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Tonelab LE vs POD HD300 vs Floor POD Plus

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  • Tonelab LE vs POD HD300 vs Floor POD Plus

    A little background first.

    I've been using the Tonelab SE since it came out, it was my main piece of gear for years until I started using tube amps.

    At some point I sold it, but then I bought the LE (essentially the same unit but with more output options and more compact) in order to have a digital pedalboard to use: 1. as a backup 2. for ease of use for rehearsals 3. for bars gigs that are too small to use an amp

    I bought the HD300 yesterday (used) to try it out and maybe replace the outdated tonelab.
    Being familiar with such units I quickly figured out how it works and only looked up on the manual the output options/settings.

    I messed with it for about an hour, in front of a clean amp and with headphones.
    From the first seconds I just didn't like the quality of the sound.
    I searched through the presets to find something marginally acceptable to tweak further.
    Then I started to build a couple of basic sounds from scratch.
    Managed to create a half-decent clean tone (Hiwatt 100 + tubedriver + chorus) going for some sort of Gilmour tone.
    Still it just didn't sound organic at all.
    No matter the setting there were some sort of artificial overtones making the unit sound very digital.
    The mid-gain tones (like jtm-45) are pretty lifeless, no crunch at all.
    High-gain stuff might be good but I didn't care to explore these.

    The Floor POD Plus which I had for a year or two was so much more satisfying even though I couldn't get nice cleans out of it.
    Everything else was just fun to play and easy to make it sound good, from mid-gain to Mesa.
    OK it did sound over-processed sometimes but overall it sounded GOOD.

    The Tonelab's main downsides are 1. high gain tones (there just aren't any) and 2. direct to PA doesn't sound nearly as good as connecting to the front of an amp.
    Apart from these downsides, IMO the SE and LE are the best ever digital pedalboards for clean up to mid-gain tones.
    The most important aspect of which is the FEEL of these units which is VERY close to playing a real tube amp.
    Note: I haven't tried anything that came out after the HD, like Helix 11rack kemper axefx etc.

    Maybe I'm getting older and can't appreciate newer stuff but I just prefer some of the 1st generation of modellers to some of the latest generation.

    What do you think?

  • #2
    Re: Tonelab LE vs POD HD300 vs Floor POD Plus

    Try a Line HX Stomp. Way more life-like than the POD HD line, both in tones, versatilty, response and price.
    Guitars:Gibson LP Trad ('57 Classics); Ibanez SEW761FM (TB-16/STK-S7 m&n); Charvel DK24 (TB10/SSL-6/A2Pn), DK22 (HRb/SSL-6 m&n), SoCal Style1 (Distortion set) & SoCal Style2 24 2PT (Fluence OCC); ESP LTD MH-1000HS (TB-14/Lil59n); Effects: Line 6 Helix Floor, Digitech Drop & FreqOut, ME EP-1L6,Shure GLXD16, Headrush MX5;

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    • #3
      Re: Tonelab LE vs POD HD300 vs Floor POD Plus

      The HD300 sounds a lot better direct to a full range speaker than into an amp. If the plan was to go into an amp, I would look at the M series. I don't think any modeler sounds good into an amp.
      Administrator of the SDUGF

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      • #4
        Re: Tonelab LE vs POD HD300 vs Floor POD Plus

        Headrush Gigboard sounds good for the price, and way better than 1st/2nd/3rd generation Line6 modelers.

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        • #5
          Re: Tonelab LE vs POD HD300 vs Floor POD Plus

          Headrush looks good indeed, thanks.

          I think that the low "resolution" of the 1st generation actually contributed to the amp-like tone.
          Maybe what you can't hear clearly is played by your brain in your head nicely!

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