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The only benefit I can see in a review like that is a brief run-down of the features all in one place so you don't have to Google them all.
On that basis the Helix looks the most interesting to me.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
I would have liked them to through in the atomic amplifire as well.
I keep going between a small 1x12 combo and a modeller of some sort. I think the helix would be the one I'd go for as well. Probably just because it's easier to get hold of than the AX8...
The MR site is such a pain to navigate with all the ads on mobile.
So it's not entirely a cop-out to highlight they're all good, even if the categories look a bit rigged (home recording, and studio work are fairly blurred categories IMO).
I think this was out in 96/97.
I reviewed the first Pod for Australian Guitar in 1998- I remember that distinctly.
Studio: https://www.voltperoctave.com
Music: https://www.euclideancircuits.com
Me: https://www.jamesrichmond.com
Football is rubbish.
Roland's first digital modellers - which were the VG-8 and the GP-100 - came out in 1995… http://www.soundonsound.com/music-business/history-roland-part-4 . Line 6 wasn't even started until 1996.
Historical pedantry I know, but getting stuff like this wrong when it can be checked fairly easily really isn't very good journalism.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
"The biggest revolution has been digital amp modelling, which took off in 1998 with the introduction of the Line 6 POD."
Notice they didn't say "started". No one gave a toss about digital modelling until the Pod so I think it's fair to say that's when it "took off" (in the sense rapidly gained in popularity)
You could say Rock and Roll took off with Elvis etc.
In the real world, how easy are they to set up and get sounds from? I normally get confused on a valve amp if it has more than just Treble, Middle and Bass controls...
Can it be as simple as just finding a good preset and away you go?
Ideally I just want to be able to select an amp model, cab model and just play. Not bothered about effects and really not sure I want to get in to worrying about microphone placement and things like that, although I suppose it is a good opportunity to understand how that affects the sound.
Subject to the above, it seems a no brainer in some ways as they sound great.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
Roland definitely did it before Line 6 but Line 6 have concentrated their attention on modelling.
For a long time it was all they did, before they branched out into interfaces, controllers etc.
I am trying to think if anyone did it before Roland- I think someone did, can't remember who.
Maybe Korg?
Tech 21 has their (analog?) modelling thing way before but not sure this counts.
Studio: https://www.voltperoctave.com
Music: https://www.euclideancircuits.com
Me: https://www.jamesrichmond.com
Football is rubbish.
To be serious, how well did it work? I never heard anyone doing that, although I did hear a lot of players try to use Pods and find that they just became inaudible against another player with an analogue set-up. Maybe all-Pod works better…
That said I still blame the GP-100 for putting me off digital modelling almost for life - it didn't suffer from being inaudible, it just sounded terrible.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
Point is, until the POD came along, the Roland might have been a good product but it wasn't appealling to the mass market. The POD became the best selling digital modelling pre-amp - and I think Line6 still hold the record for sales of them.
TBH, listen back to them... the POD still sounds better and is on more recordings (more than you may think, too...)
But I agree with the pedantry, though - it is a badly researched piece.
(Of course, when I say bar, I might mean sledgehammer)
POD's required a lot more fiddling with to get them to blend/sit in the track like a mic'ed amp but had the advantage of being able to be done at any hour of the day or night.
The original and Pod 2.0 were particularly tricky- I was still using a VG8 at the time and would often go for that.
They became better over time- the last one I used was the PRO XT which was pretty decent.
Studio: https://www.voltperoctave.com
Music: https://www.euclideancircuits.com
Me: https://www.jamesrichmond.com
Football is rubbish.
We were doing indie stuff which was probably a better fit than trying to do metal or something.
One day the other guy got an HRD and the dynamics were just blowing our minds so we changed over to proper amps.