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Functionality With Fbv Shortboard Mk Ii


aaronsol
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Am thinking about getting the Amplifi 75 or 150.  I have some questions about using it with the MK II.  Will I be able to toggle with the Stomp/Mod/Delay/Verb swathes on the MK11?  Also, will the volume and way pedal work?  I understand from prior posts that I will only be able to select from 4 presets A/B/C/D but will the Stomp/Mod/Delay/Verb switches work for whatever patch I select with my iOS device

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My understanding is the same. You can change the 4 presets but not the individual fx. But my amplifi is due with me soon so I will be trying my fbv mkii short board with it to confirm

Do let us know.. I'd be interested in one if you had the same functionality of say.. The Spider series.. Being able to turn FX off and on.. Switch between the four channels.. Noise gate on and off.. Tuner.. Use of pedal to control wah and volume.. Also to control parameters within effects.. You get the idea. I do think that Line 6 will make this happen in the future.. At least, I'd like to think that they will. I'd be getting this for my nephew over a Spider if this was already implemented.

 

Sent from my iPad.

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here's what I found.

 

wah works

I didn't try the vol pedal or tap tempo, but I imagine they will (I'll try them next time).

presets A/B/C/D switch as expected.

the 4 effect buttons work, but there seems to be a slight bug where in a preset, you turn on an effect, when you switch to another preset, that effect you turned on is still illuminated, even though it may not be on in the new preset you loaded - so say you're in preset B, you then enable the stomp.  you switch to preset C, and the stomp light is still on, but the stomp effect is not on.  you have to press the stomp switch twice to then turn stomp on in that preset.  I've asked L6 and that's a bug, but no ETA for the fix yet.

bank and func2 do nothing.

func 1 seems to turn on and off, but I couldn't work out what it was turning on and off - I will report back when I know more.

you can't use the fbv mkii shortboard at the same time as the amplify app - fair enough.

 

looking good so far with the 1 niggle, but once that's resolved it will be ideal.  for now the work around is to press the effect switches twice (annoying, but possible).

 

cheers

 

Andy

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here's what I found.

 

wah works

I didn't try the vol pedal or tap tempo, but I imagine they will (I'll try them next time).

presets A/B/C/D switch as expected.

the 4 effect buttons work, but there seems to be a slight bug where in a preset, you turn on an effect, when you switch to another preset, that effect you turned on is still illuminated, even though it may not be on in the new preset you loaded - so say you're in preset B, you then enable the stomp.  you switch to preset C, and the stomp light is still on, but the stomp effect is not on.  you have to press the stomp switch twice to then turn stomp on in that preset.  I've asked L6 and that's a bug, but no ETA for the fix yet.

bank and func2 do nothing.

func 1 seems to turn on and off, but I couldn't work out what it was turning on and off - I will report back when I know more.

you can't use the fbv mkii shortboard at the same time as the amplify app - fair enough.

 

looking good so far with the 1 niggle, but once that's resolved it will be ideal.  for now the work around is to press the effect switches twice (annoying, but possible).

 

cheers

 

Andy

 

Thanks for this!  I just bought an express...but I'll probably return it to get the shortboad as I'd much rather be able to turn the effects on and off.

 

One question though....how does the shortboard know which effect to turn on/off?  What if you have 2 delays in the chain?  Will the shortboard turn off both of them...or just the first one in the chain?  Have you experimented with that at all?

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Sorry to bump this up…but I really want to know about the functionality with the shortboard.  Anyone with any insight?  It apparently works…I just want to know to what degree (if multiple effects are involved).  Thanks!

 

you've asked some good questions.  I will be spending some time in the next few days to try the shortboard some more - and I'll see what I can do to test your idea about what happens with multiple delays - it's actually going to be hard to test that though, as you can't use the FBV pedals while the amplifi app is connected to the amp.  but I should be able to play with the tone to have some very different delays configured, and I'm thinking it will probably switch them all on and off - as there are no settings to set in the tone for pedal control.... we shall see though!

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you've asked some good questions.  I will be spending some time in the next few days to try the shortboard some more - and I'll see what I can do to test your idea about what happens with multiple delays - it's actually going to be hard to test that though, as you can't use the FBV pedals while the amplifi app is connected to the amp.  but I should be able to play with the tone to have some very different delays configured, and I'm thinking it will probably switch them all on and off - as there are no settings to set in the tone for pedal control.... we shall see though!

 

Thank you sir!  I appreciate any insight you can provide...

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right - here's some more findings, and it's all good.

 

it seems the FX buttons work while the app is connected and you're editing a preset, so that's good.

 

the vol pedal works, and controls the 'volume' effect block in the preset, for which the min and max vol can be edited within the preset.

the wah pedal and on/off toe switch also works as expected.

the function 1 footswitch turns the compressor on and off.

the delay footswitch (and the other FX footswitches) seem to only turn on and off 1 delay or effect block, even when more than one delay effect block are in use.  and here's where things get interesting:

the reverb footswitch will only turn reverb on and off, even if you move the reverb effect block to a different location (it can be the last in the chain, or just before the amp FX block

 

I should point out that out of the effect blocks, some are of a fixed effect type.  so e.g. the reverb FX block can be changed to different reverb types, but only reverb.  same for wah.

the noise gate, comp, eq and vol are fixed FX, and although their settings can be changed, the fx can't be changed for other comps, EQ FX respectively etc.

 

the stomp, mod and delay FX blocks can be interchanged for any mix of 3 FX from any mod, delay or stomp.  those 3 can then be moved in any order to before the amp or at the end of the fx chain (except the reverb would be dead last if it's post amp).

those 3 fx blocks (stomp, mod, delay by default, but can be any of those 3) are then controlled by the stomp, mod and delay footswitches but in the order they appear in the fx chain.

 

so say this is your chain:

 

gate > wah > stomp > amp > comp > eq > vol > mod > delay > reverb

then on your FBV shortboard MKII, the 3 FX switches will control the FX they are labelled with (stomp controls stomp on/off, same for mod for mod, and delay for delay).  and reverb will control reverb (remember reverb is always reverb and comp is always controlled by func 1)

 

 

if this is your chain:

 

gate > wah > delay > reverb > amp > comp > eq > vol > stompmod

then reverb and func will control reverb and comp (they always do), but the other 3, will be as follows:

stomp switch controls delay fx

mod footswitch will control stomp fx

delay footswitch will control the mod fx, as that's the order the pedal and the fx chain match up with the 3 fx blocks that can be controlled to the footswitches from left to right.

 

the FX parameter on the amp can be moved to edit fx parameters from stomp, mod, delay or reverb.  just make sure the slider is down low on the fx parameter you want to assign the knob to, and touch and hold on the xx% number for that parameter for a few seconds and your iOS device will ask you if you want to assign the fx parameter to that slider.

 

phew - I hope all that makes sense - Over and out for now

 

Cheers

 

Rowbi.

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Not to be a stick in the mud, but I assume when you say stomp, you mean various dirt type pedals? Stomp is pretty generic.

Yes that's what I mean - that's what it's called on the fbv short board and within the amplifi app.

 

Cheers

 

Rowbi

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i tried one and it made amp transmit tone while in non  tune mode,  .  it was easily returned,  I have alli can do rto uuse myy variax 500 with pod hd500 and then plug it in to apmlfi....It sounds great an muuch eaere to control than dt50

 

can hd 500 talk to amplifi with use of a miidi ?,,

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can hd 500 talk to amplifi with use of a miidi ?,,

No but you can use the amplifi as a FRFR speaker for the pod by using the amplifi aux input and using studio output mode on the pod with full amp models

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In response to the OP, I've also recorded a video showing what I detailed previously about how to use an fbv short board mkii with amplifi:

 

Note that it's not an audio demo it's just to show what the fbv SB mkii can do.

 

Enjoy

 

Rowbi

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That was superb! A very nice detailed how to without the obligatory metal shredding! I am curious about the delay setting for (Ithink) the 2nd delay. I have never found much of a use for delay, but that setting sounds like fun!

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I think you mean the digital delay with 381ms delay time, and around 40% feedback and 45-50% mix. It creates a great repeat, and adding some good reverb works well.

 

In the amplifi app, play a song to bring up the tone search window and manually search for ambient delays demo. That's what I uploaded after my video.

 

Cheers

 

Andy

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There seems to be some issues with the tuner when used in conjunction with the short board. The display is not correctly show what note your time and it tends to to need either sharp or flat. The display screws up and adds flat sign as well. You'd also adds the flat sign to the four presets when we read them after using tuner. Has anyone else had this issue?

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Pleased to report that, so far, my older FBV Shortboard (not Mkll) appears completely functional with the exception of Bank up/down switch as mentioned here. Will spend a little more time with it soon and give a more detailed report. These older controllers go for less on EBay and May provide a cheaper alternative until Line6 comes out with new model as I expect they will!

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Is it that the delay time is changing because you've tapped a different tempo and you're hearing the delay catch up with itself?

 

 

I have noticed that when I "Tap Tempo" while playing I get some weird noises coming from the amp (no noise when not playing). Anyone else have this experience?

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It may be the delay trying to catch up, but it sounds all warbly. I am using the digital delay - I don't know if it happens on any other delay type.

 

I just worry that if I'm playing live and try to adjust the tempo, it's going to sound wonky for a second - that would be awkward!

 

Thanks for the reply!

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Does it sound like a warble crossed with a Star Trek faser? If so then yes that's the delay catching up.

Typically i set the tap tempo before the song when the drummer clicks us in.

Also I'm sure my tc electronic flashback x4 does the same too - and it didn't seem a surprise to me. Isn't that just how delay works if you start changing the tempo while you're playing?

 

It may be the delay trying to catch up, but it sounds all warbly. I am using the digital delay - I don't know if it happens on any other delay type.

 

I just worry that if I'm playing live and try to adjust the tempo, it's going to sound wonky for a second - that would be awkward!

 

Thanks for the reply!

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I think for the amplifi, the 2nd exp

Pedal would control I think vol and the built in exp pedal would be wah... Or vice versa. The amplifi doesn't seem to be able to control other parameters with expression, but the fx knob on the amp can be configured to adjust a number of things.

 

Does anyone know how to tell which effect parameter will be controlled by addition of an expression pedal to the FBV and if this can be changed?

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  • 4 weeks later...

The answer now is No.

if anyone says they know anything about a future update they're lying unless they have the Line6 Logo on their name (Highly unlikely)

 

Is there a way to store more than the 4 pre-sets with a fbv mark II?  I'm thinking in the future with updates?

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How hard would it be to allow the shortboard to do what it's advertised to do and allow you to switch between multiple banks? Do you think this functionality could be added in the future? I just bought a short board because I thought it would allow me to have multiple banks instead of just the 4 channels on the amp. Pretty disappointed.

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mk1 vs mk2, mk2 added one function button and usb connectivity for updating some amps or using with PC. same basic controls.. mk1 screen is green and a little larger than mk2 which is orange.

 

the express just changes from 4 presets in a single bank, and wah and tuner access (usb is the diff between mk1/mk2 express)

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  • 2 weeks later...

I bought the shortboard for my 150 and soon returned it. While it seemed to work SOME, for the $199.00 I expected it to work seamlessly, which it does not. See some of the responses above for verification of this.

 

Now with the iPhone app completely unuseable, I'm seriously questioning why I ever bought the 150. Without the floor control (that was promised would work in the initial ads for Amplifi) it's almost useless live. Since my 30 days have passed, I'm stuck with this now.

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I bought the shortboard for my 150 and soon returned it. While it seemed to work SOME, for the $199.00 I expected it to work seamlessly, which it does not. See some of the responses above for verification of this.

 

Now with the iPhone app completely unuseable, I'm seriously questioning why I ever bought the 150. Without the floor control (that was promised would work in the initial ads for Amplifi) it's almost useless live. Since my 30 days have passed, I'm stuck with this now.

Good news is the app works great now!

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 4 weeks later...

In response to the OP, I've also recorded a video showing what I detailed previously about how to use an fbv short board mkii with amplifi:

 

Note that it's not an audio demo it's just to show what the fbv SB mkii can do.

Enjoy

Rowbi

Great video Rowbi! Thanks.

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  • 3 weeks later...

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