BGRA: line 6 Bass POD pro

Manufacturer line 6 Model Bass POD pro
Reviewer Mike Boraczek
Experience 6 Item owned 1-2 years
Review Date 2004-03-06 Price paid 650 w/floor board & 3U SKB fX rack
Dimensions2U by about 6"
Weight6-10 lbs
OtherHeadphone jack, FX loop, Bal/Unbal and digital output, MIDI, chromatic tuner, compressor,
I got this thing off eBay a almost a year a half ago and I have used it every day since. I gig every weekend and it has operated flawlessly. I am still finding cool sounds whenever I get bored and start tweaking on it. With all of tweaks you can make, your sound pallet is nearly limitless. Amp and cab modeling is very good, but if you want get the particular sound from a particular amp and cab, go buy it. This will get you close, but you will have to reproduce that sound through another amp and cab. What this pre-amp will give you a boat load of options for great sounds. It has 4 separate DSP's(Digital Signal Processors)One for the amp modeling, one for the cab modeling, one for the compressor, and one for the FX. There is a laundry list of features (check their web site). There are several I've found most useful. The dual output lets you send a clean or modeled output through the DI to the mixing board (w/ fx or not), and a clean or modeled output on stage amp. It has a line bass input switch that lets you go silent and switch guitars. It's not completely silent, but it's certainly not rude. The chromatic tuner is great -- it will drop you silent. That the better way to switch guitars, but its hard to see the button in the dark. The digital output is sweet for recording. The wah-wah on the floor board is awesome. There is also a handy volume pedal and the tuner is integrated with the LEDs on the floorboard, which is a cool gee-wiz thing. The compressor is outstanding. The FX are very good. Has a midi -- never used it. You can also run line inputs through the amp/cab modeling and fx. Only used that once. Short comings: It is not easy to use out of the box -- and the manual stinks, No bi-amping feature. this was added in the XT model. Can only do one fx at a time -- but it does have fx loop so you can add your favorite pedals.(same on FX model)Number of memory locations is limited to 36. FYI. I've used it with both passive and active guitars. My P series Carvin’s will over load the mixing board if I put the POD output over half. They both guitars have internal 18v pre-amps. I can't crank the output with the BB75 either. It has a 9v internal pre-amp. A good rule of thumb is to start low and work with your sound guy to find the right levels for all your guitars. And remember that when you save your settings, it saves the output level also. Keep that in mind if you switch guitars during your gigs.
construction (98%)
shrink to 1U would be nice
clarity (100%)
versatility (100%)
value (90%)
not holding value well, but I'm not selling
overall (98%)
look at XL model
The BGRA is generously underwritten by David King of Bass Guitar Systems.
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