Duuuude!

[alice@lgbtqia.space]

Duuuude! I went back to American Music to look at bass guitars for fun, and the guy who usually helps me was like "we got a pedal in that works with the amp you bought last time, it's behind the counter with your name on it. Free."

It turns out to be a $200 FBV MKII 🙀

Fuck yeah 🤘

#Gratitude

[kevingamin@twit.social]

@alice What does it do and, more importantly, does my wife, who plays electric violin, need it?

[swelljoe@mas.to]

@kevingamin @alice it's a controller for the onboard effects in some Line6 amps. So, it doesn't do anything on its own, but with an amp to match, it can do everything*.

*-By some definition of "everything", but it does a lot. They cram a ton of effects and models into their amps.

[kevingamin@twit.social]

@swelljoe @alice I need to check her equipment. Birthday’s in March, so I’m always good for inspiration.

[swelljoe@mas.to]

@kevingamin @alice Line6 is lowkey goated when having too many sounds in a tiny affordable package is the vibe.

I've got one of their amps in the living room for noodling (the real tube amps are in a room devoted to guitars) and I can't say a bad word about it. I also have a POD Go for the pedal board when I want some sound I don't have a specific pedal for, as it can also do everything*.

They also make cheap and cheerful stuff like this (again, does everything*): https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/PODExpGuitar--line-6-pod-express-guitar

[swelljoe@mas.to]

@kevingamin @alice and, because Line6 gets no respect in the used market, you can pick up older models for dirt cheap, and they've been quite good for at least a few generations and ~10 years or more. They were very early to the modeling and multi-effects thing, so they've had plenty of practice.

[aizuchi@hachyderm.io]

@swelljoe @kevingamin @alice why no respect? I mean, i understand that guitar heads have Opinions (tm)

[swelljoe@mas.to]

@aizuchi @kevingamin @alice a bunch of reasons. It's always been a value brand rather than a boutique brand...there was a time when "low cost" and "quality" didn't really fit together in a digital multi-effect unit. The early POD and Spider models sounded pretty cheesy. But, compute keeps getting cheaper, so they can cram really powerful DSP into cheap devices now, and they've gotten better at the software and modeling side in the 30 years they've been doing it (again, they were very early).

[swelljoe@mas.to]

@aizuchi @kevingamin @alice I mean, the amps are still a little limited by their budget. It costs money to make high quality physical stuff, like a speaker. But, even that's gotten better over the years, and their current and previous generations sound quite good.

Another element is a whole generation of players started on a Line 6 back when they weren't so great, so they feel like they have to "graduate" to more expensive stuff. But, it wouldn't pain me to gig a Line 6 Spider or a Catalyst.

[swelljoe@mas.to]

@aizuchi @kevingamin @alice oh, but, also guitarists, like synth players, like physical knobs for everything. One pedal per function fits in a guitar players brain better than buttons and inscrutable little LCD screens with pages of options and a computer or phone app.

I mostly use regular single function pedals and tube amps, even though I know I could get less noise and more effects from a multi-effects unit or amp for a lot less money.

Monkey brain likes what it likes.