Maybe Line 6 amps DO suck...

...or maybe not.

I have a Line 6 amp. More specifically, I have the much maligned Spider III 15. I traded in a Fender Stage 112SE for it last year. I can hear the gasps of shock and disbelief now. Yes, I know the Fender was a better amp. I also couldn't put the volume past 2 without blowing my eardrums, shaking the house apart, or both. If I were a giggin' man, I never would've gotten rid of the Fender. Since I'm a bedroom guitarist and aspiring home recorder, it was too much amp for me.

I want to say one thing to all you Spider III haters out there (you know who you are). When I was researching this amp before I bought it, I saw many a forum post or blog comment putting down the amp, saying the presets didn't sound right, weren't the same volume, had weird effects on them, etc. You know what? You're missing the point! The whole point of an amp like this (or any amp, for that matter) is to make your own sounds and overwrite the factory presets. That's what I did. I have my own settings for all four channels and each one sounds great. Plus they're MY sounds, not the sounds of some committee at Line 6.

So yes, my Line 6 sounds great. It sounds great through headphones and through the speaker. Unfortunately, as I found out last night, it sounds like a pile of steaming dog crap when I plug it into my computer. If you remember/read this post you know I tried to record on my Linux laptop through my Vox headphone amp and it sounded bad. Then, in this post, I tried the same thing with my Line 6 and was "impressed." That feeling evaporated last night. When I was recording with my Line 6 I noticed a lot of static through my headphones, but I thought it was just the headphones and the guitar still sounded good. Last night I wanted to listen to my recording without any amp plugged in to hear what it sounded like. You know all that static? Well, it got recorded, too. Sounded like poo. So I set up my Vox headphone amp again and, lo and behold, no static. Or at least very little. I didn't get a chance to record with it because just as I was ready to start recording my wife announced that it was dinner time, so it'll have to wait a day.

So why all the static? It doesn't show up when I have headphones plugged into the same jack. It's not there when I play through the speaker. I have two theories: either the cable that I'm using to connect amp to computer is low quality and is picking up interference, or the amp is too powerful and is overwhelming the sound card. I use the same cable for the Vox, too, but I have a 1/4"-to-1/8" adapter on the Line 6, so maybe that's it. I still haven't plugged the Line 6 into the Mac yet. If the static persists I know it's not the limitations of the sound card. That'll be a shame, because I can get much better sounds out of the Line 6.

And what about all the problems I had when I first tried the Vox? I chalk that up to a mixture of inexperience (I know a lot more about Linux recording now) and the fact that I was trying to run it through guitar effects software that was most likely overwhelming the hardware. I'm going to try more recording tonight straight from the Vox and hopefully things work out better.

On a side note, I'm really enjoying Rosegarden as a recording program. Also, I figured out how to get JACK Control GUI to start properly (I'll post instructions and screen shots soon).

Have I told you how much I'm enjoying this recording thing?