Overall Rating: If you want to get this because, it's cheaper than the other PODs, and you think it will be a space saver due to it's size, and you want to do some good recordings, I'd PASS. Spend the extra on a 2.0 or XT or go find one of the 50 for...
Overall Rating: If you want to get this because, it's cheaper than the other PODs, and you think it will be a space saver due to it's size, and you want to do some good recordings, I'd PASS. Spend the extra on a 2.0 or XT or go find one of the 50 for sale that are on Ebay on any given day.
The big PODS are MUCH better deal for your command center/recording studio/porn theater. I know they are for mine.
If you want a Portable POD cause you need one on your
"Up With People" tour bus or want to jam out when you're forced to stay at grandmas, or go for a walk in the woods and jam with nature, or if you want a simple rig to do some living room jams at your buddies through his stereo, this may be EXACTLY what you need.
Just don't drop it.
Sound Quality: Sounds like the POD 2.0, but for recording I'd say the 2.0 PWNS it.
*Obviously as I stated, 2 quarter inch left and right out are going to sound better than 1 eight inch.
Even for just playing through, I'd say the 2.0 or the XT sounds better.
Bigger, fuller, IMO.
Not that its BAD, it's definitely that POD sound, and it was fun to play through for sure. Great cleans, and nice OD's. If you've played any POD, you know what I mean.
Reliability/Durability: No idea. Cheap plastic though. I'm glad I didn't drop it.
Ease of Use: I only had the Pocket POD for a week and then I returned it, so my info may not be the most comprehensive, but it's my two cents and I'm giving it cause I like to postulate on the internets alot.
The Good:
Fairly easy to program. Tone, Drive, Frequency and effect Controls pull double duty, read the manual. MP3 exteral input too. 4 AAA batteries and your portable. That's the feature to buy this for if your on the go and need to play.
The So-so:
Menu and selector are clumsy. Guitar input and amp output are on corners and make it awkward to lay it down on the desk without it moving everywhere.
The Bad:
EIGHT INCH OUTPUT FOR RECORDING ??? Doesn't sound as good as 2 1/4 inch stereo outs like the other PODS, IMO. It probably was the only way it would work considering the small size of the unit. Works fine for headphones of course though.
Also, crappy presets by cheeseball bands most of which I've never heard of and can probably play circles around anyway.
An UTTERLY USELESS GIMMICK.
THE WORST:
THE VYZEX "DEEP-DIVE EDITING" FEATURE DOES NOT WORK!!!!!!!!!!!!
I went to the Line 6 forums, and there are numerous discussions about this. The USB connectivity has a TON OF PROBLEMS, ALL of which I seem to experience. Conflicting Logitech drivers, software does not detect the connection even though Windows will, blue screens.
Every single USB problem mentioned in the forum I HAD!!! I wasted 3 hours deleting conflicting drivers, reinstalling Vyzex, and gettting the blue screen crash. Right when it seemed the POD and the Vyzex were talking to each other, CRASH.
If your thinking of buying the Pocket Pod for this wonderful feature, (like I did) THINK AGAIN. Piss-poor troubleshooting here. I only SAW the software interface, and as far as I can tell, it's a big GIMMICK.
You don't need a library of 50000 different tone and effect combinations for a little POD. At least I don't, and I'm sorry I ever thought I did.
Customer Support: No idea, but seeing how this has been out for awhile, and the software issues are still a HUGE problem. The forums and software updates were useless. For that I subract 4 points out of a possible 10.
I subract 5 more points for Line 6 catering to that Nu-metal, Pop-metal punk douchebag teenybopper Guitar Center hack crowd and putting sh***y presets by sucky guitar players in there otherwise pretty cool products. You need to work on your image Line 6.
On the other hand you ARE working with Bogner now. Bogners rock. I should know, I have had a Shiva for over two years, and its absolutely my holy grail.
So props to Line 6 on that, I'll go back and add on 4 more points, giving you a solid 5.
Purchased From: Guitard Center
Price: $130.00 USD
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