Line 6 M5 Stompbox Modeler Guitar Multi Effects Pedal

I picked this up to replace what used to be three separate modulation pedals. The thought process was, "okay, maybe having one pedal that can do everything will save some space and give me more flexibility." So far it's lived up to that!

The modulation effects sound great. I'm particularly a fan of the barberpole phaser (so good for buildups). Lots of cool delay models that sound really great, too! I haven't messed with the distortions, but they're supposedly not bad.

That said, these are the same algorithms Line6 has been shipping for over a decade, now, and I really think some of them could use an update. The pitch tracking on this thing is pitiful. It can barely track a single monophonic phrase with any accuracy, and that kills a lot of otherwise cool features on it :(

I'd love to see this thing be just a tad bit smaller, too, as it doesn't fit the normal pedal form-factor at all and is easy to accidentally stomp on if you put pedals above it!

Overall, though, I am happy.

combines all the DL4, M4 etc models into one little stomp that does one effect at a time. Most of the distortions leave me a bit flat and the wah/fitler stuff is hit or miss, but the modulation, delay, compression and reverb is pretty solid. I mainly use it for the modualtions since it models a lot of the iconic units I've owned or still own so I can approximate tones I record without brining a pile of old pedals around. Its got MIDI in and out so I'm a big fan of that. Iw as doing all MIDI for a while. I sue this less now that I've got my old AC30s gig worthy because I sue their old Vibrato in a wet/dry setup to produce a phase/chorus type sound and I'm kinda retiring the MIDI rig for now, going with less effects again. But when I wanna do a big MIDI setup this guy is indispensable. You could get a bigger unit and use multiple effects at ocne but frankly I'm not a reverb guy and I like my TC and Korg delays so I pretty much just use the modulations on this and how often do you really run 2 modulation effects in tandem? maybe phase and trem? but I can use my amp trem if I'm playing vintage voxes. This is the perfect little device for a less is more guy like me. Maybe not studio quality one very effect, but hella stage worthy! AND SMALL!

Laziness to write about it. Oh shit, 40 characters LALALALLAALALALLALALALALALLALALALALALALLA

Awesome as far as the quantity of features, many of them being good to great quality. Delays are fantastic, Modulations and filters are great. Good verbs. Distortion, & comp aren't great, even without the noise problems (which I have a fantastic rant on below).

Which brings me to the noise issues:

My fast qualm with this pedal, is the fact that it converts all your signal to digital and back-- no true bypass-- buffered-- etc. It causes 60 cycle hum sounds if placed in certain types of effect loops. Not overly a huge deal, but the pedal didn't like my fender supersonic or mesa mark 5:25 loops, due to the digital signal conversion. I also think this conversion adds to the noise issue-- which is pure speculation.

Also, I get a large amount of buzz from the unit, especially when using the drive functions-- which i avoid anyways. The gain and volume knobs act like noise levels and only make the pedal buzz louder, and louder. The buzz is also there in bypass and using non-drive effects. I've tried several power adapters, batteries, a new line 6 adapter plugged into a power conditioner, as well as a gig rig generator, and voodoo lab power supplies -- and still can't get rid of the noise. I've looked at the pedal myself (I'm an electrical engineer), and sent the pedal back to be looked at from the store I purchased it from, and cleaned the board and internals with circuit board cleaning spray and it looks/works/functions as it was meant apparently according to everyone who's looked at it.

Strictly opinion: [ Pedal needs a switcher to be used in my opinion, so you can minimize the damage from the buzz. The lack of true or buffered bypass and the excess of noise created in the ASP to DSP back to ASP (ANALOG--> Digital--> Analog).]

Well... sorry about the rant, but overall this is a decent pedal to use as a multi-tool on a smaller board, or as a Swiss army knife to get you by for live tones.

Also, works well with basses as a side note.

Has all the sounds from the Line 6 modeller pedals. But 24 presets into a much smaller footprint with a display. As with all modelling FX, some sounds are more useable than others. But all the DL4/MM4 sounds are here. Superb. Have gigged one for 6 years with no problems.

The modulation, reverb and delay effects on the M5 are amazing. Take a look at the octo reverb, the particle reverb, the volume swells, the synth modes. It's a really impressive pedal on that front, but the distortions and overdrives really let it down. Not bad on the compression front though.

I had this unit for a short time with the purpose of testing different effects. That was during a transition period between my projects which led me to touch a little of my rig configuration.

The distortions have some character but are still sterile, while I found no sweet spots on the reverbs and the delays may be fine but I gave those little consideration due to being covered there with other pedals there, I took advantage on the possibility of trying different filters due to my idea of getting into wah or whammys, which I've never had a good relation with but started to have some interest on.

The pitch glide turned to be nice for me, and with the expression pedal you can choose different kind of configurations that refines subtle tweaks that you can't make on the original Whammys. I ended with a Whammy 4 after making this my favorite application of the M5 and I must tell that between the two things I've just chosen the Whammy mainly for a matter of footprint on my pedalboard (the Whammy 5 may offer a definitively better behavior about the polyphonic tracking).

Most modulation effects sound very clean and with some lack of texture/depth –as happens with most digital modulation effects– but I really could make myself the idea of buying the unit again to stick with it if someday they upgrade its firmware to allow setting the modulation effects' rate in ms/BPM as it's already possible with delays. By now I just have to cross my fingers about finding a Guyatone Ultrem or maybe getting a Strymon Mobius just for this tiny feature they had and the M5 lacks of. I have other advanced ideas they could perform with firmware updates, but with that basic point I would just give my bucks away for it again.

Im not the ¨ohh i need 50 effects¨ kinda guy. i use max 3 effects. And thats in the studio. This little multi effect does it for me live. It sounds nice. Its built like a boss pedal. And its easy to use. Sometimes i up the same and use 2 with different effects. If you do this remember to label the pedals ;)

Todo Line 6 dentro de un solo pedal. En un futuro me gustaría agregarle un pedal de expresión para expandir las posibilidades. Ideal para tener un primer contacto con algunos efectos raros antes de adquirirlos.

And it is! Love the delays, reverbs, and tremolos in this. very nice to have