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I've had a FlextoneIII plus for a month now, and I must say I'm really impressed.
It has a nice LOUD 75 watts, add in an external cab for 2 channels of 75 watts each..
A decnt FX Loop, both Sereo and Mono, XLR direct outs with ground lift and speaker cab outs.
It works great as a power amp for my GNX2 as well, it doesn't replace it, but it sure compliments it.
The onboard effects are okay, but of course the GNX is FAR above them, thats okay I didn't care about the FX anyway.
The onboard comp seems to have a tendency to work TOO WELL, giving you years of sustain, but sapping out the dynamics and character if you don't tweak it down.
The Headphone and XLR outs sound really good, using deep editing (Line6 edit software), you can adjust the AIR modeling, mike style, position ect.)
The amps sims themselves are well done for the most part, I'm not going to go into the whole real verses sim debate. But I will say, the amp models are unmistakable, when you switch on the the SLO.. you KNOW it's a SLO
Theres 32 amp sims, 16 cabinet types. What line6 calls DiamondPlate is the postion for the Dual and Triple Rec., with all the gain and "scoopiness" that you'd expect.
A hot spot is the SLO (of course) now, I'm not gonna say that my SLO sounds just like your REAL one, but I bet if you heard it, you'd think I OWNED one.
The Bogner Extasy is sooooo sweet.
The Marshalls seem to need alot of tweaking to get a decent sound out of them, thats dissappointing, theres no life, non of that creamy grind. (That has been changed- see below)
Line 6's own "Insane" model is fun, they claim it's a hybrid between the Recto and Slo.. whatever it is.. it's a crushing gain, I don't know who could even use more, at times.. it's like a "parody of hi gain"
I really enjoyed the Line6 Clean and Jazz settings, they are based on the JC120, everything from that shimmering crystal transistor clean to a nice deep voice for Jazz.
There are problems though, the amp can sometimes sound "muddy".. it's very strange, some days I'm in heaven.. other days I turn it on and I feel all the little transients and dynamics have been buried.
As well, the cabs have a tendency to get boomy, especially at loud levels.
The Marshalls are the most dissappointing, I'm really surprised they messed those up.
Another issue is the factory setup, all the presets are pretty lifeless, You really need to tweak them, play around or try some of the 2000 + settings from www.customtone.com. You'll be glad you did
Now, apparently Line6 knew of these issues and had been working on the sims, Here are my new thoughts on the "upgraded amp"
I hooked it up to my PC and downloaded the new Firmware update.
WOW.. what a difference.
For those of you who complained about loose, boomy bass and muddy sounding cab models.. bad Marshall models... rejoice!
LIne6 did an amazing job correcting the complaints.. ALL the cabs have been redone. THey now have the proper bass response, much more realistic. My Fav is the JCM800, it's been tweaked with a Bogner mod and just has that extra gain and sparkle. They replaced the JCM2000TSL with the DSL. (Very good choice here)
The Marshalls are now, well Marshalls. (Finally)
Overall, all the settings have been tweaked, for those that found the amp sims a little "over the top", things have been brought back to realistic porportions.
I have to say, it's a completely different amp.. Line6 did a great job.
I felt this amp could be a killer combo, I resisted the urge to return it at times, I'm so glad I kept it.
If you get the chance, try to find an updated Flex to play with, if you were unimpressed before, you may just change your mind, coupled with the price drop, I think it's an excellent choice for a "swiss army" combo.
With these (apparently) long awaited corrections to the firmware, the combo has a chance to be amoung the top Modeling amps. IMHO of course.
[ May 13, 2004, 03:27 AM: Message edited by: 2Loud2Old ]
It has a nice LOUD 75 watts, add in an external cab for 2 channels of 75 watts each..
A decnt FX Loop, both Sereo and Mono, XLR direct outs with ground lift and speaker cab outs.
It works great as a power amp for my GNX2 as well, it doesn't replace it, but it sure compliments it.
The onboard effects are okay, but of course the GNX is FAR above them, thats okay I didn't care about the FX anyway.
The onboard comp seems to have a tendency to work TOO WELL, giving you years of sustain, but sapping out the dynamics and character if you don't tweak it down.
The Headphone and XLR outs sound really good, using deep editing (Line6 edit software), you can adjust the AIR modeling, mike style, position ect.)
The amps sims themselves are well done for the most part, I'm not going to go into the whole real verses sim debate. But I will say, the amp models are unmistakable, when you switch on the the SLO.. you KNOW it's a SLO
Theres 32 amp sims, 16 cabinet types. What line6 calls DiamondPlate is the postion for the Dual and Triple Rec., with all the gain and "scoopiness" that you'd expect.
A hot spot is the SLO (of course) now, I'm not gonna say that my SLO sounds just like your REAL one, but I bet if you heard it, you'd think I OWNED one.
The Bogner Extasy is sooooo sweet.
The Marshalls seem to need alot of tweaking to get a decent sound out of them, thats dissappointing, theres no life, non of that creamy grind. (That has been changed- see below)
Line 6's own "Insane" model is fun, they claim it's a hybrid between the Recto and Slo.. whatever it is.. it's a crushing gain, I don't know who could even use more, at times.. it's like a "parody of hi gain"
I really enjoyed the Line6 Clean and Jazz settings, they are based on the JC120, everything from that shimmering crystal transistor clean to a nice deep voice for Jazz.
There are problems though, the amp can sometimes sound "muddy".. it's very strange, some days I'm in heaven.. other days I turn it on and I feel all the little transients and dynamics have been buried.
As well, the cabs have a tendency to get boomy, especially at loud levels.
The Marshalls are the most dissappointing, I'm really surprised they messed those up.
Another issue is the factory setup, all the presets are pretty lifeless, You really need to tweak them, play around or try some of the 2000 + settings from www.customtone.com. You'll be glad you did
Now, apparently Line6 knew of these issues and had been working on the sims, Here are my new thoughts on the "upgraded amp"
I hooked it up to my PC and downloaded the new Firmware update.
WOW.. what a difference.
For those of you who complained about loose, boomy bass and muddy sounding cab models.. bad Marshall models... rejoice!
LIne6 did an amazing job correcting the complaints.. ALL the cabs have been redone. THey now have the proper bass response, much more realistic. My Fav is the JCM800, it's been tweaked with a Bogner mod and just has that extra gain and sparkle. They replaced the JCM2000TSL with the DSL. (Very good choice here)
The Marshalls are now, well Marshalls. (Finally)
Overall, all the settings have been tweaked, for those that found the amp sims a little "over the top", things have been brought back to realistic porportions.
I have to say, it's a completely different amp.. Line6 did a great job.
I felt this amp could be a killer combo, I resisted the urge to return it at times, I'm so glad I kept it.
If you get the chance, try to find an updated Flex to play with, if you were unimpressed before, you may just change your mind, coupled with the price drop, I think it's an excellent choice for a "swiss army" combo.
With these (apparently) long awaited corrections to the firmware, the combo has a chance to be amoung the top Modeling amps. IMHO of course.
[ May 13, 2004, 03:27 AM: Message edited by: 2Loud2Old ]
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