Why The Line 6 POD Sounds Really Bad 

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!).

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!

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.

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...

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 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.

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 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.

"He has the bag...!" Brilliant!

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.

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 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.

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

I love when you debunk all the crappy myths and opinions that guitar players love to spread arround, keep on dude!

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.

Love to see a look at old Zoom products like their multi-effect pedals and amps.

Great presentation (and love your guitar). I still use one and it’s all I need for home recording and most studio stuff. Thanx!

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

I love this guy. Can’t turn away from his sarcasm and wit.

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 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!!

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!

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.

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.

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!

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.

Is it just me, or does it seem like Josh actually secretly DOESN'T think the Line 6 POD sucks?

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.

Great review, love your playing in this video! For some reason, I really heard you in this. Nice drums btw

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.)

I love how Josh is like, "Here's the first retail Klon ever. Sounds pretty good but like, whatever. Anyways back to the POD..."

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Something about the POD screams early 2000s teenager room...

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 can’t wait to see these go for $600 on reverb now lol

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.

Good guitar players can sound good through almost anything, Steve Vai through a Peavey Bandit. Bet it wouldn’t suck!

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

I had the Pod XT Live and an 18W power amp which I used to gig with. Sounded great when I dimed it! 👍

Recently discovered JHS after getting back into playing. Love Josh's pedals and entire RU-vid channel, this is excellent content!

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.

This title is OFFENSIVE

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.

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.

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.

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

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!

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.

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.

This was great! As a long maligned Line6 user, I salute your courage and honesty! 🎸🤘🏻🤓

I toured with one when they came out. I used it with pedals. I used mainly the British setting clean and hitting it with a tube screamer. Sounded great.

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!

Nearly everything on the XTC Wasp Star album was recorded on a POD. Great album.

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 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.

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 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.

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*

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 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.

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.

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 :) :)

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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

I was literally thinking “he has the bag with the music “ right before you said it. Great shit

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 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.

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

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!

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 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!

Thank you, Marcus, for the adat, made some awesome recordings with your tech in old days.

Saw a Weezer tour almost 20 years ago where they exclusively played through Pods. Could barely tell the difference.

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.

Great video. Jeff Beck also liked and used the Pod.....and he knew a thing or two about tone.

The album The Runner's Four by Deerhoof was recorded entirely with Line 6 PODs. I was quite surprised when I read about this.

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’ve owned a bean for many years and still continue to use it. I’ve played many arenas with other guitar players using amps and I loved when they would always ask me what was I using for an amp and I would point to the bean and they were very surprised by the sound I was getting. Thanks for doing this video. The Bean still Rocks👍

I used this in the 90s IIRC and it was pretty impressive with the footswitch controls you could plug in with a CAT cable. I pretty much left it on rectifier or clean but pretty revolutionary at the time. I ended up switching back to tube amps and pedals again, now I use an Axe FX III. Who knows what the future will bring, but I'm always impressed by the improvements in tech in this space.

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. 😀

Billy howerdel recorded A perfect circle’s guitars on their masterpiece "mer de noms" with 1998’s line6 amp farm plugin. Some of the best guitar tones I’ve ever heard. I had a pod xt for a long time and was my first amp. I’ve had a £3,500 bad at hotcat30r. And now I use a kemper since 2013.

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

This is great- tunes were awesome, nice job. Love the sarcasm and message. Thanks for the content and ur fine pedals

I had the red line 6 spyder and the grey one. Had the proprietary pedal board with the 2nd one! That’s where it started for me! I could explore and learn what everything did. But, I’ll never forget the first tube amp I heard and I never looked back

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.

“Not Fast, Head-First Jump into water” is the best jam I’ve heard in the channel…

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

Great angle! I had my specimen of this for nearly 20 years and used it mostly daily. Great for traveling.