[Scarpie]

hello everyone,
i just recently bought a x3 bean and thought that this review may be of some interest for those who may be desiring or curious to get one. so here is my review based on my experience with it

i attempted the new x3 and must say i am quite happy with it. i just recently moved and don't have immediate access to my guitars. but did manage to borrow a friends washburn 7 string with horrific pickups. to test it out. leading me to following conclusions.
1) the effects are pretty extreme in sound, some quite nice. but overall easy to adjust.
2) as much as i tried to prove bulb wrong, i failed so far, he was right in that the dual engine system is rendered quite useless. i came up with an awesome tone and as soon on you hit dual amping, it just becomes waaay too much. and sounds like ten guitarists playing the insane channel with gain on 300 all at once. there is a major loss of articulation and control with the dual engine setup. perhaps a second amp with less gain and less bass can make it easier, but in the mean time one amp sounds superb to me.
3) there are many amps to choose from and even more posibilities of tone wth cabinet, mic, and mic placements to affect sound. however only a few tones i myself would use. way too many choices in amps that sound very digital. and i woudn't even bother with.
4) this part had me rather excited, once i had my amp and cabinet picked out, i found it very easy to rid of that line 6 fizz without external gear. the tools are all in the x3.
5) i'm a MAJOR ADVOCATE FOR mahogany guitars. and for some strange reason in this world of pod line 6 the shitty alder 7 string sounded BETTER than my all mahogany les paul. doesn't make sense to me.

so overall, i think it's a great unit. is it for everyone? who knows. i had to try it for myself. and was quite biased before playing it. BUT, without any of my external gear, and with the shittiest pickups, this shows tremendous promise. more than any other guitar gear i have ever played. if you can make a turd sound good, imagine the possibilites. this is the first time in years that i played straight into a unit, without line boosters or pre eq's to clean up signal.

in the past i always had a complicated setup to achieve the sound i needed. with the external gear i got rid of all the fizz i hated and that was my ultimate setup. having that in mind i was able to instantly play with a tone that i was trying to get with the prevous amps/preamps. and with no external gear. that says something quite profound to me.

as with all the features you can read of the line 6 website, i will say that the new x3 has all the model packs and bass pack already programmed in for 150 dollars cheaper than what it would cost to get all that through an xt.
bottom line.
for me and my quirky needs, this unit is a winner

[Codyyy]

I'm considering getting this unit for recording purposes only. I just want to get out of the money pit that is mic recording. I want a consistent sound that is the same all the time. I play high gain stuff usually. Does this thing have good sounds for that? I've heard its good, but I absolutely hated my Spider II... so if the quality of this thing isn't any better, then I'm not wasting my money.

[Nats]

good review. i just got an XT off ebay a week or two ago with all the model packs already installed. i've been having a lot of fun with it. i'm using the Uberschall rhythm pack i downloaded from the patch library. good stuff

[Apophis]

Nice review

[Scarpie]

i too bought it for recording high gain stuff. and found some incredible tones. i haven't used the dual engine stuff too heavily, the patches i enjoy tremendously don't sound good doubled. and in order to double amps you have to cut gain stages and even stacked they dont sound as good as the one patch i play alone. but considering i tried it with a guitar that isn't mine that has aweful pickups, i am sufficiently convinced that it has potential. but even so, it is important to know upfront that the high gain patches don't utilize this processors potential. you have to tweak and work to make the sound you want.

thanks guys

[8string]

no midi? Boooooh

[MF_Kitten]

i find the dual amps thing works really well if you pan the two left and right. this is great for wide solo sounds, or generally if you´re only 1 guitarist. it doesen´t work too well stacked onto eachother unless they play different roles in the sound, like one fat rich-sounding amp for the mids, with the lows and highs cut, and one chuggy heavy amp with a scooped sound for bass and treble... other examples can be found on the line 6 site, those are pretty good examples for what kind of uses they are good for

[Josh]

I just picked up an X3 bean today and after 15 minutes with it I'm in love with Line6 all over again.

[bulb]

i was actually surpised by the dual amp feature, i could layer two of the same amp and have one on a djenty setting and one on a 3d setting and they meshed nicely! the only thing is the virtual double tracking sounds like crap on rhythms, it sounds ok on leads and cleans but not for high gain rhythms at all, my amps will stay centered!

[Scarpie]

i didn't even think of the panning that makes a lot of sense. going to have to try that out.