The last few weeks have been stressful for Frank Ritchotte. As the man who oversees production, global distribution and support for Line 6, a new product release like Stadium is daunting. He's been here before, but that doesn't make it any easier.

The story of Helix Stadium isn’t just about gear. It’s about the way Eric Klein’s brain refuses to stop working. His fingerprints are all over the Helix family of products, and now, the company’s new flagship-in-waiting: Stadium.

In 1998, Line 6 launched the original POD and ushered in the era of modeling for the masses. Today, the Calabasas-based company — acquired by Yamaha Guitar Group in early 2014 — estimates that well over 1.5 million units bearing the POD name have been sold throughout the world. That figure includes the original POD, and other bean-shaped devices like POD 2.0 and POD XT, as well as various floor and rack-mounted units like POD XT Live, POD HD500X and POD X3 Pro. But in 2015,

Frank Ritchotte starts his day early. In fact, you may find him at the gym shortly after 3 a.m. — but by then he’s already spent a considerable amount of time on his phone. Such is the life of Line 6’s senior director of operations. He usually arrives to the office by 5 a.m., but not before he’s caught up on any messages from customers and browsed a sampling of select websites to get a feel for the recent Line 6-related activity. "Social media has come a long way, a shockingl

Brandon Frenzel lives in two worlds. On the one side, he’s a Line 6 Product Owner, which means that he’s ultimately responsible for delivering quality products to the marketplace. “I think it’s a lot like an entrepreneurship role,” he says of the title. “We come up with an idea, get reactions from customers and then company funds us to build it and prove it out.” The cycle begins with Brandon (and those like him) identifying needs and opportunities in the marketplace and exis

Eric Klein is from a generic small town in South Dakota. A blink-and-you-almost-missed-it kind of place where life and conversation circles around high school football rivalries and how the crops are coming in. “Needless to say, being a music geek was" — he pauses for effect — “less than optimal, socially speaking.” His family moved from South Dakota to Arizona when he was sixteen. “Getting to see live bands every weekend was life-changing,” he says. “There was one month i