LINE 6 FLOOR POD (Guitar Processor) - NOW WITH CONCLUSIONS!

[Blueraven]

Is this basicaly the same unit as the LINE 6 POD XT - LIVE

 

cept not a live version? Same effects etc?

 

BR

[book_of_lies777]

Is this basicaly the same unit as the LINE 6 POD XT - LIVE cept not a live version? Same effects etc? BR

 

 

no - it's based on the POD 2.0, but in a floor thing...

[Blueraven]

so the effects displayed here by Craig are not in the Live version?

 

Dang, Well which one is better and newer..

 

Whcih do you rec?

 

thanks for your help

 

BR

[MudFlaps-1]

Blueraven,

go to www.line6.com and compare the specs. The PODxtLive has more of everything - more amp/speaker models, more effects, USB capability, so it costs more money ($399 retail). It's also based on new 'podxt' software.

The FloorPOD is based on older 'pod 2.0' software. Has far fewer amp/speaker/effects models, but can be easier to use as it's not as complicated. It's smaller, and it retails for $199.

At NAMM line6 have just introduced the FloorPODPlus - it's specs are right in-between the above units and so is the price, $299 retail.

Check out the harmony-central reviews of the PODxtLive and FloorPOD. It's up to you - do you need everything including the kitchen sink, or do you need something simple with a few good sounds, or does your budget pretty much dictate. Also check out units by Boss, Digitech, Korg, Zoom. Do your research. Listen to each one. It's not an area you can make a quick decision on.

[Blueraven]

Mud,

 

Yes i saw the new one at Line 6 and decided on it when it arrives in March. However, didnt notice the diffs.

 

Ill check that out.

 

Thanks

[Anderton]

Mudflaps -- excellent summary, couldn't have said it better myself.

Having had the chance to distance myself from the review for a bit, what with NAMM and all, I must say that all my initial impressions and comments in this review have held up. Sometimes after you use a piece of gear for a while, you find out some things that maybe weren't as cool as you thought, or some features you missed that are really cool. But the Floor POD "is what it is" -- basic, easy to use, limited, and with really good sounds. I must admit there have been times when despite having a bunch of very cool guitar gear around, I just plugged in the FP and wailed because it was just so easy to get going.

[Anderton]

The thing that really struck me were your comments about the unit's ability to inspire. I have seen that firsthand. I am little more than a novice on the guitar, but the Floor POD has certainly taken my creativity up a notch. I understand it has it's limitations, but it seems perfect for where I am.

Actually, the "inspiration factor" was what surprised me the most about the Floor POD. What that tells me is that there is a real place for devices that have a very limited and optimized "skill set" (and I don't just mean in effects...that applies to software and all kinds of devices).

People often talk about how limiting one's options can improve creativity because you're not getting "lost in the features." But while that's true in theory, in practice it requires that those options be spot on -- because if you have limited options, they better all be good. I think that's probably the Floor POD's strongest point: The sounds hit a very high success ratio.

I'm glad there have been so many comments about how this thread has been useful in terms of making decisions. As a reviewer, I absolutely love this format as it allows the ability to describe gear in so much detail. And as I mentioned in the first post, this particular one has given me the chance to play lots of guitar

[Blueraven]

Well the Floor Pod is new. So maybe it has better sounds then the XT Live?

$ isnt a factor.

If the quality of the amp model sounds etc ARE the same in each one then I wld prob get the XT Live.

Also, I was noticing quite a few of the XT Live on ebay being sold. I wondered, why are all these units being sold?

And i wondered, are the newer models of the XT Live better than the earlier versions? Seemed many of the ones on Ebay were bhgt in early 2006.

[book_of_lies777]

 

Well the Floor Pod is new. So maybe it has better sounds then the XT Live?

 

 

these tones are from the POD 2.0 - old(er) stuff re-packaged into a floor box.

[SBlack]

Craig,

This is an awesome review -- objective, clear, and informative. I am a huge fan of your work and appreciate all of the time and patience you put into the reviews you do. Thanks.

. . .

But my one question lies in the tones the Floor Pod puts out in front of an amp. How does it sound in front of a combo with 12" speakers? How does it sound in the loop of a combo with 12" speakers? No one has really made a clear comment on this. This application, however, is a highly used one in the realm of floor processors.

Anyone's experience and feedback are appreciated.

Thanks.

[flip333]

And also, please:

Is the bypass transparent?

Is the bypass quick and easy?

[Rodrigo Yoshida]

very cool review!

i own it and i´m very happy with my tone! but i bought it to play live, when i use the direct to play with headphones i can get a very good tone but plugged in an amp (using the amp setting) it sounds a little "artificial" in high volume...
i think the problem is in me because i didn't have time to play more with it (just two times yet) in an amp but is there any tip about it?
does anybody use it to play live?

sorry for my very bad english!

[BuleriaChk]

Great thread, all! Myself, I have rather unique purposes (nylon flamenco guitar into signal processor), and FYI, I've found that I don't need effects or cabinets; the amp models alone are what make it for me.

For my sound, the Boss GS-10 is by far the best I have found, and its little cousin, the Amp Factiory (GP-20) - I use the "Clean Twin" setting a lot.

FWIW, the Boss may sound "thin" to some, but that is just what I want; I think the bass is heavily emphasized due the the fact that the dynamic range between the 6th to the 1st string isn't as great on the electric as it is on a nylon string, and the manufactures boost the bass (and mid range) in comparison.

So I returned the RP-250, but I'm sure it is just great for electric guitarists.

I'll be interested in Fender's new emulation pedal, the FDR-1....

In fact, I have to admit that I sold EVERYTHING on EBay - the G7, the Gnx4, - everything, and bought a second GS-10 as a backup. IMO, the latter is the most undervalued piece of gear around, with the best software/hardware interface in the business. (Of course, StompIO isn't out yet....)

I have both GR2 and AT2, and I agree with Craig, insofar as I understand what he is saying. But both of them eclipse Line 6's sound - (again, I admit, for my unique application). I have to applaud Line 6's creativity, though; it is only their marketing idiots that I have issue with.....:-)

[N00b_But_Tryin']

First post here...

 

congratz on very helpful, detailed and pro review

 

This will be probably odd...

 

Joe Satriani made a song called The Mystical Potato Head Groove Thing.

 

I just wonder how FPOD would manage this kind of sounds, and since I'm living in Poland, on outskirts of civilisation where chance to find sth to test is dramatically lower than those of getting eaten by wolves I thought I'll smile to you, Anderton...

 

And you can't complain 'cause you already said that it is fun for you

 

Pretty please?

 

cheers, Mroq aka n00b [aarg, the nick-was-taken info truly kills me]

[gtrplayer]

Sounds good and great for home studio or bedroom use etc... maybe even garage jamming with some buddies.... But what about in a true live situation with the band? As seasoned players know, what you hear and tweak at home is one thing and what you hear at the show is another! Stage levels, monitor levels, mains levels, drums kicking behind you, the pushing bass line, and the vocals etc... So has anyone demo'd this in such a situation? Running through a big 100w head and 4x12 cab?? Will it hold up? Will it sound full? Will it cut through?

I've never had good luck with mulit-fx processors in such a situation, but I sure would like to find something that can give the diversity of multi-fx and be able to hold it's own on stage. Most of these typically sound over processed when live and "pushed" etc...

thoughts?

[dwerlin]

So, as I’m in the market for a multi-effects unit for my rig (budget mandates this as opposed to individual pedals, and I like the availability of amp/cab sims for recording and/or going straight to a PA). At lunch today I went to Guitar Center and demoed both the Line 6 Floor POD and the DigiTech RP350. My test was with a Fender Standard Stratocaster into each unit respectively, and then I used headphones to evaluate each unit (I didn’t plug either of them into an amp).

I wasn’t blown away by either of these units. Neither of them really had a “tube” sound/feel to me…however, for $200 each, I wasn’t totally expecting to (though it would certainly have been nice if I was).

Line 6 Floor POD:

Pros:

The tone is bold and in your face – by this, I mean that the tone feels full and robust, not thin.
Ease of use – I found it very easy to rotate through the amp models and control gain, output volume, and tone. Changing the effects parameters was very easy as well. This unit is pretty much idiot proof.
FX Control – excellent feature, lets you turn off and on individual effects without changing preset banks, and add a touch of volume and overdrive for lead
All metal construction – at least as far as I could tell, the entire unit was metal construction (the knobs may be plastic, but they have a metal feel to them).

Cons:

The tone is harsh[er] – this unit sounded a bit more “digital” than the DigiTech RP350. I didn’t get enough time to really sit down and tweak settings, so I don’t know if that can be tweaked out.
No tuner foot access – you need to bend down and hold the “tuner” button in order to get into tuning mode. With that said, the tuner in this unit is excellent.
No foot tap tempo – you need to bend down and tap the “tap tempo” button in order to set tempo for delay.
No USB – no USB output for computer editing/updating/recording. Not a huge deal, but it would certainly have been nice.
Very limited number of effects – there are only 4 effect types per the 2 effect banks, and you can only use 1 type per effect bank at any given time.
Limited effects options - there really aren't many different effects available, but the major ones are there.

DigiTech RP350

Pros:

The tone is smooth[er] – I found the tone of this unit to be smoother than the Line 6 Floor POD. However, it wasn’t as in your face…it seemed much flatter (however, I didn’t play with any EQ settings). It’s less digital sounding without having to do any tweaks, however it didn’t really portray any “tube” essence.
Tuner foot access – it’s very nice to be able to access the tuner via footswitches, however, see my comment on that in the “Cons” section.
Stomp box models for overdrive/distortion – quite a nice feature, which the Line 6 Floor POD does not have. This essentially allows you to not have to use any amp models if you’re playing into your amp, which I think is a great feature.
Tons of amp models/effects – with this unit you get a multitude of effects and amp models, many more than with the Line 6 Floor POD.
USB – a USB connection on this unit makes it possible to connect it to a PC for patch editing and direct recording. This is certainly a nice feature to have.

Cons:

Flat[er] sound – like I mentioned above, the default settings for this unit give the output a flat sound. It’s not bold, and in your face like the Line 6 Floor POD.
Bypass/Tuner operation – this is one of my biggest gripes with this unit. In order to either put the unit in bypass mode or into tuner mode, you need to step on the up/down pedals (both at the same time). While this might seem like an easy task, if you don’t hit them both exactly at the same time, you won’t get into the bypass/tuner mode. Instead, you’ll start scrolling madly through all the presets. This was a HUGE disappointment for me. I’d rather have to bend down and push the button on the front of the Line 6 Floor POD to tune than dealing with trying to get into DigiTech’s tuner mode.
Not full metal construction – most of the unit is constructed of heavy duty metal, except for the foot switches! The foot switches are just plastic. They seem like they wouldn’t hold up to every day abuse nearly as well as the Line 6 Floor POD pedals.
No tap tempo? – I couldn’t for the life of me find any tap tempo mode on this unit…I apologize if it’s there and I missed it.
Still somewhat limited on types of effects you can use simultaneously - unfortunately, as with every multi-effects unit I've ever used, you can't use 2 stomp box distortion/overdrives together, etc.

Overall, I’m not really sure if I would choose either unit, since they both have their flaws. However, for $200 I really shouldn’t expect either one of them to be perfect.

Choosing the Line 6 Floor POD would leave me possibly (depending on if it can get tweaked out) a harsher, more “digital” sound.

Choosing the DigiTech RP350 would leave me possibly (depending on if it can get tweaked in) a flatter, less in your face sound. I would probably also hate the bypass/tuner operation.

With that said, if I had to choose one of these two units right now, I would choose the Line 6 Floor POD for its construction quality, fuller tone, and easier (although theoretically less user friendly) tuner/tap tempo access.

[LORDGOREKKK]

You should've got the Podxt Live

[dwerlin]

You should've got the Podxt Live

 

 

were you talking to me? i didn't get either the Floor POD or the RP350, I was just stating that I would get the Floor POD over the RP350. Not to mention the XT Live is double the price of the Floor POD...

[gtrplayer]

Hey bro... first off, it will be VERY difficult if not impossible to get a good "tube" sound through headphones. Typically, most any multi-fx processor will sound good through head phones.

If you're playing live then it is a MUST to try the thing through an amp and with some substantial volume and with dedicated ears. Of which a Guitar Center really can't provide, given the 297 other kids in there playing every possible instrument and then the 4 different mixes of overhead music blarring through the speakers mixed with the announcements of phone calls screamed through the overhead paging system by the 13 year old door greeter!

Sorry, but that place just really grinds on me!!!! they often times have good prices, but I can't stand the experience!

So, anyway... the best thing is to most definately try whatever it is you're interested in through an amp. And remember, (if you're playing live) what you hear in the store and/or in your bedroom/house and what you hear at the gig will be two different things.

Best of luck to you bro!

[1201alarm]

I bought my Floor Pod today. Mixed feelings, to say the least. Though the modelling is fine, it appears to be focussed on amps that are rich in the low and (ultra) high registers. If you are looking for anything like a Van Halen, Slash or Billy Gibbons kind of sound, you're in for some serious tweaking, especially with the tone controls of your amp (I play a Wolfgang through the FP into a Hughes & Kettner Attax 100). I had to drown out almost all bass and treble to get a tone that is rich in the middle and upper middle registers. I'm still not happy but I'm sure I would get there eventually using a EQ pedal, but that's not what I want.

 

Though I greatly appreciate Craig's review I can't share his enthusiasm for the usability of the FX. Whichever you use, the moment you dial more than 2 milimeters into its 'zone', you start sounding like a teenage start-up showing off to his girlfriend (and there's nothing wrong with that if you're a teenage start-up; it's obligatory).

 

The delay feedbacks at least 4 times; I NEED a delay that will give me just one repitition or I'll never learn how to play Cathedral (I probably never will for other reasons, but that's not the point). As for the chorus/flanger/phaser: way too much resonance. Where's the subtlety?

 

On the upside: the sounds I get from the amp models do make me want to explore other genres.

 

My conclusion (FWIW): if you look for a good and affordable amp modeller in a floor unit and you like the 'round' sound of plenty bass and treble, the Floor Pod seems like a good option. If you want any flexibility in your FX and in your tone, it isn't.

 

I'm gonna try to return mine tomorrow and see if I can trade it in for a Zoom G2.1u. Not much on amp simulation, but good on FX from what I hear.

 

 

UPDATE

I just got the Zoom and my greatest fear came true: I LOVE IT. So far it's been destroying my original tone completely (when in overdrive) and although I hope I can fix that, what it's giving back is awesome, noiseless sustain and playability. My fear was that I'll never be one of those serious musicians to whom tone and quality is everything, and this little gem proves that fear to be entirely justified.

[guitar_pic]

Can the floor pod do a dotted eighth type soound? How do you tap the rythm in to get it?

[blueseric]

Hello Craig,
as a reader of yours over this past 25+years,I bought a Variax 600 (Fabulous),but I seem to think that the models are shown to their best potential,using the Amp/Speaker types appropriate to the model.Do you know if anyone has listed what these are,for each type of guitar sound,which I would suppose can be set up on the POD XTLive?This would be so helpful to me and ,I'm sure, many others.Thankyou and Best Wishes,
John Evans

[StratKat]

Hi Gang, I have in years past done some reviews (both pro and amateur for companies and friends) on some products. I am not a techy electronics expert (there are laws in some states regarding the proximity of solder irons and myself. This is because whatever i solder ends up weiging several pounds heavier when im thru.)

But i have owned an original XT, and have a friend who owns several of the 2.0 versions of pods and uses them in church and restaurant gigs exclusively. So i am somewhat familiar with the idea of how they work and what they do.

First off this is what i use for small gigs and churches presently.

I run my guitars (one with humbuckers tapped and one with single coils) into a Morlet dist/volume wah, then into a pedalboard that has in order a boss tuner, tubescreamer ts9, mxr comp, boss chorus, boss Digital delay. That exits the board and runs to a Blues Jr mic'd with a senn 609 silver.

I know the chain of events makes some cringe, but its MY sound and its what i have found that works for my tone.

The original XT worked fine through headphones but i didnt like the live sound through an amp onstage at all. It was harsh and seemed to have most mids lost no matter what i tried to do editing it. But this is one of the problems ive encountered on ALL multi floor processors ive used. And i did try both the amp and air sim switch and found the air setting (the one with no speaker sim) worked better but still had tone issues.

I expected this though. I bought mine for recording and was just trying to see if it would work for live and in MY situation it didnt.

But my friend loved it for HIS situation where he runs guitar into XT into PA. And i sold it to him cheap.

At the time, i was doing blues in loud bands. Now i'm doing churches for contemporary services and although my amp sounds fine its abit time consuming to set it all up.

My friend also does churches and i went to hear him using my old XT. I had heard the older original pods he has (some with 2.0 chips and some without) and wasnt impressed much. But the XT through the church pa sounded MUCH better. So i got curious about an XT Pedalboard. But i couldnt afford one, so i saw the Floor Pod and got curious even more.

Well, being the arse that my friend has to be he bought an XT Live Pedalboard and it sounds great for this live church through the pa stuff. So now im thinking of how much less equipment to drag around for my church gig, and i do think that the clean tones of the board sound better than my rig, but i dont really like the distortions of the XT still. To me they sound buzzy abit. But i do about three distortion tunes out of 8 each sunday and thats not a big deal.

Then came the inbetween pod floor model they just released. Its more than a 2.0 floor pod im told, but not as flexible as the XT Live. And now im sort of confused at what Line 6 is trying to do with three different models in three different price ranges but to my ears they all have the same problem. They dont sound all that good in front of an amp.

I have used a pod into a pa amp into a gtr speaker cab and that works nicely.

And im not trying to be harsh or degrade this company. Line 6 is outstanding for the most part. I really only have one issue with them concerning the pods and that is the update transfer problem of ownership. As i understand it, if i buy an XT live and pay the high price for all the upgrades (software) then they are mine. But if i sell the XT to one of you and you accidentally wipe out those temporary memory upgrades inside the board you dont get them back. Unless you give it back to me to do the downloads again into it.

I think the downloads should be owned by the buyer and transferable to a seller because they are PAID for. SO instead, the owner is leasing the upgrades, not owning them.

Now if im wrong please tell me. As i like this company. And i respect this company. AAnd im pretty sure with my background in doing tech reviews that if i did a long evaluation of the product i would eventually find a setting for the front of amn amp that i liked. And im pretty sure if anyone out there does the work to build a setting and tweak it they can get as good a sound out of the pods as most other multi effect systems.

When i hit the lotto....

And kudos to Mark and all his comments. Im not here to anger or jerk chanins. Just stating my opps too. And i can and have been proven wrong inthe past now and (cough) then. So enlighten me.

[StratKat]

bumpity!

[StratKat]

Hi gang, im posting this here to see if any new comments show up on these pedalboards....


I just talked to a friend i mentioned above using his various pods in churches. He has talked to several who own the XT Live's and they are furious about this new version the X3 Live. Seems they paid 400 plus tax for the XT Live, then 200 for all the add on upgrades that are temporary and leased (not owned since they are not transferable to another person when sold later).

And boy are they p1ssed!

I can see Line 6 trying to improve their product line and i like the new toy from what ive read so far on their site. But what a drag to spend alot more money on the XT Live and other versions and then have this baby come out cheaper.

All his friends (and a few of mine) are doing full time church gigs for pay. And they all lean towards or actually use the line 6 pedalboards of some model. This may steer them away from line 6.


Me?

Im waiting for them to SELL off their old stuff cheap!

Muahahahah!