Rich from Line 6 here to talk about the new M9

[SteveFromBerlin]

Some new thoughts after using the M9 extensively:

- Expression Pedal:

I bought the EX-1 from Line6 and I have to say I'm going to send it back. Don't get me wrong, it works really well! But paying 65 € for a peace of plastic is just too much!

Another thing: I opened my Boss FV-500H and there is a twin-pot inside that has 250 on the volume side and 10K on the expression. I don't understand why it does not work the way it should, but will try it again!

I really like that you can have different settings for the expression pedal within the different scenes so that it does not always has to be used on FX 1A for example.
But: I really don't like that the setting for the looper is for every scene! This way you have to use two expression pedals if you want to control the volume of the looper and use maybe a wah at the same time.

Why can't you make it the same way the FX-settings are done or even better: the expression pedal can be choosen to work only when the looper function is active and you are in the menu of the looper?!?!?

- copying your settings to another scene:

Also I find it a bit annoing to copy my compressor settings from one scene to another. It would be very helpful if it was possible to copy it directly from one scene to another AND to have some little number in the display so you know the exact setting you have!

- presets for different basses:

I play the M9 with 4 different basses and as I said before, they all have different outputs. This is a problem when you use FX that are controlled via input volume, e.g. the Mutron.

Despite all this I have to say that I really like the M9 and play it all the time! It is a great unit and will stay with me for a looong time - if there will be some updates for us bassplayers in the future!

[SteveFromBerlin]

So,

here is the problem with the BOSS FV-500H in depth:

It only works with the M9 if the min/max button on the left turned to max (and that should not make any sens, should it?)

See here:



You can clearly see the twin pot with 250 K (volume function) and 10 K (expression function):



Does anybody know what kind of potentiometer is in the EX-1?!?

You could use the BOSS FV-500H this way, but your settings get lost when you forget to turn the min/max button to max before plugging it in... which is annoying.

[stflbn]

Originally Posted by SteveFromBerlin

- presets for different basses:
I play the M9 with 4 different basses and as I said before, they all have different outputs. This is a problem when you use FX that are controlled via input volume, e.g. the Mutron.

I have a tiny boost pedal velcro'd to the right side of my M13 and use that to balance levels between basses. I have a small piece of tape by the dial on the boost set for each bass to be equal volumes.

Originally Posted by SteveFromBerlin

It is a great unit and will stay with me for a looong time - if there will be some updates for us bassplayers in the future!

Have you done the update to version 2 yet? If not, you need to, there's tremendous improvements for bass players in v2. Need a midi interface to do the update.


.

[judas jedermann]

Originally Posted by SteveFromBerlin

Does anybody know what kind of potentiometer is in the EX-1?!?

I guess that neither 10K nor 250K is right for M9/13. Line6 EX-1 is 25K. Roland has also 25K expression pedal (EV-5) but for some reason it does not work properly with M9/13. I`ve been using Ernie Ball 25K jr. with no problems whatsoever.

[Jehos]

Hey Rich, just wanted to say thanks to everybody who worked on building this thing. I picked a M9 up last weekend and I can't wait to gig with it. I was an avid fan of the X3 Live, but I've switched back to a preamp and stack and don't need amp modeling anymore. The M9 has totally fit the bill for being an even better effects modeler than the X3 Live. I love that so many of the sounds are usable right out of the box with a bass, or are easy enough to tweak.

I really hope that you guys will keep the "it's your pedal board / it goes on your pedal board" split between two products in the future. The M13 is overkill for me, I want something small that fits on my board with plenty of room for other stuff.

I also agree that the EX-1 needs a serious re-working. You guys took the plastic Pod Live versions and evolved into this nice solid metal M9 and M13. Let's get some roadworthy expression pedals to match. Heck, just give me the pedal off my X3 Live with the grip tape, adjustable resistance, and bypass and I'd be a super happy camper.

[SteveFromBerlin]

Originally Posted by stflbn

Have you done the update to version 2 yet? If not, you need to, there's tremendous improvements for bass players in v2. Need a midi interface to do the update.

Yes Sir,

I'm having version 2.01 - I'm talkingupdates like a dedicated bass compressor, distortion and more mix-buttons where you can balance the amount of your bass and fx signal (that's not the case for all of the fx - especially distortionwise).

[SteveFromBerlin]

Today the Thomann support confirmed that the FV-500L woun't work either, so I'm thinking about putting a twin-25k-pot inside my FV-500H. Does anyone know if the M9/M13 works only with a mono jack or also stereo?

[TaySte_2000]

Originally Posted by SteveFromBerlin

- presets for different basses:

I play the M9 with 4 different basses and as I said before, they all have different outputs. This is a problem when you use FX that are controlled via input volume, e.g. the Mutron.

Despite all this I have to say that I really like the M9 and play it all the time! It is a great unit and will stay with me for a looong time - if there will be some updates for us bassplayers in the future!

You could of course create a scene per bass with a boost or fixed volume pedal in the first fx slot to volume match the outputs of the 4 basses.

[judas jedermann]

Originally Posted by SteveFromBerlin

Today the Thomann support confirmed that the FV-500L woun't work either, so I'm thinking about putting a twin-25k-pot inside my FV-500H. Does anyone know if the M9/M13 works only with a mono jack or also stereo?

There is a risk that it would be trial and error. For example Roland EV-5 is 25k but somehow it just does not match with M13. I also tried M-Audio expression pedal EX-P and it has the same problem than EV-5.
Maybe you could sell FV-500Hs and buy Ernie Ball 25Ks? At least Ernie Ball work fine with M13 (and I guess with M9 too). I have been using both mono and stereo cables when using EB25K as a expression pedal. Both mono and stereo cables worked just fine.

[SteveFromBerlin]

Hmpf...

guess I'll have to go that way. Which one of the junior pedals do you have (there are two) ?

[TaySte_2000]

Originally Posted by SteveFromBerlin

Hmpf...

guess I'll have to go that way. Which one of the junior pedals do you have (there are two) ?

25k is the only one that works and it works stunningly, luckily for me it seems my 250k has broken so I'm going to replace the pot with a 25k and have 2 expr's

[judas jedermann]

Originally Posted by SteveFromBerlin

Hmpf...

guess I'll have to go that way. Which one of the junior pedals do you have (there are two) ?

Ernie Ball JR 6181 25K
http://www.thomann.de/fi/ernie_ball_eb6181.htm

[scowboy]

Does the M9 or M13 do a respectable Octave Up effect, that might sound similar to an 8 string bass?

[judas jedermann]

Originally Posted by scowboy

Does the M9 or M13 do a respectable Octave Up effect, that might sound similar to an 8 string bass?

You can do octave up with Pitch glide or Smart harmony. It sounds somewhat similar with Whammy octave up. Whammy has fixed blend but M9/M13 lets you adjust mix.

[SneakyT]

Ok, I just got this pedal and I must say wow!

It is replacing my DL-4, Chorus and Whammy pedals all in about the size of the DL-4. It Does all of those effects as well if not better (here's lookin at you WH4) than the pedals it replaces. I really like the way the expression pedal works by assigning any parameter to it and adjusting the range. I'm surprised that no one has mentioned that it's capable of doing any whammy harmony setting imaginable. Surely Justin Chancelor fans will flock to this thing. Hell, If I were Justin, I would use this thing live and keep the bass whammy at home. I'm using the ernie ball 6181 which makes for a huge improvement in feel over the whammy's exp too.

So for the pedals this replaces it does a stellar job. It does a great job on Phasers, Compressors, Trems, Reverbs and Synths as well. The one area that I was not all that impressed with was distortions and fuzz. I mean all of those distortion models and not one bass centric one. I would like to see this change. I think we could all do with a Brassmaster, Scrambler, ODR-B, Wasabi or some other bass centric distortions (I know several guitarist that use most of those pedals too). Even a blend knob for some of the distortions on there would help as others have stated. For now I will continue to use the aforementioned pedals in front of it. That's kind of a shame too as I would really like to just take this thing to my cover gigs instead of carting around my whole board.

As for other things I would want to be added in the future:
I would love to see a seektrem. I know that there are not enough rotary encoders but that could be solved by using the first knob as a page knob. Like this

I know it's not the best photoshopping in the world but you get the idea.

This page idea could be used for the Goatkeeper as well so we could change waveforms.

I would also like to see a version of the Deep Impact to go along with the other Synths. A POG would also be a welcome addition.

I'll post these ideas on the feature request page too but if more of us talk about the features we want on here the more likely we will all request the same things and get some traction.

BTW a big thanks to Rich for being an active member on this forum and keeping bass players in mind in your products.

[phatbassdood]

Originally Posted by SneakyT

Ok, I just got this pedal and I must say wow!

It is replacing my DL-4, Chorus and Whammy pedals all in about the size of the DL-4. It Does all of those effects as well if not better (here's lookin at you WH4) than the pedals it replaces. I really like the way the expression pedal works by assigning any parameter to it and adjusting the range. I'm surprised that no one has mentioned that it's capable of doing any whammy harmony setting imaginable. Surely Justin Chancelor fans will flock to this thing. Hell, If I were Justin, I would use this thing live and keep the bass whammy at home. I'm using the ernie ball 6181 which makes for a huge improvement in feel over the whammy's exp too.

So for the pedals this replaces it does a stellar job. It does a great job on Phasers, Compressors, Trems, Reverbs and Synths as well. The one area that I was not all that impressed with was distortions and fuzz. I mean all of those distortion models and not one bass centric one. I would like to see this change. I think we could all do with a Brassmaster, Scrambler, ODR-B, Wasabi or some other bass centric distortions (I know several guitarist that use most of those pedals too). Even a blend knob for some of the distortions on there would help as others have stated. For now I will continue to use the aforementioned pedals in front of it. That's kind of a shame too as I would really like to just take this thing to my cover gigs instead of carting around my whole board.

As for other things I would want to be added in the future:
I would love to see a seektrem. I know that there are not enough rotary encoders but that could be solved by using the first knob as a page knob. Like this

I know it's not the best photoshopping in the world but you get the idea.

This page idea could be used for the Goatkeeper as well so we could change waveforms.

I would also like to see a version of the Deep Impact to go along with the other Synths. A POG would also be a welcome addition.

I'll post these ideas on the feature request page too but if more of us talk about the features we want on here the more likely we will all request the same things and get some traction.

BTW a big thanks to Rich for being an active member on this forum and keeping bass players in mind in your products.

That's a really nice idea about the page scrolling, I'll be putting in a feature request for that too.

How many coinciding feature requests does it need for Line 6 to take notice I wonder?

Another pedal I'd like to see modelled is the Boss FT-2 - it would provide a (IMHO better) alternative to the Tron variants

[richrenken]

Originally Posted by SneakyT

Ok, I just got this pedal and I must say wow!

It is replacing my DL-4, Chorus and Whammy pedals all in about the size of the DL-4. It Does all of those effects as well if not better (here's lookin at you WH4) than the pedals it replaces. I really like the way the expression pedal works by assigning any parameter to it and adjusting the range. I'm surprised that no one has mentioned that it's capable of doing any whammy harmony setting imaginable. Surely Justin Chancelor fans will flock to this thing. Hell, If I were Justin, I would use this thing live and keep the bass whammy at home. I'm using the ernie ball 6181 which makes for a huge improvement in feel over the whammy's exp too.

So for the pedals this replaces it does a stellar job. It does a great job on Phasers, Compressors, Trems, Reverbs and Synths as well. The one area that I was not all that impressed with was distortions and fuzz. I mean all of those distortion models and not one bass centric one. I would like to see this change. I think we could all do with a Brassmaster, Scrambler, ODR-B, Wasabi or some other bass centric distortions (I know several guitarist that use most of those pedals too). Even a blend knob for some of the distortions on there would help as others have stated. For now I will continue to use the aforementioned pedals in front of it. That's kind of a shame too as I would really like to just take this thing to my cover gigs instead of carting around my whole board.

As for other things I would want to be added in the future:
I would love to see a seektrem. I know that there are not enough rotary encoders but that could be solved by using the first knob as a page knob. Like this

I know it's not the best photoshopping in the world but you get the idea.

This page idea could be used for the Goatkeeper as well so we could change waveforms.

I would also like to see a version of the Deep Impact to go along with the other Synths. A POG would also be a welcome addition.

I'll post these ideas on the feature request page too but if more of us talk about the features we want on here the more likely we will all request the same things and get some traction.

BTW a big thanks to Rich for being an active member on this forum and keeping bass players in mind in your products.

Nice little review. Love it.

Do you have the 2.01 update? Did you see the Pattern Tremolo?

[richrenken]

Originally Posted by phatbassdood

That's a really nice idea about the page scrolling, I'll be putting in a feature request for that too.

How many coinciding feature requests does it need for Line 6 to take notice I wonder?

Another pedal I'd like to see modelled is the Boss FT-2 - it would provide a (IMHO better) alternative to the Tron variants

I only need one request on our feature request page to notice. I don't care if it is one request or many, I weigh all ideas equally.

For instance, I only had one request that FXloop Off be one of the settings for the FXloop and it was a great idea that was easy to implement.

[SneakyT]

Originally Posted by richrenken

Nice little review. Love it.

Do you have the 2.01 update? Did you see the Pattern Tremolo?

Thanks,
Yes I updated it immediately and really like the Pattern Tremolo but after using the real Goatkeeper I must say that I really would love to be able to change waveforms. With just the square wave form if you get it going real fast it can start to sound like a static noise. Some of my favorite settings from this pedal are the triangle and sawtooth waveforms and with the current model those are not available. I completely understand that it would be absurdly hard to implement the user recordable waveshapes so don't think I'm asking for that but my little page idea should make it fairly easy to implement a waveform knob on this model for the standard waveforms. It would also allow you to model other pedals that require more than the standard five knobs (like the Seektrem or a fully controllable Seekwah). I still find a lot of usable tones in the Pattern Tremolo but it would be great to see a Seektrem as well since they really do different things. Again, the distortions models are the thing that I would really like to see addressed first though, as I kinda need them for my money making Gigs (i.e. coverbands).

Originally Posted by richrenken

I only need one request on our feature request page to notice. I don't care if it is one request or many, I weigh all ideas equally.

For instance, I only had one request that FXloop Off be one of the settings for the FXloop and it was a great idea that was easy to implement.

It's good to know that you pay such close attention to feature request. I really do appreciate that and it really was a big part of my decision to upgrade to this pedal. I can understand how you wouldn't want to get overwhelmed with duplicate request but does this also apply to effects model requests as well? Or would you like a broad sampling of opinions to know which models are the most requested? Would it be easier to poll users on here if that is the case? Most of us know that you guys have limited time to work on updates to existing products considering the time spent on R&D of future products so let us know whatever you would like so we don't waste your valuable time.

Thanks again, T

[phatbassdood]

Originally Posted by richrenken

I only need one request on our feature request page to notice. I don't care if it is one request or many, I weigh all ideas equally.

For instance, I only had one request that FXloop Off be one of the settings for the FXloop and it was a great idea that was easy to implement.

Wow, that's great, I thought it went to be viewed by a quorum of dusty old men in a huge vaulted room with tubes lining the walls, (a bit like Brazil meets a Vogon Spaceship). I'm off to bombard you with feature requests