Line 6 Lowdown Studio 110

Made in 2008 maybe 2007
Very versatile. Anything from clean country to dirty blues, hard rock to no key grind.
Basically a 1 channel amp but 6 different amps models.
At this price there is nothing else I want because it would raise the price beyond what I would pay for a practice/modeling amp.
I use this amp at home to practice but it has enough juice to make my cat run to the other side of the house and hide. You can't use it to gig by itself unless its an acoutic gig or there is a PA system, yes it has an XLR output.

I played through this amp with one bass. A Brice active pickup short scale bass (30 inches) that looks like a Les Paul and weighs like one too...11lbs. $300 new at Rondo Music. Its the only bass I own as I'm a guitar player. The bass is made in Korea and is better made than the last American made Fender guitar I bought. Body and neck are mahogany. Set neck, excellent tuners.
A bass is a bass. A $100 bass = a $100 guitar. A $300 bass = a $1,000 guitar. A $500 bass = a $2,000 guitar. Spend more than that on a bass and you are wasting your money.
This amp suits all my styles fine, but not perfectly. Good but not great. Yes the real thing sounds better. Add up the cost of the amp models covered here and if you bought the real thing it would cost you approximatly $8000 without a cab to play it through. Get serious people. There are no 200 mpg cars and there are no $250 modeling amps that sound like the real thing when the real thing costs $8,000.
The clean channel does not distort unless you are stupid enough to try and gig with it without a PA. The distortion is brutal pumped through a PA.
Do you get it now? Nothing in life is free. Except hot cheap women and then you have to be a good looking guy but thats a different story.

I have no idea. Had it all of 2 days. Have 3 or 4 hours playing time on it and have completely figured out this amp as so many others on this site have not but I can't tell you it will last, afterall it is a Chinese product. It probably has lead paint and will kill me but since I don't lick my amps I'm not worried about it.

N/A. Had it 2 days and it still works.

My Overall Rating is a 10. Instead of telling you why its a 10 I am going to explain why so may people have rated this amp so low, but more importantly I am going to tell you how to get the best sound out of this amp if you are inexperienced or stupid.
1) The Gain Knob is the key. You must jiggle the gain knob everytime you change amp models. Try this. Turn the amp on. Press the Clean button and turn the gain knob half way up to a mid position. You get a clean tone. Now press the Rock button....it sounds just like the Clean amp....jiggle the gain knob...oh my God I now have a rock sound....now change to R&B...its sounds just like the Rock amp....jiggle the gain knob....oh my God I now have a R&B amp....get it? The instruction manual doesn't tell you this you have to figure it out on your own like me, or you have to depend on someone like me to explain it to you.
One last thing. This amp does have the British amp that's found on the other larger models. The instruction manual tells you how to get it. Press the Clean and Rock buttons at the same time you turn the amp on and you have the British Amp. I have found no way to adjust the British amp. All the knobs are dead in this mode. If someone knows how to get around this let me know. Maybe a 9 rating since I can't figure out the British channel.

I purchased this amp to replace a Fender BXR 25. The Fender had served me very well for practice and for quiet acoustic gigs. However, I needed more volume for rehearsals with my current band, in order to keep up with a heavy-handed drummer.

Made in China in 2007, this little single-channel cube provides a surprising amount of sound for its size.

The onboard samples provide a range of basic sounds on which to sculpt your tones. There is a fairly clear, Eden-style clean, a slightly smoother and darker tube amp tone similar to an old Ampeg flip-top, an SVT imitation, and a fuzz channel which is supposed to emulate a sansamp going into an SVT.

The gain control doesn't shut the volume off at it's lowest setting- it's there to sculpt how much "push" you want on the channel. Like the four-band EQ, the effect of the gain knob depends on which sample you pull up. On the "Eden" patch, it takes you from almost perfectly clean at minimum, to a mild, tubey overdrive at max. On the distortion patch, it takes you from an SVT with very mild overdrive at minimum, through to full-on sansamp-into-SVT distortion.

The effect of the EQ varies according to which amp sim patch you have pulled up, which can be confusing at times. Relatively small changes at the knob can make surprisingly major changes in the tone, so a light touch and an open mind are required in order to find the best tones.

The single-knob compressor is useful for evening out dynamics, and would be handy for anyone using an entry-level bass with wonky string-to-string dynamics, or slappers looking to smooth things out.

The headphone amp has good headroom and a solid tone, and doesn't distort on thicker bass tones (something my Line 6 POD XT Live is guilty of).

The 1/8" stereo CD input is good for jamming along with tracks off an iPOD or other external source, but has one quirk- unlike the Fender Rad Bass/BXR 25/Rumble 25, the CD input is only routed to the headphone output, so you can't use the Studio 110 as a boombox.

The preamp out can be used to drive a powered extension speaker. However, as mentioned by other reviewers, there is no facility to bypass the internal 4-ohm speaker, or to augment it with a passive extension cab. Still, the amp is surpringly loud for such a tiny package- noticeably louder than the Fender BXR 25 that I was replacing.

The DI provides a balanced, post-EQ output complete with cabinet simulation.

Taken in total, this is a pretty impressive feature set for a practice amp, or for any amp at its price point.

I bought the amp to use with two neck-through, extended-range basses. One is a homemade single-cut 5-string, similar in design and construction to a Fodera Imperial, armed with 18-volt EMG soapbars- a 40CS at the neck, and a Jazz at the neck, no tone controls onboard. The other bass is a hotrodded Peavey Grind NTB 6-string, running EMG 45CS soapbars in both positions, with an EMG BTC EQ.

I play a variety of styles, from folk, to blues, to contemporary pop, with a little jazz thrown in on occasion.

The Studio 110 gave me surprisingly fat, satisfying tones all the down to the low B, once I abandoned the horrible Line 6 factory presets. My only disappointments, were occasional digital artifacts on the fadeout of quiet notes (a sort of discordant buzzing), and an overall swampy, slightly veiled character.

If you like thick, compressed old-school bass tones, this is the practice amp for you. Like an old Ampeg, it makes any bass plugged into it sound nice, and fills in the mix with smooth, fat bass tones.

However, if you want surgical clarity, this isn't the amp for you. Boosting the upper mids and treble and lopping off some low end can make it sound fairly sharp and tinny, but that's not the same thing as the natural transparency that you get from gear by companies like Acoustic Image, Eden or SWR. Even the "Eden" channel, still has a round, compressed warmth that doesn't cut through in the modern style.

Some people have complained that the range of tones was limited, but I didn't find that to be the case. However, finding the optimum settings wasn't always intuitive. Too much upper midrange emphasized fret and string noise, and sometimes I even had to cut the bass slightly, in order to find the best tone. If you approach the EQ with a preconceived "bass at ten past, mids at quarter to, and treble at five past" attitude, you won't find everything that this amp has to offer.

I was disappointed by the amount or hiss that was present at the DI and headphone outputs. Although it's still pretty quiet for a cheap practice amp, given the range of features it offers, it's a shame to see it fall short of pro standards.

I can't really comment on the bass distortion tones. Distortion is a very subjective thing, and I'm not into it anyway. I though the Line 6 preset sounded too thin and farty, but I was able to dial it back quite a bit with lower gain settings, so if you're into that, you'll need to check it out for yourself.

If I was more into the sound of fifteen-inch speakers and thick buttery tones, I would probably rate the amp higher, but because I favour a more transparent, full-range sound, I'm going to dock it a couple of points.

I only had the amp a week, because it lacked the transparency and punchy headroom I was looking for.

Still, it seemed to be pretty solid. The speaker handled being run at full volume without distress, which is impressive considering the high output of my active basses.

Pretty good for a Chinese product, but only time will tell if it has the sort of bulletproof indestructibility I experienced from my American-made Fender BXR 25.

Line 6's forums are helpful, and they gave me good support when I was looking for a replacement speaker for a Flextone III guitar amp a while back.

If you want thick, swampy rock tones in an extremely light, affordable package, I think that this is the best value on the market at the moment. I compared it to the SWR LA 10 and 12, as well as other small amps by Laney, G-K, Fender, and Markbass, and this was the one I took home at the end of the day.

It won't fill a room over the top of a loud drummer without help from the DI, but it's fine as a personal monitor.

However, if you really want a small pro gigging amp, you need to step things up a notch. In the end, I took mine back and picked up an older SWR Workman's 10. The SWR had more headroom, and blooms nicely with the addition of an extension cab, something the Studio 110 couldn't do.

I still rate the Studio 110 highly though. No complaints.

1x1/4" input with -10db pad switch, headphone out, 1/4" preamp out, Cabinet Simulated XLR out w/ ground lift, 1/8" minijack in. 5 Amp Models (Clean, R&B, Rock, Grind, and Synth), 3 band EQ with Gain and Master. Compressor, 75 watts power into a 1x10 speaker. It'd be nice to have a speaker out, but the power amp is probobly running at 4 Ohms to get the 75 watts into that 1x10, so that probobly wouldn't be too possible.

First to cut through the Line 6 marketing crap... this WILL not sound like a SVT Stack, it WILL not sound like an Eden setup, it WILL not sound like a vintage B-15... plain simple it just won't, and if you think it will you probobly need to get some mental help anyway. It's got 4 presets that are completely useles, however with some tweaking you can get some good tones out of it. Stock out of the box I'd have to give this thing a 3, but after some tweaking and if you don't expect it to actually be a Ampeg SVT Stack in a small combo, I'll give it what I'm giving it. The amp is pretty loud for it's size, and I don't have the bad hum some people have talked about.

Can't say.

When you can get a hold of Line 6, they are great...

I've been playing for 15 years or so, and have owned everything from a small Fender practice amp to an SVT 8x10 Stack. This little amp works great for the reason I bought it, a small amp for smaller gigs so I don't have to lug my 2x15 setup around, that being said it's not a SVT replacement or an Eden replacement or anything like that (personally I think expecting a $250 amp to sound and act like 4 $1000+ amps is a bit outlandish). It's a lot of power in a small portable package, with some tweaking you can get some good sounds out of it... the manual actually is fairly useful and helps out with that. I think it'd be nice to have a speaker out, and it'd help if the presets were more useable out of box. Out of box I give this amp a 5, after some tweaking I give it an 8.

Featurewise, this amp offers exactly what I needed: I wanted something small I can kick around and toss in the back of my car anytime or take with me on public transport without too much trouble, mostly for home practice or when playing at other bandmembers' homes, but I also needed it to be loud and I wanted it to sound big. This amp delivers the goods.
Basic features: 5 amp models, clean (based on an Eden Traveler), R&B (based on an Ampeg B15 Portaflex), rock (based on an Ampeg SVT through an 8x10) and grind (based on a Tech 21 SansAmp through an SVT stack, with the clean sound of your bass mixed in). The Eden can be substituted for a Marshall Superbass for that great classic rock tone from the likes of Cream and Yes. Furthermore, there's a synth but I don't really use that for anything other than a good laugh, really.
Connectivity consists of a headphone out, external audio input, balanced XLR out (with switchable ground lift) and a preamp out for connecting the amp to a poweramp or the input of another amp. I couldn't ask for more in an amp this size. At 75 watts, it's even rediculously loud for such a small combo!

I do not agree with the reviewers who posted that this amp masks the characteristics of your bass. I use this amp with some very different basses (an Ellio Martina Forza, a Yamaha TRB5II, a custom Precision, a fretless Sandberg Bullet and an old MIJ Ibanez ATK300) and each bass retains its own voice. However, I do feel this amp lacks one thing, tonewise: a TRUE clean tone. Even the Eden-simulation has a slight edge to it, and the low end is a bit undefined. Also, there's no crisp high-end. Adding highs makes the amp sound somewhat thinny rather than crispy, making it hard to find the right EQ balance. Don't expect an EBS-like clarity, this amp always adds coloration to your tone.
Overall I find all ampsims very useable, after some tweaking with the EQ. It's not easy to find a good sound though, it requires some patience.

Can't comment on reliability yet, I've had it to briefly to be able to give a well-backed opinion here.

Haven't dealt with Line 6 directly (yet) but from the reviews below I get the impression they're very hard to reach. I recon they prefer you to contact your dealer rather than the company itself, but answering emails would have to be the least a customer support department can do, right?

Overall, I'm pretty happy with this amp. At its size, it was unbeatable. There was nothing else in the store where I bought it that compared to it by any means (other than the larger Line 6 Lowdown combo's). This amp packs all I need in a small amp, and then some. My main amp is an Ashdown ABM300 C210T with an ABM115 Compact extension cab, but for some venues it's just too bulky, especially when rehearsing at eachothers' homes. The Lowdown Studio 110 succeeds in approaching the ABM's big and fat tone, but lacks some of the high end response of the ABM, maybe because the C210T has a tweeter and the LD Studio 110 doesn't. If only there'd been a truely clean ampsim in the LD, it would have been near perfect. Still, I'm quite happy with this little beast! Overall, I'm giving it an 8 based on features and tone. We'll see how it'll hold up in time.

Features as all other reviews

The secret to this amp is really considering how the gain structure works. I have seen other reviewers in this forum rubbish the EQ however if you run the gain right in relation to your bass you will find the EQ works well. Ok so its not going to sound like a 2x15 cab BUT for mic'd recording with knowledge of how to use the amp properly it delivers the goods. Its not really a practice amp Studio 110 is the clue. I am running my 1961 Jazz bass, a MM stingray and a Fender Jaco tribute fretless through it. Having worked with the bass podxt you get a better idea of what this amp is designed to do.

No problems so far

No problems so far......

Overall rating 8 - it does the job its designed to do and may prove not ideal for applications outside of that BUT at the end of the day for the price it is awesome.

1/4" in, -10db pad switch, line-in, headphone out, line out, DI out, ground lift. 4 amp models, drive, bass, low-mid, hi-mid, treble, compression, master volume. 75 watts power. With the exception of the 4 amp models and the compression, this is all pretty standard stuff on a practice amp.

I've been through SVT 2's and 3's, a Mesa Bass 400+, SWRs, and currently run an Ampeg pre into a 1400 watt Mackie power, out to Aguilar cabinets. Not too shabby. So what am I doing buying this? Simple, I needed a small practice amp to sit on my workbench so after I'm done repairing an instrument, I can test it out through this amp. Not too much to ask right?

Apparently it is. I don't give up easily on stuff and sat for hours on end messing with the dials trying to find a good sound, but it just wasn't there. I tried different basses with it including my own neckthru Warwick Thumb, a Jazz, and a Stingray. All quality basses with their own distinctive tones which disappeared when played through this amp.

I.e. - a P-bass sounds like a P-Bass whether played through an Eden, a B-15, or a SVT. Each amp is different but the bass's characteristics don't change. Not the case with this amp. This amp is PERFECT for people with cheap, low-quality basses and beginners just starting out. It will mask the tone of whatever you play through it, which is a HUGE downfall of amp modeling in general.

For my purposes where I need to hear the instrument's characteristics, it fails miserably. Kids, this a good amp to start on but if you do graduate to an actual SVT or Eden or whatever, don't expect it to sound ANYTHING like this Line 6.

I had it for less than 30 days (GC's return policy) so I'm not too qualified to answer this one. It did feel pretty cheap though and even though it's solid state, I wouldn't expect it to hold up through regular gigging (I'd advise against this anyways with Line 6 gear).

I'd say their just about the best at ignoring every attempt to contact them. That's a hard mark to reach in an industry filled with indifference and laziness.

From a seasoned (and jaded) bass player's point of view it's junk, even as just a practice amp. You'll want to hear your bass' voice and how it interacts with the amp, not just the crappy, "almost-SVT" mud coming from the Line 6.

For beginners, this amp is great! Although Line 6 should market it more for you guys and not for gigging bassist wanting an all-in-one package. It's loud but not unruly, will help cover flaws in your bass' tone and in your playing until you get more experienced, but should NOT be taken out of your bedroom.

Bought this year , Jan 07, so it is probably no older than an 06. This amp has some nice features - Loud, portable, XLR out, sturdy, light weight,etc. Wish it had simple reverb,chorus. All the other effects are pretty useless.

I use this with a Gretsch Electromatic bass and a Samick HFB590 A/E bass. I play old country, Beatles, Western swing, and Gospel.
This amp is loud, there is no tonal variation. The eq does very little if anything to change the tone. I spent hours looking for different tones playing with the amp models and eq knobs to shape the sound for the above styles of music. No joy. It's just loud and dark sounding, with shrilling, grate your teeth highs. That's all folks.But, it can get loud! Would probably sound great in a small club, where everyone was nearly comatose drunk.

Haven't had it long enough to tell if it will be reliable. If it lasts forever, it will still sound bad. Plan to sell to someone on FleaBay. Seems very sturdy. Would make a good beginner amp.

Haven't dealt with them. How do you fix no tone?

Lost or stolen? I would hate to be out the money, but I wouldn't be too unhappy. There are things I like about this amp( see features ), but if it doesn't sound good, what's the point. I have a Peavey microbass practice amp that sounds way better. I also have a Roland Cube 100, that I don't like to carry around much, but I guess I will start dragging it to gigs now.

This would make an okay amp for a beginner, but once they get good enough to start looking for tone, they will have outgrown this Amp.
Too Bad, Line 6 had a chance here, and they blew it.

Am compelled to protest against those glowing reviews, this amp is not what they say!
The basses used are warwick 5strings fretless, and your standard jazzbass.
First, the good: it has enough input gain to give the jazzbass a lot of punch. It is quite loud too, if that's important to you. I prefer good tone.
No external speaker jack, no remote options, no preset locations if you want two or more variations of the same amp model, no reverb or delay, no effects loop, and... no tone!

This sucks big time! No details, no freshness, no clarity, only boom-boom in a nasty overall dark metallic color, I don't know what others here are talking about.
Hey, a simple behringer bdi21 in the aux in of a small marshall mg15 sounds way better!
Note that this dominant digital color is there on their spider2 amp line too, they really need to have it sorted. <unbearable.
The compressor can be handy, but the eq doesn't change the tone a single bit.

I had software problems with a spider2, won't rely again on their chinese toys.
That's what it is anyway

They don't answer to your very questions, I asked them if the fbv4 floorboard would work with their new pod2 (to activate boost and switching effects on/off) and to this day no answer. I asked twice.
xxxholes I would say.

I hate this. No variations, no subtlety, tastes like a rotten vegetable.
Digital is not necessarily a bad thing, the roland basscubes sound fantastic with all you need.
In fact I'll go this route if I have a good opportunity.
I know I'm hard on the ld110, and if you want something loud and small what other choice do you have at the price?
But I know that if tone ain't there the amplifier won't be used after honeymoon, and chances are you won't improve as a bassist.
Better take the 30w basscube, souds ok at least.
If you can afford it, the new bassman 100 from fender is a way better amp.

Bought new, February 2007. Took a long time finding this one as I wanted a 1x10 combo that does it all - compact size, plenty of inputs/outputs, sound quality for recording and practice plus enough volume to handle a small gig. Tried many manufacturers and all seemed to be either practice amps or gigging amps, but never both.

This has 1 guitar input with switchable 10db pad for actives if needed. Line input for CD plater/fdrom machine etc. Hedphone output, line output, DI output with ground lift. Comes with 4 amp models factory set, but all user editable - rotary controls for drive, bass, low-mid, hi-mid, treble, compression, master volume. 75 watts power - mainly used for practice & recording but occasional gigs/jams too.

Using with fretted and fretless basses - both have "P" & "J" type pickups. Fretted is active - amp handles it without using the -10db pad. My style couldn't be more eclectic and this combo delivers it all. Not noisy, but I do use top quality leads and both guitars are well screened. 4 sound models are "Clean" "R&B" "Rock" and "Grind" all editable. The Clean model can be overwritten with an alternative "Brit" model if desired, plus there is a comprehensive synth mode - but I don't use this, so can't comment on how good it is. The Clean model is just that - very hi-fi sound, good for slap bass. The Grind model is fairly distorted in the factory setting - I have rolled the distortion off slightly. Overall sound quality is superb. The cabinet is closed (ie, no bass porting) but bass extension seems very good, despite the diminutive size. Seems to cope with high volumes OK - the inbuilt compression is good and keeps things well under control.

It looks solidly built. It's only a 1-foot cube, yet weighs in at an impressive 24 pounds - I would definitely gig it without a backup, but as Ive only owned it a short time, it's too early to say how it will hold up long term, therefore I give it a cautious 8.

Not needed them yet and hope I never do, therefore no opinion as yet.

Been playing over 20 years, own a Westine Thunder II fretted bass and a Stagg fretless (with DiMarzio pickups) a Boss DR220 drom machine and a Korg AX3B bass multi effects processor.
Having taken such pains to find this combo and being absolutely delighted with it now I have it, I would have no hesitation in replacing it. At the present time there's nothing else out there in the market that can do all the things this does! Jost wish it was possible to bypass the amp models and use it like a traditional amp. An esxternal speaker output might come in useful sometimes too.

Late 2006 model, Versatile amp, but not a lot of different tones. Pre-out, headphone jack, Aux in, functions as a DI box. 75 watts into a 10" speaker

I play mostly alt-country, blues and rock, Play a Jazz, a Traben Fretless and a Tobias. I bought this amp as a practice/studio amp, it is extremely quiet, in fact noisless from the D/I output. I took it to a small Party Gig, it blew everyone ( including some pros ) away. Not a lot of variety in the amp/cab simulation, but as a Preamp/DI it sounds very warm and bigger than it actually is. The Grind and Synth settings are interesing. Plenty of sound for a practice session.

Only owned for a month, built like a tank. Ignore reviews that say it is light and cheaply made, the quality is outstanding.

N/A The manual is well written and in clear plain english.

I would definately replace this if it were bogarted, I looked long and hard at a lot of under $300 amps and this one hands down as I didn't want/need the most volume and size for the buck, I have a Hartke stack for Gigs.

Combo was made in late 2006. Lost of features (4-5 different models) It's real small & light, and inexpensive. Knobs feel cheap.

I wasn't impressed by all the models. They all sounded too similiar to one another with the exception og the Grind model. There was no WOW to the overall sound. I thought the amp had a lot of hum, was too quiet below 6, and the hum was too loud above 6. I use the amp on several different grounded outlets & different cables.

I don't know, I returned it after owning it for a week.

Never called them.

I was very disappointed in this amp. I was looking for a good, small portable bass combo and thought this fit the bill. I was surpised about the loud hum / static I heard every time I played it. It felt cheap. If there was less hum / noise & the volume was more consistent, I probably would have kept it.

2006

Amazing Rock Tone! Speaker emulated xlr balanced output, and handy preamp output, headphone output and line input
You can't get better for the money. This is perfect for studio use and most live situations with the help of a pa system. This amp will save your back, as long as you have access to a good pa for stage use.

Has that certain hard to describe airy low psychoacoustic sound you get from an Ampeg tube head and classic 810 cab. I auditioned several guitars and played the Ampeg 810 with the Ampeg SVT Pro 3 tube head, and this amp has that special sound. None of the other amps had it including the many combo ampegs as well as all the Hartke and Crate stuff I tried.

I wish I knew how reliable this is. It certainly seems well made. If it's reliable you will be seeing more and more players using these.

I've tried so many bass amps and really worked hard to see what each can do, and this thing just has the sound right out of the box. I wouldn't be in a hurry to change the rock preset as it sounds perfect right out of the box. Line 6 hit a Grand Slam with this one.