Line 6 Help

Updated
TheWarbringer
Alright, so I just bought a Line 6 Spider II 2x10 120 watt amp and a FBV Shortboard for $50 off craigslist. Both work fine and I'm pretty happy with my deal. However, I have two questions. One, I'm not too good with find tones and whatnot and it's something I need to improve on. Can someone give me some tips to finding good tone/settings for Thrash Metal? Also, my Metal Muff pedal doesn't seem to work well with this amp and when I play through the pedal it sounds like ass. Can anyone recommend a pedal that works well with this amp? Thanks.
diadorastriker

Let the flaming begin...

TheWarbringer

I realize Line 6 is not the best option for an amp, but hell for $50 it was steal to me.

jet66

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.

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