Yamaha purchases Line 6

bubkusjones

bubkusjones

Strato-Smasher
Well, I just saw this. Interesting.

http://line6.com/news/pressReleases/1520

Yamaha Corporation’s acquisition of Line 6, Inc. creates a powerful force to drive innovation and inspire musicians.

CALABASAS, CA – 20.Dec 2013 - Yamaha Corporation and Line 6, Inc. today announced a definitive agreement for Yamaha to acquire Line 6, a leading manufacturer of innovative solutions for musicians. The acquisition expands Yamaha’s portfolio of modeling guitar processing products as well as pro-audio equipment, and offers new and exciting opportunities for accelerated growth for both companies.

Line 6 products have been at the cutting edge of digital audio development for musicians and audio professionals since the company pioneered the digital modeling guitar amplifier in 1996. Line 6 continues to deliver innovation and excellence across its industry-leading portfolio, including POD® multi-effect processors, digital effects, guitar amplifiers, modeling guitars, a range of professional instrument and microphone digital wireless systems, digital live sound mixers, speakers, as well as iOS interfaces.

Under the terms of the agreement, Yamaha will operate Line 6 as a wholly owned subsidiary to fully realize the compelling opportunities for the two brands with Line 6’s operations continuing as before and its management team remaining in place.

“I am very happy that Line 6, which has been creating innovative products and creating new market opportunities consistently over its history, will become a member of the Yamaha group. We look forward to accelerating our growth strategy by pursuing the beneficial effects from both companies and by utilizing Line 6’s core brand power centered on guitarists that is so highly regarded worldwide as well as its unique technology, planning and development capabilities” said Mr. Takuya Nakata, President of Yamaha Corporation.

“For over 30 years of developing products, and even further back to my earliest memories as a developing musician, Yamaha has been the brand for which I have always had the most respect,” said Line 6 co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer Marcus Ryle. “Yamaha has consistently set the standard in our industry for quality and innovation, and I am very proud for Line 6 to now be a part of this incredible legacy.”

"Yamaha’s acquisition of Line 6 will help accelerate the realization of our vision to drive innovation for musicians across the globe,” said Line 6 CEO and President Paul Foeckler. “We’re proud that Yamaha recognizes the innovation and value in our people, IP and processes and we’re excited about the opportunities ahead to expand our reach”

Outline of agreement

  1. Based on the resolutions adopted by the Line 6 board of directors on December 19 and the Yamaha board of directors on December 20, a definitive agreement has been executed regarding the acquisition of all of the capital stock of Line 6.
  2. Yamaha will acquire all of the capital stock of Line 6 owned by the founders, venture funds and employees.
  3. The transaction is expected to be completed during January 2014 after receipt of customary regulatory approvals.
Wells Fargo Securities, LLC served as financial advisor to Line 6, Inc. and Kirkland & Ellis LLP served as legal advisor to Line 6, Inc.
Click to expand...
 
Let's hope it's a good thing. Yamaha makes some quality stuff. Some of the Line 6 stuff can be sketchy. If Yamaha forces quality control, I can see that little metal yamaha amp having some versatility and reliability that the cheap plastic Spyder where the knobs fall off wouldn't have.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Tig
Seems like a strange mix, as Yamaha already has a pretty big hit in the modeling amp game with their TH series. I wonder what they see in line6. Brand name recognition? It isn't like yamaha can't make line6 like stuff.
 
I really want a wireless unit too.... but I just haven't been able to pull the trigger on another piece of gear with the L6 tag on it... and I can't afford the Sennheiser one. :(
 
baimun said:
but does Yamaha make digital wireless gear? The L6 stuff is selling really well.
Click to expand...

I have no idea if yamaha makes something like that. I think that is probably part of it. Plus yamaha would get strong access the bottom end of the amp market with the cheap spider series, plus all the software and high end pod and amp modeling stuff that they could maybe integrate into their own stuff.
 
baimun said:
I really want a wireless unit too.... but I just haven't been able to pull the trigger on another piece of gear with the L6 tag on it... and I can't afford the Sennheiser one. :(
Click to expand...

I wouldn't have even ever looked at one, honestly. I've literally never had a good experience with a line 6 product. My counterpart is something of a line 6 fanboy and he let me check his out, it's really nice. I was surprised.
 
I'd like a wireless rig for my bass, and a wireless headset mic as well.
no point having one without the other.
but with the clubs we play, there's no real need for 'em, either :lol:
though I guess I could go up during our set and order my own beer rather than having a fan do it.

speaking of beer, it's about damn time.
 
Tiltsta said:
Seems like a strange mix, as Yamaha already has a pretty big hit in the modeling amp game with their TH series. I wonder what they see in line6. Brand name recognition? It isn't like yamaha can't make line6 like stuff.
Click to expand...

There’s some great international synergy in this. Yamaha has almost completely blown their electric guitar business in North America, but seems to be huge everywhere else. Line 6 is still a small fish compared to the huge players in the global music industry, and probably doesn’t do well in some markets where Yamaha is a king.

So Yamaha buys Line 6 for less than it’s really worth to Yamaha because other buyers don’t have Yamaha’s international business. Line 6 uses its ubiquity in North American retail to help Yamaha start selling something other than cheapo Pacificas. “We’ll give you a discount on this bulk purchase of Spyder amps and Pods if you order an equal value of Yamaha guitars.” And Yamaha starts selling Line 6 product in new markets around the world, allowing Line 6 to produce in even larger quantities, upping profits and lowering prices, making Line 6/Yamaha an even bigger player than Yamaha already is. Seems like a good buy to me.
 
Line 6 has made HUGE strides in the last few years. I have been a lifelong Boss/Roland and Digitech fanboi, but I am 100% on the Line 6 bandwagon with the HD 500 now being my main piece of gear. I really love it.

My bass player has a floor pod as well, and it sounds fantastic.

I just donated my Digitech RP355 to an old buddy/band mate last week because he is short on noise making gizmos, and it was collecting dust. What's crazy about that, is that I LOVED that unit too. It had all the bells and whistles, USB, programmable from a PC, built in interface... sounded really good (a lot of my recfest submissions were recorded using it as my sole guitar tone maker), an awesome unit, but the HD500 simply blows it out of the water.

I haven't touched my GT10 in probably a year either. Again, it is a great unit, but not up to challenging the HD500.

I have a ton of respect for Yamaha, but I fear they are too "big" to be a good steward for L6 and its way of doing things.

Time will tell.

Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk 4
 
Interesting. I think the comments in here since my last post make a lot of sense on the thinking behind this decision. You guys rock.

As for line 6, I have an old flex tone II, and the amp sounds pretty good with some tweaking of the presets. The models are not spot on copies of the great amps they are trying to copy, but they certainly are useable and sound good. My main complaint about the thing is that they seem to lack some of the 'feel' of a real amp in terms of feedback, lag, etc. I bought it used for a cheap price, so I can probably sell it and not lose too much. About a year ago I tried one of the new pod HD things and I was blown away by the sound quality. The models were fantastic, and they captured a lot of the missing dynamics from the old flextone II. I guess that is what 15 years in processor tech and programming can do. I would totally rock a line6 these days.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top