I just bought one of these.
I am in tone heaven. After reading threads about the notorius tones of my two favoruite bass players; Timmy C and Justin Chancellor, I began to be a bit depressed about my current gear / tone. "I dont have a swamp ash bass! I dont have an Ampeg with two bi-amped 8x10's, i dont have this or that..."
I spent a relatively brief ammount of time tweaking and experimenting in my room at home. I wasnt able to crank the volume too much, but got a sound I was reasonably happy with and was pleased with the potential of the unit.
Then I took it to band practice and opened up a whole other realm. Amazing. I had a tone VERY close to that of Justin Chancellor, that very bright metallic but punchy sound. Now bearing in mind that im a fingers player and I had it hooked up to some quite cheap gear (behringer 1x15 cabinet and a Peavey deltabass head, I play a warwick rockbass corvette 5-string) I was blown away. My bandmates were amazed and it fulled both mine and their creativity for the evening. I sat perfectly in the mix. The drummer even said he could hear every nuance I was playing, and the guitarist was blown away by the perfect combination of the bright clanky high's and the punchy low's / low mids that made our three piece outfit sound wider overnight.
Now, If I managed to achieve something VERY close to a bass tone that is continuously praised and involved the use of an incredible ammount of expensive equipment (and studio magic) within 2 days of owning one of these units, imagine what lies ahead.
I hear the words "warmth" "creamy" "thick" "buttery" "fat" used to describe some player's prefered tones. I am personally more of a "bright" "clanky" "punchy" "metallic" guy. Whether or not you can squeeze an amazing vintage jazz tone out of the Line6 Bass Pod XT Live is something I am not familiar with. Bear that in mind, however I have read a number of reviews across the internet from more 'vintage-inclined' players who were pleasantly suprised at the capabilities of the line6 modelling. One guy even claimed to have sold ALL his preamp and FX equipment after discovering the Line6.
It has been said that the wah and distortion FX are not quite up to par on the Line6. I'm sure it wouldnt take much tweaking to get a distortion that you like, there are plenty of models, however I still use my Boss ODB-3 until I have done some more experimentation. As for the wah, I have little experience in using a wah, although I got something that sounded close to the 'calm like a bomb' sound from timmy C. It sounds a little weak on the low notes though and rolls them off pretty quick, but that may just be down to my error or just how a wah pedal works.
Its also worth mentioning that I am a big tweaker. I enjoy sitting and messing with knobs and buttons and settings. I would also say that I am very rapidly becoming an audiophile and a bass tone freak. I'm not one to fully enjoy playing a show or a practice if I dont sound good.
The orignal poster stated that naturally, using the pod with cheap gear and a cheap bass would result in a bad sound. For me, the Pod TRANSFORMED the gear that I was using and I was able to get the sound I had been looking for using low-end rehearsal room gear and my semi-pro level rockbass.
I also value the portability. I am a university student and I rely on public transport. Me and my bandmates catch a bus to the rehearsal rooms or the gigs. Me and the guitar player both appreciate being digital players (he owns a Boss GT-8). It literally is tone in a box. On top of that you can program individual song tones into it. Or you can use it as a 3am practice partner with headphones and of course recording.
Speaking of recording. The only dissapointment I so far have with Line6 is that there are still NO windows vista USB drivers for the Bass Pod XT Live. Vista just seems to be horrible for any audio related software. In essence, I cannot record or update the software on my pod OR use Line6 edit / gearbox. I also can't download or upload custom tones. A big annoyance for home-use.
I hope that helps shed some light on the product and if anyone would like to discuss it with me I'd be more than happy. I'm still experimenting to discover what this thing can do!
Aharon.
SDFKAJKLGHDAKOFEYUYOPW#&*$E(@#)PYTFHULJKEQYF(H*P N^Y(#!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
