The Line 6 Guitar Amp and Bass Amp are amplifier and speaker cabinet simulators based on the renowned modelling algorithms developed by Line 6. The two devices feature accurate simulations of five of the most coveted vintage amplifier and cabinet models, that you can freely mix and match. Setting up a great amp tone for your guitar or bass is easy, regardless of what type of sound you are looking for.
In addition, if you have a Line 6 device with a USB connection (POD etc.) hooked up to your computer you can also use any of the Amp/Cab models in that particular device from within the Line 6 Amps - see “Additional Line 6 Amp Models”.
The Line 6 Guitar Amp and Bass Amp are virtually identical as they share the same Amp/Cabinet algorithms as well as most of the parameters. However, the preset patches for each device are geared towards processing either guitar or bass, respectively, and there are a few other slight parameter differences.
In this chapter the two devices will be described together using the collective name “Line 6 Amps”. Where parameters differ between the two devices this will be duly noted.
Patches (or “Amp Tones”) are saved with the file extension “.l6t”. Although they use the same file extension, Guitar Amp Tones and Bass Amp Tones are different patch types and a saved patch always belongs to the Amp type (Guitar or Bass) it was saved with.
Loading patches is described in “Selecting Patches (Amp Tones)”. Saving patches is done in the same way as for other effect devices - see “Saving patches”.
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The Line 6 Amp devices in Reason Essentials will always save Tones in the Pod Farm 2 format. These Tones cannot be opened for editing in Pod Farm 1 - you need to use Pod Farm 2 or later.
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The Line 6 Amps can be used to process any signal but are best used “live”, i.e. as insert effects on the Audio Track Channel that a live instrument is connected to, so that you can monitor the effect as you play and record.
When recording electric guitar or bass, the basic tonal character of the amp/cabinet very much affects how the instrument responds, which in turn affects your playing. The Line 6 Amps allow you to set up a good basic tone with a minimum of fuss so you can start recording straight away!
Using a “real” amp requires that you set up the amp tone exactly right prior to recording, as you have very limited means of changing it afterwards. But as Insert FX are transparent in Reason Essentials (i.e. they are not a part of the recorded signal) you can tweak the tone, change Amp model etc., as much as you like after recording, right up to the creation of the final mixdown audio file (or Mixer Channel bouncing).
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To use a Line 6 Amp as an insert fx when you're recording an audio track, you need to monitor through Reason Essentials (see “Monitoring”) - otherwise you won't hear the sound of the Line 6 Amp during recording.
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For this to feel comfortable you will want as low latency as possible (see “Buffer Size settings”). With good audio hardware and drivers, you can usually get down to a latency of a few milliseconds, which is about the same delay you'd get standing a meter from a real guitar amplifier.
The Line 6 Amps front panel can be divided into two main sections; the display area with Patch/Amp/Cabinet selectors and a set of standard amplifier tone controls to the right. The Amp parameters (tone controls) are described in “Amp Parameters”.
In addition, the Guitar Amp has Pedal controls for Volume and Wah (see “Pedal controls (Guitar Amp only)”), and the Bass Amp features a compressor (see “Compressor (Bass Amp only)”).
While the specific parameters for the Line 6 Amps are described later in this chapter, some features and procedures are common to all effect devices. Please, refer to “Common effect device features” for information about the Input meter, the Bypass/On/Off switch and Signal Flow Graphs on the Line 6 Amps.