Line 6 Spider Valve 212 MKII 40W 2x12 Guitar Combo Amp 

Comments about Line 6 Spider Valve 212 MKII 40W 2x12 Guitar Combo Amp:

After a three year hiatus from the local metal scene during which I sold almost all of my gear, the music in me can no longer wait. I used to play thru the HD100 setup (head and cab) which was great all around. My band played 1000+ capacity venues and fans loved our sound. (My lead player used the same rig, too.) I just purchased this 212 combo and it has even more features than my old HD setup, including the pitch shift/smart harmony and the 14 second looper. Still, it's just as easy to use and the tone quality is fantastic. People who whine about hybrids and tone either haven't heard these, or they are capable of hearing things 99.9% of the rest of us can't! To me, having everything built in and easy to access with the FBV shortboard is vastly more efficient than buying a big pile of pedals, and it's way way less expensive. I do have a few issues with it, which are: 1) the volumes are very sensitive. Playing at a discreet volume is basically impossible... 2) The knobs are pretty cheap feeling compared to the ones on my HD head, and the channel volume actually seems like it might be loose behind the faceplate...I have used Line 6 products for a long time - I had the Spider solid state half stack before the Bogner designed tube rig, and neither had a single issue while I owned them. I am concerned about the Line 6 service as I've heard they are slow in getting things done, so I hope the channel volume knob doesn't really need to be fixed...
Other than that, I'd recommend this amp to anyone who plays guitar, live or anywhere else. Tones are beautiful, from smooth cleans to giant metal chugging, and everything in between...The FBV shortboard will definitely be my next purchase, so I can really utilize the features while I'm playing...

Comments about Line 6 Spider Valve 212 MKII 40W 2x12 Guitar Combo Amp:

This amp has a known issue with volume and popping when switching from channel to channel. This amp is unusable at low volume. Line6 knows about the issue. Don't look for them to fix it because they won't. I called their tech support and they told me there was a known issue and to take it to a repair place. I did... drove 90 miles t the nearest authorized repair fascility. These people call Line6 and what do they say... There is no issue, it's just how the amp is. So the situation is... Line6 designed an amp that is unusable at low volume after their firmware upgrade. Line6 said that most 40 watt tube amps are very loud at one or two. I have a Mesa Dual Rectifier 100 watt head that is still usable and sounds great at low volume.
Amazing features. Good sound. This amp is probably the type of technology most amps should head toward.
Well built.
It's great for live playing. Not good for low volume practicing.

Comments about Line 6 Spider Valve 212 MKII 40W 2x12 Guitar Combo Amp:

I have owned 3 different Line6 amps: My first one was the Spider 2 150, and I've been a huge fan since then. I played that one for 5 years, and was really impressed with its durability. It's been dropped more than once, and had a lot of whiskey spilled on it... played tons of shows and still works like it's brand new (looks a little like heck now, though). I bought the Spider Valve in October of '09 and it was has been such a good amp! There is a major difference in tone between this and the original Spider 2 that I bought. I am still using the same FBV express pedal, though I've had to replace the cat 5 cable more than once. Basically I will keep this amp and, ideally buy a 40 watt Spider Valve MKII combo....I'm getting too old to lug my two Marshall MF280s and the Spider Valve 100W head around to 2 shows a week and practice, etc. PLUS, 100W is way too much to play smaller venues.
I really don't use half of the features available. It is very versatile and I'm in love with the simplicity: I plug in my one pedal board (FBV express) and it's all ready. I even ocasionally run the POD 2.0 so that I can run a loop station without the effects changing as I switch channels.
The vinyl is pealing from inside the amp..makes it look a little cheap.
SO much power, so much clarity. The tube tone is phenomenal. I really want to get the 40 Combo version, because I have never had my 100W Spider Valve above 3! I think the tubes will really go crazy it cranked a little!

Comments about Line 6 Spider Valve 212 MKII 40W 2x12 Guitar Combo Amp:

If anything ever happened to this thing I would get another one in a heart beat.
I was really suprised with the quality of effects on this amp. A lot of the Line 6 amps have bad reviews because they sound digital ... or maybe they are just the cool thing to rip on. I however disagree. The tone that this amp produces is very full sounding with the right ajustments of the presence knob. I love going from David Gilmore to Coheed and Cambria and then to All that Remains. Truley an all around amp.
The quality of the amp is out standing mine was damagedand the delay knob didn't work. I contacted line 6 they sent me to a repair shop in the area paid for the repair and I've never had another problem. I have the the first model of this amp so its a couple years old and is still going gig after gig.
I give it a 10 out of 10 in value because there isn't another amp out there that is this versitile and this good sounding. If you want half the sounds and effects this amp has you will spend a lot more on effect pedals then this.

Comments about Line 6 Spider Valve 212 MKII 40W 2x12 Guitar Combo Amp:

This amp is a great amp. I play in a band, and they like to play LOUD. I don't even put the volume on this amp halfway up because that would be too loud. I usually put it on around "3", which is plenty loud to create a good mix. You'll easily overpower everyone if you crank it up all the way.As for features, this has quite a lot. You can craft your own tones directly from the amp (seriously, it goes way deeper then just "Mid, Bass, Treble", "Clean, Insane", etc.). I did own a pedal (1) before this amp. Now there isn't a need for one. Just get the pedal for this amp and save your 100+ sounds in it.

Comments about Line 6 Spider Valve 212 MKII 40W 2x12 Guitar Combo Amp:

I have read a lot of reviews about this amp, both positive and negative. The fact is this - if you aren't an experimenter and someone that likes to "play" with your amp, and if you have a lot invested in pedalboards, this is NOT your amp. If you're like me - fairly new to playing, few or no pedals, and you want the sounds of a 50-piece pedalboard and 30 different amps, than this is your baby. First I used just the factory settings, but if you're a nerd like me, use the software to edit all of the settings and this becomes a MONSTER amp. Now everyone comments on my "sound" even though I only have about 14 months of playing under my belt. I will make a few suggestions - get the Shortboard!!! It should just come with the amp in my opinion. Finally, replace the 4 tubes. I went with JJ Golds for the 12AX7's and Black Sable 6L6's for the power tubes and WOW! you could HEAR the difference! I am impressed with this amp, with the software, and with the tones I seem to be able to get out of it. It can be a bit "picky" at times and takes some tweaking, but ohhh, the sweet sounds!

Comments about Line 6 Spider Valve 212 MKII 40W 2x12 Guitar Combo Amp:

The features and sound quality with this amp are phenomenal. I already had a Line 6 Spider III and was looking for something a little bigger with tubes but I really liked the modeling capability of the Spider III so I decided to give this amp a try. WOW, the sound from this amp is much more than I had expected. The amp is well built; my only complaint is that the knobs are kinda cheap. The presets built into this amp are awesome. I wish it had a headphone jack but being a tube amp I guess that is not commonplace anyway. I demo?d this amp with the FBV shortboard; needless to say that will be my next purchase.

Comments about Line 6 Spider Valve 212 MKII 40W 2x12 Guitar Combo Amp:

This is one incredibly powerful 40 Watt amp, and the tubes allow the tone to come through in crystal clear fashion. I have owned this amp for a few months now and it has not disappointed. Even though I play mostly high distortion sounds, which this amp does incredibly well, I also play some clean blues and this amp recreates the Fender sound faithfully. I'm not sure what amp the last reviewer is talking about because I have experienced none of the problems described by him. But it is true that the Master volume control can be touchy, but this is true of all powerful amps when the channel volume is boosted.

Comments about Line 6 Spider Valve 212 MKII 40W 2x12 Guitar Combo Amp:

This is the first review I have ever written for any piece of gear. I have owned and used many different amps, guitars, and effects, and probably have read over 1500 of other peoples reviews on other equipment. However, I feel compelled to share my experience with this amp.First off, Line 6 is a reputable company and do offer some great products in general. Especially the new relay wireless units. I have owned the AX2 212, POD XT live, X3 live, and Pocket pod. This amp is a gimmick! It does have some good sounds, but it is plagued with way too many problems. The first one they sent, blew one of the power tubes after only about 2 hours of use. The second one they sent was fine, but sounded very thin, and brittle sounding. Took out the chassis, and the preamp tubes said "12AX7 CHINA" Nice! Put in JJ's and that helped a lot.Main problem: Master volume is unusable! You have to have the preset volumes set to at least 50%, otherwise the amp makes crazy popping sounds when switching between presets. Talked to people on the L6 forum and they told me to adjust my volumes, and then try it. Voila! No more popping. However, the master volume pot is way too sensitive with the channels up that high. You can pretty much tap it with your finger and the volume jumps all over the place.Second problem: The amp is advertised as having Celestion Vintage 30's. Well, the speakers do say exactly that, but what they don't tell you, is that these are Chinese made Celestions. They are not true Vintage 30's!! There is a tiny little sticker on the speakers that say "Made in China"!!The construction seems okay, but definitely not even close to Marshalls or Mesa's. Acceptable though. The amp is fairly light (60lbs) for being a tube amp. But there are only two small transformers, and all the preamp is digital circuit boards, so that shaves a lot of weight.The amp has some very nice sounds, despite the problems. Throw an eq through the loop, and you have a giggable amp. But good luck with the menu on the amp, you have to use the computer software to really navigate through and find your sound. I am a turn knob kind of guy, so I probably shouldn't have bought it, but I wanted best bang for the buck. Good luck, if you end up with this amp.

Comments about Line 6 Spider Valve 212 MKII 40W 2x12 Guitar Combo Amp:

I bought this amp a while back from Guitar Center after trying it out for an hour and once I got it home and was able to use my own guitar and really crank it up I was impressed. Plenty of power for being only 40 Watts and lots of presets to keep you busy with. The tubes really make a difference and give it that bottom end that was lacking and I have got my tone dialed in pretty good off of the existing presets. The only issues I have with it are when switching channels using the FBV pedal board there is a short delay, hopefully they come out with a patch to fix this, really annoying. Also, it has froze up on me once when playing but a power reset fixed it quickly. Note, this amp is really designed to use the existing presets to sound great with, my Boss pedals were too much for it and I could not get them dialed in like I could on my Marshall. All in all this is a kick ass amp and I would recommend it to anyone looking for an intermediate gigging amp.