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I do not believe the old shortboard will be compatible. Per this page: https://line6.com/legacy/fbvs it was not compatible with anything after the Spider III.

According to this page: https://line6.com/foot-controllers/fbv-shortboard-mkii the shortboard is compatible with the Spider V, so should be able to access all the features.

Hi Jeff, I think you might be a little confused on your choices. The FBV3 and MkII Shortboard are not multi-effects, they are controllers which access the built-in effects in the amp - so you won't be getting any 'new' sounds from the amp by using either of these, you will just be able 'switch on the fly' while playing. Using an external multi-effects pedal like the M13 or the Boss will give you those sounds - coming out of the pedal, into the amp, where you can further modify the sound with the amp's controls. Note that adding distortion in the amp seldom sounds good if you have a distorted sound dialed in from the FX stompbox. Also, delay and reverb never sounds as good if the distortion comes after that sound. This has always been a major user complaint about the Spider IV amps, no post-preamp FX loop. When I use stompboxes into my Spider, I try to keep the amp's settings as clean as possible.

That input looks like its 'pegged' at full volume, as if there was a feedback loop or a short circuit.

No, you cannot change how the Express operates with the amp - the functions are part of the amp's control system. You can use the Express buttons to do different things as a MIDI controller through the software.

First, do you have the master volume knob up? If so, turn it down! Next, check the channel volume level on your presets - maybe it has been saved with full volume/ Some factory presets are quite loud compared with others. The factory presets are meant to be a starting place for sounds - adjust them to your liking, then save to a Use Preset patch location.

That would seem to indicate that it was a vibration problem, easy solution!

If your computer is running a new OS, the drivers might not work.

I wouldn't think so, as the 'posts' are part of the potentiometers, its a function of those.

'Loud' in your description is an indicator that one of the controls is switching 'on' from vibration of the amp. Unfortunately, the way the knobs work on the Spider is that any movement of them will change that setting to where the knob is pointed at the time. One person here took small rubber O-rings and installed them under the knobs making them harder to turn.

Get yourself another cable to start. The fact that some guitars work, some don't indicate to me its probably a connection problem - it could be the cable, it could be the input jack on the amp.

Did you try a different cable with the guitars that don't work and the amp? Or even try reversing the cable (plug that is in the amp to the guitar)? Are the guitars that don't work with the amp active (have a battery-operated pre-amp)? Did these guitars work with the amp before, but then stopped?

Ok, first you have to understand that the amp puts out a stereo signal over a 3-wire connector (left-right-common). What audio input(s) does your computer have? Most these days do not have line-in inputs these days, just a 'mic in', which is a mono-input. Some laptops have a combination headphone/mic jack (4 connectors - left, right, mic, common). If your computer has a mic input, you can take an adapter cable to go from the stereo amp output, changes it to mono to the mic input jack. BUT (see that - Big But) - the audio card in your computer is really not made for recording purposes. It's made to reproduce all the 'bells and whistles' and to play (barely adequately) the audio from youtube videos, etc. To really be able to record audio, you also need to be able to monitor (listen to) previously recorded tracks - ones you have recorded, or backing tracks you have downloaded into your DAW (Digital Audio Workstation - in other words, recording software). The built-in audio card in your computer is not designed for that, and if you can do it at all there will probably be a noticeable lag (delay, called 'latency') between input and output. So to record with monitoring capability and low latency, you need to use an external audio interface, typically connecting through USB, which then takes the place of your computer's internal audio card when recording/playing back recordings. Headphones and/or speakers would be connected to the audio interface, not your computer's audio outputs.

I use the On Stage tilt-back one as well. They are strong enough for a 2x12 amp, but not height adjustable - rather than height, I've found its better to be able to angle the amp so that the sound is aimed at where my ears are, and it also gets the sound 'up', so that it is not blasting straight out at the audience.

Unfortunately, if you hooked them up in parallel (i.e. both + hooked up to same amp lead, both - hooked up to same amp lead), the impedance = R1xR2/(R1 + R2), so assuming two 8 ohm speakers 8x8/(8+8) = 4 ohms. When you hook a solid state amp up like this, it ends up overpowering the output circuit (voltage, I assume), eventually frying a component. If you are lucky, you may have just blown a fuse. Back in the days of valve (tube) amps, we used to blow fuses all the time because of this, it was no big deal, we'd just pop another one in (they were easy access on the back panel of the amp, same fuses you see in cars. When you are looking at the amp chassis to find anything 'blown', be careful of any power capacitors - these can hold a high voltage long after the amp has been unplugged.