McRiff

Well, first of all, thanks Line6 for finally releasing this long anticipated update. The truth is that when I bought the Amplifi nearly 2 months ago I expected that features such as multiple presets (as in a heck of a lot more than 4!) and better compatibility with the Shortboard would be just around the corner. I hadn't expected it to take so long (these features should have been there from day 1), but I'm glad we finally have it. Being so newly released, I haven't had much time to experiment with it yet, but my first impressions are very positive. I very quickly skimmed through the sounds of the various new presets. I see the factory presets as a showcase for the range of sounds you can achieve with the Amplifi - I'll probably only keep a handful of them and replace the others with custom tones. Just having the 100 presets is great, I'd have been happy even if they were empty! Shortboard integration seems to be much improved based on my limited testing. Navigating through the various banks and presets is very straightforward. Turning on and off individual effects in the effects chain seems to be much improved. Before, you could turn effects on and off via the board and the change wouldn't be reflected in the app, or vice versa. It could get very confusing to figure out which effects were actually active. Now, changes made via one seem to be much more reliably reflected in the other. There does seem to be some lag on the app display at times, such as, when using the wah pedal, the corresponding slider does not move smoothly with the sweep of the pedal. This appears to be just a graphical bug though, because the wah sounds just fine. There's still room for improvement - such as making some improvements to the Remote App interface (i.e. making it easier to adjust volume without having to backtrack several screens), but this firmware update goes a long way towards making the Amplifi live up to its potential. Hopefully these improvements will also attract more guitarists to the Amplifi community and lead to a better quantity and quality of tones for us all to share.

Interesting question, I wasn't sure how they were gonna implement changing banks via the FBV Express. There was speculation (pure speculation) that, for example, the A/B pedals would navigate up and down banks while C/D would navigate within each bank. Thing is, I don't think anyone knows yet exactly how the Amplifi has been tweaked to work with the Express. For the moment it seems a case of trial and error. I have the Shortboard and that has been very straightforward to use with the new firmware because the Bank Up/Down pedals finally work as intended. Not sure how to do it with the Express, but the Remote App 1.2 Update specifically mentioned better integration with the Shortboard AND Express, so presumably there is some way !

Can't wait to check it out! This should be a big step towards realising the full potential of the Amplifi system.

Haven't had a chance to try this yet, but sounds like the remote app may have 'jumped the gun' on the firmware update. This presumably means that the firmware is imminent though - the Remote App update refers to the 100 presets and better FBV board compatibility, so it looks like it's gonna deliver what we've been hoping for...

I agree. Obviously it's all just speculation at the moment, but considering that Line6 advertise that Amplifi is compatible with BOTH mkII FBV pedals, it would be appropriate that they ensured both pedals would be capable of utilizing the upgraded number of presets. Your creative solution would make a lot of sense. We'll just have to wait (...and wait) and see.

According to TheRealZap (talking on another thread about the possibility of an Android Remote app for Amplifi) "there have been cases where announced updates have taken nearly a year to materialize." ...let's hope this isn't one of those cases !

Hmmm...there have been several rumours as to the features that will be added/improved in Firmware 1.1, but the only official announcement I can find ( http://line6.com/news/general/1533 ) only specifically mentions the upgrade to 100 presets. It's speculated that these 100 presets will only be accessible via the FBV Shortboard, so better integration of the foot controllers would presumably also be a feature. Overall, I'm very disappointed with Line6's progress in addressing some glaring deficiencies in the Amplifi. The promised a Firmware 1.1 upgrade is long overdue, the Remote app also needs some tweaking and, in my opinion, the Bluetooth connectivity issue still has not been fixed.

Interesting timeline... This suggestion was "in review" status on IdeaScale in February. 4 months later...still in review! It's been known for some time now that Line6 were going to upgrade the Amplifi with another 24 banks of 4 presets (100 presets total) - ? requiring the Shortboard to access. I figured they'd release this around the same time as the FX100 came out, seeing that it has 100 presets built in. However, still no sign of that Firmware 1.1 upgrade even though we've been teased with all the features it is supposedly going to provide for ages now. Anyone have any idea how much longer this is gonna take?

Yes, many of us have been waiting a long time for this new firmware update. Sounds like it's going to solve every shortcoming of the Amplifi (shortcomings which should never have existed when this product was launched) - 100 presets, better integration of the FVB pedals, more stable connection with the remote app... This update is taking so long, it had better do all those things !

First of all, you are right, there is no manual. The 'Pilot's Guide' that came with it is all there is and I doubt there'll ever be an official manual (I've got a JTV Variax guitar and the promised manual for that product has also never materialised!). Regarding the FBV pedals, it appears that the Express model will always have very limited functionality with the Amplifi (i.e. limited to switching between 4 presets). On the other hand, the Shortboard will apparently allow you to switch between 100 presets (according to pre-release information from Line6 about the v1.1 Firmware upgrade) if and when the Amplifi firmware is upgraded to provide this functionality. Also, the Shortboard will allow to turn on and off individual effects within your presets. Clearly, the Shortboard will allow you much more control over the Amplifi - the caveat being, once again, IF AND WHEN the firmware is upgraded. If you bought the FBV exclusively for the Amplifi, I would recommend returning it - it's functionality with the Amplifi is just too limited in my opinion (I nearly picked up an Express until I realised its limitations). I'd recommend picking up the Shortboard only IF the promised firmware upgrade arrives with fuller support for this controller.

Just press Home Button and On/Off Button together - voila! the screenshot will be saved to your photos. As regards this whole search for the 100 Line6 presets...these are supposed to be readily available to ALL Amplifi users once they have upgraded to the v1.1 Firmware. ...the question is, how long more must we wait for the firmware upgrade?

Hehe...I like the Ferris reference :-) Unfortunately, I'm not sure what might be causing your non-linear expression pedal response. As an aid to diagnosis I would suggest that you create a very simple preset with no noise gate or compression active and see if you experience the same problem with wah and/or volume. It would be very helpful if the Remote app displayed real-time changes as you activated or deactivated pedals in your effects chain and also displayed changes in the position of the expression pedal (other iOS modelling apps have this feature). That would make any erratic position changes graphically evident. If you still have problems you'll have to consider the possibility that you have a faulty pedalboard - presumably this would be readily sorted out by Line6 or the dealer you bought it from.

Yes, Firmware version 1.00.5 is the most recent version - has been available for over a month. Firmware 1.1 is the version that Line6 have been teasing us with - it will apparently provide the ability to store 100 presets (instead of just 4 currently) which is long overdue, especially seeing how it's sister product, the Amplifi 100fx, already has this capability. Better integration of the shortboard is also likely to be provided with Firmware v1.1 and hopefully Bluetooth connectivity will be improved. The Amplifi is currently punching well below it's weight, hopefully the new firmware will be worth the long wait and will make it a contender - bring it on!!

Yes, there are MANY ways in which the Remote app could be improved. The Amplifi in general has a way to go before it fulfills it's full potential - hopefully this will be achieved via future updates. I suggest you submit your suggestions to Line6's IdeaScale for consideration. There is some evidence that Line6 are addressing features requested via that forum i.e. better shortboard integration and access to far more presets (and hopefully more reliable Bluetooth connectivity!).