Re: POD help
Here's how I see it:
If you want basic sounds and tones, and decent FX and you want to look elsewhere for your more creative sounds - Wah, Delay, Verb - perhaps you are doing dance music or something where you are running it into the front end of an amp to get the distortions etc etc - then 2.0 is a good bet.
If you want a true modeler - you are actually trying to achieve all those tones you like, from Vintage Marshalls, to cabs, to Mic'd sounds, to specific amp tones (Matchless, Marshall, Fender) and specific FX sounds like Univibes etc - then the XT is a good bet.
I like the XT because you can get a decent version of almost any sound on the fly, which can be great in a studio. In fact, I think some of them "feel" authentic. The Variac Plexi is a good example, it somewhat feels like a Variac would feel. You can debate the Uberschall and Diezel models. I don't care much for the Soldano, Bassman and Fender Deluxe sounds either. The Matchless and AC30, as well as Mesa Mark 2c+ can be useful, interestingly enough.
Just remember, with the XT, a lot of the "modeling" enver dials out. So if you go into an amp you might get pissed off that some of the tones will not just give you the basics, there is this digitally modeled thing that comes along with it. It will never replace your pedal board, if you are that type of player.
You can get the XT between 180-200.
