Line 6 M5 experts?

ijonty

hey folks, I’m a bit overawed by all my options with this pedal. Any experts out there have favourite settings? What must-try effects must I, well, try?

Strangefan

The reverbs are great, I miss mine. 

Grunfeld

I'll leap in:  Great pedal in a way cos it does a lot.  I reckon some things better than others.
Delays -- great
Reverbs -- yep
Modulation -- no problems for swishing and swooshing in a live setting
Compression -- nope
OD/ Distortion -- nope

There you go.  It's a bit of a juice hog too which is possibly a downside if you've not got enough power on your board.
But I like the M5.

impmann

There’s a lot to like in there.

Compression - the valve compressor is ‘ok’ but the rest suck
Drives - Tube Drive is good, the Classic Distortion is ok, the rest are... an acquired taste although I’ve used some of the fuzz emulations when tracking and they sound  ok in a recorded mix.
Mods - not a fan of chorus full stop but all the rest are pretty good, although the Flanger(s) are a bit Boss-like for my tastes (I prefer EHX style Flanger).
Delays - great
Reverbs - ditto
Filter/Synth sounds - some of these add great flavour to mixes and are really useful... I think it’s called ‘slow filter’ works so well on old drum machines and the synth sounds are great fun.

An expression pedal really opens it up.

I still think that the M-series were the best pedals Line6 ever made despite their...foibles.

Cabicular

Lol
i really like the compressors on the M series
Also like the facial fuzz and jumbo fuzz

piers_ward

I really enjoyed using the Auto Volume Swell Delay modelled on the Line 6 DL4.

ijonty

Well, sounds like between you all, every effect is pretty good! Got overdrives/distortions covered on my board (RAT, Guv’nor, TS) and a neunaber reverb, but not delays. Want to try the trems too, but don’t really know what’s what with them. 

gibsongretschfan

I like the analog with mod delay, 63 spring reverb, opto term, tri-chorus.... and.... that’s it I think actually. Some of the filters are fun

meltedbuzzbox

ijonty said:

Well, sounds like between you all, every effect is pretty good! Got overdrives/distortions covered on my board (RAT, Guv’nor, TS) and a neunaber reverb, but not delays. Want to try the trems too, but don’t really know what’s what with them. 

The tremolo sounds are great on the m5

ijonty

might try the trem and analogue delay then. Any advice specifically on them, or do I just experiment? For example, I don’t know what ‘shape’ means on the trem. 

gibsongretschfan

ijonty said:

might try the trem and analogue delay then. Any advice specifically on them, or do I just experiment? For example, I don’t know what ‘shape’ means on the trem. 

The shape adjusts the way the volume will rise and fall. 

EricTheWeary

gibsongretschfan said:

ijonty said:

might try the trem and analogue delay then. Any advice specifically on them, or do I just experiment? For example, I don’t know what ‘shape’ means on the trem. 

The shape adjusts the way the volume will rise and fall. 

Tremolo is a wave ( loudest sound top of the wave, quietest sound bottom of the wave) so you can change the shape of the wave. 

Looking at the list of effects I’m sure I never gave my M9 a fair chance; couldn’t really get beyond not liking the drives, although now I rarely use any at all so it’d be fine  

MattBanshee

I like the delays (particularly the subdivision options) and the tremolos.

english_bob

+1 for an expression pedal- lots of stuff you can't use at all without one, and plenty of stuff that opens right up with one.

My other top pick for an accessory would be an order switcher. Because the M5 does a ton of different stuff there's not really an ideal place for it in the effects chain- should be right at the end for reverbs and delays, but right at the start for compression or drive sounds, and probably somewhere in the middle for modulations.

Here's @Sporky 's design for a switcher:



An order switcher lets you move the M5 between two positions in the signal chain- let's say you want it before a distortion pedal for one sound, and after it for another. Your guitar goes to the input of the switcher, the M5 goes in loop A, the distortion in loop B, and the output from the switcher goes to your amp. A->B gives you the M5 before dirt, B->A gives you the M5 after. There's no reason you can't put more pedals in loop B- you could even include your amp's input and effects loop send as part of that loop.

I built my own switcher from the plans on the General Guitar Gadgets page (uses a 4PDT switch instead of 3PDT for an LED indicator, which is very useful to have), but you can buy a ready made one from Bright Onion (called the "shifter switch").

impmann

Thats very clever - I've got my M5 in a Gigrig G2 set up so move it within the order of the signal chain depending on what effect I'm using using the software within the G2. Thats very neat.

english_bob

impmann said:

Thats very clever - I've got my M5 in a Gigrig G2 set up so move it within the order of the signal chain depending on what effect I'm using using the software within the G2. Thats very neat.

I can see how the M5 would work really well in a switching system- you really get your money's worth when you can move it in the chain and control it with MIDI.

ijonty

I've bought an expression pedal but not used it yet. Is there an effect I should start with that will feel quite satisfying?

impmann

ijonty said:

I've bought an expression pedal but not used it yet. Is there an effect I should start with that will feel quite satisfying?

How about the multiple different wah models... ;-)

english_bob

impmann said:

ijonty said:

I've bought an expression pedal but not used it yet. Is there an effect I should start with that will feel quite satisfying?

How about the multiple different wah models... ;-)

Obvs. 

Also worth trying out the whammy model, or just using it to toggle between fast and slow speeds on the Leslie sim.

ijonty

english_bob said:

impmann said:

ijonty said:

I've bought an expression pedal but not used it yet. Is there an effect I should start with that will feel quite satisfying?

How about the multiple different wah models... ;-)

Obvs. 

Also worth trying out the whammy model, or just using it to toggle between fast and slow speeds on the Leslie sim.

Thanks! No idea what a Leslie sim is, so will investigate...

english_bob

ijonty said:

english_bob said:

impmann said:

ijonty said:

I've bought an expression pedal but not used it yet. Is there an effect I should start with that will feel quite satisfying?

How about the multiple different wah models... ;-)

Obvs. 

Also worth trying out the whammy model, or just using it to toggle between fast and slow speeds on the Leslie sim.

Thanks! No idea what a Leslie sim is, so will investigate...

I think they call it "Rotary drum" and "rotary drum and horn" on the M5- a Leslie speaker was originally a Hammond organ accessory, but what with all the drugs and stuff, someone discovered in the 1960s that it sounded great with guitar. It's sort of a chorus effect, but a very specific one. When you hear it, you'll recognise it from all sorts of stuff if you like 60s and 70s rock.