Line 6 LowDown LD300 Pro

The ultimate bass combo for professionals who like to have fun

By Lonnie Rohrbaugh

With the LowDown LD300 Pro Combo bass amp and its little brothers the LD175 and LD150, Line 6 has hit on the perfect combination of bold power, easy portability, a broad palette of high-quality tonal options, and pure juvenile fun. The serious adult side of your brain will be knocked out by the LowDown’s functional features—a tight and brawny 15" speaker, an HF horn, four channels with one-touch scene storage, an adjustable vintage studio compressor model, headphone and CD/DVD jacks, a tuner, and an XLR direct out with POD-based cab modeling. Meanwhile the non-serious, childlike part of your brain will go bananas with the sub-octave, envelope filter, and chorus effects; five bass amp models and a bass synth; and 300 foundation-cracking watts of sonic power.

Hand me that ’fridge

One of the great vicissitudes of being a bass player is hauling around a refrigerator-sized cab in order to be heard above the many apparently stone-deaf guitar players and drummers who plague our nation's nightclubs. Maybe Harry, the hairball, string-breaking, volume freak doesn't mind dragging around amps that are bigger than his car, but I do. So I was very, very happy to grab the LowDown's spring-loaded recessed bar handles and discover that I could pick it up with less effort than lifting my eight-year-old daughter.

Line 6 LowDown LD150

At only 21"W x 26-3/4"H x 14-1/2"D, and less than 75 lbs. the LowDown is no problem for one guy to handle by himself. Its dense carpet covering and heavy mesh grille mean you don't have to worry about dings.

Richter rocker

Though it has a very unassuming stage presence visually, the LowDown is a sonic monster—a veritable behemoth of the auditory underworld. At half volume, this thing set all my basement windows to rattling. Its 300 watts drive that big ol' 15-incher like Barry Bonds smacking a baseball over the fence.

If you're looking for a secret weapon to spring on that obnoxiously too-loud drummer, the LowDown won't let you down. He may snigger at the size of it when you set it on the stage, but he'll soon wonder why he can't seem to play as loud as normal. And five-string basses are no problem; this thing blasts out frequencies so low you hear 'em with your teeth. Its octave effect will go you one better by generating a note a full octave below your bass's lowest note. The high end is also well taken care of; the mutable tweeter has no trouble keeping up with that big 15, letting you slap and pound at the same time.

Line 6 LowDown LD175

Channel cat

The LowDown's 4-band EQ is the most lively I've encountered on any bass amp, and they're obviously tonally specific to the amp model you select. Start by just choosing the Clean setting on the model selector and you can generate a huge range of very usable sounds by tweaking these four knobs alone. To save your tweaks, you just push one of the four self-illuminated channel buttons and hold it down for a few seconds.

The EQ is not all that's saved, every setting on the whole amp except the master volume is stored in your channel and one push brings it all back to life. A channel volume lets you set your levels in advance as well. Pick up a Line 6 FBV Shortboard and it will add an additional 32 channels, all controlled with your feet, FX on/off, wah, deep switch, comp, volume pedal, and more.

Clean, R&B, Rock, Brit, and Grind amp models plus a bass synth Synth further expand your tonal repertoire and a Deep button gives each of them a little broader butt while a Drive knob lets you pile on the distortion. All of the amp models have good things to offer but the R&B model is my favorite, delivering a very funky sound that works great for slappy grooves, especially when combined with the envelope filter, which sweeps a broad swath back and forth through the tonal range like a wah. The rock model sounded like an SVT in a combo, very impressive.

Line 6 LowDown LD300

When you apply the Synth model, the EQ knobs begin to work like oscillator controls on a real synth. Combine this with the filter sweep and you can come up with some truly out-there sounds—perfect for ambient sections and intros. A single knob controls the filter, sub, and chorus effects. Just turn it to the desired range to activate the effect (which is indicated by a red LED), then control the intensity with the 1/3 knob sweep before you reach the next effect. It's a simple and very usable system that keeps you from getting mired in menus when you're trying to keep your muse alive.

Open doors

A headphone jack on the front of the LowDown lets you practice silently and an 1/8" input jack lets you jam along with your MP3 or CD player, which actually sounds pretty good through the speakers, thanks to the tweeter and tight cone. An XLR direct out with cab models based on the Line 6's famous POD models sounds incredibly accurate run through the board live and especially in the studio. I had better luck running straight into my digital recorder this way than I did miking the cab.

For practical daily gigging and practice, the LowDown easily tops any bass combo I've encountered. It's easy to carry and compact, it hits harder than Tyson, it has a built-in tuner, and it lets you dial in any kind of bass tone you could ask for with amazing ease, then save it with the push of a button. And, most importantly, it's FUN!

Features & Specs:

• 300W power
• 15" speaker
• High-frequency tweeter with horn
• 6 bass amp models: Clean, R&B, Rock, Brit, Grind, and Synth
• Vintage studio compressor model
• Bass-specific octave, envelope filter, and chorus effects
• Built-in tuner
• Oversized, high-speed power amp
• 4 programmable channel memories (36 with a FBV Shortboard)
• Headphone jack
• 1/8" CD, MP3 in jack
• Studio-quality XLR direct out with POD-based cab modeling
• 21"W x 26-3/4"H x 14-1/2"D
• 74-1/2 lbs.

Check out Line 6’s other LowDown amps too—the LD175, and LD150. With the exception of wattage and speaker size (and no horn on the LD150), they share the fantastic features of the LD300.