Line 6 Bass PODxt Live

Menus are pretty good and you can get up and running Ok. The edit software is better though but there an issue. You can't set up live bass sounds in you bedroom /music room whatever as you need to run at gig volumes. So a bigger screen would help. As for the tuner is it only me who finds it hard to see the damn thing. What happened to good old red light green light ?

I run this live with and Ashdown rig AMB 300 Mini 48 Min 15. I have to be honest I don't use the amp model much as the Ashdown has such a great core sound for me. what its great for is different effects patches and different basses. I have a bank set up for each bass i have and four programmed sounds in each bank pick / Fingerstyle/Wild (don't ask) and Fretless (softend up finger sound with a touch of chorus and octave) each with a little compression and a noise gate in the chain and sometimes some EQ. And the results are pretty good but it takes time to set up and changes on the night are pretty much a no no. Modelled sounds are OK some better than others and iv'e stuck it straight into a desk and got some good results

No Problems with the unit and if it failed its just plug straight in so no backup needed really. However the padded bag i bought for if from line 6 is crap. Don't get me wrong its all nicely padded and feels great as it should for ??50 GBP. But three out of the four zipper pulls have broken off all in exactly the same way. see customer support

Re my ****e zipperless bag.

I used the forum to send a compliant got an auto reply saying we will get to you in 48 hrs I did this 5 times over three months. Then i rang Line6 UK 3 times each time eventually after listening to loads of options got an answer phone left messages no call back. Eventually I got someone to talk to the response. "oh that's not and electrical problem" your warranty is with the shop you bought from I dais surely its a manufacturing fault for 3 zips to go the same way. "Nope can't help" So i went to the shop, guess what "not our problem its a manufacturing fault" have you tried Line 6 !!!! I'm looking for a combo right now for small gigs Line 6 won't be on my list......

Good products I have a guitar pod too and had the Rack BOD XT before this one. Let down by shocking customer care. If you are listening Line6 we have a choice you know

It was pretty easy to use - much easier if you use the Line 6 Edit software. It requires Java Runtime which I am not a fan of, but once installed, Edit does work well. The Line 6 Monkey was easy to use to update it as well. Using it by itself can be kind of difficult - it has lots of menus. But it is do-able. The tuner could stand to be a little bigger, however - it's hard to see when standing.

I thought it sounded clean overall. Cleaner than the Korg AX3000B or the Boss GT6B to my ear. Both of those had some noise - some hiss and A/D/A artifacts. The Line 6 didn't have any of that. The compressor sounds pretty good - pretty transparent. Some of the FX are good, and some aren't. It doesn't have any really good synth sounds and the wah seems to be a little weak - probably too narrow for a bass. The chorus also seems a little weak - I liked my Boss chorus pedal better. Distortions, octave (though limited in what it can do), and delay FX all sounded good.

So far, so good, but I've only had it a couple of weeks, so no opinion.

I contacted user support through their message board due to an issue I thought I had (it was user error). They responded in a day, so pretty good in that regard. But, like everyone else said, there haven't been any updates for it in a long time and bass players seem to be ignored by Line 6 when it comes to new products.

Pros for this unit - it's clean, flexible, and sounds pretty good overall.

Cons - FX are limited - it seems like they just took the original guitar FX and put the name Bass in front of them. No real Variax support for bass since they've been discontinued.

Even though I have more cons, I do like the unit and will continue to use it. And it sounds pretty good - I've gotten many usable tones from it. I sold all of my pedals to switch to this (I got tired of lugging them all around). I also chose this over the POD X3 Live because of cost. The X3 is $100 more and has a bunch of things I don't need (mic pre-amp??).

These reviews, while helpful to some, have proven to be very misleading for the majority. How many times have you read a glowing review here only to be severely disappointed after buying the product over the internet without having tried it yourself?

Here???s some background on me which will shed some light on my taste in gear, tones, and music. Read this review through the lens of my personality and it may be of use to you.

I play a Les Paul Studio and the tone I go for is obtained by running it through a Mesa/Boogie half stack. I love fat, tight, and saturated distortion and Fender Twin cleans. I go for maximum headroom with both clean and distorted tones and absolutely detest speaker breakup in my tone.

Again, if you are getting any digital artifacts or harshness of tone, then you simply need to take a few minutes to tweak this thing. Out of the box, this unit wasn???t very impressive, but a few minutes of acclimating to its interface proved worthwhile. As a result, I am selling my tube heads, FX pedals, and pedal board. It has made my Mesa/JSX obsolete. This is the opinion of a man who has been playing 15 years and has designed and made my own vacuum tube amplifiers from scratch.

The tones coming from my speaker cab sound amazing at both stage volume and at practice levels. The tone is so stunning and authentic. When I play using my lead tones, it sounds exactly like an ideal (fantasy) Mesa/Boogie which has been processed in a fantasy studio by fantasy engineers.

To summarize, this gear will give you the feel and tones you are looking for. If you ever wanted to know what a cranked Plexi sounds and feels like with a RAT/TS9/Compressor/etc???running through it, then you will have the ability to play this setup for yourself.

If you can imagine it, then you can attain it with this rig. You are limited only by your imagination. This is the stumbling block for all of the people who complain about the lack of authenticity with this unit.

If you are running this through a cheap amp and driving it with a cheap guitar, then it will suck- just as the real pieces of gear it models would with the same setup. People that can???t set up a Dual Rectifier in real life will have the exact same problems with this one, as the tone controls interact the same way.

If you have this gear, invest a little bit of your time! Gone are the days when I have to tap dance between channel changes! I have every classic, modern, and untapped tone available. It's all on me.

Feel fre to contact me if you need any direction or just want to talk about this awesome product.

Finally, I have and choose this product for my bass guitar....I was using bass Roland/BOSS "ME" series, than I sell that ME, and not using another thing to change my "ME"...than I found this thing....It's simple to use and edit the amp and everything....it's easy to use...

Well, I'm using SWR 350X with 4X10 and 1X15 Gallien Krueger Cabinet, than DBX Compressor 266XL and Aphex 204 Aural Exciter (and Korg DT1000 and Furman Electric Distributor in my Rack) with that system my sound is really great, deep, big bottom and really punch....But I need somethin different...I need some stomp box, modulation effect and of course delay effect, than I found this...no noise, great sound...If I connect this thing to my rack amp, I only using the stomp box, modulation or delay effect...not using the amp simulator..so the preamp setting mode is bypass with volume output balance between multi effect with my amp output...

I think, I'll be depend on this thing...this my alternative gig if I play outside my studio. Just Carrying this box to play in everyplace..

Never deal with CS....but i have a problem to register my serial number in the line 6 site...

I play muse, metallica, sting/police, motley crue, the beatles and my song....I think this thing can handle every sound you need....I've been playing for 22 years, just semi pro and hobby. I compare this thing with boss/roland GT6B, Zoom and Bass POD...I think, this is the best...I using Musicman Sabre, Fender Jazz Bass 1966, Fender Sting Signature, Rickenbacker 4002 and 4004, Status Empathy and Ibanez K5...

Easy to work with especially with the PC Editing Software.
It interfaces to the PC for editing and recording via USB.
It also has MIDI. Software also updates the ROM Chips. You don't
have to send it to the factory for a hardware update. Does it over
the internet using their Monkey Software. Also pretty easy to program without the software. Much easier than the Boss GT-6B.
Also great support and patch site at Line 6 and Line 6 Tone Library.

Great Sounds. The amp modeling is superb. The effects are very good and work well with the modeling. You do have to experiement when running through the amp but their forums and Faq sites help alot. Basically run your amp at a netural tone and then use the POD to enhance your tone and add effects. I use scheter stilleto studio 4 & 5 and Carvin RL6815 Cyclops and Yorkville XM200 both great amps. Had the carving for about 6 years now. Lots of patches on their download site so you can find just about any tone you want and tweak just a bit for your setup. Make sure you experiment with your amps before playing live and have everthing setup.

Built like a tank never had a problem.

Great company on the internet. Great Patch Libray and Forums and FAQ's library. Also support via email is good. Takes about 2 to 3 days to get an answer but usually it is very good. The active forums are much faster for help from fellow users.

Much easier to use than the GT06B. Software is great and Line 6 truely supports their Bass Unit Customer (unlike Boss). It was not always that way with Line 6 but withing the last 6 months it has drastically improved.

This is an easy-to use unit. Click edit, scroll through the pages, edit the parameters, click save, name your patch and you're set. Even easier once you get the software to edit via computer (will touch on this in a minute)

Amazing, especially recorded. I bought it as a "cheap" recording preamp that I could also use live. It has surpassed my expectations, nailing everything from a clanky Tool-esque nu-metal tone to a bottom heavy slap, to a thin 70's sounding bass tone. I love it.

I'd rely on this thing. Yeah, the buttons are made of plastic, but I'm not worried too much about that. I'd gig without a backup, easily.

THIS is where Line6 gets dinged. They released the Live version of the BOD, and their editing program doesn't even support it. It's obnoxious, and I'm already bitter.

Fortunately, there's a third party solution for us bass players that actually works better called BassSmith. Extra 50$ for a wonderous editor.

From what I understand, Line6 stands behind their hardware with a passion, and if something goes wrong with the unit itself, they will support it.

I play an eclectic ethnic/electronic/metal that has ballistic moments, and it works great. The effects are top-notch, the USB out makes recording a breeze, and because it's a floorboard, I can still go and run over to my friend's place to jam. It's sounded great through every rig I've put it through, including my crappy 2x15 setup. I look forward to when I get to play live with this thing.

I've been playing bass for 4 years, gotten very into it and am looking at becoming a music major in college. In my experience, tubes have always been better ... until now. I owned an Ampeg SVP-PRO, it sounded great, but this thing has that and ... 27 other amps in it? And it sounds better and "tubier" than the ampeg ever did. Run this through a tube power amp and you actually might die of too much good tone.

My ONLY complaint is the lack of XLR out, but considering the price and other features this offers, I'm not going to complain very loud. For the price, the only thing on the market that's remotely comparable is the BOSS GT-6B, which doesn't have near the quality of sound (or quality of effects) that this has.

This thing is a life saver for me. It's already sped up the writing and recording process immensely, and if it got stolen (Like I let the thing out of my sight ...) I'd buy another one in half a heartbeat (or less).

Overall, for anyone who needs anything from a live FX unit to a full-on amp modeling recording pre, and doesn't want to spend more than 400$, I would recommend buying this, and will do so until something better hits the market. It's THE savior of bass tone for me, and depending on your situation, it very well could be for you too.

It is a little harder to use than the Bass PODXT and XT Pro. You have to bank through more menus to select cabs where on it predecessors you just had to turn a knob. If it had the same format as the other Bass PODs I would give it a 9. Still, after playing around with it for about 20 minutes I got the hang of it. I used it a gig the day after I bought it and didn't have any issues. If you have never used a multi effects unit or another POD you may have more trouble than I did. One other knock down on this unit is WHY DOESN'T HAVE AN XLR OUT???!!!!

The sound rocks. Granted if you want a SVT then get a SVT. If you want a SVT, an Aguilar, a great tube preamp, a B15, ect. and you want to use them all on the same gig; then this is the ticket. Not to mention any comp, eq or effect you could ever need. The cabs and mics sound grate. My set up is a follows: 60's Fender Jazz & 05 Fender Deluxe P bass Special (both with Hipshot D-tuners)through a Tech21 Sansamp DI into the PODXT Live then to a QSC RMX850 powering 2 Ampeg SVT 2x10 and 2 SVT 1x15. I don't always use the cabs. The only thing is the filters and wah effects are weak. If that is your thing you may need an external filter or wah. All the amps and cabs sound as close as you can get to the original. The tube preamp sounds just like the Sansamp RBI which is what this unit just replaced. If it only had XLR outs. I also wish it had a few more modern amps in it. It has tons of vintage and tube amps but the only modern amps in it are already a little dated. Such as GK 800RB, SWR SM400, Eden 300 and that is about it for modern solid state amps. Luckily for me I'm all about tubes. I actually have an Ampeg B15n and B15R. The POD nails it. The B15s are 100 watts and now with the POD I can have that same tone at 1000 watts through my poweramp.

Seems Reliable enough. It is made out of metal so it should hold up. My only complaint here is the foot pads. On all the other foot controllers Line6 makes they use metal buttons like what's is used to true bypass units. On this unit they used the same plastic pads that all the other multi effects units use. These pads have a tendency to wear out over time in my experience.

This is probably the worst thing about Line6,That is if you are a bass player. As one other reviewer so eloquently put it "Line 6 treats bassist like red headed step children". As I mentioned before the unit dosn't have and XLR out. This thing is suppose to replace my amp and there isn't even XLR out to un to the front of house. I still have to run it through a direct box. I just can't get over that.

I have my complaints about it but at the same time if it were lost or stolen I would replace it. For versatility there really isn't anything that even comes close in this price range. Even if you bought the separate PODXT and the foot controller you will pay more and this unit does all the same stuff. I am in 3 bands. I'm in a rock band, a blues band and I play at a large church. I need drastically different tones for all 3. This unit allows me to show up, plug in and recall the perfect tone for each gig every time. Because it is all in one I have even less set up that the other Bass PODs. For that I give this thing a 10.

There is an overall menu going from up to down... the preamp buttons on the top modify it's (preamp) parameter and brings you instantly to it's menu... !@#$%?& Those are realy touch sensitive so if you touch them you loose the menu you where in and sended to the preamp menu... The tweak button is on the right of the screen and the menu selection button is on the left... Have you tryed to use the tweak button with the left hand and seeing the parameter's modification on the screen at the same time ? Your hand is in the way... wow... It realy sucks. Get's frustrating with time! I use the left hand since I play bass to modify my setup since over 10 years I won't change today!

I have a ADA MB-1, Alembic 4 string, Ampeg SVT-4 power, Ampeg 4x10 and 2x10 pro serie (my dream kit that realy kick!). This unit is not noisy at all. It have a tube emulation that is interesting. Can almost the sound of my MB-1... without the dynamics. I think it emulate preamp by using combined compressing, eq, distortion, minim synth ad-ons. With time u get use to how they buid theyre preamp emulation and I can say it's the best of all Bass Effect Preamp simulation I got. The cab are well emulated too! Good job.
For the effect they are realy cool. You have to know how to use them and there is like the DL4 and the Echo pro, good delay effect. You can get this unit if you want to build new bass synth sounds and almost turn your bass into a strange instrument.

I have the Echo pro, I have a Mb-1 for preamp distortion/overdrive (???). I could pass on this one. But If I begin to compose with it I will for shure depend on it.

Line6 are supporting and sharing patch for guitarist on the internet but it seems to be different for the bass community ?!? LINE6 could do better with it's BASS POD COMMUNITY I think...

I play many styles... Rock, Metal, Funk, Prog, etc. This unit is versatile. You will find what you need in it. I've been playing since over 10 years and it's a PLUS into my gears. I like the fact that you can remove one effect at a time in the chain effect, you have the preamp pedal, the stomp box pedal, the mod pedal and the delay/rev pedal... So for a live performance it can be usefull depending the way you use the recall overall program or simply eliminate one pedal at a time... There is also a good feature: re-inserting the main sound into your mix, so if you want to blend the input sound (dry) + the wet (emulated or ??? one...) you can do it and save it's level on each patch. So I can stay with my MB-1 in the background to support the dynamic and bring something strange over it to get the perfect result. ++++ There is a delay that you can add on it's output to match the dry and wet sound, so there is sometime phasing problem of a bass blend and you can correct with it. I would had a relay to control an external physical contact (always usefull).
I would put the control pedal level available for patch saving. It's not...