Wow

I was going to add Yamaha makes some nice pianos, which is based on my extensive experience seeing Norah Jones play one at a concert. That was one really hot...um...piano...

Checking their website I found out they own Bosendorfer as well? Bosendorfer pianos and Line6, totally makes sense now...
 
I see this playing out in one of two ways.
1- Yamaha is using Line6 name to gain acceptance and distribution to established guitar product consumers to unveil their new product on ( of course they will keep existing product lines that do well)
2-They will send notice to smilefan and the other people that jumped ship here, wanting the prototype units back and replacing them with a new hd500x.(hopefully they don't hang themselves with a guitar cord from the rafters ) :p :)
 
FractalAudio said:
This is interesting because a couple years ago I heard that Yamaha was looking to make something to compete with the Axe-Fx.
Click to expand...

I've got one of their old DG modeling amps. It's setup with 2x12 celestions and a 100 watt power amp and digital preamp with moving knobs.

It's not bad but not in the ball park of the AxeFx.

I think they were forward thinking to couple a modeler with a power amp and guitar speakers in a combo format though. It's a nice all inclusive gigging solution. And they avoided IR's completely too. Probably for the better back then. Speaker emulation was not very good.
 
FWIW - I've gigged with a second hand L6 Flextone III modelling amp for the last 2 years. Not bad for $400. I love the solidly built pedal board and as an introduction to modelling the amp was good. And the other guitarist in the band uses one too. It forced me to research and understand the original amps. Our band uses the L6 StageScape Mixer which works perfectly for us, and perfect for a band that wants to focus on the playing rather focus on mixing. We use various L6 wireless products, with some mixed results (the wireless mics have gone back to the shop a couple of times.....). For us, as a band on a reasonable budget, L6 has served us well

I did look at the upgrading to the L6 DT25 or DT50 amp given it got some good reviews. I thought about a HD500 BUT, I chose to upgrade to the Axe II a few months ago and haven't looked back. Comparing the Line 6 modellers to the Axe just isn't a fair comparison. This things is in a totally different league (and price point).

I know L6 provokes a lot of polarized views on the forums, but for me they provided a good introduction to modelling and I wish the company well.
 
Let us not forget the Bogner designed poweramp sections in some of their amps also.

Reinhold's amp-pertise (did ya like that...? ;) ), Line 6's rep for entry level goods and the Yamaha titan behind both.

We live in interesting times, and it may be in the Chinese spirit of the curse also.
 
Interesting. Not sure if that means they will improve or go down hill. Line 6 Visionaries will leave the company in a month or two and Yamaha visionaries IMO have been weak in the last decade. I've owned Yamaha audio before but not in the last 10 years since too many others do it better than them now. Quality yes Yamaha has it, Vision is probably a 4 on a scale of 10, creativity also a 4 out of 10. Consuming Line 6 and combined technology will bear minor improvements but I don't foresee any new market crushing products out of this. At best the Line 6 hardware will improve in quality.
 
>> Line 6 Visionaries

That's rich. Are those the same guys that have been repackaging the same crappy algorithms in different enclosures for over a decade? Again, FWIW, to my ears Yamaha has a better modeler right now. It's the only one besides Axe that I haven't unloaded on eBay after trying it out.
 
I did M&A work for GE for several years, both pre-acquisition and integration....don't look for any innovaion from Line 6 any time soon. I've seen this so many times, we take over a company and kill the entrepreneur spirit. Very similar to Cliff's bio story when his company was taken over and he lost the motivation to deliver. You own the historical IP, then look for ways to milk the hell out of it, while getting 'synergies' with the remainder of your portfolio.
 
I don't think much is going to happen from this deal, not for a while anyways, I doubt they'll ever try to compete with Fractal, it seems they always think quantity sales rather then quality..we'll see.
 
Definately intersting news. I started with line 6 products, pod x3. Unfortunately I skipped the tube amps And went staright to modeling. Now I'm paying because I have no clue what half the stuff on the axefx is haha
 
I have yet to see an example of where an international corporate takeover of a smaller innovative company led to something positive. After seeing what Harman, Avid, Tascam, and Roland have done to the smaller companies they absorbed, I'm not optimistic.
 
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