Line 6 pod studio ux2 with pod farm
One has to admit that Line6 has made more efforts than many of its competitors in the same price range as far as signal monitoring goes. Though they may not be extremely accurate, they're handy because they're easily readable while recording, and because there's also a LED that alerts you of any possible digital clipping. On the right side of the front panel, there's a headphone output but also two large VU meters, kind of retro-analog style, indicating the level of the signal. Next to that are two 1/4-inch instrument inputs: one normal and one with a pad in order to be able to connect any guitar or bass, be it passive or active. On the front panel there are two XLR mic inputs (combo inputs would have been better, but this isn't such a big deal in light of the price of the UX) with a switch and a green LED that enables/disables the phantom power supply common to both inputs. And this is a good thing too, because the UX2 is very well designed and is very user-friendly, even for beginners. Except for the fact that the red plastic hull has been replaced with a black plastic one, which makes it look more austere and modern, it has the same controls and the same connectors in the same places, not to mention the same printing on the hull. Line 6 has indeed made very few changes to the design of the interface. The least that can be said about the UX2 is that owners of the TonePort will feel right at home with this new version. For this test, we'll be taking a look at the UX2, which is much more comprehensive and sold at the very aggressive price of $190. The UX1 is a product that could interest tight budgets (around $150) but which would soon show its limitations, since it only has one microphone input, which in addition doesn't have phantom power (forget about stereo micing, and especially forget about using condenser mics).
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The difference between these respective models remains the same: POD Studio GX is geared at guitarists and/or bassists with only one instrument input, while the UX1 and UX2, which also have mic inputs, are designed to be more general purpose devices and therefore target home-studios.
#Line 6 pod studio ux2 with pod farm update
You never change a winning combination, so after a few variations of this basic concept (See the test of the UX-8), the time was ripe to update the TonePort GX, UX1, UX2, which were renamed for the occasion to POD Studio GX, UX1 and UX2. Within this context, Line 6 was able to differentiate itself with its Toneport range, whose success was based on its look, and especially the promise of giving access to the POD's famous amp modeling through GearBox software. Brands like PreSonus, M-Audio, Lexicon, E-MU, Alesis, Tascam, and Novation usually offer more or less the same thing, technically speaking, both in terms of features and quality. At around $200, there are many interfaces that are likely to attract beginner home-studio owners.