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Whats with Line 6?

#41
The Bass Floor Pod has 64 presets and I religeously went through them all and found about 10 basic ones that might be useful.

I've then messed around with these and come up with 6 basic sounds + 4 different chorus/flange patches (got a fretless!!) and these will cover just about 98% of all situations I'll ever be in.

On top of these I've got 2 with envelope follower (auto-wah), a couple of grind/distortion patches and I also created a few synth sounds. Total comes (at the moment) to 20, of which I'll be hard pushed to need more than 5 or 6 during a gig.

So 64 is way more than you'll need, 16 would probably do. Trouble is, when you're in the store having 64 "sounds", rather than 16 is a great selling point, even if most of the "sounds" are totally unusable in a real world situation.
 
#42
seamonkey said:
My issues with the line 6 amps are they are not up to the standards that their software is. Their software is great, state of the art, sounds great, new features, upgradeable.

Any piece of gear you buy with embedded software needs to have a USB interface port to accept backup and restore of settings, and allow for upgrades to the internal software. These lack this.

Look for a good full range amp, and add a POD or other modeler to it.
Click to expand...

You can upgrade the M13 through the Midi port. It is a tad tricky the first time but not overly so. Same goes for the M9.
 
#44
The Line 6 LD bass amps are among the very best out there.
Incredible tone , punch and power. Ultra -reliable, and extremely versatile.
Any music store guy that tells you the the LD bass amps are crappy, is trying to sell you something else for the profit margin, or doesn't have an LD to sell- or is totally ignorant of the amp.

A mystery and a shame that these amps have not caught on better. They are miles beyond and better than the usual mark, peevy, and other standard air pusher amps. Ampeg and the new Fender Super Bassman 300 are about the only other pro alternatives out there.
If you haven;t played thru a LD bass amp you're missing a great experience.
 
#45
Gearguy said:
The Line 6 LD bass amps are among the very best out there.
Incredible tone , punch and power. Ultra -reliable, and extremely versatile.
Any music store guy that tells you the the LD bass amps are crappy, is trying to sell you something else for the profit margin, or doesn't have an LD to sell- or is totally ignorant of the amp.

A mystery and a shame that these amps have not caught on better. They are miles beyond and better than the usual mark, peevy, and other standard air pusher amps. Ampeg and the new Fender Super Bassman 300 are about the only other pro alternatives out there.
If you haven't played thru a LD bass amp you're missing a great experience.
Click to expand...

+1 on this statement!

My LD300 Pro is now closing in on being six years old and it still sounds great. It's a workhorse and highly under rated in my opinion by most of the bass playing community.

My big rig sits quietly in the corner while the LD300 get all the work.

TD
 
#47
My kids' music school has all Line 6 stuff, including a 400W 210 that they schlep to all the shows. They have all been rock solid. The only gripe is that I see guitarists really, really struggle to dial in sounds on them.

All I have used from them have been bass combos, and unfortunately they didn't really work for me. I use multiple basses set up for drastically different tones, including the occasional EUB, and I found it tough to remove the modeling/coloring tones and get to what I know my basses sound like. I don't like touching the amp at all during gigs/rehearsals....:hmm:

Durability-wise, they seem to be able to take a beating...
 
#52
My issue is also the that their software is better than than actual amps. Now I will say their newer guitar amps are very good but they aren't as affordable as their regular stuff. I have a pod hd and owned the original bass pod. The old bass pods are a good reference to point you in some direction when it comes to buying an amp for a specific sound. I honestly might have never tried swr or eden if it wasnt for the old bass pod. The newer pod hd doesn't have as many bass models available but has so high quality effects you could spend a century tweaking your heart out. I use the pod hd as an effects processor with my main rig and also for late night practicing and laptop demos at home. In all honesty when I comes to the classic ampeg tone I prefer a sans amp over any of the line 6 sims.

With the amps their reliability is a huge issue. One of the guitar players I play with has had all kinds of line 6 stuff, pod pros, flextone 1,2,&3. From the 3 on there hasn't been issues but all the older stuff had to be replaced because it quit working. Reliability is a huge part of why I play ampeg classic cabs. I tried tons of other brands and had horns blow, speakers get cone creasing. The ampeg classic cabs dont sound perfect but they last forever as long as you take care of them, don't let them fall off a truck or stuff like that.
 
#53
Veldar said:
Not to derail this thread but most amp modelers don't care about bassists, they just put an ampeg model and leave it.
Click to expand...
Considering that the vast majority of this thread's posts were in 2010, I don't think derailing can be held against anyone :rolleyes:

My LD175 has been gathering dust for almost a decade at this point, I think. A memento of my younger and more foolish years. So many options, each one awkward and unrefined. Sure, you can save your settings, but upon recalling them, there's no visual indication to tell you what was saved, and as soon as you touch any knob, the saved setting vanishes and you suddenly get whatever the knobs are set at now. Oh yes, and the almost 90# of weight - without casters - didn't help matters either.
 
#54
If you look more broadly at modeling amplifiers (bass and guitar) you find that most of them are at the low end of the product line. It sure seems like they are a marketing gimmick to capture beginners sales. They are selling the illusion that all you need is an amplifier that sounds like some famous musician or amplifier, speaker cab, etc. and you will be able to play just like (insert amplifier or musician name here). The sad thing is that 1) its not true (sounding like someone or some amplifier is no substitute for learning how to play), and 2) the same money spent on a simple basic amplifier that would have a beginners amp with decent tone.

Of course there are a few upmarket amplifiers with built-in effects and modeling. They at least have the potential for good basic tone and refined models.

For those into effects and models, a better approach might be to learn to play, get a solid amplifier, develop a feel for tone, then buy a high quality modeling pedal/pod.
 
#55
I would never buy a Line 6 amp of any kind. Maybe in another 10 years or so if they've advanced sufficiently by then. They just always have a brittle fake tone to them. I know some people say you can't tell in a mix, but I pretty much always can, unless it's somebody who REALLY knows what they are doing controlling the settings.

On the other hand their effects (M series, etc...) are pretty cool. I wouldn't mind getting an M5 or 2 or an M9 to use for bass effects. My main pedal board is for guitar. Obviously it can be used for bass, but it's not optimized for it, and it weighs like 35-40 pounds and takes up a lot of trunk space. Having one little unit for effects that can cover such a wide range is basicalyl just what I'm looking for for live use. For recording, I can beg, borrow, or steal what I need, or use my guitar pedals where necessary/appropriate.

I agree with what someone said earlier. If you took an HD500 and paired it with a Mesa 2:50 and 2 1x12 cabs, you would have a killer stereo guitar rig that could tackle just about anything. But to be honest, from what I've heard of the HD500, really only the Hiwatt model sounds really good. The others are kind of blah.
 
#56
I've had a lowdown studio 110 for years. It's VERY well built. I've carted this thing around everywhere. It's rolled around in the back of my wagon, been dropped down stairs and had many a "beverage" spilled on it. It's still thumpin'! It's rated at 75 watts, but it's not usable with a drummer in my opinion. The direct out is outstanding! I have used it at small club gigs with my EUB and run it direct into the board. It worked GREAT! another negative to it is that you can't dial in a "clean" tone. But for practice the digital modeled tones are great and very usuable. I recommend the amp.
 
#59
Line6 has always been about business. Guitar comes first and bass products were always an afterthought. Maybe they are better today, I don't know. What I do believe is that it is generally a bad idea to tie core functions like power amp and speakers to a digital front end. Digital tech becomes obsolete. Good speakers and power amps really don't. Any idea what a Spider or Spider II guitar amp goes for these days? I'd rather get a solid amp and add a Line6 board in front. That way, it's only the board that goes away in a couple years when better modelling comes out. Just my opinion...
 
#60
Their LD series heads never inspired me, but the POD series is STELLAR, IMO. Yes, the presets are unusable crap. However, once you learn to tweak the thing, you get a bottomless pit of interesting tones, with great versatility for DI, recording, blending, EQ, and the like. I actually am a FIRM believer that no bassist should be without a POD in their toolkit. You may not always need to use it, but it's a swiss army knife of sound that can do an absurd amount of good for you. Sadly, they've been less and less focused on bass recently :(

The GOOD news is that you can hook it up to your computer, and modify dozens of parameters on the amp models, effects, and the rest. This allows you to bring it more into the realm of bassellence.
 

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