Bass Pod

[David Burgess (dnburgess)]

Has anyone had much experience with the Line6 Bass Pod or Bass Pod Pro?
 
Call me old fashioned, but I'm a bit uncomfortable with the idea of digital modeling - but the reviews have been pretty good.

[Joey Wilson (bigredbass)]

I guess you can call me REALLY old fashioned; I remember what most of the Pod's amp targets sounded like.  
 
 I feel like it's really impossible to dial up a setting for an old Acoustic folded-horn 18 and make it sound authentic thru a 210 cabinet.  I've owned 'em both.  In it's day the Acoustic was a BIG deal, but that was then, not now.
It would be a real stretch with current technology to do it in a 6.1 or 7.1 surround-sound format, much less mono, or into an ADAT.
 
Having said that, all of my 20-something playing friends think it sounds JUST LIKE 'EM (even though they've never laid eyes on most of the modeled amps).
 
I really feel like what's happening is similar to what happened in synthesizers.  Way back when, synths could be programmed (MiniMoogs, Prophets, Jupiters, etc.), after you did LOTS of homework.  With the advent of the DX-7s, and most all since, the sounds were now PRESETS, with maybe a little tweaking involved.  The PODs do this for bass or guitar tone.  Why should I learn front or back pickup, to pluck or pick or slap, where the tones are in the preamp settings when I can just go to the 'buffet line' and pick out what I want?
 
I guess you either 'get it' or you just never will.  There's a lot of tones in an F1X, and a lot more in the SF2.  Just no presets !

[Michael Paskel (Mikey) (pookeymp)]

Hey Dave,
 
I have no experience myself, but in another post ( http://club.alembic.com/Images/394/3130.html?1042640336 ), Chris G. (76ac070) uses and speaks highly of it.  You may want to direct this his way, as well.

[Simon Taylor (staylor)]

I've used the Bass Pod Pro (rack mount unit).  I thought that the effects were cool, but a little un-even.  Like an effected note would be singing along and suddenly you'd hit a voltage threshold in the sustain of the note that the POD would interpret as no more effect or different effect level.  So I'd hear this very audible change in the effect that occurred like a step.  One second you're getting great synth bass effect and then a split second later, it's gone with just the clean tone sustaining.  Kind of awkward I thought.  Mostly these days I use mine for its tuner capabilities.
 
As far as the whole modeling a this kind of speaker through a that kind of speaker or a this kind of amp through that kind of amp, I think the Line 6 folks are pretty clear in their literature that if you really want to chase that killer classic tone as closely as possible then the optimum use of the unit is to go direct from bass to POD to multi-track.  With anything else down-line, of course you're gonna get its color too.
 
I can't claim to remember much of anything about those old rigs that are being modeled, but I think that Line 6 did a good job of capturing certain qualities of each amp and cab they modeled.  I suppose the only way to know would be to compare w/ recordings of the original though.  That would be a true piece of testimony if Line 6 were to publish such audio clip comparisons.  I haven't looked so I don't know if they do.
 
Unit construction is a little lacking.  In my unit there is a top plate screwed on to the chassis that rattles when I hit low notes with any degree of power, really annoying.  Also, the line/mic level and digital sync switches are pretty flimsy and were broken off one night as I was casing up the unit.  I didn't even know what had been done until I uncased the unit a day or two later.  I can imagine how I managed to break the switches, but I'm a little disappointed that they were so flimsy I didn't even feel them break.  They seem to be made of some kind of cheap cast metal.
 
Overall, I think the Bass POD Pro is a fun piece of gear that gets you a lot of interesting sounds at a decent price compared to buying individual foot-pedals, etc.  For $600+ (I think I paid $600 for mine a year and a half ago), I'd be hard pressed to purchase again w/o someone there to show me what I'm not understanding/getting out of the unit.  So, I'd recommend that if you don't just have $$ coming out your ears for little $600 gadgets you shop around and compare to other options for bass effects.
 
One more thing, if you do purchase the unit, go for the optional floor pedal w/ volume pedal, etc.  I purchased the 4 switch floor pedal and I think it's next to useless.

[Daniel Tracey (dannobasso)]

I bought one for my home studio so i could recreate some amp types. I tried it out in my live rig ONCE. I went right back to the F1X for both recording and live. (I have 2) My advice would be to save a bit more and Call Washington Music and get the Alembic pre amp of your choice. I have the floor pedal as well because I use the Guitar PodPro for guitar. That unit is killer. The bass version left me very flat and wondering why I checked it out in the first place. A multi pedal unit can give you all the bells and whistles you may need in addition to a great Alembic tone.