GearDump

The Line 6 Flextone III XL was somewhat the bastard child of their guitar amplifiers when it was introduced about 7 years ago. It had great features including built-in digital effects and tuners and modelled many of the worlds most sought after amplifiers.

I got one years ago as my first gig/practice amp and though I have gone through periods of frustration I often find myself remembering how great the amp is. At the time of the amps release, line 6 was shifting it’s focus from professional Musicians to bedroom metal addicts and frankly this and the Vetta II were the last amps that IMO appeal to professionals.

Let me start by saying this is not a tube amp nor will it replace tube amps for sound quality but I have played plenty of gigs and gotten many compliments. the effects are typically top notch for line 6. This amp really shines where most digital amps fall short and that’s getting the feel and tone of amps whose gain is set somewhere between 3 and 8.

The amps real weakness is in the budget celestion speakers loaded in the cab. They have very little bass response and force the amp to loose bass not clarity at high volumes. However in most live band engagements the amp is perfect.

Just to let everyone know, things are getting back in full swing. I thought I would let everyone in on something very important that has been affecting my articles lately. As of December I found out I was going to be a father for the first time. I am very excited about it, but all the hustle and bustle has been keeping me from really playing tons of guitar and writing for the site.

I want everyone to know that things will take a turn as a result of my lifestyle change. Currently I am living in a house where I can play my amplifiers up loud all I want, but soon I will be downsizing to an apartment and that means there will be more articles devoted to great sound at low volumes. I hope everyone finds that as exciting as I do!

Peace & Love and Good happiness stuff.

Sorry there haven’t been tons of updates lately. Things are getting really hectic on my end. Look for updates post the Christmas Holiday!

Next to Les Paul, Robert Fripp might be one of the most unique and innovative Guitarists of his generation. Fripp, has basically redefined Guitar Technique, Teaching, and Tone with every work that he has done. King Crimson’s early work included the mellotron which was an early form of sampling. The Mellotron was played like a keyboard. When a key was pressed down a piece of tape was played at a specified speed thus creating the illusion of an instrument being played at the specified pitch. Throughout the first few King Crimson records you can hear the mellotron playing string parts.

Robert Fripp’s keen interest in music technology has yielded a wide variety of tones. For Fripp tone is clearly a compositional tool. Larks’ Tongues in Aspic contains some of the heaviest fuzz ever recorded. Information about his equipment is quite scarce since Fripp is more concerned about composing music then actually playing guitar, though he is certainly very skilled. In the mid 1980’s Fripp started using the Roland GR-300 guitar synth. Even today he continues to use guitar Synths and a monster Rack to create diverse guitar sounds.

Fripp has used various fuzz boxes in his career similar in style to Muff style fuzz units. He suggests that his fuzzes are not as good as the current production muffs. In interviews he has specifically mentioned the Big Muff, Foxey Lady, Buns Buzzaround and the ColorSound Fuzz units. Upon actual examination it seems that the Buzzaround was the most frequent fuzz he used since it has such a unique sound in comparison to the other fuzzes he discusses. He is also known to use a rackmount Ibanez Digital Delay & Roland Space Echo. Though Fripp appears to be non-chilant about his equipment his mixture of Vintage and New equipment suggests that he takes an active interest in how good it sounds.

Fripp has used a wide variety of Amps. In the early days of King Crimson he used Marshall but later switched to Hi-Watt’s. As time went on he favored clean amps with a fuzz box for distortion. During the eighties he used the Roland JC-120. Nowadays he favors more of a more synth friendly rig with a Carvin Power Amp powering speaker cabinets.

Fripp takes some of the more common elements of the guitars such as string gauge and tuning very seriously. He has, since the 1980’s, used new standard tuning (CGDAEG) and consequently has used different string gauges to compensate for the changes in string tension. New standard tuning features prominently in his teaching a form of playing he calls guitar craft.

If you don’t know Robert Fripp I suggest you listen to Larks’ Tongues In Aspic. That record truly demonstrates his guitar prowess.

Any guitarist worth his salt has at least one way of gaining access to those blackface tones. Even when you see Marshall stacks on stage it’s likely that in the studio there is a Fender on the record somewhere. It’s not uncommon for players to use a high gain combo for recording but to chill out while playing through a tiny Fender when they aren’t working.

Fender Amplifiers have always been roadworthy equipment but it seems quality has dropped recently and they just don’t make them like they used to in general. The use of PCB boards and different sized cabinets has really driven the vintage market for quite a few years since frankly if I’m going to drop 1000 on a DRRI why wouldn’t I seek out a blackface one for a reasonable price?

Fender’s amplifiers have always had a special magic and it’s no secret that the blackface amps are coveted by users all over the world. Several companies have cloned the famous circuits and sell them at boutique prices. A few more such as Allen Amplification have modified the circuit to provide tones slightly beyond the stock amplifiers. One such amp that prides itself on Blackface clones is Headstrong Amplifiers.

They make clones of some coveted amps include 60’s era Princetons, Deluxe Reverbs, and even a Brownface Vibroverb. The Deluxe Reverb sounds period correct with just the right amount of bass and that great sound mid range. The Princeton is frankly better then the recent Fender Reissue and lastly the Brownface Vibroverb simply has no equal–there really aren’t many clones of this thing around.

Ironically the prices for Headstrong Amps are only a few hundred more then for a reissue. The Headstrong amps are still cheaper then the vintage counterparts found on Ebay or in Boutique/Vintage dealers. Headstrong is really priding itself on it’s Princeton Clone and also it’s Fender Vibroverb. If there is a dealer in your area I suggest you go in and take a listen.