Line 6 M13

This unit is a great idea, but I agree that there are some issues that need to be addressed, it is a really simple product to use and setup is easy

Delays are awesome, the overdrives and distortions are ok, I use lighter gain seetings on the m13 along with the drive channel of my mesa dc-10, the reverb are cool, I am not a compression user so I cant really comment on that and tsome of the filter effects are just a little to "far out" for me. The modulation effects and to a certain extent the delays have one major issue and that is volume, the analog chorus is virtually un usable through the effects loop as it doubles your volume, the delays also bump the volume a little bit, which isnt huge for me because I mostly use delay on lead lines and want those to be a little louder

I really wanted a nice chorus sound from this unit and I am pretty bummed about the volume issues

Works grea, have done about 10 shows with it so far

I love the concept and about 70% of the unit is usable, they need to tweak it and put out a new version of software and fix these small issues

This unit was purchased after much research, to replace my ageing Alesis Quadraverb GT and single real Tube overdrive pedal. The whole idea of a hybrid stompbox and programmable unit really appealed to me. I mean, the Quadravery was great if you had every patch programmed in, but forget about being creative once the set list starts.
This thing immediately appealed to me. I read the manual and got the concept after a few seconds of using it. The sounds are just brilliant and there's everything you really need, from delays to synths. The manual is actually not adequate, but you can download the advanced guide, which has most of what you'll need. I have ordered a usb midi adapter so that I can install the latest firmware revision. Love the concept of the scenes. Extremely well thought-out and beats the hell out of any other multi-fx units I've used (Boss's for example)

I'm using a Fender EJ Strat throught a Line 6 Spider Jam. Although I haven't used it live yet, the M13 seems to handle the setup perfectly. Unfortunately the Spider Jam doesn't have an effects loop, because I'm just dying to hear what that would sound like through something like an AC30CC2X.
I've been mucking around with trying to get sounds from the Edge, to Andy Summers, to Robin Trower, and luckily for me, there are three scenes ready-made for exactly those styles. I managed to get a really nice U2 sound by tweaking the delays. Not perfect, but nice. The way the effects work, it's impossible to have two delays set up without one feeding into the other, but I was close. The 'Dimension' effect is superb for a subtle chorus, and the old vintage rotating speakers and Fuzz Pi give you an instant leg up on the Trower/Hendrix sounds.

Can't comment. Although I would like to mention that I'm slightly miffed that the LEDs don't sit properly in the housing. Two of them are at an angle, which offends my somewhat anal sense of balance, while so far not actually affecting the useability. I'd certainly want things to work well after the less than satisfactory experience I had with the Spider Jam (locking up and continuously rebooting). At least the unit seems robust and sturdily manufactured (in China...)

Last issue I had, the vendor (Billy Hydes) took the unit back and got it fixed - in around 2 months, which I wasn't particularly happy about. Haven't spoken to customer support.

I play covers, Top 40, everything from the Police to Hoodoo Gurus and the Proclaimers, although I do lean towards SRV, Gilmour and the like, with the odd bit of Audioslave thrown in. This pedal will be absolutely PERFECT for all of that.
The only things I don't like about it are: a) I keep going for the wrong dial and changing the effect instead of turning button 3. My fault I spose. I'll get used to it, but it's annoying. Also, if you accidentally do that, the effect doesn't remember what settings you had it on before you changed it.
b) the way the dials work - as someone else mentioned here. When you turn a dial, the level instantly jumps to whatever position you have the dial in, rather than waiting until you turn back past the point it was previously set at. So if you want to adjust some level which is set at about 40%, and the dial is in the full clockwise position, as soon as you begin turning it anti-clockwise, the level jumps to 100% and then follows your dial. This is annoying because you don't know what the original setting was, and there's no way of going back to it either. I only mention this because some of the settings are extremely sensitive, and a degree or two can make a huge difference to the effect.
That said, I'm in love with this thing. The synth sounds are mind-blowing, the design is a work of genius. It's guaranteed that you'll be making sounds that inspire you.

Line 6 seem to be way ahead of their competitors as far as innovation goes, and that's something to be applauded and rewarded. Not only that, but they are listening to their user base and implementing stuff like true bypass and dry-through for the effects. As guitarists, we've never had it so good. Go and buy it, you'll be so glad you did!

Hey guys. I am a Product Manager over here at Line 6. I wanted to just offer a couple tips and thoughts here based on the reviews I have read.
I will respectful share my thoughts to each reviewer in the appropriate box, that way you can see what I was answering.
Also, I put up a thread so you can ask me stuff directly.
http://acapella.harmony-central.com/forums/showthread.php?p=33948325#post33948325
You can also PM me if you like.

vegansatori - We wanted Midi and USB on M13, went with Midi only as a cost consideration and to be sure guys could use CC and PCs.

James Acker - We are thinking of some kind of "fader match" type operation option. Went with Advanced User Guide online to keep it up to date as we update M13. Also, with all the languages, it would have been 700 pages.

MyM13 - Actually we added a copy effects function to M13. Push and hold the encoder the LCD blinks, push the switch you want to copy to and presto.

Koz McCharlie - There is an 70 page advanced user guide on our website.

Jason - I am not sure what happened. We have had zero returns for the unit not passing audio. In fact that is nearly impossible because even without power, because of true bypass, it passes sound. If you could PM me and let me know which retailer, I would love to get that unit back.

clive baxter - Scenes are just different "pedal board" set ups. The thing is meant for guys who are used to pedals and do not like traditional multi-effects. Everything is what you see is what you get. You can go deeper if you want but on the surface, it is pedals on a pedal board.

vegansatori - We are looking at adding EQ to a future update.

Sebastian Garcia - There was only one model "Octo" reverb that had a bug. When we ported it from Verbzilla the better processor and ad/da seemed to bring out a "crackle" sound. We fixed this in an update. The hum problem using 4 cable method is user error and well documented on TGP and our own forums.

thesnue - Just want to say that the True Bypass is amazing. The difference you hear depends on the quality and length of the cable you use from M13 to your amp. Wasn't even sure how to answer him on the other things because he just tried it in the store. I wonder why he sold his rack modelers before trying M13?

peter bowman - On sound quality not being for the serious musician, Jeff from the Smashing Pumpkins (his posts on the subject are at HRI) or Lee Ritenour may disagree with you. I believe you hated it. I just am saying that many serious musicians are already using it.

Jim Faulkner - again, I wonder if this is a real review because it is absolutely true bypass with relays. You can unplug the unit and sound passes through.

Mike Rosenstark - We couldn't do encoders on all the pots because it would have priced it much higher. We are looking at some "fader match" possibilities and more fine tune options for our late summerish firmware release. I am looking at having it be able to sync to midi beat clock but another solution a couple of my friends use is this. http://www.midisolutions.com/prodbtc.htm

Just a note here from me. We beat the crud outta this one before we let it go. We have had really low returns to the point of being almost zero. We knew pro cats were going to use this on the road and it had to take the abuse.

vegansatori - Weird what happened with your looper. Never heard of that at all. Wonder what caused it?

Sebastian Garcia - We saw this with a couple units. Does yours still do this? It seemed to be random.

cj and Mike N - The switches are metal, the housing to keep the actuator strait is plastic. As I said above, we put the switches on a thing we call the ripinator for tens of thousands of on/off cycles to be sure they can take the abuse.

Jake Burton - A super friendly cat at Harmony Central tried to help me get in touch with this guy so I could help him out and his email was not real. The unit is True Bypass with real relays. Also, there is no way that switch after switch went bad with a return to the dealer. We have only had 2 units have a switch problem (only one switch) and we repaired both and the customers are happy. But, Jake, if you are real, again, I would love a PM so I can contact the dealer.

Jim Faulkner - Again he said the dealer he got it from had three come back. ? we only have ever had 2 come back from customers. I don't think that a dealer would sit on them, right. That would seem weird. Also, said he took it apart. That voids the warranty, so I don't think a dealer would do that. If they did take it apart, the "plastic" switches he found were what are called actuators. These are very common in pro gear. The switch you guys see that switches the actuator is made of metal.

James Acker - Yup that is me over there on TGP. I am only trying to do my job well. Being a Product Manager is about looking out for the customer and understanding his needs.

Sebastian Garcia - I am the main guy on the boards and have never been condescending to anyone. Not my style.

Jason - Our customer service guys are not jerks. :) If there is one who is, I would love to let his boss know.

Will Crash - would love to talk to you about your X2. I can't believe you spoke with anyone in our customer service dept. I have sent many friends to the general line and have heard nothing bad. Again, PM me, I would love to know who was not helpful.

vegansatori - We just released new software. I am getting updates done and out the door, so we have added many things that were suggestions straight from guys like you on various forums.

James Acker - Again, we are looking at the "fader match" thing and we want to do model packs in the future and have some ideas about this for more variety.

Sebastian Garcia - Again, the four cable method hum is user error. The main problem is putting the power supply to close to your cables that carry your signal.
The random shut off was seen in about 6 units. I saw it here with one of my beta units. It was totally random and we are still trying to find one that does it so we can figure out what is going on. PM me, I would love to help you out with that.
We fixed the compressor problem 6 months ago.
The chorus boost is now the opposite problem that more people had trouble with on the MM4. The MM4 when mix was all the way up would cut volume. So we fixed that on M13 but now with the mix at 50% you get a volume boost. We are going to fix that in our late summerish release. We are up to 1.07 now. We didn't rush it out the door. With this many effects (86) and all the functionality, it is real hard to catch everything. That is why we are on it with updates. Already released two updates.

cj - The midi is limited because we wanted to keep this as bonehead simple as possible.

Dirty - We hear you. We work really hard to put out reliable products. We sell so many, I think it just looks like there is a high percentage of problems, but honestly, we have very low percentages on returns in general. If a company has a number one product in a particular category, they are going to have more post about problems. No piece of gear has a zero return rate. That said, I really hear you and we hear you and are always going to keep working harder and harder to keep it reliable.

I only give it a 5 because, though the basic editing of patches is a snap, (much easier than rearranging a real set of pedals, in fact!) saving the Scenes to your computer is a complete hassle. (You only get 12 scenes, and they are all returned to factory settings when you upgrade to a newer firmware, so this is a must.)

Instead of having a dedicated software system like the MagicStomp, this thing uses MIDI to send its info to and from your computer. So you need to buy either a special cable (UNO) that goes from USB to MIDI or a more expensive MIDI interface. Then download free software of your choosing to try to connect them. If all goes well, you should get nebulous streams of binary code every time you save a scene to your computer. I was never able to actually get the scenes back onto my M13, possibly because it was defective, possibly because of some MIDI incompatibility or incorrect setting...

In short, plug it in and play, absolutely! Saving a library of your effects on your computer... prepare to spend some time.

The effects, on the whole, are pretty good. The distortions felt a bit weak, but I was buying it more for its spacey and delay effects. All sorts of craziness is capable with this unit and an expression pedal.

An EQ would've been a great addition. With some combinations of effects the results were tinny or too high-end heavy, with no way to compensate and get the full round tone I was looking for.

The looper is a cool addition. The reverse works great. The 1/2 speed, however, not only lowers the pitch an octave, but gets really grainy and sludgy. (Not always what you want...)

Terrible.
It worked fine in the store. Brought it home, noticed the that looper was playing all of the loops at about 1/2 volume, even though I'd specifically raised the loop volume to max. This lasted all night, and somehow fixed itself over night, and was fine the next day.

However, that next morning it somehow lost its ability to overdub. After recording, if you press the record/overdub button while your loop is playing, you'll get a blinking green light telling you its recording. Instead, there was no light (then an intermittent white light if I tapped enough times) and either no overdub recorded or else it played a few crackles of rhythmic static.

Very unimpressed.

Also, not so happy in this category.
There's no phone support, so their tech support is strictly through their forums. Where basically, they say their tech will answer you in 48 hours, providing another user hasn't already helped. Thanks.
I posted about the looper volume issue, and 24 hours later, had only heard from one well-meaning user.
I like phone support.

Overall, the concept is brilliant. You can do things with this unit that you could never do physically with multiple pedals (ie. record a loop then put it either in front of or behind your effects chain while the loop is playing, or reorder your pedals on the fly, or set up 4 of the same pedal in a row...), but it's still way too buggy and unreliable to be worth $500.00.

I returned my M13, and won't be getting another one. Not unless they come out with a greatly updated version, preferably with a built in USB jack and dedicated patch editing/library software.

Really easy to use as per design. what you set is what you get. One problem i've had is if i've tweaked a setting as part of a live performance, and forgotten to return it to the original setting, then obviously at the next gig a sound may not come up as expected. I now have the auto save on in rehearsals, when i might want create and tweak sounds, and then switch to manual save for when i go off on tour so that the settings are kind of locked and come back as programmed every night. line6 manuals are always well written and it took me less than 10 minutes to copy the sounds of my original board and get playing.

I use this in the effects loop of my Hughes & Kettner Triamp. It sounds excellent. The board I had before consisted of the mm4, dl4, korg dt10 tuner, mxr microamp, digitech reverb. That served me well however swapping all that for the m13 instantly improved the clarity and dynamics. I don't use the distortions, although i do use the compressors and boost from the distortion group. I have listened to it in front of the amp and it definately thins the tone. All processors do this to some extent which is why for over 10 years now i plug my guitar straight into my amp and use effects in the hard bypass fx loop. I think all the modulations, delays and reverbs sound great just as they did in the original l6 modeling pedals. I have owned some of the original analogue pedals the sounds are based on but prefer the line6 stuff for it's clarity and ability to deal with hotter signals.

I have had no problems so far but a friend had a fault with his straight away. my old mm4 use to do weird things all the time but my dl4 never let me down and has probably done about 500+ gigs. i've stomped all the paint off the front of it but it still works. other line 6 stuff i've had has been reliable although it took them ages to release good drivers for the ux2 interface. But that's another story.

Used them a couple of times - once to repair my pod v1 and once to repair my mm4. got great service both times.

I've been playing 20 years and owned a huge array of processors in that time. This is the most useful guitar fx unit I've ever had and for quite a modest price. The line6 stomp range has great converters and the effects seem to react well to what you play like analogue gear does.when i heard this was coming out i thought they would forget something crucial or implement something badly but i honestly can't think of anything i would add save a usb port for backing up data (has to be done old skool through midi dump) i would definately buy another one should something happen to it.

They did it REALLY well. As easy as pedals to tweak, but more flexible with patches (called "scenes" by line6). I have a few other ME (some with amp model some without) and NEVER could use live with a band because I need to be able to tweak on the fly, and easily see what is chosen for each effect. This machine broke my "live" barrier.
In fact, ease of use is probably the biggest selling point for this unit for me.
I have the current version 1.04, and didn't give it a ten because I am hoping they will change how the knobs work on the parameters from "jump" (i.e. if the knob is at 10, param at (roughly, most have no numerical descriptor, just a "fuel tank" like display) 3 when you move down the parameter jumps up to where you are...I would way prefer "match" where you would move knob to the current setting to "pick it up" and move from there, MUCH better for slight adjustments which is what I need 98% of the time.
I DO like that they seem to be very responsive, at least considering changes to the OS like this.
The manual is also why not a 10...the one included is basically what any other manufacturer would call a "Quick Start" guide, and one has to download the "real" manual (advanced users guide, which really is the "users guide") from their site, use up your own toner to print it out...small detail but kind of annoying.
The advanced user guide is good though. No real specs in there unless I missed it, but otherwise...

This unit is super flexible in how to set it up, giving many options. Also (the manual is not updated as far as I can see) I think some scene paramaters called "global" are now in this version per scene, which is a positive change, as it makes more sense. Things like "autosave" (scene and effect settings) or manual save on per scene is the way to go, I plan on using some basic (my own) scenes as start points for others...so I don't want to accidentally overwrite them.

Also the M13 lends itself to making up your own "system"...for example the bottom row effects might be the "basic" setup in a scene with row B being "more" (i.e. if OD, more gain, etc. if Delay, longer delays) and the A row being the same effects with a little "less".
Another GREAT feature is the ease with which you can control (several, most) paramaters with the same (1 or 2) expression pedal.
I set up one OD where the pedal controls both volume AND gain at the same time, but going opposite direction. So with EXP pedal at heel,
gain was low but output (volume) just right, at toe position gain increased but output lowered to keep the same volume no matter the gain.
Trick: to UNDO this you just take out the EXP pedal jack, adjust the paramter (gain in this case) you want to NOT be controlled anymore by the EXP pedal,and then plug back in, now it will just control output. Only thing to remember if you have EXP selected for that column (pedal) and plugged in and tweak a parameter...you just added control of it to the EXP pedal (not wanted)...

Gave it an 8 here. Some effects are 10's, some 7's some not very useful but overall very nice.
ODs- some nice ones. Even some decent "touch" where you can cleanup with guitar vol, or how hard you hit the strings. I got inspired by them, and the only complaint is that there is a certain "sameness" about them to my ears, but it is a good basic sound. Haven't played with mine with a band yet, and I understand from many reviews that many of the effects really SHINE in a band, cutting nicely.
FUZZ- meh...if you are like me and want fuzz you'll be using a real one before input to the M13. I wish SOMEONE would come out with a ME pedal like this, but with an honest to god analog fuzz and OD built in, and all the rest modelled. THAT I would buy in a second.
MOD- VERY nice. Uni-vibe is weak, and a few other rotating I think didn't get it, but it may be I just need to tweak more as one of the factory scenes "bridge of vibes" sounds VERY good to the referred original.
FILTER- at first I shared the poster under me viewpoint...not much I could get out of them, but as I heard from other folk and experiemented I find that it is just that the default settings I think are way overdone (to the point of not useable) maybe to show you instantly what generally the model does (or overdoes on the default). There is talk of next version defaulting to your last settings for that particular model, which also would be excellent I think.
The rest,reverb, delays, etc. are all WONDERFUL, and for delays especially the ones with "dry thru" nicely keep your tone..

Overall, very useful. I think I am going to use with offboard wah, fuzz, maybe even an OD (kinda defeating the purpose but not really as I still then have access to MANY more pedals than I would ever take with me somewhere).
Because no amp modelling, and by design, so far this unit sounds damned good with my regular tube amps (something the Tonelab LE didn't for me) and I think one must again consider that I haven't played this out with a band yet. I know from experience that a lot of the sounds in this might not shine as well at home alone (many do too, and can be set to, don't get me wrong) are JUST the thing to let the effect cut and be heard in a band.
We all know the typical ME effect where you program all the lush sounds, bring it to a rehearsal or gig and whoosh...they all get drowned out and you can't hear them and you wonder what happened.
I tried the looper a bit, and it works very well,very easy (and I am not a looper guy).
Tuner is VERY nice, I like the display and it seems just fine in tune after using.

I think I can depend on it. I wouldn't take without ANY backup, always have an OD, and the H2O with me, because in any ME, it is a "one-source failure" meaning if the power supply blew, or beer spilled on the unit, etc. you lose ALL effects at once. But I think it seems solidly built, the footswitches seem very solid.

They seem VERY helpful, and are canvassing (maybe not as a gimmick, but I think to get real feedback, and answer questions) some forums I notice, the TGP forum and VERY helpful. Never dealt with Line6 before...

I play a lot of blues, and rock, with some shogazer things at home sometimes. I like a lot of styles, been playing 30+ years, own also an old Digitech RP-7 (which I STILL love, but can't use live as the interface is clumsy and I won't gig with having to have a cheat sheet to tell me A24 is my "Hendrix Red House" patch,etc.), Tonelab LE (very nice into my recorder, but I can only get great sounds through a cube60 set to clean flat EQ), V-amp2 (nice for home use), and some others, THIS is the ME unit head and shoulder over the others I have used when thinking about just a flexible pedal board, that also doesn't have modelling and can be grab n' go.

Like I said, wish it had "fader match" for parameter changes, wish they had modelled some more varied OD's (Klon, Zendrive) or better yet, dropped the model-after-known-units (the ones I know of, they are ballpark only or just the same "knobs" as the orig...) and just created the best palette of sounds the processor could give..which they did in a few patched (Line6 Distortion for example?). Just small things, like wishing the parameters had a numerical display as well (undet the "fuel tank") telling where on the scale you are.

With ME's I tend to NOT make much music, playing around more with way too many effects, and parameters, but with this one, I end up quickly getting good sounds, and sounds that make me "leave it" for a while just to play. Really want to try it with a band soon (mine broke up a few months ago).

I am definitely keeping this. It isn't replacing my pedalboard (which I love and spent years getting together) but honestly I didn't buy it for that either. Realistic expectations are the key.
It is perfect to take along to a jam, band practice, gig, etc. and use either alone or with outside pedals.

Stomp box simplicity. Very easy to use and dial in a good sound. the toughest part is connecting the cables to right way.
Firmware version 1.04, FYI is the most recent one.

I'm using this in the loop of my Crate V33h (modded) into an Avatar open back 2x12 loaded with a V30 and G12H30.
This WAS noisy as hell on the distortion pedals until I adjusted to 'pre all' in the FX loop settings. Now its quiet as a church mouse...even at gigging volume. I like MOST of the effects. Some are unusable, some are great like the delay and time based models. Some are ok like the Distortion and filtering models (although I love the Line 6 Distortion pedal!)

I've had it for a week now, so no real opinion on the reliabilty yet. Line 6 products seem to have a decent track record, though.
I would use it @ a gig without a backup, but have a tuner and delay pedal in my bag, maybe? Seems kinda silly to have a backup of everything...no?

No opinion

I play in a cover band doing everything from The Cure to Billy Idol to Rage. I've been playing for roughly 18 years and have had almost every decent analog stomp box and effect you could name. I'm usually a Marshall/Gibson guy, but have been venturing into Class A EL84 territory lately using a Strat...so this is a nice addition to a simplified rig.
Sure, single analog/digital pedals are great...but for 415 shipped through eBay, it was a good buy.

The box says "BoneHead Simple" and it is.
I want to play NOT program and this is IT.
Owned the GT-10 which is a programming nightmare with a commitment on how you want to use the VERY few switches (performance/patch mode).
Owned the X3L which is better because it at least has dedicated switches for patches and effects but limited with effect ordering.
Own the M13 now and I am done for awhile.
12 scenes of 12 buttons each OMG.

Excellent.
The other "Boneheads" that didn't give it a 10 don't know what they are talking about.
Sure some of the models sound like crap but that is why there are so many.
Crap is subjective but I believe you will find ones you like.
There are some 20+ distortions and I spent 3 nights auditioning them.
Found 6 I like (more than my old board had)
Distortions = You will find your taste.
Filters = They all suck so I won't program any of them but that is not what I was looking for.
Modulation = Good phase, flange, and chorus so done (many suck)
Delays = All Great
Reverbs = All Great

If you aren't expecting every model to "wipe your ass" you will find what you like.

The thing sounds great in front of and in the effects loop of a warm tube amp.

The delays and reverbs (time based effects) are TOP NOTCH. They sound very realistic.

Most people that get tone from there guitar and tube amp and are looking to supplement that with space will love this unit.

Thank you LINE 6

Don't know yet but hoping for the best.

Line 6 has excellent customer support.

Excellent to supplement a real tube amp.
Don't think I would expect much from a solid state.
If your tone comes from fingers, guitar, and tubes and you need a multieffects unit get this. Skip the GT-10 and the X3L. Get this. Thanks again Line 6. Please don't change it much. Keep it "Bone Head Simple"

4 banks, each with knobs that can adjust effect parameters. Using the looper, copying scenes, setting up advanced options are a little trickier but are well-documented

Several effect types are bugged, there are known issues with hum using the 4-cable method

My unit randomly turns off after flashing red in all windows. A hammer-punch to the top near the power switch fixes that

Haven't really dealt with them, although some of their reps on the forums can be somewhat condescending to users who complain about the M13's shortcomings.

I bought the M13 under the impression that it could consolidate all my individual stompboxes into one easy-to-manage unit. And, it is a pretty decent piece of gear, but let me point out a few problems I've had with it.

In order to split up the pedal chain between the preamp and FX loop you need to use the "4-cable method" common on multi-FX units. The idea is to send certain FX (distortions, comps, etc) to the amp's front input and others (chorus, delay, verb) thru the FX loop. However, I've had nothing but problems with hum using this setup, and there have been other such issues (check out the L6 forums). Not sure what the cause is, but it makes using this ESSENTIAL (if you use the amp's distortion) feature useless. Results may vary, I guess. My other BIG beef is the construction of the unit...about 6 weeks after I first bought my M13, I saw that it once flashed all the windows red, then powered off and would not power back on. In desperation, I pounded the unit near the power switch with my fist, and it turned on! And the unit still randomly turns off, but usually once it turns on it stays on. Luckily I bought the extended service plan, but haven't had time to send it in for repairs. There have also been similar reports of this issue on the L6 forums. Finally, while there are over 70 total effects, you'll probably only use a handful of them. Some of them are just downright bad...all the compressor effects in particular. The unit's processor doesn't seem to have enough beef to emulate a true comp and there is sometimes a lag where the input signal gets thru unabated before the effect kicks in, causing a loud, obnoxious "pop". This also happens when a scene containing a comp effect is switched to, or even when the comp is turned on within the same scene. It makes the compressors useless to me. Again, this is a well-known bug on the L6 forums. Another documented problem is that the chorus FX have an inherent volume boost. Line6 has promised to fix all the effects-related issues in the next firmware update, but this has been in development since Oct. 08. Additionally, you'll need some sort of MIDI interface just to update the unit (another $35 at least) as well as decent computer skills to use the required software (Line6 doesn't provide it...you must download a freeware tool such as MIDI-OX for this...it's 3rd party SW) My advice would be to wait for the 1.05 firmware to come out and read around to see whether the initial release bugs have been ironed out. The unit has some great capabilities, but it seems L6 rushed it out the door too soon and the buyer is left holding the check.

Very easy to use for this type of product.

There's a lot of sounds in here. There's two things to look at with this device, the individual effects sound quality, and the overall sound quality. Individually, some effects are fantastic. Particularly tremelos with volume sensitivity. The harder you pick, the faster the trem. Sounds great. Some of the distortions sound digital - at first. I got used to it pretty quickly, and found myself liking the tone. Some of the distortions are better than others, and some of the distortion models are not accurate. Things like compressors, gates, filters, delays, etc. all sound very good to perfect. Overall, I was not happy enough with the tone, so I went back out and bought a trem pedal, couple of fuzzes, an OCD, and a DD-3. I've recorded live with both setups, and the M13 records better. Sometimes to my own ear the analog pedals sound better (louder), but the M13 wins. I used M13 distortion and overdrive for a whole night on tape, and it sounds great. You cannot distinguish it as modeled overdrive, and if that's what the audience is hearing, then it's way good.

The amount of people who've actually had one break is pretty small, but more time is needed. Ever open up a boss pedal to change the battery? Same thing in there - a cheap plastic actuator for the switch. If that doesn't break, why would this?

I have dealt with Line 6 in the past, not related to this item. Customer service was very good for a large corporation.

A couple of overall notes. One night I had to play loud. Louder than you might ever play, and louder than I had ever played before. Without a noise gate effect on, the M13 was giving me a ton of noise with any distortion effect on. I mean uncontrollable nasty screeching feedback. If I turned the amp down a bit, it went away, but the amp had to be dimed - a 50 watt tube single channel non-master. Also, some effects have different volumes than others, and even when setting everything up in advance, no doubt I will turn something on and be too loud or too soft. Kind of a pain. And the volume settings are perceived differently at room and stage volume. So, I set output levels on the effects practicing in my studio, and all the settings become useless on stage. You have to set your output levels at stage volume, and then adjust your amp while practicing at lower levels. And lastly, I play wearing boots. It's easy at the end of a manic solo to kick more than one switch. Sometimes I've gone to shut one effect, like a solo boost, off, and turned three on. That kinda sucks but overall this is good sounding stuff, and the convenience of having every single thing you might ever need or want right at your feet in an easy to grab and go package is killer.