GearDump

This seems to be a new thing for guitarists to experiment with. Many big acts have incorporated Laptops with other instruments on stage. Peter Gabriel’s stage act usually incorporates several laptops alongside the keyboards. Depeche Mode uses laptops on stage for effects and recently I spotted Vernon Reid & Doug Wimbish with Macbooks. I myself have never used one but being in IT and dealing with Laptops in the studio I can surmise some general tips and basics about using Laptops on stage.

First rule of playing live, redundancy. Since Laptops are very expensive I would suggest you have a spare hard drive with all your software pre-loaded so that if the most likely component of your PC fails you can simply swap out the other drive. This also means that you should bring any tools necessary to restore your laptop back to working condition. For Laptops I reccomend getting a second battery. As you may or may not know this battery should be stored at half charge at the appropriate temperature. It’s also important to test your rig before you leave for a gig just to be sure that the backups function as well.

I’m sure some users have a lot of crazy & complex software running together. I think the best thing would be to simplify your patches and setup as much as possible so there is less of a chance of something going wrong. Any adjustments that must be made tonally should be done quickly and efficiently. If your software offers midi integration you should really consider getting a controller and using it to control things like EQ and Gain.

More importantly is how your getting your guitar into the computer. NEVER use the built in audio card. Get one that is made specifically for Audio production. M-Audio, Presonus and many other companies make great audio interfaces for this. I also suggest getting an EQ or tube Pre-Amp to go before the interface to give your amp some adjustable warmth. Living Colour were using the new Line 6 Pod X2 interface.

The main thing is to think about reliability. Tonality can be a component only after you are sure your equipment will function properly. What I thought most interesting about Living Colour was the tone was fantastic but most of it was handled Via Vernon Reid & Doug Wimbish’s amplifiers. Reid was definitely using his laptop to handle his Parker Signature Midi sampling, and possibly to do some Delay and Modulation. It seemed as though his guitar sound was being routed into the laptop, out into his Dual Rectifier, then back into his laptop for more processing, and finally back into the head and out to the cabinet. It was likely only his effects & sample triggering that was being handled by his Macbook. Simply put Vernon could have played with just his amps if worst came to worst.

Many players are considering laptops as an alternative to commercially available Modelers that are built specifically for this kind of thing. Honestly I am not sure I understand why. Being in the position of an IT tech I can legitimately say that counting on a computer for something as important as a Gig could end up in disaster. I believe it can be handled properly to mitigate risk but ultimately you should be prepared to toss the laptop and play with a traditional rig as well.

I have long been a fan of Line 6 Equipment back in the days when they were still made in the United States. Despite their move to Chinese production the majority of their amp and effects line has remained very popular and effective for working guitar players who need tons of sounds but don’t have twenty or thirty thousand dollars laying around.

Let me just come out and say this up front. The M9 or any Line 6 Product will not replace your five thousand dollar vintage amp. It just can’t. At the same time it has another role, easy to setup and run at a gig. Chances are if you are carting around two pedal boards worth of gear then you can probably find this box useful. The sounds in it are not as good as the real thing but ninety-nine percent of the time the audience wouldn’t know the difference anyway.

Since that is out of the way, The M9 is the follow up to their monsterous rig replacement, the M13. It has plenty of models of overdrive, distortion, and several fuzzes. It also has a ton of realistic to more whacked out delays and modulations. Perhaps the most interesting feature is the looper which can be activated via the footswitches. And finally, it has what is becoming standard nowadays, a looper for you to introduce your favorite stompboxes into the M9’s patches. Frankly I think most people do a bit to much tap dancing live and thats part of the reason I’ve always valued Line 6’s gear.

Special thanks to badbrad’s youtube video for showing some of the less whacked out sounds that the M9 can do. Check his other Line 6 M9 Videos out on youtube!

The models from the M9 are fundamentally the same as the M13 except that there are less of them. Additionally, it has a much smaller foot print. If Badbrad’s video wasn’t good enough to demonstrate what this thing can sound like then you can check out guitar worlds review of it. Frankly if Paul can make it sound good then it must sound decent.

Apparantly even the presets are very good. I’m sure anyone who has stepped on a Digitech or Behringer Device has quickly become aware that to much of the Mod effects, Delays, and Reverbs are applied to the signal. Personally I think the GW review has a bit to much of effects applied on the presets. Whatever the case may be I might trade off something expensive I have for one of these things, if not for the sounds then just for the studio. This into a PodXT would sound fairly tasty for those late night & silent recording rigs.