Line 6 FM4 Filter Modeler

I find the unit to be straight forward and simple to use.

Editing is east... turn knobs. The manual is the simplest manual I've ever seen... that is not to say it isn't informative, because it is. I suggest reading it once (for all the historical info on the origin of the internal set-ups) and then putting it in a drawer somewhere. It's easier to tweek and listen with this box.

I'm not using this pedal with guitars. I'm using it with keyboards.

I haven't detected any noise with this unit (and I've been using them for 8 years). I did have a Line 6 Delay unit that had noise on some of the patches though.

Are the effects weak? Not at all, but I've never understood why Line 6 spent so much time selling this box to guitarists and no effort to sell it to Keyboardist. Sure, bask in the 70's it was chic to plug your guitar into a synthesizer to get that "outrageous" sound... but come on Line 6, this whole box is modeled after synthesizers, and it is more usefull in that environment. I've run everything from Vintage ARP's to Soft-Synths through this thing. The Oberheim modeling in this box is "dead on".

I used to play in a 60'S/70's cover band and used this unit mostly to "fix" digital reproductions of Analog sounds. It did exactly what I needed it to do. HOWEVER, my guitarist hated it. He borrowed it for 3 days and then asked me why I wasted my money... I hooked it up to a Roland JP-8080 and showed him. He said "I guess they made this one for you guys" (he used the Delay and Distortion units). Some of the Moog models sounded just that; modeled (but still usable).

Very dependable... and indestructible. It's been used (and dropped) a lot.

It's been used several times by itself.

I've dealt with line 6 a few times over the years. Mostly to get product info (most recently in May of 2009 regarding the M-13)and once to get a Delay unit repaired. I'd rate them in the Good-to-Very Good category.

I play 70's Progressive (Yes, ELP, Pink Floyd etc). This unit was made for "my type".

I've been playing for 35 years. I have 2 analog, 12 digital and 7 "soft" synths. I sold all my Line-6 pedals (FM4, MM4, DM4 and DD4)and bought the M-13 to make my life easier... I bought the FM4 back though because I wanted a seperate filter unit.

Would I buy it again... No. I'm not doing live work anymore so I'm replacing it with the Line 6 Filter Pro (rackmount FM4 with more versatiliy). But if I was still playing live I'd replace it immediately.

I got this cheap because the manual was missing. To be honest I only needed to know how to store patches and I found that out quickly from the net. The rest is a matter of tweaking. I dont really have much experience with the original filter's and effects that this unit is modelling so I use it to play around with crazy sounds.

Im playing this with mostly Ibanez guitars and an Elmwood modena90. It sounds ok with other amps and is also good with home recording utlising the stereo capabilities...shame I can't get the stereo thing happening live.

One thing I like about this pedal is that its not very noisey both on and off (apart from spits and garbles fromn the effects). With the true bypass I have not noticed any loss of tone or punch with my amp.

Some effects are very good and useable, most of them are basically EQ filters and some effects I dont really use.

Its hard to really judge sound quality because this pedal is not producing modern pristine sounds but crazy synth and warble noises. I dont expect much from the unit aother than some fun and it does that well.

It should have included a few pitch shifting and modulation effects in for measure.

Haven't owned it long enough to know. Its casing is metal but the input dc socket in the back could easily come loose as well as the cheap plastic battery cover. The dials on the front look cheap but they are recessed back so shouldn't get bumped often.

Never dealth with line 6

I play a range of styles both at home and live (in a cover band). Ive been playing 20 years and bought this mainly for jamming and the odd sound to throw into live performances. I like that it gives some versatility to my rig without sucking tone. During our funk jams I have 4 presets of whacked out, f&*ked up sounds to play with and I also often use it at the beginning or end of a song as an effect. I play in a three piece (Im on guitar and vocal duty) so this effect allows me to stretch out beyond traditional guitar on certain songs. It works especially well with some lush reverb and delays.

I like the purple colour but other than that its a kinda boring unit. All my other effects are high end straight to the point pedals: wah, mild chorus, 2 delays. Distortion is all from the amp. I dont really care this is a modeller or even how accurate it is - I use it for tricks and gimmicks and suprisingly it can be quite musical with some tweaking.

I have the first two patches set up with 'in the desert on mescaline' synth sounds for special effects or use during funk jam songs. The third patch I have set up to almost sound like a uni-vibe and use that on some jimi hendrix songs. The last preset I have managed to get this weird flute sound that works in one way like a modern techno sound when I pluck the lower strings lightly and percussively and sounds like Jethro Tull flutes when soloing higher up. Its really cool, makes me play differently and experiment more. The tracking is not great but still useable even in a live setting. The mix knob is essential. I dont even look at what Im doing - just flip dials until some crazy *** sound booms from the speakers. Id imagine this unit would be a lot of fun if you played in an experimental garage band and I could see how this could be used for other instruments. Ive played around recording some vocals with this in stereo and it produces some interesting results...so its handy for recording as well as just guitar.

My major gripe about this unit is the bloody line6 adaptor plug is not the same size as other boss/MXR/standard sizes so I have to lug around yet another adaptor instead of being able to use my dunlop power brick. Possibly I can get a customized cable. I dont even know if this pedal comes with an adaptor out of the box - mine came with it and a manual so I got it cheap but it would be lame if naturally came without! Im not sure if I would have bought it at full price. At least its not a signature pedal.

For the price I paid it has been worth the money just to watch the reaction of the crowd as I switch from my traditional rock sounds into some more trippy soundscapes. I think even if I had the original pedals they would still be kinda gimmicky.

+1 to having more patches.

Unusable. Piece of trash. They are worthless

Better off with no sound Biggest piece of trash out their. STAY AWAY FROM LINE 6.

Broke after six months. Didnt' even use it that much.

Worse than none. Jerks.

All line 6 products are horrible. The company is horrible. Do not get any of their products. They are junk.

If this is one of your first pedals or filter effect it will probably be difficult to figure this pedal out. You first select an effect model and then use the Freq (frequency), Q ( position of the filter), Speed, Mode and Mix buttons to adjust the sound. Speed, Mode and Mix all speak for themselves, but Freq and Q are a little more harder to figure out if your a novice to filter pedals. Plus the fact that the Freq, Q and Mode have a different function when you select a different effect, so it can get really confusing. You also have four footswitches for saving and recalling your sounds wich really comes in handy when playing gigs. You just got to sit back and play with it for a few hours to get the hang of it.

The quality of the effects themselves are really good, you can get subtle, spacey Star Wars sounds to very extreme and weird noises. It's great for a lot of styles. I know a guy who uses it for punk and that John Frusciante uses it on 'Trow Away Your Television' and it's very nice to play along with the solo with this pedal. So it's pretty versatile.

I never had a problem.

Never dealt with em.

I think it's a great pedal with really awesome sounds, from vintage filters to the extreme. But that's also the problem, it has 16 effect models and don't even use 8. Wich is a pretty damn waste of cash. If I had money like water it wouldn't matter but the fact is, I don't. So I'd rather spend it on a pedal or something of wich I know I use it to it's full potential.

Compared to other stomp boxes, its quite easy to use. The knobs are pretty self explanatory, and the controls are defined on stickers that Line 6 give you to put on it. Out of the many settings each knob does different things for each setting which is a little tough to get used to. It also took a while to figure out how to use the memories. The manual is very easy to use and gives recommended knob settings for each sound setting.

This pedal can get many sounds. Some sounds like the filters are very funky and get the sounds of guys like John Frusciante from the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Some of the synth settings can get you some very '80s type tones.

The Tron up and Tron Down are incredible. The Tron Up is just a filter. The Tron Down gets almost laser type noises.The Seeker setting is pretty cool, kind of a tremolo-y wah.The Comet Trails isn't that good. The Voice Box and V-Tron are terrible. They sound very ugly. The Attack Synth is pretty good. Its just a tremolo type synth. The Synth-O-Matic has like 10 different synths. Some are very good and sound like Moogs and others sound like farts honestly. The Synth String is very cool It sounds like what you expect. the Growler is my favorite and it just makes insane noises.

I'm using a Gibson SG Special into this-> MXR Blue Box-> DigiTech Whammy-> Seymour Duncan Tweak Fuzz-> Dunlop Crybaby-> DigiTech Flange-> DigiTech Delay-> EHX Small Stone-> Boss Noise Suppressor-> Fender Twin Reverb. It's not in that exact order though, the delay is after my phaser, not before, . I have not seen problems with this set-up.

It's noisy on the OctiSynth, but it's supposed to. On the ObiWah it's the same deal.Otherwise it's good.

The effects are mostly strong. Some like Comet Trails, sound very weak. The Synth-O-Matic is very powerful on the first and last settings of it.

When I got the pedal, I was given a floor model. It worked for an hour after I brought it home. Then in the middle of a jam withs some friends it started making crazy noises. It didn't work after that. I went back to where I got it and they replaced it and that was the end of that. Now I would depend my life on it. I would not need a back-up. This thing is very strong on the outside.

I never dealt with them.

I play electronica, funk, psychedelic, new wave, and experimental. It works well with all of them. It works espcially well with funk. I've been playing seven years.

If it was lost I would buy the EHX Micro Synth. It works better for my style.

I love that the synths sound great compared to the originals. I hate that many of them are monophonic. My favorite feature is that you can shift the pitch and the dry to wet output.

Compared to the DigiTech SynthWah, this owns. It has more features for the same purposes and sounded much more high quality.

I wish it was polyphonic and I wish it had some more dance-y synth type tones.

It does what I need for my type of music.

strange thing, easy enough to use, once you get your head around the variety of different functions for the knobs, dependent on the effect ur using. Hard-ish to get really usable sounds, can totally take over sometimes, but has some excellent quirks, if you want something off the wall, this is it.

sounds are crazy, hard to rate quality as it's not really comparable relative to anything you'd expect to hear anywhere...
some of the synths are almost just a novelty...

this is an original one, I rely on it....

no dealings.

I play Drone-rock, sometimes going way out into space, so it suits to a certain extent...
Guitar: DeArmond M75-t, with Bigsby tremolo or 1983 Peavey T-60.
Amp: Line6 Spider II with foot control and programmed efx.
Efx: Boss me-6, Danelectro Fab Tone, This pedal, line6 dm4.

Controls are simple, all knobs, no screens or menus. It's a powerful box and can do many things so you do have to work on it some but I was able to get usable sounds within an hour, and it was a fun hour!

I dig this thing. It's awesome, first pedal I've ever loved without reservation.

I'm able to get usable sounds out of it, I just need to use the Level knob to keep things in control. It's great for getting out beyond normal guitar sounds which is what I wanted.

I use it for funk/jazz/jam work. Scofield uses one which is how I got interested in it.

Pure silence in bypass mode.

It's brick like in build. Haven't had it for long.

I'd bring it without a backup because I'm not worried about it breaking (it feels solid), and I could live without it if I had to.

Like I said before, I dig this box. I even dig the box it came in (it's got some jokes hidden in the fine print).

It turns my guitar into a dramatically different instrument.

I'd probably replace it if something happened to it.

This is the pedal for people who hate pedals. I got this thing to make weird noises, and I think that if you want it for anything else, you should probably look elsewhere.

It's tough to find usable sounds on this thing. I have been able to pull some "normal" pedal tones out of it - to thicken up the sound or add fuzz, but it takes a lot of work and careful tweaking. And if you want your guitar to sound like a synth - nope. The thing will only sound like a broken synth. Just spend the money for a real keyboard and a switcher box.

Once you nail down some presets, the thing is a snap to use. Just hit the buttons. But although it's tough to program, it's also fun, fun, fun! This thing is full of crazy sounds, some of which just go without playing a note!

Sound quality is good. Carefully tweaking the "Mix" knob is essential to tame the wild beast.

It works - never had a problem. i don't know how it saves the presets, but I have written them down just in case they ever fail.

Nope.

This is my first foray into pedals. I really hate pedals, and this is the one for people who hate pedals. It does much different things than your average flanger, chorus or distortion pedal. If you want to add noise, blips and beeps to your sound, this is the one.

The FM4 is a strange box, with a lot of sounds, so the ease of use varies a lot, depending on which model you choose. The knobs control different functions in most of the models, so editing can be a beast. Anyone who hated the Tweak & Tweez knobs on the DL4 or MM4 will hate editing the FM4.

You WILL need the manual to figure out this box; you'll probably want to use the little cheat sheet stickers, too. While you might come up with a cool sound by accident, you won't know how you got there without the manual. The patches/models are divided into two categories; filters & synths. The filter models are easier to navigate than the synth models. I give the FM4 a 7, because it's the most confusing Line6 Modeler pedal to use.

I've never heard anyone using the FM4; I don't know if any of my favorite artists use one, but I could see Adrian Belew or The Residents with an FM4.

The filter effects are a lot of fun, especially Comet Trails, Obi-Wah, and Seeker. You can get AdrenaLinn-style filter sequencing with Seeker, Obi-Wah & Throbber. The Mutron models aren't as impressive.

The synth models are a mixed bag, and harder to use; you have to play monophonically, and you can get some nasty glitching, especially with the expression pedal. Octisynth is particularly hard to tame, but I love ring modulators, so I dug in and held on. I don't agree that the FM4 is the fastest-tracking synth pedal for guitar; the Boss WP-20g Wave Processor is faster, but you need a GK-style pickup to use it.

I use my usual LP Special or SG with the FM4, but I tend to use it with other weird effects rather than my GT-3. (I want to thank the reviewer who suggested using the FM4 together with the Digitech Synth-Wah; what a deliciously sick combo. Add a ring mod pedal to the mix, and your guitar becomes an alien WMD.) Running a guitar synth through the filter effects adds a new dimension to the synth sounds, like nothing you'll get from a phaser or a flanger.

The expression pedal adds control, but it makes some nasty glitching sounds, depending on which model you're using. I also found that the expression pedal tends to switch from one setting to another about halfway down; there isn't a smooth transition like a good wah pedal offers. Even so, get the expression pedal; you'll have two sounds for every memory slot.

I love the sounds I use, and I still explore the others when I feel the need for some new weirdness. I give the FM4 an 8 for sound quality because the expression pedal noise is annoying.

So, my first experience with a funky Line6 pedal. About a month after I bought my FM4, the knobs started to stick. Everything worked, everything sounded fine, but I didn't like forcing the knobs every time I went to tweak a sound. Everything I've read about the Modeler pedals suggested that the main boards are fragile; I could see myself cranking one more knob one more time and cracking the board. I took my FM4 back where I bought it, and they handed me another one, which is still fine, nearly one year later. I give the FM4 a 5 becuase I returned one, and got one that still works.

The website isn't very helpful, and trying to participate in the forums is a pain.

I play weird experimental music, heavy on synths, delays & effects. I've been playing since the dawn of Surf Guitar, before the birth of Metal. The FM4 is one of my favorite "outside" boxes. I don't use it all the time, but when I need it nothing else will do. If it were lost, I'd be reluctant to buy another, because they're not cheap. I love Comet Trails, Obi-Wah & Slow Filter; I hate the noise from the expression pedal. (There must be one factory that makes all the cheap exp./volume pedals out there, and the Line6 expression pedal is one of the cheapest-looking I've seen.) The FM4 is much easier to use than the Boss SYB-3, and you can store your sounds. The Digitech Synth-Wah is much cheaper and easier to use, if you hate endless tweaking. I wish the FM4 had more memory: I have thought of getting a second one, so I can run a sound like Synth-O-Matic through a sound like Comet Trails. I don't know if it helps me make music, but it helps me create new sounds, and those sounds go into my music.

the manual is absolutely essential. you can find one here:
http://line6.com/data/l/c0a8090bee7e404faf1d708a2/application/pdf/FM4%20User%20Manual-English.pdf
with it it's not too hard at all, experimenting with all the different sounds will definently take some time though. getting a good sound on some of the effects is near impossible though.

some of the effects are great and some aren't. the seeker is absolutely amazing. you probably wouldn't need to buy an envelope filter if you had one of these. i can get some amazing sounds when i use this with a digitech synth wah.

it hasn't let me down so far.

if you like making experimental sounds and have some interest in filtering this thing is really cool, especially if you get it for around 150$. i love it and use it all the time. how hard you're picking makes a big difference on a lot of these effects, which is hard at first, but once you're used to it you can blow people away jammin'. i wish the envelope filters were better. when used in combination with a good envelope filter the results are amazing.