Spider Valve - Impression Summit - Part IV

Spinnin’ Spider
Well back to work the next day and at the end of the day back to a different room, some 40 m2 damped room, same guitar, some player, same amp. Knowing what I learned from it yesterday I was anxious to play it again and wondering how it would sound in a damped environment. Starting from scratch and taking a bit more time to learn about the different amp models and what’s the easiest way to get a good tone?

Spending some more time with the Spinnin’ Spider it struck me how easy it is to get a nice tone, I even was checking an amp model (don’t remember which one) with the bass all the way up, mid down, and treble up and other ways around and it still wasn’t harsh or boomy, nice!
On some amp models the low end comes up when you’ve almost reached the end of the dial then it feels like you’re using a 2x12 inch cabinet. Since I really like a 212 cabinet and tend towards them I so far haven’t ‘missed’ the second 12 inch speaker. I haven’t heard the Spider Valve 212 either so I can’t compare those, it’s just an impression while writing about it.

Hairy Scary moments
If and when you’re taking this amp for your own “spin” check how different the bass, mid or treble response is for each amp model when you turn them up or down and how they interact. It’ll give a quick clue or direction to what tones are possible with the selected amp model at hand.

I mentioned earlier the “hair trigger” master volume, since today I’m in a totally different room, I can also try if the hairy trigger does that all the way. Now where’s my ear protection..
While turning the master volume up, every little tweak makes it distinctly louder, it’s staggering that way until around the 12 o’clock position, after that the ‘hairy trigger’ movement has less a more ‘finger trigger’ steps. Just to protect my ears it’s going back to the 8:30 position.

When selecting the higher gain models and drive knob turned up, there's noise noticable, allthough not visible from the amp itself there is a noise reduction feature. To activate it you press and hold the tapbutton as you turn the Reverb knob up past twelve o’clock, and you turn on a built-in Noise Gate, which helps to cut down on hiss and noise. When activated you'll see the channel D Light comes on to indicate that the Gate is turned on.

Dial in & Dig(g)in
Search for a tone from the different presets is a way to go but so far I’m more comfortable with bypassing the effects, selecting an amp model, choose the right amount of drive, color the tone with some bass, middle, treble knobs and a tiny bit of reverb and I’m done. This is Dial it in and Dig in amp. No real tweaking like the Vetta series, just twist ‘n turn some knobs and I was set.

I will have to play the amp with different guitars to see how it reacts to it, but this amp is dynamic, responsive, clarity and a its own Valve Vibe.

Speaking of Dial in or dialin' in presets there's an odd thing that I noticed and it's something that you'll only see if and when you have a FBV Shortboard connected. When you connect an FBV SB you'll notice that some presets have the loop engaged, so it seems at least at first glance. This would lead to assume to the 'patchmaker(s)' used some outboard gear through the FX loop that influences that sound on the selected preset. However the loopbutton on the FBV (when used with Spider Valve) (de-)activates the noise gate..

Power to the POD
I have the Atomic 18 watt with my PODxt docked inside, used it every week. I've tried the 50 Watt Atomic (some months back) but found it to be less warmer (different tubes). Yesterday For a  10 minutes impression, took my PODxt and plugged it into the poweramp of the Spider Valve. Although recalling from memory how the Atomic 50 Watt sounds I’d say Spider Valve has more warmth to the overall sound.

I tried the direct setting inside to PODxt and switched to power amp that made a world of difference. Downside, you need to figure out what EQ settings you need to dial in for use with the Spider Valve..., this combination of probably every modeler or POD (X)(T)(3) series will get Bogner powered. The reason behind it is the clever design of the circuit.

Here’s why: The moment you use the power amp in, the Line 6 modeling is bypassed, so it’s just the Bogner designed power amp that you play and you’re not taking the modeling on modeling route

Haven’t had time to just try the effects from PODxt in front of the Spider Valve or just a normal stomp box to experience how well that works, but my guess is that it will. Read on

Source: Vettaville.nl

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