This is not an amp for a good guitarist. Of course, any good guitarist would already know that. Everyone on here talks about tweaking to find a good tone. Digital doesn't get good tone. Never has, never will. Just the different ways the sound is produced and the soundwaves themselves. If you have a bunch of money to waste and want to pretend to be a guitarist, line 6 is for you. If you're a real guitarist, at this price, go on craigslist, buy a boutique tube amp, and spend countless hours tweaking that instead. Far better of a value.

Bought a Used Vetta I with the 2.5 upgrade about 6 months ago. I do covers, and had a ridiculous setup that took too long to get together in a timely fashion at gigs, but it sounded great (gear snobbery, Mesa DC 5 with a TC Effects system, midi switcher, Keeley modded TS, Decimator Noise reduction, blah blah blah)...just too much stuff. I was also skeptical about the line 6 stuff, but I did like my DM 4 that I also had on the pedalboard. I know purists don't give a crap about modelers, but in a working environment, for guys who gig a lot and do different styles and need to be able to get a lot of different tones? THIS THING IS THE BE ALL-END ALL. If you have a guitar with the right pickups, the tone combinations an possibilities are ENDLESS. I favor the Duncan SH-13s in all my guitars (the dimebuckers), and I have them all wired to 5 way switches to get different tone combos. Literally, there is no tone you can't get close to (mind you, I said "CLOSE" to) with the Vetta/Vetta II. It's obviously not tube stuff, but the rock/high gain models are FANTASTIC sounding with some tweaking. My personal favorites in the 2.5 software pack are the Engl Powerball models, when you tweak the eq and add the Tube screamer to them, just FANTASTIC. The effects palate has everything you need, my only (small) complaint is that the compression just isn't that great for the clean stuff, but you can get a workable thing going. I have used it with a Marshall 1960 straight with Vintage 30s, and it's so LOUD, I can't imagine you'd need anything else. Currently, I just take the head and run the DI outs to the board and our monitor board, the Mic models are fantastic, and, I've been able to eliminate another input on the snake by tweaking a bypass patch for my onstage acoustic.

Bottom line is, like I said before, if you need a reliable, swiss army knife of an amp, the Vetta is it. I don't know what's next in the Vetta series, but it'll be damn hard to top this one, IMHO.

I tried really hard to like this amp and ultimately failed. After a few months the amp developed a problem with the power supply that a certified Line 6 technician admittedly couldn't fix. The amp was sent back to the US headquarters for repair where Line 6 fixed the amp but neglected to utilize any packing material and the amp was completely destroyed during shipping. It took 5 months to receive a replacement. I was without an amp for a total of 11 months. I tried 6 different guitars, 2 firmware updates, and 3 different cabinets all with the same over processed and mediocre results from this amp. I’d recommend a Johnson Millennium JM150 if you are looking for a reliable and great sounding modeling amp.

The Vetta II HD is difficult to use right out of the box; the presets are good, but not great. I have had the amp for about 7 months now, and I am finally getting the hang of it. When you learn how to properly use this amp….whoa momma!

The tube modeling doesn’t sound exactly like tube amps, but I am okay with that. I guess it is personal preference. The effects are outstanding. They do the job and are very quiet. I sold most of my pedals and pedal boards after getting the hang of this amp. I still kept my digitech whammy because the whammy feature of this amp falls a little short, and so it did not get a perfect rating from me. The wah takes a lot of adjusting so the high frequencies do not destroy everyone’s ear drums.

The features are great – in particular, two amps at once and double tracker. If you are planning on using this live, you will most likely need one of the three footswitches (express, shortboard, longboard) to control the amp. Think of it like “Goldie Locks and The Three Bears” – the express is too simple, the longboard is overdone. The shortboard is just right! I myself own the longboard, but wish I would have gotten the shortborad.

The price is hard to swallow. Make sure you really want it and will use it. I look at it like this: if I add up the prices of all the crappy amps I have bought over the years, it is at least the price of the Vetta II. Also, when Vetta III comes out, all you have to do is connect the Vetta II to your computer, and download the new firmware. Like magic, you have a Vetta III. If that doesn’t make it worth the price, I don’t know what will.

In summary, I am very happy with it. Make sure you play it before ordering it. Also, do not expect a “plug and play” amp. The Vetta requires some time to get it to sound…perfect! Also, do not expect it to replace ALL of your pedals. Every time I think I have found something that the amp can’t do, I consult the manual to find yes, it CAN do it. The Vetta II HD is not for everyone, but everyone should at least check it out.

I've been playing 22 years and this is by far the most versitile amp I've ever used. A bit pricey, but the tones and effects available on this thing are vertually limitless. I love it!