smrybacki Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 Where does that leave the POD HD crowd? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonGreco Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 I just watched a quick youtube vid on it. Looks OK. It has taken another step to "user friendly" a.k.a. let us do it for you. I would like a side by side review. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie_Watt Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 These are two very different products! Why would you compare them? One is an amp with modeling built in and the other is just a modeler without any sort of amp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonGreco Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 Upon looking further ... there are 2 major concerns: 1. Where are the patches held ??, in the iPad (soon to be android/windows/Linux ) 2. They make it sound like the system recognizes the song tone, when what it does is a "search" much like one would do on the Line6 site for a specific Artist tone. So, they use AC/DC in many examples and I am sure that they would get thousands of people submitting tone patches and That situation is susceptible to bad data in / bad data out. Seems like a good product for the masses, which is probably the marketing & design intention just my 2 cents BTW, I have the HD 500X and enjoy it 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smrybacki Posted March 20, 2014 Author Share Posted March 20, 2014 These are two very different products! Why would you compare them? One is an amp with modeling built in and the other is just a modeler without any sort of amp. Not comparing them at all. But any company has just so many resources and I'm thinking that if this is successful, the HD line may languish, wither and die eventually as they pursue the AMPLIFi line. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruisinon2 Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 I just watched a quick youtube vid on it. Looks OK. It has taken another step to "user friendly" a.k.a. let us do it for you. I would like a side by side review. Would be like reviewing a Ferrari vs. a Honda Civic. Both are cars, both will get you from A to B...but that's about where the similarities end. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gunpointmetal Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 Not comparing them at all. But any company has just so many resources and I'm thinking that if this is successful, the HD line may languish, wither and die eventually as they pursue the AMPLIFi line. SPECULATION ALERT! I think we're gonna end up seeing a greater divide between product lines....the next gen of modelers will attempt to be "AFX-Killers" like everybody wants, but they'll be over a grand, probably rack-mounted with a separate controller (separate purchase) and the lower versions will be AmplifI-FX100-type iOS-tethered home practice devices with minimal I/O and all sorts of fancy, but wholly ungigworthy stuff like bluetooth only functionality and that stupid iOS tether. Hopefully I'm really wrong and they drop some great updates for the HD series in the near future. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brue58ski Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 One BIG put-off about this thing is you HAVE to have a smart phone or thouch pad of some kind. It currently can only use the iPad and iPhone but supposedly the Android version is coming. You can't do a majority of the editing without one. So this leaves quite a few people with limited funds out. It almost seems to me it's designed for the financially comfortable people for whom guitar is a hobby (albeit maybe a passionate one), to have set up in their living room (they mention how the design is perfect for this several times in their promo videos) so they can show off to their well to do guests how well they have mastered their AC/DC licks, between concert dvd's, while sipping drinks, at their cocktail parties. Also the "engine" is an X3. Not the HD. I don't think of this as a serious product for musicians. More a fun product (I hesitate to use the word toy, It's not that simple.) for from hobbyists to musicians to use in their spare time. I love jamming with other songs and this is essentially what this is setup to do. Something I used to do with my Rockman and a radio. This is just a way more elaborate version of the same thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverhead Posted March 21, 2014 Share Posted March 21, 2014 So it's not a device for you, and frankly not for me either .... but still, it wins awards....... so maybe it's a marketplace winner, and a serious product for those who like it even if we don't? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlyingsCool Posted March 21, 2014 Share Posted March 21, 2014 Really? How many awards does Guitar Player give out, compared to how many products are released per year? When was the last time Guitar Player gave out an award to a product that has been out for, what, 3 or 4 years now I think (The HD line)? What is the purpose of the awards? Is it to reward really good products, or is it a forum to help companies market their products so they continue to buy ad space? Of course the HD line is going to go into a period of languishing. Line 6 has limited marketing resources, so their product offerings go in cycles. Now they are concentrating on the consumer market. The HD line is reaching end of life for them. They have discontinued the desktop. I'm sure they'll continue selling the 500X for quite some time now. Imagine the resources required to come up with a product that blows away the 500X. It's gonna be a while before they come up with a replacement for it. Technology has to to increase for a while and decrease in price. I doubt, however, that the replacement will cost thousands of dollars. That's just not their style. They will wait for DSP technology to exponentially increase in power and decrease in price, they'll spend some time in the background improving their modeling, and they'll come out with a new product eventually in the same market space they are selling the 500X. It'll probably kill the current Axe product, but Axe will have killed that product by then, too. In the meantime, I plan to have fun with what I got :) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brue58ski Posted March 21, 2014 Share Posted March 21, 2014 So it's not a device for you, and frankly not for me either .... but still, it wins awards....... so maybe it's a marketplace winner, and a serious product for those who like it even if we don't? Incorrect. It would be a device for me if I had the extra money. A fun play device. It would not be a serious product for me because there are a lot more products out there that are more serious. At the very least I would want to have the option to control everything from the device itself. I would say that is at least one requirement for a "serious" product. And I would bet that most people looking for a "serious" device i.e. one for recording/gigging would at least want a device that didn't require the extra peripherals (the iPad/iPhone) that this one does. Don't get me wrong, I liked what the X3 "engine" did and it's not that I don't think this is a good product. I just think it needs to be put in the right perspective. I'd be curious to see if Guitar Player's assessment isn't kind of the same. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverhead Posted March 21, 2014 Share Posted March 21, 2014 ... Incorrect. ..... You can reasonably say "I disagree." Whether this is a 'serious' product or not is not a matter of right/wrong. It's a matter of opinion. You have one opinion; others may have a different opinion. That does not make your opinion correct and others' opinion incorrect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
radatats Posted March 21, 2014 Share Posted March 21, 2014 In the meantime, I plan to have fun with what I got :) Seriously, the most epic post of the day! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smrybacki Posted March 21, 2014 Author Share Posted March 21, 2014 I hope all who have replied here understand that I am not trying to bash the AmpliFi product line at all. It's not something that interests me, but 10-15 years ago it sure would have. I do like the HD line despite its foibles, and I would like to see it get updated and "next gen'd" too. I just think that with winning the GP Editor's Pick (I tend to agree with flyingscool on the impetus for this) that Line6 may well be shifting it's focus entirely on that market segment, and that leaves those of us who are more "HD kind of people" kinda hanging. And that's just a shame, but in the world of music gear, not altogether surprising.I started getting serious with electric guitar in the year 2000 after I retired from the Air Force after playing a single acoustic guitar exclusively for over 25 years. I had to learn a LOT of stuff, including terminology and technology associated with it. It has been a ball BTW! But in that 14 year period since then, I can think of so many technology shifts by so many gear companies too many to list here. I think this is just another one, largely because iOS is just so darn pervasive these days and iOS users generally have a lot of, shall we say liquid assets to spend on things like the AmpliFi. Not everyone mind you, but generally speaking. In any event, it is what's hot right now, and Line6 is getting in on the extra large teat that it represents and that after all is why ANY company is in business to begin with, isn't it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlyingsCool Posted March 21, 2014 Share Posted March 21, 2014 I hope all who have replied here understand that I am not trying to bash the AmpliFi product line at all. It's not something that interests me, but 10-15 years ago it sure would have. I do like the HD line despite its foibles, and I would like to see it get updated and "next gen'd" too. I just think that with winning the GP Editor's Pick (I tend to agree with flyingscool on the impetus for this) that Line6 may well be shifting it's focus entirely on that market segment, and that leaves those of us who are more "HD kind of people" kinda hanging. And that's just a shame, but in the world of music gear, not altogether surprising. I started getting serious with electric guitar in the year 2000 after I retired from the Air Force after playing a single acoustic guitar exclusively for over 25 years. I had to learn a LOT of stuff, including terminology and technology associated with it. It has been a ball BTW! But in that 14 year period since then, I can think of so many technology shifts by so many gear companies too many to list here. I think this is just another one, largely because iOS is just so darn pervasive these days and iOS users generally have a lot of, shall we say liquid assets to spend on things like the AmpliFi. Not everyone mind you, but generally speaking. In any event, it is what's hot right now, and Line6 is getting in on the extra large teat that it represents and that after all is why ANY company is in business to begin with, isn't it? I never thought you were bashing the product. I wonder, however, why you think Line6 might leave anyone hanging? No evidence to that as of yet. They are still selling the 500X. They cancelled the bean, but it is limited in input/output options, and probably wasn't selling so well compared to the 500X. The Amplifi stuff is just a product they are releasing, like many others they have done in the past. I see their link to IOS as just another step they had to take. They've been developing their modeling technology for years and years. I imagine HD is as good as it's gonna be for a while until, as I said before, they can cram more stuff into a DSP. I imagine they went with XT tech on this product because, as you said, they are marketing this to the IOS folk, who don't tend to like to have to think about tweaking, they just want to press a button and go... and it is my understanding that this is more along the lines of the XT tech than the HD tech. As they get this product working, they'll then morph the connection tech into their other products and improve the UI for tweaking models. I'm not saying you're wrong with your worry, just sayin' one product release doesn't ring cause for alarm in my book. I'd be more concerned about how the Yamaha purchase is going to affect future development. Will Yamaha take the technology and dump the company, or will they leave Line6 autonomous with deeper pockets to develop and market their products? So here's to wondering what the Yamaha purchase is going to do to Line 6...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gunpointmetal Posted March 21, 2014 Share Posted March 21, 2014 . I doubt, however, that the replacement will cost thousands of dollars. That's just not their style. Like it wasn't there style to carry PA equipment (that costs as much or more than similar offerings from established brands in the market)? I really hope they've been developing some new HD-market stuff, or at least working on a freakin' sweet firmware update (fix the stupid EQs, this is gonna be in almost every post I make!). I would think given the technology in use most of the AMPLIFi developement probably had to go the cabinet design and app programming, since the modeling is old as balls, leaving plenty of time to work on a new "flagship" series or update the existing one...so whats left from the HD series? ProX, 500X, and the handful of non-X models still floating around? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brue58ski Posted March 21, 2014 Share Posted March 21, 2014 Incorrect. ..... You can reasonably say "I disagree." Whether this is a 'serious' product or not is not a matter of right/wrong. It's a matter of opinion. You have one opinion; others may have a different opinion. That does not make your opinion correct and others' opinion incorrect. What I was saying incorrect about was you telling me how I feel i.e. "So it's not a device for you" THAT's what I was saying incorrect to. If you had read past that word you would have found that I thought it was a cool device. Just not serious which IS just an opinion. Did you even read the sentence after the word incorrect? In reference to the "That does not make your opinion correct and others' opinion incorrect"; where did I ever say it did????????????????????????????? What an arrogant thing to say. Did you completely read my post? I kept saying "I think", "I would say" and "I would want". Those words indicate that IT'S MY OPINION and not an empirical "this is the way it is" statement. Is English your primary language. If not I apologize. If it is... I guess I have to make it obvious to you by putting IMHO or something.....What the hell got your panties all in a bunch anyway? OH wait....IMHO. :rolleyes: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverhead Posted March 21, 2014 Share Posted March 21, 2014 So it's not a device for you, and frankly not for me either .... but still, it wins awards....... so maybe it's a marketplace winner, and a serious product for those who like it even if we don't? Incorrect. It would be a device for me if I had the extra money. .. Right. That means that it is not a device for you, and that's what I correctly said. I'm not saying anything about what you feel - just about what you said. No panties bunched up here. I happen to share your opinion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brue58ski Posted March 21, 2014 Share Posted March 21, 2014 My last post was not in response to So it's not a device for you, and frankly not for me either .... but still, it wins awards....... so maybe it's a marketplace winner, and a serious product for those who like it even if we don't? It was a response to Incorrect. ..... You can reasonably say "I disagree." Whether this is a 'serious' product or not is not a matter of right/wrong. It's a matter of opinion. You have one opinion; others may have a different opinion. That does not make your opinion correct and others' opinion incorrect. That's why it was quoted. So it would be very clear what I was referring to. If you're going to respond to posts. Make sure you're responding to the right things. I think you're backpedaling and trying to cover your lollipop. IMHO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverhead Posted March 21, 2014 Share Posted March 21, 2014 Guess I was time travelling to correct misplayed notes...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brue58ski Posted March 21, 2014 Share Posted March 21, 2014 I'm going to hold your feet to the fire over this one because my panties ARE in a bunch and your post bunched them. When I post I try to be very respectful of others opinions and when I post, try to make a very clear distinction between "what I think" and what is fact. After I read your "Incorrect. ....." You can reasonably say "I disagree." Whether this is a 'serious' product or not is not a matter of right/wrong. It's a matter of opinion. You have one opinion; others may have a different opinion. That does not make your opinion correct and others' opinion incorrect. I was shocked that you would have gotten that I thought my opinions were "right/wrong" so I went back an re read my post. It was then obvious to me you didn't read my post very carefully at all. The whole post was written as my opinion. My shock turned to feeling insulted and, even more, wrongly accused of something I personally really dislike. I think your post was a knee jerk reaction to me for whatever reason and was not well thought out at all. I think you then, instead of taking responsibility for what you posted, tried to back pedal your way out of it and you quoted an irrelevant post to cover yourself.. Which is kind of a slap in the face to me. Kind of indicating that I misread your insulting post. And you then, I guess, try to joke your way out of it. So, you can either take responsibility for what you posted or not. Your next response, if you choose to do so, will tell me everything I need to know. I'll post no more about it. At the very least I believe I have unbunched my panties now. IMHO. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joel_brown Posted March 22, 2014 Share Posted March 22, 2014 I didn't know if you had an iPhone or iPad that you were a hoity toity upper class wine drinking financially well off person. Seriously this is a fun toy that Line6 came out with that appeals to a certain customer base and they feel they can make money with it. Sheeessh, anyone ever do a spreadsheet before and write a business plan ? Now let's get back to playing guitar and creating tones. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Digital_Igloo Posted March 24, 2014 Share Posted March 24, 2014 Upon looking further ... there are 2 major concerns: 1. Where are the patches held ??, in the iPad (soon to be android/windows/Linux ) 2. They make it sound like the system recognizes the song tone, when what it does is a "search" much like one would do on the Line6 site for a specific Artist tone. So, they use AC/DC in many examples and I am sure that they would get thousands of people submitting tone patches and That situation is susceptible to bad data in / bad data out. Seems like a good product for the masses, which is probably the marketing & design intention just my 2 cents BTW, I have the HD 500X and enjoy it 1. Three places—On your iOS device (unlimited number of tones), on the cloud via your Line 6 account (unlimited number of tones), and in the amp itself (four of your favorite tones). 2. Correct. The AMPLIFi app uses metadata in the song file to call up the correct tones, and we've found that the masses do a pretty remarkable job policing themselves when it comes to rating tones up or down. And of course, if you don't agree with the masses, AMPLIFi is smart enough to always recall your favorite tone associated with a particular song. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mystic38 Posted March 27, 2014 Share Posted March 27, 2014 I personally have zero interest in a fad like the Amplifi type of product... To my mind, you are coupling one type of technology that has a useable life of 20+ years (an amp) with technology that has a shelf life of 18 months.. Or, put it this way... Had these amps come out in 2006 you would use your massively popular Blackberry smartphone to download and control the Amp.... and where would you be now?... right up poopy creek. Any money you wish to put into an amp is better off going into an all tube amp... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Digital_Igloo Posted March 30, 2014 Share Posted March 30, 2014 Any money you wish to put into an amp is better off going into an all tube amp... Perhaps, but I haven't seen too many tube amps in living rooms, streaming MP3s all day. Admittedly, it's difficult to compare AMPLIFi to other amps, because its approach to how and where people play guitar (and ideally, how often they play guitar) is unique by design. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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