Line 6 POD

Well, I have just got an used one (beliave, jan 2009!) First POD version (no speaker cabinet options). Decided to face an experience with modellers but with very low expenses (live in Rio de Janeiro - Brazil ... import taxes are really high to spent lots of money in some gear you are not sure if that??s what you want). It is very easy to use (10), easy to get usable sounds. But, it is better to listen to it LOUD when editing patches, and through some kind of flat response system (studio monitors), this brings an 8, so, average 9.

I use it for rock, soul, funk and "jazzy" stuff. Run a Fender MIM with a Seymour Duncan JBJR on the bridge direct to computer.

Use clean sounds with black panel and modern class A models, low gain crunch and mid gain settings brit hi gain.

2 experienced players, both professional and owners of many great tube amps (Fender Twin Reverb, Marshall JCM, VOX AC-30 etc) told me that this sounded more natural to them than the earlier versions. That encouraged me to give this version a try.

First of all, as we know, this is no tube amp. I have a Fender Blues Junior "replica" here, and obviously the POD can??t beat it. However, the POD is very, very usable. A non-musician would never tell the difference nor care about it. Only experienced guitar players could notice difference, however, being honest: one thing being better than other does not make the worst of the 2 a bad thing at all.

As others said, it is really less dinamic than an tube amp, but playing with a band, probably the player will be the only one to notice that. It is a little harsh, but a only little. Depends on how you set it.

I created a patch of a basic clean sound and I am experiencing to put good stompboxes (a RAT and a Fulltone OCD) before it. Sounds Good, with better dinamics, but it does not sound SOOOOOOOOOOOO better that the POD doing all by itself.

I don??t think that it has 16 really usable amp models... I have not really tried to geat a good sound from each yet, and I probably won??t. But by now I think the Black Panel, Modern Class A, British Hi Gain, Modern Hi Gain and Fuzz Box can deliver nice tones. Others I haven??t tried to tweak enough to tell for sure, but some of them sounded really weak in a first moment.

3 things are important, in my opinion to get good results:

1. Hear it LOUD when dialing yout tone, and consider how does it sound IN A MIX.

2. use a Flat Response reference like using it direct to a mixer/monitors or through a keyboard amp. At least use the return of an effect loop on a guitar amp. I use mine through a home stereo, and it is usable. Direct to the computer for recording it is good.

3. I think that when shaping tone in this device it is important to make subtle adjusts in treble/low/mids to get a more realistic voice. Sometimes small changes in these parameters together make the sound much better. Knobs are very sensitive.

Effects: Has many. They are not "awesome", but usable. Some better than others. Very few tweaking options for them. If you are a modulation pilot, think you will miss some options.

In my opinion, it is very usefull for live , practice or recording, once you understand how to set good sounds.

However, if you are a "tonefreak", this is not for you. You wont like. I preffer to be a "playingfreak" , and this makes things much easier for me.

Recently got it... don??t know yet, but i think it is reliable. Would not gig without a backup.

I know this is an old thing. I just wrote this review considering that like me, there must be someone else somewhere tired of carrying heavy amps and pedalboards, that never had a modeller for time enough to judge as usable or not.

As I said before, I am happy with it. It is light, small and easy to plug and go. I have been playing for 20 years, had some tube amps and lots of stompboxes. If it was stolen, probably I would get another. It helps me a lot to make my music. I woud like to be possible to scroll through the banks with the FB4 footswitch. You have to choose one bank (from 1 to 9) manually on the POD and than the foot calls one of the four patches (a,b,c and d) of each bank. It has a tap tempo function on the footswitch, which is a god thing to control effects like tremolo, rotary and delay tempo. Anyway, I think it can be controlled by a Midi footswitch controller, that would cover it all.

Once again: If you are a tone freak, this is not for you. If you want very usable sounds (not awesome) and an easier life, get one. Try for a couple of weeks and decide for yourself.

I am reviewing this product for what I use it for, which is a teaching aid. I haven't got the space, or half a mile until the next house to have my tube amps running at home for lessons!
The Pod has an excellent range of sounds that get pretty close to tube feel (through a Mackie mixer and a pair of Mackie studio monitors) at very low volumes. The effects are useable and this unit makes it very easy for me to dial in a close call to just about any sound my students want to imitate.
My only gripe is that I wish you could choose which reverb you want, rather than it being pre-determined by the amp model you select.

For what it's worth, here's where I stand on the whole tube vs modelling debate that seems to go on forever below:

FOR HOME PRACTICE, teaching, quickly dialling in a range of useable sounds - this is great.

FOR RECORDING it sounds pretty damn good, if you know how to mix properly and haven't got access to anywhere that you can record at high volumes.

FOR GIGGING - I would not suggest going down the Pod OR modelling route. Sounds that you spend hours tweaking at home tend to sound absolutely rubbish when you start to run them at higher volumes due to cirtain (especially higher) frequencies not being audible at low volumes. You will be forever tweaking my friends! You'll end up with 50% of your patches having to be for home use and 50% for live. This is fine if you have access to somewhere that you can practice on your own, at gig volume for hours on end, but most of us don't.

A selction of modeled amps and effects, read other posts for full list - you must know what a Pod does by now people..

I have never had a problem with this unit, and have used it pretty much every day for the last 3 years.

I have never had to deal with Line 6.

I have been playing for about 14 years now and have used many different effects units, amps guitars etc. I love the fact that this is such a good sounding device that can sit on my desktop and produce useable practice sounds.
As I said above, I would not recommend this unit for gigging but if you need a versitile home practice set up, I would suggest running one of these through some average studio monitors, rather than going down the combo route. Unless you also want to use the combo to gig with of course..

This has been a very useful product for me as a teacher.

I find it easy to use, although don't mess with editing patches. My approach is to use it manually, set it to the amp I want to model, tweak it and play. I use it live in club and bar gigs in between my guitar and a Fender Bassman 60 amp. It is easy to go from one amp to another between songs .

I have several quality Humbucker guitars plugged into the pod, which goes into the input of the Fender Bassman 60 amp(not the new one but the old one from the early 90's). Noise filter removes the unwanted noise. Effects are used sparingly, and work well when needed. I regularly use distortion, tremelo, delay, compression. At one time only tube amps were available. Every player knows they are best but require maintenance. They also can have a problem during a performance, which has happened to me several times. Because of this, I favor solid state amps and the Pod. I know it does not sound as good as a good old tube amp, but for gigging dependability and a sound that is almost as good this works for me. No one has said anything bad about the sound and tone the rig made, guitar afficionandos included. The pod amps I use are the Fender Bassman(blues and classic rock), Fender Twin(blues, classic rock and surf music), Marshall JCM800(Classic rock) and the Vox AC30(Beatles).

It is very reliable as long as it is not abused.

No need to contact them. Manual is easy to understand. Plenty of on line help also.

The 14 year existance band plays the blues and classic rock. The pod covers it well. I have been playing since the mid 1960's and cut my teeth on the Stones and Beatles. I have gone through a lot of gear over the years, but gradually realized tube amps, while the best tone, are maintenance prone, expensive to fix and can/do breakdown at the worst times. Not being rich and without a lot of storage space, the pod houses a lot of tone, settings, amps and at a low cost. I would buy it again as it is very versatile, including a headphone jack and tuner! Good lighting in the dark. Easy to use under pressure. My favorite setting is the Fender Bassman model going into my Fender Bassman 60 amp playing my Fender Telecaster! No other product comparisons were done. I did my research on harmony-central and then found a used one in a pawn shop. It makes me rise to a higher level because I can play different tones and amps with some simple tweaking. I could not afford nor store all the amps the Pod has at your fingertips.

9 If you use the Deep Edit Program. 4 if you tweak it from the front panel. By all means, to get what you're after you have to go deep.

I have probably put over 20-30 different guitars throught this unit.
(no kiding , I have a huge collection) Each has it's own sound. I don't mind the effects too much cause IMHO less is more. They do the job for me. I would have a short wish list regardig effects, but it's ok as it is. I use it Live and Studio(dry). Into a Bose PAS, as a front end of Tube and Solid State amps. It's a different sound in each setup. Like the other reviewer said you gotta know how to use all the variables. I've A/B'd this against my Matchless Chieftain and it's awful hard to tell. Same for a Twin Rev. Reissue. This unit is probably on more recordings(pro and amatuer) than most people realize.

Had one or two go bad, bought replacements. Right away. I rely on this
unit and keep a backup close by.
It get's used a lot, and if you use it enough, eventually it'll break.
In a strictly studio environment, it'd probably last a long time.

I've gotten into it pretty good with the Line 6 folks for a bunch of other issues but never about the POD 2.0
They suck on some of the newer gear, but not on the 2.0 I've upgraded from the original Ver 1. Repair? Why? These are a bargain nowadays. If it breaks , Launch it.
too exensive to repair once it's out of warranty.

I play to almost every type of crowd. I get asked to do a wide variety of music, I have a handful of presets that stand up to just about any challenge. I've been playing 40 + years, I'm a gear junkie I own well, you name it,(gear Junkie) I probably have one. I've compared it to the J station and the Behringer and this seems to have the edge although I thought there were some nice features on the others as well, especially if you shred. I wish it had Auto Wah and a better sounding Leslie. I play as a single mostly, but I'll use a tube amp OR the Pod as a front end to a Tube amp(into the effect return) when I work in a band cause I need more stage volume. This thing usually does the trick though. I love a good tube amp. I own some really really cool ones.
But I think the pod gets its points from being so multi dimensional.
I mean, who brings 32 amps to a gig?

Bottom line, technology has not evolved to the state that it can recreate the sound of tubes and especially the sound of air from a speaker hitting a mic.

People that rate this unit high fall into 4 categories;

1. They do not know how to record an amp properly.

2. Their ears have not matured enough to distinguish the difference between the real deal and a simulation.

3. They need to record in a quiet area.

4. They actually like the sound of digital products.


I fit into them a few years back, but with continuous ear training I am now onto bigger and better tones.

Pretty good amount of features.

Never had any problems.

Never had to use it.

I would not even use this unit for practice because why practice with something you are not going to record with. Your best bet on achieving a decent sound is to use this as your preamp and use a power amp and a cabinet of your choice. Direct does not give you a full sound. And I am not just talking about this unit. I mean anything direct.

Don't buy into Line 6 hype. They spend more on advertisements then Lars Ulrich spends on lawyers.

Tubes Or Bust.

I run my Old Baby 1979 The SG , a Squire Fat Strat, as well as my Ibanez Electric/Acoustic and various bass guitars thru it. I either plug direct into my Behringer mixer at home for recording, my Kustom practice amp, or my old Peavey Renown with 2x12 cab for gigs.
My Sound kicks ass!!!

If this were 2001, I would give it a 10. But there is an upgraded model, the PODxt. That being said, I'm still exploring the unit's possibilities.

I use this with the 4 button Line 6 footswitch. It's 3 years old and no problems at all. Solid construction. If/When I upgrade, this unit will become my backup.

N/A no problems, info is readily available online, read the F%$#@!ING manual and you will have a much clearer understanding.

I'm not some dumbass kid playing dropped C death metal riffs. I'm a 40 year old dad with 25 years of playing behind me...and I play louder and meaner than most of these 20 year old suburban pussies who pretend to be rockers. My musician friends often consult me about good guitar tone.
The POD is a Godsend. While I love Old School tube amps, I really like and support Line 6's approach....I mean, cmon, I've got 3 Marshalls and 4 Boogies on tap here!
It will probably take one generation, but mark my words...In 2025, NO ONE is gonna give a damn if your guitar tone came from tubes or not.
Get a POD , Now!!!!

Jackson Soloist (japan made, custom), with HSS, Duncan SH-8 Invader bridge, 2 custom strat vintage single coils on center and neck positions; Epiphone Slash Signature, with Duncan Jeff Beck in bridge position.
I mostly play blues-rock-hard rock; POD suits those styles very well for home-practicing; i'm not a metalhead, but I guess it's ok for that also.
Great variety of sounds, most of them usable, 36 storing locations, blah blah.
Clean sounds are ok, distorted are also ok.
The weak point is obviously the lack of breakup from clean to overdrive to dist. But if u want the sound of power tubes breakup, then buy a tube amp.
I've certainly heard better sounds, but also heard so much crap sounding equipment.

Mine is 1.0, bought in March,2000.
It is almost all I need for practicing in my apartment.
Plenty of features, blah blah.
Obviously it comes with a handy headphones input.
It is also in my backup rig for gigs.

ROCK SOLID.

Never dealt with 'em, and I suppose I never will have to.
Anyway they seem ok.

I've been playing for 10 years, and my main amp rig is a Laney VH100R head, stacked on a Marshall Lead 1960 4x12 w/Celestions GT12T-75.
Blah Blah some fx, eq, wah, same as many players here.
No BBE maximizers or crap, just pure tube sound.
Anyway POD is always at my gigs as a backup; you never know when a power tube is gonna quit working.
Coupled with a midi controller and the same fx/eq chain of the main rig, it is the ideal backup and my best mate for jamming with friends, no big deal!
I've also owned in the past a Line6 POD Pro rackmounted with a Mesa 20/20 EL-84 poweramp, and b4 that even a Rocktron Velocity 120 (UGH!).
If my POD was lost or stolen, i'd buy another in a sec.

Conclusion: it will never sound like a tube amp, but it comes close enough to give good but somewhat "static" sounds.
If you buy it for what it is, it is a good piece of equipment!
Good work, Line6!

I did not buy this to reproduce any vintage amp. I wanted tone control in a appartement environement. I got it and much more. If you want a Plexi, you'll have to find a real one. If you want a sound shapping device, this is it. Thank God you can save your settings, because there's just to much variable to play with! I've setted up so that I can dial basic setups and just have to tweak effects, EQ and volume. Fantastic. It took some time to find my sounds but it was well worth it. You must use your PC to access some of the features.

I play mostly blues and classic rock on an epi LP and a cheap fat strat clone. As an front end for an amp, the POD reacts well (at least on my amp) but the extremes tends to sound unrealistic. Too much distortion often gives weird results. Very clean tones are also somewhat poor. The effects are mostly just passable save for the 1st chorus and the delay that are great. The reverb is nice at low settings. I'm sure that for any of my 11 basic setups that I've made, I could find an amp that could sound better. But I'm pretty sure that I couldn't find one that could reproduce all of them.

For silent practice use, it beats anything that I've ever played. You can play not too loud and still get great tone.

For recording, well, I guess it was built with that in mind. I'll leave the final verdict to more seasoned technicians, but for home use on a PC, it's very fun and versatile.

I have a POD 2.0 that I bought in 03. It's pack full of features. So much, that you can get lost in them. I originally bought it to play with headphones in my appartement, but now that I can make as much noise as I want, I use it as a front end to a cheapo Dean Markeley SS amp set to neutral. I've also played with for recording thru my PC. You could say that this is my main amp.

I won't name all the features, too many of them. Since I do not have the pedal board or the switch, I think it would be nice to be able to get some sort of auto-wah out of it. As it is, the wah is simply not available. Other then that, hard to complain. I takes some time to get comfortable with the controls.

In over 2 years, it never failled. It's build tough and the control knobs are also tough. Only thing I could see failling on this are the push buttons, but they have yet to show any signs of wear. Yeah, I would gig with it.

Don't know and I don't want to know.

I originally bougth this because I wanted something to play without getting trown out of my appartement. Now, I can pretty much play my self to deafness if I please, but I still use it as my main tone tool. I've had it for over 2 years, I'm still getting some suprises out of it. It takes some getting use to, but it's well worth the effort.

The pedal board would be nice I guess. I've collected quite a number of gadgets over time and I keep coming back to basic setups. Still, an auto-wah probably would have been easy to implement... Foot swtich should be standart. I don't have it, but I would use it if I had it.

If it was stolen? I'd go out an buy an all tube amp, crank it up and make the house crumble. Then, I'd miss my POD.

you do have to do some tweaking to match your settings with your gear, and sometimes you have to dig pretty deep with certain amp models - but IMO it is well worth it.

once in the ballpark with the internal tweaking its no problem to twist the knobs to fine tune things when changing guitars or locations you are playing/jamming.

I am taking this unit for what it is, an amp modellor. If soemone is trying to compare each model to the real thing they are missing the point. Also - add in the fact that you dont have to worry about micing and soundbleeding and all the other hassles with recording, and the quality of the results this is a very handy companion. I have listened to clips on HC of people recording thier Marshall track onto a song/clip, and also a clip using the Pod - and you know what? There have been many times it is hard to tell the difference.

And if you cannot crank up that fender bassman or twin and use quality mics/recorders then I think you will end up with better recorded tones using the Pod anyway, again its a handy companion for computer recording whether you are just laying down some grooves or trying to capture kickass tones for your songs. So in alot of instances I think the Pod could come in more handy than your 2-3 tube amps - if you own all the tube amp models here and quality mics then what do you want the Pod for?

So, if you need alot of good sounds that are different, and you take the time to tweak your own patch settings I dont see how you could go wrong or be dissapointed with the Pod

I am giving it a high score because after taking the time to find your settings you will have some very good tones to work with, and recording direct with these Pods is so useful - like I mentioned Ive heard clips comparing the Pod/amp model against a certain amp and often times it is difficult to distinguish the playback.

Since you can get that close and do not have to worry about mics, replacing tubes, or particular micing techniques/soundproofine, etc., Then I think it deserves a high score.

I have had the 2.0 (with 2.3 firmware?) a little over 2 weeks - I wanted to mention that but Ive been playing tube amps for about 17 years. Again I am not comparing any of the models to the real deal in a live settings because when playing live in a band setting I do feel the response of the tube amps being modelled is missing - But I am comparing it using the recorded tones as a guide compared to the real thing, also including the "no'hassle" factor. - for that I give it a solid 8.

I have set 1/2 of the patches for my strat and the other 1/2 for my SG/humbucker guitars and it is handy having all of those presets to save your settings, I dont have to tweak the knobs when I switch guitars I just use the long-floorboard controller to select the patches that I made for each guitar

I use a B.C. Rich Warlock NJ Series (2001) as my main guitar, and a Ibanez RG 570 (1993) as my secondary guitar. Although I play Folk/Goth Metal, the type of sound that I like and use is basicly a complete insane brutal high gain, very saturated with huge low end, but always without loosing thickness. If you ask, is the POD 2.0 capable of doing it? The answer is yes.

The POD doesn't achieve the kind of thickness (bit fuzzy in some cases) that I can get with my Boss MT-2 (Metal Zone), but still is pretty good and powerfull. The type of distortions that I prefer on the POD is "Modern High Gain" and "Line 6 Insane", and especially the last one has lots of agression and attack... perfect for any extreme metal style. "Modern High Gain" is a little bit more soft, and I use mainly for rehearse at home.

For the recording of my band's Demo CD "Revidere Ad Vitam", I used the Boss MT-2 running through the POD, wich was set in "Jazz Clean" in a "2X12 Line 6" cabinet... the result was very pleseant. If you want to hear it, go to www.monslunae.com and then to the Discography section.

YOU MUST CONNECT THE POD TO THE COMPUTER via MIDI IN/OUT in order to access some of the the controls of the POD. I specially refer to the "Cabinets" item... "Cabinets" is one of the most, if not the most important item on the POD, by "Cabinets" you can change drastically the hole sound on of an amp, and turn it from fuzz to brutal death metal... always keep this in mind.

The only thing I really don't like that much on the POD, are the clean sounds, but since I don't use them, they suit fine...

There is so many stuff, that the best thing you can do is to check out Line 6's Website. I own the Line 6 POD 2.0.

In almost two years, it never let me down... extremly reliable.

When I first tried to register the POD at Line 6's Website, the Website gave me an error... I then tried to contact the webmaster, but I was never given an answer. I really didn't like that fact.

Beside of that, fortunatly I never had to deal with them.

The POD is no dought a very useful and versatile tool... To be honest, I really don't like digital amps or preamps (I hardly would buy something like Vetta II or ZenTera... Triple Rectifier, Warp-T/X, Framus Cobra, Marshall Mode Four, just to name a few, are much more of my team), but I have to admit that the POD is much better than I ever expected... I surrendered myself to this little red box, it has served me very good.

First of all, this isn't my unit. I'm test driving it for a friend of mine who is visually impared. Ok, blind. I know what he looks for in a sound, and design it for him. Personally, I don't care for the unit, but I'm trying to be objective about it.

It's hard to get a really good clean sound out of it. Distortions, overdrive, no problem. But that "ultra clean" tone similar to that of the Police, or jazz, not so well. The effects, without the software, are lame at best. It only allows 2 effects at one time, and you have no choice in the matter. I WOULD NOT recommend this as an effects pedal/unit. With the software, well, it's better. (Still not as good as my trusty Digitech RP-3 that I've had since the day it came out.) NOTE: THE SOFTWARE OUT OF THE BOX HATES WINDOWS XP!! Download the latest verion, and you're cool.

Things that SHOULD be available on board the unit can only be accessed via the software, and that's somewhat limiting. Especially in a live setting where the size of the room can really affect the sound. (What sounds perfect through the 10 watt practice amp in your room, may not work through the 100 watt live rig.)

Recording is where this thing is supposed to shine, and in a way, I guess it does. The different distortions, and overdriven amps, (Of which there are far too many examples of.) sound realistic, though I think that the reverbs suck. The cabinet models sound good, but there is something lacking to my ear. Some sound great, while others you just shake your head and wonder "What kind of crappy 4x12 cabinet is THAT supposed to be?" My Ibanez and Aria like the cleaner amps, while the Electra and the Penco go for the dirt. (Although, after much tweaking, I was able to get a good jazz tone that everything liked.)

In it's defence, I have to admit that it's the first thing that has ever been able to allow me to record my bass, a '80 Kramer DMZ6000B, without any problem what-so-ever. It recorded chrystal clean!

I've been using it with a '93 Ibanez EX1500 (2 Ibanez powersound humbuckers and a single coil), '78 Electra X350 ( DiMarzio PAF's humbuckers coil tapped), '72 Penco Paul (Stock humbuckers), '87 Aria Pro(EMG Singles and a humbuckers), and the afforementioned Kramer (Dimarzio specially designed bass humbuckers).

This is the POD 2.0 with the 32 amp models, effects, and all the digital nonesense. Memory storage for your settings, blah blah blah. Too much to go into here.

It's digital, so the only thing that would hurt it, would be overheating during a daytime gig in the bright sunshine in August. Personally, I wouldn't use it in a gigging situation. It's not meant for that.

Very helpfull! Downloads, user presets, online help, all done easily and quickly.

I've been playing over twenty four or five years now. Other than the guitars listed above, I also play a Roland G707 Guitar synth through a Roland CM64 and D-110 sound modules, and a 62 Dan Electro longhorn bass. Again, I really don't care about it. If it were mine, and it was stolen, I'd be pissed about losing the money spent on it, but not about the unit itself.

In general, the effects on this thing are about the lamest I've ever heard. Clean sounds are hard to develope, and that you can only access some of the features onboard is a major drawback.

Distortions are fine, and recording is it's purpose in life. It really is quite good at that, but I still prefer my Digitech.

The first thing I want to say is that anyone who is saying that it is impossible to get a good sound is simply a freaking idiot. It is hard to get started on; i.e. learning all the details of it. But once you get going on it, it's a breeze. I never liked it through an amp until I REALLY spent some time working with it. The trick for me is running it through a 450watt Fender Ultra Chorus. I use a Shure UT-14 Wireless system into the POD and out into the return of the mono effects channel. I don't use the input of the amp at all. I turn the amp modulation off as well. This way I am modeling the POD instead of use it as an amp modeler AND the amp I am using. I am using the POD as the pre-amp and using my speakers directly. It makes a lot more sense. So anyone who says you can't get a good sound is straight up retarded.

i am using 2 les pauls with detailed customizing. 1 handmade custom guitar built from an expert in Austin, Texas. 1 Fender American Fat Strat. 1 B.C Rich Warlock. 1 Ibanez AX-120 and a slew of others but those mainly. It defiently needs a seperate noise gate. I use it running directly into a P.A. usually and if I use amps it's either a crate, peavy, fender, or marshall. The downside of this is that there is not a good tremelo nor a phaser. The delay is good as well as the reverb. It has a lot of good qualities but it also sucks with SOME sounds.

This thing is built better than a tank. you can play Baseball with this thing and take it to a gig the next day. I never use a backup. The only backup I ever use is a gain channel on an amp in case my ADD catches up with me and I forget to bring it to a show.

Never had to work with them. They might be jerks for all I know.

I play with lots of people and bands. I have played with Slash from GnR in Vegas as well as Jack Black here in Austin...at NerdStock :-) I also am the lead gunner is Signs of Immanuel (rated the 2nd best Youth Band in America) (I'm 17 btw) I alsp play in CrossFish, Test of Silence, and several others. I would buy it again if it got stolen. Again I really wish it had a phaser and a good tremelo. Also a noise gate.

I play mostly neoclassical metal and classic rock. I mainly bought the POD for one thing: the Modern HiGain setting. To me, this is the "shining star" feature; very heavy distortion, but DEFINED as opposed to being muddy sounding. It's modelled after a Soldano SLO 100. I have two Jacksons, a Charvel, and an 80's Kramer. The POD sounds excellent with all of them.

DO NOT listen to the people who say that the POD "sucks through an amp." They haven't tweaked it enough. I have a Marshall JCM 800 2210 twin-channel half stack. I spent an hour pulling my hair out one night trying to get the POD to sound decent across the Marshall, i.e. like it sounded through the headphones. Believe it or not, the magic tweak was to set it on "Direct" (as opposed to "Amp") and set the cab emulation for 1x8. No, that's not a typo. 1x8 was the best sounding speaker emulation to me.

I recently discovered THE clean sound, as well. Like a moron, I forgot what amp setting it was, but I had the presence of mind to save the setting as a preset. I'm talking about a Fender-like, sparkling clean and that's on a Jackson with EMG pickups! All I remember is that it's at about 8-9 o'clock on the "alternate" amp models (the ones you access by holding the Tap switch while turning the amp model switch). I wish I could remember it exactly, so sorry....

Don't get me wrong, I think that the POD most definitely has some sucky, unusable sounds (like Tube Preamp, for example), but the GREAT sounds available more than make up for it.

POD 2.3, bought in December 2003 for $249.00 at Guitar Center. 32 amp models, 16 effect settings, headphone jack, stereo outs, A.I.R switch, several others I can't think of at the moment.

I've heard some weak things about Line 6 gear, not only in their reliability, but in poor customer service, as well. In fact, TWO of my local music stores recently stopped carrying Line 6 products for this reason. In all fairness, though, since I haven't yet had a problem I'll refrain from rating in this category.

See above.

I've played off and on for 20+ years. I've owned several amps at different times; a Carvin X100B head, a Crate G1500 head, a Dean Markley combo, my current Marshall, not to mention trying probably over a hundred amps in stores over the years. I honestly believe that the POD holds its own against anything I've ever played on. Or at least at "living room" volume levels.

See my guitar inventory above.

If it were lost or stolen, I would DEFINITELY have to get another one. I also did some (computer) recording with it recently and was impressed with the way the recorded sound came out exactly like what came across the speakers (I use a CD jam box as my PC speakers).

As for comparisons, yes, I played it back to back against the Behringer V-Amp. Believe me, I WANTED to like the V-Amp more because it retailed for only $139.00 including the footswitch and carrying bag which both cost extra on the POD. Unfortunately..... the V-Amp wasn't even in the ballpark to me. Not knocking the V-Amp here. It sounded okay, but it just didn't have THE sound I was looking for. Plus, the V-Amp has a plastic cover as opposed to the metal cover on the POD.

Epilogue.... I don't give out "10" ratings easily. I honestly believe that the POD deserves it, though. I've also tried the PODxt and didn't like the overdriven sounds or the usability nearly as much. I think the POD 2.0 (2.3 currently) is a much better sounding amp than the xt.

I am constantly finding new and useful sounds by tweaking this thing. You must read the book to be able to access all of the features. I use the manual setting to produce some tones that would otherwise caost me hundreds and hundreds of dollars to reproduce.

I found that it is best to use this unit through an amplifier that has no personality. I use a peavey bandit that does not color the pod tone. The effects are ok, especially if you are using them for subtle coloring. I use this with a mosrite combo, and i can get a nice rockabilly twang with it. with a les paul, emg pickups, nice metal crunch. The cab simulations sound great. If you are looking for exact duplication you will not find it here , but you can dial in a lot of really great sounds. just tweak the thing.

this is a tank. If you treat it reasonably it going to be fine. Mines been dropped, no damage.

never had to deal with the company

I play a wide variety of music. I do not have a whole lot of money to put into gear. I would love to have a couple dozen vintage tube amps but for 200 hundred dollars you cant beat the vesatility of the pod. I have not gigged with this but it seems like if you get the right tweaks and setup you could definatley get useful live sounds from this. If you plug in, turn it to your favorite amp model, and expect perfection you will be dissapointed. Play around, learn how to use it, make it work for you. Once you find a few quality sounds, set them as presets. This has improved my playing because I have been so frustrated with my sound in the past.I use this through the effects loop of my amp, or through headphones. It is very satisfying to have this many sounds available.

I bought this based on its reputation and the guy on the Mike Bullard show was rockin' with his.
I disliked it from the get-go,and tried to get with it,but I liked the blackface model and one of the Marshall settings,but not enough to keep it.I traded it back to the store for a microphone.Everything else left me wanting...big disappointment !!

Tons of stuff.....

N/a

N/A

I wanted to like it,but it was a big drag.I am not a vintage snob,and love convenience,but the sounds were synthetic to a fault.
At the risk of hypocrisy,I love the Guitar Port !! An awesome toy,and learning tool,even for a guy with tons of experience.Maybe I'm spoiled as I use a Badcat combo live,but I consider myself to have good ears,and the Pod sucked the joint out...perhaps the recording application is where it shines,but as far as judging the sounds on their own merit,I have yet to get excited over this thing.Same with the digital amps(Vox inluded).It's more of how it feels than how it sounds...and it feels brittle and spikey.
Food analogy:fresh tuna is great...canned tuna is convenient.Class A is great....Line 6 is canned tuna.

Enough already!
Maybe it doesn't sound as good as the real things, I don't know, the only decent amps I've ever played through were a gorgeous vintage fender Twin and a Marshall something or other. I will never own a Soldano or a Marshall stack unless I win the lottery.
Using a Pod 1.0 and after five years of fiddling, I can still find new and inspiring tones.
Very easy to use, software is great and you could tweak all day.

Use it direct to my pc, or occasionally through my Fender Princeton Chorus, always sounds great. Fender Strats and Gibson ES335 copy along with a Les Paul Junior type of guitar I built myselfare my usual guitars. Also use separate Wah pedal, Boss EQ pedal and a Zoom 9002 for basic EQ, compression,etc. just to get a slightly wider sound than Pod alone.

Never let me down.

never had reason to try them.

I love this unit, beginning to think about moving to an XT, only because the Pod 1 is no longer supported for tones on the net, and my muti-effects unit is dying, the on-board effects are a little limited.
OK, maybe it doesn't sound EXACTLY like the amps its modelling, but I can get all the sounds I want out of it (usually lower gain stuff like Clapton, Pink Floyd, Blues, Knopfler, etc.)
32 amps for #300, if that isnt value for money, I dont know what is!
Up against my mates Boogie, I cant tell the difference and as I said, I'll never afford all the amps modelled here, or have room for them in my home studio, even if I did, would I want to keep getting up. going over and re-plugging in all my FX's and guitars every time inspiration led me in a different direction?
No, probably not.
Todays rant has been brought to you by the word, COMPROMISE, learn it its a good one!
And if you like one or two sounds, go and buy the real thing, but otherwise I'll meet you on the crossroads with 32 amps in my gig-bag!

General Notes:
I play heavy metal (Along the lines of Metallica <sg>, Dream Theater, Symphony X, Megadeth, Slayer).

I like JP's tone on Awake and ACOS, but not on his other albums (especially Train Of Thought). I like MJR's tone. I don't like Slayer's tone much, and I love Metallica's tone on Ride The Lightning and Master of Puppets (but not on Kill Em' All or ...And Justice For All). I hate Dave Mustaine's tone on RIP. So keep in mind I will be judging the POD against the tones I like. I don't consider myself a tube snob.

You can get good tones out of this box, but it will take A LOT of tweaking. I mean this to contrast with crappy practice amps which take very little tweaking to get their best tone, which still sucks.

The Bad:
The POD sounds a little fake or solid state even at its very best tweaking. I'd say they are about 90-95% there in emulating a tube sound.

The factory presets SUCK. They are simply awful. Do not judge the POD by it's awful factory presets. You need to spend half an hour figuring out how it works in general, find an amp model and spend 45 minutes or an hour trying to dial in a tone you like).

The POD doesn't automatically sit well in the mix. It is difficult as well to find the proper reverb for your recording, so I'd recommend adding the reverb after recording the dry track.

I'd like more amp models. They only model two Mesas, one model very similar but slightly worse than the other.

Too noisy to gig with without a separate noise gate. (You won't notice the noise unless you are amplifying the whole signal a lot, or you've turned up the POD the whole way with a very high gain channel.)

The Good:
The POD sounds better than the V-Amp, but not as good as the Triaxis (or the more advanced Line 6 stuff).

The clean sounds are easier to dial in and sound better than the dirty sounds, and are clean even when cranked all the way.
You can make most of the sounds you want for metal (or at least I could). There's no auto-wah, and the chorus sucks, but you can get a decent rhythm tone and decent lead, clean or dirty, with or without delay (reverb, &c).

NOTE: I DON'T easily give high ratings. 5 is average to me (but you want a good amp, not an average one). I am rating the amp based only on my personal experience.

I prefer an amp that has enough features to produce the sounds I like. I'm not much into copying other people's tones (even though I have tried with some success).

And now about the POD 2.0...
General Notes:
I don't know when it was made or where it comes from. But I got it from the Guitar Center as a factory-refurbished model for $200. Mono input, stereo output for direct recording (with microphone and recording space simulation) or feeding the signal into an amp. Stereo headphone jack (note: you cannot use the headphone jack without turning on the microphone and recording space simulation--which means if you are gonna use the heaphone jack, it's probably gonna sound bad through an amp). There are 9 banks, each of which has an A, B, C and D channel (So 36 total channels. I only use a 6 or 7). I use the pod for direct recording, playing through my brother's solid state practice bass amp, and using with headphones. I'd say it sounds best through an amp.

The Bad:
Brief pause between channel switches that forget the delay you've been using. In other words: NO DELAY SPILLOVER. It's hard to tell exactly what the settings are on a preset that you've stored (even though it is possible).
The effects are OK, and the distortion is mediocre.
The POD needs some better distortion (but note: it's gonna sound bad anyway if you use too much. They give you room to add too much gain).
The POD's design isn't especially aesthetically appealing to me (but if you're into kidney-bean shaped amps...).
I would like more of an EQ, but 3 bands is probably enough for most people. They offer an on/off presence toggle, but it

doesn't do much.
The POD is a lot trickier to record than Line 6 might claim. But it's still essentially the easiest thing you'll find.
They screw you over with an expensive floorboard to get access to certain features which only the floorboard (or separate MIDI controllers) can access.

The Good:
Very intuitive design. Easy to learn and use.
More patches than you'll ever need.
Inexpensive.
Many effects to choose from (the delay is good).
You already have an idea of what tone you like. You just have to find it, and this box will not let you find it (if you like a lot of distortion), but it WILL let you approximate it.
No tubes to replace or maintain.
Light.
Full MIDI support.
Durable.
Small.
Excellent manual.
Great for practicing at home with heaphones (But be careful of using too much compression, in can disguise your mistakes).

The POD has treated me well so far. I have had no problems with it.

I would not go on a gig with this without a backup. In fact, I wouldn't gig with this as a primary amp. Maybe this would be my backup. There is no FX loop, but it is not especially necessary.

IF I were to gig with this, say with a noise gate, OF COURSE I'd use a backup. I wouldn't take any reviews seriously that advocate the use of an amp--especially a modeler or tube amp--without a backup.

The warranty is somewhere between 1 and 3 years, I believe, but I'm not sure.

NOTE: I DON'T easily give high ratings. 5 is average to me (but you want a good amp, not an average one). I am rating the amp based only on my personal experience. (I think I gave the POD a good rating.)

I play heavy metal (Along the lines of Metallica <sg>, Dream Theater, Symphony X, Megadeth, Slayer).

I like JP's tone on Awake and ACOS, but not on his other albums (especially Train Of Thought). I like MJR's tone. I don't like Slayer's tone much, and I love Metallica's tone on Ride The Lightning and Master of Puppets (but not on Kill Em' All or ...And Justice For All). I hate Dave Mustaine's tone on RIP. So keep in mind I will be judging the POD against the tones I
like. I don't consider myself a tube snob.

I prefer an amp that has enough features to produce the sounds I like. I'm not much into copying other people's tones (even though I have tried with some success).

I own this, a Marshall MS-2 (The cheap Mini-stack. I mean hey, it's battery powered! I'll save that for another review though...). I play an Ibanez S-Series Prestige with the crappy stock humbucking pickups. Well, just the bridge one. The neck pickups sounds REALLY fake with any appreciable amount of distortion.

Overall, the POD 2.0 sounds good and is cost-effective, especially for practice, or amateur or low-budget recording. I'd recommend the PODxt instead though, in general.

If it were stolen/lost, I'd buy a PODxt. The xt sounds better. If I had more money, I'd buy a Vetta II or something.

OK, here we go. There are ALOT of sounds in this thing. As I've said, I've had this for over a year now, and find that when I'm setting up my sound, I don't even care what amp model it is on. LISTEN WITH YOUR EARS. If it sounds good, then it sounds good. With that saod, I find I'm always landing on the Marshall or the Mesa. You can tell alot of time was spend on those models in particular.

I use the POD exclusively live, and I did notice the same weird EQ crap-out thing that others have wrote about when at loud volumes. This is easily explainable, and even more easily remedied. The frequencies normally associated with "bass" and "treble" actually increase as you increase the volume. Imagine turning your volume up, and turning your bass and treble to '15' if it existed. This is the same thing that will happen in your car...max out your car stereo, what happens? Your woofers might blow, your speakers will crackle, and the high end will make your ears ring. Put your Marshall tube stack on 1...sounds like crap. No "woof", no "bite", unless you turn it up...

So, if you are going to play live with this, and play loud, first make sure the swith is on "Amp". TURN OFF THE CAB MODELING. At low volumes, the Line 6 cab model is amazing, but the bass and treb EQ is so cranked in this cab model, that it will sound like junk live. Flip it to "bypass" and stick to the "stock" eq section of the amp model itself.

I'm running it this way into a Marshall 80/80 valvestate power amp, or the effects return of a JCM900 head, into a Marshall 4X12 cab. If you got a good cab, with some good Celestions, why put a cab model on that?

V 2.3. Had this POD for almost a year, and still experimenting with the features...amp/cab mod, some OK built in effects, live/direct use. Layout similar to normal amp-knob set up. EQ response itself is even modeled after the selected amp...pretty sweet.

Could have use some seperate controls for the "hidden" features (delay decay/time/intensity, presence, gain boost, etc.)

Year old, stored uncovered in a dusty, cold basement (I know, shoot me). No prob's yet.

Never had to deal with them.

If you want to use this live as a preamp, try to ignore the bells and whistles, and use it just as a preamp. Pick a good amp model, set the eq to your liking, add some effects (I'm into verb and some delay), crank it up and rip. Leave that cab modeling stuff for recording, not live. Remember the old ADA's and SGX? They didn't have cab modeling, and they sounded great live, so take from their lead.

Using emg81 at bridge. I play hard rock , metal ( metallica influence ) , AC/DC tones. Yes, i can get pretty close tones. And i have a good ear. Nice chunky 'And Justice for All' tone , is hard to get , but with proper EQ and backround , is achievable.

Heres the deallie-yo - The POD at first , to me , sucked. Until i found the AIR switch ! What a difference when connected to a PA ! I own a peavey 5150 and use to own a dualrec (im broke now). I play in a band , and i cant bring the 5150 everywhere ( 85lbs , anoying as fcuk to lug around ) so i use to bring a couple of effect pedals and feed direct through PA ... Sounds like shite ! So long story short , POD sounds amazing compared.

PPL out there saying this sounds bad , ok whatever , you probably didnt even know there is a TAP function on this. It gives you extra amp models to choose from , extra cabs , options for drive boost wich gives more distortion , critical to get a thick overdriven sound. Read the manual , i used the thing for 2 months before discovering i could change the presence of the amps as well !

This thing sounds pretty good. I say its good enough for a gig , but you need to know how to set it up !! I tell ya , its very easy to get a crappy sound when you dont know what your doing .

Its not a tube preamp. But getting closer , and closer. Inexpensive solution.

Craploads - Its almost impossible to use all of them.

Its a peice of metal with a couple knobs.

So many factors influence the sound that will come out of a rig. Guitar , pickup , amp etc... Most importantly , your own fingers. I say during a gig , 98% of ppl wont even notice the difference between a 'pink-face PLexi-9million' , a Quadruple rectifier , and a POD. Hell , 50% wouldnt notice a fuzz box to a Soldano.

Its not the best sounding out there , but what matters is your own opinion about your sound , and nothing else.

Feel free to comment, inquire.

primary guitars are 76 reissue gibson explorer,2 reissue fender strats61,62.i play mostly gary moore stye blues rock,and some eric johnson stuff with standard 60"s british blues.this is the 3 pod ive owned the xt i sold because i needed the $at the time still have first and second versions.now for my 2cents worth..many people either love or hate these things if used through the front of a guitar amp at band levels it embarressed me and i wanted to throw it in the trash.throuh a marshall 9100 tube power amp unbelievable..i own a boogie mk3 simil-class,a marshall 2204jcm800,marshall1987x50watt plxi reissue through 2 mesa slant2x12 cabs with celstion v-30s.the pod is so close for the $ and lack of weight,carrying these amps for me with out a lot of help is out of the question {disc injurys}i can manange the pod with the power amp althogh its a screach.got ver 2.3 epprom from line 6 for free and hate it it makes the marshall models sound mid heavy and farty no clarity or crispnes of the 2.2 with was immeadtly put back in 2.3 tonality is just not there.also turn of cab simulator,and most important TUNE CAB SETTING ON POD TO {B} REGARDLESS OF THE CAB TYPE YOU ARE USEING THE OTHER ONES ARE AWFULL THEY SOUND LIKE A CHEAP TRANSISTOR RADIO REGADLESS OF THE CAB YOU USE....OTHER REVIEWERS HAVE MENTIONED THIS AND IT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT TING BESIDE TURNING OFF THE CAB SIMULATOR IF BEING USED FOR LIVE SOFTWARE VERSIONS 2.2 AND LOWER ARE THE TICKET.

ver2.0 with2.2 epprom.

Never had a problem

i have allways been able to get a tech on the phone at line 6 and ive called a lot when setting up the sounddiver edit software they walked me through it and it took at least 45 mins setting up the computer,midi cable ,installation etc,etc.they have been great to me with out exception....

it would be replaced as soon as possible but only one with the right software version it does make that much difference tone wise.althouth this version does have that wierd thing with the vol when changing channels in manual mode ..it still worth it.i under stand from line 6 that only the early pod pros had a software version that sounded like 2.2 so watch out, Im looking for an old one myself.IT SMOKE ADA MP-1 witch i own but sits in the closet.

No problem with using the Line 6 except choosing one. There are so many sounds to choose from.

I have a Am. Std. Strat, a Tele and a Les Paul Studio. I generally always use the Strat directly into the POD, and then, I run the Pod into the main 6L6 output stage of a Fender Evil Twin amp. I use the "amp thru" jack or the input of the effect loop if I want to adjust the signal level so that I can increase the output level on the POD without increasing the volume level of the amp. The POD seems to simulate the output stage distortion of a tube rig when the output level is cranked. I don't know about you, but I like to play LOUD. My favorite set-up is the PODs Marshall sound, a little compression, some digital reverb with the POD Output Level close to full on, slamming into my 6L6's and distorting them as well. If you think about what I'm doing; you'll see why it sounds soooo good.

I haven't had even the slightest problem.

I haven't had to deal with any of the people, but I love the web site. I've downloaded the manual since I lost mine.

OK. One day, I'll have a Marshall DSL 100, full stack, with a Lexicon effects rack, and maybe a couple good pedals to help that Marshall jump over the moon. But, until then, My Strat-Les Paul-POD-Fender combination is doing the job just fine. The metal holder for the POD slides under the hand strap on the top of my combo amp and it looks good sitting there. If I'm playing 80's rock, I can load two Marshall sounds, one louder for solo's, and then, maybe, a VOX 30 Top Boost with echo and a Fender Twin with compression into one bank and choose them at will with the selector pedal. Or, if I'm playing Modern Rock, I can substitute the Marshall?s for some Mesa's and load all that into another bank. Pushing one button has me ready to play out of that bank of four amps. And then there's this awesome amount of shit that I never get around to mess with. So, lez see, Marshall, Fender, Mesa, Vox..... Rock, Classic-Rock, Modern Rock.... Is there anything else? Nope. I don't think so. Oh yeah, I've been playing 25 years and if my POD got stolen I'd buy a PODxt.

You have to play around with it for a while but with something with such depth it will obviously require a bit of tweaking to get to the best sound. However, a good sound is easily found. One problem I did find though was that in the manual it didn't advise you to turn off the speaker cabinet simulation when running it directly into an amp - it sounded funny for a while when using it as a pre-amp. This is necessary if you are going to use it as a pre-amp as I often do.

I use a Texas Special Fat Strat with a Boss Blues Overdrive, Roger Mayer Voodoo Vibe, Roger Mayer Axis Fuzz and a Budda Wah. This goes into a Marshall DSL-201 Valve amp. For headphones I use a great pair of #100 Seinnheisers.

The POD sounds best when used as a pre-amp plugged into a cranked valve amp. However, you HAVE to turn off the cabinet simulation - this should only be used if you're plugging it into a hi-fi, a direct recording device or headphones. Otherwise it sounds muffled - it's simulating the sound of a cabinet when u're already using one so what's the point? I can't stress the importance of this.

I can get pretty close to Hendrix sounds (only clean hendrix sounds cos when you crank it it sounds a bit fuzzy). Stevie Ray Vaughan is easy to get, - ANYTHING! In particular the Mesa Boogie Dual rectifier and the Marhsall JCM-800 sound amazing. However, note the Fuzz box sounds crap. The tones on this machine sound amazing - I swear when you tap into it's extra amp simulations via computer you can get a PERFECT Santana.

As for effects, I don't really know - I don't use them much. I know that the delay sounds very good, apart from that I'm not sure.

It's worth noting that if you want to use the POD with headphones, it sounds SO MUCH BETTER when you turn on the 'chorus 1' effect and turn the effect intensity to minimum. This changes the output to Stereo (I don't want it to come out in Chorus). I don't know why anyone hasn't mentioned this but TRY IT! It sounds amazing.

As for recording, I would imagine that it is only useful to those who don't have the luxury of cranking their amp and recording it though a microphone. How can the simulation of a cranked amp ever sound as good as the real thing? I don't think it can.

It has a slight delay between changing channels but this is fixed considerable if you buy a POD V2 or get the upgrade. I wouldn't ever gig it without a footswitch though (I've heard that is a bit flimsy though - apparently you can get a much better pedal for the PODXT). however, the POD itself is chunky aluminium and mine looks like it has been well used before I got it and it still works perfectly.

Never tried

I like to play rock and blues. The POD is the ideal solution for those who want to have several amp sounds available by just taking this thing around and plugging it into any valve amp. I take it to practice rooms to different amps and I crank it on a clean channel and just use the POD as a pre-amp (remember to take the speaker cabinet simulation off). Obviously, owning several amps and using them and taking them everywhere would be better but for a price tag of around #300 - (or #100 for me) who can argue. I don't think anyone in the audience or anyone listening would actually notice the difference between a decent valve amp cranked with the POD set on a Mesa Boogie Dual rectifier and the real thing.

Also ideal for headphones, or non-serious recording.

OK...I've had my Pod version 1.0 since it first came out (I actually had to specially order it at the time because no music stores carried it). I write and record my own stuff, and have also used the pod to record demos for bands I've been in, so I've used it an awful lot over the last few years and I think I can finally give a fairly objective, unbiased review. The pod is VERY easy to use. The interface is about as intuitive and user friendly as can be and the manual was very well written. One huge help is the fact that the manual offers you insight into how the controls worked on the original amp. For example, I thought the vox amp was really muddy until I realized that the original has a "high cut" control instead of treble...so if you have the treble control at 12 o' clock you're actually cutting highs. On most amps (fenders, marshalls) having the treble control at 12 o clock would have you neither boosting or cutting the highs. It helps to read the manual and get acquainted with how the original amps worked. I use the vox model all the time now...I love it. There have been upgrades since my version but I've never been dissatisfied with the tones so I've never bothered to get them.

I don't own any of the amps modelled, so I don't know how accurate they are, but I don't really care. I can pretty much approximate any tone I hear in my head with this giant kidney bean and I'm consistently impressed by how it sounds on tape. For a solo project, I recorded the basic track live at my rehearsal space using a reverend hellhound and then used the pod for overdubs and I don't hear a real appreciable difference between the feel and realism of the pod tracks vs. the "real" ones. This is a tool, and like every tool how successful you are with it has alot to do with you. I've spent alot of time experimenting and I'm finally at the point where I feel confident that I can dial in just about any tone I need using the pod's controls. After reading lots of HC reviews, I feel like people are sometimes too quick to blame the equipment. My favorite models are Line 6 Clean, Line 6 Crunch, Brit Class A, Small Tweed and the Soldano model.

I've had it for years and it hasn't given me a single problem. It's been treated pretty nicely though. It's never left my "studio*"
*also known to my wife's cat as "the room I like to go into when I'm about to vomit a hairball."

I never had to call them about the pod but they were very nice when I called and asked them a question about a flextone amp a few years ago.

I can honestly say that this piece of equipment had a greater impact on my creative growth than anything I've ever bought. With the pod, a guitar, a zoom rhythmtrack drum machine and a tascam portastudio I feel limited only by my own creativity. It's a truly wonderful tool. Some will quibble that it doesn't sound as good as a carefully mic'd amp but some people don't mind spending 4 hours pounding on a snare to get the right "snap." I think that sort of thinking gets in the way of creativity. I mean, there's definitely a difference in tonality between a soundtank digital delay and an echoplex, but is it really THAT noticible in the context of one part in an entire mix? I know lots of people won't agree with me, this is just my opinion. The pod allows you to sit down, twiddle some knobs and you've got your tone. Lay down a track and move on to the next. Erase it and try it again or try something else. It really helps me create music.

This preamp couldn't sound good if you tried for a hunderd years.
Sure it sounds O.K. especially at low volume, but try to go live
with this thing at high volume and you will understand why this product is garbage.

This medeling amp will attempt to sound like many different amps with
many different features.

I'm sure this thing will last a long time, unfortunately.

Don't know, don't care

The vunue that I play bought one of these and insists people use it
for live performances in a large auditorium. It flat out sucks. If
you think this thing will give you great tube like distortion at any
volume you're don't know what a real amp sounds like.;

The pod, once you read the manual, is extremely easy to use, but don't just take it out of the box and think you're gonna know how to do everything, because I did that and didn't even realize I was missing out on like 16 alternate amp sounds that aren't listed on the face of the unit, just in the manual.hehe

I was EXTREMELY impressed with the sound quality this thing gave me. I was in the market for a new amp and I simply did not have the money for an amp, so instead I began looking at these PODs, picked one up on ebay for about 180 dollars, plugged it in, and MAN did it sound amazing. I have a Fender Ultimate Chorus 2x 12 160 or so watt amp, (I would NOT reccomend getting that amp) but when I plugged the pod in I could get any tones from Brian May playing a bohemian rhapsody lick all the way to a metallica sound with a bottom heavy chunky distortion, up to randy rhodes and zakk wylde, not to mention clean tones and great effects!

definately would use this on some upcoming gigs I have, great investment, havn't had any trouble with it

Havn't had any problems

I play metal, punk, classic rock, neoclassical, jazz, blues, anything, this is your effect kit, get one, I highly reccomend it