Line 6 Bass Pod

Before I say anything else, I'll just explain the context. I do not own the Bass POD (yet). I have thouroughly digested the PDF file of the manual from <http://www.line6.com>. I tried it out today at a guitar shop for about a half hour. To be fair, I need to give the Ease of Use category a lower rating. The machine is so INTENSELY packed with features and special functions that have to share buttons and knobs. The customization factor is so EXTREME that it practically demands that you spend hours just sitting and tweaking to get all your presets tuned to perfection. You can do MANY MANY things, including a modeled compressor, basic amp knobs like gain and EQ, 16 really cool models of vintage and modern amps, 16 uniquely different modeled cabinets, a whole bunch of cool FX, an air switch to simulate the micing process, a midsweep, a post parametric EQ, an FX crossover, a chromatic tuner, a wah and volume pedal if you buy the floorboard, a noise gate etc. There are countless features, as you can see, and all of them are quite cool, and included wisely. But, unavoidable as it may be, having all these FX in a box with a limited space for buttons switches and knobs creates trouble for the beginner to the POD. Its perfect for the tone nut like me who spends hours tweaking tones just for fun. Ohh and there are a lot of "exceptions." Certain things work for certain amps, ie some have the midsweep and some dont, and on the Vox AC-100 model mids set at 0 is flat and any above is a boost while many others 6 is flat and below or above is cut or boost. But, the manual is written by a guy with a sense of humor, and an appreciation for tone, and it explains everything. For guys like me I would rate this a ten, but I'll have to give it a 7 for all those guys who are not used to pedals with anything more than a drive, tone, and volume knob.

I tried it out with a passive Ibanez bass through a bass amp and headphones. I liked the amp models, I had a lot of expectations, and some were met, some were not, and some were exceeded. I dont know much about Sunn amps, but I was hoping to be able to overdrive the Sunn model to approximate the Chris Squire (from Yes) thick tubey bass sound. Unfortunately, it didnt distort really, not even at ten. Some of the other models gave a good distortion. Marshall Major was fat and awesome like Jack Bruces rig. Like I said you really need to spend some hours days months years just toying with this thing and I'm convinced you will find some of the greatest tones known to bass-dom, or at least a darn good digital replication of these tones. As far as the FX go, some were good, some were not quite so good. I loved the phaser, flanger, chorus, and octave down effects. Very quality sounds. The Tron Up and Tron Down had me wanting to get a bit dare I say funkalicious. Tron Up was a bit too trebly, Tron Down was deep and full and funky. I think, although it could be the other way around. I thought though that the S & H effects were an atrocious waste of knob space. Sounded quite dumb to me. The Synth patch was not terrible, but seemed to be having an awful time tracking my note, and I think for a time the noise gate may have been screwing with it, because it wasnt working right. Like I said, I dug the fuzz pedals. Although with such simply overdriven tube amp models, why bother with overdrive pedals? The cabinets sounded fine, but I dont know enough about them. I give it a 9 only because of the trouble I had with some of the FX. Nothings perfect, though this comes close.

??? I dont own it. It is made of plastic I think so I would be careful with it. Digital things can be weird too, and when they mess up its a lot bigger pain than replacing an old tube or fuse. But it seems quite dependable.

Very nice people, great website. I think the manual was great. I emailed them a couple times and they sent me a Cd in the mail of sample tones.

This is a guitarist style toy. Granted. Conventional bass players traditionally do not use effects. A good deep clean amp and a quality clean toned bass are the staples of bass players. But Im an eccentric bass GUITAR player who plays a Rickenbacker and digs fuzz. I love cool bass effects to augment a part and help it stand out. I love tube tone. I love the sound of tubes being overdriven smoothly into warm rich musical overdrive. So this "toy" fits right in line with my musical taste. I despise the notion of plugging a bass direct into a mixing board without any preamplification or tone shaping. People who like one solid clean sound and record direct should steer clear of this box. He who uses the Bass POD instantly jumps out of the mix, no longer merely being supportive but being a truly interesting part of the music. So if you are scared to stray from the root and the 5th, go and get a good solid state head and cabinet instead. But for the twisted tone crazed minds of the remaning minority, this is quite a unit. I plan on buying one eventually. If/when I do I will repost if my opinion changes.

Ok dear bass players, you want a decent sound, just turn the knobs. Everywhere you can have very good copies of the amplifiers you love. BUT, if you want the best from this incredible unit, YOU MUST READ THE MANUAL. Don't listen to the "I don't need no stinking manual" thing. In the manual, well written but not for morons, you find the way of using the black box in the best way. In the one that I have there was no Soundiver (has not been released yet), I don't know about the power of the software. If it will be like the guitar POD, it will be wonderful. DO NOT CONNECT THE BASS POD WITH SOUNDIVER FOR GUITAR. Doing this will erase the Bass POD memory and you will have to hard reset the unit.

I use Stingray Music Man, Fender Precision '72, Eminence electric upright, Ibanez SR500 without frets and I own a SWR Basic Black. The sounds, going into a Mackie 1202 with both D.I. and amp outputs, are incredible. All of them. I know most of the model, and I had to record them. What you obtain is almost the perfect sound for recording. If you want to drive your amp is fine, a lot of drive and punch. I have to admit that the effects are not the best around. Compression is really good and useful, chorus, sample and hold, flanger and drivers are good, the Mu-tron is weak. I own a Q-tron that I use after Bass POD and it is ways better than the one inside. BUT, if you want to dig the effects they are better than some comprehensive unit out there. What is really incredible is the selection of cabinets. READ THE MANUAL, and you will have fun, a lot of fun (try the 18"...)

Built,according to the family tradition, like a tank

Some of the reviews that I red were saying that the customer service is not that good. They answered to me in 12 hours, with competence and humor. A suggestion: Don't be nasty with the customer service, and they will help you promptly. They know what they are doing.

You are doing home or semi-pro recording? It is for you. I am a grown-up musician that has kids and play during the night. I play jazz, blues, R&B, and I do the arrangements for some "techno-grunge" bands of young friends. You can record your bass and invent new tones in a very experimental way, as well as record or dig some of the most classic tones in bass world. I don't gig around (although I did), I can't rate that part. But as far as I am concern Bass POD (and his red brother as well) will follow me in every recording environment I will go. You can process everything through them, everything will improve.

The Bass Pod is very easy to use. If, like me, you prefer twisting knobs over scrolling through pages of menus, then this unit will make you happy. The accompanying manual covers a variety of hook-up situations in detail. Every manufacturer in the music industry should read a Line 6 manual and take notes. The guys at Roland should do this twice. Line 6 manuals are well written and informative. The stories behind each amp model are entertaining for gear heads like myself. My only complaint is with the SoundDiver software for this unit. I have used SoundDiver for other instruments (Roland and Alesis keyboards), and I just don't like it.

I use this unit primarily for recording in Cakewalk Pro Audio 9. It is very clean. Having a direct and a modeled out is a nice feature. Each of the amp models seem to have a distinct tone and feel. I especially like the 800RB, Marshall Major, Sub Dub, and Mesa Boogie settings. The effects are great, with the most notable ones being the Mu-Tron and chorus patches. I rarely use distortion on a bass track, but this unit will deliver it. I just wish Line 6 had included a delay. Many users would gladly give up one of the distortion or modulation effects for a basic delay. Perhaps this would have driven up the cost of the unit. The overall sound quality on the Bass Pod is far superior to most of the bass multi-effects units that are on the market. It is cleaner and actually generates a variety of distinctly different tones.

I have a Line 6 guitar amp and it has never given me a problem. Once, I knocked the amp (which sits on top of a 1x12 extension cabinet) over. I plugged it up and it worked fine. After owning a lot of gear from a variety of manufactures, I can honestly say that Line 6 products are made as well as anything else out there.

Line 6 has a great website. I am glad they went ahead and shipped these units even thought the CD with SoundDiver wasn't ready. You can download it from their website, but I don't think I'll bother. Everyone I have spoken that has contacted the company have had good experiences.

This is a great solution for recording bass. I am eager to use it live setting so I can vary my tone some. If you are thinking about buying one of the bass multiple effects processors on the market, be sure to check the Bass Pod out. It is a serious piece of gear, not just a plastic box that makes funny sounds. Sure, I wish it had a delay, but the box (actually its a bean) delivers an incredible number of features for the price.