Line 6 Modulation Pro

Well, most of the presets are "ok". If you can find 3 or 4 that are decent and tweak them, it would make it worth the $300. I just wish you could program a complete bypass and designate it to a midi channel. Fairly easy to use though.

I primairly use a 1957 Gretsch 6117 with a Fender "Evil" Twin amp. One issue I have with this thing is a ground hum. I guess I need to do what one guy said and wrap it in duct tape. Fortunately, I have a db selector on my amp for my effects loop and also a mix dial. The tremolo option(s) are great (since the Fender "Evil" Twin doesn't have tremolo). I also use flange, phaser, & chorus. My opinion is that if you get your tone squared away w/ a real tubed amp and a good quaility guitar, then you can get away with modulation on the effects. If you think about it, most of your vintage effects can be noisier than this thing. i.e. MXR Flanger

It seems to be reliable except for groun hum (pisses me off).

I play alternative rock type Praise & Worship. It seems to be capable of taking care of my effects.

I have been playing for 10 years. I own a Takamine & Alvarez acoustic. Also, a 5150 and a couple of customized Jacksons.

If it were stolen, I might try something else. I love the tremolo, I hate the ground and bypass problems. My favorite feature is the flange.

This unit is etremely easy to use in the studio if you've taken the time to read the clear and concise manual. For those of you interested in live use, I wouldn't recommend it. But after all, this is the Line 6 Mod Pro STUDIO MODELLER!

This unit is very quiet when used as an effects unit in a mixdown chain. It has an incredibly low noise floor. The sounds are very lush, though you can tell they are digital. If you want to sound classic/analog, this might not be for you, but if you like the newer records, it is priceless. MAKE SURE YOU USE STEREO OUTPUTS, otherwise the models don't sound as amazing as they can and are meant to.

Though I haven't had this piece more than a month, I have had no problems thus far. I have also owned the Line 6 Pod Pro rackmount units for over a year, and they are built to last, providing you don't play games of hockey with your studio equipment.

Haven't had to deal with any live people. Got the manuals in PDF form from the website with no problems. The website is very nice, and allows you to exchange and download settings/user presets.

I am an avid fan of the Line 6 Pro series units, and am intending to purchase the Echo and Filter Pro's in the near future. I understand that these units do not sound just like the real analog thing, but for the most part they are pretty damn close, and definately worth the much lower cost. I am an audio engineering graduate, and recognize good gear. In my opinion, these units are excellent, but I also understand the purist attitudes of the analog buffs.

Very easy interface. Not very easy as a live tool.

mesa dual rectifier 3 channel through the effects loop.
All the effects sound great. Sorry to dissagree with the others on this review. If it weren't for the fact that the engineers didn't include Output/Input settings capture. This would be selling at close to full price.

Seems reliable

Great. They gave me some suggestions to try and work around the design flaw mentioned above. Which when you think about it is major...

Original Power Trio. This is a tool that I swapped for a Christmas present and I didn't have to buiy myself. I wish it worked the way I need it to. It is a major bummer to have to TWEAK at it on every setting. NOT GOOD. I am still contemplating bringing it back and saving my duckets (credit) for a Lexicon.

Once you understand how the designers of this unit are thinking, everything else is easy. This is a follow up from my previous review. I found that when I initially tried this unit out, there is a trick to the setup that I wasn`t aware of. When using this unit in a mixer setup(which I do in my guitar rack system), it must be put in the Loop mix mode. This defines that the unit will not mix in any dry with/or without the convertors. In other words all signal from the Modpro will be totally wet! This is key!! It changed my whole opinion of this unit to being usuable instead of unusable.

The only thing that keeps this unit from getting a higher rating here is like all other Line 6 pieces it suffers from somewhat a lack of headroom. Fortunately with my setup, I have a Switchblade GL so I can run the piece balanced, and also I have variable, programmable levels that allow me to perfectly get around these deficiencies being of any major consequence. Many talk of ground loop problems with this unit, but I`m not having that problem either.

It still seem very reliable, even though I haven`t had it that long. I haven`t had any blurps, hickups or anything of the sort with it. They make a solid unit, and chassis.

Very helpful, and interested in user feedback!

I have to again mentioned though; In all fairness: If you are looking to nail these vintage effects then get the real thing not a model of the real thing! You`re probably not considering this piece if you`re actually that hung up on the real analog stuff. However, consider for all pratical purposes that the opti-tremolo is actually pretty doggone decent. The CE-1 chorus, and the Tri-stereo are both pretty nice. I also find a couple of the phasers good as well, and without the noise of the original units. Everyone has his/her own opinion, but I would say that if you find that just 3 of the effects are usuable to you, then that certainly makes the piece a bargain. At this price point, use it to do a few of the effects that you can be in the ballpark, and then get dedicated analog pedals for the effects that you just have to absolutely nail the true vintage thing. Not a bad setup, price wise or performance wise. In my opinion, even though this is not a meat and potatoes type unit, this is a piece definately worth having in my arsenal.

Definitely a well thought out user interface -- see my review of the Echo Pro for details...

Here's where I have issues:

1. This unit in particular needs a volume control that stores per preset. Modulation effects by nature produce altered frequency response, or in the case of tremolo, reduce average perceived volume, and there is NO way to compensate for this. Frustrating.

2. Bottom chassis of unit is UNPAINTED metal. Even if you've mounted it with Humfrees to isolate it from the rack rails, if that chassis touches the chassis of the unit below it in your rack, you've got major ground loop problems. Cover it with duct tape, and shmirk in disgust that you shouldn't have to do such a thing for an effects unit you paid $300+ for new.

3. 1/4" inputs only operate at -10dbV level. No tube amp I know of wound up to even a moderate degree can work within those confines. Read this HEADROOM PROBLEMS. Must run this in FRONT of your preamp, or face obliterating your headroom and S/N ratio, and kissing your tone good-bye in general. If you can live with it in front of your amp, then more power to ya -- I wish I didn't have to. Stereo is sadly never an option for me with this unit.

Much more detail on all this in my review of the Echo Pro as well, as all of the Pro modelers share these design limitations.

No technical problems. Have gigged without a backup for 9 months now--no incidents, just my general frustration above.

Called tech support twice. Their call back system is very convienient, techs are very polite, listen well, and are patient and pretty methodical. Better than I can say for most companies.

Sold a slew of modulation stompboxes to "upgrade" to this unit, and half of me is wishing I hadn't now. If it didn't have the level mismatching and ground issues, I would be thrilled. the only limitation I see beyon those is that you can't do more than one mod effect at a time (for the "THAT's a guitar? really?" sort of thing. For studio use I think you'd be a lot better off, than for live use. I want to love this unit, and I want it to work in my rig, but I'm fearing that it's not. If stolen, I would go buy 4 or 5 mod stompboxes, patch them into my MIDI switcher, and put my worries behind me. Heck I may just do that anyway. Cool piece, just beware the potential issues before you buy.

The presets are wonderful and tweaking is super easy! As long as you take the time to read the very well written manual so that you understand the concept you will have no problem. It is as easy as turning a knob and pressing a store button.

I was shocked! I had heard bad things about this piece, but it seems to be with the setup. There are three mix modes...Prog, Glob, & Loop. Prog is dependent on each program. Global, the mix is set for all presets with the mix knob on front. Loop is setup with no dry signal at all and that is what I was using. If you are in a parallel setup and don't use this setting you will have problems. With this setting in my setup this piece is remarkable. I am amazed at how close these models are to the real thing. The Opti Tremelo is the first preset and it really sets the stage for the piece. Awesome. The CE1 and Tri-Stereo choruses are great!

Built like a tank. These people make solid gear.

I have spoke to them before and they are eager to help. Great people.

I play a variety of styles and there is something in here for everyone. I have a rack rig with a CAE 3+ preamp TC electronic M-One, Lexicon MPX 500, several pedals and all mixed thru a Sound Sculpture rack switcher.

A monkey should be able to operate it.

Well, as the saying goes, you don't appreciate what you have until you lose it. This thing does NOT sound as good as its analog counterparts. I particularly dislike the phaser effect -- it's too perfect.

Not using it. So I don't know.

They've got excellent customer support. Can't take that away from 'em.

Wonder why this unit (which originally sold for $500) is selling for $300 only a few months after it's release? Sounds too digital. The effects are like idealized, perfect models of imperfect, organic originals. Perhaps DJ's would like it better than guitarists.

I found the front panel to be very confusing with the knob layout. Options change from preset to preset and system parameters scroll across a small display. The manual is good, but this is a poor design in my opinion.

Played thru it using a strat. I ran it in a rack system with mixer/switcher setup. I ran the unit in stereo. I mainly was interested in the chorus sounds, but I listened to everything hoping it would provide me another chorus sound and some other modulation effects to boot. No such luck! These models are pale imitations of the real thing. this unit sounds like it has cheap converters as it has that nasally digital thing happening. I became more and more unimpressed the more I listened. I spent a good hour or more in the demo room at Mars and it was sad. A good chorus pedal smoked it!

I understand that the Line6 stuff is made pretty well, however the knobs seemed a little weak to me.

I know that they have great support is you call them and are eager to help. It is to bad the product isn't any better.

I have been playing over 15 yrs and this is not one of the better pieces I have heard. I was sorely disapointed. i had really hoped this thing would be great, but it was just lacking.

It was very straightforward in terms of hooking it up. The front panel layout was not particuarly user friendly since they have these tweak and tweese knobs that do different things depending on which model you are on. This could be confusing if you have not memorized the knob assignments for each type of modeling preset, however the manual does contain this information. The manual seems pretty comprehensive particuarly in the midi area. I didn`t however spend a great deal of time with it. I was able to figure out the unit with virually no use of the manual.

I tested this unit out with my guitar rack system. I ran this piece in stereo with it connected to my Sound Sculpture switchblade GL. I played my 83 Fender strat modded with a Wilkinson tremolo and custom wound Fralin pickups. This rig has a CAE 3+, and a VHT 2-50-2 power amp. I have a TC electronics chorus unit and a M2000(reverb) and D-two(delay). I was primarily interested in this unit for the tri-stereo chorus sound. This I feel would be a nice addition/change from the TC chorus sound. Initially, the unit struck me as having a lush sound, but after further listening I found the unit lacking in true realism. There was definately an inherent digital quality to the sound of it. All the models resemble the original creations but lack the true depth and realism. They also all have an inherent digital quality which I would guess is apparent because of a lack of good quality A/D and D/A converters. In the final analysis, the unit sounds just like what it is a digital recreation on the original units. I think I`ll be much better off with a good quality boutique chorus pedal or maybe a Lexicon or Eventide rack unit.

It was only an in-store test, so I can`t fully comment on it`s reliability.
It worked out of the box, which is more than I can say for some units I`ve tried out. The build quality did look pretty good though.

I called the company before I went to try the unit out. I found that it was easy to get someone on the phone, and they were very friendly and helpful. All my questions were answered, and the guy that is the expert on the studio pro series was on vacation.

I play a wide range of music and was only interested in this unit as an alternative chorus sound mainly. It didn`t work for me because of the lack of a warm analog type sound. The chorus sounds has a metallic digital character I couldn`t dial out. The unit is a great idea, but lacks in true realism and depth, perhaps they could revisit this idea but increase the quality on the converters, and signal path. The end result might be a unit that is much more widely appealing, and useable. These series of units would also benefit greatly from the addition of a 1/4" control jack on the back to use for things such as tapping in the tempo for the units. They only allow you to do this on the front panel or via midi. This is a drag for people who may not own a more complex style midi controller, or those who do not wish to dedicate a control change switch to simple tempo of a delay or modulation effect.

With all due respect - dewd who reviewed the unit did not do so in stereo. Lots of people using the "Pro" Modellers are doing so post pre/loaded down heads in stereo. How ya going to review a Tri Stereo Chorus Clone? In front of the amp? CE-1? Stereo is where that rules.