Total Gain Test -Micro Spider + DIY Gain Machines

In this video I push the Line 6 Micro Spider through a full ritual of gain:
• DIY Speaker Cranker–style circuit
• Clean amp model
• Insane amp model
• DIY DOD 250–style overdrive

Captured with a Shure SM58 into an Audient iD4, this test explores how far a tiny modeling amp can go. I chose to mic the amp because it simply sounded better. Just raw tone in the room.

If you like heavy tones, DIY circuits, and experiments that turn small gear into cosmic weapons, this one is for you.

The Speaker Cranker may be discontinued, but its spirit lives on through the Special Cranker and countless DIY interpretations that keep that raw, uncompressed grit alive.
These circuits have become a kind of underground language among builders — simple designs with endless personality, each one adding its own flavor to the classic hard‑clipping tradition. The Speaker Cranker normally wants to hit the amp first, but in this MicroSpider chain it behaves better after the DOD250. Placing it later keeps the front end of the amp from collapsing under the extra push.

The Line 6 Micro Spider is old, but it still works shockingly well after all these years. It’s basically a POD engine in a portable amp, and that’s exactly why it performs better than it has any right to. The models are simple, the controls are limited, but the core tones hold up — especially when you push it with external gain. It reacts like a tiny digital preamp that refuses to collapse, and with the right mic placement it can sound way bigger than its size suggests.
https://metalgain.blogspot.com/2026/0...

0:01 intro Toatal Gain Test
0:02 Clean sound Microspider line6
0:15 Clean + Speaker Cranker variant-diy pedal
0:39 Heavy sound + Speaker Cranker variant-diy pedal
1:21 Push more with a DOD250 variant-diy




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