citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . january 2011 learn how and when to remove this template message line 6 type pro audio industry amplification musical instrument manufacturing founded 1996 ; 20 years ago 1996 1 founder justin wolf marcus ryle and michel doidic headquarters calabasas california united states area served united states products electric and acoustic guitars basses amplifiers effects processors usb audio interfaces guitar bass wireless systems owner yamaha website line6.com external video oral history michel doidic talks about new technologies and satisfying the customer . interview date october 4 2011 namm national association of music merchants oral history library line 6 is a manufacturer of digital modeling guitars amplifiers amplifier modeling and related electronic equipment . their product lines include electric and acoustic guitars basses guitar and bass amplifiers effects processors usb audio interfaces and guitar bass wireless systems . the company was founded in 1996 . headquartered in calabasas california the company imports its products primarily from china . since december 2013 it has been a wholly owned subsidiary of yamaha corporation . contents 1 origin of the company 2 history 3 line 6 products 3.1 guitar amplifiers 3.2 pedalboards stomp boxes 3.3 portable recording devices 3.4 audio interfaces effects processors 3.5 musical instruments 3.6 software 3.7 wireless systems 4 pod products history 5 guitar hero world tour 6 references 7 external links origin of the company edit marcus ryle and michel doidic two former oberheim designers co founded fast forward designs where they helped develop several notable pro audio products such as the alesis adat quadraverbs and quadrasynth and digidesign samplecell . as digital signal processing became more and more powerful and affordable during the 1980s they began developing dsp based products for guitarists . as ryle tells the story the name line 6 came about because the phone system at fast forward designs only had 5 lines . because the new guitar related products were developed in secrecy the receptionist used line 6 as a code word of sorts and paging them for a call on line 6 meant to stop any guitar or amp related sounds so that they wouldn t be overheard by other fast forward clients or callers . 2 history edit line 6 launched in 1996 with their first digital modeling guitar amplifier the original flextone a single 12 60 watt combo amp . within six months or so the axsys 212 was released . the company underwent a rapid expansion in the early 2000s decade due to the success of their pod product line which isolated modeling circuitry from the axsys amplifier . digital modeling attempts to recreate the unique characteristics of musical instruments and pro audio gear . early line 6 products used digital modeling to emulate the signature tone of a guitar amp speaker combination . further development of line 6 s modeling technology has extended the emulation to include numerous guitar amplifier guitar cabinet combinations guitar effects microphones and even different guitars and other fretted instruments themselves . digital modeling offers countless virtual combinations of a variety of music gear but only as emulations however convincing as they may be . though line 6 began with a modeling guitar amp their breakthrough product line was arguably the pod guitar processor line and its later variants 3 but this modeling technology has been the foundation for most of line 6 s products from guitar amps to software and computer audio interfaces . line 6 has an active user community and provides software that allows users to easily download and share patches or device settings for many of line 6 s products . in early 2008 line 6 acquired x2 digital wireless who had introduced digital wireless systems for guitar . further developing this technology line 6 developed and introduced a family of digital wireless microphone systems in 2010 . 4 in december 2013 it was confirmed that line 6 was to be bought by yamaha corporation to operate as a wholly owned subsidiary with the internal management remaining the same . 5 line 6 products edit guitar amplifiers edit a spider iii amp . line 6 produces a number of guitar amplifiers combos and heads all featuring amplifier modeling software . in 2004 the spider ii 112 combo amp was released . 6 the spider iii sold over 12 700 units in 2011 the 15 watt spider iv amp was the best selling guitar amplifier in america . 7 as of this time they ve launched the spider iv which has also been the best selling 15 30 75 and 120 watt amp according to their website . pedalboards stomp boxes edit pod x3 bean pedal boards range from pod amp modelers to modeling pedals for delay and other effects as well as a jam looper . in 2015 line 6 announced their next generation multi effects processor pedalboard named helix 8 similar in function to the floor pod and pod live series but with a redesigned interface and body . portable recording devices edit the backtrack and backtrack mic are portable recording devices for electric and acoustic guitars respectively . audio interfaces effects processors edit the earlier audio interface produced by line 6 guitarport is replaced by the toneport line . pod amp modelers are available in a number of versions . musical instruments edit bob mould performing with a line 6 variax acoustic guitar . variax is a line of acoustic bass and electric guitars . some of the original development team members for the first variax model introduced in 2002 moved on to other companies including damage control usa and vox amplification ltd. software edit line 6 software includes the variax workbench a software application that can interface a home computer with a variax electric guitar ; the gearbox tone editing software ; and pod farm which contains all of the modeling features of the pod x3 emulated on the computer . wireless systems edit in may 2008 line 6 announced it had acquired x2 digital wireless ; citation needed it now sells wireless systems for guitar bass vocals and wind instruments . pod products history edit 2015 line 6 pod helix 2013 9 pod hd pro x 2013 6 pod hd x 2011 pod hd pro 2010 10 pod hd 2008 pod x3 pro 2007 9 pod x3 x3 live 2007 3 pod floor plus 2006 9 pod floor 2004 9 pod xt live 2003 pod xt pro 2002 10 bass pod xt 2002 10 pod xt 2001 pod pro 2000 bass pod 2000 pod 2.0 1998 pod guitar hero world tour edit line 6 products were placed in guitar hero world tour . line 6 guitar and bass amplifiers can be found on stage . in the guitar hero world tour music studio gamers can use a stylized line 6 pod to create their own songs . 9 references edit 1 http www.prosoundnewseurope.com main content full the lineage of line 6 pro sound news europe the lineage of line 6 http www.soundonsound.com sos mar06 articles line6.htm line 6 inside the tone modeling factory sound on sound march 2006 http www.prosoundnewseurope.com main content full the lineage of line 6 the lineage of line 6 pro sound news europe may 2010 . http uk.line6.com news pressreleases 1520 official press release by line 6 line 6 spider ii 112 combo amp review . guitarhoo . guitarhoo.com . july 7 2004 . retrieved april 16 2014 . spider iv 15 30 . retrieved 9 january 2013 . line 6 2015 . helix . uk.line6.com . available at http uk.line6.com helix accessed july 25 2015 . gamedaily.com external links edit wikimedia commons has media related to line 6 . line 6 audio interview with line 6 founder marcus ryle retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title line 6 company & oldid 743744730 categories electronics companies of the united statesguitar manufacturing companiesguitar amplifier manufacturersmusic equipment manufacturersmanufacturing companies established in 1996guitar effects manufacturing companiescompanies based in calabasas californiahidden 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