Line 6 Review: Spider 212

History:

Purchase: I bought this at Guitar Center in Lynnwood, Wa for $650 and an extra $70 for the four-button footswitch

What I Like About This Line 6 Spider 212: This amp has a very versatile sound. It has multiple settings designed to emulate certain amps, from Fender Twins to Mesa Boogie Rectos. The heavy distortion "insane" setting is great for metal leads, and the clean sound is very expressive, especially with a little chorus and reverb.

What I Do NOT Like About The Line 6 Spider 212: The stock channel settings weren't up to my standards. For the most part, this can be taken care of with a little tweaking of the equalizer; however, the blues channel is just too muddy to use with single-coils (I recommend the clean channel), but sounds OK with humbuckers. Also, the "insane" setting is a little too messy to be used for rhythm guitar. It loses its clarity when playing chords; it is best to use this setting solely for lead. The four-channel setup is great. Once you get your ideal channels set up, it only takes a flick of the footswitch to get (not all, but) many of the sounds that you want.

Line 6 Spider 212 Quality Rating: It's a standard combo amp, nothing more, nothing less. The covering is vinyl, and it feels fairly durable. You may not want to drop off of a building or anything, but for standard uses the construction is solid enough. I would have preferred casters on this amp (it is a little heavy), but those can be added.

Review Summary: This is a good amp, in terms of its versatility and metal-ripping abilities. However, if you put this head-to-head with an all-tube amp, it's obvious that the Line 6 can't pull the same tone and clarity duties as the tube. Overall, the distortion has a great lead sound, and the clean is just sparkling. In terms of rock or blues rhythm, it could be better. The bottom line: if you can find a used tube half stack or combo in decent condition for less, that may be the better option (unless you're into the muddy sound, as some people are). But, for me, I think a tube amp with a good distortion box would have sufficed (but then I would have lost the versatile sound). After much debating, I would call this match a draw. Go play the amps yourself, compare, and decide which best suits your personal style.

Rating of this Line 6 product: 3

This Line 6 Spider 212 Guitar Amplifiers Review Submitted By: Antonio Juane

Review Date: 2003-02-21