Line 6 Pod XT Multi-Effects Guitar Effect Pedal

By itself with your instrument plugged in and the PODxt plugged into an amp, it sounds good and you can do a lot of sound tweaking. It has great modeling sounds and distortion effects.

Where the PODxt really shines is it's USB interface. When hooked up USB not only do you get a digital signal to your PC that is PERFECT for recording, your PODxt becomes the native soundcard on your PC and takes a huge load off of your CPU. It also will fix most recording latency issues you might be experiencing.

You also get to download for free from the Line6 website the programs Gearbox and POD Monkey. With these you can update firmware and drivers on the fly, and fully tweak, manipulate your own sounds on a keen user interface. And even better is you can download thousands of user created tones and search for tones by band or artist. You wanna sound like The Scorpions? It's there. Metallica? It's there. You wanna sound like Adrian Belew from King Crimson? Yes, it's there.

Then for $50 or so you can get POD Farm, which I believe is even more customization and sounds. I hear it's really great, but for now I'm stickin with the free stuff!

If you can get one cheap, and you like to do home recording this is a great way to do it!

Honestly, the POD XT is pretty cool, especially when you first play it. It has all the standard effects and more, and being able to modify and add to the sounds through the internet is way cool. Users from around the world have created their own versions of famous guitarists' sounds (for instance, Rush fans will appreciate the patch entitled 'Moving Pictures').

The problem is that the POD has an unmistakably artificial sound--sort of like the guitar patch on a synthesizer or keyboard. This becomes even more obvious as you turn your amplifier up.

If you are used to your guitar sounding like a real guitar, this is definitely not the effects system for you. I currently use it only rarely alongside my regular (analog) effects boxes, and every time I activate the POD (via a separately purchased true bypass switch) I immediately lose my guitar's own true sound, replaced by a sometimes cool-sounding but very artificial patch.

To sum up: the POD XT is cool and fun to play with, but lacks that true 'real guitar' sound, and consequently it doesn't get much use in my rig.

This review is for Line 6 pod 2.0 (not pod xt, ebay put that in there for some reason).

I won an auction for a broken Line 6 pod 2.0 I took it apart and re-soldered the bad components and then powered it up and .... nothing. I was upset but i figured out the ac adapter was bad.

Went to radio shack and got a 9V 1500mA adapter, plugged it in and it powered up and all menu functions worked but.... no sound

Got a real Line6 9V 1200mA ac adapter from another auction. Plugged it in and powered up the pod 2.0 ........ yessssss it now worked. The dead pod 2.0 is now back to life. Full menu and all the great sounds.

The line 6 pod 2.0 is awesome. It took me a while to learn to use the hidden features though. All the knobs do things like bass, mid, reverb etc but the knobs do "extra" things if you hold the "tap tempo" key while turning.

For example for a big Marshall plexi sound:

choose the Brit classic from the amp models knob, then set the cabinet to 4x12 using Tap tempo + effects knob, then if you want huge overdrive hold tap tempo + turn drive to 8 or 9, add a little delay with the effects knob, enhance the delay with tap tempo + middle knob

sound confusing? Well it is but its ok once you get used to the "dual" function of all the knobs. Heres a list of the special knobs.

tap tempo + drive = overdrive boost (pre-amp boost)
tap tempo + bass = echo (this is not really documented anywhere)
tap tempo + middle = delay enhancement
tap tempo + treble = presence boost (post-amp volume)
tap tempo + channel volume = another volume boost ???
tap tempo + amp models = even more amp models
tap tempo + effects = cabinet select (this is probably the coolest and most useful function in the whole pod 2.0)

tap tempo + reverb = ???? unknown
tap tempo + effect tweak = ???? unknown

There is alot of other stuff like presets, tuner, noise gate, saving, midi, pc software, "air" mode, headphone mode, stereo output, etc....

I've read that the pod xt is a large improvement over the pod 2.0 but that just means there is alot of pod 2.0's available on ebay for good prices.

Great product. I bought this so I could play using different effects and amp models while living in an apartment with very limited space and sleeping neighbors. It is really great to be able to have all the distortion you want while using headphones at a reasonable volume!
Being able to run it through your computer as a recording device and sound card just makes it even better.

One word of advice: Read the manual. There are a lot of buttons and knobs!

I actually purchased a line 6 pod 2.0, not the xt. The 2.0, as I understand it, has been the work horse in studios for about a decade. I bought it because I wanted something to use as a stand alone, as well as, something to record with. Initially, I was a little disappointed because the stock sounds weren't all that impressive. It wasn't unitl I installed the line edit software and began to download sounds through the custom tone site. Now, I'm impressed.

the 2.0 is easy to work with because the settings are right in front of you. They're setup, basically, the way they would be on an amp. I plan to run it through my Tascam X2 and record into Cubase.

You really can't go wrong with the 2.0, xt, or the x3. I paid $84.00 for mine. the 2.0 retails for $200.00. I think that's a pretty good savings.