Mesa Boogie Roadking vs Line 6 Flextone III (Part Three): 'Airport Syndrome' by Vinyl Future

[bradh716]

The Flextone sounds better here, but wouldn't cut through like the Mesa.

[TurboSiri]

great sounds man! congrats!

[brokenstring99]

so the line 6 flexitone 3 is good??? how much was it??? :)

[Goth3m3]

I fucking love that guitar man

I'd like it with a set neck, and the knobs behind the bridge (Cause I play with my fingers out) But still that thing is beautiful.

[solidsnakec20]

i used to have a flextone 3 but i sold it now that i have a ts9 i wish i still had it

[427jim]

Roll back the gain on the boogie. You can get great/usable tones out of some modelers but you can't match a properly dialed dual rec with one.

[LTDusersince99]

I can recognize the mesa sound, but in the line 6 it,s like it has pass trough a mixer.... and add to that a little bit of midi sounding, But the main question is.... how much do they cost

[deathcore1239]

puts my rg1527 to fucking shame. where did you get it and how much? i know the japanese ibanez site sells em but do they ship to the us? probably a retarded question but im too lazy to see for myself

[Guitarman55555]

If any budding guitarists think the Line 6 sounds better then save yourself some time and effort.....take up needlework lol

[nellisdeurne]

i dont like digital sound for in a band , but i would like to have one these at home to play with!!!

[tenaciousjp]

The Flextone is more compressed, less mid-rangy.

While the Road King is more In-Your-Face with it's Mid-range, fatness, and more open sounding.

[AMynster]

LOL, try to jump from the end to around 0:30 so you can hear the difference. Line6 sounds like a cardboard box trying keep up.

[theillestgreek]

line 6

[cassalinson]

I love Mesa Boogie!

[chriscoooley]

they're both pretty awesome sounding, very crunchy, the mesa is obviously the winner though, it has richer harmonics

[omgScrub]

I thought the Line 6 had a much cleaner midrange

[chriscoooley]

this is also true

[StefanPriceUK]

This test doesn't show anything other than heavy metal, what does the road king sound like clean, crunch, valve recififier, silicon diode, the two vlave types. This is just heavy metal.

[jxmxfxpx]

That's the problem with these comparison demos....

Everything needs to be set equally (EQ) to match, then we could get a better idea of how they stack up.

[jxmxfxpx]

I'd like to hear them played thru' the same cabinet (if they aren't) and/or with the Flextone's mids turned up to match the Mesa's.....that would give a *mugh* better comparison, IMO.

[MyTubeIsLonger]

Mesa sounds better ... but the Flextone is good (and great for it's price)

[pdpbydw]

flextone wins

[WyldeRadio]

I've been playing through a Line 6 XT Live floor pod for the last 4 years... into a mic'ed Marshall digi-crap 100 watt head full stack. There's NOTHING I can't do with the Line 6... any amp emulation, any guitar god's sound... you just have to take the time to learn it. I play through about 1500.00 worth of sound gear, (with Jackson Soloist and RR models), and get thousands of dollars worth of sound out of it. And yes, the spyders suck ass.

[ToffeeConor]

I was shocked! Obviously, the Mesa is better, but considering the Flextone is like £300 (about £1500 less than the mesa)....It has awesome tone!

Just a quick question....Line 6 flextone III vs cheaper valve head (eg. Bugera)??

[sepr8te1]

i would buy the line 6 for one simple fact : it is about $500 less than the Mesa. If I could I would have both , each for a different style.

[VastChoirs]

Line 6 sounds really gainy but actually very good. I think Line 6 only gets a bad reputation because they sound so godawful when people record them directly into their computer instead of with proper guitar power amps/speakers.

[slicer789]

actually they have a bad reputation because of people who use spider 2 and 3 amp and people who record direct-in but don't tweak their tones properly.

[Wrathofa7x]

listen to a few of my videos, i play line6 spider 3 150 watt 2x12 combo, ive tweaked the sound to what i really like, and im not a lame player, "i scoop my mids and crank the gain and eveything" that is not what im about, check a couple of my vids and tell me what you think of it, thanks

[BigCWii2006]

the harmonic at the end was amazing

[mprater86]

Oh by far the Boogie... I mean a Flextone vrs a Boogie? Anyone with a good ear for tone can hear the Mesa triumphs over the Line6. Check out my video of my Mark IV, Amazing amp I love it!

[RZTroiano]

are you by any chance a diehard mesa bogie fan?

[mprater86]

I very much am! =)

[RZTroiano]

haha i thought so

i really like Mesa Boogie also but in my opinion, with the playing style i have, the Flextone is better

[mprater86]

Oh dude, for the money you can't beat Line 6! You just can't. Amazing versatility, great tone, and if you can't afford a high end tube amp in my opinion the best you can get!

[RZTroiano]

ya thats what i always thought

if you dont exactly have a wide budget and you're really trying to get a nice tone quickly than you have to go Line6

[Andy13deanguitars]

MESA BOOGIE

[mesaesptruck]

Man I am a mesa man myself, BUT you have to admit that line 6 has a nasty bite. Like somone said earler "You get what ya pay for".

[P0Psyckle]

funny, u wiggle ur foot after every chord.

[tjh5150]

i like the flextone better from this video!

[vwontheautobahn]

damn you've got some nice gear... I hope someday soon I can get a nice tube halfstack

[concon123]

peavey 5150...any of them...on ebay...do it, theyre like 500 or so

[vwontheautobahn]

Whaaat? Damn... Im going to have to look... I thought they were still in the $800-1200 range

[concon123]

500-600, i just checked. I have a mesa dual rec, which is amazing do not get me wrong...but if you are looking for metal "brown" tone...there is nothing like the 5150. my guitarist in my band just got a 5150 block letter and it is soooo sick, like jizz in my pants. and if you want to record stuff the 5150 is the most recorded amp in metal

[vwontheautobahn]

Yeah, I had checked & cant believe they're that cheap... Im not really into the metal tones all that much, I have fun playing them sometimes... Im going to look into getting a bugera head pretty soon

[glassprisoner417]

mesa wins

[tfrost1988]

this isn't a battle. its a comparison thats all. A mesa head is over 1000 bucks. a flextone 2x12 is under 700. I personally think the modeling amps all sound like crap unless you turn down the channel volume and crank the mast volume.

[stauggion]

1000 bucks? try 3500! lol

[sircraigery]

Did you just put the eq knobs at the same spot for both amps, or try to match the output sounds

[samdunhamss]

It's pretty hard to compare the two considering the Mesa and the Line6 are two very different styles of distortion,

[gymshortsparty]

line 6 is digital u can go out and get a vetta HD tube that'll add more warmth. i have an line 6 hd 147 and it's glorious.

[samdunhamss]

I thought the vettas were solid state, I know the spider valves are hybrids I don't really know though.

[KYamada416]

vettas are pure digital

[gnr124124124]

i just to have a mesa, peavey and marshall tube amps of course but i sold them to buy a some guitar and a get the my baby flextone probably your a thinking this guy is crazy maybe but i prefer line 6

that those brands really........... i love the sound of the flextone, i have the line 6 spider jam too and sounds cool too..... thats my opinion guys....

[ScubaSteve431]

you cant even compare a mesa to a line 6

[oshopelolais]

my vote is for the line 6, thats sound much better

[Der1metzger]

The road king tears the line 6 apart.

I hate line six, But that's just an opinion. I love the mesa boogie tone, I'd love to get one some day. The price though...

[nunoinocencio]

the mesa is the mesa... but... the flextone gets the sound prety close, even if he is only 2x12" openback combo with some shity speakers from celestion... the mesa has 4x12" Vintage 30 closeback, so the mesa has to sound better... my vote is for line6 flextone, this combo with some decente speakers ofers very good sound and guess what with fbv controler you don't need 20 pedal's and rackmounted effects... My vote is clearly from the flextone III XL

[boredmanaic]

wow...that's mind blowing that the flextone gets that close. granted, as someone probly has already said, a tube amp at higher volumes does some pretty nifty, but heck, if you mic your amp, then volume really doesn't matter anymore

[dangerriff]

Nothing can bit mesa! NOTHING!

[seajayare]

Mesa Sounds great! Too much amp for that tiny room.

[GazPots]

I don't use it in the room at all anymore. Strictly studio as its the only place for it.

Cept for a demonstation as you see above.

[SPAMMYWHOSPAM]

people say only line 6 is better because they probably own one theirself and cannot offer real tube amp...

[mullbenkt]

Massive difference, the Line6 patch has to much bass. The Mesa had more midrange instead (but thats a good thing in my book).

[guitardbucket]

My vote is for the Line 6.  It seems a bit smoother to me.

[Der1metzger]

Most people are going for that crunch though, Sorta like the classic big muff sound. I think it's more of a preference. I love the smooth sound but i like something with a lot of harmonic response, and the crunch works a bit better with most bands too.

[rafasatri]

line 6 simplesmente sensacional!!!

[qqryq90]

nothing can replicate mesa. It always stays more crunchy than the imitations

[Boingusboingus]

I can't hear any major difference, but, if anything, the Flextone sounds better.

[jockercyril]

dur de se faire une idée, vu la mauvaise qualité du son :s mais le road king tue tout j'en suis sur :P

[StanwoodSpartans]

harmonics/squels sound way better

with the mesa

but tone sounds better with flextone imo

[spajsboyz]

look at his FOOT when he drops a riff

Nice Flextone

[MagmaDrift]

yeah, I actually hate digicrap, but at first the Line6 actually doés sound nice, although in the first part, with the palmmutes/harmonics

but in the second part, you hear real tone,

and you can hear that the mesa has a SWEAT detailed texture in its gain

although i must admit i'm quit impressed by the flextone, hearing it here @YT

it could differ a lot in real though

[Gyro911]

Which is the first one? are you playing the recto model on the flextone? what cab sim are you using?

[xMACx982]

road king sounds better

[DOOBAGE69]

what guitar is he using?

[craigmcarthur1]

Its an Ibanez J-Custom Dude.

[GazPots]

A very rare one at that.

:)

Gaz.

[basscrazy230]

actually the line 6 amps have the best copied rectifier sound. I think they have done a great job on this sound. Only problem i ever have is i have to turn the drive back a little when playing loud..if i dont it gets way out of control. For the money its hard to beat!

[meemawuk]

You're right. This is exactly where the line 6 falls down. I much prefer to play thru my Flextone at home for low volumes than my Mesa gear, but when it gets to gig time and you need to crank the volume, the line 6 struggles and the Mesa gear excels.

[tfrost1988]

true. I think the only real drawback to the line 6 is its low-volume sounds.

[chriscoooley]

yea line 6 is a great company, but unfortunately they've been generalized as a bad company just because of their spider series, which i find super overpriced and ungigworthy.

[B2Rockin]

Dude a mesa can't be copied, that thing kicks so much ass. nice punch.

[joeyisfunny]

Yeah I know that volumes do make a difference... I guess I'd have to hear it in person to get the full quality too. Either way, that line 6 didnt sound bad at all!

[craigmcarthur1]

Yeh the Line 6 Flextones are awesome if u spend timee tweaking them, always liked mine

[joeyisfunny]

I actually liked the sound of the line 6 better in this video, and Im a HUGE mesa fan. I think the line 6 would sound more like the mesa with proper eq'ing. More mids and little less presence.

[craigmcarthur1]

It was a quick demo dude, we quickly dialle din simlilar settings. The Mesa is MUCH better at gig volume, but the Line6 is great at bedroom volume.

[XxPanicsFallxX]

ive always wondered this but why do you have two two heads on top of the cabinet? ive always seen that done before but i never got how its done and what the point of it is.

[craigmcarthur1]

One is my Mesa Tremoverb, the other is my bandmates Roadking. I do normall use two heads tho myself. I have a Hiwatt head that I use its channel one for clean and its channel two for light overdrive, then I have ch1 of the Tremoverb set to vintage hi gain for heavy tones, and ch2 set to modern hi gain for really heavy stuff.

2 heads = more awesome tone.

[XxPanicsFallxX]

but how do you set them up to one cabinet?

[craigmcarthur1]

My signal paths are controlled by my Gig Rig Pro 14 whoch remotely switches the slingshot remote on a Radial Tonebone Headbone VT which takes the speaker cables from both heads and connects one to my Mesa stereo 2x12. It in theory holds the load of the unused head. The the signal to the unused head is muted by the Gig Rig Pro 14. That make sense?

[XxPanicsFallxX]

yeah. thats cool.

[craigmcarthur1]

Just google the products dude. The Gig Rig Pro 14 is amazing buts its like £700. The Radial Headbone is handy also but is like £250

[hitmewithyourrock]

the mesa has more mids compared to the line 6 but it stills sounds good and did u have the same settings on the mesa as u did on the line 6??? please responed cos im thinking of getting one!!!

[craigmcarthur1]

Mmmm settings were not exactly the same dude. It is at low volume so the Line 6 should sound better in theory. The Mesa blows it away at gig volume tho. Valve/tube amps need to be pushed hard to be at their best, especially if they are 120 watters like the RK.

[SimonTooL]

I'm currently looking to buy a flextone, but got a question: can you set the delay time and feedback so there is only one note repeated (like in paul gilbert's echo song)?

[hitmewithyourrock]

yeh u can i'v played on one at my local guitar shop there awesome and have 32 amps models from like marshall jcm 800's to fender amps and vox stuff like that great amps!!!!!!!

[craigmcarthur1]

Yeh, the control of the delay is very good. you can get a wide range of delay tones from it. The floorboard is a MUST for these amps tho.

[SimonTooL]

How much is the floorboard? And are the amp models realistic?

[craigmcarthur1]

The floorboard is £200 i think, and the amp models r not bad for the money.

[atheismwins]

Mesa got that growl that I really need, it just gives u a wall of sound.

[bchewdown]

I own a MESA...but still wouldn't mind one a dese to dick around wiff...I imagine the solid state cleans would still sound better than my TR's (imo)

[craigmcarthur1]

Yeh they are good for home playing as, as you will know, the Mesa needs to be loud to get the best tone from it. The cleans on the Line 6 are quite nice. I dont use the clean on my TOV, I have a HiWatt head for clean.

[mentallica]

O how the line 6 sounds more scooped than the mesa.

[Sabbath9s]

mesa is better.or?

[craigmcarthur1]

Yeh the Mesa is better, but at this kinda volume the Line 6 sounds awesome. They are good amps. Obviously a good tube amp will win a gig volume.

[Zaneus92]

Except, the flextone wont break the bank like a mesa amp will. My vote flextone unless your gigging constantly.

[craigmcarthur1]

Yeh, I own both. They both have their place. The Line6 is a good entry level - intermediate amp, some great tones and offers great flexibitly when used with the floorboard. The Mesa is an awesome piece of kit if your takingthings abit more seriously and looking to make an investment.