Hey guys!

I have the 212 combo, and I am hard pressed to find a decent sound in it that doesn't make you want to stick ear plugs in.  Even at bedroom volumes, the tone is just harsh as hell.  I had it dialed in fairly good before the update with a sonic stomp in the loop.  Should I be using an EQ in the loop as well?  The models are very thin sounding now, and kind of unusable in my opinion.  Also, some of the models are just a joke.  The blues does not sound bluesy at all.  This would obviously cost more money, but they should have just put the front end of the Flextone or Vetta in this amp.  However, I am really not that much of a techie geek, and have a hard time trying to figure out how to tweak.  Has anyone with the MKII 212 put different speakers in?  Some people claim that the V30's in the amp are the cause of the dreaded "icepick" sound, and I am definitely getting that.  I wish guitar stores were like best buy's radio section.  A wall of cabs, and all you do is hook your amp into a splitter and push the little red buttons to audition each cab to see if something sounds better.  I really don't think an open back design was best suited for the combos.  Wish they would have done the same as like the peavey 5150 combo, Carvin, and some of the other closed back designs.

I really think that the updates should have been designed for and split up into 3 different categories:  HD100, MKII 2X12, and MKII 1X12.  How can you do an update for the whole line, when obviously each amp is gonna sound very different?  I'm sure that would take up a lot more time for the engineers to complete, but it's better than just releasing a "generic" update.  This new update may sound just awesome with an HD100, but sounds like **** with the 2X12.  What line 6 should do, is create an array of different amp models that us users can audition in the Spider Edit, and be able to either swap models, or pay a certain amount for a "pack" like "metal guitar" pack, or "blues guitar" pack.  No telling what is in the future for this amp, but I'm not totally confident that this amp will be in my future for very much longer if I can't get any good sounds out of it.  Maybe I need to learn more about the amp and just spend hours tweaking.  I haven't played it with my band yet, because I have been trying to dial in sounds, but that has been at bedroom volumes.  Maybe I should have the amp at practice, and hook up the computer and play with the sound then?

I bought a new set of JJ electronic preamp and power tubes to replace the Sovteks that are in it.  I heard that those tubes will tame down a little of the harshness.  Also, after hearing about a few more people besides me who have gotten amps that blew tubes out right away, I can't trust sovtek.  F'em!  Either they may have gotten a bad stock of tubes, or they have been roughly handled in shipping.  I will replace the tubes soon, and see if there is any improvement.  I'm sure this thing would also sound better if Strymon made an SVpre for it like its predecessor.  I look forward to any suggestions anyone has.  I don't mean to trash on Line 6 because they have some awesome concepts, and great effects.  However, I think they could do some more fine tweaking to get these amps to sound less digital and harsh.  Just my thought.  What do I know anyway?

I will check out the customtone site, and hopefully some people who own the combos posted some tones that I can audition, and see if they have the same problem.  Who knows, I could have gotten a second amp with bad tubes.  Wouldn't doubt it.  But Sweetwater went through it througrohly before they sent it to me.  Who knows........I challenge any of you combo owners to come up with some classic, hard rock distortion patches that impress me.  I'm looking for the Zakk Wylde, Metallica, Godsmack type high gain, and a chunky 80's rythem like old sabbath, AC/DC, the Who, etc.  Thanks in advance for the help or.....possibly?.......an *** chewing?  Hope some of you chime in with your suggestions or share your experience so far with this amp.