It is now possible to preorder three of these new products with expected shipping dates revealed.
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Line 6 POD X3 Pro price check Estimated shipping date: October 27, 2008. Ben’s best guess street price: $700 |
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Line 6 M13 price check Ben’s best guess street price: $500 |
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Line 6 JM4 price check Ben’s best guess street price: $325. |
Line 6 POD X3 Pro
To the surprise of no one and the anticipation of many, Line 6 have made the POD X3 Pro a public reality. With the already top notch features of POD X3 Live many were left wondering how Line 6 could outdo themselves and offer enough extra bang to make the extra buck worth it. Here are the highlights of what Line 6 have done over and above the X3 Live and X3 bean.
- Dual XLR inputs. You can now run two vocals, or vocals along with a miked acoustic guitar. Each with its own fully independent processing chain.
- Phantom power on the XLR inputs.
- Low cut filters for the XLR inputs.
- Variax digital input (X3 Live has this too).
- Two 1/4″ instrument inputs (X3 Live relied on an aux input for a second instrument). Each with its own fully independent processing chain.
- Two 1/4″ dry outputs (unprocessed guitar suitable for reamping).
- S/PDIF input.
- AES/EBU digital input and output.
- Effects Loop (X3 Live also has this).
I think the biggest additions are the dual XLR input channels with phantom power. Is this worth the extra few hundred dollars it will cost? Only you can decide. If you have been dreaming of a single unit to replace your TonePort UX2, and a pair of POD XTs, then POD X3 Pro is the realization of those dreams.Ben’s best guess POD X3 Pro street price: $700
More info at the Line 6 POD X3 Pro product page.
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Line 6 POD X3 Pro price check |
Line 6 M13 Stompbox Modeler
This pedal looks huge, but is reportedly not much bigger than two of Line 6’s other pedals put together. The effects modeling of Line 6 has been such a success that they have been able to launch a full line of small and deluxe pedals based on their technology. This unit wraps almost all of their modeled effects into one box with a trademark ultra configurable Line 6 signal chain. You can mix any of Line 6’s effects models in any order you want, and even set up a sampling looper that can be placed in the background so you still have four effects slots to fill. In a performance situation the M13 Stompbox Modeler is designed to work like an integrated pedal board. Each of the configured effects has a dedicated screen, dedicated knobs (no menus to wade through) and dedicated on/off switches.Ben’s best guess M13 street price: $500
More info at the Line 6 M13 Stompbox Modeler product page.
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Line 6 M13 price check |
Line 6 Lowdown bass amps
The Line 6 Lowdown bass amp product line has reached a level of success that demands a wider variety of selection. The core preamp features basically the same amp and effects models as the other Lowdown products. The new features take the form of additional configurations.
- Line 6 Lowdown LD400 Pro is a new bass combo amp with 2×10″ speaker configuration and 400 watts of power. The LD400 also has a speaker output for use with an external speaker cabinet.Best guess LD400 street price: $700 Line 6 LD400 Pro product page
- Line 6 Lowdown HD400 is a 400 watt bass head capable of driving two external speaker cabinets.Best guess HD400 street price: $550 Line 6 HD400 product page
- Line 6 Lowdown HD750 is a 750 watt bass head capable of driving two external speaker cabinets.Best guess HD750 street price: $700 Line 6 HD750 product page
Line 6 JM4 Looper
The JM4 Looper is seems to basically be Spider Jam in a stompbox. It features integrated amp and effects modeling which is basically the preamp/effects unit of a Spider III amplifier. The included jam along section features 100 or so loops, rhythms, and drum tracks to play over. These aren’t your run of the mill midi tracks played through a cheap GM synth. These are full audio loops recorded by professional studio musicians. With nearly a half hour of internal recording capability and an SD card slot to export to your computer, this is a tool you can use to lay down riff ideas not matter where you might be when inspiration strikes. While the unit includes an XLR microphone input, there is no evidence of it including any preamp models or ability to record guitar and vocals simultaneously.Ben’s best guess JM4 street price: $325
More information is at the Line 6 JM4 Looper product page.
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Line 6 JM4 price check |
Line 6 are definitely looking out for the needs of the home recording studio owner.
6 replies on “Line 6: POD X3 Pro and other new products”
Hey Ben. According to the Line 6 site, it sounds like this thing is a Spider III in a pedal with recording and vocal features added on: 200+ artist presets, 150+ song presets, 36 user programmable presets, 12 amp models with 2 voicings each, 3 modulation effects, 3 echo/delay effects, and reverb, integrated tuner, and vocal & aux inputs, each with separate 3 band EQ, Compressor, Delay, and Reverb. This comes directly from the JM4 specs page: http://www.line6.com/jm4looper/specs.html
As stated in the original post, it’s more like a Spider Jam in a pedal. The preamp does match the Spider III but the product as a whole is a Spider Jam. Spider Jam is already an augmented Spider III. Check out the product page for Spider Jam and you will see even more similarities between that and JM4 than between JM4 and Spider III.
http://www.line6.com/spiderjam/specs.html
The M13 looks extremely interesting! Aside from the looper, I wonder what advantages it offers over using an X3Live strictly for effects?
And you forgot to mention the Bogner Alchemist! ;-)
The main thing M13 gives above something like X3 for effects is the configuration. You can move the effects around in any order and keep them stereo through the whole signal path. I’m also wondering if it might be possible to use more than one of a particular class of effect. For instance, two mods and two distortions. Maybe. We won’t know until the manual comes out.
I didn’t forget the Bogner Alchemist. This is a post about Line 6’s new product offerings. The Alchemist has nothing to do with Line 6.
On the Musician’s Friend website you linked the release date for The POD X3 Pro has changed to 10-27-2008. Are they having trouble fine tuning it or they adding new things to compete woth the Boss GT-10?
Absolutely right you are about the release date. I’ll make that correction. I don’t really have any inside information about the delay in release date, sorry!