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Overall, Is There A Line6 Product Quality Issue?


smrybacki
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Today, I have read several threads of people having what I perceive as genuine quality issues with their Line6 gear, including:

- Howling headphone outputs

- Footswitch issues

- Firmware failures

 

In my own world:

- my POD HD500 indeed has an F3 footswtich that acts dodgy as hell and won't do what I assigned it to do much of the time.

- I can assign FS2 to a volume pedal function, but it won't "take" and refuses to use anything but FS1 until I save the new preset and come back to it to change it after I go to any other preset.  Then, it seems to work most of the time, but nbot always.

- Last night, my brand new (October 2012) JTV59 developed a problem where the magnetic pickup selector switch (no modelling invloved) in the up (Neck) poitision went wonky and screached with static.  While fiddling about with it, i noticed that moving the guitar to a resting on my lap position (resulting in a slight bump) caused it to fix itself for s short time.  More movement produced intermittent cut outs.  Troubleshot it to a loose connection inside the guitar somewhere (most likely) and even with my strong electronics background, I would sooner traverse razor wire than to open this thing up and try to sort that sure to be rat's nest all out.

 

I guess what I am getting at is this;  Since Yamaha just acquired Line6, as a person who works in business I know this acquisition likely took months to work through, so I wonder did quality slip while everyone at Line6 dotted their i's and crossed their t's in prep for the big day of announcement?

 

I have to say that overall I am not too thrilled with the quality of what I have anyway, from a hardware and firmware standpoint. It's all well and good to spend $1500 buying two pieceds of gear that are supposed to effectly replace dozens of guitars, amps and effects UNTIL it ceases to work properly.  At that point things change for me.

 

 

Thoughts from the community on this?

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Today, I have read several threads of people having what I perceive as genuine quality issues with their Line6 gear, including:

 

- Howling headphone outputs

- Footswitch issues

- Firmware failures

 

In my own world:

 

- my POD HD500 indeed has an F3 footswtich that acts dodgy as hell and won't do what I assigned it to do much of the time.

- I can assign FS2 to a volume pedal function, but it won't "take" and refuses to use anything but FS1 until I save the new preset and come back to it to change it after I go to any other preset.  Then, it seems to work most of the time, but nbot always.

- Last night, my brand new (October 2012) JTV59 developed a problem where the magnetic pickup selector switch (no modelling invloved) in the up (Neck) poitision went wonky and screached with static.  While fiddling about with it, i noticed that moving the guitar to a resting on my lap position (resulting in a slight bump) caused it to fix itself for s short time.  More movement produced intermittent cut outs.  Troubleshot it to a loose connection inside the guitar somewhere (most likely) and even with my strong electronics background, I would sooner traverse razor wire than to open this thing up and try to sort that sure to be rat's nest all out.

 

I guess what I am getting at is this;  Since Yamaha just acquired Line6, as a person who works in business I know this acquisition likely took months to work through, so I wonder did quality slip while everyone at Line6 dotted their i's and crossed their t's in prep for the big day of announcement?

 

I have to say that overall I am not too thrilled with the quality of what I have anyway, from a hardware and firmware standpoint. It's all well and good to spend $1500 buying two pieceds of gear that are supposed to effectly replace dozens of guitars, amps and effects UNTIL it ceases to work properly.  At that point things change for me.

 

 

Thoughts from the community on this?

I have been a Line 6 supporter/user since the first POD Bean came out and onto POD Pro 2.0......which I just sold last year after a decade of killer use. It left here working fine and I never encountered an issue. When Line 6 released the POD XT, while some function now were easier to get to I PERSONALLY FELT it sounded more digital than the 2.0 so I stuck with what I had and paid little attention when the X3 came out. Then came the HD Line and so, with all the hype and research I went for one and here is my conclusions:

 

SHORT ANSWER: Yes, Line 6 quality control and ethical practices is in the toilet!

 

- After all the hype of the POD HD they release it and while the digital effects end are of superior quality at the end of the day delay is delay / chorus is chorus, etc. So this made me take a look at the X3. The have over 100 amp models including the bass plus mic room simulations. The offer more options on the ins/outs. They do what they SAY they do! The HD's have 1/4 of the amps sims, lack the CPU power to do what they claim and the amps seem more muddy in the name of supposedly more organic.

 

- Line 6 releases the POD HD-X. The difference? A higher powered CPU that now does what the first was advertised to do but would end up with SYSTEM OVERLOAD. I also understand the floor models now have better buttons. So everyone that bought an HD now has to sell it at a loss and buy the HD-X because Line 6 screwed up.

 

I've since picked up 2 Line 6 X3 Pros and am happy as hell. Am selling the HD Bean and the HD Pro and washing my hands of future Line 6 products. There's too much changing around, this company buying that one.....Gibson buying Cakewalk, Yamaha buying Line 6. If I were you I would either get your HD500 repaired if under warranty or sell it off and get a X3 Floorboard. More options, more amps, so you don't have 24 bit effects.....you won't notice!! LOL!!!

 

That's my honest to god assessment. You know, I listen to recordings of the past 10 years and wish I had the drum machine/program options I have now, maybe a better singer but my guitar tone out of my POD Pro 2.0 still sounds GREAT and I wouldn't change a thing about it! The X3 was the last model Line 6 did before quality started to go down hill. Sweetwater is blowing out the HD Beans for $199 so what does that tell you?

De Allen

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I have been a Line 6 supporter/user since the first POD Bean came out and onto POD Pro 2.0......which I just sold last year after a decade of killer use. It left here working fine and I never encountered an issue. When Line 6 released the POD XT, while some function now were easier to get to I PERSONALLY FELT it sounded more digital than the 2.0 so I stuck with what I had and paid little attention when the X3 came out. Then came the HD Line and so, with all the hype and research I went for one and here is my conclusions:

 

SHORT ANSWER: Yes, Line 6 quality control and ethical practices is in the toilet!

 

- After all the hype of the POD HD they release it and while the digital effects end are of superior quality at the end of the day delay is delay / chorus is chorus, etc. So this made me take a look at the X3. The have over 100 amp models including the bass plus mic room simulations. The offer more options on the ins/outs. They do what they SAY they do! The HD's have 1/4 of the amps sims, lack the CPU power to do what they claim and the amps seem more muddy in the name of supposedly more organic.

 

- Line 6 releases the POD HD-X. The difference? A higher powered CPU that now does what the first was advertised to do but would end up with SYSTEM OVERLOAD. I also understand the floor models now have better buttons. So everyone that bought an HD now has to sell it at a loss and buy the HD-X because Line 6 screwed up.

 

I've since picked up 2 Line 6 X3 Pros and am happy as hell. Am selling the HD Bean and the HD Pro and washing my hands of future Line 6 products. There's too much changing around, this company buying that one.....Gibson buying Cakewalk, Yamaha buying Line 6. If I were you I would either get your HD500 repaired if under warranty or sell it off and get a X3 Floorboard. More options, more amps, so you don't have 24 bit effects.....you won't notice!! LOL!!!

 

That's my honest to god assessment. You know, I listen to recordings of the past 10 years and wish I had the drum machine/program options I have now, maybe a better singer but my guitar tone out of my POD Pro 2.0 still sounds GREAT and I wouldn't change a thing about it! The X3 was the last model Line 6 did before quality started to go down hill. Sweetwater is blowing out the HD Beans for $199 so what does that tell you?

De Allen

 

Yeah, the whole HD500x thing jacked me up a bit as you say.  I felt like "wait a minute, you promised ME all that with the 500 and now it is substandard compared to the new promised machine?"

 

I had a discussion here when that happened and I found mixed feelings from others.  My bigger gripe than the increased DSP was the footswitches actually.  I don't always need or want to throw everything and the kitchen sink into my tone path, so I rarely run out of DSP unless I am screwing with something experimental.  But footswitches are simple beasts and put quality ones into your (at the time) flagship floor processor seems like a no brainer.   Yet, somehow they put better ones (so they say) into the one I don't have.

 

Sour grapes?  Maybe, but not without basis.

 

I had a PODxT I bought for half price that gave me little trouble, but then I didn't use it much to be honest.  When I got the HD500 (and later the JTV59) I was really looking for a decent recording rig and experimental setup to play whatever/whenever because of the plethora of choices in amps, effects and now guitar sounds.  But, with this sort of flexibility come a complexity that can't be dodged really.  At the price point they are selling these for and considering the engineering aspect (time and money spent with no return initially), they had to cut corners somewhere.  ALL businesses think this way until they experience losses in sales, but I digress.  The point is that I suspect they got enough returns initially that sent the production engineers scrambling for switches and extra powerful microprocessors.

 

Ironically, I also have a Vox Tonelab (table top) with the added VC-4 MIDI Foot Controller that still runs like a tank.  It even has a S/PDIF output (albeit an optical one) but in the ten years I've had it, I've had not a single hiccup or other issue and it is starting to look better lately (glad I didn't sell it) for recording and so on.  It is of course more limited than the HD500 (16 amps of decent quality, maybe 20 effects of good quality), but it functions properly at least.

 

One last point, before any potential fanboys with hurt feelings show up here to flame on me as a hater, I LIKE Line6's ideas and creativity.  I just think their execution in the production phase is suspect right now.

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I mentioned this previously and aside from a few the LINE 6 ZOMBIE FOLLOWERS and seeded employees will invalidate our claims by attacking us and our thinking so at the end of the day all negative comments will be buried in BS. Line 6 of yesterday would have offered all buyers of the HD a free upgrade chip or one for very little in cost and offer to repair the cheap switches on units like yours. Today we are just screwed and the excuse that the HD came out 3 years ago doesn't cut it for me because all the HD-X is is what the HD promised to be and addressing the faulty switch issue.

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I am moving this thread from the Pod HD area to the Lounge area of the forum. This thread is not product specific, and it is not something that requires support, so I believe the Lounge is the proper spot for the comments and personal opinions.

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I am moving this thread from the Pod HD area to the Lounge area of the forum. This thread is not product specific, and it is not something that requires support, so I believe the Lounge is the proper spot for the comments and personal opinions.

 

Heck, I forgot this place existed...sorry for posting in the wrong place folks.  Still, this is a good question worth discussing.

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