u/synthpenguin

I don’t agree with all of your points (most of them tbh, which is okay!), but I think in general it’s good to wait to buy something until it’s at a point you’re comfortable with—a point where you can say “if nothing else changed, I’d be happy with my purchase still.” It’s easy to get sucked into buying something when it’s not what you want (yet or ever) just because it’s the new thing.

I’m confident the stability issues will be ironed out, and I believe many of them already have been fixed, and I think the Stadium has plenty of power and room to grow (there is an element of user error with some of the complaints there imo), but if you don’t NEED to upgrade right now, and you’re not an early adopter type of person, there’s really no reason to take a gamble now vs just waiting a bit!

imo Line 6 is very reliable, and while years back some versions of Helix launched with the possibility of certain hardware issues, they have been great about fixing them. I don't expect that to change at all.

But there are always downsides and risks with being an early adopter. We see that across all brands (NeuralDSP, even Fractal, etc), with some being better than others at addressing those problems for current owners. There are some modelers that I wouldn't even buy now, despite presumably being mature, because of their hardware issues.

So, I don't think it's a bad idea to buy one or to wait. Just know the risk that always comes with being an early adopter, even with the best of companies, and decide if the potential hassle, weighted against Line 6's history, is worth it for you. It's a lot of money, so if you're feeling hesitation, then there's no harm in waiting except that you'll get it later if you do decide to buy.

I'm not buying now for other reasons, but if the product matched what I'm looking for more closely, I personally would feel safe being an early adopter in this case. I'd feel pretty confident that if there are problems, they will be addressed by Line 6.