First piece of guitar equipment I ever bought was the POD 2.0. I liked it at the time... but now that I've heard and used "real" amps it's kind of disappointing. I'm not so much into amp modeling now, at least not digital modeling.
I used to gig with a Mesa Boogie Single Rectifier. I still use it to record. But I stopped gigging with it because of the size, the problems with power when playing with a tube amp live, and the fear that it would be stolen or break. Now for live stuff I use
a Behringer GMX212. I'd have gotten the 2x10 version, because I love the sound of 10's for guitar, but it wasn't loud enough. That particular line of Behringer modeling amps are different because they don't use digital equipment to model the amps. Now my amp set up is much smaller, cheaper, I don't have the power concerns, and nobody in the audience can tell the difference anyways.
The problem I always had with my POD is I couldn't get a good lead and rhythm sound. I could manage a decent sound for chords, but if I played single notes it would sound like ass. Same thing if I got a decent sound for single notes, it would sound terrible when I went to play chords. I just don't think the technology is there yet. I've done a little bit of recording with a POD 2.0, and putting a tube pre-amp afterwards can help a little bit, but it still will sound a little funny.
Maybe try spending the money you would have spent on a processor on a cheap tube amp like the new Epiphone. There are two different Epiphone tube amps available, the Galaxie and
the Valve Junior, for $129 and $119, respectively. Then, you can change your "modeling amp" tone by using different drive and distortion pedals. But I think you'd have a much more realistic sound than any modeling pre-amp could give you. On top of that, "speaker simulation" on these POD and the like emulators, is just that, and sounds nothing like the real thing. A major part of the tone you get from guitar comes from speaker distortion, which these boxes can't imitate.
Good luck,
-MD
oooooooooooook
