Yamaha Acquires Line 6
Line 6, makers of digital amplifiers and effects, is slated to be acquired by Yamaha Corporation, according to a press release issued by Yamaha. The deal will result in a 100% acquisition.
Established in 1996, Line 6 specializes in guitar and bass modeling processors, including their POD line, as well as PA equipment and wireless systems. The agreement states that Yamaha will operate Line 6 as a wholly owned subsidiary with Line 6’s operations continuing as before and with its management team in place.
“For over 30 years of developing products, and even further back to my earliest memories as a developing musician, Yamaha has been the brand for which I have always had the most respect,” Line 6 co-founder and CSO Marcus Ryle stated. “Yamaha has consistently set the standard in our industry for quality and innovation, and I am very proud for Line 6 to now be a part of this incredible legacy.”
Perhaps us left handers will cease to be discriminated against by Line 6 now that they have been acquired by a much more reputable company!
I wonder if Yamaha might consider taking care of all those Line 6 basses with volume drop-out problems.
I own two of them that I bought when they started blowing them out for $500:
I should’ve known that there was a reason that they were selling them that cheaply; I didn’t find out that they were discontinued until after I bought mine.
Great palette of sounds, but virtually useless live, as individual strings would suddenly stop producing volume.
(I can’t help but notice that they continued their modeling guitars; perhaps the problem is that the individual piezo pieces for each string weren’t sturdy enough for bass vibrations? After all I’ve never heard of the regular piezos used on some basses ceasing to function…)
Line 6 was very evasive with me: “It might be dusty; maybe there’s some moisture in there.”…and similar B.S.
At one point they sent me a couple new piezos, which a tech installed…….So the next time I gigged with it, another string’s volume dropped out…awesome.
As you can probably tell, It still burns me up, several years later: Even at $500 per, they’re some damned expensive dust catchers.
Anyone else similarly afflicted? (That’s a rhetorical question: At the time, BassTalk.com and other sites were loaded with pissed off bass players with exactly the same frustrations.)
Maybe Yamaha–with a long tradition of technological prowess–will be able to figure out what was flawed in the Line 6 bass design–and make available an upgrade?
Are you listening, Yamaha?
Rafael Carruthers
Several years ago I was a huge fan of Line 6 products. A friend of mine borrowed me a 2 x 12″ Spider combo for a rehersal. It sounded horrible and the feedback was horrible. Later , I was in a local shop and I wanted to try a 5 string Rockbass. The salesman plugged the bass in a n old Lowdown series. Horrible again. I was lucky this time, because the salesman came as fast as he could, tunredd off the Line 6 and plugged the bass in a Mark Bass. Huge difference. In the other hand , I played in a Helloween tribute band , and one of the guitar players used to play through a Line 6 valve head and we never had sound issues,. So I guess that there are some Line 6 products which are just for bedroom playing.