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4.5
I ran with the factory firmware version 1.0 on my line 6 spider 4-120 for two years oblivious to the fact that I had to have at least the 99.00 4 switch wah pedal to change the colors I paint with, or sound fx. I used to have a Peavey Transfex 212 with a 10 switch pedal. This was worth its weight in gold playing live. Going from clean to crunch, psychedelic to acoustic, crazy to mild, gives you the ability to change fx at the speed of sound. Covering some songs requires it, writing your own music makes it essential. With the FBV pedal you also get a built in link to the spider 4's tuner in a better way than the amps own display. Its also the only way to connect the amp online to update it. A major design flaw line 6, but a damn good way to ensure you sell a boatload of pedals. With that said, you get 4 chan switches but no way to browse banks, so your stuck in 1 of 4 channels of bank "A" for example. You must go to the back of the stage, select a new bank "B" an then back to the pedal and select the fx you wanted to begin with. Tedious for live playing. I pick bank A, then program the four sounds I need for a few songs, then change banks between songs. Works ok. The other thing you cant miss about this pedal is the very average volume and wah pedal. The volume side is sooooooo sensitive, it goes from naught to blaring in one tiny tap. To get from vol to wah you must press an electronic "pressure" pad at the top of the pedal that requires several attempts in most cases to activate. Once you get past the popping and clicking of the repeated stomps and get to the wah side, it is a very non natural electronic sound. When comparing to a baby wah or cry baby, you get none of the tube like sound that you expect or desire. I did find that using a wah sounding effect while using the pedal helps a ton. On the plus side, and there are a few. this thing is a Sherman tank. Solid build quality can handle just about anything the stage can throw at it, including the stage. I read a story of the entire forward light truss falling on the guitar setup area, destroying mic stands all the bonus pedals, a les paul, a monitor speaker, and floor lights and lasers. The line six fbv pedal had one scratch and a torn rubber wah cover. Rock solid. Made with what every rock pedal should be, heavy metal. The sound switching, although limited to one bank at a time is clean and seamless. The lighting on the pedal, all l.e.d.'s, are very bright even in the brightest daylight and stage lighting. The tuners lights fade from dim to bright as your tuning reaches desired frequency. Very easy to read. The main bonus of the fbv pedal is the cat 5/6 cable connection to the net, with it you can not only update the firmware of the spider amps, you can download the home made effects of other users via the line 6 website. This is for me the goldmine. We have all been amazed by the quality of how close line 6's artist inspired tones sound. These take that a full light year closer to reality, sounding almost perfect in some cases and dead on in others. Inspiration will take you for a ride with some of these tones that I dare say you would not have found otherwise. My advice is as follows; if you can only afford the 100 bones on a pedal buy it. It's worth it for the ability to switch channels, the make shift wah, and the icing on the cake is the download ability for updates and user made tones. Now if you have 200 bones and a loving spouse, mother or landlord pickup the Line 6 FBV Shortboard MkII Foot Controller here http://www.amazon.com/Line-FBV-Shortboard-MkII-Controller/dp/B002GYWBKK/ref=pd_cp_MI_2 and take total floor control of your Line 6 amp and POD foot switches for preset bank select, effect select, tuner, tap tempo, and a full-sized volume/wah pedal with plenty of grip, Over sized and bright LCD displays chromatic presets and tuner with a USB jack and an RJ-45 jack as well. thats the thick and thin of it... hope it helps. Like an old guitarist told me, better play everyday or throw it away, it starts over at the 12th fret, and learn your scales.If you own a Line 6 Spider, this pedal is essential. Switch between channels, tune your guitar, adjust volume. It's also a Wah pedal but that's really kind of a gimmick. You have to press a button hard at the top of the pedal travel, which puts you at full volume and starts you at the high end of the wah. If you set your channel volume it's fine but you're still forced to start at the top of the wah. It's really a useless feature, at least I've found no practical application for it anywhere. But honestly I haven't really found a practical application for most of the Line 6 Spider effects, they're all pretty weak. The first FBV I owned lasted for years before the buttons started to become intermittently unresponsive. Soon after that it started to become possessed and changing channels on it's own accord. I just threw it away and bought another. It lasted a long time though almost 7 years and I wasn't very nice to it so it's a durable pedal in my opinion.Easy set up very pleased with it!El pedal es de mucha utilidad para realizar los cambios de sonido en el amplificador Spider V, sin dejar de tocar. La conectividad es facil e inmediata con el amplificador. El pedal incluye un cable de red bastante largo. Es un complemento perfecto para el Spider V.This is an essential accessory for the excellent Line 6 Spider IV combo amps, For more details, see my review of the Line 6 Spider IV 75 watt combo. The FBV Express Mk II is the least expensive pedal to give one full control over all basic and essential amp features. This pedal should have been ( or be) included with the amp but it wasn't. Anyway, if you are considering buying the amp (which is great), you really will want to have this pedal, even though it costs 33% of the price of the amp itself.With the FBV Express Mk II you can store the 4 amp channels, each of which has its own settings for model and all effects, as well as control the 14 second looping ability of the Spider IV. The pedal also adds a volume/way pedal (the wah pedal is OK but not as full-throated as a Cry Baby or other stand-alone wah wahs). Without the pedal, you will not be able to access looping and channel switching in real time while playing (which is the whole point of this thing) unless you have more than the standard compliment of 2 arms, equipped with one hand each.The pedal also interfaces with a computer to allow deep editing and storing of all of the effects of the Line 6 Spider IV combos through a USB port. This feature alone makes it a must-have for taking full advantage of the amp.J.M. TepperDon't get my title wrong - this is another great Line 6 product that delivers exactly what it says. Very beefy construction, versatile pedal control, clear display/tuner, noiseless digital operation, etc.Using Line 6's Spider IV amps, it's only real shortcoming is it's inability to switch between the 16 User Banks - that is, it can only switch between the 4 channels within a single User Bank. For example, if you're playing with a subtle rhythm tone on Bank 01/Channel A, and want to switch to a crunchy solo tone on another bank, say, Bank 03/Channel B, you have to manually make the switch on the amp.The fix is to throw another hundred bucks at it and get its bigger brother the I have been longing a pedalboard for my, now old, Flextone III XL for around 17 years now, for my distinct collection of guitars with either humbuckers or single coil pickups. It can’t be any easier than this...The Pedalboard arrived in just 2 days from order, was supplied with the cable and just so easy to set up. You have 4 pedals to play with, which I set up within minutes for a clean and dirty setting for both Humbuckers and Single Coils. Step on the used pedal for a few seconds and you get the tuner, which is very accurate.....and you have the expression pedal for the volume control OR Wah Wah...fantabulous! Just wished I got one earlier!It’s robust....it’s lightweight....it looks cool....and it works!What more can you ask for?:-)GeoffGood value for money could have been a little cheaper or deal done as purchased with amp but pleased with purchaseHave to use this in reality with other line so products.Good quality & easy to usePretty dam great
