I need some help from the guys who are into the equipment-side of things. I've been getting disappointed with my guitar sound for a while now and I'm considering to add the Line 6 POD to my equipment, since I hear nothing but good things about it from rock/metal fans, and since everyone from Nevermore to Arjen Lucassen to Gary Wehrkamp seems to use it to get awesome tones. Now I'm seeing quite a few models on the site, so which one to go for? The XT version seems to be the new model, but I remember hearing someone say it's not as good as the old one, the POD pro.
Getting a Line6 POD - but which one?
- Thread starter The King Of Terrors
- Start date
SyXified
Member
The older POD, not the XT, sounds WAY WAY better. The POD 2.0 is just the original POD with an upgrade for more channels and sounds. The POD Pro is the POD 2.0 in Rack Mount version. So you want either the POD 2.0 or the POD Pro depending if you want the kidney bean unit or the rack mount unit.
Mullet Power
aka 'Evil Ernie'
Any Line6 Amp is Awesome....
A lil bit soulless (since is ALL digital), but tha amount of tones you can get out of it and how clean it is rules.!!!
A lil bit soulless (since is ALL digital), but tha amount of tones you can get out of it and how clean it is rules.!!!
Hmm, I just looked everywhere for the older POD pro, and they don't seem to be available anywhere anymore. The store can't get them anymore, ebay has a few but they only ship to the US, Amazon has none, neither has Musik-Produktiv, and the Line 6 online store only has the POD 2.0. I also posted this question at the Petrucci forum, and they don't seem to make much distinction between the older PODs and the XTs. What do you feel makes the older ones superior over the new ones?
the older pods have been discontinued by line6, you can only get used ones. good luck hunting for one.
as far as the differences between the old and the new:
the new pod(xt) has a usb imput
the new pod has a graphic display, making editing tones without a pc easier
the new pod has a re-engineered modeling program. the high gain tones on the first versions of the pod xt were inferior to the previous incarnation; you could easily dial in a good mesa boogie tone with those things. the xt, it took alot of tweaking to get a good tone. however, line 6 has remedied that with the 2.0 version of the xt. you can (for a few dollars more) download some good sounding high gain amps for the pod, including bogner and 5150. i'd say do a search through line 6's forums to get a good feel for whichever is right for you.
as far as the differences between the old and the new:
the new pod(xt) has a usb imput
the new pod has a graphic display, making editing tones without a pc easier
the new pod has a re-engineered modeling program. the high gain tones on the first versions of the pod xt were inferior to the previous incarnation; you could easily dial in a good mesa boogie tone with those things. the xt, it took alot of tweaking to get a good tone. however, line 6 has remedied that with the 2.0 version of the xt. you can (for a few dollars more) download some good sounding high gain amps for the pod, including bogner and 5150. i'd say do a search through line 6's forums to get a good feel for whichever is right for you.
Wow, I've been checking around a bit on the line 6 site, including the forum, and I'm convinced. There's a few guys on the forum that recorded stuff with their XTs and they sound awesome. The easy upgradability via USB, the metal pack and so on... Consider me sold.
i'd like to add one bit of warning; the pod is a superior device for practicing with headphones and for direct recording. to use it as a front end modeler for your existing amplifier will take some tweaking. again, search the line 6 forums for more.
Hmm, you mean it might be hard to get a good sound if you're not using it solely as a pre-amp for a power amp? I guess I should've mentioned what gear I have now, come to think of it: I've an ENGL Fireball (a kind of budget version of the Powerball) with an ENGL cab, and a (heavily tweaked) Lexicon which I use as pre-amp, effects device and just about everything else (it's a guitar processor, pretty much all-in-one).
Personally, I think I've tweaked that Lexicon just about as far as it can go. As a tone freak who's in love with the guitar sound of people like Petrucci, or the kinds of sounds you hear on most prog productions, I just feel I need a lot more clarity, crunch, thickness, etc. The higher strings sound too thin, rhythm is too muddy, and I still have a bit of background hiss I can't get rid of. Basically what I'm hoping for is that the POD can give me that rectified sound without actually having to go for a Mesa amp. Also, the prospect of having access to a whole range of great guitar sounds is very inviting. What I'd like to do is use that POD the way I've been using the Lexicon - plug it into the Fireball (clean channel), since it's a tube amp anyway. Without that Fireball, that Lexicon gain would've sounded like crap, I think.
Personally, I think I've tweaked that Lexicon just about as far as it can go. As a tone freak who's in love with the guitar sound of people like Petrucci, or the kinds of sounds you hear on most prog productions, I just feel I need a lot more clarity, crunch, thickness, etc. The higher strings sound too thin, rhythm is too muddy, and I still have a bit of background hiss I can't get rid of. Basically what I'm hoping for is that the POD can give me that rectified sound without actually having to go for a Mesa amp. Also, the prospect of having access to a whole range of great guitar sounds is very inviting. What I'd like to do is use that POD the way I've been using the Lexicon - plug it into the Fireball (clean channel), since it's a tube amp anyway. Without that Fireball, that Lexicon gain would've sounded like crap, I think.
Progbass
Member
My bro get's a pretty nice rectifier sounds out of his Boss GT-6, I dunno, maybe you can get as good sounds out of POD.
You should try the Berhinger V-amp. I used to use the original POD, and after hearing the V-amp I use it exclusively now. It has all the features the POD has, but isn't as bottom endish as the POD which gives it a cleaner tone. Which of course is a good thing. You can also apply speaker simulations in Live Mode, which is somthing you can't do with the POD. I believe the POD has to be in studio mode in order to use the speaker simulations, and to get the full effect.
Also, you'll pay about $200 for the V-amp as opposed to $500 for the POD. Regardless of what anyone may say, it will not hurt to check it out.
Also, you'll pay about $200 for the V-amp as opposed to $500 for the POD. Regardless of what anyone may say, it will not hurt to check it out.
the_satanic_rabbit
Return of Ganon
I have a POD-XT so I can only speak from that experience. It's been hard using the USB connection and getting a good sound for distorted guitar. However, if I turn the output down I can get great clean sounds.
If I hook up to my amp using the XT as a preamp the tones I can get are very good, I just wish I could reproduce them on the pc via the USB connection. So for now, I'm still using a mic for high gain stuff.
There is also a billion different things you can do with the XT, so it can be a lot of tinkering around. I don't have so much time so that can be frustrating.
If I hook up to my amp using the XT as a preamp the tones I can get are very good, I just wish I could reproduce them on the pc via the USB connection. So for now, I'm still using a mic for high gain stuff.
There is also a billion different things you can do with the XT, so it can be a lot of tinkering around. I don't have so much time so that can be frustrating.
Hmm, I just checked further into it and the V-amps look like very similar devices to the PODs. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a way to hear samples like on the Line 6 site. Damn, choices, choices... Thanks for the recommendation at least, I'll be sure to look more into the V-Amp.
