Line 6 Help
Line 6 Help
I haven't played many of the Spider series, so I'm not sure exactly what models (amps and pedals) they do. I've owned (happily) an early Flextone, Flextone II, and still own a Vetta II. Personally, I never had much success using gain pedals in to any of them. An overdrive works decently for goosing the amp, but not so much for true 'distortion' pedals.
A couple of basic tips I would give: Don't worry about getting any particular model to sound exactly like the amp it's modeled after. One of the coolest tones I have made in the Vetta II is a 60's Marshall with the gain down, boosted with the Metal Zone pedal model. In 'real life,' that combination would probably sound pretty shitty, but in the tweakable digital world, it sounds very Kerry King JCM800. Experiment, experiment, experiment. Don't worry about the name of the model, just use your ears to decide what you like. The other basic tip is don't overdo the gain. A lot of the high gain models don't need the gain to be set at 10, they just end up sounding like a cheap distortion pedal. Back down the gain, bump up the master volume. In the end, patience is a virtue, with time you should be able to dial in some tones that you will be happy with.
Oh, and I would add in regards to 'presets'... Never heard one I liked too much on any of the Line 6 amps I have owned. They can make good foundations to tweak from, but I don't think I've ever left one in tact.
Don't worry about any Line 6 hate you may encounter. Sure, there are better amps (because there is always something 'better') but there is certainly worse, too. For $50, I think that would be hard to beat.
Let the flaming begin...