Line 6 POD PRO

First thing! This is an amp modeling tool and should be treated as a tool! Just as you would have to tweak an EQ or digital delay/reverb. You think The Edge simply plugged into his pre-programmed SDD3000 or AMS and busted out Streets or The Unforgettable Fire.

The Pod Pro v1.3 rack mount has a model for just about every popular amp. And yes the pre programmed settings are simply YUK! So turn a knob and tweak it! 36 user editable programs based on 1 thru 9 each having an A,B,C,D sub. The controls are analog! Dialing in a sound you want is very quick and easy no scrolling through menus!!!

Metal, Blues, Overdrive, Clean, Yep. Pod Pro has nice delay, reverb and modulations. It is very easy to get your own sound, crazy distortion or clean acoustic. And the cleans are clean.

Amp and cabinet modeling as well as a live or studio switch. The processing is so clean they even recommend re-amping guitar tracks while mixing down via the re-amping in/out jacks.

Turner and stereo effects loop.

My Pod Pro came with a floor board allowing for full control of the rack unit and expression pedal

Rock, Blues, Warp, Confusion, Loud, Edgy, Garage kind a playin.. Single coil and Humbucker. Have played thru and tried many many Tube, Solid-State and Digital pre-amp on the market. The Pod Pro has made me a believer! I did not want to but no Tubes in my rack! The models are awesome, and no noise at all!!! It sounds great cranked on all settings Metal or Clean. Although some of the stock patches are too punchy and come off very muddy especially with single coil pickups.

The distortion is as brutal as you want it to be!

Simply Awesome, and if you only use basic effects and mainly rock this is probably all you need. I use the pre amp modeling as I don???t really have a need for the effects as my effects are listed below. I have resisted the move to a digital Pre-Amp as long as I could but here I am with no noise.

The delay, reverbs and modulations are really very good and easy to dial in. Again the analog controls make this baby easy to program.

CLEAN POWER Amps are a must as Pod Pro generates all the harmonics you need. If you used colored amplification (distorted) you will have to really work with the Pod to soften its color. I am a Tube purist and Tubes are to only way if you have bottomless pockets, here is the Butt Monkey, Solid-State power is the way to go with this baby.

I do run a Fender Super Twin Reverb w/ purple Jensen???s that is ear bleeding cleaning with monster bottom end because of the (6) 6L6 power tubes. The Rectifier model 9A, well, sounds like Ben Franklin dropped a Mesa Triple right in my garage.

I also run a vintage 80???s Roland JC120 w/ vintage JBL???s that is Solid-State and also ear bleeding clean. Well this is a side by side comparison??? The Jazz Clean 9D, well, yes guess, it is running through one.

If you like Metallica try memory preset 9A/9B you are there.

Built like a tank...

Free upgrade to v1.3 at no cost.

Playin since 1980, I would have to replace it, I love it. Compared the Pod Pro to every pre amp I have ever used, mainly Tube based. The Pod has risen above them and I tried so hard to fight it!! It is really a great guitar pre amp as I do not need its delay, reverb or modulation. I run a 3 amp stereo setup; the Line 6 feeds the effect path via loop where a Korg A3 mixes stereo to hard left/right. Any effect that is not true stereo is doubled.


Here is my setup:
Guitars: American 80???s Charvel, Fender Strat???s/Tele, Gibson Explorer, Custom built 12 string Strat and Martin acoustics.
Effects Setup: (Floor)Boss Volume, Ibanez PUE5 w/Dunlop Wah looped, left to rack right to Ibanez PT5 to Vibratone.
(Rack)from floor to Korg SDD3000 (true bypass), Line 6 Pod Pro, Korg A3 (Pod E Loop), Left/Right - (2)Korg DRV3000, Yamaha FX900, (2)Korg SDD2000, (2)Yamaha D1500, Ibanez SDR1000, Pod E return, Pod Pro out to Alesis Midiverb II.
Amps Setup: (Left)Roland JC120 w/2X12 Vintage JBL. (Right)Fender Super Twin Reverb w/2X12 Purple Label Jensen. (Center)Custom Leslie Tremolo (Vibratone)

Yes I like to goof with effects. I setup the amps left and right turned in @ 30deg with the Vibratone spinning in the middle. The Doppler Effect is awesome because of the frequency cancelation as the rotary fires directly at the Amps.

What I am not going to miss is the Tube dilemma. No more tubes that sound like crap and having to pay crazy cash for NOS ones.

I'm not touring anymore so I ditched my Marshall and was looking for a simple digital/solidstate replacement that I could use in the house without waking the kids up. The amp was everything I wanted it to be, but now it's just going bad on me. Keep reading.

Again this thing sounded great, the effects were okay and a few of the simulated amps were really nice, especially the l6 crunch and the plexi emulator. I was very happy with the sound until it started falling apart.

I don't know what's wrong with my Pod Pro. I bought the amp used, it worked perfect when I got it. First the FX loop crapped out, just stopped working cold, no warnings nothing. Next the guitar input on the face of the amp started sounding distorted and weird. I just flipped my guitar to send a line level signal and sent it to the line level input at the back of the amp, I thought that solved the problem. I was still bummed out that the guitar input and the FX Loop where dead but at least I thought the amp was salvagable. Now last week the digital delay just stopped working. When I put it on Digital Delay it just makes a scratchy sound while I'm playing and no delay. Then yesterday all the rest of the fx started sounding the same way. No trem, no chorus, all of them sounded horrible and screechy, sort of like really bad digital cliiping plus nails on a chalk board and no effects. Today the distortion is sounding messed up too and so I switched to the clean channel and was playing on that for about an hour using a ProCo Rat for distortion and guess what? That just crapped out too so I guess that's the end of my Pod. Well I've had it for almost a year now and practice about two hours a day but I didn't expect it to wear out that fast. Seriously, I have a little Gretsch Artist practice amp made in 1948 and it still plays great but this pod isn't that old why is it going sour so soon?

Yes I have it on a surge protector, no I'm not doing anything stupid to it like running power amps into the guitar input or taking ot apart with power tools. I'm just plugging a stratocaster into a rat pedal into som rack mounted reverbs and than right to the amp, that's it.

Their okay, nice people to talk at but they aren't fixing anything so what does it matter.

Last time I buy anything from Line 6. Very disappointed with this product. I don't tour anymore and I have this thing sitting stationary in a nice rack and it's basically tuned into a paper weight on me.

This review is for the POD Pro with the V1.3 chip. I've had this unit for several years...probably 5 years...and I also bought the Line6 Floor Board with it. I did it out of curiosity because I wanted to see how a modeling amp worked. I also bought a little Mesa Boogie Dyan Watt 20/20 power amp (stereo, 2xEL84s a side) and have a THD 2x12 cabinet that I use with other heads in my arsenal - Bassman, Marshall 50 watt, etc. With the original v1.1 chip, I didn't like it. It would record some rhythm parts to tape nicely with the speaker emulation, but anything else had a buzzy digital sound to it - especially when you had an overdrive patch. Reverbs weren't very good, chorus was barely "OK", other effects were tolerable - compression, rotary, chorus, flange. My opinion has changed more positively with version 1.3.
The POD Pro also has some nice real time performance controls which make it suitable for a live setting. YOu can tweak the tome controls, bump up the drive control, controlthe reverb mix, etc wasily in real time. It has an XLR out that you can run to the board (which I never do), has MIDI in/out which I use extensively to edit patches from my laptop using a free downloadable Line6 utility. That works nicely.
There are no phaser effects. Why?

I play a variety of styles - but I don't do anything that has a heavy distortion to it. Mostly classic rock and R&B, blues, etc. My other amps are high qaulity tube amps - Matchless, Victoria, Carr, Fender Deluxe Reverb, 1965 Fender Pro Reverb, Cage, Dr Z, Marshall. Yes I love amps...yes I do.
But with the V1.3 chip, it actually sounds like a pretty good amp - especially coupled with the Mesa Dyna Watt and the THD cabinet. Now, you have to work to get the sound you want so that it will react dynamically to your playing in a live situation. But by golly, it actually works.
The effects didn't improve much with the v1.3 upgrade. The spring reverb is just not good. The rotary sound has improved with v1.3, however. But the distorions are much improved. I usually add a little drive to it, the distortion is not that over-the-top metal distortion. It actually is pretty good. You can roll your guitar volume back and although it is not as dynamic as a good tube amp, it does a pretty good job. Better than most solid state amps, I would say.
I play mostly single coil guitars - Tom Andersons, Fender, etc.
There is a good variety of amp sounds. I have nice models of a Fender Deluxe, a Marshall JTM45, a Vox AC30 Top Boost. They sound pretty good. It's nice in a live situation to bounce between certain amp types - which is where this device shines. The cabinet emulations aren't great. But the POD Pro gives you the option of disabling cabinet sounds if you need to.

It seems to be built well. I've not pushed it too much, but if you put it in a nice rack case and plug the power into a good Furman Power conditioner, it should last a while. I've seen some build-quality complaints about newer Line6 gear, but the POD Pro has a nice metal chassis that seems solid.

My one dealing with customer support was very positive. It was to get the V1.1 to V1.3 upgrade chip. No hassle. It was free. It arrived in about a week. Very friendly people. Probably better customer support than most.

POD Pro v1.3 improved the sound and features of POD Pro. Even the sample tones that come out of the box with v1.3 were more geared towards tube amp variety - as opposed to over the top compressed fuzzed out distorted sounds that were with v1.1. That's nice because it gives you a good launching point to tweak your own tones.
It would be nice if it had a USB or ethernet port, but I'm sure newer models now have that. I'd say this compares favorably to other modeling pre amps. If I had to have only one guitar amp, this wouldn't be it. It does a variety of amp sounds with decent quality. It's not like a good tube amp, however. I may replace it if lost or stolen...but I'm not sure. It takes me a while to form an opinion. Let me gig with it for 10 more jobs, and I may have a better opinion.

I got my PODpro in '04. Let's just say it has lots of different tones available. I like the tone of the line6 units when recording direct but felt it lacking something in the power section so I decided to get a Line6 preamp to run with a real tube power amp. I agree that 36 memory banks is pretty funny, considering the processing power available today.

I must admit that I don't have much use for most of the tones available
from the PODpro. Not because they sound bad but because I only need a hand full of them. My main tone comes from the "Modern Hi-Gain 1", the Soldano preamp patch NOT the SLO patch. I use the "Roland JC-120" patch for my cleans and I use the Line6 "Layer" patch when I want to blend a clean and dirty tone together. This is a patch that I fell in love with on my Line6 Flextone HD head and was happy to see in the PODpro. My only
complaint is that all the presets seem to have a mid-scoop which I hate even though I'm a Metal guitarist. I actually boost my mids and I now use a DBX 131 graphic EQ to turn my mids up around 800HZ. This unit is my secret weapon in making the PODpro sound like the end of the world. I use a Mesa Recto 2:100 power amp in the "Modern" switch engaged and it kills all the boutique amps I A/B'd it to.

I had a problem with the output of the PODpro where the volume was going in and out, so I took it back and the unit was replaced with the last one they had. All they had then were the PODxt units which I didn't like. When I played through the unit, it's tone was way better than the original one which led me to believe there was something else wrong with the first unit besides the output stage and since I didn't have anything to compare it to, didn't realize it.

Never dealt with them directly.

When used with a good graphic EQ and a great tube power amp like the Mesa 2:100, this makes for the finest Metal rig in existence.
Haven't heard anything better and I've heard everything from Diezel amps
Engl amps, VHT, Mesa, Peavey, Krank, Carvin etc. and my rig with the PODpro sounded much better without that saggy, spongy effect that I hate from most all-tube amps.

I know absolutly nothing about when the POD Pro was made but I can definitely say that I met someone who owned it and uses it to record as well as live gigs. Their music has been broadcasted on the MTV network as well as soundtracks. I believe it was one of those horrible reality shows that everyone is obsessed with. honestly, what the hell?
I wish the POD Pro had a teleporting feature without any type of identity mechanism so that I could make one appear right in front of me on my computer desk for which I would then plug my guitar into and connect a few patch cables, experiment with the sound settings and continue writing and recording the great music that I enjoy listening to. I love music aside from not being able to appreciate many other people's style, ability, effort, creativity, or genre, etc.... I need not say more for I find human communication borish and lacking a certain value of entertainment quality much desired by me.
I like creating a wide-spread stereo depth, plunging my axe right between those lucious waves of ecstacy and shredding with precision.
oh, and I do so while recording in private settings as well as public.

The POD Pro sounds exactly how I make it sound.
I control the combinations. I control the volumes. I control the compensation ratio for volume/distortion irritants. I am the man.
And now on a more personal note:
"Anyone who lacks the ability to create should NOT be allowed to call themselves a musician. If there were a penalty for ignorance and idiocy perhaps the majority would think twice."
POD Pro RAWKS baby!!! woooooooo!!!!!!!!
*cough*

I'm still waiting for the teleportation mechanism to trigger this beautiful machine into my hands.
I cross my fingers right...............NOW

Every moron thinks they're a professional and I laugh.
The ONLY (and I stress) ONLY reason anyone should or would need customer support is if they LOST the manual or they were just too lazy to read it.
Get real people.

I've never played through a POD Pro. I have no rating for this product.
I'd LOVE to own one and I am currently in the market for such a thing.
I'm interested in the POD XT Pro but I was recently introduced to a mint condition POD Pro for under 1/2 the price.
My only question so far is if I'm able to add plug-ins or "patches" to the POD Pro like I've read about for the POD XT Pro.
Overall I love this thing unconditionally as if it were my own child you silly grunt mongers.

Just purchased Pod Pro 2.0... had regular Pod and 2.0 upgrade prior. Preferred the rack set up with pedal. just easier to use. Did not buy to use primarialy sa modeler or effects... but rather for a little of each as needed and not need to have a bunch of pedals all around.... though I still use a few because you cannot combine more than 2 effects and only certain ones. But that said it has enough to please me for recording and gigging. Using with a marshall FCM100 head and 4-12 Marshall bottom... sometimes with Fender Ultimate chorus... both amps have excellent clean channels so it can be used more to it's potential.

Primarily Classic Rock and new age rock

good so far... prior POd lasted with zero probelms and resold for 74% what I paid after 2 years,,... not bad!

To expect an amp modeler to work in every amp and truly recreate a particular amp or cabinet is just plain stupid.... add chocolate to milk you get one thing... add it to beer you get something completely different.... your amp dtermines how well anything can sound through it and what the flavoring will do to it. I happen to really like it the way it works with the Marshall and with the fender. My POD 2.o suckeds through my Tube Peavy Classic 50 head w/ Peavy 4-10 bottom... just sucked.. but that was the amp... not the pod.. pod was fine in other amps.. the peavey amp on it's own was great so it's not because the amp was bad... just not a good combo.. I love the POD PRO

Let me begin by saying that this is definately not a 1 trick pony. I have played guitar for over 20 years in hard rock/metal bands and this is a great versatile unit though it does have its drawbacks. I will explain. Control surfaces are intuitive and easy to use. The fact that they mimick the simulated amplifiers in tonal sweep is great. (some of the featured amps never had mid controls like a Vox AC/30 but allow you to add a mid boost or cut because the mid knob is there. Channel switching is seamless and effect carryover is also nice. Total control is achieved with the 300 floorboard though I own the $75 FB-4 model which is a scaled down version for basic control of 4 presets within a particular bank.
I currently am using a solid state (YOU HEARD RIGHT) Crown Microtech PA amplifier with an Avatar 2-12 open back cabinet with (1)Vintage 30 / and (1) G12H speaker. I have also used a Mesa 20/20 dyna AND a Simul-Class Two Ninety in a traditional guitar rack set-up. I have also used this rig with a Gibson/Norlin Lab series L5 combo amp with the live /studio switch set to studio. (no cabinet simulation or mic AIR properties). The mesa's or any other tube amplifier for that matter are strange with respect to the extra coloring of the guitar tone. If you are going to use this unit the way the manual tells you to, do it with a PA type amplifier and boy will you see what everyone is talking about in prior reviews. It is best to use this preamp live with no cabinet simulation if you insist on a Tube type amplifier of your liking like my 2/90 or similar. This thing sounds absolutely monsterous through headphones or a recording console though. splendid.

I generally use a PRS custon 22 birds as my main axe, though I also use a Zion Ty Tabor signature model strat fasioned after the Fender Strat elite switching system of the 80's with the Joe Barden single coil pickups. These pickups are truely the cleanest sounding units of modern time. The bring out the best AND worst playing. They are very unforgiving when you make mistakes. A drawback if you are a crappy player. The POD PRO is a great friend if you need that versatiity factor. It is very quiet, especially with the noise gate built in. With 32 amps and 32 effects theres enough to keep you busy though a lot of the presets are a little too busy, they are a great starting point for your custom tones. They group effects or reverbs commonly found with that particular amp model to help showcase its sound. Nice. In a nutshell this unit can growl with the best of them and go until the cows come home and then some, or be meek as a kitten when necessary. I will say this though, there is still and never will be a perfect match for any of the amplifiers they emulate though they come sort of close in a lot of attempts. You must have real good ears to really get what you are after.

I have had only one problem with the POD PRO which turned out to be such a simple but aggrivating problem. The unit would re-boot onstage in the middle of high level performance! Yikes !! The problem turned out to be a simple fuse holder that was a little loose and allowed the unit to lose power by vibration long enough to turn it off and back on real fast. BUMMER. The good thing was I found the problem after bringing it to a so-called CERTIFIED line 6 repair center. The jerk-job who was the tech said he could not reproduce the problem I was having. I embarrased this guy severely buy simply playing a chord and lightly, yes LIGHTLY tapping the top of the POD, and 'zip' it turned off and on. The boobs eyes got wide as saucers as I whipped it off his bench and brought it home determined to fix it myself. Which turned out to be a simple clip on the main fuse. Thus proving that this 'tech' never really looked at it in the first place, and costed me 2 weeks worth of rentals on a floor model. DOH!!! It has not faulted since that day and after 6 years of touring in a rack, being stored in a cold garage and fired up on weekend warrior excursions. Basically being treated like the red headed stepchild she is. So reliability is a solid 8

Dont bother, they are nice to you but they didnt help me in the least, see above comment. posers..

I own 2 Gibson Lab Series L5's, A Marshall JCM800, Matchless Chieftain, Buddah Twinmaster, Peavey 5150 combo, a Fender princeton and a 52 Fender Deluxe, these are the real things, the POD comes sort of close to the ones they simulate but with a lot less back ache so it makes it worth the sacrifice. I like 8's so it gets an 8.
King's X rules!!

hey i need to say this because everyone is not realizing something those individuals running this with a guitar power amp are the ones have the bad sound your not suppose to run it with a guitar power amp it has color to it you want to run it with a power amp with out color. that is why the sound is weak and odd but sounds great through head phones. try running it with a crown solid state power amp or something it will be great then.

Bought it used in early 2003. POD PRO. Already had the old POD 1.0.
Very versatile. Already covered in other reviews.
Used it with a Digitech MiDi controller.
A lot of tweaking possible. Nicest feature: on-the-fly cabinet emulator selection.

I used POD PRO as a preamp+FX unit for a Mesa 20/20 (EL-84) poweramp.
Guitars: Epiphone Slash Signature w/ Duncan Jeff Beck (bridge); Jackson Soloist w/ Duncan SH-8 (bridge) + 2 custom handwired strat single coil pickups (neck & middle).
Mostly play hard rock, rock, blues, R'n'B.
Overall nice sound, but with some major issues.
It sounds AWESOME driving a Brunetti Silver Bullet all-tube poweramp.
It sounds weak with the Mesa one; after about 2 years I just sold it for my VH100R.
IMHO POD lacks dynamics; yes, fair for recording, but tones just aren't "alive". It might be as well a guitar synth.
And this is sad, because no preamp should sound this bad, connected to a Mesa poweramp.
I'd say: good for beginners or as a recording tool; just don't expect to sound like a SLO live.
Just don't understand if one of the above reviewer, speaking about SLO, Mesa Mark IV and so on, ever played through a real tube amp.
Any owner of a SLO or JCM800 will tell you the difference between this and the original. And it's a BIG BIG difference in tone & response.

Excellent.

IMO, it is much better to have one or two REAL GOOD sounds, even without FX, rather than thousands of crappy and mediocre sound combinations.
But, if you just cant wait to have some preamp-fx-recording multi-purpose rack unit, sacrificing sound quality for some "versatility", then it might be for you.

The features have been covered enough already. Most of the effects are OK but nothing to brag about. Gives me some really loud pops when switching between settings. I bought the floor board ($300 extra to make it usable on stage) to go with it as well because I thought I would use it on stage but it will never happen....

I bought it after listening to it through headphones, like a fool. The unit sounds OK through a PA set up but sounds like crap with my Mesa Boogie TriAxis and 2:90 power amp. I play an ESP KH with active EMG 81's. A few of the amp simulators sound good but not much like the real thing I have found.

The midi quit working on the unit after a couple of months of fighting with it to get some good tone out of it.

I haven't bothered getting repaired because it is junk in my humble opinion. I have contacted support a couple of times with other issues I had with the software and they were polite but not very helpful.

This unit is fine. If all you want to do is play through headphones! It has been sitting out of my rack for a long time now and has become a very expensive paper weight. It will be sold on ebay or at a local pawn shop very soon. Unless somebody on hear wants to buy it!