REVIEWED LINE 6 POD HD Words: Tim Slater
Line 6 ubiquitous recording amp and effects modeling device gets a significant makeover and now comes to you in glorious HD…
The Line6 POD is world famous as the ‘go to’ studio tool that dozens of top session guitarists regularly use to record demos for TV and album dates, often keeping the original tracks recorded using the POD on the final mixes. Why is the POD so successful?
Simplicity seems to be part of the answer, stuffed to the gunnels with state-of-the-art digital modeling technology as it may be; the original Line6 POD and its subsequent generations of POD units are a
LINE 6 POD HD
SRP £349.99
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Line 6 T:
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triumph of user-friendly ergonomics and a largely intuitive design. The POD’s digitally modeled amps and effects more often than not sound uncannily close to their original target models but the POD’s real secret is that in use it feels more like a stomp box than a hi-tech digital effects processor. Grab a control knob and the corresponding amp control or effects parameter will correspondingly adjust in real time in virtually exactly the same way as their original target amplifiers and effects. The latest HD version of this
universally popular desktop recording device is claimed to offer an improved performance compared to its predecessors but from the word ‘go’ its pretty obvious that at its soul the POD HD remains as tactile and
user-friendly as ever. Differentiated from its stable-
mates in the POD family by a cool black finish the new POD HD can still be used as a headphone practice amp, a recording interface and even a powerful self-contained preamp/ effects processor for live work. Fundamentally, the control surface
presents a similarly intuitive feel as the other more familiar POD units, there are plenty of chunky control knobs plus the ubiquitous ‘Tweak’ knob that can assigned to any amplifier control or effects parameter, negating the need to delve into the PODs ‘edit’ mode when making rapid on-the-fly adjustments. The large backlit LCD display offers a birds eye view of the signal chain including the different effects, amplifiers and
POD HD demonstrates that Line 6 is still very much at the cutting edge of the digital modeling revolution that they started almost 20 years ago!
speakers and its here that we begin to delve into the POD HD’s digital DNA, whose completely reworked digital architecture Line6 claim improves the sound and captures illusive ‘feel-factor’ of a genuine analogue tube guitar amplifier.
Amps, mics & effects The revised amp modeling circuitry makes the POD HD unique among the POD family and whilst its 22 amp models might seem positively measly compared to the 78 models found within the POD X3, the HD version is ore or less completely new from top to bottom. Since Line6 gave the POD a shake up courtesy of its new much-vaunted ‘HD’ software the POD HD hosts 16 completely revised HD amp models and over 100 effects based on those found in Line6’ M-class stomp box modelers. A maximum of eight effects can be used simultaneously and the POD HD’s signal routing now offers the facility to use two separate effects chains with a pair of amps running in tandem, its just like having two virtual rigs set up that the user can toggle between or even combine to
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