Bought the Line6 M9 - Some thoughts...

[Faraldi]

Guitar Center had the 15% off thing going this weekend and I recently sold some gear so my timing was perfect.

The M9 is incredible. I really haven't found anything (yet) that I would call "useless" which is hard to say about any kind of multi. I spend the good part of Saturday night with this thing.

Initial impressions...

The size is so deceiving. I almost got discouraged at the store because I said there's no way this thing can be functional and have the tone I want. Very wrong. The dimensions are small.. 10" wide by 6" tall. It fit in my gig bag! It's solid metal so a bit heavy but that's great for keeping it in place on stage. Switches are very solid and I believe this thing was over-engineered in a very good way.

Stomp boxes...

Tube screamer is dead on. The DOD-250 effect (called "Overdrive") is beautiful in that it provides such feel at lower gain levels and anger at higher levels. The "Classic Distortion" which is the ProCo Rat sounds great as does the Chandler Tube Driver model.

Delays and modulation...

More than you could imagine and so many options from ultra-lush to lo-res. I actually stacked two delay effects in series (continue reading) and got some very cool results that I used in church Sunday AM.


Stacking effects...

So the board is set up with three "columns" of customizable effects. Unit 1, 2&3

Consider Unit 1. This unit has two switches, one of which can be used at a time. Unit 1A (bottom) might have a Tubescreamer and Unit 1B might have a Rat. Use one or the other. Or, use neither. So in reality, each Unit has three states. (which I assume is the reason for the name M9. 3x3)

Unit 2 and 3 are the same so you have many options as to how you want to set up your scene. (BTW, you can create 24 different pedal combos, each of which are called "scenes") They save in real time or manual, whichever you choose (which is very nice to have the option)

So I mentioned "stacking" effects. Here's what I mean.

Let's say on Unit 1A I have that Tubescreamer at a gain level of 3. Then in Unit 2A I have a Colorsound Overdriver set at 5. I've managed their levels to be consistent on their own so that I can use either/or. Well, this effects unit allows me to actually use both in a cascading fashion. I tried this with a number of different stomp boxes and there are some very cool results to be had.

True bypass...

Yes, it is absolutely a true bypass circuit (if you choose that option!) What I mean is that you can either choose true bypass or DSP bypass. When you choose true, and then have no effects running at all, there is actually a mechanical unit within the box that physically switches the signal to a hard wired state. Incredible. Now, you might ask why would you choose anything but true BP? The reason is that if you are in DSP mode, your trailing effects like delay and reverb will continue on until they fade out rather than an abrupt end.

They thought of everything.

Looper...

There is a 28 second looper which includes a single play mode and a reverse. The looper also has a 1/2 speed mode that can be used for recording so in reality, you have 56 seconds of available time.

You can also switch your effects and can even switch scenes while a loop is playing. I was going to buy a $180 Boss RC-2 to go with my ME-50 but the Line 6 does it all and does it much better.

I could go on more but I'm sure reviews will start coming in online.

Many who know me know that I've been torn between pedals and models. I won't say that I'll NEVER use anything else. But I will say that this thing was worth the $340 I spent and I should be in really good shape for a pretty long time.

[studio1087]

I spooky-good isn't it?

I made this video about 10 days ago.....



I have now sold enough pedals to cover the M9 and a new Larrivee Parlor Guitar.

The weirdest thing is that I like it more with acoustic than I do electric. If you have an acoustic/electric guitar or even an acoustic and a sound hole pickup......try an acoustic with the M9.

The Particle Reverb sounds like a string section behind the acoustic. The EQ's and soft analog delays and reverbs are amazing on acoustic.

You have to give it a try.

What a cool device.

I used to chuckle at multi-effects. This thing is cool.

John

[refin]

Meh.......I guess I would have to sit down with one myself.

[Faraldi]

Originally Posted by studio1087

I spooky-good isn't it?

I made this video about 10 days ago.....



I have now sold enough pedals to cover the M9 and a new Larrivee Parlor Guitar.

The weirdest thing is that I like it more with acoustic than I do electric. If you have an acoustic/electric guitar or even an acoustic and a sound hole pickup......try an acoustic with the M9.

The Particle Reverb sounds like a string section behind the acoustic. The EQ's and soft analog delays and reverbs are amazing on acoustic.

You have to give it a try.

What a cool device.

I used to chuckle at multi-effects. This thing is cool.

John

Hey John...

No, the spooky thing is that your YouTube video is literally the reason why I made the purchase!!!

Seriously, I saw your video and then bought it. I think the thing that got me was the form factor. Your "hand comparison" blew me away. And when I got to GC and saw it, I was amazed. In fact, I just updated the firmware and now it's even better.

Man I'm so pumped that I got this thing. The looper is amazing too. I really missed having a looper. No bad GAS on this purchase.

Oh and the particle verb is huge. I picture starting a concert with that thing going.

Joe

[Durango Twango]

I just picked up an Ernie Ball Junior volume pedal (25K) last night to use as an expression pedal. VERY good addition - several wah choices, a volume pedal, controlling modulation effects, even gain settings without bending over in the middle of a set is priceless. The practicality factor is huge for a couple of really salient reasons - the noise I was getting from my wah pedal is gone, the wahs sound great, and this is the first volume pedal setup I've used that doesn't suck tone. I've actually ended up with a lot less stuff between my amp and guitar as a result. My board is a heck of a lot more capable and got downsized from a Pedaltrain 2 to a Junior. Very cool.

Added pic

[jakatone]

Originally Posted by Faraldi

Guitar Center had the 15% off thing going this weekend and I recently sold some gear so my timing was perfect.

The M9 is incredible. I really haven't found anything (yet) that I would call "useless" which is hard to say about any kind of multi. I spend the good part of Saturday night with this thing.

Initial impressions...

The size is so deceiving. I almost got discouraged at the store because I said there's no way this thing can be functional and have the tone I want. Very wrong. The dimensions are small.. 10" wide by 6" tall. It fit in my gig bag! It's solid metal so a bit heavy but that's great for keeping it in place on stage. Switches are very solid and I believe this thing was over-engineered in a very good way.

Stomp boxes...

Tube screamer is dead on. The DOD-250 effect (called "Overdrive") is beautiful in that it provides such feel at lower gain levels and anger at higher levels. The "Classic Distortion" which is the ProCo Rat sounds great as does the Chandler Tube Driver model.

Delays and modulation...

More than you could imagine and so many options from ultra-lush to lo-res. I actually stacked two delay effects in series (continue reading) and got some very cool results that I used in church Sunday AM.


Stacking effects...

So the board is set up with three "columns" of customizable effects. Unit 1, 2&3

Consider Unit 1. This unit has two switches, one of which can be used at a time. Unit 1A (bottom) might have a Tubescreamer and Unit 1B might have a Rat. Use one or the other. Or, use neither. So in reality, each Unit has three states. (which I assume is the reason for the name M9. 3x3)

Unit 2 and 3 are the same so you have many options as to how you want to set up your scene. (BTW, you can create 24 different pedal combos, each of which are called "scenes") They save in real time or manual, whichever you choose (which is very nice to have the option)

So I mentioned "stacking" effects. Here's what I mean.

Let's say on Unit 1A I have that Tubescreamer at a gain level of 3. Then in Unit 2A I have a Colorsound Overdriver set at 5. I've managed their levels to be consistent on their own so that I can use either/or. Well, this effects unit allows me to actually use both in a cascading fashion. I tried this with a number of different stomp boxes and there are some very cool results to be had.

True bypass...

Yes, it is absolutely a true bypass circuit (if you choose that option!) What I mean is that you can either choose true bypass or DSP bypass. When you choose true, and then have no effects running at all, there is actually a mechanical unit within the box that physically switches the signal to a hard wired state. Incredible. Now, you might ask why would you choose anything but true BP? The reason is that if you are in DSP mode, your trailing effects like delay and reverb will continue on until they fade out rather than an abrupt end.

They thought of everything.

Looper...

There is a 28 second looper which includes a single play mode and a reverse. The looper also has a 1/2 speed mode that can be used for recording so in reality, you have 56 seconds of available time.

You can also switch your effects and can even switch scenes while a loop is playing. I was going to buy a $180 Boss RC-2 to go with my ME-50 but the Line 6 does it all and does it much better.

I could go on more but I'm sure reviews will start coming in online.

Many who know me know that I've been torn between pedals and models. I won't say that I'll NEVER use anything else. But I will say that this thing was worth the $340 I spent and I should be in really good shape for a pretty long time.

how is the M9 when compared to the M13? is it like a "small brother" type of a thing or is there actually a difference in the sound?

[bluescube]

Wish they had a $199 version.........M6?

[getbent]

Originally Posted by bluescube

Wish they had a $199 version.........M6?

sell some pedals... it is worth the dough.

[Faraldi]

Originally Posted by jakatone

how is the M9 when compared to the M13? is it like a "small brother" type of a thing or is there actually a difference in the sound?

Good question.

The "brain" is exactly the same as far as I know. I think the only differences would be the additional switches which may give you more functionality depending upon what you need.

However, the M13 is HUGE compared to the M9 in size. Here is a complete comparison...

http://line6.com/m9/compare.html

Note, the pictures are deceiving. The M9 is much smaller than the M13. Compare based upon the foot switches.

Like I said earlier, I am extremely pleased with this thing.

[Faraldi]

Originally Posted by Durango Twango

I just picked up an Ernie Ball Junior volume pedal (25K) last night to use as an expression pedal. VERY good addition - several wah choices, a volume pedal, controlling modulation effects, even gain settings without bending over in the middle of a set is priceless. The practicality factor is huge for a couple of really salient reasons - the noise I was getting from my wah pedal is gone, the wahs sound great, and this is the first volume pedal setup I've used that doesn't suck tone. I've actually ended up with a lot less stuff between my amp and guitar as a result. My board is a heck of a lot more capable and got downsized from a Pedaltrain 2 to a Junior. Very cool.

Added pic

Hey DT,

Excellent choice going with the Ernie Ball. Yes, the M9 will play nice with any 25K pot and the EB is built like a tank. It's going to be the one I get as well.


2 questions...

1. How does it hook to the M9?

2. I see you have pedals with the M9. What are your thought on how they work together? I tried my Boss OD-3 in front of it and it's as if it's just like adding another pedal to other effects. That was NOT the case with the ME-50 I used to have.

Thinking about creating an M9/M13 owners club on the forum.

[jakatone]

Originally Posted by Faraldi

Good question.

The "brain" is exactly the same as far as I know. I think the only differences would be the additional switches which may give you more functionality depending upon what you need.

However, the M13 is HUGE compared to the M9 in size. Here is a complete comparison...

http://line6.com/m9/compare.html

Note, the pictures are deceiving. The M9 is much smaller than the M13. Compare based upon the foot switches.

Like I said earlier, I am extremely pleased with this thing.

thanks, i am really eager to get the M13, and just one last question.
How do the leslie simulations sound?? i am a big fan of the Line 6 roto machine, but it went dead yesteray some comparison??

[Faraldi]

Originally Posted by jakatone

thanks, i am really eager to get the M13, and just one last question.
How do the leslie simulations sound?? i am a big fan of the Line 6 roto machine, but it went dead yesteray some comparison??

Not sure (never tried it) but I know that the M9 and M13 contains a lot of modeling from other products in the Line 6 portfolio.

[getbent]

Originally Posted by jakatone

thanks, i am really eager to get the M13, and just one last question.
How do the leslie simulations sound?? i am a big fan of the Line 6 roto machine, but it went dead yesteray some comparison??

I own a real one, so I feel qualified to comment.

really awesome. I want to say something bad about the m9, but I really like it a lot. I can't believe how good the rotary is on it...

[Durango Twango]

Originally Posted by Faraldi

Hey DT,

Excellent choice going with the Ernie Ball. Yes, the M9 will play nice with any 25K pot and the EB is built like a tank. It's going to be the one I get as well.


2 questions...

1. How does it hook to the M9?

2. I see you have pedals with the M9. What are your thought on how they work together? I tried my Boss OD-3 in front of it and it's as if it's just like adding another pedal to other effects. That was NOT the case with the ME-50 I used to have.

Thinking about creating an M9/M13 owners club on the forum.

Joe,

1) Super simple hookup - 1/4" patch cable from the pedals out to the expression pedal jack. I agree about the EB's - love the way these things are built.

2) The drives work great with the M9. These two pedals are very amp-like and compliment each other. Both clean up with the guitars volume pot and have a very natural sounding gain. When I stack the two pedals (both stages of the Jetter into the red, very Marshall sounding channel of the Blackstone) they sound pretty fuzz-like and STILL clean up. I think the drives on the M9 are actually pretty good (I like the TS and Tube OD +/- graphic EQ) but I don't find them to respond quite the same as these pedals and by using these I free up other effects channels. The M9 takes whatever gain I throw at it without any additional clipping I can hear. I could easily gig with the M9's OD's, but this is a little more versatile overall. Plus the Jetter can get REALLY nice Dumble thing going which is not a tone I use a lot, but fits nicely once in awhile. Haven't been able to find that tone in the M9 drives.

getbent - Yeah man, I agree about the Leslie - kind of weird good. I also like the tremelo's and vibrato quite a bit. I'm finding the Univibe a little weak, but found that if I run the Script Phaser into the Vibrato it's a pretty cool variant. More than enough swirly stuff for my needs.

I really didn't expect this thing to work out so well, but it really does and let's me have a lot more options than I had with a traditional pedal board. Way cost effective.

[bayside]

The demo sounds like it's coming from an I-Pod..plinky and fizzy like so many do it all approaches It doesn't have any balls. This Line 6 stuff can do 200 things and cost 340.00,
but wheres the BEEF ?

[Durango Twango]

Originally Posted by bayside

The demo sounds like it's coming from an I-Pod..plinky and fizzy like so many do it all approaches It doesn't have any balls. This Line 6 stuff can do 200 things and cost 340.00,
but wheres the BEEF ?

Have you played one? Don't confuse demos with auditioning gear - plinky and fizzy is not what I hear at all.

[bayside]

Durango Twango your right the demo was poorly recorded. I haven't played one, but I was standing/playing next to a guy that was playing through one last week and his tone sucked. I've owned and played through Line6 products and in my opinion they sound wimpy and thin. They don't have great compressors or lush delay's and tremelo's, or robust distortion they are an approximation of these sounds and devices. But they, as you pointed out are cost effective and that, I think, gets things a little confused. Also I think it's helpful to play through some high end pedals to see just how much difference there is. Say Keely comp> Wampler Hot Wired>Wampler Analog/Echo for instance... never heard a modeler that could hang with that combo. Comparatively the Line6 stuff are toys. . my .02 cents

[studio1087]

I've had several Ibanez CS-9 Chorus pedals (gigged with them in the 80's) and I have a BBE Mind Bender (Chorus-Vibe designed by Will Ray of the Hellecasters).

The M9 sounds deeper and warmer than any of them.

I haven't played one...

That says it all.

They don't have great compressors or lush delay's and tremelo's

I think you're wrong. I played the M9 side by side with my Carbon Copy, BBE Two Timer and EH Memory Man. The M9 sounded great through my Princeton Reveb and my Deluxe Reverb.

You've got strong opinions for someone who admits never having used the thing. Maybe the guy that you only "stood next to" was a poor guitar player. I've heard teenagers at Guitar Center who sound poor through a Fender Twin.

I tend not to be extremely abrasive when I don't have first hand knowledge of a thing. That's just me.

I know that a Flip Mino HD camera has limitations. It's a toy video camera. Half the purpose of the video was to demo how easy the thing is to program. The instruction book section in English is five pages long. I thought the simplicity was amazing.

I do enjoy making quick videos with the Flip. It's fun. How do you record your YouTube videos? I'd love to see one.

I sold 12 of 28 pedals that I owned after buying the M9. The money that I made selling pedals paid for the M9 and this Larrivee P-03 Parlor that I bought from Guitar Adoptions in IL....



I studied, I tested at the store, I did side by side tests at home with good tube amps and pedals and I made a decision after doing so. I form opinions slowly.

The Italian Spruce top on the Parlor is sweet.

Have a nice day.

John

[Parma_TeleMon]

Does the M9 have a software interface, or is it all done on the board?

[Durango Twango]

Originally Posted by bayside

Durango Twango your right the demo was poorly recorded. I haven't played one, but I was standing/playing next to a guy that was playing through one last week and his tone sucked. I've owned and played through Line6 products and in my opinion they sound wimpy and thin. They don't have great compressors or lush delay's and tremelo's, or robust distortion they are an approximation of these sounds and devices. But they, as you pointed out are cost effective and that, I think, gets things a little confused. Also I think it's helpful to play through some high end pedals to see just how much difference there is. Say Keely comp> Wampler Hot Wired>Wampler Analog/Echo for instance... never heard a modeler that could hang with that combo. Comparatively the Line6 stuff are toys. . my .02 cents

I just sold: RetroSonic analog delay, Barber LTD SR, Barber Super Sport, Fulltone MDV-2, Fulltone Supa Trem. I wouldn't be able to list the boutique effects and hand built tube amps I've owned over the years. After all that, I do NOT find the M9 to sound wimpy and thin. I find, like every other effects pedal I've owned, that it has to be dialed in a bit for your rig, which is extremely easy to do.

I'm always impressed how certain pieces of gear are not good enough for folks on discussion pages yet find their way onto numerous pro (ie big name, real pros) boards. I believe Brett Mason's board has a DL4, David Grissom uses one as well and on his smaller boards uses Boss delays. Mike Stern uses three Boss pedals and Vince Gill has numerous Boss pedals on his board. The list goes on and on. Someone should tell these guys that they are using toys.

As for cost effectiveness. I would never by crap to save money. I'm from the "buy it once" camp. I have come to realize how much hype and nonsense flies around these gear discussions and I don't over-value boutique. Sometimes it's better, sometimes it's simply not. A great deal of boutique gear is simply a slightly tweaked copy of production stuff. I play two hand built teles into hand built tube amps - I would not stick a bad pedal in the middle to save a few bucks.

Again, if one has not used a piece of equipment in person, taking the proper time to learn how to use it, sweeping generalizations and strong opinions are little more than inflammatory and I don't see them as constructive.

[getbent]

the chances that one pedal will be the solution for all people is nil.

There will be some folks who won't like the m9. There will be some who don't like any pedal. There will be some who find the m9 useful and good.

That is what makes it interesting. It is completely legit to make a judgement about gear using internet videos. We also know that it isn't the same as doing it ourselves, but, if needed it can be a subsititute. The porn industry is proof enough of that.

I have used mine for a full week now and have very positive things to say about the device.... but, it won't be for everyone... I'm just glad that I like mine and can sell a bunch of pedals and recoup the cost and then some.

[PixelMover]

John - Very well made video!

[studio1087]

Thanks!

Best Regrads,

Johnny "DeMarco" Goldbach

(sorry Mr DeMarco - where ever you are)

[casey2910]

john, for a man who plays a telecaster, you are very eloquent my friend. i found the youtube demo very interesting in what you were showing.

[studio1087]

You're way too kind. Thanks. I like gadets. I like trying things. I work in packaging engineering which means that I spend my days in factories explaining high speed shrink film and strapping and labeling equipment to factory engineers. My boss is convinced that I get a lot of tough purchase orders because engineers will pay money to shut me the hell up! (-:

It's tough being a middle aged nerd.

Have a great weekend,

John