Line 6 Bass Pod Pro

The Bass pod pro was loaded with features that are great, and also a few that are a drag. I bought mine when they first came out with the Pro. I have used it ever since. I play hard rock/heavy metal, and dabble in a little funk when I am alone. It has tones that fit every genre I have tried.

I wish you could use more than one effect at a time, and I wish that it had some of the reverbs and delays that Line 6 put in the reverb/delay modeling stompbox, but you can't have it all. And the abiltiy to use the built-in wah without buying a floor controller that costs as much as the head unit would be nice. But, it is a bit weak when you finally get to use it. I think you can adjust the parameters of almost every effect with the software, but I haven't played with that stuff.

As for things that I wish were traded off, the synth would not be missed, and I thing the mutron effects are a tad overdone.

I have a Fender MB5 (not squire) with Jazz pickups, a Tapco 800 watt power amp, and a Peavey 410B that I use this with. I get a great sound out of it without much effort. It is deadly silent when you want it to be, and the Compressor is fabulous. I wish you had more control over the compressor, but it still sounds great.

The amp models are close, but no cigar for the most part. But, for the amount of combinations you have to choose from, you can get a surprising amount of seriously funky sound from a bunch of them. What surprised me is the versatility in the EQ. You would need a 31 band EQ to even touch what can be done with this unit. The California(I believe it is the SWR model)setting has some great punch, and seems to be my all around favorite. I usually base most of my user presets on that particular model, and a few around the Adam & Eve (Eden) model.

I have gigged this without backup, and would continue without hesitation.

Line 6 is great as long as you are using the current line of equipment. If you have older units from them, you never know when they will pull the rug from under you (the tone web site).

I have been playing for a few years... don't wanna give away my age any more than my hairline makes me. I am glad I got this unit, and would replace it right away, but I'd probably go with the newer XT as it has a crossover built in for bi-amping.

I really like the fact that I can completely change my tone and actually sound like I am playing something else. The key to getting good tone with the bass pod pro, is using some good speakers that aren't prone to early break-up, and that can schuck out whatever you throw through them even at high volume. once you get the speaker cab lined out, you really need to ditch the bass head and go with a clean power amp that wont add it's own color to the tone. Really, if you are gonna run this through an Ampeg SVT head or a SWR Mo' Bass head, just leave this thing on the shelf and enjoy the tone you committed your life savings to. But good speakers and a clean power amp will help the Bass Pod Pro sing.

This thing is loaded with features. It is great to be able to model all of these amps and sounds. When recording I loved it, as I had some songs where I wanted a more fuzzy tone and then some songs I wanted that clean solid state sound. I was able to do that with the Bass Pod.

Live is another story though. I found that when I tried using the same patches I used when recording, well let's just say it was not pretty. I have a Mesa M2000 and I found that the sound I ended up using on the bass pod, was the same as I had on my Mesa.

I am using two basses, a Spector with EMGs and Aguilar pre-amps and a Hamer with an older set of humbucker EMGs. Both are five string and both have very different tonal qualities. The Line 6 does a pretty good job handling them both, the only thing I don't like is that both basses tend to overload the input. I am a very aggressive player and I find I have to adjust the volume on my basses to compensate in order to keep from overloading the input.

I have not had any problems with it. I was having an issue with trying to run it with the Mesa M2000 as the power for it. Apparently the Mesa does not like this set up and puts in a huge amount of hum. Disappointed, I went with a Crown power amp to power it and it has been fine since.

I called the company when I had the problem with the hum, they had a fix for me, but I am not so inclined to go cut up balanced cables and make modifications. I am just a guy that wants to play and not that geeky about these things. The person I spoke with even offered to come out and make the cable for me. The company is only 10 miles from where I live, but I decided a new power amp was a better solution anyway.

It's a good unit overall. I like it and I use it daily. I don't stray too far from the trusty Mesa though.

Just dial in what you want, there are too many pre set models on the user bank, and they only duplicate the settings on the control knob. There are too many useless effects, and i can see no use for them whatsoever.The manual is very good and fairly easy to understand, even if it is as big as War & Peace. There is only very subtle differences between the amp models,and my main criticism for those is that they all have different volume levels. So if you want to switch between them in a live situation, you have to continually adjust the output level.
The standard and most useable effects are very,very good,and although you can store an edited model, you can not stack them, for instance, if you want chorus and store it then try to add a level of octaver, the chorus you have stored will be over written. If there is a way of having multi effects on, i have not found it yet.
I purchased the Pod Pro to use in a live situation as part of a rack system incorporating a power amp, the system so far has given me more control, and a better sound, regardless of my negative review of some of the features, i am very happy with it.

The sound quality is superb, but as i said before, too many useless effects. I am using it in a rack with a Peavey PV 1500 wired to bridged mono.
It certainley brings out the true sound of your Bass, and that must be good. If like me you have top of the line planks, put them through one of these and see what they REALLY sound like. I purchased an Alembic Stanley Clarke and was not at all impressed with the sound through my standard amp and cab rigs, but since i upgraded to my present set up, it really sings. I also use a Warwick Thumb and a couple of Spectors, and they all sound totally different through this set up. I have tried all the top gear over the years and i have come to the conclusion there is not a noticeable difference between any of them, and the Pod proves it. They are all overpriced and over-rated, you can get all the best rigs through this one unit at a fraction of the cost,

Had no trouble so far.

Havent needed any yet.

My band plays Classic Rock at a wide range of venues and i can get any sound from any era from any band at the twist of a knob.
I have been playing at all levels for over 30 years, and at some time or another have owned or used everything that has been available. This unit does it all, its not perfect, but then what is? but in my humble opinion why spend thousands like i have over the years, when its all here, at a stupid price for what it does.

The "Pilots Guide" as it is called is very straight forward and fairly comprehensive, and as thick as War & Peace.
Using the controls you get what you select.

If,as LIne 6 claim, the amp models are accurate,then it only confirms my opinion that all amps sound very similar.Saying that, all the sounds are very clean and precise. There are "VERY" subtle differances, but most of them sound very alike through a powered set up. Select 5a on the programmed pre-sets and it it supposed to be,"growling mids", more like purring mice. There are a few useless affects,in fact there are only four that would be used under live cicumstances.
My main criticism would be that the effects/amp models/ speaker emulations can not be "stacked", that is, you can't store amp and more than one affect together,ie:- amp model-chorus-octaver etc',at least i have yet to find a way.
I use my Bass Pod Pro through a Peavey PV 1500 power amp, in stereo mode,(A) channel into a 2x15, and (B) channel into a 2x10 with high pass filter

As yet no problems.

As above

Not that big on features but what I use I love.

Sound is great. You will never sound exactly like the modeled amp. But by the time you factor in the ease of use and the fact that you are so close to the tone that NOBODY is going to notice the difference, it makes it a must have. I play with 3 different bands. All are pretty serious about original vintage equipment. Nobody seems to mind. These guys all play 60's Jazzmasters through dual showman...real authentic sounds. They think I sound great. I play a Jazz bass through a Carvin 1000 watter with a 2x10 w/ horn and an 18 bottem. I set it all flat and use the tone from the Line6. Vintage bass gear CANNOT get loud enough to keep up. I do.

rugged. I play by the ocean a lot. I will post more later to let you know if the salt water kills it in the coming year.

If you play live and cover other bands you better get this rig. You can go from jazz to blues to surf in a second. I wish I had gotten this unit before buying a bunch of other gear to get these sounds. I dont use many of the features. I just get 5 or 6 sounds I like and use em. Sounds simple but you try that with your current bass amp.

I have been using the bass pod pro for about a year in my studio. Great for demoing songs quickly. I also like the reamping feature. The software is a must when working in the studio.

I have used it on everything from country to punk and it works great. Just finished replacing all the bass tracks on a punk album. The bass player had 4 10's, 2 15's and a 600 wat amp that he was clipping till it shut off. The speakers were shot but he needed to feel the bass. As I say I replaced all tracks in the mix and he is happy.

No problems with it.

I have bn running my studio for 15 years and this is a really good tool. I have no idea abou using it in a live situation but it will not leave my rack anytime soon.

I have owned the Bass pod Pro now for about 9 months. My big issue with it is that you can only use one sound at a time, no chance of mixing some distortion with flange. To get round this I also use a Alesis midiverb 4 which is connected to the pod via midi. The compressor annoyingly resets its self and does not save, To get round this I also use a Alesis 3630 compressor.Their is also no true bypass so the clean sound for recording is never truly clean. The tuner is very good, it is fast at responding and silent for fast on stage tuning.

I am using a Iceni Zoot custom Hand built with a EMG dc35 & dc35p4 with EMG bqs system. For a Amp I am using a Crown CSL 800 running through 2 custom built cabs 1x15 + 1x12 + h each. The guitar pod pro sounds are very convincing and massive but the bass pod just doesn't get the same results. It just seems like the same work did not go in to the bass pod pro that went in the guitar pod pro. The synth is uncontrollable and un-useable, the tron does not sound like the original. The wah has a massive bass drop out which ends very harsh.

I store it in a SKB rack separately from the amp. I have giged extensively with it so its been thrown in the back of vans without a problem.

as a result of its dependability I have not used this service,

There is things in the hand book that contradict the pod its self e.g. the out puts, in hand book say that a wet sound through one and a dry through the other but it does not work making that useless. Unfortunately the lack of rack mounted bass effects means you don't have much of a choice. As a pre amp the pod is better then most heads for best results use it with a good power amp do not use it with another pre amp. As an effects processor it is not very good at all and for the money should be a lot better, but until digitech or who ever pulls there finger out and makes a rack mount bass effects processor then the pod it is, all we can hope is for a free upgrade from line 6 to fix these problems.

This merely an after some time of ownership review of the Bass POD Pro. My statement, "I will never own another preamp so long as Line6 exists", isn't entirely true. At the time of the review I was using the Bass POD pro as a preamp. In this capacity, the Bass POD Pro responds very well. It sounded great. But after a few months, I decided to record going direct as the box was built to do. I was depressed from that point on. Apparently, the Crest power amp and SWR cab were covering up this piece's weak point, the direct sound. Very uninspiring and flat. Luckily I was able to save my sound plugging bass directly into board or going into Guitar POD Pro. The JC-120 amp model is great for bass. And the direct sound is great through the Guitar POD Pro. The models didn't model the involvement of poweramps very well, and the cabinet models were just about useless.
That being said, as a preamp, the Bass POD Pro is a great preamp in a live rig with a power amp and a cab.
I sincerely hope that I am not the only one to notice this and Line 6 will work to improve as they did on the Guitar POD to POD 2.0 upgrade because I am such a fan of the Guitar POD pro. I have owned it for nearly 1 and a half years and still love it.

i had read about the line six bass pod pro, in a guitar mag.that had reviews on the best eqip. out there back in july! needles to say i dont have alot of money,and ive been wanting something that would give me an overall better sound.... well my band got signed by VICTORY RECORDS in june and soon my band mates i and were aloted some money from our advance to by some new gear. and the line 6 bass pod pro was the first thing i picked out,and let me tell u i am very impressed with it so far although i have only had the opprtunity to use it since the 3rd week in aug.of 2001!

i am curently playing a peavy patriot bass,which i added a bartolini pickup with an e.m.g active preamp connected to it.i am not a fan of the low end of peavy basses but its american made and thats still better than any japanese guitar!and its sounds 100% better! my amp is a hartke 2000 amp that i am running into ampeg 8x10 cab.... now i have always liked a distorted bass or dirty bass sound,
so for about the last 3 years i had been using a roadkill ditortion guitar pedal to get that sound,but not just for the dirt i was also able to gain alot of sustain that my amp and bass together by themselves could not achieve! and playing in a hardcore band and playing metal for the 13 years since i have been playing sustain is essential.
now i havent used the distortion on the pod , because i havent really gotten familiar with it but the clean sound that i am using now with the amp thats modeled after a mesa boogie is awesome,and set at the right volume it does have some grit......which i like alot and plenty of sustain. so i no what ever music i decide i want play i will be able to get a wide range of sounds and GOD HELP U ALL WHEN I GET A NEW BASS!!!!!!!!!!!

have played one gig with it so far,so cant say! but it better not break or i will be very upset..........

the only time i called they were very friendly!

i have had alot of different amps and a few different basses, and i am more happy now with my sound than i have been in along time. overall the thing i like the best it sounds real unlike alot of effects units and i no this awesome piece of eqipment will only get better over time!!!!!!!!!!!!!

from the first time I pulled this thing out of the box I have yet to mess with any of the controls. Every patch on this thing is rock'n.
from Lenny Kravits to Gwar it will blow you away. Spend a little time getting the basics down and you will not be disappointed.

I use a fender jazz Mexican, Ibenaz SR-500, and a vester bass. My power section is a QSC-1450 going into one 4x10 crate (400W), and a 1X15 carvin cab(400W).
Note: the manual states that to get the best sound you must set the master volume at MAX and control your volume on your guitar and volume pedal. chances are that if you run full volume on everything even the "clean patches will sound dirty". I think this was intentional on Line 6's part to emulate the tube sound.
two draw backs:/
1. the synth patch could use a hold feature like that of the boss pedal.
2. the wah can only be adjusted through the PC.
I like the fact that no matter what the room is doing all I have to do is select the correct sounding patch for that time.;)

warning do not use this device if generator power is the only source you will have to use a A.C. REGULATOR!!!! If you do not the voltage spikes and drops will screw it up. Again a VOLTAGE REGULATOR NOT A VOLTAGE CONDITIONER you will need to maintain 117v in this thing not just protect from spikes.
I would never have to worry about a back up as long as I have the voltage regulator.

customer support was fabulous they were very detailed in their support.

I play a variety of music from your heaviest of metal and punk to ska and jazz. I have been playing for 13 years and I have never played on a piece gear that was so user friendly in all my life. My best patch is the Classic sub-dub Hip-hop in your chest slam your face patch A-2!:0
get the floor board it helps a lot in maintaining control.