• Plugging in to the Line 6 Spider IV puts a variety of guitar tones at your fingertips.Gitarrenanschluss image by Otmar Smit from Fotolia.com
  
  The Spider IV is a modeling amplifier with a built-in guitar tuner, introduced by Line 6 in 2009. A modeling amplifier uses software effects to expand its sonic palette past what would be capable with its built-in hardware alone. The Spider IV suits session musicians, gigging musicians who want to have the sonic flexibility without having to haul multiple amps, and home recording enthusiasts who have limited space or budget, but want to be able to choose quickly from a wide variety of tones.
  
  

Varieties

• The Spider IV series of amps are named according to wattage: Spider IV 15 (15W, 1-by-8-inch), Spider IV 30 (30W, 1-by-12-inch), Spider IV 75 (75W, 1-by-12-inch), Spider IV 120 (120W, 2-by-12-inch), and Spider IV 150 and 150HD (150W, 2-by-12-inch).
  
  

Amp Models

• All but the two smallest Spider IV amps come with 16 virtual amp models, with two settings (called "Red" and "Green") in eight categories: Clean, Class A, Twang, Blues, Hi Gain, Crunch, Metal, and Insane. The Spider IV 15 has only four amp models with one setting each (Clean, Crunch, Metal, and Insane), and the Spider IV 30 has twelve amp models (Red and Green for Clean, Twang, Blues, Crunch, Metal and Insane).
  
  

Presets

• All but the two smallest Spider IV amps include 500 built-in effects presets, with 300 presets solicited from popular rock musicians and 200 presets based on iconic guitar sounds associated with classic rock songs (sorted by decade). 64 empty slots allow you to save presets of your own design. The Spider IV 15 and 30 do not include presets, but you can save your favorite settings to four programmable channels.
  
  

SmartFX

• In addition to virtual amp models and presets, the Spider IV includes 20 SmartFX, software emulations of popular guitar pedals and classic studio hardware. The Smart FX are Red Comp, Fuzz Pi, Auto Wah, Auto Swell, Pitch Glide, Smart Harmony (an intelligent pitch shifter), Sine Chorus, Line 6 Flanger, Phaser, Uni-Vibe, Opto Trem, Bias Trem, Digital Delay, Analogue w/Mod, Tape Echo, Multi-Head, Sweep Echo, Reverse, Lux Spring, and Vintage Plate.
  
  

Hardware Controls

• All Spider IV models include level knobs for Drive, Master Volume and Channel Volume, a Tap Tempo button for controlling tremolo and delay, and equalization knobs for bass, mid and treble adjustment. Pressing the Manual button overrides the current preset.
  
  

I/O

• The Spider IV series features one 1/4-inch guitar input, one 1/4-inch output, one 1/8-inch CD/MP3 player input for playing along to prerecorded music, and a jack for the Line 6 FBV foot controller, an optional accessory.
  
  

Optional Floor Unit

• The FBV foot controller pedal allows you to use the Spider IV's Auto Wah SmartFX as a manual wah effect. The foot controller can also enable the amp's QuickLoop feature, which records and plays back loops of up to 14 seconds in length. The Spider IV 15 and 30 do not include QuickLoop.