Line6 Bass Pod XT Live vs. Boss GT-10B

The Line6 and Boss multieffects units offer amp modeling as well as effects. Thats a nice feature if you can afford or don't want to buy several amps and cabs.

I own the Line6 Bass Pod XT Live and liked it very much. After 2 years, the Flash chip seems to have died (I'm working on getting it fixed).

I haven't owned or tried the Boss GT-10B, but I owned several Boss effects pedals and they were built solid and worked great. I would think the Multieffects unit would also be solid as well.

I think Boss has sound clips on their website as does Line6. Maybe its worth listening to each to compare.

 

I know there is software out there that lets you do that on your computer, but I don't think the Bass Pod XT Live can do that. I don't know about the Boss unit.

 

I've seen them at $299 USD lowest new price. I think a used one was for sale by a TB member for about $150 USD recently?

 

The GT-10B has 2 signal paths and you can assign the various effects and amps to either. You have choices as to when the effects from the 2 signal paths are active (both active, foot switchable, pitch or volumn activated).

I haven't actually set it up with different amps on each path but it should work

 

I have a GT-6B and an ME-8B by BOSS, and they do sound good. The easy tone on the GT-6B makes a big difference, and the GT-10B has this option, too. Both of my pedals are going to the shop this week. Who knows how much it will cost to fix them? If it's too much I guess I'll just spring for a GT-10B. I'm a tone junkie.

 

I didn't think Boss released a GT-8B. :!

 

They did not. They skipped us right from 6 to 10.

 

I've been looking at the Line 6 products. They seem great on paper, but I've read some pretty scathing reviews of how the chassis and hardware is low quality compared to the metal tanks that BOSS produces. And I believe the Line 6 is missing some pretty good features BOSS includes like pitch shifting, harmoniser, whammy, etc. so make sure it includes all of the effects you really want.

One thing I still need to research on the Line6 products is if they can control other outboard MIDI gear. For example, MIDI compatible rack gear, or even other MIDI compatible multi-effects. Line 6 seems to lack good MIDI functionality so I'm going to guess it cannot. For example, they don't support MIDI master clock like my GT-6B does, which most people probably wouldn't use, but I could sync it to my synth players master clock and base all rate-based effects on a multiplier/divider of the master clock for simplicity.

One thing Line6 does have going for it is their GearBox software. The company actually provides a computer-based application you can use to manage/create/save/upload patches. That's HUGE. BOSS doesn't supply such a product to my knowledge (at least for the GT-6B), though there's a free 3rd party product available.

Another thing Line 6 has going for it with their X3 products is it's all-in-one. You get bass, guitar, vox in one package. That really seems smart from a manufacturing perspective IMO. You get economy of scale banging out one product VS separate guitar/bass products. And is probably a good marketing point, too.

 

If you are simply looking for effects, I'd personally highly recommend the Line 6 M13. It doesn't have any amp modeling, but I've gotten some remarkable sounds outta that box. It's designed to work like a traditional pedal board, and I had it up and running with ease before even looking the manual. As an added bonus, it's greatly simplified the amount of stuff I have to worry about for a gig by cutting way back on cables and power issues.