 amplifier and the easiest ones have to do with the
speaker. The stock speaker on most line6 amps is a celestion copy. They are Ok
speakers but there is plenty or room for improvement. The rule is that the less
treble a speaker can produce, the better the overall tonal response of the
modelling amp. These digital amps suffer from treble harshness and they do
produce some nasty highs. These frequencies should be filtered out. Most
digital audio devices (DACs, class-D amps, sound-cards) filter the distorted
high frequencies their processors and output devices produce. A speaker that
has less sensitivity at high frequencies is preferable for digital amps as it
physically filters out the harsh high frequencies of the audio signal. For
instance, I replaced the 8ohm celestion seventy-80 of my SpiderII 75 combo with
a 16ohm g12k100 speaker which is more powerful in the middle-frequency and bass
region and easier to drive. The result is awesome. The power amp stays cooler
now and it does not produce harsh distorted (non-linear) harmonic frequencies.
That's because the higher impedance and the different frequency response of the
speaker favor this amp.
A speaker replacement is not
always the cheapest or best option. It will make a difference but you can
reduce the treble of the speaker using simple external crossover-type
electronic filters. This is something almost every hi-fi speaker incorporates.
Here are a few articles on
electronic speaker crossovers and filters:
The simple idea is that you
need to build a very simple crossover that will be connected to the speaker
output of the power amp and the woofer. There is no tweeter on the spider
guitar amps so you don't have to build the tweeter section of a crossover
circuit. Here is a simple design tool that will help you design your own
crossover for your amp:
All you need to know is the
impedance of the stock line6 speaker and the cut=off frequency. Most celestion
12" guitar speakers are designed with a cut-off frequency of about 5kHz
(=5000Hz). My line6 spider II has an 8-Ohm 12-inch "seventy-80"
speaker so the treble cutoff frequency is around 5000 Hz according to
celestion:
However, with a 5000Hz
crossover, the treble will be dramatically reduced as both the filter and the
speaker will be reducing the amplitude of the audio frequencies above 5000Hz
simultaneously. That's not necessarily a bad thing, especially if you like
muddy tones but I decided to build a slightly less aggressive filter with a
cutoff frequency of 9000Hz.
According to the design tool, I
have to build or buy a 0.14mH coil for my woofer. I don't need the capacitor as
I don't have a tweeter. I bought a 0.15mH coil instead that can handle
currents up to 6A. The current handling is very important as the coil will get
a bit hot and it should be able to withstand the output current of your power
amp. Is my case, the spider 75 can produce P=75watts of power into an R= 8-ohm
load. Here's the simple formula of P = R * I^2, where P=power, R=load resistance/impedance,
I= output current. The output current "I" of the spider II 75 is
around 3.06A, well below the 6A rating of the crossover coil.
Note: the new Spider V series amplifiers are all equipped with a
woofer and a tweeter. A modification would be very simple in this case as you
would only have to unplug one leg of the on-board tweeter to reduce treble. Let
us know if you have performed this simple mod on a spider-V and what where the
results in the comments below!
Not a fan of the V-series spiders and their price tags? Check out the cute little spider classic 15W practice amp: http://line6.com/spider-classics/ , www.thomann.de/gb/line6_spider_classic.htm?partner_id=73786
Cheers,
Thanos
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