How about some bass content for Guitarport Online?

[kful]

I've subscribed to Guitar Port Online, off and on, since about the time it first came out.

I've recently gotten serious about learning bass. I thought I'd resubscribe to GPO, thinking there had to tons of bass content.

When I went to the Line6 site, I was checking out the GPO content. I was very surprised to see there was nothing there for bass? What gives?

[hermanmunster]

I just started using the GPO and I agree I'd like to see more tracks with the bass removed.

[Fletch]

Definitely needed. There's bass expansion packs, pods, amps ect but nothing for us on guitar port. I'd sign up immediately.

[Line6Aaron]

These are great ideas...I'll make sure the right folks hear this feedback re: GuitarPort for bassists. Thanks!

[jk3]

Originally Posted by Line6Aaron

These are great ideas...I'll make sure the right folks hear this feedback re: GuitarPort for bassists. Thanks!

we are the red-headed stepchildren of music. and we just want to be loved.

[hermanmunster]

No tones, no tabs, and too few tracks without bass. We need more, up to date tunes. I love Zep but um......would like to see more modern music in there too.

[richrenken]

Originally Posted by jk3

we are the red-headed stepchildren of music. and we just want to be loved.

Well said.

[hermanmunster]

So I got tired of paying while waiting for more BASS content and canceled. When and if there becomes a significant amount of songs w/o bass, tones, tabs, all content that the guitards get, I will return.

HELP US OUT!

[Phantasm]

I have never felt like Line 6 properly supported the bass community the way they dote on the guitar community. It's one of my biggest complains and why my usage and advocacy of their products to fellow bass players has eroded over the past 10 years.

[richrenken]

Originally Posted by Phantasm

I have never felt like Line 6 properly supported the bass community the way they dote on the guitar community. It's one of my biggest complains and why my usage and advocacy of their products to fellow bass players has eroded over the past 10 years.

Well, Aaron and I are bass players and we are trying to change that.

Out of curiosity, what companies do a good job of doing great guitar products and completely bass specific products as well in your observation?

[kevin newsham]

Roland with the Vbass, VB99, DBass amps. Nice products, with a virtual buffet of tones, and sounds.

TC Electronics of late, with the variety of micro heads, the compressors, the tube amp emulation that takes into account the power amp tubes in an amps emulation. Not that your product doesn't.

EBS has some real nice bass specific pedals, but the list is growing short.


That is about all I can think of, for now.

The roland stuff is expensive, though with the special pickup, a whole new world opens up. Great sound from the amps, but underpowered for the money.

TC is great sounding, micro, and has a great compressor. only three save presets. but very nice sound, and good power for the size.

Line6, great sounds, reasonable price. As with the others it has it's faults, or shortcomings. But still a great product, and they are here asking what they can do better. That is a major plus in my book.

Yes, I do feel like a red headed step child sometimes as a bassist. And yes, we would like as many options as our geetardist friends. And yes, I do want all of the options of the VB99, for the price of a Studio 110. NOT GONNA HAPPEN!!

At least your asking, and that is the onlyreason I am posting.

Thanks for asking.

[Phantasm]

Originally Posted by richrenken

Well, Aaron and I are bass players and we are trying to change that.

Out of curiosity, what companies do a good job of doing great guitar products and completely bass specific products as well in your observation?

Well, it's been a long time since I posted this, but you did kindly take the time to reply so I wanted to reply. Sorry for the long delay.

Tech 21 is one of the few that caters to both fairly successfully. I will grant you that their bass market is probably a lot higher than their guitar share, and I am aware that guitar is a more popular and larger market. However, Line 6 to me never has gained the traction on forums such as these that Tech 21 has with some of their products.

I bought the original Bass Pod the week that it came out and I recorded several albums with it. It was really the only show in town when it came to amp modeling for a bass and it was a first generation product, but I was never 100% happy with it. It felt like the tones were "missing something." While it was better than the other gear that I had for getting a mic'ed sound, I probably would have come off better micing my amp.

The Bass Pod xt came out and I bought it not long after it came out as well. I found that it was a big step forward. I did record several albums with it as well and I did grow to like it once I was able to overcome some of its shortcomings. Gain staging is paramount and the unit does not like being overdriven on the front end. Since I own a lot of active instruments, this was a constant struggle until I figured out to roll back the volume on my bass to compensate. I found myself disliking a lot of the gain pedals as they were really meant for guitar, but I guess bands like Faillure were able to make them work and I learned to use the graphic EQ to compensate and have separate patches that were more bass heavy. I also had to use extra care with the input gain, more so than usual. The Bass Overdrive model was good and I do wish that there was a pedal version of that effect, similar to some of the stompbox units that you guys put out.

When the X3 came out, I was very displeased that the product lines were merged. I had already watched with the xt as guitar players got tons of tones and bass players got zip (much like the original guitar pod.) Now here was a device that merged the lines and there was no new bass content... in fact, the unit is very clearly biased towards guitar IMO. I did eventually buy one but I do not prefer it vs. my Bass Pod xt.

I have not recorded anything with the x3, and to be fair I haven't tried. But towards the end of the last album, I found myself splitting time between the xt and the Ampeg SVX plugin... something that if it had a hardware version, I'd look in to. I don't always care for the Ampeg sound but if I did, they did a better job of it in my subjective opinion. Even the Mixing Engineer noticed that it was a better sound on recording, and he did not know what I used to record any of the sounds.

Bass guitar is a tough nut to crack and I don't blame you guys for paying less attention to a smaller market. I would like to see you give it more R&D, more amp models, more microphone models, etc. because in all honesty you haven't refreshed that in a very long time. But at this point, if someone would come along and produce a better hardware product, I think you have legitimate concern for the market share.

After reading that, I'm sure it sounds very contradictory... I'm admitting that you do amp modeling for bass with a hardware unit the best right now but saying it's not quite good enough. Fair assessment. But in my quest to have a hardware emulation unit that will sound better than a DI, better than a properly miced cab, Line 6 is not quite where it needs to be, of course, IMO.

What would I like to see?

- Better emulation with more models

- More mic models

- A compressor that has attack and release settings

- Some sort of indicator for when the compressor is working (the low down Studio 110 has this)

- A Bass Whammy model

- More of the effects with either controls to compensate for bass guitar or more effects meant for bass guitar

- Some sort of octave/harmonic generator, this is similar to the whammy request

- Better or easier to understand input monitoring, pehaps a meter instead of a signal light would help?

- Easier to handle level monitoring inside the box so clipping could be avoided, perhaps a second meter for this?

Those are ideas off the top of my head. I'd be glad to have a dialogue with you if you'd like. I know that there is heavy secrecy at Line 6 regarding the direction and time line of products, and I respect that... but if any any way this or any of what I said can help I'd be glad to do so.

[Line6Aaron]

Thanks for laying out your thoughts so clearly Phantasm. Much appreciated.

-Aaron

Originally Posted by Phantasm

Well, it's been a long time since I posted this, but you did kindly take the time to reply so I wanted to reply. Sorry for the long delay.

Tech 21 is one of the few that caters to both fairly successfully. I will grant you that their bass market is probably a lot higher than their guitar share, and I am aware that guitar is a more popular and larger market. However, Line 6 to me never has gained the traction on forums such as these that Tech 21 has with some of their products.

I bought the original Bass Pod the week that it came out and I recorded several albums with it. It was really the only show in town when it came to amp modeling for a bass and it was a first generation product, but I was never 100% happy with it. It felt like the tones were "missing something." While it was better than the other gear that I had for getting a mic'ed sound, I probably would have come off better micing my amp.

The Bass Pod xt came out and I bought it not long after it came out as well. I found that it was a big step forward. I did record several albums with it as well and I did grow to like it once I was able to overcome some of its shortcomings. Gain staging is paramount and the unit does not like being overdriven on the front end. Since I own a lot of active instruments, this was a constant struggle until I figured out to roll back the volume on my bass to compensate. I found myself disliking a lot of the gain pedals as they were really meant for guitar, but I guess bands like Faillure were able to make them work and I learned to use the graphic EQ to compensate and have separate patches that were more bass heavy. I also had to use extra care with the input gain, more so than usual. The Bass Overdrive model was good and I do wish that there was a pedal version of that effect, similar to some of the stompbox units that you guys put out.

When the X3 came out, I was very displeased that the product lines were merged. I had already watched with the xt as guitar players got tons of tones and bass players got zip (much like the original guitar pod.) Now here was a device that merged the lines and there was no new bass content... in fact, the unit is very clearly biased towards guitar IMO. I did eventually buy one but I do not prefer it vs. my Bass Pod xt.

I have not recorded anything with the x3, and to be fair I haven't tried. But towards the end of the last album, I found myself splitting time between the xt and the Ampeg SVX plugin... something that if it had a hardware version, I'd look in to. I don't always care for the Ampeg sound but if I did, they did a better job of it in my subjective opinion. Even the Mixing Engineer noticed that it was a better sound on recording, and he did not know what I used to record any of the sounds.

Bass guitar is a tough nut to crack and I don't blame you guys for paying less attention to a smaller market. I would like to see you give it more R&D, more amp models, more microphone models, etc. because in all honesty you haven't refreshed that in a very long time. But at this point, if someone would come along and produce a better hardware product, I think you have legitimate concern for the market share.

After reading that, I'm sure it sounds very contradictory... I'm admitting that you do amp modeling for bass with a hardware unit the best right now but saying it's not quite good enough. Fair assessment. But in my quest to have a hardware emulation unit that will sound better than a DI, better than a properly miced cab, Line 6 is not quite where it needs to be, of course, IMO.

What would I like to see?

- Better emulation with more models

- More mic models

- A compressor that has attack and release settings

- Some sort of indicator for when the compressor is working (the low down Studio 110 has this)

- A Bass Whammy model

- More of the effects with either controls to compensate for bass guitar or more effects meant for bass guitar

- Some sort of octave/harmonic generator, this is similar to the whammy request

- Better or easier to understand input monitoring, pehaps a meter instead of a signal light would help?

- Easier to handle level monitoring inside the box so clipping could be avoided, perhaps a second meter for this?

Those are ideas off the top of my head. I'd be glad to have a dialogue with you if you'd like. I know that there is heavy secrecy at Line 6 regarding the direction and time line of products, and I respect that... but if any any way this or any of what I said can help I'd be glad to do so.

[kevin newsham]

I have to agree with the last post Aaron, I love my little studio110, and would love to buy more. Just a couple of issues that have to be worked out.
One thing that drives me nutts is volume matching on the patches, any thing that can be done? Some patches I have to use input gain to bring patch levels up to match others, killing the tone I was shooting for. I would use this amp more live, if it weren't for volume matching.