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Direct Out And Micing The New Amplifi


Nate_SLC
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Hi Everybody, 

 

I have been looking at this new amp it would be the first modeling amp I have owned.   Everything is looking pretty good and the foot controller that can be purchased separately would certainly make everything work out for live gigs.  I am pretty excited about the possibilities with this amp.   

 

The thing that is bothering me is that I cannot see anywhere that it has any XLR direct out to the sound board.   Also, the Anderton demo of this amp had them using multiple mic's and that is going to be a problem.   Since I have never seen a guitar amplifier use this type of speaker set up I would imagine that sticking a single mic on the Celestion speaker is not going to be ok.....or is it?   What would be the solution?

 

I was hoping from some advice from all of you and from the guys from Line 6 on this.    

 

Thanks for your help.   

 

 

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Yesterday I got an email notice saying these amps are now in stock on Musicians Friend.   I am still hoping that somebody from Line 6 can answer my question since they are brand new on the market and nobody has any real experience with one yet.  

 

As far as I can tell there is no XLR direct out from the amp.    Also with this many speakers on a guitar amp all serving different functions at the same time how would it best me mic'd at a live show?   Can you put a single mic to the Celestion and get the full processed signal?  

 

Without these questions answered assuming that there is no speaker emulated line out, and the possibility that it may take a couple of mics at a larger live show, then it would only be good for rehearsals and small gigs where the band is not mic'd up and that would be a shame.   

Line 6 please provide some insight on this.....

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This is also something I wanted to know as well before I purchase it. I use an EVH 5150 50 watt for live but I use a Hughes & Kettner red box DI to send an emulated cabinet simulator signal to the board instead of miking my cabinet. The red box Di goes between the head and cabinet then a xlr cable to the board.

 

I am wondering if this could be used for the amplifi?

 

I am intrigued by this new amp because I play in a cover band and practice all the songs at home before a show. This could be a useful piece of gear but I would also like to use it to record like I use to with my Spider HD100

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There is no xlr out on the Amplifi. There IS a headphone out.. Not sure how that would translate tonally as far as sending it through a DI and to a mixer. I also wouldn't use the Amplifi without having a way to get the sound to the board and FOH. These simply won't cut it if you're facing your amps towards the crowd and hoping that It's loud enough.

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Yeah, micing would def be out of the norm. In the NAMM demo the have it miced to capture its FRFR capabilities.

 

I'm not a live sound expert by any means, but I would think the headphone out would work as well as the analog outs of an X3 Live tone wise, with the exception of distance, where a DI box to run an XLR snake would seem to make sense.

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The lack of XLR out is one of the things that will deter me from buying this amp. I'm really interested in it, but in order for me to commit, I need gear that I can use at home and on stage without the need for additional mic setup. I'll be sitting back waiting to see if there will be future developments (possibly the introduction of new models) that incorporate the Amplifi's current features with direct out options and HD modeling. I am a big fan of the direction Line 6 is going in with development of new products and I hope this is the first step towards the introduction of an amp that I can take directly from practice to the stage and just plug in and play.

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I haven't seen one of these amps up close or been able to review a manual but I'm willing to bet that IF you use the headphone out the amp WILL automatically sever the output to the speaker...which means NO sound will come out of the amp. If you did use the headphone out the FOH engineer would have to receive two signals from the amp requiring the use of two channels on the board. With most PAs running in mono and (sorry...no manual to confirm this but it seems to be pretty evident) no control over the stereo or mono output of the signal that a stereo signal would be sent out of the headphones. If only one channel was used and you had stereo delays, reverb or modulations the PA (if only using one channel) would sound "off". I have to believe that phase issues could also be present but without testing one it would be hard to tell.

 

The marketing on the L6 website suggests that this amp has wet/dry capabilities which leads me to believe that you cannot just mic the center speaker and expect to hear what the amp is supposed to sound like. Again, since you do not appear to have any control over the stereo capabilities of this amp you would have to use 3 mics to actually represent the entire character of the sound thru a PA. Typically, most clubs are prepared to mic two separate amps and would not be inclined to use 3 mics and 3 separate channels to accommodate one guitar player. I still think that it would be a mixing and phase nightmare in a live situation with 3 mics.

 

Anyway, this would be a cool little amp for a party at the house, practicing by yourself, or impressing your friends while you play Guitar Hero. I wouldn't worry too much about ever using this live or if it would be loud enough. It is what it is.

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I haven't seen one of these amps up close or been able to review a manual but I'm willing to bet that IF you use the headphone out the amp WILL automatically sever the output to the speaker...which means NO sound will come out of the amp.

I bet that is the case.

:facepalm

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Line 6 please provide some insight on this.....

 

For what it's worth, Line6 doesn't read these forums. Even the people you see with "Line6 Expert" in their name tag are not actually Line6 employees. This is a user forum, the people you are asking here are your fellow L6'ers, users like yourself.

 

I personally own a DT25, which is a much more robust amp over the Amplifi, in terms of:

 

- it's a real tube amp. 25 watts of tube amp is going to be louder than 150watts of solid state.

- the amp models are the newer HD series

- it has an XLR out

- it has an FX loop

- it has the L6 Link technology, which allows you to connect an HD POD to up to four DT amps.

- it looks way cooler than the Amplifi ;)

 

That being said, it's also alot more money, to invest - you would need to spend at least $2,000 for a DT25 and an HD500x, instead of $500 on an Amplfi. The DT Bogner/L6 amps weigh alot more, and do not have onboard fx, and cannot be controlled with an IOS device. There is also nothing wireless or bluetooth in the DT series.

 

I also own the HD500 and a JTV59, and in terms of the sound volume / quality, it's top notch. I love it. You may want to decide what you actually want to DO with the amp. I'd love to have an Amplifi if I had the spare $$ - have to finish paying for the DT25 and the JTV first! lol :) For me, the Amplifi would be a fun gadget / mess around piece of gear. It's not what I would bring on stage. At home, backstage, even maybe rehearsal, for ease of portability, and the option to interface with an external floorboard, it's not too shabby. Compared to the DT50 or DT25, which is a very serious amplifier, the Amplifi is not really in the same league.

 

I am not disparaging it, nor am I trying to talk you into or out of any options, and I definitely don't work for Line6!

 

Give it a try, why not! Definitely read up about what the HD series is, and how it's pairing with the Bogner/Line6 DT amps is an advancement in modelling and amplifier technology over the previous X3 and prior XT series of FX. The Amplifi uses the older fx technology, the pre-HD stuff - the same stuff that was part of the XT and the X3 - approximately ten year old technology. XT was released around December 2002 and X3 came out around October 2007.

 

The new IOS interface is pretty cool. I can see them moving that concept forward to a certain extent, but in the end since it relies so heavily on third party non-integrated platform apps to function, it turns me off. That's just my personal reaction. So, you have to factor the $500 cost of the Amplifi in to the cost of an iPhone or iPad. At the moment there is no support for Android.

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It is only a practice toy, not a live gigging amp...unless you're a one-man band, then you can DI your backing tracks in the Aux in and play your guitar through, but only in little coffee houses or your friends living room, otherwise you'd need a real PA, since there is no way of accurately mic'ing this thing and it simply doesn't have the power to carry a large room like a regular guitar amp.

 

Think of it this way...Harbinger sells 150-watt full-range speakers for $150, you can buy a Spider practice amp for around $100, and you can get a bluetooth receiver for less than $40...so 300-watt stereo, four amp models, and bluetooth for $440~ or for $40 less you could get 75 watts stereo, four amp models, and tone-matching (sort of, not really)....seems a little bloated for the features.. oh yeah, and don't forget, you basically NEED an iDevice for the Amplifi....its a cool practice tool, and that is all.

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this is a great tool for the kid going off to college to jam in the dorm, the teen new to guitar learning in his bedroom, the yuppie that plays around in his studio apt without bothering the neighbors...  in other words the majority of casual guitar players.  If you are at all serious about playing out or recording this is not your go to gear.  Love it for what it is, don't hate it for what it isn't...

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  • 2 years later...

Hey all,

I love my amplifi 150 but I am very disappointed line 6 have chosen (in my opinion) to under-use this product in order to sell the FBV pedals and Firehawk 1500.

 

Anyway (whinging aside) there is actually a hack-job way to use the USB port as a line out...

 

As these clever guys point out here (https://forum.audiob.us/discussion/13348/anybody-using-line6-amplifi-with-an-ipad-looping-app) the USB is bi-directional, so it is possible to get a Female USB 2.0 to 3.5mm stereo converter and run the amplifi into an 'aux in' (like I do for my Boss ME-25) and thus get a pseudo-line out without losing the celestion speaker to the silly headphone bypass switch.

 

This hack solution has made me much more likely to take this amp gigging, and I hope line 6 can be inspired to release a patch that will let us change presets with midi via a similar use of the USB

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  • 2 months later...

I soldered a jumper between the first pins on the headphone jack inside the amp. They are the pins closest to the back panel. Now I have the headphone jack as a line out and still have the speakers in the amp working. I may install a switch so I can shut them off if I need to but for now the amp works great and when i plug into the headphone jack I can also run it through my PA. You need a stereo jack and 2 mono jack cable and use a stereo chanel or 2 mono chanals on the PA to make this work though.

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Hmmm,the effects seem a bit heavy on the pa so I put a mic on the single speaker and mixed it in. Not a perfect solution but can be done with only one mic and the line out and not 3 or 5 mics. I will tinker some more and see whet else I can come up with.

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  • 1 month later...

The Amplifi TT has 2 1/4" outs on the back that can go direct into powered speakers or a board. The actual amplifi amps do not. I have mic'd the amplifi 30 for a video demo that I did and it sounded pretty good, though I have never tried this for a live performance with a band. check this out.

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