A portable, affordable plug-in-and-play solution for getting your chops up to speed?
Line 6 has unveiled the Spider V 20 MkII, a 20-watt practice amp that looks ideal for practice, is super-portable, and has a host of interesting tone options including onboard effects and a tuner.
The Spider V 20 MkII is a compact unit, standing less than one-foot tall and weighing just 5kg. It has a custom eight-inch speaker and a front panel that should be a cinch to get to grips with.
There are controls for drive, tone, volume, reverb, FX, and master, with a rotary control knob for cycling through the amp's 16 amp model and effects presets, which will take you from sparkling, clean tones through to "Insane" saturated gain for when you are home alone and trying to nail those Pantera rhythm parts before tea time.
There is a 1/8-inch stereo headphone jack just in case such practice goes long into the night.
Each of the presets has three effects that be taken in or out of the signal via the three FX buttons on the control panel, just as you would if they were pedals daisychained at your feet. The reverb works independently of all these.
There is also a very usefuly tap/tuner button that lets you tap in your delay times and modulation rates, and Line 6's typically imaginative connectivity options.
For an amp that will set you back £120 street, there is so much you can do. Connect to a Mac, PC or mobile device via the Micro USB port and you can use the free Spider V Remote application to enhance the amplifier's functions. Bring in additional amp models and effects, edit presets, or create custom presets compatible with the Spider V MkII Series.
You can even record, edit, and mix your performances on Cubase LE, which you can download free after registering the amp.
For more details, see Line 6.
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Jonathan Horsley
Jonathan Horsley has been writing about guitars and guitar culture since 2005, playing them since 1990, and regularly contributes to MusicRadar, Total Guitar and Guitar World. He uses Jazz III nylon picks, 10s during the week, 9s at the weekend, and shamefully still struggles with rhythm figure one of Van Halen’s Panama.
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