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I've been using a POD XT bean for about ten years now. I'm rather enamored with the ease and flexibility of it, I have decent amp tones, effects, and a pretty good range of controls in a very compact desktop package.
It is... getting on a bit though. I've had to replace the power unit twice and it won't be long before it's time to look for something to replace it.
I've been looking long and hard at software amp simulators. BIAS, TH3 and Thermionik are the ones which come closest to a good sound in my ears, and of the three, I'm very partial to TH3. I'd just about be ready to buy it - but the latency when direct monitoring a busy Cubase project is too high.
When I've got a song going on which has something like 40 or 50 channels, with a bunch of plugins on the channels, groups and master channel, TH3 just can't deliver low latency direct monitoring anymore, and that makes it a huge problem.
For this reason I want to look for a standalone, hardware amp simulator.
The issue is, those sorts of boxes are crazily expensive these days. There's no way I can justify the cost of a BIAS amp head, a Kemper profiler or an Axe-FX, for instance, however much I'd like their sound and functionality. The big upshot of the old POD bean was its affordability.
Is there anything on the market today which will give me amp models, cab models and effects, in a good sounding desktop package, for less than (preferably a lot less than) a thousand dollars?
It is... getting on a bit though. I've had to replace the power unit twice and it won't be long before it's time to look for something to replace it.
I've been looking long and hard at software amp simulators. BIAS, TH3 and Thermionik are the ones which come closest to a good sound in my ears, and of the three, I'm very partial to TH3. I'd just about be ready to buy it - but the latency when direct monitoring a busy Cubase project is too high.
When I've got a song going on which has something like 40 or 50 channels, with a bunch of plugins on the channels, groups and master channel, TH3 just can't deliver low latency direct monitoring anymore, and that makes it a huge problem.
For this reason I want to look for a standalone, hardware amp simulator.
The issue is, those sorts of boxes are crazily expensive these days. There's no way I can justify the cost of a BIAS amp head, a Kemper profiler or an Axe-FX, for instance, however much I'd like their sound and functionality. The big upshot of the old POD bean was its affordability.
Is there anything on the market today which will give me amp models, cab models and effects, in a good sounding desktop package, for less than (preferably a lot less than) a thousand dollars?
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