A few days ago, a POD 2.0 arrived on the Music Gear Review doorsteps from Line 6.
We here at Music Gear Review had been anxiously awaiting this incredible new product, and
were extremely excited to get to play with this new piece of gear. For what seems like a
year, my buddies and I have been trying to get a great electric guitar sound into our
recording equipment so that we could start recording some songs with a little more crunch.
Our attempts were mostly futile, resulting in either compressed or flat sounding tracks
that did little to impress. What we needed was the POD.
Fortunately for musicians out there, this was the goal of
Line 6. They state, "If you've ever been frustrated trying to get great guitar
tones running direct, either live or in the studio, and you want a wide variety of classic
and modern guitar or bass tones with convenient to use effects built in - then any one of
the POD family will deliver all of this and more. Line 6's revolutionary A.I.R. Modeling
accurately captures the tone and feel of speaker cabinets, microphones, and studio room
characteristics for an amazing recorded sound on everything from the most prestigious pro
studio setup to a multi-track cassette. Sounds like having a great amp mic'd by a great
engineer in a great studio."
After having played with this incredible piece of equipment for a few days non-stop
now, I can swear to you that Line 6 met and even exceeded their goals. This past weekend,
Mike Cox ( a contributing editor here at Music Gear Review ) and I recorded some mind
blowing tracks with the POD and Cakewalk’s Guitar Studio 2. We experimented with
mostly heavy, overdriven guitar riffs layered over the backing tracks that come with
Cakewalk’s Session Drummer. We were having so much fun we couldn’t believe
ourselves. Mike was ripping some blistering leads off and the creativity was flowing like
a river. It’s amazing what you can do when inspired! We took every conceivable effect
combination with every possible amp and cabinet combo and tried to come up with some type
of riff or chord progression. It was amazing how when playing with, for example, the blues
type settings on the POD, we would start into some bluesy type groove and crank on that
for a while. Then, we’d switch back to our favorite model, the Rectifier with some
delay and chorus, and blast through some cheesy 80’s and 90’s metal tracks.
Ahhhh, the glory days.
This fully programmable desktop unit delivers a wide range of legendary amp tones (32
models in all) and features 16 pro-quality digital effects setups arranged on separate
knobs. Some of the amps modeled include: Marshall JTM-45 tube head, 1952 Fender Tweed
Deluxe, 1959 Fender Bassman 4x10 combo, blackface Fender Deluxe Reverb, Marshall Plexi,
Marshall JCM 800, 1994 Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier Tremoverb, and more! It’s amazing
how you can get the quality tones of all these amps, sounding like they were miked by
professionals into your PA or recording gear. It’s like having tens of thousands of
dollars worth of classic and modern amps in your arsenal – but at the flick of a
switch. The POD 2.0 also offers extensive programmability via MIDI-adjustable parameters.
In short, it lets you record mind-blowing tracks with full volume punch without freaking
out the neighbors or waking up their dogs. The POD 2.0 also comes with a CD that includes
Emagic™ SoundDiver™ software (for both PC and Mac platforms) for expanded
feature access via MIDI. You can get at additional amp models, cabinet emulations, and
effects parameters, plus mix and match amps and cabs, and do strange things with the wah
functions and other fun stuff.
Here’s some specs from the Line 6 web site about the features of the POD family of
products:
All POD family products feature:
Award winning Line 6 Amp Models that emulate an all-star collection of legendary
amplifiers.
36 user memory locations so that you can create your own customized collection
of killer sounds. Organize them to match your set list, your session needs, or any doggone
thing you want. After all, it's YOUR POD!
Stereo Balanced or Unbalanced +4/-10 TRS outputs, so you can plug it into
anything from your home stereo to a really expensive mixing board.
Separate Stereo Headphone output to keep your neighbors (or your spouse, for
that matter) from staging a counterattack when you're writing that first big hit in your
apartment at 3am.
Chromatic Tuner, because playing out of tune isn't cool.
Cabinet Tuning Mode The Amp/Direct switch allows POD to be optimized for
different applications. Select Direct when running POD directly into a mixer or recorder.
Select Amp when using POD as a tone-shaping front end for another amp. POD delivers
several tuning modes for the Amp position, selectable at power-up. For example, by
default, POD products for guitar expect to be plugged into the guitar input of an
open-backed combo. Other tuning modes allow POD to be optimized for connection to the
power amp input of a closed-back system, or into closed-back cabinets.
ToneTransfer Compatibility. Line 6's ToneTransfer Web
Library, is constantly expanding. The sounds you collect transfer seamlessly between
POD, POD Pro, and Flextone II series amps, so wherever you go, all your sounds can make
the trip.
As if all this wasn't enough, we also include the POD Tools CD which contains:
Emagic™ SoundDiver™ software (PC/Mac) for expanded feature access via
MIDI. You can get at additional effects parameters, do strange things with the wah
functions and lots of other fun stuff..
The ultimate guitar Direct Recording tool with acclaimed Line 6 Modeling and built-in
Stereo Effects. This baby can also be used as a Tone-shaping front end for any Guitar Amp,
Live PA, or with Headphones.
Using a POD Mount, the POD can be secured to a standard microphone stand or slip
underneath an amplifier handle
Amp Models - 32
Digital Effects - 16
Factory Presets - 36
User Programmable Channels - 36
Headphone & Direct Out - 1/4 inch TRS
Power - N/A
Mono/ Stereo - Stereo
Configuration - N/A
Just so you don't feel left out, the Remote pedal input is fully compatible with the
Line 6 Floor Board and FB4 foot controllers, which add:
- Remote access to all channels and tap tempo
- Chromatic tuner access (Floor Board only)
- Wah and volume pedals (Floor Board only)
- Stomp Box-style effects on/off (Floor Board only)
Now that you've had the opportunity to browse the feature
set, let’s talk a little about quality. From the minute we opened the box, we were
pleasantly surprised with the many features this product incorporates. The POD 2.0 is a
true value in spite of its somewhat pricey tag. In addition, it’s also a very
attractive piece of equipment. The red aluminum shell is very cool looking and once you
get over the fact that it kind of resembles a big 'ol red kidney bean, you'll really
appreciate the progressive design style. More importantly, though, the POD 2.0 also has a
quality "feel" to it. It’s quite obvious when you get your hands on one of
these units that you notice right away how well built it is. From the shell of the product
to the various dials, switches, and jacks, you’ll know that you’re getting a
great piece of gear. In addition, the documentation that comes with the POD ( the
"Pilot’s Handbook" ) is one of the most entertaining, well written manuals
I’ve seen included with a piece of music gear in a long, long time. Interestingly,
though, when most companies that put out product like this they try to cram so many
features into a single product, something tends to suffer. Not so with the POD. We’re
having a hard time trying to find something we don’t particularly care for, or simply
don’t like about the POD. If you’re looking for an amp / effects / cabinet
modeling tool for direct or live sound, you just can’t go wrong!
One last thing. Sometimes a product that offers as much functionality as this tends to
be a bit confusing to use at first and sometimes involves a learning curve to become
comfortable and proficient with it. With the POD that really isn't the case. In fact it's
quite simple to get the hang of. We were up and running and using it instantly and only
reading the excellent pilot's manual as an afterthought ( actually to find out exactly
what amps were modeled for all of those cool tones ). To me, as a player, that's a real
important feature. To be able to know you can basically plug it in, turn some knobs, and
get jamming without reading for 1/2 hour to get results is a huge turn on for a lot of
people, and it certainly had an impact on our opinion of this fine product.
Bottom Line:
The bottom line is this folks. Your jaw will hit the floor when you start playing with
the POD. Never before has a piece of gear like this opened the door to so many different
options when recording or playing live. Like I said earlier, it’s like having tens of
thousands of dollars worth of classic and modern amps in your arsenal – but at the
flick of a switch. All of them miked perfectly, like you paid thousands to have a real
professional sound engineer in your studio – home or otherwise. I would suspect that
professional recording artists will be as at home with the POD as my friends and I have
been recording on our PC with Guitar Studio 2. Until we see something that can challenge
it, we’re calling POD 2.0 the king of direct modeling processors. The POD 2.0 will
open up new avenues of creativity for you.
The POD 2.0 can be found for roughly $400 on the street, a small price to pay for the
quality and functionality that you get with this unit. Those of you that are still
building your home studio, though, might be hard pressed to lay down that kind of cash for
something like this. I can tell you, though, that your dough will be well spent. I
can’t wait to start using the POD with some of the other equipment that’s on the
way to Music Gear Review, as well. It will be a sad day here at the Music Gear Review
offices when we have to ship our POD back to Line 6. But hey, it’s a new millennium.
Grown men are allowed to cry.
Check out
more details or current pricing below!
Line 6 POD 2.0 Recording Amp
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