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This is my current distortion pedal. Line 6 has pretty much mastered the amplifier modeling technology, or at least they are a lot better than the competition. Their modeling amps do some cool stuff, as does the POD for personal playing.
The DM4 is a distortion modeling pedal. In traditional Line 6 style, the design is so simple that anyone can use it without resorting to the manual. Knobs allow the selection of one of 16 different modes, as well as Drive, Bass, Mid, Treble, and Volume. The bottom has four metal switches that can each be programmed to a different setting for quick switching during a set. It also features a true bypass mode to bypass all electronics and give you a clean signal to the amp, and an optional true pedal attatchment.
Now, to be honest, I've don't have most of the effects or amps that this thing tries to model, so I can't really say how accurate they are, although the harmony central reviews claim they are pretty accurate. What I'm more concerned about is that the first time I used this thing, I was able to get a huge variety of sounds very easily. It's got almost every type of distortion you could want (except perhaps for the distortion used on Radiohead's song Exit Music (from a film), which I have no idea how they got). I compared it to my big muff, and I can get the same great drive and tone as the muff. It did take a while to get the settings right, as the DM4 has 5 tone and volume adjustments opposed to the muff's 3, but really this just makes it more flexible.
Anyway, let's just say I love this thing. If you like collecting pedals and having huge pedal boards, go for it. For people like myself who mostly play for pleasure and want an easy way to have a variety of sounds, this thing is hard to beat. On the down side, it takes 4 C batteries unlike most pedals which take a single 9V, but it can also use a power adapter (yay!). The other thing I don't like about it s that it only comes in this really stupid looking gold color...
Here are the modes and the amps/effects they are based on.
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