Why The Line 6 POD Sounds Really Bad

The Line 6 POD has been crapped on (figuratively and literally) for about twenty years, and we're honestly not sure why. It's the first quality digital amp ever released and has sold literally millions of units, so this week Nick and Josh set out to prove that it does not, in fact, suck.

Chapters:
0:00 Intro
0:18 The Line 6 POD
1:38 Black Panel Setting
2:14 "Eat'n Beans"
3:02 Fuzz Box Setting
3:33 "Hairy Android"
4:45 Multi Layered Sound Setting
5:44 "Not Fast, Head-First Jump Into Water"
6:34 It Sucks, Right?
8:14 Record Time
9:21 Thanks For Watching!

Gear in this Episode:
The Line 6 POD
JHS "Loud Is More Good Amp"
Bilt Relevator Guitar

Record Time:
U2 - How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb

Josh’s record player is by U-Turn Audio:

The jams from this episode are on BandLab! Head over to the link below to jam with us, download the stems, and create your own samples from our sounds... or all of those things.

#jhs #thejhsshow

[marcusryle]

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!).

[jeremiahMc]

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!

[earhornjones]

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.

[craiger]

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...

[garycoysmith]

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.

[clanwaddell]

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.

[DanimalCannonOfficial]

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.

[jarrod]

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

[goodheartmedia]

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.

[edgarlee]

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

[JorgeLetria]

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.

[CheapSushi]

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.

[danielsheehan]

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.

[vicdmise]

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.

[jacobfuqua]

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.

[umasoundil]

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.

[tbirdpunk]

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.

[paulkline]

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.

[simon_patterson]

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.

[broctune]

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