I have the POD X3 kidney bean, which I think is very silmilar, just with less inputs and outputs. At lower gain settings, the amp models sound OK, but as you crank the gain past half, they start to sound kind of strange. With all of the mic/mic placement choices, models, and parametric EQ, there are a lot of different tones available. I still prefer the sound of my amp (mesa single rectifier) over the POD though. Just my .02