Line 6 Pod Pro XT

I am writing this from a live playing stand point, I don't have much experience with this thing recording, but so far it's been good. Easy enough to use, The main things is to get in there with the manual and toy with this thing, that's the way I got familiar with it.
The manual is decent, instructions are clear as for as functions go. There are some tone things that need to be explained better, especially Line 6's "patented" tone features like AIR II ane so on. Editing patches on computer is the best way to fully tweak the tone and it's much easier. If you try to do it on the pod, you'll be flipping through so many screens you'll forget what you're doing. The computer however, with the tone edit software lays everything before you. My unit has only the free upgrade and no tone packs.

First of all I do not work for Line 6, I'm a regular joe musician, in fact I'm a music student at AWC. I'm not going to build this thing up beyond what it is. I use a Parker Nitefly M guitar, I run the pod xt pro through a BBE Sonic Maximizer, then into a noise gate, then into a Marshall 9100 power amp. A good power amp is needed to play live, recording it's really great. The achilles heel of all Line 6 products is their distortion, which is often fuzzy as ****. However, if you go on the Line 6 custom tone website, you can find good ones that other people have made. I use the Paul Gilbert Shred Lead, and after downloading countless patches, think this one is the best. However I further tweaked it to my likeing. The distortion is still somewhat masked by fuzz. If you are looking to model an amp or your favorite artist to perfection, forget about it, won't happen. But if you want something that has everything in one, this is it, minus the sub-par distortion. This thing has so many tweaks you can spend months programing patches and still not do everything. And with a footswitch you can control everthing easily in a live setting. The thing that single-handedly saves this product and compells me to give it a 9 is the clean tones and effects. This is where it truly shines, all the effects are great, the clean tones are great, and I mean great. I dont use many effects other than reverb or delay, but I have toyed with the others such as chorus, flanger etc. and they are very good. Another great thing is the level of programability with every effect having at least 4-6 control "knobs" which appear as buttons on the LED screen. I use ping pong delay and covernous reverb to create a floaty sound that's really cool. The stomp boxes can be use to add gain or distortion and function well.

Had it about a year, no problems so far.

No opinion, but I do use the Line 6 forum to answer most questions and it's probably the best way.

This thing can handle most styles. Like I said the distorion can't quite get there, if Line 6 figures out a way to make it not so fuzzy, this thing will be perfect. My advice don't buy it for distortion. If you want something that can handle clean to light distorion plus have effects, and be all in one unit get this. If this were stolen I would not buy it again, becuase I bought it thinking it could handle heavey gain but it can't. In retrospect however I might buy an amp head and get the pod xt live just for effects and so on.I love the effects and clean tones, if you combine these you can make trully beautiful tones. As far as the jazz and lighter stuff I play this thing is absolutely wonderful, as far as the heavey metal stuff I play
it's not quite there. If you are a pure metal head, dont bother, get a Mesa Boogie or some other high gain amp. Hope this helps potential buyers!

Doesn't matter whether you edit through the faceplate or use gearmonkey.. This turd cannot be polished

If you like hideous digital sounding fizz.. Are have an extraordinary desire to plug into a beehive. This biatch will sound great.. Otherwise, moist *** is the most apt description that comes to mind. Seriously, the amp sims are about a 3.5 but the effects take it down to a 2

You really wish it would just die.. But it won't, tho it sounds like it has..

Line6

Nuff said

How many years has it been since the first amp sim for Studio use burst upon the scene? It's been a while now..When Line6 first released the original Pod there was hope.. I thought,, "Man!! Not TOO BAD!! Give it a couple generations and they will have this PEGGED!!"

But no,, Line6 slammed it into full freakin reverse and hasn't looked forward since.. Behringer doesn't even steal their **** anymore.. What does that tell ya??

Driving the POD-XT via the accompanying software is very easy. Driving it via its own user interface (its knobs and LCD display) is a pain in the neck. I can't imagine doing that in a live setting, unless you have your laptop plugged into the thing on stage.

the POD-XT and its product line cousins do not in any way adequately model what a distorting guitar amp and speaker cabinet do. A true metal "chug," or rock and roll "crunch," where the amp overdrives on the pick strike but maintains its tonality, is not possible with any Line 6 product (Even their "amps" just do buzzy-sounding rectified distortion, which is not the same thing at all.) The distortion modeling inadequacy also extends to stomp modeling (rat, tube screamer, and other attempts), which just don't make it at all.

The POD-XT has two reliability problems related to shoddy electronics. First, If the power from the wall or power strip is a bit low, the flash memory gets distorted. Second, the POD-XT does not work with USB hubs, said problem being unpredictable in how it messes up what you are trying to do.

They don't really answer e-mails with good technical responses. I e-mailed them about the USB hub problem, and got empty air in response.

Aside from all of the positive reviews that Line 6 employees dishonestly post all over the Internet (can we say "class action fraud suit," boys and girls,) the fact is, as <a href="http://www.whitemarshrecording.com">Whitemarsh Recording</a> points out on Biggus's page, that the POD-XT and its product line cousins do not in any way adequately model what a distorting guitar amp and speaker cabinet do. A true metal "chug," or rock and roll "crunch," where the amp overdrives on the pick strike but maintains its tonality, is not possible with any Line 6 product (Even their "amps" just do buzzy-sounding rectified distortion, which is not the same thing at all.) In addition, it is obvious that the POD-XT samples on Line6.com were done through a true distorting guitar amp, instead of being directly recorded out of the POD-XT.

By the way, the distortion modeling inadequacy also extends to stomp modeling (rat, tube screamer, and other attempts), which just don't make it at all.

Delay/reverb, compression, noise reduction all adequately modeled. Accompanying software is very good. Just don't try to play rock and roll through the thing.

This is the rackmount version of the POD XT, I dont know what year it was made, I think it's the newest model they sell... I dont write reviews on products, but please understand I do have quite a knowlege of vintage amps, effects, and guitars... I am proud to say that I am what is known (in purist circles) as an "Amp Snob" I have been a working/preforming musician since 1986... My first gig was in 1986, prior to that I rehearsed with a (what we called modern rock back then, was later coined alternative) rock band... When I first started playing live shows I had a desire to have a sound like what I herd on Santana Abraxas LP... I watched some early 70's live footage & seen that he (Santana) was playing through 4 Fender superreverb amps... It just so happened that a local music store had one, and the rest is history... I have owned (most) all the popular Holy Grail amps in their origional form's: Blackface - Twin's, Super's, Delux's, Pro's, Vibrolux's, Princton's, Vibroverbs... Marshall - 1959 SLP, 73' 100w 4 input JMP, 71' smallbox JTM 45, 74~4 input JMP 50w, late 70's 50w 2~input JMP, 77~4~input JMP 2X12 combo... Fender 4X10 BASSMAN, and Blackface Bassman heads... Several early 70's Marshall 4x12 cabs... And a few amps from the 50's like Gibson, Silvertone, Alamo, ect... About the review... This is the second Pod I have owned, I bought a POD 2.0 when I was building a computer based recording rig... The 2.0 was a useful tool for laying out ideas w/o having to drag out big amps & effect's being strung all over the floor... I didnt like any of the presets in the 2.0, and the unit usually stayed in manual mode... I never got as good of a tone out of it as I could get from mi'ked amp's, but it was (like I said) good for laying down ideas & backing up tracks... My situation at home recently changed to where I have Db restriction in my neighborhood, and I live next to a Southern Baptist preacher, so I needed to find a better sounding quiet rig... My research led me to the POD pro xt... I am very impressed with the tracks I am laying down with this unit, I have found it to have a good bank of effects, amp/cab library, and some air/mic/room adjustments that make it sound pretty darn close to a real rig (in the tracks)... My experience trying to use this type stuff live has been dissapointing in the past, but now I feel like I have found something could possibly be used live... I have noticed that this unit dont sound good into any of the vintage amps I own, & I dont care how clean you try to make the amp sound, it's just not right... I did rig it up into a 1200 watt Mackie 2 chanel PA power amp into 2 Marshall 1960A cabs and that is the best open air sound I have gotten out of the unit so far... I think a smaller 2 chanel PA power amp along with a 2x12 cab wired stereo would be ok for small clubs... It does have a decent sound straight into PA, but you need to EQ out the raspy high's... One thing that I found out by accident is that this unit really needs the shortboard foot controller, "with it" you have some really good presets under the hood, & I usually run from presets, but there are quite a few presets that pop up with the floor controller that you will never find twiddling with the knobs in the rack, like the Bridge of sighs preset & Dont get fooled again, ect... One thing about the effects on the Bridge of sighs: the Modulation doesent sound nearly as good as a real univibe or dejavibe, it's just not as good... Also, dont expect the wah pedal to feel like a crybaby or vox, it's not as active in the forward position as it needs to be for cream & hendrix type stuff, It reminds me of a Morley wah, and that's just not where a wah needs to be for me, or any other experienced blues/rocker.... I havent figured out how to download modlepacks yet, but I an really wanting to load this thing up with everything they have...

I only use 3 guitars, I have a 1963 fender stratocaster, and a 1959 lespaul Historical reissue, and a Gibson ES 335... all the guitars have all their individual character, and this unit lets all that shine through... I did read a review where a guy said it made all guitars & pickups sound the same, I figure he must have been using it wrong, or had too much distortion/compression ect... The unit is versital, convenient, and with a little time you can find or create good sounds with it, (otherwise I wouldnt be writing a review).... One of the things I like the most about it is it's (STONE) quiet, unless you have a strat singlecoil on one of the presets that has way to much gain/distortion standing in front of the TV... I bet you could adj the gate/limiter to quiet those down too, but I dont travel down those roads, so I wouldnt know for sure...

I have no idea how reliable it is... It's heavy, in a rack, it looks well made, and the floor board is heavy & looks well made... I wouldnt want to spill beer on either item, but I think it's built well, and should last...

NA, I have herd Line 6 support is slow, but there's so much out there in the form of group discussion's & forums on this gear, that you will likely find better/quicker answers long befor you get a response from CS... The warranty is a year, I think...

uhhhh, I mentioned all this in the first paragraph... WOOPS...

I've never actually used the "on device" interface for anything except to switch the output mode to/from analog/digital. Since I record with this as a part of my rig, I always use the GEARBOX software. This software is AMAZINGLY simple to use. No cryptic messages, no "what's this do?" moments, NO BULL SHIT! It's simple, fun to look at, and effective. Seriously, if it could give you the tone you want just by you imagining it, it would probably do it.

If I were to play live, I'd buy the FBV Shortboard and assign my patches to that. The manual is NICE. Ring-bound, durable, and actually VERY informative. I feel smarter just having it sit next to me.

I've upgraded the unit with all 3 model packs. They're okay; nothing spectacular for recording, but all of these models HAVE BASS. It's magical, but they added the bass that had been sucked-out of all the factory models. I know they did this because of the BASS pod pro XT....

The sounds I can get are acceptable. From a recording standpoint, 15% of the factory sounds are rich, full, defined and very present. Are they good? Not by themselves. Throw them into a drum/bass/instrumentation mix and they come alive.

One of my favorite tones is this wonderfully brittle tone using the "Citrus D30." Drive at 2:30, B/M/T/pres. max, 4x12 V30 Celest cab, 421dyn mic, EQ Peaks at 420hz and 2.6khz. Played on EMG-SA's, it's pretty cool.

When I'm not getting all country-brittle, I'm on the "L6 Modern Hi Gain." Drive at 7.5, Bass/Mid Maxed, Treb 0, Pres. 0, V30 4x12 celest cab, 57 off axis 0%, 30ms ping-pong delay, loop it through a 31-band EQ, peaks at 50-80hz, 500-630hz, and 2.5-4khz. You've got some sound to cut through any mix and still sound good solo. Try it, it's awesome (not perfect, but awesome). EMG-85 in the bridge, thank you.

Do the sounds mimic their intended amp models accurately? Seriously, I couldn't tell you. The only amp I ever owned was a Mesa rectifier 50 combo, and it SUCKED HORRIBLY. The Line 6 boogie emulator sounds a little better than that horrible box of unhappiness.

I Can't really say, but it seems solid (state! haha!). Seriously, it doesn't look like it'd take much abuse, but I could be wrong. It is a rack-mount device, and the armor of a good rack goes a long way.

Wouldn't know.

I'm one of those shreddin' fools who plays like nobody else's style. I shred faster than you or your friend, no sweeps or arpeggios (cheater-O's?). Simplistic "concrete" rhythms, airy cleans. My taste changes daily, as does my style. I don't focus too much on any particular aspect of my music.

It is a perfect replacement for my old rig? HELL NO! I'll never get the sound of a MT2 metalzone going into a Digitech GSP5 into a 31-band EQ out of ANY all-in-one unit. But that doesn't mean I don't like the polished distortions, the fun effects, and the ease of use this unit has to offer. It's become a mainstay in my rig, never to leave and never to be replaced. I've successfully been able to get within 90% of the sounds I make with my old rig, the 10% is due to nuances and inflection inaccuracies (too or not too distorted). Overall, BUY THIS UNIT!! At $500, it's far from a "fantastic value," but at that price, it'll fetch an 8 from me.

Our band plays everything from hard rock to R&B and hip-hop. The Line 6 stuff is a big reason we can pull off this stuff convincingly. Crunchy, groovy, mellow, it doesn't matter. If you put the time in to tweak, it will do exactly what you want.

The only reason I am submitting this is due to what I see as a terribly unreliable product. These are owned by the two guitarists in my band, not me.

One guitar player has a Vetta II, and it flakes out on occasion - not what you want your amp to do at a gig. It will obviously have power (lights come on) but it will not boot up.

The other guitar player had a POD Pro (1st generation). After a while, it started having problems with erratic output levels - normal and then too quiet, and then loud all of the sudden. He ended up buying a POD Pro XT. Now the Pro XT is having problems similar to the other guy's Vetta! It will power up, but not boot most of the time. Sometimes it WILL boot, and then crap out after a few minutes.

I don't want to see others suffer the way our band has due to these unreliable products. DON'T EVER GIG WITHOUT BACKUP.

When properly tweaked, these things sound AWESOME live and in the studio. But our 0/3 record with these things should be a warning to others.

If you are rich, a perfect solution is to buy 1 and have another as a backup. If you aren't, leave your Line 6 products in one temperature- and humidity-controlled place, plugged into a power conditioner, and gig with something else.

You have probally read most everything on here about the details. Read the manual first before you start screwing with everything, it will make it easier to understand...

I've worked in music equipment industry for seven years and I have played music alittle over twenty years...This is a good piece of equipment....I hear alot of people saying this doesn't sound like this amp or that, I've played on amps before then plug into another amp with is the exact same model and get slightly differnt tones.....does this pod live sound just like a marshall or fender...no...but it sounds pretty damn close...first off some people say the distortions are thin or weak, make sure you have set it up right, mine goes into the effects return of a 5150 through a genz-benz g-flex 212 cabinet and it sounds awesome....what i've found by working in the music industry is that most people who always bitch about musical gear or just seem to know every thing there is to know about gear usally are the one who can't play that well, it seems that they spend more time belly aching about tone then practicing their instrument.....enough of my belly aching..do you want 100% tube tone or 100% marshall, fender tone??? if yes don't buy this!!! If want great tone with alot of effects, hell everything you need, in one package and don't care if it's only 90% close to marshall tone, this is for you....

I've gigged with it and play it every day no problems as of now

have not used it

Great piece of gear, I could tinker with it for hours. many, many options. If you really want a real vintage amp tone go to ebay a bid on a real old amp, if you want to have fun playing the guitar get this one.

This unit is great specially if you get the model packs installed, very intuitive and easy, the manual is very helpful and not so technical, this is good for the amateur guitarrist who does not know a lot about these things, the USB feature is just wonderful for updates and editing this is simply great. For being a "Pro" needs much more flexibility in the MIDI part specially using the FBV Foot controller.

The amp modelling is outstanding, the effects are ok but nothing pro, if you want to get real effects get an Eventide, a Tc electronic or a Lexicon unit, these are reall effects, with model packs installed into the unit you can get any sound you want, and please DO NOT give me that Bulls...t about the valves, I am a touring musician/ Producer and you all guys know that 99,98% of the audience would never hear the difference, so its a matter of taste.

Seems to be very well built, i have not had it for long enough though, i has worked flawless so far, ATTENTION: it has some ventilation holes on top, but the manual does not say ANYTHING about leaving a empty space in your rack, the unit does get little warm, not hot though.

Here is where these guys should learn from TC Electronic, this VERY ridiculous forum they have for you to post your question and WAIT for users to answer it and if they fail doing so then the technical support will come to help... WTF is this? Do you think a Professional musician has time to waste with this? it really looks like a primary school game where your teacher gives you candies (in this case points for correct/helpful answers)if you answer the question?, I have posted VERY specific technical question and what i get in return is just Blah, blah, blah (I have a degree in Audio Enginering), I dont really have time to post stupid stuff like "How shiny my POD looked after i polished this morning" Come on Guys, LEARN from other companies who are REAL proffesionals at serving the customers, like TC Electronic that answer the mails inmediately with REAL helpful answers and then they do follow your case until you are satisfied.

The machine is great, it sounds lovely and it has great features I got it because of its ease of use and transportation, it works lovely with the FBV foot controller (even though needs improvement and flexibility to control other equiptment in the rack) -remember that this is meant to be the POD "pro"...the customer service on the internet is a piece of s...t. I have been playing for 20 years, i have a degree in Music Production & Songwriting,and i am currently signed with the Label Peer Music, I work actevely on stage and Studio, the technology of this machine is great I do recomend it just be aware of the customer service.

I have the latest firmware installed with all the optional Model Packs.
It has a learning curve to it and so much stuff in it that the guitarist used to one amp and a couple of effects can be overwhelmed.
I use it with the LINE 6 EDIT hooked up to my Apple laptop and do all the tone editing that way. Couldn't be easier! Without the Line 6 edit, not sure I would enjoy it as much.
Bottom line, I find it easy to use with the LINE 6 edit software, then again I have been producing in the studio for over 15 years now so I might find it easy no matter what.

Where does one start? What are you looking for?
I mainly use my ears despite of amp model and so on.
The first thing I look for is a good Cabinet simulation. I am a big fan of Celestion V30's so I choose that simulation as a standard and run all amp models through that as if I am using different heads with the same cabinet.

Some amp simulations sound a little thin and need a lot of work, others work great.
I seem to have settled on the ENGL Powerball model. I have never tried a real ENGL but in recordings this seems to be the one that cuts through the mix the best and has a very real sound to it even when nothing else is going on.

Considering a ENGL Head is over $2000 and would be a pain to record, I am extremely happy with the POD XT PRO and think this model alone is worth the price of the unit.

The effects are really good and of course there are a ton of options to use but I just need some good recorded guitar tones, the POD XT PRO nailed them.
Keep in mind I have tried everything possibly imaginable before going BACK to the pod pro xt.
It's a 9

It's in my studio rack. Don't see any problems.

Never needed them to be honest. Guess that is a good thing.

As far as RECORDED guitar tone, nothing can compare. Others might FEEL better and sound and act like a real amp while being played, but they lose something in recording.
If you are looking for the RECORDED sound then the POD PRO XT is the way to go.

I am using it on countless recordings and still today many believe I have a huge collection of tube amps at my studio. If the listener can't tell the difference.....I made my point.

Extremely difficult to get a good sound out of this box

Ok this opinion has to do with what this box is really capable of. I've had it for a while and had given up trying to make it sound good but recently I've been downloading other peoples hard work from the gearbox program and I finally caved in and bought all of the expansion effects and models for it too. That being said, woah, I am now in awe of the tones I am getting from this box into my Sonar Producer DAW. With proper tweaking this unit sounds fantastic but the tweaking was beyond my patience. Thank goodness there are countless teenagers out there without day jobs and girlfriends twidling knobs and sharing their patches with the rest of us.

Studio use only so I don't know about gig worthyness

great website and continuous upgrades.

I play a wide variety of styles in conjunction with my video scoring work and have been playing for 35 years. I own so much gear its shameful. If it had been stolen two months ago I would have rejoiced for the rack space but now, I would replace it. I have used a lot of modelers and they all sucked until this one. I wish it had decent tones out of the box but it does not. Don't give up on this thing until you download a bunch of users patches.