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Yamaha Buying Line 6


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It's real: http://line6.com/press/releases/1520 Line 6 to be Acquired by Yamaha Corporation

 

 

 

Yamaha Corporation’s acquisition of Line 6, Inc. creates a powerful force to drive innovation and inspire musicians.

CALABASAS, CA – 20.Dec 2013 - Yamaha Corporation and Line 6, Inc. today announced a definitive agreement for Yamaha to acquire Line 6, a leading manufacturer of innovative solutions for musicians. The acquisition expands Yamaha’s portfolio of modeling guitar processing products as well as pro-audio equipment, and offers new and exciting opportunities for accelerated growth for both companies.

Line 6 products have been at the cutting edge of digital audio development for musicians and audio professionals since the company pioneered the digital modeling guitar amplifier in 1996. Line 6 continues to deliver innovation and excellence across its industry-leading portfolio, including POD® multi-effect processors, digital effects, guitar amplifiers, modeling guitars, a range of professional instrument and microphone digital wireless systems, digital live sound mixers, speakers, as well as iOS interfaces.

Under the terms of the agreement, Yamaha will operate Line 6 as a wholly owned subsidiary to fully realize the compelling opportunities for the two brands with Line 6’s operations continuing as before and its management team remaining in place.

“I am very happy that Line 6, which has been creating innovative products and creating new market opportunities consistently over its history, will become a member of the Yamaha group. We look forward to accelerating our growth strategy by pursuing the beneficial effects from both companies and by utilizing Line 6’s core brand power centered on guitarists that is so highly regarded worldwide as well as its unique technology, planning and development capabilities†said Mr. Takuya Nakata, President of Yamaha Corporation.

“For over 30 years of developing products, and even further back to my earliest memories as a developing musician, Yamaha has been the brand for which I have always had the most respect,†said Line 6 co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer Marcus Ryle. “Yamaha has consistently set the standard in our industry for quality and innovation, and I am very proud for Line 6 to now be a part of this incredible legacy.†"Yamaha’s acquisition of Line 6 will help accelerate the realization of our vision to drive innovation for musicians across the globe,†said Line 6 CEO and President Paul Foeckler. “We’re proud that Yamaha recognizes the innovation and value in our people, IP and processes and we’re excited about the opportunities ahead to expand our reachâ€

Outline of agreement

  1. Based on the resolutions adopted by the Line 6 board of directors on December 19 and the Yamaha board of directors on December 20, a definitive agreement has been executed regarding the acquisition of all of the capital stock of Line 6.
  2. Yamaha will acquire all of the capital stock of Line 6 owned by the founders, venture funds and employees.
  3. The transaction is expected to be completed during January 2014 after receipt of customary regulatory approvals.

Wells Fargo Securities, LLC served as financial advisor to Line 6, Inc. and Kirkland & Ellis LLP served as legal advisor to Line 6, Inc.

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Wow... that should be great news... serious capital and a very quality control committed organization.  I would expect some serious new product rollout in the next year in order to capitalize on the merger and create buzz...  Very interesting

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...

 

I remember reading a post in the TGP forum from a Line 6 employee stating that they were very excited about 2014 and that they have been hard at work on a lot of things. I wonder how excited he is now?

Maybe this is why why he was excited?

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Not to rain on anyones parade but, typically it doesn't end well for the company being purchased. Every time you read about an acquisition like this they say "operations continuing as before and its management team remaining in place", 6 months out this is seldom the case. Curb your enthusiasm until you see how it shakes out. Something like this is never about improving the quality of the product, it's purely money.

 

I've used Line6 products for quite awhile and it sure would be a shame to see the ship go down.

 

I'm trying to think of a Yamaha guitar product I've been jazzed about and I'm having a hard time coming up with a single one. Anyone?

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Yamaha is a great company. This is good for everyone. Even Yamaha's cheap guitars are excellent compared to guitars double the price. Yamaha's modeling amp THR is pretty good. They also had G50 guitar to midi controller also outstanding.. Many of their professional audio products have 3 years warranty.. not 1 year  like line 6.      .Line 6 has been upgraded! Trust me.

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that's exactly why yamaha would want to buy line6 in my opinion...

because line6 is good at what yamaha is not....

and yamaha has expertise in electronics manufacturing etc... that will probably help put line6 to the next level...

and likely at a lower cost....

 

i'm also not sure what will ultimately happen... but looks like a good fit...

 

yamaha's been in the PA market for years... and line6's one entry into the market slayed anything they've ever offered...
 

 

I'm trying to think of a Yamaha guitar product I've been jazzed about and I'm having a hard time coming up with a single one. Anyone?

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Can't say that I'm happy about this based on my experience with what Yamaha did with the 01x and mLan. A lot of people invested in their systems and were abandoned by them so I'll be sitting on the side line for any new technology they come out with.

 

Cheers,

 

jayson

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Albertsons bought out United Supermarkets around here, and the peanuts are still on isle 5. Planters is still making them, and I hope the same thing happens with Line 6 and their products... Yea I'm playing Fractal Audio stuff now but the point is still a valid concern, which I'm fixing to get to... Yamaha May make great sounding keyboards but as far as guitar amps go, they are in need of L6 as much as the pod boys must need more capital. For the moment, it sounds great. OTOH, I think it would be a shame to see Line 6 just disappear like an Oldsmobile, swallowed up inside a bloated monster called profit margin rescue and capital gain adjustments. And I would also go as far to say that no one in the Yamaha CEO boardroom knows what a real amp is supposed to sound like, or cares. As long as it turns a profit and isn't a liability according to a select few bean counters. And that idea should now be Line 6's worst fear... That for what ever the reasons, they are no longer in control of making the peanuts or steering the olds... Ymmv....

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I actually work for a company that was family owned for 80 years before being sold to an "Asset Management" company.  We were almost out of business, but they trimmed both hourly and salary, improved production and reduced costs, and we were sold again a few months ago for 1.125 billion (with a b ) dollars.  Not all buyouts are bad.  We are almost back to our pre-sale employment levels, but now we are actually making money.  I will wait and see.  I think it's a good thing.  Yamaha has an excellent track record of running a business.

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Yamaha's multi12 drum pad is the worst piece of gear I have ever bought, and I am very angry that a company would even attempt to put such a bad product on sale. I have no words to describe how bad it is. I feel completly fcked over by yamaha. It will be a long, long time until I buy something yamaha again. I'll be looking at kemper when my pod dies

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.... And I would also go as far to say that no one in the Yamaha CEO boardroom knows what a real amp is supposed to sound like, or cares. As long as it turns a profit and isn't a liability according to a select few bean counters. And that idea should now be Line 6's worst fear... That for what ever the reasons, they are no longer in control of making the peanuts or steering the olds... Ymmv....

And you believe that the owners and founders of line 6 are in it mainly for something other than profit! They can be in it for the love of music,  making great products available for the masses and all that good stuff, but if they don't get their profits in line, they would be history. They're making a good move in both direction, profits and products. Without profits there are no companies, no amplifiers or guitars.

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Yamaha's multi12 drum pad is the worst piece of gear I have ever bought, and I am very angry that a company would even attempt to put such a bad product on sale. I have no words to describe how bad it is. I feel completly fcked over by yamaha. It will be a long, long time until I buy something yamaha again. I'll be looking at kemper when my pod dies

 

Why on earth did you buy it if its so bad?  Didn't you try it first? Why didn't you return it? I have personally had Yamaha gear for years and it has always kicked lollipop and never failed.  I had an awesome Yamaha receiver back in the day and I wish I still had it.  I am very happy Yamaha bought them rather than say Roland who may have taken the tech and killed the products,  I think this will elevate modelling to the next level across the board...  :)​ 

 

PS - Yamaha also owns Steinberg.  Perhaps there is an avenue to collaborate more on that end too with Cubase, Pod Farm, Reason etc...  As much as I like my Line 6 hardware, I see plenty of room for improvement and upgrades in the software and interface realm...

 

 

Yamaha's multi12 drum pad is the worst piece of gear I have ever bought, and I am very angry that a company would even attempt to put such a bad product on sale. I have no words to describe how bad it is. I feel completly fcked over by yamaha. It will be a long, long time until I buy something yamaha again. I'll be looking at kemper when my pod dies

 

I am not direspecting your experience but a thorough search of reviews for the DTX-M12 turned up nothing but very positive reviews from trustworthy sources with the exception of an external editor.  There have been more than 15 sold in the last couple of months on eBay average of $500 so they aren't hard to unload.  I just don't think we can judge this entire corporate transaction or the future of Line 6 products off your one unfortunately disappointing experience.  I think the majority of those with Yamaha products will testify as to a positive outcome...

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I bought it on the internet without testing. Reviews didn't quite reveal just how bad it was. I can't sell it, because no one wants one. A total flop that cost yamaha any future business from me. I have absolutely no respect for a company that drops such turds onto unsuspecting customers.

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PS - Yamaha also owns Steinberg.  Perhaps there is an avenue to collaborate more on that end too with Cubase, Pod Farm, Reason etc...  As much as I like my Line 6 hardware, I see plenty of room for improvement and upgrades in the software and interface realm...

Pretty soon they might start bundling a limited version of Cubase with the PODs and that might be enough for many who don't need a full fledged DAW. I think there will be more value to line 6 products with Yamaha.

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And you believe that the owners and founders of line 6 are in it mainly for something other than profit! 

 

Yes Dean, I think (altho they screwed up badly on some design stuff on the Pod IMHO), they are.... They at least at one point in time were in it for more. They cared about tone at least at one point because the pod sales records reflect this.  Yes, those thoughts may be very naive of me, but I do believe this. If I didn't I would not waste ANY time here. Was their rapport with the user base done correctly? No, not even close compared to other places I am now a part of. But we all screw up and hind site is 20/20 isn't it :P ... I just hope for them this isn't another one...

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Pretty soon they might start bundling a limited version of Cubase with the PODs and that might be enough for many who don't need a full fledged DAW. I think there will be more value to line 6 products with Yamaha

 

 

 

Who doesn't need a full fledged DAW?  ;)

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cubase... yuck. 

Cubase is the most advanced DAW in many aspects. Once you take the little time it needs to get the initial setup, you will realize the power it has. The  VST standard for plugins and software instruments (drum libraries, samplers,..) adopted by every relevant DAW, was founded by Steinberg the makers of Cubase, so the VST integration is better in Cubase than any other DAW. The  ASIO  standard is also Steinberg's creation and again it's better integrated in Cubase. Almost all relevant DAWs will achieve the lowest latency when using ASIO drivers,.....etc.  At any given point in time, cubase has features that are ahead of the rest and are later adopted by other DAWs.  Yamaha seems to be really good at  picking winners.

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Yes Dean, I think (altho they screwed up badly on some design stuff on the Pod IMHO), they are.... They at least at one point in time were in it for more. They cared about tone at least at one point because the pod sales records reflect this.  Yes, those thoughts may be very naive of me, but I do believe this. If I didn't I would not waste ANY time here. Was their rapport with the user base done correctly? No, not even close compared to other places I am now a part of. But we all screw up and hind site is 20/20 isn't it :P ... I just hope for them this isn't another one...

 

I thought they were ahead of the curve in that regard, but their refusal or inability to rectify the EQ situation in the POD HD series really reversed their image from a very advanced ahead of the curve product designers to a company only driven by hype marketing and profits. If they cared at all , they would have already released the advanced POD Farm HD but instead they're milking over a decade old technology of POD farm. These decisions are marketing/profit line driven decisions, it doesn't take 3 years to port the HD models to PC and Mac. They are really the losers in all of this as this is obviously a strategy to counter when Peavey Revalver 4 comes out, it's simply reactive and not Proactive.

 

To them it's a huge win getting purchased by Yamaha, as those who own stock in Line 6 (private company) made millions out of this which is fine. I still think if they remained a proactive company focused on the growth of their own company, in 10 or twenty years they might be the ones buying Yamaha.  It's similar to when Yahoo offered to buy Googles some time ago, they couldn't reach an agreement and look at google now. It's almost certain that Yahoo would love to be purchased by google now.

 

The good thing I read is that employees also have shares in the company according to the purchase agreement announcement:

:

"Yamaha will acquire all of the capital stock of Line 6 owned by the founders, venture funds and employees."

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can't dispute the high technical bar of steinberg...

unfortunately the complicated setup, and windows 3.1 style GUI

just kill my workflow... and i hate it.

every other daw have managed to make things alot more intuative...

even other ones that seem complicated at first... (hello ableton!)

these days i'm using logic x on the mac and mixcraft on windows....

 

it always seems to come back to what you learned on...

i learned on syntrillium cool edit pro initially...

but they sold to adobe and went into a slumber...

and didnt have the midi tools that i needed so i moved on...

i still prefer that style gui though...

cubase is probably a better evolution for someone that started with cakewalk or such...

in my opinion anyway.

 

Cubase is the most advanced DAW in many aspects. Once you take the little time it needs to get the initial setup, you will realize the power it has. The  VST standard for plugins and software instruments (drum libraries, samplers,..) adopted by every relevant DAW, was founded by Steinberg the makers of Cubase, so the VST integration is better in Cubase than any other DAW. The  ASIO  standard is also Steinberg's creation and again it's better integrated in Cubase. Almost all relevant DAWs will achieve the lowest latency when using ASIO drivers,.....etc.  At any given point in time, cubase has features that are ahead of the rest and are later adopted by other DAWs.  Yamaha seems to be really good at  picking winners.

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Zap Im running Cubase 7.5 and its pretty sweet. Have you tried that version yet Zap? It is now a MAJOR player and you should try it if you haven't lately. And I also run Sonar X3 version d (sweet too),  and Logic X just released a MAJOR upgrade, which... I run too ... Its excellent BTW. Yea that leaves me no time to play with DP8...  ;)

 

Dean there were other things too, for me. Yes, they were ahead of the curve on many things i agree, at least at first. And there is not a thing wrong with making a profit, but in hind site it needs to be done with their Line 6 forum users ideas and input too. Production and sales numbers over the years seemed to outweigh the workmanship in their QA dept. Push it out push it out wayyyy out... Just look back at the problems affecting the Variax alone, and listed here "before" the new forum appeared out of nowhere and even now with the new one... Yea I know you can call up the old forums, but thats not the point is it. Little things, like the internal screws missing on the whammy bar. Then lose controls, scratches on the finish, and then fret issues... Strings popping out of the nut when bending them... The list was too long even for Line 6 ramp ups in a new production, in my humble opinion... Then on the Pod XT Pro, supposed flagship of preamps and included in their "dream" system. Little things like a dry output port on it that wouldn't work with their own freeking flagship guitar digitally. Things like audio inputs you had to rethink amp logic on in order to get the correct unity gain out of it. NOT allowing you to split the output feeds (control over what the cab sims and mic sims sent) for the house feed, and the stage amp feed. Because you sure don't need an amp feed thats winds up going to a fender cabinet with no way to turn off the cab simulation just because it needs to feed the house! Things like this drove me nuts, and I couldn't talk to um... Not here... Which Ill get to in a minute. Like releasing the Pod Pro without Workbench support (altho they did fix that later while I raised hell)... Things IMO that should not have ever happened, but did, and only because they got away from what I said earlier. That they quit being guitar players, and became gear inventor salesmen and out the door pushers...

 

And I know why this happened too, if I may be so bold... The most damning thing, and one I just can not seem to wrap my head around, is the lack of nearly ALL user AND owner-maker conversations/talk/discuss/communication on this forum! I don't mean talking with the token experts here, no harm intended. They have their place, do their best most of the time and have helped many with issues here. We have had many spirited conversations good and bad, in agreement or not,  but they can not and should not take the place of the owners own words here! Trouble is there usually isn't any, from Line 6. I mean talking with Line 6 directly - and having them talk back to their user base, Here.... I know this works well, 1st hand (but thats another story for another time). WHY is this important??? Just think about it if you will. To be able to discuss the issues and upgrades at hand with the maker of the designs direction is a wonderful feeling for the users, and more importantly lets them know that the maker of the guitar/amp/etc product is indeed listening to their user base,  and building on that conversations outcome. Only submitting a ticket, is and will always be a joke for the masses that use the product on a forum. We don't know who read it, or when. What they did, where it wound up or if it was ever really fixed or even being worked on. We don't know where they are at in the process. We don't know anything, and thats just wrong headed.... There needs to be more input from the maker here. Otherwise its all speculation as to just how much if any, the users are listened to. And please, don't tell me this is not done in business today because I know better.

 

 It was better wayyy back when... As in It was "kinda" this way once with a L6 employee (named Hugo i think it was) on the forums, a long long while back before even the 1st Variaxs were released on the market... And then he at least said he was taking our requests inside the building... But THAT has not happened here again in a long time,  and its a shame... Its also a terrible way to treat those that pay your light bill. Thats my take. They were bought out for a reason and Im betting it was not all good ones. Which part is correct here is as always mostly opinion driven, and YMMV. And even if these examples arnt reasons why they were bought out, they were indeed bought out. Merged if you prefer, as a steer and not the bull in the big pasture now...  Now all thats said, I still wish the best for Line 6. Seriously. Im just not gonna sugar coat it....  ;)

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Hadn't really wanted to spend the cash on cubase, as i said it just wasn't a good experience for me...

i'd try 7.5 as i like to know about them... but not in the mood to d/l the 2gb trial, and don't have any projects in mind that i can subject to the unknown.

my experience with cubase is v6 and earlier.

 

Zap Im running Cubase 7.5 and its pretty sweet. Have you tried that version yet Zap? It is now a MAJOR player and you should try it if you haven't lately. And I also run Sonar X3 version d (sweet too),  and Logic X just released a MAJOR upgrade, which... I run too ... Its excellent BTW. Yea that leaves me no time to play with DP8...  ;)

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I like and own a few Line 6 products, and intend to continue to acquire them if this deal let L6 to keep or improve the quality of their products....for the time being I'll just wait and save some money and if it is the case, I'll be happy to empty my wallet on a L6 piece of equipment ^_^

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Zap Im running Cubase 7.5 and its pretty sweet. Have you tried that version yet Zap? It is now a MAJOR player and you should try it if you haven't lately. And I also run Sonar X3 version d (sweet too),  and Logic X just released a MAJOR upgrade, which... I run too ... Its excellent BTW. Yea that leaves me no time to play with DP8...  ;)

 

Dean there were other things too, for me. Yes, they were ahead of the curve on many things i agree, at least at first. And there is not a thing wrong with making a profit, but in hind site it needs to be done with their Line 6 forum users ideas and input too. Production and sales numbers over the years seemed to outweigh the workmanship in their QA dept. Push it out push it out wayyyy out... Just look back at the problems affecting the Variax alone, and listed here "before" the new forum appeared out of nowhere and even now with the new one... Yea I know you can call up the old forums, but thats not the point is it. Little things, like the internal screws missing on the whammy bar. Then lose controls, scratches on the finish, and then fret issues... Strings popping out of the nut when bending them... The list was too long even for Line 6 ramp ups in a new production, in my humble opinion... Then on the Pod XT Pro, supposed flagship of preamps and included in their "dream" system. Little things like a dry output port on it that wouldn't work with their own freeking flagship guitar digitally. Things like audio inputs you had to rethink amp logic on in order to get the correct unity gain out of it. NOT allowing you to split the output feeds (control over what the cab sims and mic sims sent) for the house feed, and the stage amp feed. Because you sure don't need an amp feed thats winds up going to a fender cabinet with no way to turn off the cab simulation just because it needs to feed the house! Things like this drove me nuts, and I couldn't talk to um... Not here... Which Ill get to in a minute. Like releasing the Pod Pro without Workbench support (altho they did fix that later while I raised hell)... Things IMO that should not have ever happened, but did, and only because they got away from what I said earlier. That they quit being guitar players, and became gear inventor salesmen and out the door pushers...

 

And I know why this happened too, if I may be so bold... The most damning thing, and one I just can not seem to wrap my head around, is the lack of nearly ALL user AND owner-maker conversations/talk/discuss/communication on this forum! I don't mean talking with the token experts here, no harm intended. They have their place, do their best most of the time and have helped many with issues here. We have had many spirited conversations good and bad, in agreement or not,  but they can not and should not take the place of the owners own words here! Trouble is there usually isn't any, from Line 6. I mean talking with Line 6 directly - and having them talk back to their user base, Here.... I know this works well, 1st hand (but thats another story for another time). WHY is this important??? Just think about it if you will. To be able to discuss the issues and upgrades at hand with the maker of the designs direction is a wonderful feeling for the users, and more importantly lets them know that the maker of the guitar/amp/etc product is indeed listening to their user base,  and building on that conversations outcome. Only submitting a ticket, is and will always be a joke for the masses that use the product on a forum. We don't know who read it, or when. What they did, where it wound up or if it was ever really fixed or even being worked on. We don't know where they are at in the process. We don't know anything, and thats just wrong headed.... There needs to be more input from the maker here. Otherwise its all speculation as to just how much if any, the users are listened to. And please, don't tell me this is not done in business today because I know better.

 

 It was better wayyy back when... As in It was "kinda" this way once with a L6 employee (named Hugo i think it was) on the forums, a long long while back before even the 1st Variaxs were released on the market... And then he at least said he was taking our requests inside the building... But THAT has not happened here again in a long time,  and its a shame... Its also a terrible way to treat those that pay your light bill. Thats my take. They were bought out for a reason and Im betting it was not all good ones. Which part is correct here is as always mostly opinion driven, and YMMV. And even if these examples arnt reasons why they were bought out, they were indeed bought out. Merged if you prefer, as a steer and not the bull in the big pasture now...  Now all thats said, I still wish the best for Line 6. Seriously. Im just not gonna sugar coat it....  ;)

It's really sad when companies forget quickly what makes them successful. In the last three years, I probably purchased more gear than anytime in my life. Three years ago was the last thing I got from line 6 and it was POD HD series, I did consider the JTV variax and the new speaker line, but ended up buying from different companies. when hundreds and hundreds of customer complained about EQ in the PODs and nothing was done about it, it was a huge turn off for me. You might think that this would be useful information for line 6 to know, but instead you get no direct acknowledgement of how bad that is from anyone at line 6, you're free to interpret it anyway your mind takes you. My interpretation: since they chose not to address it, the issue is not that important to them probably  since sales of the PODs are pretty good.  They don't realize that sales could  be better if they have decent EQ in there and also, they're completely oblivious to how that effect sales of other products. I can't be the only one not thrilled with EQ to a point that I won't commit to any product they offer. Is that unheard of or unreasonable?  That shouldn't matter, I vote with my money and so do many others aside from the few that subscribe to the fan boy mentality that I still can't figure out.

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From: http://line6.com/press/releases/1520

 

<<CALABASAS, CA – 20.Dec 2013 - Yamaha Corporation and Line 6, Inc. today announced a definitive agreement for Yamaha to acquire Line 6, a leading manufacturer of innovative solutions for musicians. The acquisition expands Yamaha’s portfolio of modeling guitar processing products as well as pro-audio equipment, and offers new and exciting opportunities for accelerated growth for both companies.

(snip)

Under the terms of the agreement, Yamaha will operate Line 6 as a wholly owned subsidiary to fully realize the compelling opportunities for the two brands with Line 6’s operations continuing as before and its management team remaining in place.>>

 

So, any implications for us? Will Line 6 maintain their high standards as a member of the Yamaha family? Any advantages for Line 6? Limitations?

Think they'll give me a free guitar to go with my Pod HD500X?

 

 

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I'm concerned that Yamaha may dumb down the L6 technology and hardware.  The L6 floor units have been a mainstay in the market place for a long time, and it's mainly because they're good, and therefore appeal to the consumer.  It's not like Yamaha has a history of having a foothold in the amp modelling market, so it's difficult to ascertain just how this will effect outcome.

I just don't want to see what L6 has accomplished to just fade away.  I hope they do indeed operate independently. 
If anything, perhaps this will afford L6 greater distribution and more manufacturing capability. 

 

Maybe this will result in more R&D budget to allow L6 R&D to do what they do best. 

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After using a couple of hard disc recorders, I bought a Tascam interface, and it came with Cubase LE4: it is the only DAW I have used that works only with a computer.  I considered Reaper, but read it has problems with Mac and Melodyne together (a year or 2 ago).  About 2 months ago Steinberg sent me an e-mail (by mistake) saying I could upgrade to Cubase Elements 7 for $49.99US.  Ended up being not true for Cubase LE4 owners.  I tried downloading the (Elements 7) trial version 4 times, and every time it stopped at: between 118 and 121MB downloaded. Mac OSX 10.6.8.  No way was I going to buy it if I couldn't get the trial version to work after 4 attempts.  I've read Cubase 7 has lots of bugs.

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I'm actually encouraged by the fact that Yamaha is and always has been primarily a musical instrument company, their logo is a pair of tuning forks!. They make great Pianos and synths and the SPX90 reverb was the most versatile bit of gear in my guitar rack back in the '80s. Its not like they are a mega-corp that makes everything and doesn't know or care about music or a venture capital company just looking for a profit. This could work out well depending on what Yamaha's game plan is.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Just look at the line that Yamaha currently carries for electric guitars, effects, amps, etc.  It's an extremely small arsenal they offer.  I'm a tinkerer (as I'm sure most of us are here) and a deep thinker, point being, I like to learn everything about the investments I execute.  I've been following Line6 since the mid 90's, and I concur with you guys.  Employee opinion of the company has significantly dropped over at least the past few years.   I have owned a: Pod 2.0, DL4, XT Live, M9, M13, JTV, Pod Farm, and HD300.  With exception to the DL4 and the Pod 2.0, the product range has always had hiccups, and problems with premature product releases.  The customer service has never been that great, but you can see that the number of employees (or lack of) contributed to this.  The focus was never on customer service, which especially now more than ever, is the main focus for companies which thrive today.

 

Yamaha is a great company in regards to horizontal diversification.  Vertical improvement for the majority of their product line is mediocre.  Most people like buying products from companies which specialize in those products (aka. Martin, Fender, Mesa, etc).  There is no question that Yamaha has diversified to the extent which it has (anything from jet skis to mixers), because it is a solid business model to pierce your tentacles within as many sectors of the marketplace as possible.  Is Yamaha a solid company?  Sure.  Do they provide an argument to be the best in any one thing?  Maybe.  They have no guitar line (besides acoustics), unless you call a handful of guitars averaging ~$500 a line.  Yamaha wants to diversify using Line 6, because they knew Line 6 was hitting a wall and could buy them out (entirely) for a great price, and therefor providing an avenue for them to keep their miniscule electric line afloat.  IMHO Yamaha is about the business model more than anything else, and in that light, and that light only, they are solid.

 

Lastly, and more succinctly:  Yamaha (company with obvious horizontal diversification focus) + Line 6 (company with decelerating innovation and employee dissatisfaction) = a mediocre product and disenchanted consumers.  Line 6 management received their payout, which for several years now, is an easy conclusion to see based on the trend they've envoked.

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