Why The Line 6 POD Sounds Really Bad
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- čas přidán 29. 06. 2024
- The Line 6 POD has been crapped on (figuratively and literally) for about twenty years, and we're honestly not sure why. It's the first quality digital amp ever released and has sold literally millions of units, so this week Nick and Josh set out to prove that it does not, in fact, suck.
www.thejhsshow.com/
www.jhspedals.info/
/ thejhsshow
JHS Fresh Clips: / @jhsfreshclips7880
Chapters:
0:00 Intro
0:18 The Line 6 POD
1:38 Black Panel Setting
2:14 "Eat'n Beans"
3:02 Fuzz Box Setting
3:33 "Hairy Android"
4:45 Multi Layered Sound Setting
5:44 "Not Fast, Head-First Jump Into Water"
6:34 It Sucks, Right?
8:14 Record Time
9:21 Thanks For Watching!
Gear in this Episode:
The Line 6 POD
reverb.com/p/line-6-pod-2-dot...
JHS "Loud Is More Good Amp"
www.sweetwater.com/store/deta...
Bilt Relevator Guitar
biltguitars.com/
Record Time:
U2 - How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb
amzn.to/3zeIU6g
Josh’s record player is by U-Turn Audio:
amzn.to/34CRXjr
The jams from this episode are on BandLab! Head over to the link below to jam with us, download the stems, and create your own samples from our sounds... or all of those things.
www.bandlab.com/jhspedals
#jhs #thejhsshow - Hudba
Thanks for the very entertaining video, Josh, and for the very kind words! Of course, there have been many talented people at Line 6 that made POD (and everything else) possible, so I really only deserve a small part of the credit (or blame!).
I cannot love this enough.
Are you still with the company? Sorry if I missed that if it was in the video.
@@TheRealcdawg22 I retired from Line 6 in April of 2019, leaving it in the very capable hands of some very talented people who continue to make all us Line 6'ers proud.
@@TheRealcdawg22 nice avatar
The GOAT!!!
Let's not forget how important it was that it had a headphone output. Made me play guitar more since I wasn't bothering my parents with an amp!
Lol! I read this as a *phone output. I'm thinking... "so you plug a phone into it and listen to yourself through a phone? Huh? Nah. That's not right, is it?" 🤔🤷🤣
AMEN Jeremiah!!!
I've kept mine around because of that trusty headphone output. In my case, substitute 'wife' for 'parents'.
I used to use the headphone jack to connect to a pair of powered desktop computer speakers. It was a way to play at apt volumes when not using headphones. But yeah, at the time these came out, they were a great headphone amp.
I used to do the same thing with my Zoom G2
I was a young, loud musician when the POD came out. Before the POD, I could render any tone that my single-channel 60x Crate amp, with attached Tube Screamer and Morley Wah could muster. In reality, my on-stage tone options were way too much distortion, or really shrill clean.
I got my hands on a POD, and with the turn of a dial, a world of tones were open to me. My bandmates and I spent about four practice sessions just dialing in tones, and realizing what songs we could now cover with this secret weapon. It was my workhorse tone machine in shitty little bars and college parties for a few years. It, plus a Yamaha 4-track was my entire studio for close to a decade.
People like to shit on the POD, and compare it to vintage tube amps, and hand wired effects. We weren't using any of that. Nobody that I knew could afford a Fender Deluxe. Hell, my reverb unit came from Radio Shack.
The POD put near-limitless options on the plates of musicians who had been limited to what they could carry, and what they could afford. Also, it sounds fucking good. Does it sound better than my Helix? Not usually. Did it sound better than 90% of the rigs out there in the late 90's? IMO, absolutely.
Why did I get rid of my POD? I didn't. It's in my basement on a shelf. It doesn't get out much, these days, but when I go to jam with my buddies, I'm not taking my Helix along.
Here's a hot take. When I first got married, my only amp was a Line 6 Spider. I liked it. It sounded fucking nice, and I could still make my house payment.
I play a Line 6 Spider every single day. Sounds amazing. I get compliments on my "tones" live and on videos. Like "That guitar sounds great", LOL!
When I was gig’ing throughout high school and college, I ran a POD Pro along with a Mesa V-Twin rack unit through a Mesa 50/50 power amp, and it was the best sounding setup I ever had. I wish I’d never sold that gear. Those rack v-twins are impossible to find now.
Man I gigged my spider half stack so much. It was such a part of my broke (couldnt afford tube) youth, and I look back on it fondly.
I love this story
Yeah but now you have a house a second mortgage can be had and now you can buy a real amp :)
Never had a POD. But in the 90s and 2000s, when they tabbed songs, they would give you the amp and effect settings to put into a POD to get that artist’s sound. I wanted one. I still think I want one.
My brother, who has been hearing impaired since birth, nevertheless plays the guitar. He has been using the POD for two decades. It has allowed him to play through his computer and then into his hearing aids, which has been a great tool for him. There may be better products now, but he has this thing mastered, and if it works...
That's badass
That's great!
awesome👍
That's super cool. You mean he uses what he has and what works????
You can buy them pretty cheap. Get him a spare.
I've demonized a lot of gear because my impression of it was how it sounded into the clean channel of a 15 watt, 8" speaker practice combo amp. My less than a year of playing and cheap strat copy didn't help either. I think a lot of us formed opinions on things in that stage of our playing and haven't really questioned them since.
I got stuck thinking all line 6 products sucked because my first amp was a 15 watt spider 3.
Also the presets aren’t always that good. You gotta tweak them.
I hated line 6 when I was younger, but I later realized that I just didn't Iike the kid I knew that had one. Played some of the stuff since and it's fun. Enjoy the pedals more than the amps but dont have a ton of experience with the amps.
I feel the same way.
I understand where you're coming from, and I definitely think the Line6 pod has its place, but at the same time, if you actually have that killer amp and guitar, there really is no need for the pod. It gave and gives us access to a wide variety of sound faksimiles, at a significantly lower price than even one of them. As such, it has been a great tool in many a budding guitarist's formative years, and still has its uses on the fly.
I was gigging totally ampless in the early 2000s with this unit. Convinced my bass player to get the bass version too. Always had great sound and not a lot to have to carry.
Addendum: Like a lot of gear, I don't know why I sold it. I also had the Flextone II 2x12 amp. Shouldn't have sold that either.
Same here, but with the Vox Tonelab SE.
Did you plug straight into the PA?
Yes. Completely ampless on stage. Just monitored via wedges.
@@goodheartmedia awesome dude! Really thinking of picking one up out of curiosity
The Line 6 POD is what helped give the Punk-o-Matic series (1 and 2), a flash game, prominently on Newgrounds, its iconic riff tones/sounds enjoyed by so many people over the past 13+ years! The bass tone is especially my favorite.
I loved that game! That was the game that garnered my interest in composition and playing music more seriously.
That game and Rock Band helped me realize, maybe I can make music too!
Dang, nostalgia just washed over me at the mention of the Punk-o-Matic
"He has the bag...!" Brilliant!
And what's that thing behind the keyboard that looks like a headboard made out of pallet wood?
"That's not my bag, baby!" ~ Austin Powers
The cowboy hat made me lol
I had the bag for POD and Floorboard the big 🤘
I had to restart the video at that point, because I was laughing too much and ignoring it all. 🤣🤣🤣
I don’t know if it can be overstated how this tech positively affected kids who were getting into recording music in their bedrooms. The early 2000s were an exciting time for recording tech for poor 20 year old college kids.
Still remember the time we somehow burned our shitty recording onto an actual blank CD. Felt like we were rock stars.
It was an awesome time to be doing early social media doing reviews and such - the pace of change was awesome and the results we could get for the first time without lugging big amps and cabs around was so so cool to young me :)
well, that makes sense why people hated it. Not because the tech, but because many beginners used it as the gateway to recording. Nobody shouldn't expect beginners to begin with great tracks.
@@Marta1Buck dont agree...at all. Beginners mostly make bad recordings ,u say? No...quite the opposite. Most musicians lose their inner fire after a while. And still they keep recording...sometimes only for making money.Rock n roll is a young mans game.Or old dudes with a young spirit..
@@igordewit7357most great albums are 2nd-4th albums made well in the artist's 20s, not beginner. Also the 80/20 rule applies to everything, most music is garbage, especially those just starting out. If you heard the earliest demos of your favorite bands you'd know this.
So you're really missing the point. Many of us were those 20 year olds making unpolished beginner recordings. We don't take it personally
I’ve got such fond memories of countless hours spent with one of these PODs hooked up to a Tascam 4 track and a Boss drum machine 🥰
I sold it all to pay rent (rock and roll cliche #124 😂) but wish I still had that crazy little kidney bean.
I still have a working 4 track..Fostex, and my POD.. not that I ever really use them.
Never had one, but when interviewed by Guitarist in 1999 to promote the XTC album Apple Venus, Andy Partridge said that for him the Line6 Pod was a game changer in the studio. That’s good enough for me.
I bet the sex was great
I think most people think in terms of Dave Gregory being the only ‘lead’ guitarist in XTC, but Andy can flat out tear it up.
I bought one when they first came out . I had a garbage amp and this was my “ Rock star level achieved” I would just throw on some good headphones and instantly became awesome. It allowed me to play late at night without disturbing others . It was great and not to mention one of the monthly guitar publications used to give you famous artist settings to go along with the tablature, really educational. I finally got rid of it about 5 years ago just because I was not using it anymore. I think I traded in and the amount went towards a Catalinbread Echorec
Me too man! I was 12, worked cutting lawns all summer, bought one of these and a bc rich warlock, plugged in my headphones and started my guitar journey.
The headphones made it a usefully tool..
I thought using the headphones was cool until I developed tinnitus from it about 8 years ago.
I never owned one, but when a friend bought one, he eventually gave me his old rack mount Art SGX2000. I can’t get that to sound right through my amp, but through headphones, it’s glorious and it’s in stereo. Point is, there’s nothing wrong with a quality headphone setup that encourages you to play.
That's because amp modeling pedals are meant to be used with full-range speakers and typical guitar amps aren't full-range.
I love how Josh will take a piece of gear that is generally universally shit on and make useable tones out of it. You can buy really expensive JHS pedals but he constant preaches “use whatever you have laying around the house.” Absolutely brilliant.
Just goes to show that despite there being respected level of gear production,a good player will always sound good and a bad player can’t be saved by gear. RockOn Josh!
I watch the videos, because his no BS reviews and comments - even when it won't help him commercially, give him HUGE credibility. I wouldn't think twice about buying a JHS pedal based on this guy's honesty, knowledge, and taste.
No need for expensive pedals like JHS. Thanks Josh!
Maybe 95% of the sound excellence is the BilT and Milkman? Effects might be a lie?
It doesn't sound bad but always felt like something was missing
I love when you debunk all the crappy myths and opinions that guitar players love to spread arround, keep on dude!
"tone wood" on electrics
I bought mine in 2001 and still use it today. I've never found a need to get something different. I play Metal and Progressive Metal and to this day people ask me what I'm using to get such a brutal metal tone. I've been using the same settings that I programmed when I first got the Pod after reading through the manual. You have to hook it up through the effects loop of your amp to really make this thing shine. Alot of people miss that little detail. It doesn't sound nearly as good through the front of your amp.
Back when this came out, me and almost everyone I knew were broke. Almost everyone used a multieffects (pods or the BOSS digital boards) and a solid state amp because that's all we could afford. Analog pedals and tube amps were out of our reach, those were for pros and rich kids.
I guess a lot of people my age associate this with the time they couldn't afford anything better (read, more expensive) and don't want to go back to it? But we sure used to have fun with this stuff.
Personally, the only reason I don't use my old digital VOX board at all anymore is because it died on me. Strap one of those to the fx loop and you have all the modulation in the world for almost nothing.
Honestly^^^
Kraft dinners. Better if you don't have to.
I had one of those VOX multi-fx units when they came out (TV yellow/black top/white chicken-head knobs/3 presets per bank). I just needed a reverb that could run on batteries at the time, for busking. The VOX multi-fx was like $99 at the time, and that's a little less than a simple reverb/delay (BOSS RV-3 type thing, at the time) cost anyway. It turned out to have decent, stage-usable mod sounds, and great delays as well. You could run an exp pedal on the patch parameters, too. The drive tones were like 'living-room guitar' more or less. For then-$99, that was amazing. I ended up giving it to my brother when I moved away from busking country.
I had to order this directly from the USA (I'm in Australia), as it was super costly here. The USA store was really suspicious, they made me wire the money rather than accepting my credit card. After paying bank fees for the wire transfer, currency conversion fees, import duties to the Australian government, and buying an Australian power supply for it (which was AC power unlike all other pedals), it was still much cheaper than Australian music stores were charging!
I gigged for years with it; loved my POD 2.0. Finally gave it to my cousin for his music studio before moving across Australia. He probably still had has it.
My brother was on holidays in Las Vegas and brought one back for me. Went to Dick Smith and bought a 240v-110v converter for it. Still got it but never use it anymore. I better get it out again.
Hey hey Patto, one of my heroes, holy cow wow!
@@JayGuitars1 ha, nah, I'm not THAT Simon Patterson! He has a few years on me.
Josh, you are an amazing person! Love your videos, and the fact that you are never cocky, and provide wonderful accolades to just about anybody that deserves it. Wish there were more like you!
Entertaining as usual, Josh! I love your self-deprecating sense of humor and your playing is always creative and fun.
I still have mine. Got it 18 years ago. Used it on countless recordings and some live concerts. Nothing wrong with it, always sounds great. Whoever doesn't like it probably also hates candy, cats and dogs, and has never been in love.
Completely wrong. LOL…this piece of gear sucks.
@@dongverminenope it's you
Loved the POD for recording and as an emergency backup in the event my gigging amp went down. Considering when it first came out... the tech was pretty dang impressive in that era.
I found mine in storage a while back. I still really like the Soldano model for dirt and I use the fender for cleans. Totally useable for practice. I still prefer my Kemper though..lol
I still have mine. It once blew up after being plugged into a faulty 220 adaptor when I took it on a trip overseas. Got it fixed at the authorised Line 6 repair shop and it still works, even after over 20 years of having it. Great piece of gear!
Great presentation (and love your guitar). I still use one and it’s all I need for home recording and most studio stuff. Thanx!
Love to see a look at old Zoom products like their multi-effect pedals and amps.
The 505II makes a short appearance in a digital can't sound good video
I got a zoom g1 four and its actually pretty good, until you try to do high gain that is.
Only if he talks with the designer over zoom lol
I picked up a g2.1u for $25 CAD. It sounds amazing
Zoom 9000
Used that live with a Fender Twin Reverb on 10.
My band hated me for ever! XD
I love this guy. Can’t turn away from his sarcasm and wit.
I was a regionally touring musician from 2000 to 2011. When the POD became a pretty popular thing in these parts (south Georgia), it was initially laughed at until a relatively popular guitarist in our area switched from his JCM900 to the POD for live gigs. His signal chain was guitar > cable > POD > DI Box > FOH and his live tone was fantastic. Even his monitors were awesome.
Let's just say that the ENTIRE scene changed within weeks and large gear began staying at home while the POD and POD Pro became staples on the local and college circuit. As for me, I sold a first generation 5150 head to purchase the POD Pro which eventually got sold around 2012. ( Don't ask, I regretted that later and I wished I had kept it.)
I used a POD Pro live from 2002 to 2005, then switched it out for Behringer's version from 2005 to 2009 to keep the more expensive POD Pro from being stolen or utter destroyed by a bunch of college idiots who were notorious for being careless. I wished I wouldn't have sold it.
Back then there was NOTHING better for convenience, sound quality, and ease of use for the weekend warrior. NOTHING.
Enjoy your channel.
J
Think of how grateful his back must be.
I recently bought one on eBay cheap, I remember my Brother-in-law letting my jam with it when they first came out and I loved it so I decided to revisit it and I'm very pleased with the sounds it produces.
The Pod was The Shit back in the day, and still sounds great. People talked trash about them, but as a producer I consistently got great tones in studio without an amp or cab. Producers and bands layered them everywhere because they were just that good, and when coupled with an amp IR ITB, almost unbeatable.
Is it just me, or does it seem like Josh actually secretly DOESN'T think the Line 6 POD sucks?
When i seen the title of the video i thought: "hmmm, Josh got good ears and knowledge, how it can be he write the POD sound shit?" ^^ So i checked the Video and very fast i get the ironic ;).
Geez...another "Conspiracy Theorist".
Josh clearly said that it was dirt in a bean shaped box, so that means that since I loved his jams with it I must therefore be in need of having my RockCard suspended until I can get my ears on straight. 🤣
🤫
It's hard to tell.
I still have my pod xt- and really it sounds great. I've made 3 professional chart topping records with it, tour for years and made some music for tv and advertising and no one ever told me "it sounds digital, man!!"- never ever. But I'm aware that in order to squeeze its juice you need to be a tone tweak geek, and also helps to have a decent amount of sonic education in your ears. I guess the reason people ditch it was because they expect that out of the box, like kind of magic, the presets worked wonders with their particular guitar (even if it was a little shitty)- and with their particular audio setup- or maybe even playing poorly. My insight about using it was: everytime you want a dirt sound go with the amp eq and drive before the stomp box, but keep the drive kinda low to avoid get muddy and play with the amp volume first- this helped to keep presence and note definition, play with the mics and the unit's eq. If you are aware of the tone character of your guitar you would take out of it great tones that show it pretty decently. The sad thing now is that using it like an audio interface to record direct to the computer has a lot of driver/firmware issues with the new operating systems, in my most recent experience. That was my report Josh. Love da vid!!
Great review, love your playing in this video! For some reason, I really heard you in this. Nice drums btw
I love how Josh is like, "Here's the first retail Klon ever. Sounds pretty good but like, whatever. Anyways back to the POD..."
My friend worked in a music store. He said, “You have to try this!” I resisted for a month or two, then one day I had 15 minutes to spare and tried it. I left the store scheming about what I could sell to get that stupid looking red bean! That was when I went to a full digital rig going direct to the PA/computer, and I have never gone back. (I had the full rack system with tube pre-amps, effects units and tube power amps with dual cabinets to go stereo. Pretty large rig. A lot of work!). I have gone from the POD bean to the Vetta to the POD XT Live to Fractal Audio Axe-Fx, Axe-Fx II and now Axe-Fx III. One of the best tones I ever had was my clean sound with the original POD with the clean Dumble setting. (Never could get that exact sound again after I sold that unit to
“upgrade” to the Vetta.)
Great video, so much fun. I love my original Pod! All of the jams sounded great, although the fuzz sounded closer to plain distortion to my ears.
Bought a POD in 2002 and used it for years. It’s been in a box for too long. You’ve inspired me to bring back out. Thanks.
Used a POD for guitar lessons and it was great for covering tons of tones without a pedalboard in the tiny lessons studio.....long live the POD!!!
It’s still on my shelf and I’m gonna go dust it off and plug it in.
When it comes to the “shitty” gear, a wise man once said-
“Some gear is tweak sensitive. If you can’t get a good tone out of something with basic adjustments, chances are the gear doesn’t suck, but YOU suck.”
I’ve always had good luck with Line6 gear. In fact, I still have my first-gen Spider 50W combo.
I won't shit on gear. But this is me. And honestly this is why I often end up going back to just a Marshall JCM2000, Cry Baby and a Les Paul. It just sings.
well, I wouldn't go so far. only because you can't get anything good out of a pedal doesn't mean YOU suck but maybe just that the Pedal doesn't work in a way that makes you feel compfy. I for an example stoped using Boss Pedals because I just couldn't get a decent sound out of them. I never had this problem with Electro Harmonix, now does that mean I or Boss suck? Of couse not. Boss Pedals are pretty legendary and I think I'm an okay Guitarist but Boss just doesn't turn me on I guess... Same goes for Telecasters. I never thought to my self:"Well this Telecaster sounds great" but that doesn't mean I or Telecasters suck. Heck! I'm a huge Status Quo Fan so I know damn well how awesome a Telecaster can sound and I sound pretty good on a Les Paul or a Strat but Teles are just not for me....
"f you can’t get a good tone out of something with basic adjustments, chances are the gear doesn’t suck, but YOU suck.”
I understand that people finally got fed up with all the snobs, overpaying for "iconic" gear and all, but what you said is simply not true.
If you have a specific sound in your head and your gear is of the wrong kind, you will always be frustrated. It *very well* may work for a different sound, in a different context. So what?
You want your sound, not something someone else might like for music you positively hate.
@@bakters You can get at least ONE usable sound of any piece of crap or expensive unit. Argue all you want but its true. Veteran gear addicts / players can make it work.
Recently discovered JHS after getting back into playing. Love Josh's pedals and entire CZcams channel, this is excellent content!
And it's a great channel for an old guy like me. 68 and still learning stuff.
I have my original POD from when the first came out. I haven't even ever gotten around to updating the chip. At times, it was my only effects, then sometimes I added my RAT box. The POD, plus the additional footboard foot switch with the wah/volume pedal is an amazingly versatile system. I usually had it down to about 6 or 7 really good sounds.
The best all around sound is the Classic British (Marshall) sound, running somewhat gritty. It's mindblowingly accurate, and really sings. I now have a board with a bunch of expensive pedals, but I still can't get great sounds as easily and consistently as I can with my POD.
Josh-I've been waiting for years for you to do this episode. I had the pod, podxt live and now a helix. Always fun to play with these. Glad to hear you mess with the bean.
Such an icon piece of gear. I have the 2.0 and the X3. I use them to record almost all of my guitars to this day and they sound fantastic. Like anything, putting the time in to learn the gear and dial it in is what makes all the difference in the world.
I owned a Flextone III XL about 17 years ago and I swear that I have never gotten a better spacey clean tone out of anything since then. The way that the bottom end bloomed out of that amp was crazy.
My first pedal ever was the pocket pod when I was 14. It still works and has traveled with me on every tour I’ve done for tuning and practicing before a show!
This was great! As a long maligned Line6 user, I salute your courage and honesty! 🎸🤘🏻🤓
I got a BASS POD and I love it! I also have a Flex-tone III which has most of the POD in in. With the handy floor board you can store like 40 pre-sets.
I’ve been using the Flextone 3!since 2003 (still using it) and get compliments all the time. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it… BTW I sold thousands of PODs when I worked music retail from 1997-2007.
the more and more I watch these guitar videos the more and more I hold true to the thoughts I had waaaay back in the 90s: If whatever you are using to make your sound inspires you to make music that causes yourself and other people to tap their feet, WTF does it matter how you got that sound?
I bought the first POD (the one without the cabinet selection) and I thought it was a godsend since I couldn't afford all of the gear it simulated. It all sounded good to me because I spent less time focusing on tweaking tone and more time having fun making noise with my friends.
Josh, I love your channel because you seem to promote anything that enables or inspires someone to play. Kudos!
I used the kidney v2.0 for many years! Every time sound guys saw me put that up on the stage, I knew their eyes rolled. But it worked so well for live playing in small Chicago clubs in the early aughts. I could get a moderate stage volume so that the microphone and amp could be blended in the mix. It served me well! Glad to hear your take on this fantastic product. That plus my Peavey Classic 50/50 power amp and a pair of BagEnd Red Rock 12” in a dual 12 cabinet. It did the job night after night and saw a lot of abuse.
Thank you so much J & Co for doing what you do. The gear-positivity you guys spread is real talk. The guitar world has so much silly dogma. Thanks for breaking so much of that down. :-)
And I personally hated all the jams. So much, especially the Slowdive one. I also had the Behringer-copy of the Pod back in the day, the V-Amp - and I rather much hated that too, because it was digital. All those tones suddenly available to a no-money teenager from nowhere. Who'd ever want that. It'd've been much better to buy a tube amp for the money I didn't have that I couldn't have played due to not having had the space for it to play it at any kind of real volume.
POD led the way into recording "in the box." Thanks to this fine retrospective, I now can admit to having one. Moreover, I confess to having a bass POD, which is black instead of red and also a leading edge technology. Perhaps even earlier, the Scholz Rockman inspired in-the-box "shapes of things to come." Each of these units offered in glorious (but reviled on this channel) STEREO. I have the HX Stomp which has its strengths, but the rotary dial of the original POD brings instant gratification not to mention ease of workflow.
I'd love to see a JHS episode on the Rockman line of headphone amps and effects! -Tom
I remember going to my favorite music store Broadway Music in Merrillville In. seeing the pod for the first time I went back several times to mess around with it and when i finally got enough money eventually buying it. I also got the line6 floorboard to control it. That setup took me through every playing scenario from church to studio to stage to taping for local chicago and northwest indiana tv. I was sad when hard times hit and I sold it but I think I got everything I could think of and need out of that thing. Thanks for this video. Brought back a few memories.
Full respect for the POD. I was more a digiTech guy and this owned the POD’s nemesis, the digiTech Genesis3 (which was based on the Johnson J-Station).
I still have my Genesis3, and “I have the BOX”, and manual too. 😀
This title is OFFENSIVE
You only like it because this is the first time you could play Stairway to Heaven in a guitar shop with headphones and not get caught, Tyler
This title SUCKS and HERE’S WHY
TEN COMMON MISTAKES PEDALBUILDERS MAKE IN THEIR CZcams TITLES AND HOW TO AVOID THEM
I had one of these when they came out. I loved it. I was recording my own demo songs and this was great. I stopped using it only because I went to other Line 6 products, mainly the X3 Live and then the HD500, because I ended up in a cover band and found that they were great for getting so many tones and going straight into the PA.
When I was a younger, more naïve man I was amazed by and wanted all things modeling. I never made fun of the kidney bean. I wanted the Pod so bad but the closest I got was I borrowed the Behringer equivalent from my boss at the time. I loved it all the same. I made some very amateur recordings but it had some stuff I didn't have like chorus and delay. It was fun and I remember it fondly.
I am thoroughly addicted to your channel now. Also I love the Unicorn V2, what a great pedal. Going to check out the muffuletta next.
I remember recording in 1999 almost entirely on the POD, made incredibly useable sounds really easy to achieve and blew our minds at the time
This product was/is incredible when it was released. This wasnt just sound effects, but amp modeling available on a consumer level that wasnt really widely seen before, if at all. I think one of the biggest reasons it got and still gets side-eyed is the bean shaped form factor
Thank you so much for doing this video!! Actually, I didn’t throw my POD away, just packed it away with a bunch of gear I no longer use. This video has encouraged me to pull it back out and give it a fair, current assessment. It always helps when someone who knows what they’re doing shows you how to properly use your gear. 😊
Update please. I did the same with my old Digitech rp200 and my mind is blown. Amazing what reading the manual and taking more time than just getting a chugging metal tone can open up. The amp modelers are actually pretty good.
@@RyanDoesAll Sure enough, I dug it up, started reading the manual and discovered the “manual” setting that I never knew was there. The more I abandoned the presets, the more I liked it. Current experiment is to put a stomp distortion and wah in front of it, which doesn’t make sense except it gives me a way to kick in overdrive and have a wah PEDAL on the floor. Doesn’t sound as bad as I remembered, but still working out the kinks. All in all, I’m kinda loving the size/convenience and overall sound. Worst case scenario, I may add this to my pedal board for effects I’d like to use on occasion but don’t care to haul around. Awesome rediscovery of something I already own.
Great video. I used a POD for many years at home. Great for running through different sounds and trying to play something that suits. I threw it away in the end because it produced increasing amounts of (unwanted) fuzzy distortion and was unreliable. I looked inside, but there was no obvious loose connection. I usea Positive Grid amp now, but I miss having everything at my fingertips on the desk.
I was literally thinking “he has the bag with the music “ right before you said it. Great shit
I've recently started watching your channel and I love every single one of them. I love your humor, Josh! Thank you for really keeping what's true, true!
I currently have a pod 2.0 and it has served me well for presentations at church. It is a good machine, I have to confess that if you add external pedals it sounds even better. It would be great if a version of it came out with other options, but retaining the bean shape.
Had mine since 2002, a much loved and bulletproof workhorse in my studio. Used it live for ages too!
Something about the POD screams early 2000s teenager room...
*Everything
But also mid 2000's home studio.
@@jamesroy9182 That's because those kids started making records. :- )
@@HammyHavoc or in my case, not-kids wanting to record but needing not to make enemies of neighbors, spouse, et cetera.
Great video! I never got the POD, as I was using the Boss GT-5 around that time. A unit that also very much did *not* suck (as long as you knew how to tweak it) and I played many gigs with and used on recordings. I like the sounds you got out of the POD too.
10 years ago I walked into a pub with a live band and they were very good. Two guitarists, bass and drums. I soon picked up on the fact that guitars had totally different sounds from song to song and then I noticed the digital display of the Fractal FX. During the break, the Fractal user just happened to come to where I was standing at the bar and I complimented him, then asked how he liked the Fractal. I was shocked when he replied "buyer's remorse, scared to death of it dying on me because it would take forever to get it repaired and when all's said and done, I don't sound any better than Steve". I asked who Steve was and it was the other guitarist. I had assumed that they were both using Fractals but it turned out that Steve was using a (well worn) GT5 😁👍
I think it's the scrolling through menus on a crappy, tiny LCD display people hate, not the quality of the tone, but people are too proud to admit their techno-klutziness and so rag on the "sound". I have a beat up old line 6 POD I use as a DI into my laptop the odd occasion I actually want to record something and not just noodle aimlessly for relaxation. I've use the amp and cab simulation plenty but not really tried using it to sculpt a sound using the other effects available. You have inspired me to experiment, for which I am grateful. Keep up the Sterling work Mr. Scott!
I had the Pod XT Live and an 18W power amp which I used to gig with. Sounded great when I dimed it! 👍
I have had my Pod since I bought it new. It’s been instrumental in me becoming a guitarist over the years. I could play anywhere I lived, and it’s taught me what kind of amps and effects I’d eventually use live. In fact it’s late... wife is sleeping I’m goin to play it right now.
After hearing setting 3's demo I'd love to hear Josh do more Shoegaze/Dreampop style tones, that was some solid rhythm work dude *thumbs up*
Agreed :) that’s my bag too
I still have it and I use it for some recordings in big gigs with many others instruments and fits so well amongst them, specially when I send it to my Blue Tube preamp before to the mix.
I actually had a band come in for a corporate event I was running FOH for and the guitarist said for some reason or another he couldn't get his normal fly rig so he grabbed his old Pod 2.0 and I was freaking SHOCKED how good it sounded. He was griping and grumbling the whole time and I didn't have to do a damn thing to it. It wasn't harsh or rumbly at all. It definitely shut me up with a quickness.
I had the Behringer version ( V amp) for years and ran it into a Fender Frontman 25R...I gigged at
small bars all over Lower Michigan with that rig :) :)
I still have all of the versions of the Behringers and the Pods. . You can get some great tones out of them.
etchypi just did a vid Dont Be A Snob showing the V Amp rack at a hotel jam at 42 Gear Street event.
I wanna hear you do your magic on a digitech RP line, like the RP80, make me love it and make its value on reverb explode. You never cease to amaze me
My first multi layer pedal was a Zoom GFX3. I still secretly use it in recordings to this day, some of those early processors still sound amazing
As a Line-6 fan, I have to say I'm impressed with the ol' bean, but it wasn't always that way.
I used to run an open mic and a friend and regular at the event would bring a POD set up with extreme levels of gain (insane level?) And then plug it into my 2x12 guitar amp. The tone was double scooped and so shrill, it made a Metal Zone sound "sweet" and "creamy" by comparison.
Fast forward a bit, and I ended up getting hooked on the Line-6 tone core pedals for my stereo rig (verbzilla and Echo Park were my go to) I liked those so much I ended up getting a Line-6 M13. For a while my live rig was a pair of M13 running a stereo pair of amps.
After I learned that even the distortion tones were very usable (especially if you combine a few patches and respect the gain knob), I bought a Spyder Valve 100 MK2 head @ a pawn shop for $250. It is not my favorite recording amp, but it is amazing when you want to move some air--doom metal, or finger tap song solos both shine over a loud drummer.
I didn't stop there as recently found a UX2 for $20 at Goodwill managed to get it working and gave it to a friend.
Recently splurged on a Variax (2002) and a pod X3 Live for my current "live loop" setup. Don't get me wrong, I prefer a real banjo, a nice custom guitar, some EHX and Morley pedals, maybe some fancy "ultramafic" LAVA cable --- but the results from just a Variax and a Pod X3 live are more than adequate right out the PA, and keeps me from having to pack an amp, or using a Frontmam 25r or other house equipment.
The best part is when people like the tone they get confused it's a Line-6, and especially confused it's from the "POD" lineup.
Jeez, I typed a lot. My bad.
Good guitar players can sound good through almost anything, Steve Vai through a Peavey Bandit. Bet it wouldn’t suck!
They sound good even as a clean pedal platform. I have the bandit 65 and it’s louder than I’ll ever need an amp. It doesn’t have the “cool” factor of jazz chorus but it’s amazing.
When I first started as a youngster I blamed my cheap gear as the reason I sucked, til I met a guy who made my cheap gear sound amazing . So I agree with you.
I amplify my Boss GT-100 into the effects return of a redstipe Bandit. Doing this bypasses any Peavey-ness.
Last time I saw Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, he was playing through a Bandit. Sounded pretty rockin
pv bandit sounds great,i can make it sound decent
Have had the Line 6 rack-mount for almost 20 years. Still love it and use it. Would love to see you do a video on the Tom Scholz ROCKMAN!!
I got the POD HD right when it came out. I was in high school at the time, and it was monumental for my development as a writer. Having a compact interface with any effect I wanted that connected directly to my computer allowed me to explore new sounds and properly record ideas. I made the switch to BIAS for home recording years ago, but I still use the POD in my effects loop. I never understood the POD hate, other than the typical gatekeeper type bullshit.
Wuhuu! This is a great reminder for me! When I started to get into recording way back when, I used my dad's Kidney Bean all the time. Like all the time! He bought it right away when it first came out. Internet was new and we didn't have it at home, so I didn't know Pod sucks. I went by ear and thought it was amazing to get things recorded so easy with a decent sound. It only sucked when I wanted more options and adjustability, and couldn't have them. (It was the very first version. And I didn't read manuals, if there was hidden functions...) I didn't like Line6 real amps though. Something wonky in the feel department.
Then I grew older, got internet, started to read forums and only used amps. Then I got older again, grew balls and went back to recording with modelers. So much faster to get a good result and wide variety of sounds.
I used my pod 2 as a preamp on a pedal board through a crown power amp for a number of years, and I was able to get really solid metal tones. It was solid as stone and I was never concerned with people messing with my gear because it looked like junk lol!
I still have the original Pod (2 eprom upgraded) and the later model Pod HD (fully loaded). Have used them on literally hundreds of commercial advertising tracks and the like over the years, and eventually made enough money to build a pro studio and buy the family home. So yeah, I tend to agree with you. Those things really do suck.
I can’t wait to see these go for $600 on reverb now lol
I recorded an entire album with one! Complexity of the sounds paired with the simplicity of the interface into the DAW made it a absolute godsend for it.
Nice! Which one?
Nearly everything on the XTC Wasp Star album was recorded on a POD. Great album.
Yes the album is awesome. But the guys who play the guitars too… 👍
@@michaelkoenig6317indeed! That's why I bought one!
That album sounds fantastic!
Love using my POD XT Pro, it's the first multi-effects/modeller that I've bought and I feel it has been influential in what amps I would actually buy in the future.
Ah yes! I love that thing, I still use it daily . Just needs a cleaning of the pods after about 20 or so years. So reliable and great sounding for what I like
I used my Pods to teach for years. I recognized immediately it was a great teaching tool. With a little practice, as your video demonstrated, a myriad of tones could be dialled in quickly. I have had the Pod Pro, the “kidney” and mini.
My son uses it for home recording and we occasionally use it live for small venue gigs.
Keep up the great work Josh et al. (All the jams worked) 10:26
I had the johnson J station and it was basically where learned what effects and tones I liked. It led me down some tone rabbit holes. These old school multi effects processors were so useful
*LOVE* the J-Station 👍😎
I'd love to see Josh & Co review the J Station or Zoom multi effects units. I'd say that I'd be willing pay money for it but then Nick would call my bluff because I'm too cheap to be a Patreon supporter.
Love to see Josh on a Zoom Fire amplifier. Were they as shitty/good as folks say?
Please no, I need to buy one. The price increase would make it impossible to get my hands on one.
@@tedsmart5539 I recently dug my Fire-15 out to dial it in again. I think it only has one combination of eq settings per amp model I like. I am happy enough with it doing the sounds it is best at but it doesn't have the range of more modern modelling devices or plugging in a contemporary desktop modelling device.
I just mentioned the J-Station. I have one.
I'm still sad that I threw away my old DOD TEC4.
Thanks for this video! Would love a pocket POD episode and would love to know how close it is to the version your played in terms of versatility and quality. Also would love to know if you would ever combo a pod into a set of pedals or if that would be unwise. You know, in the spirit of trying stuff.
I put drive pedals in front of my POD 2.0 using the 4C preset (Plexi sound) all the time. I keep the drive settings (on the pedals) down and volume up and they boost it just like a real amp. Can run it out to a power amp in jack or right to the front of an amp or into your interface to your DAW. It all works and sounds pretty decent with minimal tweaking time. Don't care for time based/modulation in front of a POD but the onboard POD fx are so usable I don't really miss them.
Great video as always. I used to have a POD XT. And I gave up not because how unit sounded, but because of the crappy customer support. I bought and installed custom patches (not sure if it’s called like that but anyhow) and after a couple of months they disappeared from the unit and no way to get it back. There were many people like me looking for a solution but without any outcome. Since then I stopped using the product and I will never use anything from Line6
In 2004 I tried a pod and plugged the huge line 6 floorboard into it. I had been playing a vintage gibson for ten years and had been using boutique tube amps for the past 5 years.
At the time, I was going for Joe Bonamassa tones, and was able to dial in Silver Jubilee and Budda tones that he was using at the time after some knob turning on the pod. The manual helped tons.
Through headphones it was epic. I was pretty impressed. It seems like the flextone amps are just this in an amp, and they sound great too. Never owned either of them but fun to try when bandmates had them.
“Not Fast, Head-First Jump into water” is the best jam I’ve heard in the channel…
It was also great to have (1) a Line Out, and (2) a “Save” function. Also you could move all the knobs to 6 and have a good sound, lol.
I used to run a POD into a Lexicon PCM81 and out to a Mesa triple rectifier and a Carvin Legacy. The sound was glorious. Wish I still had that old rig.
Great video. I didn't own a bean, but did own POD XT Live. I'm purely amateur, but did actually play live with it ... and it worked well. I eventually sold out because I just got frustrated with the UI. Fast forward to now and I am a bit over a year into HX Effects. Have to say, it's about the best UI on a digital device that I have ever encountered, in music gear and beyond. Just brilliant, and a monumental leap from the XT Live. Tones ... fantastic ... Variety ... fantastic. Happy days.
You actually got me there Josh! I didn't fall for the "Solid state is crap" video, but I was pleasantly surprised! I have the POD HD Desktop bean, I use it all the time! It;s so much easier to just jam on than plugging in my board and having to deal with that at 2am when I just want to play! And it sounds great! If I use an IR loader with it, it is extremely useable. It's not about the gear, its about the player!
I have one of those! It was ground breaking in it's day. Still use mine occasionally.
Awesome! Thanks! I never got to use one back when I was a kid, but it always seemed like a good setup.
I got a Blackstar amp and it's pretty amazing!
I did a whole album in 2001 (Mark Bram / Ruby Topaz Again, which is having a 23rd Anniversary Abbey Road remaster release in a week or two) with the POD bean. It sounded great! I just kept moving up the chain. I went to Vetta combo after that. Then, the 300 watt Vetta head with four cabinets. I had the POD HD500X with two DT50 heads and two 4x12 cabs. Now, I have a huge rig centered around Helix. I have an HX Stomp on the pedalboard too, along with a few guitar synths. All the way through, I've always incorporated pedals in the loop or before the input... including your awesome pedals. Great stuff!!!