Line 6 HD

The different amp sounds are good feature. I like the fact that I can switch from different amp sounds in the middle of a song without needing two amps. I purchased the floor board with wah and volume. The wah is cool. The volume pedal rocked all the way back still lets sound through. The different effects, two choruses, two flange, compression, delay, tremelo, rotary speeker, delay swell, come in handy. The delay is not versatile enough. I'd rather use my boss pedal.

I play a Jackson Kelly with emg 81's. I play brutal speed/hardcore/rocking metal. The rectifier setting has allowed me to create a thick sound that I can get some awesome artificial harmonics out of. Recently I was in the studio and the engineer requested that I use a mesa boogie dual rectifier. We tweeked that thing a lot. The harmonics could not be reproduced. The recording sounded dull compared to the line 6 sound I get. I also use It for its clean channel. I get a good sound with reverb and slap delay all out of the head.

I have owned this head since may 2000 It has spent a lot of time in the shop. There is a problem with the sodder on the capaciters. It breaks free. I had the capaciter replaced by a line 6 warranty repair service. This was summer 2001. In april 2002 the board fried. I baby this thing it rides on a seat to gigs instead of in the back with all my other stuff. My warranty was up. I was right in the middle of recording a cd our studio time was reserved. So I called line 6 consumer service and the suggested sending it to one of their service senters instead of dirrectly to them. Six weeks later I got the head back with a new board. It was a $240 repair. For some reason line 6 picked up the cost. But I was warned the head is too powerful it will burn out if I continue to play it loud. It rarely is set over half volume. In the end of 2002 I was playing at practice, luckily not a gig, and one of the capaciters broke free again. This was on the new board. I knew what the problem was dissasembled the head took it to the tv repair shop and got it fixed that day for $40. I love the tones of this head but beacause it is so unreliable, I took the line 6 emblems off so thta the people at my shows would quit telling me how they wished they had a line 6! Alway carry a spare!

Original Line 6 HD. Very versatile. Used it for two years gigging a few times a month. The power appears to be highly over rated.

Does not sound as good as some of my other amps but the versatility and the onboard tuner has made it my choice for gigging. The clean channels are pretty wimpy though. Not the fat round tone that comes from a tube amp. In a live situation the clean tones tend to dissappear in the mix even when using different eq settings.

Distortion tones sound fairly good when mixed with the whole band. I used the direct outs while recording a demo cd. Sounded great after some tweaking. I layered different tones with multiple takes.

Sometimes the distorted tones sound "comb filtered".

This amp is priced with other amps that are far more dependable. Several problems with the floorboard. Now the head is changing patches at random. This reared its ugly head in the middle of a show. Luckily it was in town so I was able to get my Randall head that I have had for 18 years to save the day.

The HD is more suited to a life in a basement where it is not moved around. It only lasted two years with VERY careful handling. The Randall has never let me down in over 18 years. I would never use any Line 6 amp without a back up.

One guy who assisted me with the floorboard was helpful. He sent some inserts to put into the springs to solve the intermittant switch problems.

The guy who assisted me with the random patch changing on the hd was not so helpful. He was going to charge me for the repair and did not seem to think that a $1,200 head should last for more than two years.

I realize that Line 6 was somewhat of a new company when I purchased my head and that they have probably improved since then. But the fact that they weren't willing to make some sort of compensation for the short life of this unit din't sit to well with me. The customer service rep suggested that I buy a newer model since they have addresseed these problems. NO THANKS! I will buy something for 3/4 of the price that will outlast this feable thing.

3 only due to the price. If I bought it for $300-$400 I wouldn't have been as dissapointed. In this case, I would give it a 7.

stock features. pretty versatile, though the extent of tweakage on the onboard effects leaves something to be desired. i mean, you cant even set the number of repeats on the delay. but still, how many heads are gonna give you 9 or more effects and some in combinations?

tried it with a number of guitars, and they all pretty much sound the same. i focused mostly on the distortion settings, but i tried the clean ones too. the clean channels were "clean" but nothing to blow your socks off. the distortions however are a major sore spot for me. i play detuned stuff, and i have a dual rectifier, a vanous evolution, a marshall 8100 valvestate, a rocktron pirahna or soldano SP-77 into a 9200 marshall power amp, and they *all* blow away the line 6 in terms of fidelity, crispness, and presence. my biggest beef with this amp is that for all the flag waving and frantic hand gestures they make in the literature, the *fidelity* (quality) of the sounds just aren't that good. yes you can distort the hell out of the sound, but at no point does (even with all the 'hidden' tweakage tried out) the sound LEAP out at you. it sounds like you are listening to an amp, but with cotton in your ears. i tried this amp with a marshall JCM 800 4x12, a 900 4x12 and a mesa dual rectifier cabinet. i experienced the clipping/cutting out problem at high volumes, and the only way i was able to stop it from happening was plug both outputs (the A+B) into each side of a stereo 4x12 cabinet. at normal band practice volume the amp was cutting out wildly with one speaker cord into one cabinet input regardless of ohmage. (mains at 10, channel volume at 7). the amp's sound was pretty much lost in the mix, and i was the only guitar player that night. if you packed $3000 worth of processing, mics, and mixing desk in front of this amp setup, you might get a great sound to tape, but isnt that the cart leading the horse? it still sounds to me like the guitar's sound is buried deep inside the cabinet, rather than about 6 to 12 inches out in front of the speakers like with other high fidelity heads. i will have to give the line 6 guys kudos for being the first "all in one" amp that got the "granularity" of the distortion on the modeled amps CORRECT! the johnson and others were laughable with their attempts to hang different "clothes" on the exact same distortion models. dammit, guys. you gave it great sound sources, but its like a long distance runner trying to breathe through a straw or something!!! i have a real dual rectifier, and the line 6 seems capable of putting out about 20% of the real rectifiers bass capacity. the tone sections are "sorta" noticable. more so than a marshall, but much, much less than a mesa or vanous or soldano.

bought the amp new. it worked out of the box, minimal shipping poo poo.

havent dealt with them yet, though they seem pretty into their users, if their web pages are any indication.

sorta love the distortion, hate the fidelity/quality of sound produced. its a swiss army knife of amps. well. maybe a boy scout buck knife. great in a pinch when you need a quick fix. but for real work, get a more serious tool for the job. i wish it had a sampling/whatever they used to "grab" amps built into it. and a USB port for all the propellerhead bit tweakers. that midi shit is about as up to date as trans-ams and mullets. and about as cool.