Spider V 240 HC problems

[DAN187]

I bought my Spider V back in April and had nothing but trouble with it since. I have kept it up to date with the latest updates which cured my first problem with cabinet modelling switch. But now i am having more problems.

 

-The built in effects for the reverb channel which intermittently cuts out on certain effects.

 

-The sound, in that sometimes there is no sound coming out from the amp at all, both with the built in speakers (except drums/metronome), my cab, and my other guitarists cab. We spent 20-30 minutes last band practice trying to figure out what was causing the problem only for it to start randomly start working again how it was previously set up. This has happened twice now.

 

-And the lack of power! It's 240watts, it should be enough to crumble the surrounding walls and cause all my band members hearing issues, yet my other guitarists 50watt Randall turned quarter way up sounds louder then the Spider V all the way up.

 

Is anyone else having these problems and feel like they made a big mistake going for the Spider V?

[pber2025]

I don`t know about the HC, but my V240 combo can be very very loud. I would suggest opening a ticket with Line6,

[hightower999]

Ditto, my 240 combo, beyond the 12 o'clock position is bone-shakingly loud, it doesn't sound right that yours isn't. It also sounds like you've got a further problem, perhaps with the main board. It's under warranty & you've only had it 2 months. I'd demand a new one from your retailer, and/or open a ticket with Line 6.

 

Good luck!

[guitardad123]

I have no problem keeping up with loud drummers with my 240 combo. It's not 240 watts, more 120 watts for each channel (stereo amp).Not a simple thing to compare power ratings of amps. Design specs are unique. Loudness figures are based more than just power. I have a 1600w monitor 12" cab that isn't nearly as loud as a Yamaha DBR10 monitor that is rated less than half of the other one, and has a smaller speaker. My 240 can get louder when I add the Eq too. I learned that a few months ago.

Another important part is when you have the FBV3 connected and get no sound, or put G10T in to charge you may get no sound when you go to use it again. Press the FBV expression pedal up and down for the sound to come back. It's like it mutes or something. Maybe that was by design to not get noise from system when charging the G10T?

[gtrman100]

My V240 is plenty loud too; I have no problem keeping up with our very loud drummer. The V120 couldn't, BTW, so I swapped it for the 240.

 

Speaker efficiency might be a factor too. What cabinet and speakers are you using? Inefficient speakers can dramatically effect overall loudness. For example, in my Fender SCXD, the stock speaker is about 1/2 as loud as a replacement Eminence Legend 105!

[guitardad123]

My V240 is plenty loud too; I have no problem keeping up with our very loud drummer. The V120 couldn't, BTW, so I swapped it for the 240.

 

Speaker efficiency might be a factor too. What cabinet and speakers are you using? Inefficient speakers can dramatically effect overall loudness. For example, in my Fender SCXD, the stock speaker is about 1/2 as loud as a replacement Eminence Legend 105!

Mine's plenty loud with stock speakers. I did talk to a couple guys that replaced the V120 speaker with an Eminence Legend and another with a WGS Vintage. They said they louder speakers. Hard to say without hearing the difference myself. I imagine they have to have a work around fo cab modeling using those.

[gtrman100]

Mine's plenty loud with stock speakers. I did talk to a couple guys that replaced the V120 speaker with an Eminence Legend and another with a WGS Vintage. They said they louder speakers. Hard to say without hearing the difference myself. I imagine they have to have a work around fo cab modeling using those.

 

Have you tried your 120 with a loud drummer? At max volume, mine was barely getting by. And distorted sounds with naturally more compression got lost.

[guitardad123]

Have you tried your 120 with a loud drummer? At max volume, mine was barely getting by. And distorted sounds with naturally more compression got lost.

I have a 240. It gets up there. I use post eq and add a few db. Some good youtube videos explaining how to use post eq with Spider V.

[gtrman100]

I have a 240. It gets up there. I use post eq and add a few db. Some good youtube videos explaining how to use post eq with Spider V.

I've been a recording engineer for about 40 years. I know all about EQ. The 120 couldn't keep up with a loud drummer, the 240 has no problem. Post EQ helps if you are trying to carve frequencies to cut better, but doesn't  boost all frequencies, so apparent loudness is effected. I don't like to screw with my tone to overcome deficiencies of an amp. YMMV

[guitardad123]

I've been a recording engineer for about 40 years. I know all about EQ. The 120 couldn't keep up with a loud drummer, the 240 has no problem. Post EQ helps if you are trying to carve frequencies to cut better, but doesn't  boost all frequencies, so apparent loudness is effected. I don't like to screw with my tone to overcome deficiencies of an amp. YMMV

I know more players are going away from loud amps on stage. Mic the amp, run direct, use IEM's, crank the wedge. At many shows our sound eng's will like to minimize stage sound. Makes it easier to get a better mix and not worrying about louder amps on stage that make blending mixes more work.

 

Amps and live work for me have changed a great deal. We play many more shows that want low stage sound. No 4x12 and 50w head. Spider V or floor type modeling like HD500 or so work nice for this.

 

I think eq in post is used more to boost and shape frequencies in a modeling board or modeling amp more than it is a cutting tool like in daw mixes. Even presets you buy for modelers have all been "re-shaped" with some eq. Not a sound engineer just a player so I don't know. 

[suedehead99]

 

-And the lack of power! It's 240watts, it should be enough to crumble the surrounding walls and cause all my band members hearing issues, yet my other guitarists 50watt Randall turned quarter way up sounds louder then the Spider V all the way up.

 

 

Also don't forget that your 240W solid state isn't necessarily louder than your pal's 50W tube amp as solid state and tube amp power differs greatly.

[oldmanrockband]

Also don't forget that your 240W solid state isn't necessarily louder than your pal's 50W tube amp as solid state and tube amp power differs greatly.

I'm new here, but power is power. If you have two 120 wrms amps it's the same as one 240w. Tube amps 'sing' nicely when overdriven, so it works when you crank them to their limits. SS modelling amps do all the distortion in the signal processing, so if you crank one of those amps you get the processed distortion PLUS the un-musical clipping of a SS amp at it's max. Also doubling power only gives a slight difference in perceived loudness, so yeah, an open back 50w tube combo with an efficient speaker may well sound louder than a SS 240w closed back combo.

I just ordered a spider V 240 off amazon. Hope I'm not going to be disappointed! I have a Marshall tube JCM800 4010 combo, which i don't really like. I'll do a comparison when the spider comes in.

Andy

[guitardad123]

I'm new here, but power is power. If you have two 120 wrms amps it's the same as one 240w. Tube amps 'sing' nicely when overdriven, so it works when you crank them to their limits. SS modelling amps do all the distortion in the signal processing, so if you crank one of those amps you get the processed distortion PLUS the un-musical clipping of a SS amp at it's max. Also doubling power only gives a slight difference in perceived loudness, so yeah, an open back 50w tube combo with an efficient speaker may well sound louder than a SS 240w closed back combo.

I just ordered a spider V 240 off amazon. Hope I'm not going to be disappointed! I have a Marshall tube JCM800 4010 combo, which i don't really like. I'll do a comparison when the spider comes in.

Andy

Might take time to get used to the full range sound of a guitar cab. I use my 240 live all the time. Its a fun amp to use. It will get loud enough for me and my loud drummer. I only have to run the volume at around 11 oclock. It's very loud. Tube amp of 100W with a standard 412 cab will be much louder. You have very efficient guitar speakers x4 being pushed with 100W of rms power. That's also comparing a rig that can cost 4-5x what a 240 does. What is heard in perceived loudness is based on true power, speaker efficiency, and other things. Ways to compare the amps, but can a tube amp and cab get the sound of all the 240s amps cabs and effects, and is it stereo? Pros and cons to everything. What is in the 240 is very usable.

[oldmanrockband]

Might take time to get used to the full range sound of a guitar cab. I use my 240 live all the time. Its a fun amp to use. It will get loud enough for me and my loud drummer. I only have to run the volume at around 11 oclock. It's very loud. Tube amp of 100W with a standard 412 cab will be much louder. You have very efficient guitar speakers x4 being pushed with 100W of rms power. That's also comparing a rig that can cost 4-5x what a 240 does. What is heard in perceived loudness is based on true power, speaker efficiency, and other things. Ways to compare the amps, but can a tube amp and cab get the sound of all the 240s amps cabs and effects, and is it stereo? Pros and cons to everything. What is in the 240 is very usable.

Yeah it came in a few hours ago. Haven't cranked it very loud at all yet. It sounds very 'Hi-Fi' ish to me. I'm not used to the bass compared to my JCM800. I think I like it though! A lot of the stock settings sound kinda same-ey.  Haven't really noticed any stereo effect yet. Now I gotta apply for the free GT10T promo that's going on right now!

[guitardad123]

Yeah it came in a few hours ago. Haven't cranked it very loud at all yet. It sounds very 'Hi-Fi' ish to me. I'm not used to the bass compared to my JCM800. I think I like it though! A lot of the stock settings sound kinda same-ey.  Haven't really noticed any stereo effect yet. Now I gotta apply for the free GT10T promo that's going on right now!

Nice deal with the free G10T. The amp is nothing like a JCM800, but a JCM800 is nothing like this amp either. Not to say you can't get Marshall tones out of this because you can, plus tons of other sounds and amp models. Give those speakers time to break in. I ran mine on the drum loop for hours cranked up while I went to work. Other thing to check out are videos on Youtube about Spider V EQ section. 

 

http://line6.com/support/topic/28020-video-on-eq-usage-in-spider-v-good-info/

[oldmanrockband]

Nice deal with the free G10T. The amp is nothing like a JCM800, but a JCM800 is nothing like this amp either. Not to say you can't get Marshall tones out of this because you can, plus tons of other sounds and amp models. Give those speakers time to break in. I ran mine on the drum loop for hours cranked up while I went to work. Other thing to check out are videos on Youtube about Spider V EQ section. 

 

http://line6.com/support/topic/28020-video-on-eq-usage-in-spider-v-

 

Thanks, I'll check out the vids. I've had my JCM800 since the early 80's and didn't use it much till the last couple of years. It's a little bit bright and harsh for my liking. Also there's no effects loop and I've been using a Boss GP10 with GK3 hex pickup and it's hard to get a good sound with that set up. I'm going to ditch that because of unreliability of the 13 pin cable. So far I'm happy with the spider. Just waiting for my FBV3 pedalboard to come in now. Might start looking at Variax's soon!

[willisz]

Im having the same problem as mentioned, when I have the Reverb activated, it cuts out some effects ( mod delay for example). I noticed it only happens when I have my cab plugged it, it doesnt happens with the built in mini speakers in the head. (Yes, I considered that my cab was the problem, but that cutting thing goes away when I disable the Reverb) Does this have a solution?

 

By the way, I also noticed the volume thing, but the compressor  knob gives A LOT of volume.

[kristyrrell]

So i was recording with a friend using my spider v 240hc head and no sound its gone the speakers in head dont work period why? i used my wireless and also chord still nothing factory reset nothing. this is my 2nd amp head from line 6 i have a spider hd150 that burnt out the mother board with 3 uses i had to send it in for a replacement board which took a few weeks. This company needs to do it right the first time around. now we have to send out customer suport tickets jesus. i have spider v 240 hc stack and hd 150 head and xtlive pedal also line 6 wireless guitar system. this is bs

[otaviofonseca]

Just got an V240hc used at a good deal....sadly, all clean patches  have an ugly crackling sound coming from the right side of the internal combo.   It's not modeling distortion....I am fairly certain a tweeter or speaker is busted.    I will test with external cabinet but wonder if anybody knows the brand/specs for replacing them. Thanks.