Line 6 POD Express, Guitar

At 40 years old, I’m a bedroom/basement guitar player. I haven’t a need for insane combinations of sounds and effects. Give me a little distortion, chorus, delay and reverb and I’m a happy camper. I use this gem of a pedal with my Marshall DSL1 amp and it’s phenomenal. Also includes a computer interface if you want to record into Logic or Garageband, and my daughters often use it for Yousician.The simplicity and limitation of ~17 effects is the joy! Last thing I want is a device with complex firmware and presets that I have to spend weeks figuring out. This one is analog dials that you set and go. Don’t want it? Dial it back? More, clockwise to the right. Convenience through simplicity and a little limitation. Multi-effect pedals have come a long way since I started playing in the late 1990s. They’re at a point where if you didn’t have a pedal collection already, you don’t need to start one now. This little guy will handle those needs.

Sound Quality is much better than I expected for one of the cheapest Line 6 products. It does take a little setting up with a "cleanest'" sound possible if your using a amp so the cleans don't distort & getting more info online from Line 6's website but they offer excellent support & it's very easy to set-up once you READ the info about. User manual is available to download from Line 6 website free of course. ENJOY!

As good as modelers costing 4 times as much. Easy to use and once you set up a few presets thats all you need. SPends more time playing and less time tweaking settings! Crunch nails 90% of classic rock. Effects are good and you can set up overdrive and a modulation on the footswitches very easily.

When I got this, I looked through the provided Cheat Sheet instructions then plug my guitar into the POD Express and the POD Express into my amp... what a crappy sound! I had serious buyers remorse after hearing this.The default Presets all have the Cab emulator turned ON - nothing on the Cheat Sheet mentions turning this off. But if you are going to plug into a guitar amp, as opposed to your computer or a P.A., then you'll want the Cab emulation off. After going through the online manual and installing POD Express Edit (from the Line 6 website), I was able to setup some Presets without the Cab emulation and I could finally enjoy the POD Express as intended.My favorite amps are the Special and the Lead (5150).I already have a Vetta II, Flextone XL III, POD HD500X... got this for a little portability and a taste of the Helix tones.I would be lost and frustrated trying to use the POD Express without the aid of POD Express Edit - but I am able to get everything setup in the Editor and then just step on the foot switches to get to my presets without memorizing the button combinations (like trying to use a new game controller).4stars is not because of the sound but because I wasn't able to plug and play until after reading the manual.

The user interface is really straightforward. It’s easy and intuitive to dial in the sound of an amp, overdrive, and some effects straight from the knobs without using any of the alternate options. With the alternate options, you can tweak all that even more. And the sound quality is great. I’ve run it into my amp and also directly to headphones and it sounded great either way. There are limitations to what it can do, but for a pedal that’s under $200, I couldn’t expect more from this pedal. Highly recommend.

If your just interested in plug and play though head phones, this is an awesome product. However to connect online you need the latest firmware, that should be available from the editor. However, because the editor can not locate my device, no firmware updates are accessible. My device can not be found, because of the firmware I can not get to through the editor that does not work. Confused yet?Last line 6 product for me....

Here’s the big question on this pedal. Will this pedal do everything you need it to. Mostly, yes!My take:You need an amp that has treble, bass, mid, volume. That’s it! I have a Marshall Class 5 straight clean. 15 watt tube. In a bedroom, it’s all you need.I set everything to its middle, except for volume. Then you can adjust your rig from your pedal. You have to find your correct beginning level of volume, & the pedal will enhance your volume, After finding your beginning volume, you can use the pedal to adjust the volume with a foot switch. This will take some work to fix the right starting volume.I use the pedal on my music stand. I can andjust everything by hand.It stands out under headphones for practicing. Using a wireless transmitter at the guitar, and the receiver on the “guitar in” on the pedal. Then I used my Shure 440 head gear, wired into the pedal. It’s a very useful tool. Simple really. If you get right down to it. It’s not your Helix, but it’ll do quite a bit. For me, it’s all I really need. Maybe an acoustic amp with an a/b for my Axcess with acoustic bridge. Then just use settings on the acoustic amp for playing acoustic sounds. It’s just easier to sit down and play and get away from the world. Peace.

I've used multi-effects units for decades without problems. Yes, I read the manual and even muddled through some videos but I simply could not figure out how to make this thing do what I wanted, and make it stop doing what I didn't want. Extremely frustrating.