JM4 is an awesome looper but...

[scowboy]

...it just robs way to much low end and introduces too much noise.

I bought one, thought it was the best looper I'd ever used however it just sucked my instruments tone dry and even with my tone controls on my amp ... I could not get back to where I could love it.

I sold my JM4 because of this. Fix it and I will buy another one!

Agree less guitar centric would be great.

[Mark Latimour]

+1

I think I am going to dump my JM4 for the same reason. I do like the drum loops and jam tracks, but its lack of decent bass tone is a deal breaker.

[richrenken]

Originally Posted by scowboy

...it just robs way to much low end and introduces too much noise.

I bought one, thought it was the best looper I'd ever used however it just sucked my instruments tone dry and even with my tone controls on my amp ... I could not get back to where I could love it.

I sold my JM4 because of this. Fix it and I will buy another one!

Agree less guitar centric would be great.

Do you mean it robs low end from your bass passing through it and going into your amp, or when you loop the bass you lose low end?

What did you use the JM4 for?

[richrenken]

Originally Posted by Mark Latimour

+1

I think I am going to dump my JM4 for the same reason. I do like the drum loops and jam tracks, but its lack of decent bass tone is a deal breaker.

Can't you just pass the bass straight through by selecting no amp model?

[Mark Latimour]

Originally Posted by richrenken

Can't you just pass the bass straight through by selecting no amp model?

You can, but on mine whenever you select a new jam tune you are automatically given a certain amp model. I also find it slightly annoying that with the amp model switched off, you lose the tone controls which would otherwise be useful to make the tone coming out of the JM4 slight more "bass friendly". I think they bypassed tone is still quite affected too.

The looping function is quite good and handy (although I didn't know a multitrack would better suit what I wanted), but I think it would have been better if the pedal was as stand alone looper without all the tone altering stuff.

[Mark Latimour]

By the wya Rich, I am not poo pooing Line 6 on this one, I just don't think the JM4 is quite ready for bass yet. For gutiar players it is an awesome practice tool and its functionality is amazing. However, it just wasn't really what I needed and I think its not ideal for bass use. I think for those looking for a looper the M13 or Dl4 might be a better option for us bass players.

[richrenken]

Originally Posted by Mark Latimour

You can, but on mine whenever you select a new jam tune you are automatically given a certain amp model. I also find it slightly annoying that with the amp model switched off, you lose the tone controls which would otherwise be useful to make the tone coming out of the JM4 slight more "bass friendly". I think they bypassed tone is still quite affected too.

The looping function is quite good and handy (although I didn't know a multitrack would better suit what I wanted), but I think it would have been better if the pedal was as stand alone looper without all the tone altering stuff.

Ohhhh, right. I understand. I did the Spider Jam so I should have realized what you were talking about. That makes sense now.

I would love a killer looper only product to come from Line 6 as well.

[richrenken]

Originally Posted by Mark Latimour

By the wya Rich, I am not poo pooing Line 6 on this one, I just don't think the JM4 is quite ready for bass yet. For gutiar players it is an awesome practice tool and its functionality is amazing. However, it just wasn't really what I needed and I think its not ideal for bass use. I think for those looking for a looper the M13 or Dl4 might be a better option for us bass players.

I would be totally ok with poo pooing. Thank you for the clarification though.

For straight looping, the DL4 or M13 are awesome.

And your best statement I agree with. "not ready for bass yet"
I think many things we do aren't, that is one thing we want to change.

[scowboy]

I throw this out there and see what you say...

OP here, I have not replaced my JM4 and I am very much ready for another looper. Any chance Line 6 is looking at my post to see what can be done to remedy the JM4's stolen tone problem?

It's a great and easy to use looper at a great price ... I wish it was bass friendly.

[richrenken]

Originally Posted by scowboy

I throw this out there and see what you say...

OP here, I have not replaced my JM4 and I am very much ready for another looper. Any chance Line 6 is looking at my post to see what can be done to remedy the JM4's stolen tone problem?

It's a great and easy to use looper at a great price ... I wish it was bass friendly.

What kind of looping do you do?

[scowboy]

A lot of messin' around at home but with my band we do one song where I'd like to loop the intro and play over it. So I'd like to store at least one loop for easy recall and then be able to mess around at will.

[richrenken]

Originally Posted by scowboy

A lot of messin' around at home but with my band we do one song where I'd like to loop the intro and play over it. So I'd like to store at least one loop for easy recall and then be able to mess around at will.

In this case, I would go check out the M9. We have it on our website.

[Tom7]

Originally Posted by Mark Latimour

You can, but on mine whenever you select a new jam tune you are automatically given a certain amp model. I also find it slightly annoying that with the amp model switched off, you lose the tone controls which would otherwise be useful to make the tone coming out of the JM4 slight more "bass friendly". I think they bypassed tone is still quite affected too.

The looping function is quite good and handy (although I didn't know a multitrack would better suit what I wanted), but I think it would have been better if the pedal was as stand alone looper without all the tone altering stuff.

I'm a Line6 gear fan, with guitars and pedals for my guitar playing sons, and I was considering a JM4 and came here to research it.

Thanks for the heads up here. I'm sure my sons would love this for their guitars, but as for me, it sounds like I would be overpaying for features I definitely would not want for bass looping.

[scowboy]

My primary concern is that it really effects the tone of your bass when playing through it. Plus I found it really hard to completely bypass anything on consistent level.

Beyond that the looping functions are the easiest I have ever used which just makes it sting that much more!

Originally Posted by Tom7

I'm a Line6 gear fan, with guitars and pedals for my guitar playing sons, and I was considering a JM4 and came here to research it.

Thanks for the heads up here. I'm sure my sons would love this for their guitars, but as for me, it sounds like I would be overpaying for features I definitely would not want for bass looping.

[Tom7]

Originally Posted by richrenken

In this case, I would go check out the M9. We have it on our website.

There is a huge difference between 28 seconds and 24 minutes though.

It would be cool if a bass friendly looper were on the drawing boards, and storage was SD cards so we could easily both push and pull music to the pedal from our computers.

In fact, what would even be cooler is a refresh of the bass pod XT Live which included some serious looping, and as much of the bass modeling possible from the Variax Bass 705.

There's a Christmas wish list item for ya, Santa!

[Tom7]

Originally Posted by scowboy

My primary concern is that it really effects the tone of your bass when playing through it. Plus I found it really hard to completely bypass anything on consistent level.

Beyond that the looping functions are the easiest I have ever used which just makes it sting that much more!

Right, those would be my primary concerns as well.

I realize that this varies from genre to genre, and even from age group to age group, but I am so NOT interested having a highly effected bass tone. Not at all, and I hate buying multieffects or multi use pedals laden with effects few serious bass players are actually interested in, and paying an inflated price as a result of the feature stuffing, then over the life of the pedal fighting to get around all the clutter of useless effects so I can get to the ones I actually use.

Amp modeling interests me.

Bass modeling, if done well, would interest me as well.

Multiband compression definitely interests me. Full band compression is near useless for basses in live settings. It would be great to compress lows, lower mids, upper mids, and highs in a way where compression sounds right all the way up and down the finger board.

Also EQ to articulate and bring out the personality of each bass, WITH PRESETS so I can recall the EQ settings instantly... that interests me a lot. Many if not most of us own more than one bass, it it would be really nice to make quick changes on stage without holding up everything for the EQ tweaks. Just show up to the gig, set the right settings for each bass at sound check, then have them instantly available to you all night long. Shangra La!

And back to looping, I'd like bass friendly looping using SD cards so we can bring accompanying tracks back and forth to the looper. For instance, I would LOVE to overwork soloing over looping tracks to get to know a song better before performing or recording it. Right now I have to involve a computer to practice like that.

Additionally, I'd love to see a FAST tracking tuner, and I mean lightening fast, so it can be used for training on unlined fretless basses.

It would just be SO NICE to have a bass pedal that does very well the meat and potatoes nearly every bass player cravesl, focusing on NAILING these features, rather than cluttering it up with warmed over guitar oriented effects from other pedals being thrown into a bass pedal offering.

And maybe if the pedal was this focused, it would fit in a gig bag or case pouch as well, which would be another plus.

No one out there does looping, with real bass tone control like that, much less in a gig friendly size and form factor. And having a pedal like this would be such a boon for performance and practice, it wouldn't just be a "must have" accessory, it would be a "can't live without" necessity.

[scowboy]

Somebody say Amen!

Okay Amen!

Originally Posted by Tom7

It would just be SO NICE to have a bass pedal that does the meat and potatoes nearly every bass player craves very well, focusing on NAILING these features, rather than cluttering it up with warmed over the guitar oriented effects from other pedals being thrown into a bass pedal offering.

[Broadbent]

Strangely enough I just got back from my local music store and they had the JM4 and M13( I was looking for the 9 but whatever) there and I played them back to back. I have to tell you, the M13 smoked the JM4. I had the exact same problem everyone else had, it was a looper but for whatever reason has all these spider features jammed into it. that just DRAINED the tone. Where the M13 looper was easier to use and just more functional for what I need out of a looping stompbox.



I'd also like to take this time to thank Line 6 for coming here and asking what musicians want. Just like to say that I ABSOLUTELY LOVE the soft switches on the M13. Shaky punch ins were the one thing that steered me away from buying a DL4 and that problem has been fixed.

The only thing left to do now is wait for my M9 to come in.

Thanks Line 6

[scowboy]

But if I understand it correctly you cannot store a loop on the M9 or M13 let alone several...right?

Originally Posted by Broadbent

Strangely enough I just got back from my local music store and they had the JM4 and M13( I was looking for the 9 but whatever) there and I played them back to back. I have to tell you, the M13 smoked the JM4. I had the exact same problem everyone else had, it was a looper but for whatever reason has all these spider features jammed into it. that just DRAINED the tone. Where the M13 looper was easier to use and just more functional for what I need out of a looping stompbox.



I'd also like to take this time to thank Line 6 for coming here and asking what musicians want. Just like to say that I ABSOLUTELY LOVE the soft switches on the M13. Shaky punch ins were the one thing that steered me away from buying a DL4 and that problem has been fixed.

The only thing left to do now is wait for my M9 to come in.

Thanks Line 6

[richrenken]

Originally Posted by scowboy

But if I understand it correctly you cannot store a loop on the M9 or M13 let alone several...right?

That is correct, the looper in the Ms is for on the fly inspiration in the moment looping.