Line 6... the name that has been bugging me for a while. - Page 2

Distantshore · #16 07-09-2009, 05:35 PM

Some new bar trivia today...or at least some guitar shop trivia!

jay ratkowski · #17 07-10-2009, 11:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EL-CeeDee

I think I have the answer for you

Back when line 6 was a smaller company, they shared a building and frontdesk with some other companies.

The company name was derived from phone line 6, under which they could be reached.

Did you make that up?

Seems weird that you'd have an office before you have a company name.

doctormetal · #18 07-11-2009, 03:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jay ratkowski

Did you make that up?

Seems weird that you'd have an office before you have a company name.

Thais is not that strange as their linkedin page states:

Quote:

The company was founded in 1985 as Fast Forward Designs, Inc. and changed its name to Line 6, Inc. in 1996.

They just don't tell why they changed the name or what it means.

fwd0120 · #19 12-25-2011, 02:24 PM

Sorry to dig up such an old thread, I stumbled on it by accident, but have found the answer (from Wikipedia, but it seems to check out.)

EL-CeeDee: turns out you almost had it....

"Origin of the company

Marcus Ryle and Michel Doidic (two former Oberheim designers) had 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 being developed in secrecy, the receptionist would use "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."