review

Line 6 Micro Spider

Review by Mark Starlin

Line 6 Micro Spider Guitar amps have an interesting history. Early amps were small, low powered tube combos, typically 5 to 15 watts. As crowds grew larger during the rock era, amps got continually bigger and louder resulting in the birth of “the stack”. As PA systems improved, many guitarist returned to smaller amps, miking them and sending the signal through the PA system. With the invention of modeling, amps have gotten even smaller and we now have several “micro” amps by a number of companies. These micro amps are perfect for many situations such as practice, recording, jamming outdoors, taking to lessons, or even the occasional coffee house gig.

New Kid

The Micro Spider from Line 6 is the newest entry in the micro amp field. As you would expect, the Micro Spider is a solid state modeling amp sharing many of the features of its larger Spider III amp siblings and adding a few of its own. There are five amp models and six effects, plus a distortion boost and noise gate. It also includes a built-in tuner, a microphone input, a CD/MP3 input, and a headphone/record out jack. The Micro Spider will run on 6 C batteries and includes a power adapter. It has two strap buttons and includes a small carrying handle.

The Micro Spider puts out 6 watts through a 6.5" speaker which is loud enough for most situations where drums aren’t involved. It is 9.5" wide x 10" high x 7" deep and weighs 7 pounds. It is not the smallest micro amp, but it is still quite compact.

Controls

The front of the amp has a full compliment of standard amp controls: Bass, Mid, Treble, Drive, Channel Volume, and Master Volume. There are four buttons for channel (model) selection which also act as preset buttons. Once you have tweaked the channel to your liking, you simply hold the channel button for a few seconds to save the settings as a preset for that channel. Pushing the Crunch and Metal buttons simultaneously brings up the Acoustic channel/preset.

Line 6 Micro Spider controls

The top of the amp has controls for the effects, a tap tempo button, a microphone input jack and trim knob, and the tuner display. The CD/MP3 and headphone/record out jacks are also located here. The Tap button has three other uses in addition to setting the tempo of the delay. Holding it for a few seconds activates the tuner. Holding the Tap button and turing the Drive knob past 12 o’clock activates a distortion boost, which works like a booster pedal driving the amp model harder. Holding the Tap button and turing the Echo/Reverb knob past 12 o’clock activates a noise gate. I am not a fan of holding a button and turning a knob to get at a feature. I prefer a single button or knob for each function, but multi-function buttons and knobs make the amp cheaper to build and they take up less space. These are less commonly used features so Line 6 has apparently decided it was worth the trade-off in ease of use.

The Models

The Micro Spider shares the same amp models (and effects) as the 15 and 30 watt Spider III amps, with the addition of a new “acoustic” model that none of the other Spider III amps have. Obviously, you’re not going to get chest pounding bass out of a 6.5” speaker, but that is not really expected out of a “micro” practice amp. Good tone is expected, though. Here are my experiences with each model. My test guitars were a Les Paul Custom (stock) and Strat with Kinman pickups installed. Naturally every guitar will sound a bit different and require amp tweaking for optimum tone.

The Clean model sounded a bit muffled, and I only got decent tone when I cranked the treble all the way up and the mids and bass most of the way. It is usable but not great.

The Crunch model had a nice smooth breakup and responded better to the tone controls. It was easy to get a good “70’s” style crunch. Higher gain settings, though, got fizzy fast.

The Metal model worked as both a rock lead tone at lower settings and as an overall metal setting past 12 ‘clock, where the gain got pretty extreme.

The Insane model is aptly named providing extreme gain. I found this channel best for soaring lead guitar. Shredders will probably love it. Add some Tape Echo for a nice effect.

I didn’t get much chance to test the Acoustic setting as I recently sold my acoustic/electric and haven’t replaced it yet. But I did play a student’s inexpensive Ibanez acoustic/electric through it briefly and was surprised at how good the acoustic tone was.

Effects

There are six digital effects available on the Micro Spider, divided into two groups: modulation and delay. You can use only one effect from each group at a time. So you can add one modulation effect and/or one delay effect to your signal chain at any time. The effects are controlled by “Smart Control” knobs which gradually increase the intensity of each effects as you turn the knob. They do a good job of this making it easy to dial in a useable effect setting. You lose the ability to precisely adjust the effects settings, but most guitarist won’t miss this and will probably enjoy its quickness and ease of use.

The three modulation effects start with a combination effect: Chorus/Flange. I don’t know who thought this was a good idea, but it is just way over the top for me. I would much rather have had a straight chorus effect. Some may like the combination, but I find little use for it. The Phaser is next and makes a good sounding swoop that I enjoyed. The Tremolo is also quite nice, especially if you add some reverb.

The delay section also starts with a combination effect: Sweep/Echo. This is an echo with a filter effect added. Another “extreme” effect I wouldn’t have much use for. The Tape Echo is great with a more organic tone than typical digital delays. The Reverb is also a good sounding addition that adds dimension to the sound.

Line 6 Micro Spider being carried
In Use

I put the Micro Spider to use in a number of situations, although I am sure there are many more where it would be useful. First, as a practice amp the Micro Spider makes it easy to just plug in and jam. If you are running on batteries you can jam anywhere — the park, on your deck, a parking lot, you name it. With its built-in effects and amp models, you don’t need anything else besides a guitar and cable.

Thanks to its small size, I found the Micro Spider to be a great “going to lessons” amp. I teach guitar and I normally drag my 30 lb. tube amp with me. The Micro Spider is a lot easier to manage and infinitely less tiring to carry. It is plenty loud for lessons and versatile enough to cover just about any tone I need. It would be equally great for students who need to bring an amp to lessons.

I also decided to give it a try live. When I play for the adult worship service at my church, they prefer the guitar and bass players to go direct into the PA system. Normally I use a multi-effects unit for this. On this occasion I knew I would only need the crunch setting, so I decide to use the Micro Spider Record out jack and send the signal direct to the PA. Since the Micro Spider mutes the speaker when using the Record out jack, there was no problem with stage volume. I ran my multi-effects unit into the Micro Spider so I could change effects with my feet. Obviously, this is not the ideal amp for live gigs, but it did allow me to add some amp tone to my direct sound.

Clamp Please

There was one feature of the amp I didn’t like: the noise gate. If I strummed a chord softly, the gate would clamp down on the guitar signal and cut it off before it could sustain for four beats. I noticed this effect often as notes quickly faded, sometimes with a tremolo-like effect. The cure was to turn off the noise gate. The manual explains how to turn the gate on but doesn’t say how to turn it off. A trip to the Line 6 Support forum informed me that turning it off was simply the opposite of turning it on: hold the Tap button and turn the Echo/Reverb knob below 12 o’clock. It worked and I found I didn’t need the noise gate with my guitars anyway. The noise gate is very effective and the amp is dead quiet when not playing, but I found its aggressiveness distracting.

Other Features

The Micro Spider comes with a Microphone input turning it into a mini PA of sorts. I don’t have any microphones with a 1/4 jack (or a direct box) so I couldn’t test this feature. However, the Microphone jack did come in handy when one of my students forgot to bring his amp to lessons (don’t ask.) I had him plug into the microphone jack, and while it wasn’t a great guitar tone, it did allow us both to play through the amp and got us through the lesson.

Final Thoughts

The Micro Spider is a versatile, good sounding, compact amp that works well in a number of situations. For the guitar student or teacher, it is a great choice for taking to lessons thanks to its small size, light weight, and tonally versatility. Its CD/MP3 input makes it good for practicing along with your favorite band — and its headphone jack will keep the peace with your parents or spouse. The Record out jack is a nice feature allowing you to use the Micro Spider for recording. My only quibble is with the noise gate which aggressively chokes off the guitar signal at times. Fortunately, you can turn it off. If you are looking for a good-sounding, versatile, portable amp, the Micro Spider is definitely worth a look.

Reader Comments

Better Guitar encourages your input. Agree with this review? Think I’m crazy? If you own or have used a Micro Spider, email me your comments and I’ll post them below. The more opinions we have available, the better our buying decisions will be.

Sue

Absolutely a wonderfully written review. All the features where clearly explained. And thanks for mentioning the AC ADAPTER WAS INCLUDED. I was wondering. And also that you can play accoustic on it because that is what I have. All and all I went and bought myself one based on your review. I haven't tried it yet, but I'm sure it's a jam.

stats

  • • Four Spider III amp models and one acoustic guitar model
  • • Six Smart Control effects
  • • Five User-Programmable channels
  • • Integrated chromatic tuner with note-name display
  • • Powered by six C batteries or included AC adapter
  • • Six watts through 6.5" speaker
  • • Strap included
  • • POD 2.0-style direct output
  • • 1/4" microphone input with dedicated mic trim knob
  • • Mini stereo MP3/CD input
  • • 1/4" headphone output
  • • 9.5"W x 10"H x 7"D — 7lbs.
  • Positives
  • Small and lightweight; cool looking; good sounding amp models and digital effects; 5 channel presets; Record out jack; built-in tuner.
  • Negatives
  • Clean channel needs extreme treble setting to sound good; noise gate clamps too quickly; combination effects are a little "over the top".
  • Rating
  • Performance: 9
  • Sound Quality: 7
  • Construction: 8
  • Overall: 8.0
  • Ratings Key
  • 0 = Worthless
  • 10 = Excellent
  • Approximate Street Price
  • $149

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