Line 6 DM4 Distortion Modeler

Very easy to use. Pick a modeling patch, dial in a sound, lock it to a pre-select. There is supposedly a way to store/recover patches via USB cable, but I haven't yet tried it.

I play a PRS Standard and Schecter Strat into a Blackfaced '69 Super Reverb and a Marshall 25/50 Silver Jubilee. The Line 6 is in the effects loop path of a VoxToneLab SE.

I especially like the Colorsound, Chandler, and Rat models. I sometimes use the Jet Phaser sound if I'm in the mood for a psychodelic kind of solo. The heavy sounds, I don't care for at all.
The Tube Screamer and Big Muff models are Ok. Don't care for the compressor either.

I *LOVE* the grit from the Colorsound. Rocks for rhythm guitar.

The noise gate is very useful.

Poor. I've had to take it apart and reassemble the spring loaded buttons 3 times in the past 2 years. In addition, preset button number one no longer works. The micro switch in the PC board has gone bad. I suppose I could drop it off at Line 6 in Calabasas on my way to work...

Power supply is surprisingly rugged. I do appreciate that. Other than the buttons, its been fine for over about 4 years.

If it broke down, I'd buy another. Love having 4 sounds in one space.

Pre sets are way too loud and tweaking sounds while the pedal is on will automatically take that control to its current position ie if you turn the volume knob when it is on 10 your effect while automatically go to 10, you should turn off the effect zero the knob then turn the effect back on and adjust from there otherwise you may be in for a suprise. Controls could have finer adjustment.

No noise (tru bipass and noise gate). I play through a fender vibrolux and prefer the rat and chandler overdrive models for solos over the top overdrive sounds. More flexible than the originals since there is more control some rats I have heard sounded a little to harsh. Sounds are not that transparent and some character and dynamics are lost from the guitar. I prefer to use one of my hotter guitars with a tube screamer and a boss compress/sustainer with the amp at least half volume. Sounds real and maintains dynamics of playing and is more versatile in the long run. No fakey processy stuff. General notice: most sound bites I hear of tube screamers are blues based through a Strat ie. SRV,enough already!, tube screamers can also rip your face off when used correctly.

No, had a couple years, 2 footswitches are gone and given the construction this is not a mechanical fix(switch pads integrated into the circuit board and actuated with a spring - bad, bad , bad idea), knob adjustments sunk in which causes any dirt to gather and get inside also affects smoothness of controls. Circuit defect, signal leak, using switch sometimes causes preset other than that selected to come on.
Hopefully you fired someone over these issues unless your company is so cheap they don't care about quality or don't see how quality saves money and time , maybe invest in some good mechanical design engineers and some quality assurance people otherwise your company won't be around long.

Design flaws lead me to belive I would be better to find someone else to address repair issues.

Sound isn't bad
Design is poor
Price is high
Not road worthy since problems require speciallized skills, equipment and parts. or buy 2 for backup

Incredibly easy to get a great sound.
Manual is excellent.
Factory presets are plug and play. Very easy to change if need be.

The reason I bought this pedal was to get "my" sound. All of the models in this unit are usable and sound good. I use Les Paul Juniors and Melody Makers. The DM4's output is plugged directly into a 2500 watt power amp feeding two 4-12 cabs loaded with Peavey Black Widows.

I do not foresee this unit having any problems.
Would definitely gig without a backup however you should always have a backup plan.

Called Line 6 on several occasion prior to purchase.They were helpful and courteous.

Used for metal and blues. Excellent match for both. Just learning guitar and was looking for a sound that motivated me to practice more. If it were lost or stolen I would definitely buy another one. I like the fact that it has so many usable sounds in a small package. For what it costs the power supply should be included. Great product. Buy one you will not be disappointed.

Once you get used to the programming it is very easy to use. It takes a bit of tinkering to get there though. After a couple scans of the manual, you find your favorite models and once you remember what each knob does for that model, its a piece o'cake. However, keep the manual handy if you plan n doing any major tinkering. What I realy like about it is that turning one knob in a program only effects that parameter and you press and hold that preset to store. How easy is tat?

I tinkered with this thing for awhile and found tons of good tones in it. I play in a rock cover band and needed a way to have multiple sounds at my disposal. I first found a setting that was "my" tone. It's the setting I fall back on or write with. I then proceeded to find useful tones that work for the music we play. I have a setting I call "OD" which is an ACDC/early Zep tone (crunchy). I have a "METAL" setting for Metallica/megadeth type stuff. Lastly I setup a "FUZZ" tone using the big muff model, for old Sabbath and such.

To me, it is a very useful tool and provides enough variety to make it worthwhile for a working musician.

Besides being versatile, I also find it to be just a good distortion unit. Very fluid and sustainy and the noise gate makes it studio quiet (way more so than the gain channels on my Mesa head). I have been playing since he 70's and have had about ever OD/Distortion pedal available, and I find this as useful, if not more so, than most all of them. Side by side with some of the originals (which I have)I'll pick the Line 6 just for the noise gate feature. Most all are a fair simulation of the original and some are just awesome. The ProCo Rat is probably my favorite on this unit and can be used for just about any style music with a twist of the gain control.

I run it through the clean channel on my Mesa head running through a 4x10 Hartke cab with Eminence Delta Demon speakers. It doesn't substitute for the gain channel on the Mesa, but it is more versatile and I use it as channels 3,4,5 and 6. I have many guitars and it works well with all of them, plus the noise gate even makes high gain models work with single coil pu's without massive hum.

Things I don't like...... Not every model has the same volume output. Some cannot be turned up loud enough to be used when compared to other settings or your amps dirty channel. This means in a live situation, those models don't exist. Line 6 should have made sure each model could produce the same perceived output level.

Steel case, sturdy switches and Line 6 reliability. Yep, gets gigged at least once a month plus practices. Never had a single problem.

Never had to deal with them......

It does everything I need it to do in a fairly small floorboard footprint. I have yet to find a distortion that sounds as good AND is as versatile as this pedal. There are better distortions, but I need to keep it compact and to have that many on my board is out of the question. It has become irreplacible on my board and would buy another in a heartbeat. My favorite feature is the noise gate. Playing live, you can't have hum and buzz going on all over the place. The gate works great without getting in the way.

Other than the volume differences between models, my only gripe is that if you touch the volume control to tweak it and the default is louder than your setting, you will get blasted by volume. Makes for a lot of stunned faces....

takes some getting used to but once you have got the hang of it it is awesome and quick to change sounds

I love using this because i can get the authentic "U2" sound, (the edge uses one of these). Although it can sound a little artificial.

Yeah desfinately it is my most reliable piece of equipment!

I've had no problems with my dm4

I play rock and blues, i have been playing for 12 years. I also play at church with it. My main pedal board consists of...
DM4
Digitech Whammy
Marshall jh1 jackhammer
Mi audio tubezone
original crybaby
mi audio blue boy deluxe
mxr evh phase 90
ernie ball 250k volume pedal
line 6 echo park
line 6 constrictor
Boss tu-2 tuner

I use a Fender american series HH stratocaster and a mesa boogie triple rectifier amp.

Pretty straight forward.

Different people do different things for different reasons. Hence tone is very subjective. But my experience is that to have this pedal sound the best, which is the point for when one wants to judge it, you need several things. The first thing you need is a good tube amp, but that is not enough if the amp is set at low volumes. Only when the amp is cranked and the clean channel is a bit pushed is when you get the best the pedal can do. Plug it into a solid state and you are not really experiencing what it can really do. I have a solid state marshall mg50dfx and a tube tsl601. Tried the pedal through both and found it to come more to life in my tube amp as i increased the volume and gain on the clean channel. My tone is pretty simple, guitar to wah to amp set with both deep switches, clean gain 3/4 the way mid at mid and bass and treble and reverb all the way when i have the DM4 engaged. I just got this pedal to rid myself of all the pedals when playing covers, and for that it does a decent job. I would never chose any of the effects on this unit to define my distorted sound. My sound is basically the lead channel on my tube amp with gain all the way, volume 3/4 of the way, mid at mid bass and treble 3/4 of the way and reverb all the way. But to judge it for what i got it for i think it does a decent job replicating pedals and ridding one of the need for an extensive distortion pedal board. Do i love it, not really, will i replace it if stolen?, well not if i am not gigging. My personal opinion is that it is a good sidekick for the gigging musician and in terms of finding your sound, well to each his own but definitely not for me. But you definitely need a good rig to get the most out of this pedal, hence before anyone goes around dissing it just make sure your amp costs a bit more than this unit.

Cant complain.

Cant complain.

its easy to get a good sound, just press the footswitch a few seconds and you write a new sound to a preset.

i baught it second hands, so i dont have a manual, but you can download it from internet (just type manual dm4 in google!)

Damn! this distortions are good!! i had a korg ax 1500 and i have also a digitech gnx3000, but this unit has really good sounds, better then the korg and the digi!

if i want more bass or mid or treble withe the dm4, then you can hear it direct and good!! extra bass = extra bass. so much better then the digitech and the korg and even my marshall (avt 150 + jcm 800!)

never been broken and i use it alway's without backup

nope,

if you find some effect-units digital, then CHOOSE THIS ONE!!!!!

i'm verry happy with it!!

Easy to use but wish it had a separate control for the noise gate. Editing patches is easy (turn the knobs), manual explains things decent.

Play a strat (double fat) and use the DM-4 in front of my Hiwatt and Traynor 50 Blue. Many of the distortion tones are useless to me - since I don't typically play 'high gain', but a few work well. In particular, the Chandler Tube Driver and Colorsound seemed to compliment my amps well. Again, don't really use lots 'o' gain - but this pedal offers that if it's your thing. I rated sound a 6, but a 6 to me is not bad, and means above average. I have other overdrive/distortion units that I prefer over this one...

Seems sturdy but it's never left my basement or been kicked around...

Never dealt with Line 6

Mostly play classic (i.e. 70's) rock. Been playing for 25 years, the DM-4 is not bad/can get some decent tones - but I simply prefer, and typically use, the other overdrive/distortion units I have (Chandler Tube Driver, Bad Monkey, Boss SD-1). I love the versatility and ability to switch between 4 presets, hate the noise gate 'hidden control'. If stolen/lost I would not replace it.

Just like the box says, Its BONEHEAD simple to use. The manual is also printed on an elementary reading level. It will even give you settings to experiment with just to get you going.

I use fender showmaster. carvin bolt,prs mcarty (p 90) and a kramer barretta and schecter C1 plus. thru a marshall jcm 900 and a Carvin MTS 3200. as far as noise I use so many pedals that I have noise anyway so I cant blame it on the line 6; The dod 250 was especially impressive and can produce a real chunky od. I also like the 808 and line 6 drive. However Im not too impressed with the fuzz or octave models or the boss mt2 for that matter. some of them are buzzy and washed out sounding

This is my 2nd one to own I went back to individual boxes and now have returned .Ive never had an ounce of trouble. Period. I have a friend though that has had a stomp switch go out and he had to pay $40 plus shipping both ways to get it fixed. yeah I would and have gigged with out a backup

Overall its a darn good unit. especially when you consider what each stomp would cost you if purchased individually. I despise the fact that they are made in China though.Im old school though I guess and still believe that commies suck and most products from there are Junk. but maybe they are getting better.If you can find an older one they were made in malaysia.

Very easy to use. Turn the knobs to get a sound and save it.

I'm not the kind of guy that is gonna say: "This is not a tube sound". If I want tube, I would buy a tube amp. But even thinking like that, the sound on this unit is way artificial. If you like metal, this may be for you cause the distortions are heavy, but still artificial. If you're into overdrive, forget it.

Looks like a tank. And feels strong.

Never used.

I wouldn't recommend this unit. I would recoment the Sansamp GT2. It's way better. Or even the Sansamp Tri A.C.