I have the deluxe players strat(sunburst) and a Gibson Les Paul studio(white/gold), and a line 6 spider III amp. I am thinking in getting a new amp and wanted some opinions. The spider is ok just not what i was looking for. I cant get some sounds i want out of it like a tube amp does. The effects on it are ok, but id rather have a nice amp with separate pedals. What amps do you guys like?

I used to play thru a Line 6 POD and lots of effects, then about 6 yrs ago I stripped down to just a guitar, a monster cord and an amp. I embarked on an expensive "tone quest"... wanting as little circuitry as possible between my strings and the speaker.
I tried many Fender and Marshall combo amps. (I don't gig a lot, so prefer a combo to a head/cabinet set up.)
My favorites:
1. 1998 BOGNER Shiva 84 1X12 dual reverb
2. 1976 MARSHALL JMP2104 2X12 combo (should've kept this one!!)
3. Peavey Classic 30 (w/JJ tubes and a Weber speaker) - a good affordable & portable amp

Effects occaissionally used:
BSM "HS" Treble Booster - syrupy sweet tones!
Vox Wah pedal

Hey CP-

I have a 2000 Fender HOT ROD Deluxe (Made in USA) with it I have a Fender Tuner Pedal, Vox 807(reissue) Wah, Dunlop RotoVibe, and a Marshall BluesBreakerII Distortion Pedal.

My strat has Texas Specials and I really like the fullness I get from my amp - the clean is like butter and it breaks up just the way I like it too.

My Band Mate had a Spider and finally junked it because it was in the shop more then it was working...plus he couldn't get the tone he wanted out of his tele. He now has a Hot Rod Deville and loves it-

Hope this helps-

The Freeze

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There's Always Room For MELLOW !!!!

2000 MIM Stratocaster, Midnight Wine W/Texas Specials
2000 Fender Hot Rod Deluxe
1969 Fender Vibro Champ

I prefer to customize my tone, so I prefer the separate pre and power amp route with a speaker cab. Combo amps are easy to use and get great tone, but they lack the versitility and customability of separate units

My rigs are mainly all tube, at least the preamp is always tube

i don't use many effects, but my digitech 2101 and ADA mp-2 preamps have all I will ever need

i like my routing to look like this guitar-compressor-tube pre-eq-noise gate-reverb-power amp-speaker

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Guitars:
1. mid 70's Ventura MIJ Gibson l6-s clone (Pre-lawsuit) in Black with Rosewood FB and EMG 81 BR/ 85 Neck
2. ESP KH2 Neck Thru
3. 2008 Am Std Strat in 3 tone sunburst

My Carvin V3 head n cab (with upgraded tubes) loves strats like you wouldn't believe.

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-Kc
"Payin' dues."

I use a Spider III when on tour, cause they are more durable. When I'm just playing in my house, I have a custom built tube amp. 35 watts, with 2 8" speakers. It sounds great, sort of similar to a Vox AC30.

I use a lot of effects. I've got all sorts from Boss, Digitech, Dunlop, and Electro Harmonix.

If you want to get a little more tube sound out of your Spider III, try to get some tube effects. Electro Harmonix makes a series of pedals with tubes, and they tend to give you a more natural sound than alot of the other brands do.

I use two marshall avt20's in stereo , for effects I have a boss gt8, and I Have three strats one esp and two floyd rose guitars.....

On stage I use my Telecaster or a Gibson LP -- I'm looking for a Strat, don't worry! -- and usually plug that into a Boss TU-2, a Boss SD-1, a Danelectro Compressor that I leave on almost all the time, and a Crybaby. That lot goes into a Fender Pro Junior. Wicked, wicked sound. And easy to carry.

I use a SCXD for now (saving for a Bassman). Effects, when I use them, are Boss Blues Driver, Chorus Ensemble, Digital Delay, Flanger, and Compression Sustainer all on a SKB powered board with a TU-12 tuner.Oh, and I also have a Crybaby Wah and a Boss volume pedal too.

Yeah, I love this thing. I always play at least four of the channels just messing around every night. Even when I get a Bassman I'll still keep this little guy around.

I have a Spider myself and completely understand your comments--it's a good amp, but mostly lost for a tube sound.

Depending on how big an amp you want and the amount of money you are willing to spend, the options are, obviously, limitless. For me, I mostly play for enjoyment these days, and the re-issue Fender Champ I bought a few months ago is perfect for me. Beautiful tube tone, and the volume gets quite loud for this little 5 watt amp; don't let its tiny size fool you. The only effect I use on it is a Boss Blues Overdrive pedal; everything else is taken care of through pickup selection, volume, and plain old playing style. You can read all day online about Clapton's early '70's sound and how impossible it is to mimic, but with a basically $350 set-up (amp plus pedal), along with a fresh set of strings, the sound can match Clapton's a la the Laya album. But there a lot of different sounds you can produce with playing and pickup selection, especially if you add any pedals ( the Champ does not get much overdrive on its own).

Of course, such a tone isn't for everyone, and the Champ has virtually no options without adding pedal,s etc. But it is a cheap amp with awesome potentials as I have discovered.

Finaly ditched the blues jr and gone back to old trusty. my jcm 800 combo albeit with a powerbreak taking it to roughly 10 watts (1/'10th of max ) keep it on the cleaner of the 2 channels. Neither are all that clean. I run a burford mosquito fuzz, some old delay and some old tremolo through it too.
Sometimes i just go into the amp. I am missing the cone cry of maxing the amp but my ears just wont take it anymore.

At home i just use my vibrochamp xd.

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No no and no

well i am a minimalist when it comes to effects. My setup includes and engl fireball head into a genz benz 2x12 cab. I also have some various other amp heads that i use like a peavey 6505 and a vintage fender bassman (modded to 100 watts). As far as effects go the only thing i use is an isp decimator pedal( noise suppressor) and occasionally a wah pedal. I mostly play metal and those are pretty straight forward amps for that. I suppose the tone you would want would really depend on what kind of music you play. The new peavey vyper tube combo is a pretty sweet deal. I think it blows the line 6 one out of the water, and it has all sorts of great effects on it.