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• Review
• Manufacturer's Description

The big brother of the Spider II 15 and 30 combos is here in the shape of the HD75 head.

And it boasts a price that proves that Far Eastern manufacture and digital technology get cheaper on a monthly basis, which can pay dividends for the real-world guitarist looking for a versatile gigging amp on a budget.

First impressions are that physically, without the burden of valves or huge transformers, Line 6 could have packed this head into a much smaller box. Okay, so maybe it wouldn’t look as cool atop a 4x12, but there’s something to be said for saving on boot space wherever possible. As it is, there’s not a great deal going on around the back of the head, with just a pair of four-ohm speaker outputs.

The front panel is a different story. Drive, bass, mid, treble and channel volume controls are accompanied by rubber buttons that activate the clean, crunch, metal and insane channels. Each of the four buttons also allows you to store a preset sound – simply set it up as desired, including effects, and hold the corresponding button down for two seconds to save. Now all settings, master volume aside, can be recalled.

The three overdriven channels are based on amplifier models that will be familiar to most users of other Line 6 products. Crunch is a ‘brown’ overdrive based on the Van Halen model of a 1968 Marshall ‘Plexi’ Superlead with a Variac voltage regulator and jumpered input channels. Metal is a Mesa Dual Rectifier emulation, while insane is a Line 6 home-brew model with truckloads of distortion and a huge capacity for bottom end.

The HD75’s Smart Control FX section is controlled by a pair of pots, with a tap tempo button for adjusting delay times. At any one time, you can have one modulation and one ambient effect on together. The first pot controls chorus, flange, phaser and tremolo effects with a range of settings that get faster and more intense throughout the sweep denoted for each effect. The principle behind the second pot is the same, but this time you have sweep echo, tape echo and reverb to choose from. Sweep echo and tape echo are both effects that have precedents on other Line 6 units, and the time/rate of both can be tweaked using the tap delay time button. The tap button also toggles a built-in noise gate and distortion boost on and off.

Other front-panel features include a 3.2mm mini jack that allows you to connect a CD or mp3 player and jam along with favourite tracks. A larger jack socket is a headphone and recording output that mutes the speaker when in use. The final connection is a DIN socket where an optional footswitch can be connected. At this price, it would be churlish to complain that one isn’t included.

Sounds

Powering up and starting with the clean channel, we are greeted by a vast, pristine clean voice that just doesn’t want to break up, even at gig volumes with a Gibson SG Standard. The wide range of the onboard equalisation ensures that a variety of clean voices can be dialled in, from crystalline high-end sparkle to warm, fluid jazz.