Thinking of grabbing a Spider Valve Mk II...

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whats the difference in the first one and the mkII? this dude gets serious tone from his first one


 
RaceU4her":3kd4k0uv said:
whats the difference in the first one and the mkII? this dude gets serious tone from his first one


The Bountyyyy Hunterrrrr!!! :lol: :LOL:
Good tone. I just made an offer on one on fleabay. We'll see what happens.
I also am intrigued by the concept of an all in one, grab and go combo. The Line6 idea and the whole modeling idea in general has always been attractive to me for this reason, but only recently have they started sounding decent. They still have a long way to go, but I would definitely play a SV for quick jams and small gigs. That's all I play these days anyway. :lol: :LOL:
 
Original SV with some kind of $30 mod installed. Sounds pretty good for metal and generic "core" rock. Nice thick tone.
Skip to :40 seconds.
 
Like I mentioned....I had the Head with the tubes in it. Sounded pretty good but not like a Tube amp if that makes sense? It was fun to mess around with and had some great effects.
But It never got played as much as the ENGL I had at the time so out the door it went.
I had the Spider Jam amp as well for a practice combo. That was pretty cool as well.
Sold it to my neighbor. :lol: :LOL:

I sell pretty much everything to buy new gear..... :thumbsup:
 
Ok, picked one up. So far, pretty interesting. Things I like:

1) it has a boost function that allows you to add up to 8db in front of your amp and in the loop at the same time. So get a little more gain *and* volume if you need it. Sweet!

2) fx are much more tweakable. Phaser and flanger still suck, chorus is ok. Delays are good. Pitch shifter doesn't sound bad! Every effect can be put pre preamp or post... great idea.

3) Sucker is LOUD. I got the head, you would have no problem being heard in a band situation or live.

4) I was able to use my old line6 shortboard with it, no problem. A nice surprise.

5) it's light, and I can take this head, a cab, a speaker cable, an RJ45 cable to connect the shortboard (and the shortboard) and I'm done. I'll spend more time trying to find power than I will setting up now.

What I don't like/have questions about:

1) Can you change the tempo subdivision? When it shows your time value, there is a quarter note... I really really really hope you can change this.

2) All of the amp sims have compression on them, even the cleans. I'm betting this is a function of a preamp tube... I wish it was defeatable or you were able to adjust it. For cleans and bluesy tones, it rocks. For tight metal, not so much IMHO.

3) My current gig amp, a bogner ecstasy, just craps all over it in a direct comparison. However, the SV doesn't sound BAD, and it's probably 80% there... I'd rather take it to a gig than the 'real' bogner. We'll see how it does at the gig saturday, I still have 30 days to return it to GC.

Pete
 
SkyhighRocks":1sh1mmyt said:
Stratboy151":1sh1mmyt said:
SkyhighRocks":1sh1mmyt said:
I do agree that the head through a cab or the 212 version probably sounds much better.


actually no. i prefer the stock 1x12 combo over the head and a V30 loaded 2x12. i have no boxiness issues and use it where my mark iv/gsystem rig is either too big or overkill

that's cool. the 112 sounded really sterile to me...even turned up. I tried the head at GC once and it sounded much warmer.

My buddy has the 112 MK1 combo and he ran it through a closed back 112 with either a V30 or CL80 (borrowed one of my 112's). Anyway it sounded alot nicer with the extra cab, so much that it was hard to get the cabs back from him....

And Pete, how are the mid gain tones on the new one? That was a big weakness of the MK1 IMO....
 
blackba":yul8s41c said:
And Pete, how are the mid gain tones on the new one? That was a big weakness of the MK1 IMO....

Overall it's improved. There are still some of the amps that sound like shit and I couldn't imagine using for anything... here's what I set up last night:

1) Clean tone with chorus/delay/reverb, and a fuzz
2) barely pushed tone with a compressor I can boost it with, then use the 8db front/3db volume boost to push it further for leads (does blues pretty well with a strat)
3) marshall gain, kinda a brown sound, with boost for leads, delay, phaser, and a whammy effect set to go from 1 step flat to normal at toe position - can do fake slide with it, I do better bending UP to the guitar pitch because then I can just look down and see where I'm at, if that makes sense
4) Higher gain for leads and more modern rock, intelligent harmonizer set to E minor. delay and flange.

I also got some decent tones from using the high gains with the gain level down low. Looking forward to the update that was promised a few days ago... it adds a lot more fx-wise.

Probably 1/2 or less of the amp emulations are useful, but even if I just found three I liked, the amp is good and loud, punchy as hell, all the fx I need are there, and it's a convenience thing for me. I'm not selling my 'good amps' anytime soon, but this will do nicely for a quick setup/teardown.

Pete
 
stratotone":y8q486na said:
I also got some decent tones from using the high gains with the gain level down low. Looking forward to the update that was promised a few days ago... it adds a lot more fx-wise.
Did you try the model with the weird mid sweep on it? I think it's the metal blue. If you take the mid knob and roll in CCW, it goes to a class A type tone (according to the documentation). I tried that at GC and it's a type of sound I was never able to get out of the Axe-FX and eventually gave up on trying to get it. Even with the mid knob at minimum you could ramp up the gain and get some fairly distorted tones. That particular model has a large range of tones to get out of it and I really like the dimensionality with the mid knob set real low....it has depth. The down side is you don't have mids control, just bass and treble.

In the end, it might be a suck ass model, but my initial impressions were that it had potential. I found that pushed amp crunch tone to be elusive on modelers...they all have a fake-ish kind of crunch. To be fair, many real amps are the same way. That model with the mid knob low seems to get pretty close.
 
Yeah, I dig the mid sweep model you're talking about, it's pretty cool but messed me up at first because I usually run a lot of mids on my amps live - that model sounds like shit with the mids cranked. ;)

I could do the pushed thing with one of my overdrive pedals... I have a couple of Mesa V-Twin pedals and a Budda Zenman, but am trying hard to just take this amp and that's it. Who am I kidding, I'll probably be trying pedals with it tonight including my Fulldrive II and some of my personally modded TS9s and Super Overdrives. *sigh* I'm a sick sick man.

Pete
 
Yeah, I'm not fond of that model with mid knob way up, but I think they were going for a fuzz type thing. I'm a big fuzz fan, so I'd never visit that area. But anything under 12:00 had some potential and I was impressed with it. Pretty cool.

I hope to get mine this weekend and spend some time with it away from GC. I have to figure out a direct recording solution. I'm going to try the preamp out and into a DAW with some redwires. If that works, great. I don't have high hopes though.
 
Rogue":3ne5k28h said:
Yeah, I'm not fond of that model with mid knob way up, but I think they were going for a fuzz type thing. I'm a big fuzz fan, so I'd never visit that area. But anything under 12:00 had some potential and I was impressed with it. Pretty cool.

I hope to get mine this weekend and spend some time with it away from GC. I have to figure out a direct recording solution. I'm going to try the preamp out and into a DAW with some redwires. If that works, great. I don't have high hopes though.

I'm going to bring a mic but also try the direct out to the board at the gig. One interesting thing is that the output can either be preamp only *or* 'post transformer' so you get some tube interaction happening. Could be interesting!
 
I'm not impressed with the direct out. I doubt the performance version helps. It's most likely the cab simulator and unfortunately, you cannot turn it off.

Take your mic for sure. :)
 
Rogue":1i2r4je9 said:
I'm not impressed with the direct out. I doubt the performance version helps. It's most likely the cab simulator and unfortunately, you cannot turn it off.

Take your mic for sure. :)

Oh, always... but it did say in the documentation that if you run the regular DO, you can put the amp on standby but if it's in performance mode you can't because it takes the tap off the transformer then and the tubes have to be on.

Worth a shot anyways. May even blend the two, I used to do that with my Randall MTS gear - I'd run one mic on the cab and then one cab emulator output to the board and blend them.

Pete
 
Went back an played the head through an EVH cab today. I liked it alot, but without the effects on. Once I tried to use the effects, it was just too much and at the lowest I could get it set. Can you get more control of the effects if you use the software interface?

I scrolled the presets and I liked the the Savage Insane preset the best. :thumbsup:

I almost bought it anyway. They had it on sale for $750 and then had the 15% off coupon. In the end it still wasn't worth the cash since I spent most of the time playing the Herbert model and I already have a real one of those. :lol: :LOL:
 
mhenson42":1asxi3ib said:
Went back an played the head through an EVH cab today. I liked it alot, but without the effects on. Once I tried to use the effects, it was just too much and at the lowest I could get it set. Can you get more control of the effects if you use the software interface?

I scrolled the presets and I liked the the Savage Insane preset the best. :thumbsup:

I almost bought it anyway. They had it on sale for $750 and then had the 15% off coupon. In the end it still wasn't worth the cash since I spent most of the time playing the Herbert model and I already have a real one of those. :lol: :LOL:

You can change the amount of effects and also if they are pre or post. My reason for getting one was for the built in effects and quick/easy setup. Plus my 'nice' amps are starting to get wear and tear on the tolex from being gigged... I'm not saying I'd just throw this in the back of a van or anything, but I would feel less pain if the spidervalve got a goof in the tolex more so than if I had a scratch on one of my Bogners or SLO.

Pete
 
I dont need another sticking head.................well one not with a marshall logo anyways. I tried the combo and tossed that idea in the trash, it has to go with a sealed 2x12 at least for what I am looking for.

This quest for going smaller is cutting into my guitar build prokects and marshall hording :doh:
 
the metal amber is similar to their agro model
low it is Class A ,12 oclock it mimics a Soldano modern high gain and full it is fuzzface.
It was my favourite on the original spider valve.
I find that the Metals and Insane reminds me a bit of the Soldano hot rod series tones.
For clean and crunch I love the /13model they did
 
gtr31":2rn2iu8h said:
the metal amber is similar to their agro model
low it is Class A ,12 oclock it mimics a Soldano modern high gain and full it is fuzzface.
It was my favourite on the original spider valve.
I find that the Metals and Insane reminds me a bit of the Soldano hot rod series tones.
For clean and crunch I love the /13model they did
I have seen other people mention the argo model. What is the history on that? I have the mid knob, probably about 10:30-11:00 and gain probably about noon. As you said, it reminds me of the SLO, but a little tighter and not quite as trebly. I like it a lot.

The Mesa model is pretty cool too. Super fun for some Metallica riffage.

I've been messing with the crunch amber (plexi 50 watt) and it's fairly interesting. You can get a pretty nice cleanish tone, a real nice neck pu lead kind of bluesy tone, and a good old school crunch all on the same model. It's somewhat bassy though. I'm thinking a ts808 in front of it and you'll have a pretty wide range of tones. The /13 is really nice though.

There are a lot of cool tons in the this unit. It's the first line6 product I've ever liked and I think they did a great job with it.
 
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