Line 6 POD Studio UX2
February 2009 Guitarist 123
LINE 6 POD STUDIO UX2 £148
RECORDING
W
e know Line 6 mainly for
its now 10-year-old POD
series, but even before
the company released a hardware
unit it had a software amp
simulation product in the Amp
Farm plug-in that worked solely
with Digidesign’s Pro Tools TDM
versions. Line 6 has now gone
back to the farm, or at least
revived the name, with the new
POD Farm software that can work
as a plug-in with any recording
software as it is available in RTAS,
VST and AU formats.
POD Farm can be bought as
software only. Two versions are
available: POD Farm and POD
Farm Platinum – both using the
Pace iLok system as an
authorisation dongle that will, no
doubt, suit computer recordists
who wish to have Line 6 amp
sounds without having to buy Line
6 hardware. The other way to get
hold of POD Farm, however, is to
buy one of the three new POD
Studio packages, which appear to
offer excellent value for money.
POD Studio consists of the POD
Farm software bundled with a
Line 6 audio interface, which, as
well as doing the I/O duty, also
acts as an authorisation dongle.
There are three versions of POD
Studio available, each with a
different USB audio interface –
POD Studio GX, POD Studio UX1
and POD Studio UX2, which we
have for review here.
If the whole deal looks a bit
familiar that’s because Line 6
previously packaged similar audio
interfaces (the TonePort GX, UX1
and UX2 models) with its
GearBox software. The
difference, though, is that the new
interfaces are optimised for USB
2.0, which improves data transfer
speeds, and that POD Farm
software is more dedicated to
recording than GearBox was. The
phrase trainer and programmable
drums from GearBox are nowhere
to be seen but POD Farm has
plug-in capability as standard
rather than an add-on (GearBox
users had to upgrade to GearBox
plug-in). POD Farm also offers
more versatility in that it offers
dual amp capability with a signal
path that can run through two full
rigs of amps, cabs and effects. Line
6 has likened the difference
Line 6 POD Studio UX2
USB audio interface
£148
Line 6 raises the stakes in the computer-based amp
simulation game with an integrated system specifically
designed for recording guitar by Trevor Curwen
If you want separate hardware
and software there are plenty of
USB audio interfaces on the
market as well as amp
simulation software but you
would not get the monitoring
and routing options offered by
POD Studio. Hardware/
software packages include
Native Instruments Guitar Rig
3 Kontrol Edition (£399), a
software amp rig with foot
controller/USB interface, and
the Zoom ZFX Stack Package
(£169), a Windows only system
that offers the ZFX Plug-In with
the S2t audio interface.
The Rivals
between GearBox and POD Farm
to the difference between a PODxt
and a PODx3.
The UX2 is the highest specified
of the three audio interfaces. The
only one of the three to feature VU
meters, the UX2 also sports a pair
of XLR mic inputs, a pair of
6.4mm line inputs plus two guitar
inputs – one normal and one for
instruments with active pickups.
The USB connection to computer
allows for two separate stereo
Whatever element of the sound you
record, the ToneDirect monitoring
system allows you to always hear the
processed sound as you play
recording paths and monitoring is
either via headphones or analog
outputs that can be connected to
your monitoring system. As with
other Line 6 interfaces, the UX2
features the Tone Direct
monitoring system that allows you
to hear the processed guitar sound
with no latency delay problems.
The POD Farm software in the
POD Studio package has 18 guitar
amps, 24 guitar cabs, five bass
amps and cabs, 29 stompboxes
and studio effects and six mic
preamps. Also included as part of
the package is the FX Junkie
model pack that adds another 35
effects. If you wish to expand the
capabilities further, there are
more model packs available to
effectively upgrade the system to
the equivalent of POD Farm
Platinum, which has the same
number of guitar cabs and mic
preamps as POD Farm but ups the
rest of the model count to 78 guitar
amps, 28 bass amps, 22 bass cabs
and 97 stompboxes and effects.
In Use/Sounds
The first thing to note about the
software is the cool graphical user
interface featuring realistic
representations of all the models.
The signal chain is seen clearly in
the bottom window of the display
while the top window can show
various options, the most
impressive being a carousel-style
gear browser where you can move
The POD Farm software offers extensive preset capabilities
GIT312.rev_line6 123 22/12/08 7:25:48 pm