Replacing the BR80

[strummer10]

For the last 6 months I've had problems with my BR80 - first the wheel became incredibly unreliable and would jump all over the place and more recently it won't record, nor can I just play and use the effects. Also, I've never been able to use it as an audio interface - could be my laptop but always get a message that the driver not recognised. So, I've decided to replace it.

By chance I went to a gig in London on Friday night, to see Tracii Guns (ex-LA Guns/Brides of Destruction). Whenever I've seen him before he's had a great pedal board of effects but this time was just using a Line 6 Pod X3 into the effects loop with a board that presumably controlled the Pod. I've always assumed the Pods were for bedroom guitarists but it sounded great. I wondered whether anyone had used Pods before and whether they would recommend them. I understand that the X3 can be used to record also whereas the older models are meant for headphones/possibly into the amp. The alternative would be the Line 6 UX2 which appears to be an interface albeit you get loads of effects but you'd have to play plugged into the computer as I understand it.

If anyone had used either I'd be interested in your thoughts. I've never really recorded on the computer before (always on Micro BR/BR80 and converted to MP3 on computer) but feel I should probably give it a go. I want something that's not too technical and is user friendly enough that I'll not be put off straight away.

If anyone has used Pods before are the tones any better than on the BR80 for example?

If people think I should be looking at other devices please let me know.

As always, I'm grateful for any feedback.

[AndyR]

I've not used the BR80, but I'm guessing the guitar tones aren't much different than those on the MBR and the BR1600?

I have a POD 2.0 and a POD XTLive - not checked any Line 6 stuff since then, but as 2.0 to XT was a huge improvement, I'm guessing the later modelling represents further steps forwards.

In my opinion, both the POD 2.0 and the XTLive (my favourite of the two) knock the Boss guitar tones right out of the park. The Boss ones are OK if you've got nothing else, but I personally wouldn't use them in anger. I occasionally use them for guide guitar parts if I'm in a hurry, but they'll always get replaced with better sounds later (unless I want that specific sort of tone).

Having said that, some folks (eg Greeny and Henwrench) get some fabulous results from the MBR guitar tones - so mebbe it's just me and my use of them!

I did try using the XTLive as an audio interface for a bit, and it worked fine (POD 2.0 didn't have this ability), but I was moving away from PC recording at the time.

Nowadays, I don't use the POD 2.0 or XTlive for recording guitars - I use either a VOX Tonelab LE (same sort of thing, but with better basic amp tones for me - no audio interface capabilities on this thing, though), or my Yamaha THR10 amp. Now that, the THR, does work as an interface, really well and really easily (only for guitar, you won't be getting any other signals such as vox or midi into a PC with it). But I still don't record on PC, so I don't use it like that - I take the headphone out and pass it into the Line In on the MBR or BR1600.

Although I haven't used the Line6 XTLive for guitar for years, I still use it for bass amp modelling. It gives me loads better results than straight DI or using the BR1600's bass amp models (although I do regularly use those for guide bass parts).

[bruno]

I dont mind the Boss tones - in a mix, they don't sound too artificial. Mind you I've tried all sorts to get a great recorded tone, and my solution that I'm happy with is the Kemper. Not cheap, however you really cant tell the difference between it and a pro recorded top quality amp. The POD's are okay - Berlinger make a cheaper equivalent (VAmp) - which is Okay. Joyo make a SansAmp ripoff for not much money, which is pretty good.
B

[Balleo]

Br80,I used it only like PC interface, always ready and never error system. My opinion is PERFECT ! 
The sounds aren't so good and i think like Bruno: are so artificial

[Hook]

I loved my Pocket Pod, great sounds for guitar,bass and vocals. It died on me but if I see a good deal on another I would pick it up. Not sure about the floor units, I played with a guy at a church for years and he had issues with his connection into the PA all he time, noise and volume jumps. I use a boss ME 80 for live shows and love it.

As far as the br80, I'm surprised at how much I dig it. The sounds are often a bit over the top and it's missing the best vocal patches from the MBR. It aslo uses an auto mix concept, meaning you can't adjust the mix once you hit record. My old Zoom PS02 had auto mix but it was super fast which made up for the lack of control, Boss made thiers in real time which makes no sense at all to me. I've heard about the wheel issues & I try to be proactive. Anything I can scroll with the buttons I do. Only using the wheel for naming tracks and moving around tracks quickly during recording. Hopefully I can keep that wheel healthy. Somewhere hear is a thread from someone who took theirs apart and cleaned it successfully.

Issues aside, it's a great little unit with 64 quality tracks at my fingertips. You can make a pretty good quality recording, start to finish on it no problem.
Rock on!

[TPB]

I have a old ux1 gold (great clearance price) with POd farm on the computer it worked great as a computer interface for recording and was not to hard to tweak sounds, Only problem was you have to do one track at a time. Now my buddy has the UX2 USb to the computer and uses the headphone out to the amp if he want to hear it. Both are great for entry to computer recording
Tim