Confession time: leaving the pedals & tube amps at home, bringing instead...

[mrboson]

For the last few months, I've been bringing the thing I bought on a whim for no real reason: my Line 6 Spider IV.

I have a Blues Junior with lots of billm mods and I love everything about it except the reverb which is just ok. I have my friend's TRRI, which while he owns, he has no use for, but I can have anytime I want, and I think is the best clean platform there is for pedals.

OK, so yeah I'm the first to admit I can get so much better tones out of the other combos+pedals than the Spider. My feeling is the Spider is just good enough to get close to sounding great, but is not quite there and I actually don't like how directional it is. But here I am planning for the next few weeks, and reaching for the Spider again. I almost feel ashamed I guess I am starting to see the simplicity of using amp modeling and dialing in several presets, plugging the guitar in, and using the foot controller.

But I'll have to draw the line here or next thing you know I'll be trading in for fully floor-based modeling and no amp speaker cab pointed at me. Ughhh...

[SamClemons]

I always thought the Line 6 stuff sounds good at close range and in small rooms, but fails in most live band settings. I think that is why they sell well. They sound good in a music store at low volumes and at close range.

We played with a lead guitarist that used a typical Marshall half stack and Les Paul. I thought by itself it sounded....raw. But, in a live band setting...classic. Line 6 is just the opposite. Smooth in a bedroom, blah on stage.

[banjohabit]

i'm with ya bud ! i understand the whole tube-amp thing, having played thru the era of tube predominance at every price point, and i love that sound.

but my amp now lives in a trailer, and is often hauled around, packed and unpacked, and sometimes used by players other than me. having seen that same thing done back in the all-tube days, and knowing how it turns out, it's gotta be simple solid-state for me.

besides, (as you note) my SS rig is sounding mighty fine indeed since i've finished tweaking it, only a two-year process ! but i do have it dialed in now.

[JamesL]

I have several amps to choose from, both tube and solid state....and I have a nice little pedal board...but I play my Mustang III for most gigs (not that we play many!). It is just too handy not to use.

[SngleCoil]

Originally Posted by mrboson

...But I'll have to draw the line here or next thing you know I'll be trading in for fully floor-based modeling and no amp speaker cab pointed at me. Ughhh...

It always starts so innocently..."well, I know I shouldn't, but it's so convenient." Yep, I predict you'll have yourself a POD HD within 6 months

[Mildperv]

Pretty soon its black socks and sandals....

[GeetarPlayer]

There is still time to stop doing this. We will welcome you back.

[Tim's tele]

Originally Posted by SngleCoil

It always starts so innocently..."well, I know I shouldn't, but it's so convenient." Yep, I predict you'll have yourself a POD HD within 6 months

That or he will be selling his amps and pedals to get a fractal axe fx 2! Heard many good things about it. I would not get one, since i am more of a purest, and something about that set up feels dirty to me, almost like musical cheating. oh, and its like 2-4 grand new. Looks like I'm doomed to a life of 70 pound tube amps, sigh.

[BackNtheSaddle]

I have my Twin, Marshall and Vox amps all covered up, tucked away. I got a Mustang-II a while ago and after figuring out how to make it sound "right"...

I use it 100% of the time. If I need more volume, they have these things called microphone's and PA's.

Purists, be damned. It's not perfect, but it is better... much better, than good enough!

That, my Tele & LP, along with some misc stuff (no pedals) are my road kit.

[JohnSS]

I think that a lot depends on the size of the church and the other instruments. Any guitar amp, tube or SS, usually sounds better when it's turned up at least halfway. I have a Music Man 210 HD that is way overkill for my church, which is around 200 years old and made of stone and wood. Seats around 700+. I'd have to play it on 2 and it just sounds too wimpy at that level, even if plating with grand piano, bass, drums, vocalists, and perhaps strings, winds or brass.

I think SS and modeling amps actually sound pretty good when they're cranked but at least you can maintain decent tones with them at lower levels. I'm using a pair of 15 W. 1x8 Peavey transtubes and when they're turned up to 5 or higher, they deliver a pretty good Princeton sound without assaulting the congregation with excessive volume and can blend well with the other instruments so that the focus is on the worship and not on the guitar in and of itself.

[Paleus]

What has piqued my interest lately is the Kemper Profiling Amp. Based on the YouTube vids (which usually are not a good representation) it seems like a very interesting advancement in guitar technology.

[TwangBilly]

I'm in the same boat. I have been a devoted hard-core "tube junkie" since I began playing electric 10 years ago. Then last year I got a 130 watt line 6 spider 2 in a trade deal. I used it for awhile, liked the presets option, and it took the place of my 70's vintage all tube Music Man 130 watt amp. I play a wide range of styles and tones in a single church service and with the five different bands I sit in with occasionally. So the presets saved me time between songs. Then a buddy loaned me his line 6 POD XL LIVE recently and this thing is wild! It must have hundreds of optional and user-programable presets, any tone or effect you can think of and some I never knew existed! I love the thing for church. I run it thru the board and have my own monitor with it's own volume knob, which is a sweet setup! But the last few weeks I find myself lugging the beast of a tube amp back and forth to church, and the POD is gathering dust. You just can't duplicate the real sound of a tube amp, period!

[theskypilot]

Well I have both. We do church in two locations. For ease of set-up and use I play through the Line 6 HD 500 at the movie theater. At the main campus I have my Vox AC 15 and stomp boxes. I have used the POD at the main campus, but only for the acoustic.