Mesa Boogie Tremoverb vs Line 6 Flextone III (Part Four): 'Stage IV' by Vinyl Future

[bradh716]

I am a fan of both of these but one thing to note is that the Mesa probably isn't cranked, getting those tubes working 100%. However, another point is that the Flextone could be tweaked to give it more midrange presence.

[adam9875]

how many watts is the flex?

[tdrider2008]

quick question when u start playing it i was wondering and i said it looks alot like stockholm syndrome and then i saw hte name airport syndrome ... does it happen to be a coincidence or is htis like ur omage to muse mashup

[level1012000]

Sounds like you pulled the mids out of the line 6 & added to the mesa boogie

[paparazzi3p]

Do you run special pickups in your les paul?

[Dogslow]

only about 1500 bucks difference in price

[reaghan55metallica]

the mesa just sounds more raw and open,

[JLoCrossfade]

Both should work equally well at alienating chicks.

[Gyro911]

Problem with digital is that it lacks punch to its tone. Only a tube and analog engineering could give you that since it directly reacts to the currents. Digital will only translate and interpret

[bernhardtsen74]

And when u use the digi efx the signal processor is going to the max trying to give every tone punch whereas the real tube efx pedals never loses an ounce of punch!

[slinkysix1]

the flextone is a great practice amp for home.... i love usin mine, but i use a verb 212 on a 212 cab for clean and bluesy stuff and a ubershall and extacy for heavy and dirty there is just no comparison for me as far as the two go....sorry with much respect....

[2Luke]

the mesa has the master tone!

[craigmcarthur1]

I dont agree completly with what your saying. Digital, solid state style amps have great clean headroom, and can generally maintain a very clean tone at higher volumes, whereas tube amps due to their design have to be of a very high wattage in order to maintain a clean signal at higher volumes.

Given the choice, for live and recording work I always use one of my tube amps. But I still maintain that for the money the Flextone range is very good

[tenaciousjp]

Can the tremoverb sound like the Roadking in your other video or no?

[craigmcarthur1]

It sounds similar, it has that Boogie saturated modern hi gain thone, but EQ wise they are quite different to trained ears.

[Yellowshark667]

I think the audio is being recorded from the cam's mic. The locatio of the speakers w.r.t the mic will have a huge influence on how bright or muddy an amp sounds. I own the flex III, and love it. Yeah, it may never be a tube amp, but it will give the the gist of all the amps or sounds you would ever want to hear.

[nigeldaddyo]

i own the same two exact amps. while i like the flex's cleans, it's distortion sounds absolutely vanish in a live mix... and i play in a trio! the t-verb kills live. cuts right through. you just can't beat tubes for distortion. the t-verb also has killer cleans. much better than today's rectos for sure!

[EnigmaticOranmentV6]

I'd settle for anyone of those, they both sound great!

[Schon2112]

I like to Boogie!! When I played Bass It was the amp to have in the 80s....

[Morethanl1f3]

he's gott mad skills good and polished

[Markconley5150]

the line 6 is a bit muddier and subdued. You can hear those harmonics coming out of the boogie, with more clarity.

[4ofApocalypse]

you're right i liked the line 6 but the mesa was much much clearer

[prtpuma]

that last power chord was a monster!

[notinagang]

thats a creative way to sell you music lol. and i gotta say, tube beats solid any day

[epiphonejamfreak]

I can't get enough tone out of mine line 6 flextone 3, can somebody give me some tips? I have experimented with the presence...

[dellinger08]

i like the boogie better... i like the grit it has... my opinoin only... line 6 sounds good too

[easternclive]

i think the line6 sounds better :o

[FarBeyondDriven28]

yeah man i thought the same thing...line 6 its made for much lower volumes than the mesa...mesas are always a monsters haha ive got the line 6 and a 2x12 hommade cab and it is the sh...

[easternclive]

i just bought a flextone III plus and i love it, what speakers you running on your homemade cab? i wanna try and get hold of the speaker extension, somehow the one speaker doesnt seem to get the clarity my old 212 spider did.

[FarBeyondDriven28]

mmm this may sound funny but i took the speakers from a cheap behringer 4x12 haha made two cabs i´ve been asking about conecting both of the cabs but dont really know how haha

[easternclive]

cant really suggest anything, external cabs and stuff is outside my comfort zone. ive only ever used combos in a spaces ranging from bedrooms to small pubs.

[Kokovikoulas]

fuck this shit sound great :D

[HiGainShredShow]

WHAT:D:D drop d?? please remember and tell me the settings. i need to have a tone like that its great=) also i like that riff a lot.

[stef0307]

tune the low E string to D

AND A SHIT LOT OF GAIN/DISTORTION

[HiGainShredShow]

What tuning is that epiphone? E standart or B standart?

[craigmcarthur1]

Drop D

[BooneTae]

Line 6 sounds pretty decent better than i thought, but it's got some boomy bass sounds like bleeding over the sound especially on palm mutes. can u fix that with an graph eq or anything, maybe cut the bottom a little and add some top

[ESPman32]

thats wat i thought

[AkiraSpectrum]

i love your comparison videos!!!!

its a great idea; even though it may not be the most accurate comparison its still pretty good and very much worth watching.

im playing with the idea of getting a Flex3 and these videos are swaying me to buy one... still not sure since the one problem i have is that the flex3 does not have an OD feature for that tight bottom end for playing things such as killswitch engage for example.

[garofalo92]

it dosent need an OD switch. you can have 4 customizable pre-sets, so 1 can be clean, crunch, metal and R-tard distortion for playing music like killswitch

[craigmcarthur1]

Thanks

[zomgzomglawlawlawl]

im sure your guitar playing is shit.

[Brackhmmarr]

like you teeth

[GazPots]

The era of primitive apes called.

They want their intelligence back.........

[BUbbaBIscut]

it does kind of sound like stockholm syndrome

[420bymytime2]

Both amps sound great to me. I got a tremoverb and it sounds nothing like yours. I cant seem to ''tweek it'' to sound like a rectifier? I gotta ask what u have in the effects loop? what kind of tubes? where are your settings? my preamp seems to not be up to par? Any help would be HUGE

[craigmcarthur1]

I have 6L6's in my Tremoverb. Mine sounds like a really agressive recto. In the effects I run a load of effects, but when I am playing rocky stuff its just my PRS straight into the Mesa, all effects bypassed using my Gig Rig Pro 14. Settings wise I aint doing anything fancy, fairly flat EQ, gain generally just over the 12 o'clock osition and a use the power amp to really push the sound without it getting fizzy.

[420bymytime2]

what brand of tubes do u run in the pre/and power? Cant believe how much gain and rectifier sound u get at 12 on the gain

[craigmcarthur1]

Mesa Boogie Tubes in both the Pre and Power amp. Im surprised really, I need to pull back on gain etc as the Tremoverb is too aggressive at times!

[treflipper]

i like the mesa better.

[amarr1]

stockholm syndrome from hell

[VertigoSqueal90]

should throw in some leads man. Im honestly thinking the Flextone 3 is better, but I'll bet money that playing loud and live the Mesa will rule over the Flextone lol.

[gnr124124124]

jajajajaja nice one rickso12 do you play weddings? jajajajajajajaj

[nunurox]

nothing can beat mesa boogie

[richedie]

I laugh when people say a digital amp will be thin and harsh at volume. Do you know how to tweak ana amp? LOL. Seriously, I have gigged with a Line 6 Vetta, Mesa Dual Rectifier, VHT Ultra, H&K tube head, and now an Egnater Mod 50 tube modular amp. The Vetta was a great piece and never had a problem. The Line actually sounds better in this video.

[CaptainColon]

So true...you don't get any of that nice power tube breakup, but it definitely doesn't sound bad by any means. I just use a Zoom G9.2tt, usually just straight into the venue's PA. It sounds fine and is also the easiest rig I've ever had the pleasure of having to carry :) Not to mention the benefit of it sounding just as good live as it does in a recording.

[richedie]

Very cool...I myself have thought of selling my tube rig for a Fractal Audio/power amp rig, with a midi controller. I have so many pedals and cables now.

[stratman1967]

The mesa has more bite,but the flextone sounds awesome!

[rickso12]

Do you play weddings???

[craigmcarthur1]

Hahaha not with this band, but yes I play i anotehr band that actually does play weddings!

[rickso12]

sorry , did not mean to sound harsh, you have great playing skills, I did all that stuff for years , now I play small clubs, toned it down, a lot, more jazz fusion---

[craigmcarthur1]

No probs, sorry for the aggressive reply on the other video in that case. Just annoying when u spend time posting videos to help others then u get random negative comments from people for no reason.

Jazz fusion...not my cup of tea but demands good knowledge of the fretboard so hats off to you. I have a pro session player friend who is great jazz fusion player. Im more into atmospheric stuff to be honest, although play a fairly progressive band that takes influence from many genres

[rickso12]

your right ,I started listening to john scofield about five years ago and it was like learning how to play all over again, some of these changes take forever to get down-

type in (Sheryl Bailey) what do you think?

She is about Jazz /Rock

[MyNameIsNotBrian]

Really good playing. The Line 6 isn't rubbish. I'd say it's good for the money. But I mean tone wise, it just doesn't compare to the raw, mean tube tone of a Mesa at all. You can't really compare a mid-entry sold state to a high end tube amp. I would love to see a Peavy 6505 Vs. Mesa comparison though.

[hartistry1957]

WTF is with all the ego shit? I wish I couldn't read. All I'd like to do is chat with fucking adults. Nothing in here but a bunch of fucking tit-sucking diaper asses. I play, and I play well because I ENJOY IT FOR THE SAKE OF MUSIC NOT MY GOD DAMNED EGO!!!!!!!!. If you started playing because you thought you would become important, you're a dipshit. If you find that others really appreciate the sound that you make, then you are famous already, regardless of the size of your fan base. GOT IT?

[craigmcarthur1]

What are you talking about who even mentioned ego?Do u think if I started playin to become famous I would b playing in the sort of band I play in?Random atmospheric prog isnt exactly mainstream.I ply in a band because I enjoy playing and making music with my friends who happen to be bandmates not becoz of some crusade to be famous.And whats with all the preacher-esque "GOT IT" style of diction as if we have to take your opinion as Gospel as your some older guy.Calm down and take your Propranolol

[hartistry1957]

You know? You're absolutely right. Wow. It's like the ghost of rockn'roll past has enlightened me. Tiny Tim, Tiny Tim, here,

go buy the most expensive Les Paul made, and don't forget the Marshall stack. Golly gee, are you alright sir? YES, YES!

THANKS TO YOU TUBE I LOOK AT LIFE DIFFERENTLY NOW.

[craigmcarthur1]

You sir are somewhat unhinged.You speak of wanting to "speak with fucking adults" as you so intelligently put it,yet you verbally abuse a complete stranger over the internet with a relatively loose grasp of the English language.When one feels they need to resort to such foul language when commenting on a youtube video, one should probably read a book instead.I also fail to see the point in both your comments.You are obviously not as intelligent as you believe you are.

[craigmcarthur1]

Failing to make a point after two ridiculous rants...doesnt bode well for the first impression of your intellect.I did enjoy your dabbling with Dickens however,it reminded me that X-Mas should be about those less fortunate than you, like in your case the mentally challenged elderly.Where at any point did I tell anyone they must buy "the most expensive les paul" and a Marshall stack?I do however frequently defend cheaper gear like Epiphones and Line 6 amps.

[craigmcarthur1]

I do this despite playing PRS guitars and Mesa Boogie amps.I very much dislike gear snobs who cast judgement on others for no apparent reason.I will offer opinions when asked on products, as I own and use gear from both the low and high end of the market.You wont however, find me using such aggressive and ridiculous language to make rambling, mildly retarded comments unprovoked on others videos.You should maybe post some useful videos of your own then maybe ur comments will carry some weight.

[hartistry1957]

Thanks for the diatribe Craig. Obviously you are not from the abusive nature of big-city USA. We tend to look at humiliating humor as acceptable. I apologize if I offended you. It's kind of like driving a car: from that perspective we see the world in a disconnected way and dehumanize other and; therefore lash out or treat them in a derogatory way. What I will caution you about though is that SOME people become unaware of humility as they progress in their talents, which can be their undoing

[GazPots]

It's called youtube. All sorts of wacko's can post on it.

Gaz

[werman1981]

i ve got a question:I also have flexton, could you give mi the defaults so i could sound similar to yours (im talking about sound of messa).

[craigmcarthur1]

Afraid not dude. Both amps in this video belong to my bandmate Gazpots. I play a Flextone II and Mesa Boogie Tremoverb, similar but settings wont translate!

[werman1981]

Ok, thanks anyway.

[stratman687]

omg you have the two amps i desparately want right there, a tremoverb and a road king! How do those two killer amps compare?

[craigmcarthur1]

The Roadking is MUCH more flexible dude, 4 channels, nice clean and it has progressive linkage so u can really get a wide variety of tones by altering the power amp valve configuration.

The Tremoverb has some nice aggressive recto tones. I use the vintage hi gain and modern hi gain on this amp only, not a fan of the clean sound. It sounds meaty with 6L6's.

So they can sound fairly similar in some respects when it comes to full on rectifier sounds, the Roadking is much more flexible.

[meinshnake]

suprisingly the line6 sounds almost as good as the mesa... nothing can ever touch the gut busting sound of tubes

[thailemartin]

the line6 bit the shit out of the mesa.

Mesa for sure dont have the attack and warm bass sound of the line 6.

[meigs666]

you have confirmed my choice of buying a line 6 it have almost the same sound as a mesa and it takes a lot less room in a small place ,i wish i could afford the place to have a big bad ass amp like mesa or krank but a line 6 seems enough to drive my neighbors nuts

[stgarp85]

Nice gear, but can you PLAY something?

[craigmcarthur1]

I dont understand what u mean?

[stgarp85]

i'd like to listen other sounds, not just shredding ;)

[craigmcarthur1]

Hahah, go listen to all my other videos then make comments like that.

[craigmcarthur1]

Furthermorem this is even shredding, its just one of my bands riffs.

[JamesBCS]

well it's shit then, play something creative.

sorry if i offend you.

[craigmcarthur1]

You dont offend me, you cant even play 'Eruption' and your dissing my band!? I find that laughable. Go practice, post some useful videos (rather than a very crap attempt at a cover) then comment and maybe people will listen to your opinions.

[JamesBCS]

that cover was done over a year ago, and i know it's crap and i should remove it really. I don't like that kind of rubbish anymore anyway, i like proper rock music like led zeppelin and the who. and I wouldn't want to post another cover because what's the point of that when you can play your own songs? It gets annoying when pretty much all you hear guitarists on youtube play now is shredding and un-original thrash metal riffs like yours. turn your gain down, play rock n' roll.

[craigmcarthur1]

Hahah u couldnt be more wrong. I am a huge rock n roll fan. Go listen to my band. We encompass many genres including rock n roll, very progressive. Watch the video that automatically plays on my user homepage, placido disc. That one song has about 5 genres and loads of guitar styles.

[Rocklobster933]

nah soz i was talking 2 the other guy :)

[craigmcarthur1]

Aaaa right sorry dude.

[Rocklobster933]

u cant tell ppl what 2 play and or listen 2

[craigmcarthur1]

What? I was merely trying to defend the point that my band arent a shredding, un-original thrash metal band that uses too much gain. The guy wasnt actually listening to reason, so listening to a track might have helped. I am not in the practice of telling people what to listen to, music is very subjective, but i wont hav someone who clearly hasnt listened to my band pigeon hole us and slag us off, until he has at least listened to it!

[GazPots]

Re-JamesBCS. Its all opinion. At the end of the day, if you don't like it fine, but when you start labelling things "shit" and making comments like "play something creative" you come across as a dick. Perhaps thats what you were after in the first place. I also love the Zep or nothiing attitude there. Way to go with your argument mate, giving it some "proper" weight to it.

It gets pretty un-original when pretty much all you hear is people whining on about how good the old bands were.

[GazPots]

And i'm not sure what sort of thrash metal you listen to cause i sure as hell don't and thats me there in the video.

[JamesBCS]

yeah alright, maybe I was a bit harsh and shallow there. It just annoys me when so many guitarists seem to think that speed and overdrive are everything.

[GazPots]

I do understand your point though to a degree.

Gaz

[wabusy3]

Yeah I have both an epiphone les paul standard and a Line 6 Flextone III and I have no regrets about buying them. The tone on the two of them is amazing, espescially at lower volumes. And the amp has so many kickass settings. I hardly use my pedals as much since buying this amp.

[spajsboyz]

hey i listened your music in my space ... Very nice prog metal. Now i want to buy a Flextone III Xl or Vox valvetronix XL 100w . my question is 1. flextone is better amp for metal? 2. Can i play in my room with low volume and good sound? Because Valvetronix has some nice Power potentiometer which allows to run from less than one watt to 100 W normal ...but i does not have advanced recording outputs . That in Flextone is really professional output ?

ps. any nice acoustic guitar simulator ??

[xGuNcaNDyx]

I'm just surprised you have the money to afford TWO of those Mesas

[Fritters87]

Ahhh, can't beat valves, I think I'll go wack off.

[BMXfreak000]

what settings do you use on the Flextone?

[Gyro911]

I can tell the first one was the flextone. your fingers didnt work to hard to get that tone whereas with a tube amp you reall need to dig in to make the amp sound out

[amaurythewarrior]

this is the complete opposite ... i think most people will agree

[hultas]

Yeah. Tube amps are very unforgiving.

[guitarran]

That's funny you should say the flextone is more responsive (tone wise). I have both solid state & tube and I find the tube amp more responsive to the subilties in my playing. Tone is in the hands, this is what sets players apart in regard to identity. I spent over a year dialing in the flextone before I was some what content with its sound. It took me about a half hour with the tube amp. That "unforgiving" quality is what allows for the tone in your hands to be focused.

[Gyro911]

For metal I find the spider III to have more aggressive and tube like distortion then the Flextone. Yeah Tube is more responsive I agree but, at higher volumes. At low volumes the high's dont come out as much. Only way to compromise that is to run an attentuator so you can push the power tubes at low volumes

[hager552]

do you think you could get the same sound from the combo tremoverb?

[craigmcarthur1]

Should du yeh. I use a stereo recto 2x12 with V30's with my TOV anyways so should sound the same yeh. Tis a great amp.

[JonWorms]

I really dig that road king

[craigmcarthur1]

It aint a Roadking in this video dude. The other videos its my bandmates Roadking vs the Line 6. IN this one its my Mesa Boogie Tremoverb vs the Line 6. Cheers

[JonWorms]

oh sorry, i was talking about the mesa head under your tremoverb. i thought it was a road king.

[craigmcarthur1]

Yeh there is a Roadking under the Tremoverb....its an awesome amp.

[dewjoe]

hey man, i own a flextone 3 too, they're awesome for bedroom use and that - what are the controls set to for this sound if you dont mind? it sounds amazing!

[craigmcarthur1]

Not sure. In THIS vid I am on camera duty and my bandmae is playing his Flextone III against my Mesa Boogie. I own a Flextone II, so not ure of the settings. Mail him and ask dude. His username is Gazpots, u will find him in my subscriptions list, hes one of only 4! Cheers

[dewjoe]

Brilliant, will do mate. Cheers

[TheIrishSaint92]

dude, how do the different Mesas stack up against each other.

[craigmcarthur1]

They sound quite different dude. The clean channel is much nicer on Gary's Roadie, plus he has four channels and progressive linkage which he can choose between EL34's and 6L6's so his amp is much more versatile. The CH3 and CH4 can be brutally heavy.

[craigmcarthur1]

The TOV has an average clean channel that I dont use (I use a Hiwatt head for clean). The CH1 set tovintage hi gain sounds awesome, good for lead stuff. And the CH2 set to modern high gain is brutally heavy, very agressive sound, much more agressive than any other dual recto I have played, but tonally very different to the Roadking.

[feeb31]

dude, how did you record the sound, via the camcorder's mic? if so, how are we supposed to get an accurate comparison? both of them need to be straight-miked into a mixer, then into the camcorder's audio in, or else anyone watching it this will hear dynamics that are the fault of the mic's placement, not the amps.

[craigmcarthur1]

Yup, straight from the camera mic I'm afraid. If I was to mic up the amps and run then into the PC etc I'm afraid I wouldnt have posted any videos at all as I simpley dont have time to do that. I work full time and play in two bands (one of which gigs alot and the otehr has been in the studio recording), so the demo requests are thrown in whenever I have time. So personally I think better than nothing.

[craigmcarthur1]

I fully understand the effect of the mic on the tone comparison, but to hook up two SM57's to an interface then sync the recording to the videos footage is just to time consuming.

[craigmcarthur1]

The whole point of this vid was to illustrate that at lower volume digital/solid state type amps are a viable option to (1) people who dont have the budget to buy a valve/tube amp like a Mesa Boogie and (2) sound great at lower volumes so are ideal for home practice.

When uvposted like 40 gear demo vids I will maybe take ur opinion seriously.

[destroyer1of1senses]

Which one was first? that one sounded better and louder. The second one sounded dry with less definition

[craigmcarthur1]

The Line 6 was first one in this vid. At this very low volume the Line 6 does sound more scooped and rounded.  The Mesa shits all over it at full volume tho. The Mesa is dry in this vid, just guitar straight into amp input.

[destroyer1of1senses]

PRetty impressive that the line 6 can out rectify the mesa rectifier. Well tubes amps typically are intended to be played loud. Although my mesa DC-3 sounds great at low volumes when I use a tube screamer with it. By itself it at low volumes it sounds scratchy. Playing it loud is a different world altogether nothing beats it

[craigmcarthur1]

Yeh the Line 6 amps are surprisngly good when tweaked properly. Myself and my two bandmates all own flextones aswell as various Mesa's including Roadking, Tremoverb and Tri Axis setups, and we are all happy with the Line 6 amps. Obviously for live use atfull volume the tube amps rule, but there is a place for modelling amps.

[destroyer1of1senses]

But if you were to use the flextone live through an extension cabinet can it compete against the mesa?

[craigmcarthur1]

They sound good.  I have used mine live alot, before I bought a few tube amps. I was always happy enough with the tone. But the tube amps have more feel and tonal definition at high volumes than the digital amps. So yeh at gig volumeespecially with another cab it would sound good, but you would still want to use your Mesa.

[notxas61]

Can you clarify, "Tweaked properly"? Do you mean physical tweaks? Software tweaks? or just playing with those knobby things?

[craigmcarthur1]

Just playing around with the knobs, effects settings, cab setting, amp models etc. Takes abit of time getting used to the effects and amps to work out which sound best to your ear. Spending some time with these amps gives u some great tones. Plug n play players who wont spend time will complain about these amps.

[jesuislmmn]

Hi can you send me this tone of the flextone to my e-mail, or put in the custone tone in line 6 web, I think that you have very cool tones, I have A Vetta II Combo

[Macmax7077]

mesa all the way !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tremoverb has to be one of the best amps in the last 20 years

[SimonTooL]

whats that song? pretty catchy

[craigmcarthur1]

Its a song called 'Stage IV' by my band Vinyl Future. It will be on our upcoming EP 'Airport Syndrome' there is a teaser mp3 available on our myspace, the web address can be found in the video descritption. Cheers

[strabbs1]

i agree i put a usa strat thro a boss superoverdrive into a flextone 3 and i think it sounds great, ive heard a lot of bad reports about alot of 6 stuff but i think there great, nice playing bye the way

[OntZ]

i like the roundness of the flextone at this volume more, but the mesa has better definition

[craigmcarthur1]

The Mesa is waaaaaayyy better at full volume. The master is on 1 here! But the Flextones are good. Mysefl and my bandmates all own Line 6 Flextone II & III's aswell as different Mesa Boogie Setups, and the Line 6's are defo good amps despit what all the amp snobs say!