Report - Orange AD30 and Line 6 M13

[DrAaron]

So I bought a Line 6 M13 recently after extensive online research and thought I'd post a few initial thoughts here in case anyone is interested. First thing I would say is that I am not in the US and as I bought it on Amazon it came with a 110v power supply and not 240v as we have here in Australia (or in the UK). The power supply is 9v AC and it draws 1400mA current and that isn't common so you cant just walk into your local hardware store and pick up a new one. Luckily I didn't make the mistake of plugging the 110v supply into the socket but I could see how this could happen if you weren't aware. Second point is that it doesn't ship with any instructions other than a quick what goes where schematic. Personally I don't care as I don't read instructions anyway but you can (I believe) download a copy from the Line 6 website. As it happens I've found the lack of instructions to be unimportant as it really is a plug and play job. The unit is basically an array of Line 6 vintage and new stompboxes and there is an extensive selection of drive, verb, mods, delays etc to keep you happy. It comes with pre-set 'scenes' which are composites of 3-4 effects intended to replicate e.g. ZZ top, The Police, Jeff Beck etc and to my ears they sound pretty good. However, all this can be very easily adjusted to personal taste. The feature I really like is the looper and again its very easy to use and great for practice (likely I will not use it live). Importantly, the AD30 does not have an fx loop so everything goes out front. So far, other than some of the deeper verbs, everything works a-okay out front and I've found some of the OD effects in particular really beef up channel 2 for some great high gain effects. I realise some would say that putting an fx pedal in front of a great tube amp is a really dumb idea but so far I must say that the extra tones and flexibility have given me a new lease of life, especially for 'home alone' playing and practice. I will get round to making a vid sometime and post it to show some of the features and the sounds that I think work best with the AD30 but for now if anyone has any comments or questions I'll do my best to answer them.

[irish_admiral]

I got a HD500 recently, which is basically an M13 with some amp models bolted on, and i've been very happy with it...

[tony_clifton]

I agree. I think a lot of people would think it's the real deal in a blind test. For me it would cover all my effects needs for the price of a couple of pedals.

And whatever they say, I love the dirties!
http://youtu.be/Z2pX599xo7M" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Only the TS sounds a bit muffled in this vid?


On the other hand, not so fond on the rediculous sounds like turning your guitar into a horn and stuff.

At this point it's been only guitar -> amp for me and I've been looking for some dirt for quite some time. I might pull the trigger on a M9 as it would settle everything for in case I want delay, EQ,... some day.

[myboss57]

Good to hear a nice report on the M13. I was going back and forth on the HD500 or the M13 (on big deal to me is the expression pedal option, which I guess you can add to the M13 anyways), as it seems to have everything I'd ever need effects-wise.

I played around with an HD300 in my music shop last weekend, it was really cool, but it's (as I'm sure the M13 and HD400/500 are) one of those toys you need to have at home to sit with for a good few hours to really get into what it can do.

Enjoy! Definitely interested in sound clips too, when you get the chance!

[Jondog]

I had an M13, currently I have the M( simply because I found I didn't need the big footprint of the M13 as I mostly use it for delays and modulations only. I love it! The one thing I liked about the M13 that you can't do on the M9 is you could name your scenes where on the M9 it's just alpha numerical, and the M9 doesn't have a digital readout above each effect column which I miss so you have to do a little remembering. All the same effects though and I think they sound great. Some of the OD's aren't really desirable but some are pretty good. I used to stay away from them because they just sounded like junk until I realized that they have been modeled with too much treble in the mix and since adjust the treble really low on most of them, especially the Fuzz and Overdrives, I've been able to get usable tones from them. I think your instructions were forgotten because both my M13 and M9 came with lots of literature. One describing the effect models and an instruction model with a chapter dedicated to each feature.

[irish_admiral]

you need to have at home to sit with for a good few hours to really get into what it can do

Agree with this... the stock patches are exaggerated. You need to set it up so it's got the right sound through your PA system or amp... whichever you're going to use.

[myboss57]

you need to have at home to sit with for a good few hours to really get into what it can do

Agree with this... the stock patches are exaggerated. You need to set it up so it's got the right sound through your PA system or amp... whichever you're going to use.

Yeah, I sat down with it and just started feeling overwhelmed...it's one of those things you almost have to just buy and bring home to really get the feel and usefulness of. Definitely seems to have a lot that it can do.
The only thing I don't like is that it'd be nice if they make one (or maybe I'm not realizing that it already exists - easily the case!) that didn't have all the amp models on it. I don't feel like I have a single use for an amp modeler whilst running a pedal through my Orange! Why would I want to model another amp when I'm already using a top of the line piece of gear? I guess it has it's uses, but I don't ever see that as being necessary for a lot of people.

[irish_admiral]

Yeah, you can get something like that - it's called an M13! With the HD500, you don't have to have the amp in the chain, you can just have the effects.

The amp models will see a lot of use with some people though.

- People who do covers gigs and need a lot of different sounds
- People who don't have a car or use public transport and need their rig to be portable
- People who need low or no volume on stage. I think they sound better than a valve amp at low volume
- People who can't be arsed to carry a valve amp around & all their separate effects
- People who don't have space to store an amp in their flat / apartment, or the neighbours don't like the noise

etc. etc...

I've still got my AD30 and a Matamp - two top quality amps - but I quite like having the HD500 because the quality of the sounds through our PA is pretty decent, it means i've got a number of amp models available which I don't actually own the real amps for - so a number of different tones there - and when I play at church, the guys are really hot on having low stage volume. So if I just use the board, it's nil stage volume from me.

Plus it's a lot faster to carry in & set up than my amp & individual effects.

[DrAaron]

Yes, the reason I went for the M13 is because I dont need amp mod. I may be missing something but I cant imagine why you would plug a guitar straight into a PA via e.g. a GT10 etc when you have a great tube amp that you could just mic up.

There are 12 pre-set scenes on the M13 and 4 are useful, the other 8 are either bizarre or have terrible tone. Luckily the pre-sets are very easy to change and each stomp-box can be controlled just like it was a stand alone unit. The tuner also works really well (surprisingly well actually).

I've not yet experimented with the expression pedal settings and this is one point that I likely will need that instruction booklet for! I have a Boss volume pedal and believe it can just be plugged into the M13 and used as a wah, volume, drive etc pedal depending on the scene set-up.

I was playing with the M13 again yesterday evening and really enjoying overlaying some of the tube screamer pedals on channel 2 with gain at around 1pm. You get some real gutsy drive doing that. I added in a noise gate as well and a subtle analog delay and it was sounding awesome.

[DrAaron]

I've still got my AD30 and a Matamp - two top quality amps - but I quite like having the HD500 because the quality of the sounds through our PA is pretty decent, it means i've got a number of amp models available which I don't actually own the real amps for - so a number of different tones there - and when I play at church, the guys are really hot on having low stage volume. So if I just use the board, it's nil stage volume from me.

Plus it's a lot faster to carry in & set up than my amp & individual effects.

Good point, I can see how this may be better than just sticking a mic in front of your amp......

[irish_admiral]

Sure, this is it...

Plus I don't have a Vox AC30, a Fender amp, a Divided by 13 amp, or a Dr Z, but the board model does... like I said, the models aren't absolutely perfect, but they're close enough and sound good enough in their own right if you spend a little time tweaking them to sound nice through the PA.

[myboss57]

Fair enough on the amp mods, I didn't really think about it in terms of portability in using it with a PA. Definitely a good point though.

Damn! Now I'm wishing I would have taken a look at the M13 instead of the HD300!

[irish_admiral]

No need... you've still got most of the same effects in there, you just have less footswitches...

[a.hun]

Refreshing to see a wee bit more Line6 respect here. Personally I've found their stuff useful for years. Good to see more people realising the learning curve is worth the effort - they can be useful tools.

You guys not afraid you'll be sworn at and called names by Canada's hard core tube terrorist though? That normally seems to happen as soon as 'stupid people without ears' start even mentioning solid state or modelling equipment...

You don't know the difference in the properties between transistors and tubes? Sit down and stfu then. BTW you don't need science to hear a difference. I guess tone-deaf desk-jockeys like you will always have your theories though...

Have read worse but Billy deleted that. Wonderglow managed to wreck / get locked a great thread on valves / modelling / s.s. which really annoyed me, quite apart from the now deleted personal insults...

Dearie me though, said Canadian person with serious 'anti chip' chip on shoulder needs attitude transplant IMO. (Or maybe banned...)

Have a nice day one and all.

Peace!


Andy.

[irish_admiral]

Hey Andy...

I guess it's all thresholds really. I've always found the Line6 effects pretty handy, but didn't like their early versions of amp modelling so much.

They've gradually got better to the point that i'm happy using it and confident that all (bar the most critical ear!) would think the sound was good. I guess different people have different thresholds as to what's good enough. Like I said, I still think the amps sound better, but there's not enough in it for me to be too worried when I think about the other pluses.

Bit like the digital v film camera debate. I've had both digital and film SLRs: I much prefer my film SLRs, mainly as I know how the different types of films respond, but the digital ones have got a lot better now so I got one as they were good enough for my purposes.