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.

There's a lot packed into this pedal, and dialling in sounds from the 1000s of possibilities using just five knobs (plus a wet/dry blend control) takes a lot of experimentation. It would have been nice to have more than 4 programmable presets; if you really enjoy playing with this thing you'll soon find you need to keep a notebook of your patches.

That said, hunting for good sounds is part of the fun with this box. Nobody needs more than four presets when playing live because most of these sounds are too extreme to use all the time.

You can get an expression pedal for this thing which, within a single effect type, will morph more or less smoothly between two settings (taking all 5 parameter controls into account). This is an essential accessory & increases the play value massively.

I haven't played this thing through a big rig, but at home it's one of my quietest stomp boxes. It also has true bypass, meaning that when it's turned off your signal doesn't go through its circuits.

The sounds fall into two categories: basic filtering effects that are variations on the wah-wah theme, and some analogue synth models. I don't use the filters much -- I've got a crybaby, thanks, and I don't need a "parked wah" or "auto wah"... I might revise that judgement next time I play some funk, though, as there are some nice Parliament-style sounds here.

IMHO the synths are where the real action is. I won't repeat the detailed descriptions others give below, except to say (a) yes, the tracking sometimes sucks, although playing cleanly with a compressor in front of the pedal with single coil neck pickup only minimises the number of times your notes turn int splatter, and (b) I like it when your notes turn into splatter anyway. There's a naturalness about the wya it glitches that means you can use these noises deliberately (playing double stops/chords will usually fire them).

One thing I noticed is that the synths seem designed specifically to take guitare input. I tried my electric violin and guitar with ebow and the tracking got dramatically worse.

It's true that what's a "usable sound" to me is probably not to you, and vice versa. But there are a lot of different sounds here and the quality seems to be uniformly high.

Have only had it for about 6 months, never gigged yet. It seems very phyically robust, but you never know, and given some comments below I would keep it well out of the way of moisture (I'd treat the equivalent battery of analogue gear that way too).

Never dealt with them. I'm in the UK, they're in the US, so my bet is that I'd have to get it repaired by a hacker with a soldering iron if it ever developed a fault.

If you like making whacky noises with your guitar, this thing is the best toy you can get for the money. Absolutely brilliant value -- imagine trying to buy even one quarter of the effects this thing emulates.

Yes, the original units do probably sound and behave a bit better, and you can chain them in bizarre ways, but it would cost you a huge amount more than the FM4 and be a lot of stuff to carry around. There's really no point in comparing this with the originals. Really it's a huge box of tricks at a very affordable price. I'd defy anyone except the most conservative folks not to find roo many really fun and useful settings to save on the four stomp switches.

Out of the box it's kinda ok, but beyond that it takes a lot of experimentation to get good sounds - it's actually much easier to make really hideous sounds than it is to make really musical sounds. This of course may be your bag. Most of the filters modelled have quite complex controls, so you need to really work with the manual and adjust things with care.

Hmmm ... I'm submitting this review because I'm about to sell mine. Ive had it for a couple of years and have persevered, but I'm just not a happy bunny. I think the problem is the same as with a lot of the other digital modelling products around - they suck tone and lack the warmth and shimmering quality of analogue. eg. I AB'd the Mutron model with an Electro Harmonix Q-Tron and the results were just plain scary - the Line 6 was harsh & cold sounding. If you want to get some funny noises for the hell of it, then there's loads here. But if you're looking for really musical sounds that truly enhance the tone of your guitar, I really think you'll struggle. Another eg. whilst I didn't AB it, I tried a Z-Vex Seek Wah a month or so ago and it was utterly sublime. The Seek Wah on the Line 6 simply isn't - it's like listening to an impressionist doing an impression of a famous person ... you recognise who it's meant to be, but you know it's not really them.

No problems at all.

Never had to deal with them.

I think I've just grown out of digital modelling. I've been playing for over 30 years and have done all sorts of stuff in that time. But at the end of the day, it's stunning guitar tone that makes the difference between hair standing up on your neck and something that just doesn't quite cut it. And I just don't think this pedal will ever quite get that hair standing up ...

it's just a matter of twiddling knobs until you get something that you can use...i sort of am familliar with how filters/synths work but you don't really need to know much about it to use this.

cool...i like how the speed can be touch sensitive on some of the filter patches and the mix knob is great for making a crazy sound more subtle if you want-the synths can be unpredictable(like the originals they are based on)but are definitely good for more than just strange noises . the spikes in volume can be a pain but you can kind of dial it out somewhat with the freq knob(depending on where other knobs are set!)-a compressor can also help with this like others have said. just the fact that all this stuff is in one box is pretty amazing.

i hope it's going to hold up-it has a year warranty so we'll see...i have not heard good things about line 6 pedals but mostly it's the DL4 that seems to break more than this one or the MM4-the reviewers below haven't seemed to have had a problem with theirs yet so even though i am slightly concerned i'm got going to stress about it.

with a little imagination you could use this for something with most types of music-i guess if i was in a country band(whatever that is these days)i might not bust it out but...you have all these good to great sounding models and can very easily store 4 completely different sounds-how could anyone not think that was a good thing?

...if you think that this product will be intuitive like the Modulation- and Delay modelers that line 6 makes, you are sorely mistaken. while all the mods share a common speed/depth basis and all the delays share a basic time/repeats basis, and these models come with cute stickers to tell you what the Tweek and Tweez knobs do to set additional model-specific traits), there is a WIDE variety of completely unrelated and dissimilar stuff crammed into this box. The knobs are labeled Freq, q, Speed, and Mode, but these things change a lot, depending on model. More to the point; this thing comes with stickers to tell you what the knobs do for each model, but these stickers have 1- or 2-letter abbreviations, and there is a THIRD sticker that serves as a legend to tell you what these things do... having to consult a fucking KEY for a stompbox with no screen is hardly ease of use...
(alas...i am still thankful it doesn't have a screen...).
However, this purple monster is a freakbox, through and through. people who buy the mm-4 and the dl-3 with their consistent time/depth fucntions and modestly variant Tweek/Tweeze variations want something they can understand, and feel good about themselves by having so many variations on a theme.
people who want/buy the fm-4 want it becuse they desire to relate to something they don't understand....something they can't master...something that reminds them of themselves; confused on the inside, and unpredictably violent, yet undeniably sexy....

this thing is very hard to use... but given what this thing can do, using it makes me hard...

I'm not rating the sound quality high becuase it sounds pristine, but because it's sounds are so flexible. The modulations on the mm-4 can only go so fast and slow, and only sweep so far (...I really wish the ring mod could be set for Deeper AM/FM...), and the delays on the dl-3 can only change so much (...but, then again, nobody needs more than two seconds...what the fuck is 23-seconds of GIGA-delay company BOSS thinking?...). of course these behaviors are limited in the name of emulating the classics they model.
thankfully, the fm-4 isn't really trying to caputure any classics, and is basically making it's own rules; hence, the filters and synths that it models offer HUGE speed- and sweep- ranges. Again, unlike it's brothers, the FM-4 is all about creating your own sound.

this huge range of parameter gauging is important for me, because I'm using it for a lot of stuff OTHER THAN guitar (microphones, drum machines, loops, keyboards), which have different dynamic and transient ranges...
thankfully, the frequency response range on all line six products goes a litte farther than guitar range - (but lacking low frequency heft makes it crap out on bass or kick drums... oh well, it still does a great job munging the sound).

For specific effects;
there are filters of all shapes and sizes, (and most can be adjusted in low/band/hi pass range...amazing...).
youv'e got everything from wonderful mutron 3 envelope followers to stepping filters (obi- and seeker), to crazy LFO stuff...

rather than review specific effects, I'll explain this;
if you don't know how filters work and how these things can be designed, then you are just likely to plug you guitar in, dial up a patch, and make some simple "mmm...that makes my tone kinda sweep/warble/sparkle" in a way that you'll either think is cool or stupid.
some of the effects are kinda weak, but still very well designed.
if you do know how filters really work, and (likely) have your own ambitions of how you wanna use them to shape sounds, then reading the manuals is like reading a porno-fantasy letter written about you... if you understand how these models work and how they can sound, then there is a lot of exciting promise in this very powerful and highly versatile package of filters.
to put it another way, only people who really know what filters are about use the Sherman filter bank, and I've actually heard that someone sold their sherman to buy two of these.

given all the promise of what the synths can do, thankfully, most of them deliver. the voice/formant stuff is a little dilute/weak and the comet trails is not what it's cracked up to be (...but still turns legato riffs into dripp-down-your-leg creaminess...).
overall, the filters whup ass
THEN we come to the synths.
the octisynth will inspire some people to start skronk bands, and just piss the rest of you tone-purists of...as far as I can tell, it's two effects that create two sounds out of your one guitar sound...on one end, your guitar seems to go through a ring mod and a LFO filter that's sweeping at audio FM-sideband ranges, making splatter noises, and the other end is a VCO (where your guitar controls the center pitch of a tone that you can set to stay constant or LFO warble at sickening sweep width and speed...). hence, as they claim, some VCO and vibrato and ring mod are involved...exactly how I don't know... the octisynth can be set to make snarling splatter noises or warbling tone wags, and some stuff in betweeen... either way, it turns anything into noise-fodder. my guitar player says "it's too fucking easy to play [in our noise band with it]," and he now hates me for getting him addicted to it.

the other synth models are more like guitar synths, in that they actually try to track the pitch of the note your guitar plays and recreate that pitch with a selectable waveform. different synth models have different waveforms (the synth-o-matic having the best stuff; the clickly pulse-mods and hummin

I bough it used, and the previous owner seems to have not treated this thing well. all the knobs and buttons and brain work fine, but the knobs are really dirty and get stuck.

I made the unfortunate mistake of getting a piece of snow in the knob-trough... it didn't work for 2 days, and I almost went comatose from guilt and remorse. after taking it apart (no warrantee to void) and gently blow drying it, still nothing... then, two hours later I tried again, and it sputtered to life.
these things are rugged as all hell in construction, as I have damn near used the heavy chassis to abuse my housemates...but the things have an achilles heel to moisture (read the beers story below)....the recessed trough begs to collect sweat and water and grease, vulnerable circuitry is obviously close to these access holes, and the knobs cannot be easily removed for service/cleaning. this is the one weakness.
I will definitely learn from my mistake, and I was lucky enough not to lose it. I cried a lot when I feared it was broken, but I made sure not to cry into it's vulnerable drip-holes.

it is definitely the dark-horse among line-6's stomp boxes, and among musicians.
most people will hate this, because it is of no use for it...
for a select few, this thing is WAY cooler than most stompboxes (including the dl-3)...



this thing is sickeningly powerful, and may be too versatile for some guitarists usage.
let me put it to you this way...
at practice, my guitarist was spazzing out on a synth noise patch. at some point, he dropped his pick and started using a COUCH CUSHION to rub the stings... I didn't hear the difference, and so I only fell over laughing once I notice the bass player fell over laughing and decided to look and see for myself.

...does this help me create music... NO... it is so powerful it makes me feel insecure about the frai and limited nature of my human feelings.
this thing has brought new colors (other than purple) and meaning into my life...it has even helped me maintain and reconcile my relationship with my girlfriend while she has estranged herself to california.
...no I'm serious...this pedal saved my love-life. thank you LINE 6.

It's pretty straight forward and the manual explains the functions well, but it takes a bit of tweaking, and there are lots of sounds to wade through before you find what works. Once you get a patch you like you can save it (up to four patches) and recall it.

Sound quality is a mixed bag: the non-synth filters are good for digital emulations, but the synths are not so hot. The Mutrons, Seeker, and Obi-Wah patches work well and are pretty flexible, these are fun. The Voice Box and V-Tron are weak and not of much use (they come off as weak auto filters...maybe with an expression pedal they are better). The Throbber, Spin Cycle, and Comet Trails are good for tremolo, vibrato, and chorus modulation effects, these are good and unique sounding effects and they are very teakable and versatile, and I think these and the Mutrons are the things that this box does well.
The synths are a bit of a disappointment, and they don't fair as well as the non-synth patches. The synths all seem to have a hard, cold, and dirty quality to them. They are not as warm and musical as an Electro-Harmonix Micro Synth, or as a Microkorg synth which also uses digital technology to model an analog synth. The synths will do a nasty distorted hard funk in-your face growl easily, and it is possible to coax a few nice sounds out of them. For example, there are some nice ring modulated metalic gong sounds, some cheesey organ sounds, and some queezy woodwinds and reeds, but overall the range of sounds is not as great as one would expect given all of the synths that this box boasts. I think the limitations come from there being a lack of control over the sound wave, as what this offers are preset patches that you can control tonally, but there is not really anything like sound synthesis going on, and the patches are all hard and "retro" sounding in a bad way. I also find the tracking to be weak, and this is with articlate single notes with the neck pickup, both single coils and humbuckers. Along with the weak tracking comes random dirt, farts, amd burps, but these have a digital glitchy quality which weakens the analog emulation experinece. To be fair, I've only had the pedal for a short time, but I've had time to suss it out to where I feel like I understand how to use it. Also, I've not tried it with a band. I have heard John Scofield recordings where I think he was using one of these and it sounded interesting, but not great (I think his tone is best with light effects).

Line 6 pedals seem pretty sturdy. I have a DL4 that I've been using for a while with out any problems. I've not had this pedal long enough to speak of it over the long haul, nor have a subjected it to any hard duty.

I sent them a few e-mails before and they got back with prompt and useful answers. Their help webpage is well designed.

I play a variety of funk, soul, jazz. I've been playing 20+ years, I used to work as an audio engineer, too. IMHO, I've got good ears for sound and tone. This pedal is good for auto-wahs and modulation effects, but the synths are not great....they are wacky and fun like a toy, but not as sound shaping tools. I think that this pedal would be lot better if they kept the non-synth effetcs (sans the Voice Box and V-Tron) and replaced the synth patch emulations with a decent virtual analog synth engine that would allow you to actually synthesize sound...they can do it on the $350 Microkorg synthesizer, so Line 6 should be able to pull it off. If the pedal had a synth engine that you could plug straight into with out MIDI, something akin to the Korg X-911, this would be an awesome pedal. But, as it is, the limited and cheesey synth patches that they put in the pedal take away from it overall. The stompbox design with four recallable patches is good. I bought this after having a DL4, which I really like, and was hoping for more. Given the size of the unit on a pedal board, and the price (in light of what's going on with synthesizer technology), I would not replace it or buy it again, unless I was looking specifically for a programmable pedal to do auto-wah and seek-wah, and some modulations (it's still cheaper than buying a Q-Tron and a Seek-Wah, but those will sound better).

I'm only giving a 6 because it's a trial getting used to this sucker. But that's because there are so many options available. If you don't use an expression pedal with this, you're missing out!

excellent sound quality. from the righteous to the insane. attack synth, obi-wah, seeker and comet trails are fantastic sounds! some are intentionally noisy, just like the original analog gear.... A VERY FUN PROCESSOR TO PLAY!!!!!

solid as a rock so far

never used them

a great toy, sounds good. the true bypass relays are a fantastic addition. some sounds are just too crazy too use, others are incredible!!!! not for everyone, but it works for me. from wah sounds, to phaser swells, to abrasive synth noise!!!!

let's see.. this is one of those pedals that takes a fair amount of ' tweaking ' on your part to find the sound you want for your particular type of music. 4 preset / save type function on it. i didn't find the manual all that helpful, although if you've used some similar type pedals before you know how to dial in what you want somewhat easily.

the sounds are, well, how can i say this? off the wall for some of them, damn good for some of em(again, this is all a matter of what style of music you play and what you are looking for in a pedal. it has a nice bypass on it, no problems there. keep in mind if you haven't used something like this that single notes are essential for the most part.

it's housed very well, seems like it could be thrown into the street and would survive!

i play metal, i'm still working w/ some settings on this pedal.. my idea was to use some of the functions for some sort of dark/ odd intros for songs, and it fits the bill for that. if you're into radiohead, there's some sounds for you with this. i was able to easily reproduce some of the sounds from the latest mars volta cd with ease with this pedal. i'm sure it's likewise useful for those into synth/ gothic/ industrial music as well. again, keep in mind that you'll need to work the pedal to get what sounds good for you. ( although i can see some impatient people tossing it five minutes after they get it because of impatientence and lack of familiarity w/ amps, effects, and even their own guitars.) overall, i think this pedal offers some unique sounds that can be suitable for many styles of music. i think that it's an effect that if used sparingly ( like many other pedals) you can really create something that sets your songs/ playing apart.

Ease of use is not a caveat of this model. It takes hours to really get the sounds you might want to use and incorporate into songs. The fact that you can save 4 presets is really an added plus though. Without this feature, the pedal would be a mess to use. The Manual is very comprehensive and useful, but finding one's own sounds takes time beyond this.

I see no problem with the sound quality of this unit, as others have noted. The original effects were not completely clean, and this is a modeler, not an "improver." I used this with a Hiwatt Dr103 (a very clean amp) and it performed very well. I don't understand why people comment on the usefulness of the sounds in this section. The usefulness is irrelevant, it is the sound quality we are rating in this area of the review.

I had no problems.

I bought this on ebay. To tell you the truth, I also sold it on ebay. It is a very interesting unit, but my band just didnt have time for me sitting around f$&*#ng with all the presets all the time. I like simpler effects that I can combine with my basic sound and then create a weirdness on my own. With the FM-4, the weirdness is there. Not much room for the creativity of the player, unless you are using this for background noise or more ambient uses. If I were to own this unit again, it would be used very sparingly, as I typically find a bit too obtrusive for typical use (except maybe for freak-outs). I probably just need more time with it (such as months). By itself, for it's purpose, it is an excellent unit. Whether it is useful is up to you.

Very simple to use, straight forward design. Easy to control numerous parameters with the twist of a knob or two. Save tones to the four stomp-box style channels by pressing the channel you want it to be saved as (A/B/C/D) and holding down for 2-3 seconds- simple. Manual is nice if you like manufacturer's reading material but you won't really need it to use this pedal properly.

The sounds this pedal can produce are some of the most vivid soundscapes that I have personally ever heard. However, I found the FM-4 to be just a little "too much" to effectively blend in with the majority of my guitar tones. If you just like to sit around, tweaking buttons and enjoying mind-bending sound effects than you'll dig it. If you want a mild filter-type effect to blend in with your live guitar tone than you might want to look elswhere. This thing sounds extreme in many ways but it's pretty hard to tame it for everyday use. Sound Quality-10 Sound Versatility/Usability 6

Feels like an M1. Sturdy as hell, well made. I would count on it for sure without a backup. I trust Line 6 products.

Never needed to bust their chops. Every single thing I've purchased from them has worked flawlessly, no exceptions!

Tremendous at what it does, which is royally f'ing your original tone and replacing it with some twisted frequencies from beyond. I dig this pedal, but only so much. I just cant use it as much as I originally hoped because it is just so drastic an effect. A little filtering seems to go a long way. I'm just glad I didn't pay for it new. Used it's a steal.

My only complaint with ease of use is the fact that once you've saved a patch, you have to know what they were, because you will never get them back again. It can be hard to get your settings back, especially on this one. Some of the effects can get so tweaked out (I love that by the way) that I've had trouble finding them again when I want.
Line 6 should think about making new versions that instantly recall the settings, sorta like those Fender modeling amps where the dials move to where the presets are supposed to be.

I really love this pedal. It's easily the most used pedal that I own (I own a lot, even though I rarily use most (I'm what you might call an effects junkie)). This pedal sounds great if what you are looking for are real unusual sonic textures.
Not to say that you can't have tone with this pedal though. There are plenty of settings that allow you to hear the guitar beyond the effect very clearly and precisely, it's just that I enjoy making noise with this pedal rather than making chords and what not (by the way, chords don't come out real good with most of these effects, as it says in the manual).
This pedal isn't noisy, nor is there a volume drop.
I play a mexican tele into this, a Korg AX1000, and a line 6 delay modeler into a vox AC30. With these things, I can make all the noise I want. It's relatively simple for my band, Didley Squat. I rely on making noise as well as actual guitar lines, so there you go.

I've owned this unit for a year and a half, and I've been gigging with it for a year. For some reason, I've only been through one set of batteries, which is real odd because I remember my delay modeler eating up batteries much faster. But, with a power supply, this thing is stupid-reliable. It's never died on me. I've come to rely on this thing heavily, especially because I use this pedal for so many of my band's better songs.
I've never had a problem with it in any way!

Never dealt with them, don't plan to.

This pedal is truly good for any style of music. Although it fits perfectly in my band, whose style can only be compared to a mix between Mindless Self Indulgence/They Might Be Giants/other weird funky stuff, I've actually been able to use cool settings for my own music, which is far more mellow (influenced by the likes of Radiohead and what not).
I love this pedal so much, and if it were to go missing, i'd be really depressed, because I'd have to find those goddamn settings all over again. I have no idea how I even came upon them, so, I'm sorta screwed huh?
In any event, this pedal is awesome. Buy it if you're feeling adventurous.

basic, simple as anything...tweak your knobs andd get it on!!! memory is a lil low itd be nice to have a tad more but whateeeeever

not a very noisy pedal for me...all the presets are pretty decent.. the synth sounds dont track well though but still try it out if your into this kinda stuff

built like a brick shit house.. id gig with it in kosove with no backup

never delt with them

i like this pedal but after a month it lost its novelty and i ended up only using 3 of the pre sets and 2 of them were the mutron settings.. pretty spendy for just those 3 considering a min q tron is 110$ not that the pedal is bad.. its good dont get me wrong, it just lost it for me..go try it anyways!

It's fairly easy to use. But it does take some time to get to know the knobs and what they do. The manual is great but you need to refer to it frequently.

OK my setup is as follows . . . American Strat (with humbuckers and other heavy mods) running to Ernie Ball Volume > Boss TU-12 > Fulltone Fulldrive 2 > FM4 (w/EX1) > MXR Dynacomp > MM4 (w/EX1> DL4 > Alesis Midiverb 4 (effects loop of . . ) Marshall JCM 900 50 watt head and 2x12 cab.

Sound Quality? . . . hmm? Well I think that you can get some things that are really cool and really interesting. Some can be down right useful depending on what kindof guitarist you are and what kindof band you play with. The guys I play with welcome that experimentation. The thing that I discovered was that the non-filter effects (in other words the ones that don't require only one note to be played) worked best when mixed subtle and/or mixed with some delays to just really create something specific that's a staple sound for a whole song or for something oogy for a dark intro or something. And then the other thing I discovered was that if you stick a compressor post FM4 you get control of the Synth/Filter effects that can tend to be wild. It totally tames them and makes them usable. Simple.

Now don't expect this thing to just make you sound better. It's a tool. A song writing or experimentation tool. It's for weirdness or that little something different from what other are doing.

So far more reliable than my other Line 6 pedals which all seem to have switch problems that are just annoying but not debilitating.

Try one out and if you think you can come up with a few ways to enhance your bands already weird sounds and you've got some extra cash go for it.

You twist knobs and step on buttons...enough said.

First off, my rig consists of Fender strat->Boss TU-2 Chromatic Tuner->Vintage MXR 10 Band Equalizer->Boss PH-3 Phase Shifter->Vintage DOD FX-17 Wah-Volume->Danelectro DJ12 Chili Dog Octave->Vox V847 Wah->Vintage MXR Phase 90->Line 6 FM4 Filter Modeler->Line 6 DL4 Delay Modeler->Danelectro Daddy O Overdrive-> Boss HF-2 Hi Band Flanger. I'm big into wacked out effects so i am in love with this pedal. I have the Growler, Obi-Wah, Tron Up and Throbber (set very fast to get almost a "helicopter" type sound) preset on the pedal...4 of my faves. i also like the Synth-O-Matic. It has like 10 different synth sounds that are nuts. the tron up is very excellent for funk songs which i play a lot of. if you sit down with this pedal for like a day you could find all sorts of crazy sounds. after sitting and playing with it for about 30 minutes i found this great sound: make sure your guitar is turned all the way down. select the Octisynth and crank the Speed and Mode dial all the way down. then slowly turn the Mode dial up until you hear a slightly high note. now move the Mode dial up and down. you get a kind of step effect of all kinds of notes. i'm currently working out a solo with it, it's a very Tom Morello-ish sound. now turn the Mode dial up to 11 or 12 o'clock. then play with the speed dial, cranking it up very slowly. that'll give you a real whacked out sound that reminds you of something from a cartoon.

Line 6, need i say more?

Dealt with 'em once for my DL4 and they were great.

Works great for my style. the possibilities are endless, just play with it and see what you come up with.

The presets it has are pretty good, but with a bit of time tweaking a fiddling, it's possible to get some really good sounds out of it that make you sound like nothing else...it's got the potential to make either everything you do sound cool, or to get you thrown out of your band...

I've never used the manual, but that probably just means I'm not getting all there is to get out of the thing.

Some sounds on it aren't really useful at all...such as the parked wah one...to be honest, it's difficult to make out any clear difference in your normal guitar sound, but perhaps that's cos it's relatively tame compared to the others...

Of course, some effects are really tone altering, and that's what I bought it for. The Growler setting for some reason makes playing funk and metal (a la RHCP) more fun, and if it's used properly, it can be good...

I'm using this with a Fender Strat, a Carlsboro (a classic British make for all you yanks) 200 watt amp, a morley wah pedal, a Boss DS-1 and a Digitech delay pedal, and it's not causing any problems...the true bypass system is really good cos it doesn't affect any of the signal from my other pedals.

It's hard to get sounds of other artists, but anyone who likes Radiohead can find a decent Mutron sound (like Johnny Greenwood's solo on Paranoid Android) with a couple of minutes tweaking.

This is built like something built very well. It's impossible to break it, and in my band, it's almost becoming compulsory to have massive enthusiasm for jumping on pedals, and this one is a pleasure to jump all over.

I would use it for gigs without backup as it doesn't need one...plus, they are fairly expensive for a 17 year old to afford a backup anyway.

never dealt with the company

I play mainly alternative stuff with my band, but this suits everything in some way...mind you, I can see that it wouldn't fit into every band situation, and it's miles easier to use in a band if there are two guitarists. This is because while one guitar can sound conventional, with just a bit of overdrive or something, then you can create sweeping textures, harsh jabs and all sorts of atmospheres with this thing.

They could've explained some things better in the manual. Things like what they mean by "the width of the filter?" It just seems like another Mix nob or gain for each filter. And for some effects the FREQ nob is the position of parked wah (to my ears), though in the manual they call it "the frequency of the filter." Anyways, you will spend lots of time with this pedal and will check back with the manual once in a while. After spending hours with it the first day I got it, I could hear its Oberheim emulation effect in my head while I was peeing.

It's got 16 effects to choose from. I'm going to tell you what I think of each one.

Tron Up and Tron Down

They both remind me of the 70's. Tron down sounds like space lasers. I think Tron up's more popular. It can sound like a cat cry or a bubble about to pop. They do a good job of being auto-wahs and sounding vintage.

Seeker and the Obi-Wah

I put these together because they both sound alike. It's a cool sound. I think Styx used the Oberheim VCF at the very end of "Mr. Roboto." So check that out if you want to hear an example of how these sound. You can change the frequency patterns around on the Seeker, though very subtle differences. I don't think anyone will get away with using these on a bunch of different songs.

Voice Box and V-Tron

I think these two are the worst out of the effects. If you're looking to get this pedal for the voice boxes, just get the real thing. These are more like 2 parked wahs you can sequence. I've been trying to like these effects to no avail. The voice box can make a wah'd out tremolo or phaser if anyone cares for that.

Throbber

I like Throbber. It's a spacey tremolo with 4 different wave forms. You can make a science fiction sound of electricity climbing between 2 prongs or the sound you hear when Ms. Pac-man eats a super pellet.

Spin Cycle

It's an auto-wah that speeds up the harder your pick and slows down when your sound fades off. In stereo, one wah goes up while the other goes down. I haven't found it too inspiring.

Comet Trails

This effect's trippy. Makes me think of a space ship's alarm system going off.

Slow Filter

This reminds me of Van Halen's 1984. The synth stuff at the beginning, where the notes rise up like bubbles from the depths. It's kind of like the Tron Up/Down, except you can slow it down.

Octisynth

People have fun with this one. It can kind of sound like someone adjusting a bad radio or someone warbling sheet metal. It also has this vibrato you can turn on to sound like sirens or funky wind shield wipers. It is a good fun noise maker.

Synth-O-Matic

It's 8 synths in one setting. This setting's one of my favorites. You can do an old organ sound or sound like you're playing songs through the 8-bit Nintendo. You can only do one note at a time, but if you do more, you can make some pretty sick sounds. The synth at 10 O'clock (on the nob) can make good wet fart noises and frying egg sounds if you hit more than one note.

Attack Synth

This synth sounds pretty evil. Hear a bunch of demons burning to death if you strum all the strings at once.

Synth String

A powerful synth sound. Sounds like the one used on Rush's "Subdivisions." Pity this effect doesn't understand more than 1 note. This might have been the one some people were warning about breaking speakers. It shakes my windows and pictures on the walls.

Growler

I like scaring the cats with this one. It reminds me of some sound effects I heard off of that old show "In Search Of..." Cool sound.

Q Filter

Ooo fun "your very own parked wah!" I guess you'll like this if you want to hear what a guitar sounds like while there's water stuck in your ears. Quite boring.

Most of the effects it comes with are very inspiring. Could be better/could be worse. Wish they took off the Voice Box, V-Tron,Q Filter, and trade them for something else like a some settings from the Electro Harmonix Frequency Analyzer or Microsynth. Still a lot of fun to experiment and play with.

I basically took one effect at a time, and tweaked my brains out. After an hour and a half- I had 4 kick ass sounds that were completely useable for grooves and solos.

Any pedal with true bypass and rich effects gets a 10 in my book. I play either of my PRS McCarty's or my Ernie Ball Axis through my Mesa Boogie Rectoverb, a Mesa Mark IIC+, a Mesa Mark IIA or my '55 Fender Princeton...I'll be damned if a $200 pedal wrecks thousands of dollars in tone.

The pedal is quiet, and the sounds are inspirational. When this pedal first came out, I didm't know what to think. After hearing The Beautiful Creatures, Sevendust, Nuno Bettencourt, and George Lynch use this, (along with just about every song on the local pop station)- I had to have it. Check out Lynch's new tune "Bleed" with Jeff Pilson (mp3.com) and pretty much most of the Beautiful Creatures CD, as well as Animosity by Sevendust.

I've owned and experienced other Line 6 products, and what is nice is the fact that are easy to deal with and stand behind their products. Let's face it, every once in a while something may fail- but Line 6 is a company I feel comfortable risking that failure with. :)

Once again, a great company. Please see above.

I write and play a funky style of Hard Rock, and this pedal is simply the perfect match. Thank you Line 6!

Pretty easy to use, didnt really have any problems. The manual is long, but you only need to skim over it to get the right idea. Experimation is the key to getting a sound. Personally speaking I dont think 4 presets are enough, as I have loads of little parts in songs where I'd like to switch to one of the sounds.

My setup:
A Les Paul, Mesa Boogie 50watt 1*12, plus an assortment of other pedals including the Line6 Delay modeller (which when combined with this and an expression pedal, can make some awesome noises)

Some of the sounds can be a bit wild and unpredicatble, but thats what I like about it. Particularly the synths which can get pretty dirty soundy. The seeker sound is gorgeous, although again this can be hard to control partiuclarly if you are playing to a click rhythm and want the sound to "seek" at just the right times. If I had my way again, I would save up a little more for the pro version, which has MIDI control on it.

Seems pretty sturdy. I gig it regularly without a backup.

N/A had no dealings

a top noise making buy, although if your serious about this sort of stuff, I'd have a look at the pro version.

Line six comes up with another wonderful effect pedal, but if you buy it somewhere(pawnshop, friend) and do not get the manual your screwed. Every time you select a different filter the knobs take on different meaning. So as long as you get the manual your ok. But you can get a good sound out of straight out of the box, just play with it.

My setup is an ESP LTD Viper301 or Epiphone Casino into this FM4 Filter Modeler into a Rocktek Chourus into a Smallstone Phaser then into a Marshall 80Watt Solid State 1x12 combo. Adding this pedal to your chain will cause you absolutely ZERO noise difference. You cannot tell if this unit is in your chain or not, as far as noise goes. This pedal is awesome for getting weird out of this world sounds, or just your plain old synth sounds. You wont go wrong getting this little wonder from Line6.

My best friend weighs in at close to 400lbs. He stood on this unit while i was playing and nothing changed. Also know another guy who's exwife threw his out of a 2 story apartment window(along with all of his other gear)onto pavement and after gathering his belongings, the only the that still worked was his Line6 Filter Modeler and an EH Big Muff Pi. I would and have gigged with this pedal without a backup.

never had to deal with them yet

Im in a metal band, not NU-metal, just metal, and we have close to 40 songs written. Some of the lighter songs we do I add keyboard sounds and other pops and cracks from this pedal. Ive been playing 12yrs and never fooled with another pedal like this youll love it. If it were lost or stolen I would Have to replace it. Looked into other filter modelers and only one sound was available for about 100bucks, this one you get 15sounds for 200bucks, you do the math. This pedal has added a new dimension to about 15 of our songs, love it, if i forget to take it to a practice we quit long enough so i can run and get it, the other guys wont have it any other way.

giving it an 8 be cause with out the manual you really can't get all the settings. with this said it is very easy to program, and it's not hard to get a good sound ot of it

I have a simple setup. which is the reason I returned this pedal. I run a schecter c-1 with a classic 57 in the bridge run into a jcm 900 4100 with a 1960's a cab.
here's the downlow the effects sound great my taste was for the filters the synths were cool but I'm not into industrial sounds so I found them useless. I still give it a 10 because all the sounds were great and didn't break up. I did givethe pedal a chance a kept almost for a month, but with my sound I just found no use.

all the sounds sound even better with them stereo out.

you could break someones skull with it

great pedal sounds wonderful but I find no use for my sound

It seems like Line 6 put a lot of effort making this pedal as simple as possible by using all simple and familiar analog knobs and push buttons. Unfortunately, I don't think this particular effect modeler lends itself too well to this kind of interface. It's fine for the other pedals in this line where each dial tends to do the same thing for each setting, but on the Filter Modeler the modes of each dial can change so much from effect to effect, it's quite difficult to know exactly what to adjust without having the manual on hand. I think this effect would actually benefit from some level of digital display integrated with the dials to indicate functions and default settings.

All that said, it's not all that bad compared to other effects with as many functions. Also, the manual is quite good, so keep it with you.

The only other thing to keep in mind is that many of the effects on the FM4 will force you to focus on details of your note execution and playing style to get good sounds. If you've used other filter effects, octavers, guitar synths or the like, you'll already be familiar with tracking issues. Most of the crazier effects the FM4 supplies can be fairly finicky about note articulation (though no more so than the effects they model, if not less). So, you'll need to keep that in mind.

Nothing beats the pure tone of a great guitar plugged straight into a killer tube amp, but... on top of that, effects are cool, I love 'em, and I use a lot. My normal live setup now is either a Les Paul or Guild Aviator plugged into this chain,

Line 6 FM4 -> FoxRox Captain Coconut (fuzzface / univibe / octavia mix) -> Rack Tube Driver -> Wha Wha -> Ibanez FL9 flanger -> Volume Pedal -> Boss Analog Delay -> Ibanez Digital Delay -> Carr Slant 6V Tube Amp... then the signal lines out of the power stage of the amp, through a Hush pedal, and into a Digital Echoplex. That feeds into the PA.

Ok, that sounds like a lot of stuff, but most is direct bypass, and I rarely use more than two effects at any given time.

The sounds on the FM4 are fantastic. This is not a mild effect box. This is an over the top, psychedelic sound machine. Line 6 really has the vintage modeled effects down, and the original effects they came up with are slick too. The presets are lots of fun, but the possibilities are virtually limitless once you start tweaking them. Add an expression pedal, and you have even more to work with. One of the things I like the most about the FM4 is how clean the output is. You get all the effects with none of the noise. Can't beat that.

If your looking for that out there, crazy sound, the FM4 is a must have!

I've only had it a short time, but it's buit like a tank.

Never needed it.

I absolutely love the FM4. I play original rock music that takes influences from funk, progressive, blues, and jazz. I like being able to pull off everything from subtle tone variations to off the wall sound effects. The FM4 can do all that, especially the latter. This pedal is definitely a keeper, and I'd replace it in an instant. I don't know any other pedal that can do so much, so well, at this price point.

That said, I can certainly suggest some improvements. First are alterations to the parameter editing interface I mentioned in the Ease of Use section. Second, 4 user settings are far to few! I'd like to see 4 user settings for each modeled effect, with a way to step through the effects. With 16 modeled effects, that would offer the possibility of 64 user settings. Add the expression pedal and that doubles to 128. Now that would be lots of flexibility. Finally, if that level of control were available, add midi so the unit could be driven by an midi foot controller.

It didn't take long to figure it out, to get a desired was pretty easy. The quick reference stickers are very good.

I use a Tele to a Marshall guvnor, blues breaker, fm4, Jim Dunlop wah, Boss phaser, Marshall trem, dl4 to a Fender princeton amp (not necessarily in that order.) The comet trails is my favorite with a reverse delay at the minute, I also like the slow filter sounds going from a bright top to a dark lull. The synth soundswork well on the bass strings but I'm less convinced with the sounds on the treble lower down the neck.

I haven't had it long but I've had the DL4 for a year and a half and apart from the stomp switch coming loose I've had no problems.

Pretty easy to use, straightforward knobs and all that. The coolest part about this unit (that's also easy and straightforward) is the expression pedal (list $70, got it for $50)- if you set the pedal to the heel position, dial in a setting that you like, and then set the pedal to the toe position, dial in another setting (though you can't change the model knob, you have to keep it in the same modeled effect), you can then morph between the two settings with the pedal. That's pretty much the aspect of this unit that made me decide to buy it. Downside is you can only store 4 user presets; HOWEVER, most reviewers have overlooked the fact that everytime you switch from one effect to another a preset for that new effect loads (that is expression-pedal ready as well- eg, all of the effect presets have that morphing capability ready).

My setup is Homemade Strat (Warmoth parts, Lindy Fralin pickups) --> Digitech Whammy --> Line 6 FM-4 --> Line 6 AX2 amp. I'm not an effects veteran whatsoever, I couldn't tell you how accurate these reproductions are, but they sound great to me. If you're looking to do psychedelic Disco Biscuits-ish effects, this is right up your alley. Some effects in this unit are nice, straightforward, not too out there (eg MuTron, Q Filter), but some are way out there, almost too out there (octisynth, growler).

My sole reason for writing this review was to share this story: about 4-5 days after I bought the FM4 my band and I were playing a party. Towards the very end of our set, this drunk kid came up and started chatting with the keyboardist, and knocked a full cup of beer all over my FM4. You know how the knobs are recessed? That whole cavity was one big pool of beer, all the knobs were submerged in Keystone Light. I started mopping it up right away with my jacket (the kid was so drunk he was wondering what the hell I was doing down by his feet- he didn't get the picture until I told him to move), and I got most of it sopped up. Unbelievably, it still worked, and a few days later when I practiced with it, the knobs were stuck in position, but after forcing them they moved again- unfortunately I could hear grime inside the potentiometer when I turned the knob (like a crackling sound coming through the amp). However, it subsided after about a day, and besides a consistent smell of stale beer, the FM4 works just as well as the day I got it!

Never had to deal with them concerning the FM4; however, I own their AX2-212 amp (had it for almost 4 years, still love it), and the floorboard has always been a little moody; when I've contacted them about it they were very friendly and helpful.

I'm mostly into jamband music (Phish, etc), as well as some techno, classic rock, jazz, blues, and that tends to contain a LOT of styles within itself. For the more trippy psychedelic jams/songs, this effect will fit right in. Been playing 8 years, this is definitely the most versatile effect I've owned (besides the slew of effects that come with the AX2). If it were lost I'd buy it again. I like how versatile it is, there are a lot of cool things you can do with it, especially with the expression pedal.

Favorite effects-
Tron Up- like a mutron in the 'up' setting, or an auto wah,

Throbber- hard to describe; kind of 'throbs' at varying speeds,

Spin Cycle- apparently it's supposed to mimic two wah pedals at opposite positions, cycling back and forth- to me it just sounds like a trippy tremolo. Cool thing about this effect is that you can set it so that it responds to your playing; eg if you pick hard it'll 'spin' faster, and then slow down as the sustain dies down,

Seeker- supposed to mimic a Seek Wah, which I guess cycles through various 'parked wah' settings at varying speeds. Kind of weird at first, but as I tried out different setting I found it's pretty cool, especially at fast speeds.

Growler- MuTron meets GR700 synth. Just imagine auto wah, distortion, and octave effects all rolled together. Sounds kinda like disco-funk-metal or something, but is pretty cool, though probably not usable that often.

Slow Filter- play a chord, and it sounds as if the chord is rising from underground (sounds all muddy and blurred together) and then reaches normalcy. Probably wouldn't work too well in dense songs, but with space within the band (not too many people playing too much) it's pretty cool.

However, some of the effects in it are somewhat unusable- the octisynth is basically dissonance in a pedal. You play one note and pure ugliness comes out. However, at times it could come in handy, but not for most. Also, I think they just needed to fill a slot with the Q Filter- without the Expression Pedal the Q Filter is a parked wah (like a wah pedal in one position only); with the expression pedal, it's a wah pedal. Come on, 95% of guitarists already own a wah pedal, what's the point of tossing one in there? However, on the plus side, you can customize the wah with frequency controls, width control, gain control, and the type of wah (low pass, band pass, high pass), so that's kind of cool.

Overall I'm really happy with this, though it was a bit pricey once you add in the expression pedal and power supply ($25???). This effect probably wouldn't be too useful for metal, straight-forward rock, traditional jazz, etc. However, I think it's extremely usable in the more trippy genres. To anyone looking for a trippy sort of pedal, highly recommended.

Very easy to use. Just fiddle with the knobs. I needed to consult the manual after I finished initially fucking with it out of the box to figure out what the knobs do. The manual is very good. The reason I gave it an 8 and not a ten is cuz you need to get a feel for playing with this pedal (esp. the synth settings).

This thing is one of the best products to come out for guitar players in a very long time. It combines classic sought after effects with complete wierdness. It is noisy on some settings(not the pedal itself but some of the settings are abstract noisemakers). The effects are completely consistant and I use this pedal alot. I can use just about any effect on this thing. My favorite effects on this thing are (in no certain order of appreciation): mutrons, the 1 wit all the synth models, octisynth, slow filter, throbber, the two vocal sounding effects, seeker, attack synth.... actually the only effect I've not found alot of use for is the parked wah.

by the way - I can see how this thing could blow speakers be careful when you use certain settings and tweak the shit right.

A fuckin tank. I would use it at a gig without a backup because I'm too poor to afford another. If I ever get rich I'll deffinatly buy more so i can have like 16 different settings for gigs.

Imma just give it a ten anyway.

I play in a three piece band. Guitar, Bass and drums. We play a blend of tripped out psychedelic music, heavy shit, electronic sounding shit and we jam alot. After I got this thing our music went into alot of different directions and it really helped us I think.
If you are into taking guitar into realms visited by few, buy this pedal. Some would buy this and hate it, but those people aren't cool. They are into stupid shit. One thing I want is more patch things. I wish it had like 4 banks so you had access to 16 settings. That would be amazing. This thing is fucking ill get it.

This is pretty easy to figure out to get good tones out of.. I only turned to the manual with that octa-synth setting, couldn't figure out what the hell was going on

I'm playing this pedal with a Peavey Predator (tuned to low B), an old Arbor Star (tuned to low B) and a Squire Super Sonic for guitars, the effects chain is Big Muff Pi -> DOD Death Metal -> Danelectro DJ-6 Phaser -> Ibanez Soundtank Flanger -> Dunlop Crybaby Wah -> DOD Envelope Filter -> Line6 FM-4 -> Korg Toneworks AX1G Multi-Effect -> Boss PH-3 Phase Shifter -> Digi Tech Whammy run into a Peavey Bandit combo and a Marshall Valvestate combo.

This effect has tight sounds.. the only thing i haven't found a use for is that crazy Octa-synth and i'm not big on the parked wah sound.

The mu-tron model is excellent and the synths are really cool, i have found my self a Organ sound using the synth-o-matic

it's sturdier than hell, i don't have anything to back it up with but i don't think i'll have to

For my style of music ( pushing everything to the limits ) weirds sounds are really cool, but i think these sounds are very musicla not just some weird ass novelty sounds, i plan to use this thing quite a bit.

If this thing were stolen i'd buy another one.. or find the guy the guy that stole it and kick his ass.

The only bad thing is it's limited memory of 4 slots.. it would be nice to be able to store at least 16 settings

Easy to use? Not really but it sure is fun! As with all of the Line 6 modelers, editing is relatively easy although changing one parameter might drastically affect others. The manual is helpful. bottom line: it's far our freakin' fun!

It sounds as good or as crappy as you want it. I keep changing my set up (I have an electric and an acoustic rig, but I usually keep the Filter Modeler with my electric, a Parker Nitefly and a Tech 21 Trademark 60). Noisy? Some of the settings are like wiping your ass with sandpaper, but I think that's what they're s'posed to sound like. Personally, I've never wiped my ass with sandpaper, but I don't believe I'd like it. So, I don't really use the synth models all that much. I prefer the Mu-Tron up and down models along with the spinning type effects. I love the psychedelic qualities of the Filter Modeler, as would anyone who likes to twist sounds and blow minds.

I have the Filter Modeler, the Distortion Modeler, two Modulation Modelers, and two Delay Modelers and so far I've not had any problems. I don't usually take them out with me for gigs and jams (I use more compact effects for that), so that probably works to my benefit.

I'm into trippy music, be it transcendental, folky, spacey, metalic, silky, or liquidy, and the Filter modeler can be useful in all genres. I've been playing for 25 years and have quite a bit of gear. I like line 6 stuff. They pack a lot of variety into each of their pedals, the tones are very good, and for the money you can't beat 'em. One note: why would anyone make a judgement on a piece of gear after having it for only one day? Give us all a break and wait for at least a week of non stop playing before you pass judgement. Peace and keep jamming!

It's pretty easy if you're into turning knobs until you get somrthing you like. If you want to memorize the manual's settings it'll take some time because each knob has different functions for several different filter models. The fact that there are only four available memory patches kinda sucks because if you want to program a new sound you might lose the old one forever unless you write down all of the tweaked sounds you enjoy. The purchase of an optional expression pedal can give you a bit more memory to work with but only within one patch at a time.

Beautiful filters! I use the FM4 with a bass and it really enhances it and gives me sounds that were undreamable before for such a great price. The synth models are really off the wall. Throbber will stop your heart while Seeker gives your bass a real keyboard quality, especially if you're into tapping.

Can't bust it!

Haven't needed it.

A great pedal for bass, guitar, keys, or whatever! You won't get bored with it easily. The only limitations are your imagination!

It takes some time and tweaking but with patience you can reach bliss. The optional expression pedal is a must if you wast to control your sound.

The sound quality is superb. I am using it for both guitar and synth. And am very pleased with both. I am surprised daily on the psychedilic guitar sounds made possible with this. It takes tweaking for really good sound, but it is worth it

Line 6 is STURDY!!

never had to deal yet

I am Very happy with the FM4. I also use a Sherman Filterbank. Comparing them is like apples and oranges though. I have been playing for 20+ years and only purchse quality equiment. Line6 is that.

Takes a little tinkering to get a good sound... The half cocked wahs (w/o a expression pedal) can give off a good amount of feedback depending on your eq settings... I use alot of mids...

Exel-fuckign-lent! Pretty true to the models...

So far hasnt flaked out on me like females do :)

Line6 takes a long time to deal with if you live in hosuton...
Not anymore tho, as I hear we have a sevice station across town now...

Kick ass pedal for getting a good amount of new osunds...

Altho I wish the pedal would have had a 3 prong cord instead of those damn wall warts :rolleyes: ...
And midi control would have been SO GOD LIKE... :jizzs' in pants:

In response to Cameron's response to my original review: As you say, it's really a matter of taste and what you're looking for. I was hoping for an improvement on the classic synthesizer tones by way of eliminating the annoying (to me, anyway) glitches that you like. Actually, I like the out-there synthesizer effects in the P-funk vein on this thing, but they were just too uncontrollable for me.

Easy to use....need to reference the manual sometimes to figure things out but that s no big deal.
Editing and saving patches is easy and fast.

Using Tokai Love Rock Junior TV Yellow model and Tokai ES335 into Marshall and Vox valve amps. Other fx I use are Maxon AD80 delay, MXR Micro Amp, MXR Blue Box.
This unit does mad wah sounds, cool filters and some very non guitar ish synth sounds. Its only noisy on the extreme settings..but that sound right to me. Once you realise that the Mix dial is there you can get some of the initially whacky sounds to get quite classy in a alternative kind of way. Similar to the MXR blue box ...but more control obviously. My fave settings are with the Wah sound locked in position....gets really nasal and snarls in an overdriven amp. Freak out leads are done with the synth settings. Tracking is exellent on single strings....bends sound awesome. Some of the patches are useless to me but to be able to get 4 sonically wild and customisable sounds out of the same box for less than 200 quid is amazing. Not going to compare the sounds to the 'originals'as theres no point. Its sounds really good. The audience will not be comparing it to the originals so I wont either.

Solid. I would gig without a backup cos its a luxury item....if it packed up I would play the relatively few parts I use this for without the effect. Actually if you want something like a ''leave on all the time'' effect .....this is not it...use sparingly and its very cool.

Well the manuals good.

Our band are definately in the alternative category....possibly avant garde sometimes....but dont be fooled into thinking this is a noise machine...it can be used very musically...just sparingly.
I wish there was more gear like this that attemped to push boundaries for guitarists. This seems to be one of few affordable units out there that gets away from the blandness of most gear without sounding gimmicky. Glad Line 6 had the bollocks to make it. Its not for the conservative minded guitar player for sure....erm except for the talkbox Wah thingy which is rather naff! Theres always gonna be at least 4 classy and origional sounds inside this thing which is good value....will stay part of my rig untill someone (Line 6 or other) invents a better one along the same lines.

this unit is very easy to make cool sounds with, but it is a little harder to make useful sounds. Programming is simple. Once you learn what the knobs are and how to use them, you are on the way. It is more difficult to get a consistantly good sound on some of the synths. THe expression pedal is a little more difficult to learn how to use, but well worth it. THe manual is very comprehensive, but the best way to really learn how to use the FM$ is to experiment.

There are two major problems with the sound quality. On any of the filter settings, if I play with full volume on my guitar (I play a de armond M65c) the sound kind of breaks up. THat problem is solved by turning down the volume knob.
As for the synths, the synthomatic, attack synth and the synth string settings have a hard time staying on one note for a guitar. THat makes them somewhat useless in a live setting.
Now that I have told you the downside of the FM4, I can tell you about how fantastic the effects are. THis is the most entertaining piece of musical equipment I have ever seen. you can come up with an infinite variety of sounds with only six knobs. My favorite settings are the seeker, the slow filter, the octisynth, the attack synth, and the growler. Try using this with a synthesizer, you can hav more control of the sounds, and it is much more consistant.
It is amazing how much of a variety of sounds this unit can generate. With the proper tweeking, you can get a PHaser-like effect from the voice box, and a tremolo from the throbber.

The FM4 is built like a tank, yet it is not even that heavy. It has never failed on me.

I have not dealed with line 6 yet. Their web site is very comprehensive. I could not figure out how to register this online, so I sent in the registration card by mail

For anybody that wants to get their hands on any analog equipment, but will settle for a replica, this is well worth the $250. The FM4 has the flexibility of analog equipment, even though it is digital. For the same amount of money spent on some real analog gear, you could get 1/16 of what your would get with the FM4. To me the FM4 is a usefull tool, but also the best toy I have ever had

Very easy to use - turn the dials and away you go. And to respond to Chris's review of 10/24/2001 "the manual is 87 pages long!" - if you had taken the time to read said manual, you'd have noticed that it's the manual for ALL 4 of Line 6's footpedal boxes (MM4, this one, DM4 & the DL4) and if you had had any prior experience with Line 6 you'll know that the majority of that is just "humourous" filler (probably the strangest thing about this company) and historical text about the various synths they've studied to make this.

From my Godin LGXT, I go straight into the FM4, which goes into a Digitech Whammy pedal, which goes into the Line 6 POD. That goes into a mixing desk which come out into a Boss Loopstation and back into the mixing desk. Sound quality is excellent - especially with the True Bypass this baby has to offer.

Now, to respond yet again to Chris:

"Out of the 16 effects, maybe 2 are anywhere near usable."

This is actually pretty close to the truth, although I'd say about 6 are useable. However, you're opinion on what is useable or not depends on what you're intending to play. I have a feeling Chris thinks the only 2 that are useable are the autowahs that he likes, and the rest just noise. The noisy ones are the ones I love and the reasons that I bought it.

and another:
"Sounds are fizzy and brittle, synthesizer emulations track miserably and sound terrible."

From this statement, you can tell that Chris has very little in the way of experience with 80s Filters/Synths. The sounds are fizzy and brittle because that's how they were, and synths (such as the GR700 which is modelled on this under "Synth String") tracked very badly. Even the faults have been modelled on this, another reason why I love it so much - because the vintage sound is true to the original.

I only bought it yesterday, so I can't comment, although looking at it, it does seem like I could drop it and the only damage would be a slight ding in the paintwork.

Never had to deal with Line 6 as far as customer support goes.

I play metal normally, but I'm attempting to force the band into a more Radiohead meets Pink Floyd style, and as such this will be of great importance.

If this were stolen, I would beat people to death on the street and steal as much or as little money as they had so I could buy another one of these. If weirdness interests you, this is perfect. If, however, you want slightly trippy guitar sounds that still sound like Guitar, I suggest you do what Chris did and buy the Frequency Analyser.

There is a bit of a learning curve, but once you read the manual it's pretty much smooth sailing....

I've got an arsenal of axes and various amps (Fender, Rivera, Mesa, Dr Z) depending on the gig. Effects are Teese wah, Fulltone FD2, and just yer standard Boss or Ibanez pedals for delay and phaser and such. This unit is True Bypass, so it does not suck yer tone when it is off--a definite plus. The Seeker and Obi Wah settings are just phenomenal, as are the various MuTron simulations. Most of the synth simulations are only ok--kind of tough to get used to, and I'm not sure if I really have an application for them. I was considering buying a Seek Wah anyway, but for the cash it was worth it for me to pick up the FM4 instead. Good sound and great tone preservation.

So far so good...roadworthy.

Haven't had to deal with Line 6...

I play various styles--heavy rock, blues, funk, jazz--this thing is kinda cool, but it's not an essential part of my rig. However, I really like the Seek Wah simulations and the flexibility of the MuTron effects. The unit sounds good overall, and can help you get creative and expand your sonic pallette. I own a lot of boutique gear, and I'm more of a purist--not into the digital crap--but this is the only Line 6 product I own and it works extremely well in a live setting, helps you get some good hard-to-find sounds without actually coloring your tone. I could live without the so-so synth simulations, but it's still a pretty good unit. Also, the fact that you can store 4 footswitchable presets is pretty cool--wish it had more. Still, it's definitely a good value for the money.

This is relativly easy to get some really cool sounds out of, especially considering that I'm using it for a BASS. Some of the options take a little messing with or an "outside the box" approach. I don't know how much I'd want to be tweeking sounds on stage with it since with a bass it was a little unpredictable.

I'm running this with a 5 string bass and eden amp/4x10. the sound quality is defiantly decent, not much signal loss at all. some of the synth sounds are a little strange with a bass but definatly yealded some interesting results

seems very well made, let's see how it is after a few G&T's get spilt on it.

AS far a effects go this is the coolest effect i've found for a bass. I play a lot of electronic music and this makes it possible to make my bass do some of the things that I hear synths doing. The versatlity made me choose this over a q-tron type effect. Be careful with some of the synth effects I don't thing they were mande to handle really low frequencies

In theory, it's not that it's all that difficult to use, i.e., dial in the knobs to get a sound. It's just that in the real world, it's difficult to pull a good sound out of it. It's supposed to model simple stomp boxes, but the manual is 87 pages long!

Strat though an Electro Harmonix Frequency Analyzer, Boss CS3 compressor, Ausone Textone, Tech 21 Comptortion, Boss DD5 delay, Dano Hash Browns flanger, Fulltone Choralflange, Crybaby. This thing is a really lame piece of digital crap. To say it even comes near the analog sounds it tries to "model" (what a joke) is laughable. Out of the 16 effects, maybe 2 are anywhere near usable. Please, how many variations of an auto wah do you really need? Sounds are fizzy and brittle, synthesizer emulations track miserably and sound terrible.

Don't care

Don't know

I returned this thing the day after I bought it and purchased the Frequency Analyzer instead (sounds great and I saved a hundred bucks, too). Don't waste your money on the FM4.

Pretty easy to use, I have the line 6 delay modeller also and once you have got used to the way they lay out the controls, its all plain sailing. You need to experiment a lot with the dials though as you can get some completely different reults from the same effect. The Manual is very helpful and a good refernce

Using a Mesa Boogie Caliber 50, and an Epiphone Les Paul. Sounds fantastic. The Moog emulator combined with boogie crunch is pure evil! One of my favourite setting (the seeker) can sound a bit quiet when the filter is up high, buts its a fantastic effect.

I havven had any problems with it so far, or the delay modeller I also have. Seem to be very sturdy

Never been in touch

I play rock/pop and Im always looking for ways to change my guitar sound into something different than the standard set of effects (e.g chorus, flange etc). This is the dogs wotsits!

All knobs. No menus. Many, many sounds. It's pretty easy to get going, but since the knobs do different tasks for each filter modeled--there's a bit of a learning curve, I suppose. This thing has enormous sound-creating capability. Honestly, you're limited only by your imagination with these filters. You can only save 4, however (a couple more would be nice). The manual is very good, and even goes into a bit about the classic pedals/filters that the sounds are modeled after. The best way, though, is to just jump right in and start dialing. The only bummer is that there are only the available presets and no switchable area that you can bounce back to that remembers your last selected filter effect and knob settings. Not too hard to do without, but it would've been nice to have this capability.

I use it with many different setups--ranging from a basic Carvin 150 bass amp to a Line 6 AxSys 212 to a Sovtek Mig100h through a 4x12 cabinet. I run all sorts of stuff through it: G&L Legacy & Carvin DC127 guitars, keyboards, +mics, drum machines, theremin, etc. It has stereo ins and outs and is very flexible. It's not noisy at all, unless you count the breathing of some of the more radical filters. All of the effects sound great. The 'Trons are dead-on, and the more crazed (Octisynth & GR-700+Mu-Tron) are completely brain-melting. I run it mostly through a Sovtek Mig100h head and a 4x12 cabinet. You can get things as simple as basic envelope filter followers and bubbling Hendrix-like tones--all the way to plaster-cracking synthetic noise. Sound quality is great on everything. True bypass is a plus, too. The best addition is the MIX knob, which allows you to control the levels between your original instrument's sound and the filtered. A very nice touch.

It's built like and industrial-strength Tonka truck. Heavy-duty. I wouldn't worry about it at all. I'd love to have 2, but I would definitely use it without a backup. I've had no problems so far.

Line 6 has super customer support, and my experience with them in the past on other issues has been very pleasant. There are people there who go out of their way to help.

I play a mix of experimental improv and dark, dissonant instrumental prog-type stuff. This pedal is a perfect match. It can get as weird as you want it . . . and then some. I've been playing for over 20 years and have many goofy pedals (i.e. Z. Vex Fuzz Factory, etc.), and the FM4 fits right in there. I'd definitely want to get another eventually if this one were stolen or lost. I love the sounds and the ability the pedal has to mangle sounds totally beyond recognition. I wish, though, that it had more preset slots (at least a couple more) or some way to just switch to a mode other than presets where you could have the knob status remembered where you last left it. No big deal, really. Just something that I think about when I use it.

This is my first Line 6 stompbox and I must say it is a bit confusing after setting one of the patches you can't go back and recall its setting for future reference. So when it says "four bays" it means it. The knobs are not helpfully labelled either. But once you get the hang of each model, it gets easier.

The sound quality is decent (it's digital) but you've got to be very careful never to play more than one note in a synth model, it sounds terrible. It also seems to slip on open strings. The effects are tip-top, some of them respond fiercely to playing dynamics so pick consistently. But otherwise the sound is amazing. I run it from an Epiphone Sheraton through a Fender 212 amp with several FX. Put the Fm-4 before your outboard loop.

I don't know. It seems to be built really well. Heavy.

I thought that one of the filters wasn't working so I e-mailed them. They were helpful enough not to say "try adjusting the controls, you moron."

I got this in the hope of staving off my desire for pricey vintage analog effects and so far I'm satisfied. The FM-4 has several models based on the Mu-Tron III and they sound great. The synths are just as warm and buzzy as the originals. Some of the effects here are original too, like the growler and octisynth, and blow my mind. Very wierd stuff this thing is capable of. I've been listening to alot of the Welsh band Super Furry Animals lately and these models capture alot of the spacey synths sounds they utilize. The expression pedal option is just killer. I love this pedal.

not incredibly hard to use. Some might need the manual. It's easy to program (a matter of holding down ONE button).

I enjoy this pedal alot. great filters and synths. you have to be careful with a few of the synths because the tone can ocassionally get out of hand like it slips or something (it is digital). think of playing a computer game on a computer that has a very full hard drive. its not bad, you just have to be careful. I play a strat and i find that it slips *MUCH* less when i play using all of the pickups. I NEVER play through it in only bridge position. It is also important when using the SYNTHS that you attack the stings at a constant force, no light picking. The filters however, dont give me any trouble, and you CAN play chords with the filters, not the synths. the effects have good depth and tone, you can fool around to make them sound as you want.

ive only had it 2 days, but its solid metal and heavy for it's size. Im not worried about it breaking, im just scared someone might run off with it!!

never dealt with them

If you wanna get cool synth sounds, but dont want to shell out thousands of bucks for keyboards and pedals, get this pedal. I play space-rock and electronic styles of music. If you want weird funky and ambient vintage tones, you'll dig this one alot. I have no regrets about spending over $200 for this one. You will have fun with it!

Peice of cake, but you will want to read the manual.

Most of the sounds are monophonic, single note leads tend to sound best. Chord can get out of hand very quickly. I also ran a casio CZ 101,through it and got some really kick ass sounds.

only had it a month or so.

Never Needed yet

If you are looking for that one thing that will make the bizarr-o sound thing happen in one of your tunes, look no further. If you love the guitar for the pure tone of your guitar, why would you ever want a gadget like this? The thing that keeps killing me about line6 is that every time I need a new pedal or one of my old stand-bys quits on me I think, oh I'll just get the line6...whatever, distortion, delay, modulation....POD. I feel like a walking advertisment, but damn they make good stuff.