Hey guys I'm new to the forum here (been lurking for a little while...) but I figured I'd post my recent experiences with the POD HD400 and the Eleven Rack. I don't own either unit... yet.

This is a LONG post... and my first, but I felt I needed to voice my opinion.

I was able to spend about an hour with the POD HD 400 a couple nights ago and about an hour with the Eleven Rack tonight. Both were done with just guitar>cable>POD/11R>Shure SCL4 earphones which is what I am used to monitoring with through an aviom system. I am VERY familiar with the sound of my guitars/amps through these earphones. With the POD, I played a fairly nice Gibson Les Paul off the wall behind the counter at Sam Ash and I played my 03 PRS McCarty through the 11R tonight.

Just to give you some background about me, I've been playing guitar for over 16 years and have been recording/producing music for over 10 years. So you know what I'm used to playing through these days, my current rig is as follows: PRS McCarty or Strat w/Dimarzio areas>EB VPjr>Modded Vox wah>Fulltone Deja Vibe>JHF1 Fuzz>VHT Valvulator>EHX POG 2>Keeley Comp>Boss Graphic EQ>Fulltone OCD>Boss Slicer>Mesa Stiletto Ace head>Boss DD20 in the loop>Splawn OS 2x12 w/WGS green berets. I also own and use a Genz Benz Black Pearl 1x12. I've recorded and played live with both of these amps extensively as well as recorded direct with Tone port/POD Farm quite a bit.

Now on to the goods...

Here's what I can say of my experience with the POD HD 400 before I played the 11R:

POD HD 400:

Sound: Pros: I've played though the XT Live and used to own a POD 2 and still have my Tone Port w/POD farm. The HD sounds better than their previous PODs for sure. There's more depth to the amp sounds, more realistic I suppose. I like that there's fewer models to choose from.

Cons: I noticed that the lo-end on some of the models gets flubby in an unrealistic way the same as with the old PODs. I can't say that this can't be gotten rid of with tweaking but real amps and speakers just don't sound like this so you don't have to "tweak" it out. The midrange on some of the models sounded synthetic to me... plastic-y. In an hour I couldn't get a tone out of it that would make me comfortable leaving my amp at home--except for the Hiwatt model which I thought sounded good. Also, it did not respond to volume knob changes like I was hoping it would.

Feel: I've never monitored direct guitar live with my Shure earphones, just my amps so I wasn't sure what to expect although I know how they sound with the real deal. I had a hard time adjusting to the feel of the POD vs my real amp/pedals and this was likely affecting my perception of the way it sounded because feel is so crucial to the tone. The sounds were pretty good but it seemed to me to lack an authentic sense of interaction which would be difficult to overcome especially if I were to play it live without an amp.

Effects: I didn't get to check them all out just a few select models. I tried the facial fuzz which is, of course, a fuzz face model. I have a Fuzz Face which sounds amazing and behaves radically different depending on where the guitars volume control is set and I make use of this interaction a lot. The fuzz face model does not respond well to volume knob changes and doesn't behave like the real thing. Maybe I'm expecting too much here as the guitar/fuzz face interaction is really a special and unique thing but I have high standards I suppose. Also, it seems to me that when you engage, say, a tube screamer model in front of a distorted amp model that the tone of the amp takes a back seat to the sound of the pedal which isn't how my real amps react to my real keeley ts-7. For instance, the volume setting on the tube screamer model actually adds mostly volume instead of adding saturation when run into a crunchy amp model. Frustrating. The modulation and delay effects that I tried were good.