Line 6 AM4 User Manual

AM4 Amp Modeler Pilot’s Handbook

Also Available in Hi-Tech Electrophonic Format at www.line6.com

Rev B

You should read these Important Safety Instructions. Keep them in a safe place.

WARNING:
To reduce the risk of fire or electric shock, do
not expose this appliance to rain or moisture.

CAUTION:

To reduce the risk of fire or electric shock, do not remove screws.

No user-serviceable parts inside. Refer servicing to qualified service personnel.

Before using your Stomp Box Modeler, carefully read applicable items of operating instructions and safety suggestions.

1. Obey all warnings on the Stomp Box Modeler and in the Pilot’s Handbook.

2. Do not perform service operations beyond those described in the Stomp Box Modeler and in the Pilot’s Handbook. In the
following circumstances, repairs should be performed only by qualified service personnel:

•liquid is spilled into the unit

•an object falls into the unit

•the unit does not operate normally or changes in performance in a significant way

•the unit is dropped or the enclosure is damaged

3. Prolonged listening at high volume levels may cause irreparable hearing loss and/or damage. Be sure to practice “safe listening.”

CAUTION: This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B digital device pursuant to Part 15 of
FCC Rules. Operation is subject to the following two conditions: (1) This device may not cause harmful interference, and (2) this
device must accept any interference received, including interference that may cause undesired operation.

Stomp Box Modelers Pilot’s Handbook ©2002, Line 6, Inc.

Please Note:

The Stomp Box Modelers, Amp Modeler, Modulation Modeler, Delay Modeler,
Distortion Modeler, Filter Modeler, Line 6, and Line 6 logo are all trademarks
of Line 6, Inc. All other product names, trademarks, and artists’ names are
the property of their respective owners, which are in no way associated or
affiliated with Line 6. Product names, images, and artists' names and are used
solely for the purpose of identifying the specific products that were studied
during Line 6’s sound model development and describing certain types of tones
produced with Line 6’s digital modeling technology. Use of these products,
images, trademarks, and artists' names does not imply any cooperation or
endorsement.

Contents

Introduction.................................................... 1–3

Key Features........................................................ 4

Programmable Memories
True Bypass & Delay Remain Bypass

Battery or AC Operation

Expression Pedal................................................. 5

Rear Panel – Hookup Instructions......................6

Front Panel Features........................................... 7

Special Hidden Features.....................................8

Alternate Bypass

Restoring Factory Presets

Noise Gate

www.line6.com.................................................... 9

Customer Service................................................ 9

Model Details............................................. 10–27

Meet The Family
Tones of Tone Control
The Models

Warranty Info................................................... 28

Introduction

Welcome

Thank you for inviting a Stomp Box Modeler home
with you. (By the way , you filled out the registration
card at the back of this handbook, or did it on our
web site – www.line6.com – right? Great. Back to

our regular program....) These pedals mine the tonal

heritage of the past thirty years of stomp box, effect
and amp design and match it up with the kind of
digital signal processing magic that will still be ahead
of its time ten years from now.

How, you ask, did the Stomp Box Modelers get the
super processing power to let you create tones that
are out of this world? It all started like this…

The Birth of Line 6 Modeling

Well, as you may know, Line 6 first came on the
guitar scene with a new kind of amplifier—the first
to put digital software modeling technology to work
in a combo amp for guitarists. In order to pioneer
this technology, we had focused our efforts on the
vacuum tube, the little glass wonder that had sat at
the heart of most every great guitar amp in history—
plus quite a few stomp boxes, effect processors, and

other pieces of great audio gear. The Line 6 crew
assembled a dream collection of amplifiers recognized
by guitarists the world over as true “tone classics,”
and, with a guitar in one hand and modern computer
measuring gear in the other, put these amps through
their paces and got them to give up their secrets—
a guitar pickup output, after all, is an electronic
signal, and tubes and the rest of the guitar amplifier
electronics are really just a complex form of signal
processing. These electronic explorers thus distilled
the noble history of guitar tone heritage into a
revolutionary, patented DSP (digital signal
processing) software-based modeling technology,
which gave Line 6 the power to create super silicon­based life forms like our history-making amplifiers
and POD.

Well, it’s been some years since that first Line 6 amp
brought modeling to the combo guitar amp world,
and POD revolutionized guitar recording. In the
meantime, the first Stomp Box Modelers—Delay,
Modulation, Distortion and Filter—arrived with
sounds based on great stomp boxes and effects that
have been as much a part of the electric guitar
experience as the amplifier. Now, with the birth of
the Amp Modeler, Line 6’s world class tone
technology is yours in a pedal that’s just the thing
for “hot rodding” the tone of any amp.

1

LINE 6’S COMFY COUCH PLAYING HOST TO SOME OF OUR VINTAGE TREASURES

2

This image is provided for the sole purpose of identifying the specific products that were studied during Line 6’s sound model development, and does not imply any cooperation or endorsement.

As you get familiar with your new friend on the
floor, please join us in thanking the generous people
that loaned their treasured artifacts and antiques
for our modeling analysis. We’ve done our best to
capture the special character of each of these units
in the models that power your Stomp Box Modeler.

In alphabetical order, the contributors to the cause are:
Tom Ayres, Tony Berg, Joey Brasler, Bill DeLap, Eric
Dover, Mike Drake, Dave Friedman, Tim Godwin, Bob
Hartry , His Intolerably Massive Omnipotence (a.k.a.
Mr. Huge), Jamie Kime, Albert Molinaro, Angelo

Mazzocco, Erik Norlander, Tim Pierce, Nigel
Redmon, Mike Reiter, Walter G. Rice III, Marcus
Ryle, James Santiago, Jeff Slingluff, Jack Sonni, Art
Thompson, George V an W agner , Dave Whiston, L yle
Workman, Zeke Zirngiebel, John Ziegler – and, of

course, the noise-tolerant upstairs neighbors....

And Away We Go

So, now that you’ve seen and heard about the tonal
wonders that lurk within your Stomp Box Modeler,
it’s time to grab your favorite axe, plug in, and flip

to the next page....

This image is provided for the sole purpose of identifying the specific products that were studied during Line 6’s sound model development, and does not imply any cooperation or endorsement.

3

Key Features

Programmable Memories

The Line 6 Stomp Box Modelers let you store your
favorite tones for easy recall at any time. No more
making marks for your favorite settings with your
grease pencil, or getting down on your hands and
knees in between songs to set up your next sound.
With a Stomp Box Modeler, all you have to do
when you find a sound you want to keep is press
and hold one of the memory location stomp switches
for 3 seconds, and the setting of all your knobs is
committed to the stomp box’s memory.

Now you can step on that switch anytime and bring
back that great sound. We’ve already stored a couple
of our favorite tones into the memories to get you
started. The hidden functions section of this
handbook tells you how to restore them if you
decide you want ’em back.

True Bypass & Alternate Bypass

The Stomp Box Modelers include mechanically
switching relays that do their thing when you bypass

the pedal (by kicking the stomp switch to turn off
the memory you are using). These relays route your
signal directly from input jack to output jack, around
all the circuitry, for absolutely no processing or
analog-to-digital conversion while in bypass. The
hidden functions section of this handbook tells you
how to choose an alternate bypass mode that keeps
the DSP engaged while bypassed. This can be used
to avoid the audible “click” that you hear when the
relays switch.

Battery or AC Power Operation

You can choose to power your Stomp Box Modeler
with 4 C size batteries or via the optional Line 6
AC power supply . We recommend alkaline batteries
for long life; you should get twenty to thirty hours
of use out of a high quality set. Unplugging the
left/mono input turns the pedal off, so be sure to
unplug it when you’re not using the pedal to conserve
battery power. All four lights on your pedal will

flash when your batteries have nearly run out.

EXPRESSION PEDAL

Conceptualizing It

The optional Line 6 expression pedal lets your foot control one or more of the parameters of your Stomp
Box Modeler while your hands are busy making music. Operation is designed to be simple:

Doing It

Power off your Stomp Box Modeler by unplugging the INPUT. Next, plug
in your Expression Pedal, and set the expression pedal to the full heel­down position (as shown in the illustration at right). Plug the left/mono
input back in (this turns the Stomp Box back on) and dial up a sound you
like. Now press the expression pedal forward to the fully toe-down position,
and set one or more of your knobs to another setting. Rock back and forth
on your expression pedal, and you’ll hear your sound blend between the
two sound settings you just made. Store this sound into one of your
pedal’s memories, and both the toe-down and heel-down “snapshots”
of the sound will be saved. Use as many and whichever knobs you
like with the expression pedal, except the model selector. Recalling
a stored memory later without the expression pedal connected
gives you the heel-down setting only.

Getting It

Customers in the USA and Canada can order the expression
pedal (or an AC power supply) from their Line 6 dealer,
directly from www.line6.com, or by calling Line 6 Sales at
[phone]. Outside the USA and Canada, contact
your Line 6 dealer or distributor (listed at www .line6.com).

547

REAR PANEL – HOOKUP INSTRUCTIONS

In/Out

Just follow the labels and plug in the inputs and outputs. If you’re running with batteries, you can unplug the
input to conserve power when you’re not using the pedal.

Power Requirements:

INPUT

OUTPUT EXPRESSION PEDAL

9VAC 1200 mA minimum

N222

THIS EQUIPMENT HAS BEEN TESTED AND FOUND TO COMPLY WITH THE LIMITS FOR A CLASS B DIGITAL DEVICE PURSUANT TO PART 15 OF THE FCC RULES. OPERATION IS SUBJECT TO THE FOLLOWING TWO
CONDITIONS: (1) THIS DEVICE MAY NOT CAUSE HARMFUL INTERFERENCE, AND (2) THIS DEVICE MUST ACCEPT ANY INTERFERENCE RECEIVED, INCLUDING INTERFERENCE THAT MAY CAUSE UNDESIRABLE OPERATION.

Serial Number

Connect Optional

Line 6 Power Supply Here

Expression Pedal

See the previous page for complete details on the use of the optional Line 6 expression
pedal, which gives you the ability to smoothly blend between effect settings.

Power Supply

Y our Stomp Box Modeler comes with a set of four C size
batteries. You can also purchase an optional Line 6 AC
power supply to run your pedal.

Getting an Expression Pedal or Power Supply

Customers in the USA and Canada can order the expression pedal and power supply from their Line 6 dealer,
directly from www .line6.com, or by calling Line 6 Sales at [phone]. Outside the USA and Canada, please
contact your Line 6 dealer or distributor (get the list on the Line 6 web site, www.line6.com).

6

FRONT PANEL FEATURES

Model Selector

This is where you pick the model you want to use;
it comes up preset to a great sound, ready to use.
Turn the other knobs to adjust the sound; their
functions are described in the model details section.

CLASS A-30

CLASS A-15

BLACKFACE 212

BLACKFACE 112

TWEED 410

SMALL TWEED

TINY TWEED

MASTER CHIEF

ZEN MASTER

INSANE

TUBE PREAMP

PLEXI 45

PLEXI 50

BRIT 800

SOLO 100

RECTIFIED

AM4 Amp Modeler 4 CHANNEL PROGRAMMABLE TONE EXPANSION FOR ANY GUITAR AMP

DRIVE

Volume

This knob sets the output volume. You’ll want to
set it high enough to feed a healthy amount of
signal to your amp, without setting it so high that
you’re adding unintended front end distortion.

BASS MID TREBLE

VOLUME

gate

Stomp Switches

Step on one of these switches to choose one of the four programmable memories. The chosen memory’s
light is lit, and you hear the Stomp Box Modeler’s processing. Step on the switch again to turn the memory
off and bypass the Stomp Box Modeler. To store a sound in memory, step on one of the switches to turn
its light on, turn the knobs to make the sound you like, and then press and hold any foot switch for 3
seconds to store the knob settings into that memory location.