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1) Check your master volume control! ;) 2) Check your channel volume control - note this is set and saved in each 'preset' patch. Many are set too loud, so you need to adjust them and save in your user patch locations.

No, you could burn out components in the amp by connecting the CAT 5 ethernet cable meant for foot-pedal control directly to your computer.

Oh, sorry, the pedal does NOT come with a USB cable, I thought you were referring to the CAT 5 cable that connects the pedal to an amp.

Always use SPider Monkey to ensure you have the latest updates. There have not been any for the Spider IV in quite some time, but I wouldn't say "Spider looks to be on the way out", just that they have developed this particular platform as far as possible due to processor limits. The same goes for PodFarm, the latest updates for FX and amp sims seems to be as far as they can take it - this does not mean it is on its way out, though! :D

that sounds like you've got a bad connection - either the jack at the FBV or at the POD or the cable itself.

Yes, that's how you do the factory reset.

Have you tried saving the changed patch in a different patch location? Do you have the amp firmware updated to current revision?

Your FBV should have come with the cable - if you bought it new, consider returning it to the store for a replacement as you may have got a 'slightly used' one where someone forgot to include the cable when they reutrned it.

Which Spider amp do you have? Not sure what you mean by A1 and A2.

Have you saved this custom tone to a user preset patch location? In Spider Edit you do this by 'drag and drop' and it overwrites the patch that had previously been in that user location.

No, you need a MkII pedal. If you bought the amp at a store, they may have a pedal and internet connection that can be used to do the update.

Sorry you are having problems - have you checked the settings on your amp? You can adjust the heel & toe ranges in the edit mode.

Keep trying, its possible the Line6 servers were down over the weekend.

Have you tried a factory reset? Have you downloaded the firmware update with an FBV MkII pedal?

Only some of the tones are available - you can't access the greyed ones.

Is it just a mechanical squeak? In other words, do you hear it when th epedal is moved even whne it is not plugged in? If so, a little WD 40 on the shaft should work. I think mine squeaked a little when I first got it, but it stopped after it got worked in.

I doubt the noise could hurt the amp, however you should try to figure out what is causing it. Have you downloaded the updated Fusion firmware and installed into the amp?

There are ways to hook them up, but I wouldn't guarantee you are going to get good results and you would need to be careful about overdriving the Blackstar's input circuits. The Spider does not have an effects loop output, so the only signal you could feed to the Blackstar would be from the DI/headphone output. This output includes the amp/gain circuitry sound. If you plugged this into the Blakcstar guitar input, you would need to be very careful about keeping the Spider volume low as to not blow out the Blackstar input circuits. You could also try plugging this Spider output into the effects return loop of the Blackstar. Either way, the guitar signal is going to end up going through two amp circuits and typically amp-gain X amp-gain does not give a pleasing sound. Note that you will need to adapt the stereo output from the Spider to a mono signal (use a 1/4" stereo plug to 1/4" mono jack adapter or cable).

"Good metal sounds" is a relative thing. I'm guessing you have tried out all of the preset patches already? Have you tried adjusting parameters like the gain/drive on the PodFarm amps, as well as distortion/drive pedal FX? Its possible your active pickups are overdriving the input of the UX1, you could try plugging into the UX1 via a stompbox pedal of any time which would buffer the input voltage.

When you plug into the headphone output jack of the Spider amp it cuts off the main power amp and speaker, so does not hurt the amp. I would assume you are taking the Spide headphone output into the guitar input on the Blackstar amp? This could harm the input circuit of the Blackstar as it is expecting a low level instrument input.

Theres a ton of user-supplied preset patches available already: http://line6.com/customtone/browse/spideriv/

I think you should call Line 6 tech support. The US support team can be reached at 818-575-3600 (option 2), Mon-Fri 8am - 5 pm PST. Our busiest hours are from 11am to 2 pm.

What do you mean by 'Done the update"? Were you able to update the FBV firmware, or did Monkey tell you that you have the most current version of hte software already? When do you get the error code? Sorry, hard to help you without details on what you are doing.

I received an email notice that you had quoted my last reply and argued with it, but looks like you deleted it. I dont' want you to damage yoru amp, that's why I told you that you need to have speakers plugged into both left and right speaker outputs. This is a stereo amp, designed to be run in stereo. Hopefully you found the FAQ or other posts here that confirm what I said.

Ok, again: are you using Spider Monkey? First update the FBV pedal's firmware, then connect the amp to the FBV. You should not be getting a MIDI error if you are updating the firmware.