Behringer V-Amp Pro vs. POD XT Pro

[Gabe]

I'd like to know your opinions on these two for I am considering purchase of one. I also want to hook up my G-major to the effects loop.

The prices here are Euro 189 for the Behringer and Euro 679 for the Line 6.

That is a considerable difference and I am wondering whether that is worth it.

I would also like to know how the headphone sounds of these are.

I will need a power amp for I have sold my H&K VS 250. I found this too loud and the fan made too much noise. I play at home. Should I look for a low watt stereo tube amp or solid state or maybe a set of full range powered speakers. I have a set of 1x12" Celestion Vintage 30 speakers.

Your opinions are highly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Gabe

[princeofdarkness56]

The line 6 is way better but you pay for it. I have used both.

[Scooter]

I's like to hear opinions of the Behringer as well.

I did an A-B comparison of the Line 6 XTL and the BOSS GT8. For me, the BOSS was the easy winner. It has all the analog knobs to adjust everything - no confusing menus. Plus, it does the 2-amps-at-once thing (cool). And of course, I thought it just flat out sounded better.

[El Kabong]

It sure is a lot of fun playing with the pre sets on all of the modeling amps. But, just like when I was cork smiffing with my former collection of boutique pedals, one can spend tonnes of time playing with the settings. If you want to go the modeling route and would like to do it all in one box, try the Fender Cyber Champ: http://www.americanmusical.com/item--i-FEN...--brand-94.html

The price looks to be $450 USD.

But, after the novelty wears off, none of these products have the sound and feel of a tube amp. My custom head has just been blue printed. For much less than the cost of the Pod, I am getting my dream amp.

[Brooks]

lesee gabe, you already have nice FX & speakers, you want a low wattage good sound w/ headphone & speaker outputs;

get a tech21 trademark 10. i love mine.

[Guest JackButler]

Right now (and for quite a long time) my POD xt is my most useful/valuable piece of gear. From teaching to recording to gigging to television...and never a problem.

[bach]

With PODxt, you can use Guitarport software. Even if you don't subscribe to the service, the free software gives you the ability to edit, organize, and store settings. Also, the software includes a player which allows you to download music or backing tracks from CDs or .mp3s. You can loop sections of tracks and play at 1/2 speed without affecting the pitch. Jam with the recordings using either preset tones or tones you create. That's all included with your purchase of xt or xtl. And if you do subscribe, you gain access to Line6's library of backing tracks, lessons, etc.

Advantage Line6 IMO.

[Guest Michael]

The only thing I have to add to this discussion is my endorsement of the PodXT. I don't play out, but I like to explore various tones and such. The PodXT gives me more than enough to work with. I used to play through a Leslie when I was working up some George Harrison stuff, and when it crapped out I felt lost. With the XT and a Strat, "It Don't Come Easy" comes easy! Good luck.

[belgian]

Gabe, check out J-station too, seems to be very good and cheap to find.

[Hamer95USA]

Hey Hamer people,

I currently use a Yamaha DG Stomp digital modeling preamp. They're pretty easy to program and work with. They can be found cheap on E-bay. I amplify mine with a Mesa Boogie Dynawatt 20/20 stereo tube power amp and a Peavey 212MS 2x12 stereo gutiar cabinet w/ G12K-85 Celestion speakers. It gives the preamp a good sound and takes away the digital graininess that digital modeling preamps have. I'm considering adding a VHT Valuvulator I in front of my DG Stomp to give it even more tube tone. I also plug my DG Stomp straight into the P.A. at my duo gigs where there is no amps allowed.

The downside is that there is no technical support like Line 6 offers on their products. If you want to program your presets on your computer or dowload backing tracks to play along with, forget it!! Yamaha doesn't offer technical support, software upgrades or editing programs either which is a bummer since the DG Stomp is a pretty cool digital modeling preamp. It's been discontinued from production due to sales.

P.S.: To ggve,

I have a Rocktron Velocity 120 stereo power amp for sale. It can run at 60 watts per side at 4 ohms or 120 watts per side at 4 ohms. I am selling it for $150.00 USD, if you're interested.

Guitar George

[tobereeno]

George, you definitely want a valvulator. I can't live without mine.

I've had both, and currently use the XT (Live). It's pretty easy to dial in a good sound with the V-Amp; it takes some patience with the XT. But the XT can get so many more sounds, and it does sound a bit more "real". I guess the only caveat with the XT is that you can get sounds that are truly hideous just as you can get really great sounds.

Surrounding these things with tubes both pre and post does help restore feel. You'll never get the sag of a low watt class A amp with tube rectifiers, but you can get your rig to be more than passable, both to listeners and feelwise to yourself.

[Hamer95USA]

Hello Tobeereno,

Thank you for the useful advice concerning the VHT Valvulator and the POD XT. Are you in California by any chance?

Guitar George

[tobereeno]

I was in the Bay Area up until 2002...I now live in Seoul Korea, so I'm not really in the neighborhood anymore...

[zorrow]

I's like to hear opinions of the Behringer as well.

I own a Behringer V-Amp 2 -- paid $125. One of my best friends owns a Line 6 POD XT -- paid $350. I think the POD is way better: more features and less noisy (yes, with the POD you don't have to use MIDI to control the noise gate, which is the annoying case on the V-Amp 2). Another bad thing in the V-Amp 2 is the auto-wah, which has factory problems. To have an upgrade for a decent one you'll have to burn your own EPROM! C'mon! But for the price I paid I'm pretty satisfied after all.

[HamerHokie]

My impression is the Line 6 unit is a real pro piece of equipment. I have seen two regularly gigging guitarists using the XT Pro as the centerpiece of their rig. I have seen zero people using the Behringer unit in the same fashion.

[silentman]

I played one of the Behringer modelling amps last week and I thought it sounded pretty good. We use some Behringer products in our PA sysytem and so far no problems.

[ZR]

I have a V-amp upgraded with the new eprom to V2 and for home recording it's a big bang for the buck item. There are many patches online and it comes with the midi / computer software setup. The Behringer rack unit can do more than the unit I have and a fairer comparioson would be to POD's 2nd version not the newest POD. When Behringer comes out with their version 3 (possibly in a floor format) it might be more apples to apples then.

I bought and sent Toby his VHT/Pod XT live setup but tried it out b4 shipping it (really Toby I'm not sure why it took 5 weeks to get it shipped to me...you believe me right!). My tweaked V-amp patches were very similar to the pod XT live sounds that I quickly tweaked. The VHT unit helped both sound better. If I spent more time with the POD unit I might have seen a bigger difference but it sertainly wasn't night and day to me anyway.

BTW, I'm kind of a tube amp junky and these digital sounds can get pretty good sound to tape (computer etc.) but I still very much prefer my tube stuff.

[tobereeno]

yep...."UPS strike" huh?

re: tubes when using a Valvulator and a tube power amp you recover enough feel to satisfy all but the cork-sniffing Mullard crowd. When these things get dialed in, only the player himself can really tell the difference I think.

I've got a Diezel patch on my XTL that somehow manages to work with a huge range of songs, it's that responsive to my playing. And no tube rig can really match the 16 distinct patches I have on tap for a gig.

that being said, John bro, I've plotted my next tube rig - a quadraphonic monster with 2 stereo power amps mixing EL84s, EL34s, and 6L6s, and 2 wet/2 dry output channels powering whatever preamp I pick. the XTL will serve as the master MIDI switcher and effects unit. With the Wife's recent budget policies, it'll only take me a couple years to pick up all the pieces lol!!

[ZR]

That sounds good. I look forward to being of assistance to you again. Barring anymore difficulties you should get your gear in less than 6 months this time!

Also, can the POD XT Live be used just as a midi foot controller? As in send regualr midi channels switching commands? Can the effects be used just on their own through an fx loop of an amp? Can the foot controller be used to send real time midi signals as well?

[kurtsstuff]

Does'nt anybody just plug into an amp head anymore??...oh wait....I run through a rack full of crap too.....lol!

[tobereeno]

Also, can the POD XT Live be used just as a midi foot controller? As in send regular midi channels switching commands? Can the effects be used just on their own through an fx loop of an amp? Can the foot controller be used to send real time midi signals as well?

yes, yes (it'll control your Marshall 6101 channel switching via MIDI), yes, and yes.

All it takes is an understanding of the MIDI implementation chapter of the owner's manual...something that's probably beyond me!

[zorrow]

I played one of the Behringer modelling amps last week and I thought it sounded pretty good. We use some Behringer products in our PA sysytem and so far no problems.

Well, it DOES sound good. I like the tones I can produce with my V-Amp 2. It's a perfect (well, a very cheap) fit to record with my computer.

[DaveL]

If you don't want to spend as much for the XT,

the pod 2.0 can be had really cheap. I love mine.