Line 6 GuitarPort

Very easy to use,just plug in,install and download drivers,takes a bit of tweaking in sound options on your DAW to get it working but definitely very simple and user friendly

Clean sounds are amazing
Rythm Distortion is very good but takes a lot of tweaking
Lead Tones are very very dodgy,takes ages to find the right sound

Very reliable product but Line6 aren't very reliable to buy products from

Their site is good but misses a lot of the small details such as how it would be better to buy their higher up models and get all the add-on packs preloaded

"Thank you for buying a guitarport now please spend another 100 euro buying model add-on packs we were to scabby to include with your purchase.......oh and don't forget to pay your monthly fee to USE the guitarport online software,yes we like to inform all our customers of the small print before they buy our products"

This would have been a much better slogan to have put on the front of the box,least then I would have known what I was in for

Don't get me wrong its a good product but the whole online thing is Bulls**t!!!!!!!!
the money grabbing bosses should be taken out into a field and bet with a stick,
Your better off buying one of the toneports or the pedalboards,don't buy into the lies that the front of the box feeds,I'd return it but its passed its return period

Install the software, plug the thing in and you are away!
If you have problems with this, then get geek squad to install your printer!

Firstly, choose your amps carefully! Not really being a gear head I found the array of options both bewildering and confusing! However, after searching through the (free) user/Line 6 tones on-line (and finding out what my favourite guitarists used on-stage) I began to find my favourite amps. But that aint all! There is also a wide variety of cabinets and 4 microphone settings to play around with (before you even look at the effects) which all do exactly what you'd expect.
Minus points, they can't make a bad guitar sound good. Also though you have to remember that pickups do exactly that (they 'pick up') so it's a good idea to get your guitar as far away from the computer monitor as possible (even on a laptop TFT), oh, and make sure your guitar is adequately earthed too!

It's not broke yet, and all the cables are standard size so you can replace them cheaply too!

Line 6 Monkey - well named as whenever I need to update the GuitarPort/GearBox software the Monkey will install a new copy of itself to Windows ALONGSIDE all the others (every few updates I have a big 'Download the latest version then uninstall eveything before reinstalling the latest drivers' party to stop my 'uninstall software' menu being full of the bloody Line 6 Monkey!

I use this as a guitar practice/recording set-up and frankly can't see myself ever messing around with mic's, amplifiers and the need for silent recording environments again. What you might lose in 'genuine tone' can be more than fully offset with ease of recoring, being able to clean up/dirty the track with VST in your recording software and the fact that now there is a plugin, you don't even need to re-record if you suddenly decide that it would have sounded better through the '91 JCM 900.
Great!

I use this as a headphone amp and sounds pretty good thru phones. For practicing with rifftracker and subscription it really can't be beat.It is a little noisey. i have had had some problems upgrading software, But did get it fixed.

For a headphone practice amp sounds pretty good.

Held up

Online support is a joke a big waste. Live support is good as long as it is on California time. You can't email that easy with your problem.

As a headphone jam amp this is really fun.

I've got the GuitarPort straight out of the box. No subscription/updates, so I don't use it to it's full advantage. However, what I've heard I like. It's quite simple to install/open/change/edit/play.

The sound quality is terrific on some, and decent on others. No bad patches. I will say that there is a little his from time to time with certain settings. Even with the noise learner, or whatever it's called, it doesn't take all of it out. The clean channels are amazing, but the distortions need a little tweaking. But again, I'm sure there are cool downloads for it that I'm not aware of.

Sucks for acoustic... but then again, it wasn't made for that.

Very reliable... now. When I first got it, I had the same problems as a few other reviewers had. My computer just couldn't find the darn thing. After I reinstalled it once, it never happened again.

Come on... I'm an aspiring musician. I'll figure it out on my own. :)

I play comtemporary Christian music, and our sounds range from clean, slight distortion, to heavy distortion. It helps me with all of it. I use a free recording program and it picks up the guitarport since it's USB and I get to make rough copies fairly easy with decent sound. I'd recommend it to anyone who just wants to jam out and have fun. As far as recording, you'd have to REALLY get the setting right.

Play on a Parker Fly Classic, Yamaha Pacifica, Dillion Prototype, and Ibanez SA

If you can habdle Ipod with your computer,
you can also use this easily.

Most first-time buyer expect it's reviews in terms of it's reality.
It's like powdered milk comparing with real fresh milk.
Someone can say that powdered milk is not so bad compared with real milk, and someone can't.
I can say this is definately NO more than powdered milk cause i know the taste of real fresh milk.
Don't even expect real Mesa or Marshall.
But it's not really bad as a powdered milk.
If you have decent monitoring system rather than cheap computer desktop speaker,the sound can be huge improved.

No prooblem. seems to be matched well with other recording software or hardware.

I'm not using guitar port online.

Overall,this is nice product providing large field of usablity at low cost.
Amp modeler,Audio interface,effect at one time for the money.

The Gearbox software is easy to use and very intuitive. As a first-timer I had no problems doing exactly what I wanted to do. And for your downloadable songs from GuitarPort online it will switch to the proper patches on the fly, which is absolutely awesome. I have no major complaints about the Gearbox software. It's easy to set up whatever modelling you want, whichever effects and edit them with ease. Even calibration for hum-cancelling is a breeze.

The worst part about the GuitarPort is the poor management software and the way in which it is upgraded. By management software I am referring to Line 6 Monkey and not Gearbox. So here's the deal, you install the software off your CD. Then you need to start up Line 6 Monkey, which searches for updates while it's starting. It finds an update, downloads, forces you to quit Line 6 Monkey, installs the software, then automatically starts with the new version. It did this SIX TIMES. ONE patch, please!

Upon loading Line 6 Monkey I had to download and update everything individually - drivers, Gearbox software, GuitarPort firmware. It's good that it shows you there is an update available and what version you are at, but it's a little too much work when updating software should be a breeze at this point.

I have been using the GuitarPort with a Fender American Standard Strat and a BJ Rich Ironbird with DiMarzio X2N and Air Norton pickups.

I'm having a little trouble getting the exact metal tone I'm looking for, but I have found some really good tones that I've been using for a bit. There's a downloadable metal pack as well as a few others that give you a large amount of additional options and effects to play around with.

The sound is excellent. The software does a very good job of cancelling extra noise and you'll be surprised by just how quiet everything is except what you're actually playing. It's stunning, really. And if you aren't playing anything it's dead silent. I only had a problem with a lot of noise on the patch for "Sharp-Dressed Man" which was easily fixable by reducing the amount of drive and it still retained the gain I needed. Overall the software is very quiet even when using single coils. I was absolutely blown away by the patch for Cliffs of Dover. It's dead on, no joke. Sounds absolutely amazing.

I don't know yet. Considering it doesn't actually do anything except sit there on my desk, I hope I don't have any problems with it.

This is by far the best guitar-related purchase I have made. I am REPLACING a Marshall DSL401 combo with this since I really only need something to practice with at home. There are a plethora of different sound combinations you can get out of this. The software is really easy to use, and GuitarPort online is really good. Lots of great songs to choose from and learn how to play, as well as some originals, some jam tracks to help you with your playing, and a whole bunch of lessons as well, some from Line 6 staff and some from famous guitarists.

I can be cheap sometimes and I wish ALL you had to pay for was the GuitarPort itself, but if you want GuitarPro Online it's 80 dollars a year, and you will need RiffTracks software if you want to record, supposedly. I don't see what's stopping me from plugging the audio out of the GuitarPort to the line in on my sound card and just recording directly, though. I'll have to try it sometime with a freeware software recorder and hopefully avoid paying the 100 bucks for RiffTracks.

If you're on the fence about this product, just get it already. It's cheap and awesome.

I got ther version with the Riff Tracker software. Overall it is very intuitive to use and I have used it to record a few songs.

The guitarport does a really good job with high gain sounds. There are a few good clean sounds to be found with it too. I mainly got this with the intention of recording demos on the computer and it does a really good job of that. It is also really easy to record two tracks over each other (but using different pickups). After the volume levels are appropriately adjusted, the resulting sound sounds very close to professional level recordings. The instant drummer doesn't record sound as good on recordings. It doesn't have as much low end kick or high highs as I would like. But if you don't want the instant drummer in your recordings you can very easily turn it off.

I don't like the effects as much and tend to prefer stompboxes over them.

I have had no installation issues, and have not had any problems in the 6 months or so that I have owned it.

This is an excellent piece of gear if you want to get into home recording. I also have gotten additional instant drummer sessions for a larger variety of drum beats for the stuff I have recorded (you can listen to them online and get ones that fit the genre of music you play). The sessions that come with the Riff Tracker software tend to be somewhat limited in their usefullness.

Super easy to use. All the Morons who have trouble with this are just that ... Morons. Hey if you are one of the "computer challanged" then hey!! Dont buy an emulator that is designed only to be used on the computer. Go out and get yourself a nice rack and amp's and stick with waht you "can" do. Better keep the rack REAL simple though cause if working this was hard for you Id hate to see you work a rack of effects.

Does alot of sounds and does them pretty good. for 50.00 you cant go wrong for playing around.

Yuppers

seems ok so far

For the money and as a tool it's far undervalued and very capable.

The guitar port is very simple to use. The intalation was a snap and I was instantly pleased with my purchace. It sounds even better with the free upgrades. I have had the guitar port for about 2 years now and it keeps me playing.

The sound quality is great, especially with headphones.It may not sound exactly like a Marshall plexi or a fender deluxe reverb, but it is close enough. The effects are of a very high quality and the overall sound is very powerfull. I use the guitar port with a Gibson Les Paul standard and it sounds killer.

2 years and not a single problem yet and I use it often.

Don't know, havn't needed it.

I would have to say that this is simply a great product. I have been playing guitar for 25 years, some of those professionaly and I am somewhat of a tone snob. I own a Marshall JTM45 amp and a Fender deluxe reverb (pre CBS)and I can tell you the guitar port is an amazing deal. It's sounds are truely inspired and it never gets old. If it cost twice as much, it wouls still be a great deal

Couldn't be easier. Just follow directions and there should be NO problems whatsoever. I've been recording with DAWs for nearly a decade and this is as easy to install and use as any other hardware/software tool.

I don't know where to begin. I guess I'll start by bashing the so-called purists and self-proclaimed tone experts.

For starters, I HIGHLY doubt that, of the 100 plus reviews submitted for this product, any reviewers have ACTUALLY played through more than two or three of these amp/cab models. Unless you've worked in major recording studios that happened to have a large variety of these models, then you are simply spewing smoke.

Perhaps the most absurd thing of all are people mentioning the GuitarPort in the same sentence as "playing live". Or those that are hooking the output to an amplifier!

This gadget was NOT designed to be amplified. It is designed for the signal to be kept in the digital domain. Please read the last sentence and re-read it various times. If you "get" what I am saying, and will use it in that manner, then you will find the GuitarPort to be a VERY useful tool and will MORE than appreciate its sound quality.

I use the GuitarPort with a Carvin Bolt SSH guitar in the following configuration:

- The GP is pluggeg into a 750MHZ P3 with 550 Meg RAM via USB.
- My soundcard is the superb sounding Gina 24/96. One pair of
outputs of the Gina are sent to the GP(via a 2 1/4" to single mini
converter cable).
- The stereo outputs of the GP are then sent to a Mackie 16VLZ
via an RCA to 1/4" converter cables.
- The mixdown of the Mackie is sent to a Pentium 4 2.8GHZ Win XP
running Sonar Studio, Soundforge and numerous plug-ins.

With that setup I am able to record highly convincing guitar tracks. By convincing I mean that they sound like a real guitar; PERIOD. I could care less if it sounded like my Twin or Marshall or any other combo.

The bottom line is that, in a mix, the recorded tracks sound GREAT.
For anyone to say that the models offer no crunch, or that the tones are thin, is a head-shaker.

I am able to emulate/approximate THREE guitar tones: Hackett, Pettruci and Gilmour. The latter requires some creative post processing in Sonar to get that WIDE Gilmour sound. But for a DAW system which cost me less than $3K(software and hardware) I am more than happy with the results.

I'll give the GP an easy TEN for Sound Quality. If you know what you are doing and work CAREFULY and METHODICALLY within the digital domain you should be able to record professional sounding guitar tracks.

I can't see this thing breaking apart, unless its stomped on.

PLEASE UNDERSTAND...........This is NOT a unit to take to live gigs. It's not intended for that.

Haven't needed support and can't even imagine why I would. This thing is as intuitive as any other device in my studio

I've been playing piano/keyboards for over 30 years and began playing guitar about 15 years ago. My style of music is an eclectic mix of symphonic electronic and progressive rock. Imagine Vangelis and Camel with some Hackett thrown in. I am currently recording a CD which I hope to release within the next year and a half.

I have nothing but praise for the GuitarPort. It's extremely easy to use and sounds fantastic. But, learn how to work it and learn its limitations. For instance, do not expect to bring the GP and your laptop to your band's practice and expect it to sound like your "real" amp rig. C'mon! When I hear those comments they make me cringe.

Use the GP as it was extended to be used and you will love it!

This product is designed to play and record music through your computer. It does this well and serves its general purpose. It only takes a few minutes to get up and running then you just plug and play. You've probably read most of the reviews by now and may be a little sceptical on whether to buy this thing or not. I have all the updates and have bought the classic collection patch and the effects pedals patch for it. The latest update was for the gearbox software which has a few revisions to the compressor models and adds 2 extra amps: an orange head and a marshall 1974x head.
My setup when recording is a Fender Deluxe Players Strat with a Seymour Duncan JB Jr. bridge pickup, or an Epiphone Les Paul with a Gibson 498T in the bridge and a Gibson Burstbucker Pro in the neck. I use Mogami cables and run it into a BBE Sonic Maximer then into the guitar port.

The sound just through my computer speakers did sound thin and weak but i decided to try and do something useful with it. Being new to recording on a computer i searched the internet and found some recording software to use. Since i didn't want to spend too much i got the cheapest one that had some of the specifications i was interested in. I went with the mixcraft software by acoustica.
This was an excellent choice on my part. After spending just a few hours tweaking the sound i wanted through my computer speakers, i started recording. I had a whole song completed with 5 different guitar parts all using a fender deluxe players strat with a jb jr humbucking bridge pickup installed. After recording and mixing with the mixcraft software i burned the cd and put it in my car stereo. I truly couldn't believe how good this sounded. Now i really don't think that the cheap recording software had anything to do with it but it did sound much better after being burned down to a cd and played on a real stereo.
The first song i recorded had an acoustic rhthm using the acoustic piezo model, an electric clean rhythm using the vox ac-30 model, an electric lead track using the soldano slo-100 model, and another electric guitar track using one of the odd stompbox models in the effects patch i purchased that had some sort of bubble wah echo sound.
Since then i have recorded about 10 songs with the guitar port and mixed them down using the mixcraft software and have been very pleased. I got asked to join a band and brought my cd as my audition and they thought i had been to a real studio to record but i told them i did it on my computer and mixed it myself. They didn't believe it till i showed them, so needless to say i got the gig anyway.
Now as i've said i am very new to recording but like to think i have a good ear for tone and i believe the guitar port is a very useful practice tool but with the right amount of time spent you can get some very good tones from it, rivaling closely the amps that are modeled, tubes and all.

Haven't had a problem with it yet.

Haven't had to call anyone.

This is an incredibly good deal for the price. You really can't beat it. Great for beginners and wanna-be's alike. I've been playing for 15 years and have gone through a few amps and a room full of stompboxes but this has it all at your fingertips.

Well if everything goes right in the installation it is a piece of cake after that. If not, well the ride gets bumpy fast. Mine was fairly trouble free to get up and running and after that it is a web browser with effects. The Guitarport Online feature is pretty cool really and a great idea were it not for the crappy sound quality coming out of this thing complete with pops, clicks and drop-outs.

As a I read through the reviews for the GuitarPort, I sat thinking that people must be easily impressed. All my music room signals are being fed via a Yamaha mixer to a pair of Tech 21 Power Engine 60 powered extension cabinets. This includes a Vox TOnelab, Boss DR-880 Drum/Bass Rhythym machine, mid-line Yamaha keyboard and of course the GuitarPort. All the other sources sound stellar but not the GuitarPort. It sounds like crap and no amount of tweaking in the software makes it better. It's not like I'm comparing this unit to one of my tube amps either. The upside is that the strengths of the GuitarPort do not have to include stellar sound quality because it is an excerllent practice device -- provided you can overlook the crappy tone anyway. So far I have, but my tolerance grows thin lately. And lest you think I am talking about high gain sound and the noise that such settings would have, wrong. I'm talking clean tone all the way, with no effects either. This is pure unadulterated digital noise, probably from the Universal Serial Bus (USB). My computer is a nearlyu new Sempron machine with 1GB of memory and everything else on it is without issues.

All that said, even while there is a few seconds of good performance, the models and effects aren't all that but hey, the thing costs $100 and it is designed for practice after all.

Well let's see. Every 2-3 times I boot up may machine, the GuitarPort can't be located and driver tries to find it repeatedly until it eventually gives up. My choices when this happens are to reboot and hope for the best next go round or reinstall the drivers to help it remember. Either is a time consuming PITA, but I hold no hope of Line6 doing anything about it anytime soon either.

You're kidding right? But I have to give them their props for at least releasing new software once in a while -- even if I have to wonder what it is they are fixing. I think that the unit forgetting how to load itself and having nearly continuous clicking and popping noises along with drop-outs is fairly serious and so far no update has fixed those things. Makes me wonder how serious the things are that they are fixing.

As a stand alone modeling unit, I'd give this about a 2-3 maybe. The beauty of this product is the online facilty though which, while it costs extra every month ($7.95/month US) provides a decent number of lessons, backing tracks and jam tracks to keep a beginner pretty busy for a while. I have pretty much gleaned the things I wanted from the service now and I'm all but ready to sell off the GuitarPort very soon. Guitar newbies with computer skills will like this product I think, especially if they have a hard time finding a decent guitar teacher. The online part I'd rate at 8-9, making the aggregate score something like 5-6. What the heck, I'll give it a 6 for the benefit of the doubt.

I bought this as a learning tool and to get some idea of what different amp, cabinet and effects sounded like. I've found editing "patches" rather easy. If my edit sucks, I keep changing it until it sounds OK. The manual is nicely laid out, but it could describe things in more detail. Currently using edition 2.5

I'm using this through a Sony Vaio with a Creative Soundblaster Audigy LS sound card. I could use a better pair of earphones. I usually take one of the stock amp/cab/effects sounds and modify it. There are few effects, like compression, that could use some extra models. I'm slowly getting to my favourite sound, but there could be more amp/cab models with out having to spend another $99.

Had a problem with it once - kept cutting out - then it stopped doing that. Couldn't figure out if it was the guitarport, the cables, the USB Port, the axe or what.

Haven't use it too much. Usually found what I wanted. Have not used the Online Service for $8/mo. US het.

I fool around with different stuff, but mostly blues, blues rock. I played for 10 years, quit for 30 and started again last year. What I like about it, is that I can experiment with different amp models, cabs and effects without mortagaging my life,... and with a set of earphones. There are no other products like this so I'm happy it wasn't a wipe-out. Like I said before, I wish it had more amp.cab/effect models without having to pay as much as I did for the unit.

It is definitely good value for the money.

This review is for the Guitar Port & Rifftracker recording software. The Guitar Port is what it is and meant to be: very easy way to play your guitar into a computer via a usb port. Had no issues loading the Guitar port box and software. I was using it in less than 10 minutes! Of coarse my computer & speakers are not a marshall head and cab, so the audio is as one would expect: very low output or on my computer anyway. The amp models and effects are fine for what they were meant to be: computer based digital clones. The Rifftracker recording software however is not as well received by myself. The jury is still out on this part of the package, and a CAUTION, it does not come with any user manuals or documentions at all! Nor can you down load a user manual from the Rifftracker or Line6 website. ONly have overview and questionable demos. I am not entirely stupid, I used Audicity with their limited product support, but warning their is not any real support for Rifftracker. You are suppose to be able to learn rifftracker on the fly, which is fine, but makes me wonder why no user manuals?

it's a computer program, that clones amps and effects, so it sounds fine for what it is.

no experience here

It's pretty easy to use. It installed correctly and I was able to play sounds out of my computer/studio monitor system.
Editing patches is very easy. I am running Version 2.5. The clean sounds are more convincing that the dirty.

My setup is a Charvel Model III, a Kramer XLI with Dimarzo drop in and a Les Paul.
If you were thinking you're going to get a real distorted amp tone like on a record think again. You can get rock sounds, but up against my Rocktron Voodu or Digi 2112 which both emulate/model, this thing is sort of a joke. It is a good place for a beginner to start. The effects are good and it's cool to have a U-vibe but the basic sound is tinny, digital and harsh. I'm unable to recreate most the demo PodXT sounds from the website... like Eruption. You'd think they'd be patches. Doing my own tweaking I was able to come up with some descent early Van Halen and AC/DC tones. Clean tones are okay I guess. The cabinet amp models all seem to just be different EQ settings. When I go through the presets for the Demo song, they all sound like the same sounds with different EQ. The sound quality is passable as a practice amp and for $100 it's probably worth it for that. I have to agree that it's a toy, but great for practice. If you want to record, get a quality direct in unit.

I can depend on it as a practice amp.
It's not made for a gig.

Haven't had to deal with it.

All in all it's kind of cool. I like fiddling with it.
What style of music do you play? Van Halen, Rock
Is this a good match? Can come close to early VH.
How long have you been playing? 20 years on and off.
What other gear do you own? Johnson Millenium, Laney Pro-Tube, Rocktron Voodu Valve Online
If it were stolen or lost, would you buy it again or get something else? Probably wouldn't get it again.
what do you love about it? Playing through the computer with high gain at low volume. Can record as a single track easily. Built in metronome.
What do you hate? The tease of hoping to get an Allan Holdsworth or Ty Tabor sound and not being in the same universe. Plugging in my Rocktron back in and realizing how bad the sound is on the Guitarport.
What is your favorite feature? U-Vibe, Metronome.
Did you compare it to other products? there are none comparable
Why did you choose this one? Gift

The program is pretty easy to use. I have had no trouble playing around with it. There is so much stuff on here though that it has taken me quite a while to play with all of the sounds enough to know what I want to do with it.

It sounds good enough. I use my computer and the guitar port now as my amp. I do not play live and this piece of hardware has enabled me to be a one man band. I mixed my songs down and put them on my iPod and they sound like professional quality recordings to me. When I was in bands as a teenager and my early twenties, every band I knew would have killed to be able to record at this quality for this price.

I had a little trouble with the installation and I could not find my issue in the help manual or online. I called customer service and the guy just kept telling me to check the manual or go online. I eventually figured the problem out on my own.

I am very happy that I bought the Line 6 Guitar Port. It will serve me well and does exactly as I need it to do. I love the recording capabilities of this thing. The guitar Port has truly helped me with music writing. The drag and drop feature in the Riff Tracker makes writing and putting songs together relatively simple.

I have the GuitarPort/Rifftracker hardware/software combo. Pretty easy to use, the directions are clear and concise. If you can turn a knob on an amp, you can use this software. If you can use windows....you can use this software

Amazing sound!!! I have a 4.1 surround set up on the computer, and I swear it sounds like my half stack next to it!!! All the effects sound great, a little noisy at times.....but manageable. Downloadable patches are available on toneport.

So far so good............

Never had to call them........

It changed my life.........sad but true. I can record amazing quality songs in minutes on my pc, and have them on my website in seconds. Super tool for the aspiring home recording artist. Hear it on my site ca.geocities.com/shredrex@rogers.com

Too easy for words.

Only used with headphones plugged into my laptop - but have put some stuff onto CD and played on my Hi-Fi and it sounds fine, a little processed but OK.

No problems so far.

Had great customer support in the past when the power board on my Spider
blew up.
Have upgraded the software for my Guitarport recently with no problems.

Does everything I expected, I just wanted a tool to sketch ideas onto my PC and it does that just fine.
One minor down - I need a manual wah function (and my laptop doesn't have MIDI )
For the price it's the absolute bollocks.
I've been playing for over 30 years and i'm not even 40 - so if you disagree with me - you don't know shit.
Rant over.

Point and click.

OK, for all those calling it a toy, comparing it to the Pod XT, real amps etc., it is not any of those. It is more of a practice tool than anything else. I have mine hooked up to the computer so I can get the Online content to play along with. I plug my guitar into my amp. Now I do use the guitar input occassionally but don't have any expectations of anything but good usable tones to practice with. The sound of this unit is dependent on your processor and computer speakers. For $99 and $7 a month for the subscription it's the best value I've ever gotten on guitar related equipment. So if you're a new player needed a convenient easy to use interface with decent sounds or an experienced player who likes to practice with backing tracks and songs from some great artists this is a great deal. If you expect to use this live you're pretty clueless. I give it a ten because it sounds good for what it is. Not because it sounds like a Blackface Fender or Marshall stack.

No problems in 1 1/2 years.

Line 6 is a company on the cutting edge, despised by many for their inovations. Time marches on and Line 6 moves forward with it.

Great practice tool and takes up 10 square inches of space on my desk.

I have the riff tracker version.

Setting up the Port is simple. The online guide is easy to follow. Anyone who can't do it, should'nt even own a computer. Seriously. Basic sounds that come with the unit sound really good. You can edit things very easily with the mouse...Point, Click & Hold, move mouse, BOOM, Tone changes. That easy.

Remember, you are sitting in front of monitors. Unless you are using LCD's, you will get some hum. Use the hum eliminator to reduce 90% of the hum and still retain your tone. The Amps modeled are really nice to that of the name of the patch (eg: China Grove). And, you can further tweak to make it sound even better. I'm using a P4 2.6 with 1 gig of ram. NO LATENCY with a Soundblaster Audigy 2. Its excellent. Recording has never been easier and sounds absolutly amazing. What I first did was try to mimic sounds that I've listened to and try to dial them in. Its so close it isn't funny. Early Eddie Van Halen tones are excellent and easy to get. I've made Metallica tones, Zakk Wylde Tones, John Petrucci and more, and they sound very close to the album. I download the Metal pack (for a small fee) to get the Mississippi Criminal Model (5150MKII) and I have an original 5150. They modeled the lead channel, so I decided to mic up mine on the lead channel and record it, then compare it to the Guitar Port. I don't think anyone would notice once its recored.

I've owned it for a year now with out any issues what so ever. I've read that people can't set them up and they're buggy and what not, blah blah blah. I've used the ORIGINAL guitar port back in the day with out issue. Its brainless to setup, easy to use and sounds excellent. If you exceed the requirements, no problem. I've taken it over to my buddies place and used it on his P3 500Mhz with 256 ram. NO PROBLEMS. Installed the drivers and I was recording at his place.

Now...here's the sad thing. I have dealt with LINE6 before on WARRANTY issues...their turn around on amps and such is awful in Canada. A Friend of mine has the Vetta II head. It died. He waited over 2 months for it to be fixed due to lack of parts at the canadian service center which line6 didn't send up. I've seen this before and unfortunely must say...they're slow...but will fix it.

Overall, I feel this is an EXCELLENT value to those who are running home PC based recording studio's and can't crank out an amp. This is the solution. The sound quality is excellent to that of something you'll hear on a cd. What you hear on the website is exactly what I hear at home through my machine. If someone actually managed to break in and steal it, I'd get another one. This is such a great tool. I've never personally tried the online lessosn, but a customer from the store I work at did, and said they were excellent. Try one out...you won't be sorry. The Riff tracking software is great too. The drums are awesome.

I found this product very easy to use. Standard installation, just like any computer game, then you plug in and it's ready to go. The interface onscreen is pretty easy to use and very easy to start creating good sounds from scratch.

I've used a mex strat, a cheap acoustic + bass and cheap microphone with it and have achieved pretty good results with each. It definitely provides a good range of sounds that are usable, and when recorded (i use www.audacity.com cos its free!) i makes for a very pleasing sound. There was less effects than i was expecting but there is still plenty to use and play with. Its great for recording. Which is what it is designed for, it is NOT designed for live use as someone was complaining below that it wasn't good live.

o break down yet

For what it's meant to do, it is superb. Its a great way of getting song ideas down, and as a bonus the recorded sounds do sound pretty convincing. It does vocals, bass and acoustic as well, so it would be pretty damn useful for recording demos too. I have been very impressed by the ease of use and quality that you get for such a small price. I'm sure that it won't appeal as much to folk who are using pro studio equipment, but they aren't who its aimed for. a great piece of kit!

For anyone thinking of this, unlike the Pod XT it uses the computer's cpu, over 50% on a 1ghz processor. Line 6 goes to GREAT lengths on their website to suggest it's a pod XT without the physical controls.

They mention swapping tones between the devices and the fact that the pod XT uses guitarport (PC) software which suggests they are basically the same device.

http://line6.com/podxt/guitarport.html

"The new set of PODXT models in the free 2.5 upgrade means that GuitarPort owners will enjoy 15 PODXT-quality amp and cab models, 9 effects at once "

But they aren't the same thing at all. The models for pod use dsp code, the guitarport uses PC code and uses cpu power. That means they don't sound the same and that's the problem. It's a deliberate corporate scam.

Greetings All -

I feel that this unit (version 2.5) is easy to use, pick an amp, cabinet, effect and your on your way. Installation for me was a snap loaded the software and plugged in the wires and was up and running in 10-15 minutes. Help files are there and on the website if you need them. A good tower with a fast processor is a plus and if you dont have good speakers with a sub, you will miss out on its full sound spectrum.

As always sound is very subjective and this is most true here as i have read. If you think you are getting a dozen amps for $99 think again - what you are getting are line 6's repesentations of them. that being said i am very impressed, the recto gives me the essense of a recto (and i do own one) and the JC120 sounds like a JC120, but more imporant that sounding like the models - do they sound goodin general?
The answer is yes! All the models are very usable and tweakable. the bottom line is that you are not going to get a better tool for your PC at that price. As a scrathpad/practicing/recording tool it is absolutly unbeatable. and if you cant see that your being ignorant- period. nothing sounds like the original except the original so get over it.

so far so good - have gone through the upgrades and have tickets open with the support and have always got responses and follow ups.

Have had support tickets open and have always got responses and follow ups.

I play rock/blues/fusion type stuff and this thing rocks for practice and riffing out. I have plenty of big amps and i love em - however there is a place for guitar port for me
In the middle of the night when my kid and wife are sleeping and i iget an idea and have to hear/record it. sometimes you just dont want to fire up the amps. Its an invaluable tool for any guitar player. its not meant to replace anything in ones arsenal, its there to help you get better at what you do.

Fairly easy. I hate it when software needs to be installed before you install the drivers and before you plug the unit in. I was using Windows XP. I didn't have any problems getting it too run the first time. I could see though where some users could run into problems during the install. Also, I got the updated software off the Line 6 support site. I really like the fact that this, being software based, is upgradeable. However, with TonePort being weeks away, I can easily see Line 6 dropping support on this.

The software was fairly simple and it's nice to be able to load different tones.

It's OK. I've had the POD 2.0, the POD Pro and currently have a POD XT bean on order. The sounds from this are ok. I tried running out into my Rocktron Velocity 120 power amp and I wasn't totally impressed, but I didn't really spend a lot of time with it. I signed up to the GuitarPort Online and when playing with some of the lessons, etc., the sounds blend in really well between the GuitarPort and the music. I'm running the output through a set of Samson Resolv speakers.

In regards to some of the reviews, like the guy saying this isn't a professional sounding unit he can take and play live with....duh....it's a $100 computer interface. One, you get what you pay for and two, how many pros do you know currently touring with a GuitarPort.....geez....some people. This is a computer interface that allows you to use it with either RiffTracker or GuitarPort Online. It's more of a practice/sketchpad tool. It is what it is.

Seems reliable. The hardware is extremely well built. The software could cause some problems, but that would probably be more of an issue with the Windows environment and other sound drivers.

Don't know for sure. I know the Line 6 has put some pretty stupid licencing policies in place. For example, I can't use both this and my POD XT with GuitarPort Online (as well as model packs, etc.). I would need to transfer licenses between the two each time. They really need to figure out another way of managing licensing for folks with multiple products.

As I said, it is what it is. A practice tool/PC hardware interface. For example, you can use it to interface with other recording software, such as Guitar Tracks Pro. Yes, the sounds could be better. However, it's a great little practice tool.

Fiddly and tricky to install, they keep releasing bug version and fixing the patches later - expect BS and no support from Line 6 - they are a bunch of no talent computer geeks trying to make money out of gullible musicians. Listen to the demo on the website - it says it all!!

As with all Line 6 stuff it works well in the bedroom for all you bedroom players - try using it Live and you are in for a rude shock, when are you guys going to wake up and realise that the majority of their stuff are just toys compared to the real thing. Digital Modelling will NEVER succeed. Don't kid yourself.

Totally unstable with all the patches they send down to you - that's why they have the monkey software.

All automated and done by email now since they started using an automated CRM system. You can't even ring anyone. Try getting technical support, and no I'm not a disgruntled ex employee either!!

This isn't a rant it's an evaluation. This unit is barely useable in the real world of talented musicians, it's a toy and a complete con. If you don't believe me just try getting a refund under the 30day money back promise or try to get the Riffworks to accept the add-on drummers. Better still, try using any of your downloads if you cancel your membership. I hope this gets through and posted, Line 6 are an insult to the industry, buyer beware!! I've been playing for 25plus years, I know my S%&# - I'm angry because these guys don't deliver on their promise and are deceptive.