Hay guy's maybe you can give a hack some advice....... I'm looking at a new Amp...... thinking either the Line 6 Spider III Modeling Combo 75w , or a Vox Valvetronix Ad30VT 30w.......... I've looked at theProduct reviews on Guitar Centers pages......The Vox has very mixed opinions ..while the Line 6 has hardley a bad opinion about it.....now why am I asking you guy's ? Cause I respect your opinions . I know we'll have a mixed camp of people saying don't bother with either , get a tube amp , but right now a modeling amp is probley just what I'm lookin for.......... so come on guy's...let me know what you think... THX in Advance.... D.O.G.

Having played them both, I found the Vox has much better tone IMO. Just play them both side by side.

Hey man
I would go with the Line 6 myself.Dont get all caught up in the tube hype just cause you here other people saying it.Truth is there are many solid state amps that sound better than some tubes.I dont base my desicion on an amp just cause it has tubes or not,i base it on the sound quality and value.I think Line 6 you would be much more happy,get better bang for your buck,and as you listed 75watts compared to Vox's 30.I also dont even like Vox or Marshall I know many people are like your crazy but,i could never use one of there amps without effect pedal's .As to other's like Line 6,Crate,Fender,Mesa Boogie ect that i can just use there built in distortion and DSP effects.

Bottom line is go by what sounds good and is dependable,not wether its a tube just imo.Its good to get other's advice but at the end of the day there not buying and playing the amp you are. Here's another good place to look at reviews http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Guitar+Amp .

The Line6 is just... too much. I don't like it. Havn't played the Vox but one of the smaller Roland cubes, can't recall which. Think it was the 15W cube which to me sounded great! The bigger models have more functions.

So I think you should add Roland to your list to choose from.

If you're just playing at bedroom levels, I'd highly recommend getting a Pod XT Live and a set of headphones. I don't care for the sound of a spider, and I know the Vox you're mentioning sounds better but still doesn't have the tone of an all tube amp.

An advantage of going Pod/phones would be that when you do finally decide you need a more professional rig, your Pod is still viable while the other two will always be low end modeling amps.

I don't want to toot my own horn but I did a review of the AD30VT here at GMC

https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_fo...?showtopic=5313

When I was buying my amp I also played a Line 6 Spider III (but not the 75W I think). Either way I did not like the tone of the Line 6. It seemed a bit to digital for me. The Vox has some effects and amp settings aswell that are very digital sounding but in all I was very impressed with it.....thus why I bought it I'd also take into concereration what type of music you play. If your a shedder and a big metal player the Vox may not be to your liking. However Vox has addressed this issue with a new XL line in the Valvetronix series that is suppose to be geared more towards harder music. I personally haven't played one but I hear they are pretty great. I know I'm a bit bias but for a practice amp I'm very happy with my Vox. Hope this helped you out a bit and if you have any specific questions about the Vox I'd be happy to try and answer.

rok

I personally didnt like the Line6 Spider II at all. I'm not sure what the different beetween II and III is?

I think the sound was just messy and computerish. I'm stickin with my old Music Man tube amp instead.

This post has been edited by Robin: Sep 20 2007, 09:13 PM

the only real difference is Line6 put more time into their "mid-gain" tones, and added "INSANE ROCKSTAR SETTINGZ (OMGZ)" which means anything 75W and up has about 200-300 presets based off of famous songs/made by popular artists.

as to the thread question, i've played both too, so...

what kind of music do you play? mostly metal-sounding? are you going to practice with a drummer at all? i'd say for now, the Spider III would be great.

do you like having lots of tonal options? is tone very important? get the vox. IMO, it sounds less digital then the line6. BUT! as far as hi-gain sounds go, the Spider takes the cake. BUT!! the vox sounds pretty decent with any tone, clean or distorted. you'd still be able to practice with a drummer with the 30w vox too, but you'd need to have the volume near max.

I do not know what your budget is for your new amp. Check out Carvin.com, the Nomad is a 50w all tube combo for under $500, the Vintage 16/5 is under $400. The SX series are solid state but cheap considering who makes it, SX100 100w 1x12 w/ tube emulation and digital effects for $269.99, SX200 100w 2x12 combo or the SX300 3 channel 100 watt combo for $349.99, at a later date you can add the 2x12 cabinet to any Carvin amps. Shop around there is a lot available my friend

I wud go with the Line 6 of your choices.. BUT .. tubes are better than modeling amps Modeling amps have not been able to capture that tone from the great tubes yet but they are getting closer. I use only tubes.. Randall has some nice tube combos i your looking for the lower power ranges.