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tjon901 « Studio only »
Published on 08/01/11 at 08:57The POD HD desktop unit is something Line 6 is not promoting much. They are trying to push their floor based units now so people use them more for live work and whatnot. This desktop unit is a lot like the old pod units. I had an old POD XT desktop unit and it was great. I used it for many years. The HD series from Line 6 is a new way of thinking about amp modeling. Instead of throwing in 100 different models they have only included 16 but these 16 models are modeled in extreme detail. This model is like a super small HD500 unit. It does not have any foot switches or anything this is just a desktop or studio unit. You will have a hard time using one of these live unless you have a large midi switching board.
UTILIZATION
The usability on a desktop unit is much different than that of a live unit. On these units pretty much every knob has 3 or 4 functions and you will have to get use to that. Without the big screen this unit would be pretty much useless. With the big screen you can really see what is going on in your patches and do a lot of fine tweaking. The big screen adds lots of usability. With the bean shape if you have a lot of cables hooked up to it you will have cables everywhere. It is not like the live units where all the cables will be facing one direction. You will have cables coming out of the front and back of the unit so this will make placing it in your rig difficult. The looper on this model is pretty awkward to use if you are use to foot switch loopers. Looping stuff by hand means you have to take your hand off the guitar to record and stop recording which will cause gaps in your looping.
SOUND QUALITY
The sound quality on this model is great like all the other POD HD models. Across the HD line all the amp models are the same the only difference in the units is packaging and features. The majority of the amp models in this unit are bluesy amps or cleaner amps. There are a few high gain models but this is not what this unit was made for. The X3 units have much more high gain amps built in and they sound really good ass well with some tweaking. Even with the large screen on this unit you may find yourself using the pc based patch editing program because with the lack of knobs and switches on this unit it is difficult to edit patches even with the large screen.
OVERALL OPINION
If you are just looking for a POD HD unit for studio work this is it even though the other units would work just as well. You are not saving much money by getting this unit so I would recommend you just get the 500 instead. You can tell the HD line was intended to be live board based. You can use the desktop unit but using the floor unit is so much easier and adds many more functions. If you are use to old POD units and love the bean shape I guess you will like this model better than the floor based ones. Otherwise I recommend getting the 500.
UTILIZATION
The usability on a desktop unit is much different than that of a live unit. On these units pretty much every knob has 3 or 4 functions and you will have to get use to that. Without the big screen this unit would be pretty much useless. With the big screen you can really see what is going on in your patches and do a lot of fine tweaking. The big screen adds lots of usability. With the bean shape if you have a lot of cables hooked up to it you will have cables everywhere. It is not like the live units where all the cables will be facing one direction. You will have cables coming out of the front and back of the unit so this will make placing it in your rig difficult. The looper on this model is pretty awkward to use if you are use to foot switch loopers. Looping stuff by hand means you have to take your hand off the guitar to record and stop recording which will cause gaps in your looping.
SOUND QUALITY
The sound quality on this model is great like all the other POD HD models. Across the HD line all the amp models are the same the only difference in the units is packaging and features. The majority of the amp models in this unit are bluesy amps or cleaner amps. There are a few high gain models but this is not what this unit was made for. The X3 units have much more high gain amps built in and they sound really good ass well with some tweaking. Even with the large screen on this unit you may find yourself using the pc based patch editing program because with the lack of knobs and switches on this unit it is difficult to edit patches even with the large screen.
OVERALL OPINION
If you are just looking for a POD HD unit for studio work this is it even though the other units would work just as well. You are not saving much money by getting this unit so I would recommend you just get the 500 instead. You can tell the HD line was intended to be live board based. You can use the desktop unit but using the floor unit is so much easier and adds many more functions. If you are use to old POD units and love the bean shape I guess you will like this model better than the floor based ones. Otherwise I recommend getting the 500.