Mesa Boogie Roadking vs Line 6 Flextone III (Part Two): 'The Prisoner's Dilemma' by Vinyl Future

[Migez93]

Could you upload the settings on flextone? Would be much appreciated :)

[swisskeen]

I have tube amps all over the place here, and the Flextone iII will always have a home at my place.

[Gyro911]

They sound similar but your playing style is clearly different for each amp. You hardly press on the frets and pick lightly with the line 6 whereas with the mesa Tube amp, you press harder on the frets and pick the strings with more force. Bottom line Modeling amps just dont react the same to guitar playing and effect creativity as a result. Thats the main reason music sucks these days because artist got to lazy laying tracks with easy digital recording

[MICKEYISLOWD]

the louder u turn up the L6 the thinner and more brittle it gets the boogie gets much better loud so in a band situ the boogie would utterly blow away the L6.i know because i have owned both and tested them..

[maowcat]

good tones from both of the amps, bud sadly i like the line 6 better, much more tight and punchier, only mesa amp i would buy is the mark v, and a triple rectifier if i had the extra money

[kristofferjo]

I still prefer the Flextone. Always will prefer Line 6 and always has.

[DjLad]

What are your settings for Line6? :)

[6Metal6Head6]

Mesa is horrible on tone definition and distortion flextone more versatility with your tone with a wider variety and better distortion.

[thecagejackson]

me i think line 6 sounds beter

[BlackDiamond351]

yes the mesa is better but holy shit i was impressed by that line 6!

[LineAkarlsson]

Mesa!

[RalphTheSpanker]

dude how much did that guitar cost? and how in the world did you get it??

[lhodgson999]

Thanks for the reply, I was thinking of getting the 50 watt Flextone as an upgrade to my 30 watt vox for more gig and rehearsal volume. They sound much more versatile and consistent to me

[lhodgson999]

I have decided to get one of these, do you think it would be a big improvement from the vox valveteonix series though?

[craigmcarthur1]

Your planning on getting a Line 6 Flextone III or the Roadking? The Flextone is similar idea to the Vox with amp models and built in effects, I think personally that it is better than vox in terms of variety and quality of the tones produced, the floorboard controller is better meaning useability is better

[EnigmaticOranmentV6]

The roadking sounds nice and heavy

[ScorchinBeats]

Obviously the mesa, but the Line 6 sounds pretty wicked! Better than my vypyr I think!

[Guitarhero9901]

Mesa, but the Flextone is still pretty damn good.

[gatler05]

Line 6 is the shit no doubt.

[maninhousejake]

Nothing is gonna be the original tone of the mesa. But the line 6 def stands its ground. Very suprised

[gtrs4ever]

I had a Line 6 Flextone and traded it for a Laney. I also have Bogner Alchemist and Mesa Boogie Roadster. I keep coming back to the Mesa. My opinion nothing will come close to the Mesa. The Flextone may be good for studio work but not live.

[beautifulmusical]

The Mesa sounds great and does the metal thing real well... but the Flextone does so many things the Mesa won't since it models so many amps and cabs and has effects. And the Flextone can be had for around $500 on ebay. How much for the Mesa?

[yoshi529]

line 6 amps get ragged on a lot (in case of the Spider series, its much deserved) but the flextone is a modeling amp done right.

[ic300x]

flextone and vetta

best and only best of line 6

[GAMENDINGS4U]

HD147.

[demonsandwizards1]

i think there's still quite a number of factors that can change the flextone's tone

for example the speakers it has and also if it was a head the cabinet would give it more low end if it was thick or made out of birchwood...

but the mesa sounds very articulate<3

[treflipper]

the mesa was a little better. but the dual rec is always my favorite. but the line 6 kills when you get into your trippy interlude parts of your songs and in your line 6 dl4 samples that line 6 is off the hook. but yeah man mesa has that perfect amount of thickness but you still can hear the articulation of the strokes reallly well i love the amps you use ill just say that.

[jamesallan87]

I liked both the tones

The Line 6 was a little bass hyped, but it is positioned under that table, which could be creating standing waves/hyped bass

Any type of speaker cabinet can add more bass to the sound if its positioned against a wall, or in the Flextones case, under a table, which will probs add more bass into the tone, where as the Mesa is just against the wall

But for around 4 times cheaper, the Line 6 did pretty good

I think I need to get your bands EP ;)

[burkemenistan]

yeah, I'd say the mesa sounded much better, but the line 6 was much, much better than expected.

[GuillermoSmyser]

I liked the Mesa one more. But the line six wasn't bad at all.

[gnr124124124]

the mesa has more balls of course cause is a tube amp but i really like flextone for cheap and i get more amps whit it, so thats why i have it................ i recommend line 6 flextone for sure....

[stratlover37]

line 6 amp sounded more modern to my ears.

[rednut2000]

you mean scooped more...

[LPFan3118]

Great job!

[rockerforlife81]

Is the flextone a solid state or tube amp? Just wondering

[craigmcarthur1]

Its fully digital dude

[Rocklobster933]

all the line 6 ones are (digital)

[aivilik]

Not anymore; check out the Line 6 Spider Valve. The pre- and power amp sections are both vacuum tube designed by Reinhold Bogner. Reasonable price too.

[aj2001832000]

@rockerforlife81 solid state

[VladTheImpaler123]

sweet tone from both amps. You're probably gonna wanna s;ap me for this, buti recently bought a peavey valveking, and with the help of a tubescreamer, and a lot of time fiddling with nobs i got a tone quite similar to your mesa's at low volume. of course the mesa sounds better, but figuring i'm 15 i don't think i did too badly lol. i'll try get a video up sometime

[craigmcarthur1]

Nice one dude look forward to it, sen me it when u post, interested to hear the results

[nizamscock]

Dude awesome, how did get the mesa boogie rectifiers? Because I really won't to get one but I don't know where.

[craigmcarthur1]

My local guitar store is a boogie supplier, thy hv most of the boogie range in stock.

[bitchslapper12]

Spoiled whore kid!

[craigmcarthur1]

Neither spoiled nor a kid u idiot. Worked hard to buy all my gear myself, maybe if u got off ur fat ass u might be able to afford gear liek this instead u sit at home playing ur xbox eating junk food no doubt. Get off ur fat ass and contribute something to society otehr than gay comments online.

[protenski777]

accurate response

[GazPots]

lol, i fucking love these sorts of comments. Its almost like only the fucking "psychics" are ever the abusive ones. Yet the actually don't know shit about anything really. So fucking top marks there. You succeed at failing.

And for your information, every piece of gear there is bought and paid for by the person who uses it.

Although, why i am making this statement to a user with the name "bitchslapper12" is unknown as all idea of intelligence is gone the second you see the name.

[matthieu71]

is it a pod xt live??? everybody say me that the pod xt live is not good in a real amp. what do u think??

[craigmcarthur1]

POD XT live or any of the modelling technology will nvr sound as good as the real tube amp its trying to emulate. The advatge is u get a decen sound for less money and dont have to carry 20 valv amps and 30 stomp boxes about with u!

[JGBEK]

how did you set up the flextone

[tfrost1988]

I have the flextone and damn, is that a close match. They hardly even sound different.

[stratman687]

yea usually solid states sound better at VERY low volumes, but even at this volume (and quality of the video) i think your boogie sounds wayy better

[tony93666]

considering you're standing right in front of the Mesa and the Flextone is 4 feet away makes a BIG difference in the sound... both sound great, by the way.

[craigmcarthur1]

Yeh, it wasnt an ideal demo I admit. Someone asked me to do it, so I done it. Ideally I would have mic'ed up both amps with an SM57, but too time consuming!

Hopefully at some point get a chance to make some videos wen we are at rehearsal and we can crank the various valve amps we own within the band and get a more realistic demo recorded.

[409bfmv]

the only problem then is that uploading onto youtube won't do the sound justice...

but nice videos man. You (and your band) have a pretty cool sound.

[craigmcarthur1]

Cheers man

[adrianl92]

ur right men

anyways the flextone is getting really cool when its turned loud - thats the matter of the celestion 12 speaker - they sound good when theyr loud.

but its still not same as mesa =)

[verbity]

I agree...both sounded good. Tube amp aficionados aside...the flextone III has great friggin tone...to lower some of that bassier stuff lower the gain a bit and obviously the bass...but the gain is the key...then you get that "chug chug" you feel when you play a tube amp....that's recommend by line 6...I don't have a link so sorry...Also...don't recommend completely scooping on L6's...not a good tone

[verbity]

But I will say...still Flextone III Good Tone...that Mesa....makes my balls drop to the floor...killer tone!

[bag2289]

you have two road kings... give me one...

[craigmcarthur1]

Afraid not. The Roadking is my bandmates Gary, who is playing guitar in this video. I am on camera duty for this one! The other amp is my Mesa Boogie Tremoverb, I use that and Hiwatt 100 head in my rig. Cheers

[destroyer1of1senses]

Digital is Digital, it's a computerized translation of your guitar tone rather then the wood and pickups filtering through an electrical current into a tube vavle.

[craigmcarthur1]

Yup...this is true. Whats ur point?

[destroyer1of1senses]

Point is that a mesa vs flextone isnt a fair fight. Its like Mike Tyson facing a kid.

[craigmcarthur1]

The reasoning behind the video isnt to compare the Line 6 against the Mesa directly in the 'which one is better' sense. It was more of a demo for people who dont have the money to go out and buy a Mesa Boogie to show them that Line 6 gear actually sounds not bad beside a high end valve amp in certain scenarios. Myself and my bandmates all play Mesa Boogie amplifiers, but we all also own Line 6 Flextones which we like and continue to play especially when practicing at home.

[fixxxer602]

Mesa got a lot more bottom end growl.. gotta love it.. but you can't go wrong with line 6 for the money.. I personaly think Mesa's are over priced..

[CarlEl5]

i love both the amps but i have to ask...why would you buy a Flextone III when you have the money to get two mesas? Or maybe thats just a testimony to how good it is

[craigmcarthur1]

In this vid I at my bandmates house, we are using his Flextone III and Mes Boogie Roadking. My Mesa Boogie Tremoverb is sitting ontop of his Roadking, but I also own a Line 6 Flextone II. We both bought Line 6 amps before we bought Mesa Boogies. Been using the Line 6 for years, always enjoyed playing it. If your willing to spend time with it, u can get some awesome tones. I still use it at ome despite owning a Mesa Boogie and a Hiwatt. Good amps.

[trefico87]

ow u get so bad sound from mesa??maybe ur settings or camera!!

[craigmcarthur1]

Camera + low volume.

[triviummusician]

thats like comparing a pile of shit to a pile of diamonds...

[craigmcarthur1]

I dont agree dude. There are three guitarists in my band including myself. I own a Line 6 Flextone II but use a Hiwatt head for clean and a Mesa Boogie Tremoverb head for heavy when playing live, my other band mates own Line 6 Flextones III's and also use Mesa gear, Gary uses a Roadking head and Thomas uses a Tri Axis and 2:90 rack setup. If you were to ask any of us about the Line 6 we would all say the same thing. Good amp if your wiling to spend time with it and find the tones.

[craigmcarthur1]

Not everyone plays live thus require a tube amp and not everyone can afford to go buy a Mesa Boogie. I personally play my Line 6 more than my tube amp at home as valve amps sound rubbish at lower volumes, whereas the Line 6 sounds great at low volumes. So I diasgree that they r pieces of shit, I have always liked ine, and I still do.

I see that you have a nice setup with what looks liek an original 5150, think back to when u couldnt afford an head liek that, thats where the Line 6 comes in

[triviummusician]

ehh, see for me, the line 6's have always been to synthetic sounding, not really that great, i'm currently using alot more gear, i switch off between a roadking and that peavey and use mesa cabs now, usually live, peavey for distortion and the mesa for cleans, just because transition is easier, (too long to get into debth about my gear) but for recording from now on, i'm using the roadking

[craigmcarthur1]

Cool sounds like a good setup. Seems a waste of a Roaking tho only using it for clean. With progressive linkage and the external switching options the RK is probably the most versatile amp on the market. I agree live and recording I will always use tube amps, but the Line 6 amps arent to be put down, they r great for entry level and intermediate players....and offer good tones and flexability at an affordable price.

[94racktified]

hell yeah go mesa. you got some bad ass setups. the Tri Axis and 2:90 rack was the very first mesa product i ever sat down and fiddled with. this being my dad's setup for as long as i can remember.i been playing guitar for 7 years now. 6 of those years i have been "borrowing" my dads rig for any recording. but after much saving and research found an old'94 2 channel rackmount dual rec. darker tone and a percussive chunk with an articulate crunch. darker and fatter then the newer 3 chan.

[craigmcarthur1]

Hey man, Mesa's rock I agree! I love my Tremoverb, it has a much more agressive tone than any new dual or triple rec I have played. I have never played a rack mount dual rec, buts its likely to be similar to my TOV, from the same era!

[94racktified]

i found my "racktifier" on ebay. scary, i know. but the guy i bought it off lived in hollywood, one block away from the mesa factory store. first thing i did after i took the amp off the guys hands, took to the mesa store and A B it with the brand new trips and duals. the mesa techs tried to tell me the whole better sound from old 2 chans wast a myth. definately not the case. major differnence is a super responsive mid knob. as i am always lookin for a better tone an amp mod is comin up soon.

[hpiveta]

dude, seriously the road king is amazing, it has so much more clarity, then the flextone..

but due to my budget, I'm probably getting the Flextone III and the Shortboard Footswitch...

let me ask you one question, the flex will cost me like 700 bucks plus the floorboard another 250 bucks, so that makes 950 dollars...

would you reccomend anything other than the flex?...for that budget?

[craigmcarthur1]

Mmmm possibly have a look at the new Line 6 Spider with the Bogner stuff in it, sounds good for the money, played one a few weeks ago. Flextone is great tho and with the floorbaord is VERY versatile.

[jjruizsoriano]

same as the other video, it's great we can hear both of them to compare. Thanks!!

[fogaoagas]

Boogie, if you can crank it...

[xjimmyleungx]

flextone 2 or 3.

which one is better?

[craigmcarthur1]

I own a Flex II, my bandmates have flex III's, i reckon the flex III probably has a better layout and a better floorbaord so I would go flex iii for functionality. The flex ii sounds good tho.

[snapascrew]

geee, lets see, good tube amp, peace of shit digital thing, GOOD TUBE AMP WINDS

[craigmcarthur1]

Mmmm I would agree with tha to an extent dude. The Line 6 is by no means a piece of shit in my opinion, I own both and have other valve amps and the Line 6 is defo a good amp. Good tones, allows people to get a huge variety of tones and effects without breaking the bank. Meaning beginners and intermediates can learn about guitar tones.

The both have place in my setup, I rearely play my tube amps at home due to volume issues.

[DrewFace507943]

tube low volume vs solid state modeling at low volumes?......... Crank those bitches then make a vid.

[craigmcarthur1]

Cant crank them at home dude. Too loud it will destroy my house. The point of the vid is to illustrate the point that having a solid state amp isnt to be snipped at, they have their place. I very rarely use my valve mpas at home, neither do my bandmates, the Flextones are great for lower volume playing.

[craigmcarthur1]

Where are your video posts on gear?

[DrewFace507943]

1 I was just giving you a little shit. I know the difference between the 2. I have a JCM 2000 triple lead, and a Mesa Duel recto. But I also have a Vox ADV TH100 Valtronix Head witch is a Solid state preamp with tube driven modeling.

2. I don't have a Cam, or I would.

[craigmcarthur1]

Cool man, i just though u were one of those youtube assholes, but if you own a Mesa then ur cool lol.

[robertstothart27]

Narlyyy