Line 6 M5 Stompbox Modeller

This pedal is perfect for anyone who is running their complex delay/reverb/ambience stuff in an effects loop, but needs a 'swiss army knife' pedal for effects that need to go in front of the amp (distortion, wah, phaser, etc.). I was playing in the pit for our local HS musical last fall (they haven't had any electric guitarists...or bassists or drummers for that matter... in the student population for the last 7-8 years...I blame vocalist-centric reality TV shows....but I digress). The show was "Sister Act" and, unlike the R&B tinged '92 movie, the (2006) stage musical is all late 70's disco style. Needless to say, I needed a wah-wah pedal. Instead of shelling out the same amount for a decent 'one-trick-pony' wah pedal, I opted for this unit, as I have been looking ... MoreThis pedal is perfect for anyone who is running their complex delay/reverb/ambience stuff in an effects loop, but needs a 'swiss army knife' pedal for effects that need to go in front of the amp (distortion, wah, phaser, etc.). I was playing in the pit for our local HS musical last fall (they haven't had any electric guitarists...or bassists or drummers for that matter... in the student population for the last 7-8 years...I blame vocalist-centric reality TV shows....but I digress). The show was "Sister Act" and, unlike the R&B tinged '92 movie, the (2006) stage musical is all late 70's disco style. Needless to say, I needed a wah-wah pedal. Instead of shelling out the same amount for a decent 'one-trick-pony' wah pedal, I opted for this unit, as I have been looking for a multi-function 'in-front-of-the-amp' pedal for a while, and I already had an expression pedal for my keyboard. My expression pedal was the dirt cheap M-Audio plastic one that, according to Line6's own website, shouldn't work with this unit...except it did. Yes, even when toggling the "M-Audio/Other" switch on the underside of the pedal, at first It either didn't work at all, or worked backwards. But then, I discovered the genius programming built into this little gem. If you rock the EXP pedal either fullup or full down, you can manually set the heel/toe values for ANY of the 5 adjustable parameters in a given effect. SO.......In the tube/tape delay effect, for example, I have it set so the repeats, drive/gain, and "wow/flutter" all increase (each by individually set amounts) when I rock the EXP pedal from heel to toe. Add to that the fact that this is a dual stomp switch pedal with a dedicated tap-tempo switch, and you have an ultra-controlable delay unit. My only niggle is in the auto-wah/'tron' department. While they have a few dynamics-based filter effects models, only one is a dedicated Mu-Tron/envelope-filter type effect. What's more, since they only have the one model, and only 5 adjustable parameters, they decided to allot some of those 5 precious parameter knobs to things like "high-/low-/band-pass filter" and left out the crucial "sensitivity" setting. My rig is old-school; vintage non-master-volume amp + tube screamer + THD Hotplate. All my gain/distortion is controlled via my guitar's volume knob. The problem is, with no 'sensitivity' setting on the 'Tron' effect model, you only get decent results if your guitar volume is full up on or near 10. Unfortunately, most of the situations where you want to use this type of effect are with a relatively clean tone. But, since I can only get said cleaner tone by rolling back my guitar's volume, I don't have enough signal to trigger the wah effect. Instead of including some of the 'cool-but-of-limited-usefulness' models like "Comet Trails" in this section of the pedal, I wish Line6 would have had multiple 'Tron' models (high-/low-/band-pass) with sensitivity parameter adjustments all 'round. Full disclosure; what with my fore mentioned rig, I have not at all explored the distortion section of this pedal, and thus cannot comment on it's quality or lack thereof. I have at least dabbled in the modulation section, and done extensive exploration in the filter, delay, and Reverb sections, and found them all adequate to superior in tone and 'controlability' (OK, maybe not a real word...yet). And, c'mon, for $130? You really can't beat this!

This really is the missing item you never knew you needed or existed until now. It’s the Swiss Army knife of effects.Having used a trusty set of pedals for many years I felt like I had everything I needed to fulfill my needs as a player. Wah, drive, delay, reverb, chorus etc, I had each pedal. I’d become quite adept at tweaking settings, but for some song to cover or compose the scope of effects was never wide enough. This is where the Line 6 comes in. It compliments your own set up, filling gaps and offering new dynamics to your own compositions. It breaks the boundaries of traditional pedals, offering unique, customisable and highly creative effects. The inspiration is endless.It’s built to a really high quality which is surprising given the price point. I was ... MoreThis really is the missing item you never knew you needed or existed until now. It’s the Swiss Army knife of effects.Having used a trusty set of pedals for many years I felt like I had everything I needed to fulfill my needs as a player. Wah, drive, delay, reverb, chorus etc, I had each pedal. I’d become quite adept at tweaking settings, but for some song to cover or compose the scope of effects was never wide enough. This is where the Line 6 comes in. It compliments your own set up, filling gaps and offering new dynamics to your own compositions. It breaks the boundaries of traditional pedals, offering unique, customisable and highly creative effects. The inspiration is endless.It’s built to a really high quality which is surprising given the price point. I was worried at this price the quality of the effects wouldn’t be up there with products costing several hundred pounds more. However, the sound quality is excellent, putting other high priced multi effects units to shame. To assist in helping create inspiration, the included presets are very versatile, high in quality and easy to switch between.The build of the unit is sturdy and I’m confident will take many years of use.Such an amazing product, not just for the money but in its own right.

I have used the M5 on everything from keyboards, to basses, to acoustic guitar, and of course electric. I absolutely love the versatility of this pedal. I simply feel like there is no downside to adding this pedal to your repertoire. The only thing that I absolutely hate about this pedal is the overdrives and distortions, most of them do not add anything special or desirable to your tone; however, the reverbs, modulation effects, and everything else are great, especially the reverbs. I have had NO ISSUES with this pedal as far as power supply or grounding goes. I believe people may face this issue because this pedal takes 9V at 500ma, and not the more common 9V@ 300ma. I just use the stock power supply and that seems to help, but I'm no electrician. Overall, I love ... MoreI have used the M5 on everything from keyboards, to basses, to acoustic guitar, and of course electric. I absolutely love the versatility of this pedal. I simply feel like there is no downside to adding this pedal to your repertoire. The only thing that I absolutely hate about this pedal is the overdrives and distortions, most of them do not add anything special or desirable to your tone; however, the reverbs, modulation effects, and everything else are great, especially the reverbs. I have had NO ISSUES with this pedal as far as power supply or grounding goes. I believe people may face this issue because this pedal takes 9V at 500ma, and not the more common 9V@ 300ma. I just use the stock power supply and that seems to help, but I'm no electrician. Overall, I love this pedal. The only reason it gets 4 stars is because of the overdrives.