Line 6 Bass Pod OG a.k.a. THE BEAN!

[Wyatt Miller]

Ok, so I recently ordered myself an original 1998 Line 6 Bass Pod bean model. And I did some research over it for a few months to see if this thing was even worth getting, and I came to the conclusion that yes it was. I genuinely think that the bean models don't get enough respect as they should and people shouldn't scoff at them just because it says "Line 6" on the product, to quote Marissa Tomei from My Cousin Vinny, "OH THA HORRAH". But seriously, I do feel that the bean Bass Pod (not the XT bs), but the OG is a pretty damn good budget amp modeler for the working musician, if you know how to use it right and know how to properly EQ it. I look forward to seeing what you fellow TalkBasser's can bring to the discussion. Have a blessed day, evening, night... or whenever the hell y'all are reading this high effort Line 6 sh*tpost. - Wyatt.

 

[bassbrad]

Welcome to TB @Wyatt Miller. Indeed the Bean was a nice piece of kit back in the day, I had one with a Shortboard that served me quite well - but sadly IMHO it has not stood the test of thyme~. Like many other legacy pieces it certainly has a place in history and has a certain sound, panache and pastiche but old ain't always vintage or desirable.

 

[Wyatt Miller]

Welcome to TB @Wyatt Miller. Indeed the Bean was a nice piece of kit back in the day, I had one with a Shortboard that served me quite well - but sadly IMHO it has not stood the test of thyme~. Like many other legacy pieces it certainly has a place in history and has a certain sound, panache and pastiche but old ain't always vintage or desirable.

I thank you for your reply on my post. I feel that most pieces of gear can give someone at least one good sound or use out of it... Like I said, MOST gear. As there's always going to be something like an MXR Full-Bore Metal pedal or something of that nature that is most heinous! Lol, but I digress.

 

[bassbrad]

I thank you for your reply on my post. I feel that most pieces of gear can give someone at least one good sound or use out of it... Like I said, MOST gear. As there's always going to be something like an MXR Full-Bore Metal pedal or something of that nature that is most heinous! Lol, but I digress.

There is always the "eye of the beholder" and I certainly have many a piece of legacy gear that has a sound or two that I dearly love that justifies me keeping them in the collection. Or perhaps sentimental or intrinsic value

 

[BrentSimons]

Ok, so I recently ordered myself an original 1998 Line 6 Bass Pod bean model. And I did some research over it for a few months to see if this thing was even worth getting, and I came to the conclusion that yes it was. I genuinely think that the bean models don't get enough respect as they should and people shouldn't scoff at them just because it says "Line 6" on the product, to quote Marissa Tomei from My Cousin Vinny, "OH THA HORRAH". But seriously, I do feel that the bean Bass Pod (not the XT bs), but the OG is a pretty damn good budget amp modeler for the working musician, if you know how to use it right and know how to properly EQ it. I look forward to seeing what you fellow TalkBasser's can bring to the discussion. Have a blessed day, evening, night... or whenever the hell y'all are reading this high effort Line 6 sh*tpost. - Wyatt.

Welcome to TB @Wyatt Miller. Indeed the Bean was a nice piece of kit back in the day, I had one with a Shortboard that served me quite well - but sadly IMHO it has not stood the test of thyme~. Like many other legacy pieces it certainly has a place in history and has a certain sound, panache and pastiche but old ain't always vintage or desirable.

I thank you for your reply on my post. I feel that most pieces of gear can give someone at least one good sound or use out of it... Like I said, MOST gear. As there's always going to be something like an MXR Full-Bore Metal pedal or something of that nature that is most heinous! Lol, but I digress.

I don't know...I really enjoyed my Bass Pod while I had it. The interface took some time to get used to but once you got the hang of it I thought it was quite easy to get some great tones fairly easy? I moved on to the Bass Pod XT due to GAS pains a and I still have that unit. I posted a review of the Xt somewhere here on talkbass. It really comes down to what you like. Lots of players use obsolete gear. In a recent Premier Guitar rig run down Juan Alderete was playing with Marilyn Manson I believe and in his rack he had a Bass Pod Pro. How bad can it be?
Stay healthy y'all
Brent

 

[Veldar]

If you turn off the cab sims and run just the preamp models it should still hold up.

The cab sims are notoriously bad

 

[Wyatt Miller]

It came in yesterday but I have to buy a used Line 6 power supply tomorrow because the one it came with has that one UK power plug.... Those things are ridiculous!

 

[Audiogroove]

I don't know, I bought the orig. bass pod in early 2000s new, never got past the presets or got to know it, then it sat on the shelf for over a decade really, now recently pulled it out 2023 and really dove in and finally got into discovering what it can do. I found it is excellent. There are many great and accurate sounding simulations that are extremely useful sound rich and inspiring. I intend to totally use it for recording my next music project. One totally flexible device to handle the recording needs I have for bass just simplifies everything for me and it's great. I can split to model signal and DI signal to two tracks, all from one box, love it. The other thing is I have a bit of a reference point to the quality of the models. I have a very similar SWR to the one that is modeled in the pod, which is paired with a 4x10 I have the 2x10 but when I switch to that preset in the pod, or when I put it on manual with that amp cab combo, it really does sound familiar like I am playing through my own amp. same character same range and EQ profile from the speakers, the cabs sound right the amp sounds right. it sounds "familiar" coming out of the bass pod which gives me an idea of how accurate the other models must be. my thinking is that these engineers put a ton of effort into making this sound convincing, and for sure they A B 'd amp versus model all over the place so I am sure the amp models are close enough to sound really good in a mix. I enjoyed finally discovering this gear so much that I found another used one for only $40 Canadian and sent it to my music collab friend in another province for his recording projects. When you are recording every instrument and mixing producing it yourself like him and I do, it is so great to just plug this in find the sound and have it plus a dry DI record to two tracks ready to go save time on mic'ing more stuff. plus, I can't buy all the amps in this thing: it helps to have that choice and the sound quality in a mix is more than convincing enough, especially if you carefully dial it in. That's the other thing too, when it's about the music first and getting the composition and production right, I compare the value I get from literally a $40 piece of gear now that takes me 95% there to the latest versions of these boxes close to $1000 that really, in a mix there is just not enough of a difference to me and so I don't feel the need to upgrade this to anything. In fact, I also got a guitar pod 2.0 for these same reasons. because I came across one for only $50 and with that putting a cheap overdrive in front like the silver horse boosted by a super cheap behr. superfuzz 300 on boost, gets rid of that "digitally sounding" distortion it has. The stereo reverb in there is fantastic. The choice: 50 bucks or the latest versions of that for over 1000. really it's a no brainer for me. Musicians that grew up before 2000 kind of realize that by the early 2000s many things in music technology like DAWs and Modellers and effect plugins reached a threshold where it really is good enough to do major studio work yourself, and, when it comes down to focusing on the quality of the songs you are creating, then not quite sounding 100% exactly like a 1969 fender tweed 1x12 but just dialing in a sound you really like regardless of the year and make of the amp, that's all I need and the price difference it is just really amazing what you can accomplish with just $40 spent in this case. So I am a big fan of the original bass pod and the red pod 2.0. The versions before any menu diving came along as well and it was just dedicated knobs for everything. that's another bit of brilliant engineering on the bass pod like the second layer of knob functions where you even have a parametric EQ and a low cut EQ that just cuts the effects buss and a sweeping mid for amps that had it and so many more clever additions with NO menu diving. I do enough menu diving on synths and Daws to want to also do it with guitar and bass. so yeah, I could go on and on about things I like about this thing but that's sort of it.