Just got a VAMP Pro
I couldn't have a pedal on the floor, so I was stuck with rack mount, and you would be amazed how little there is to choose from. The POD is expensive and doesn't even have stereo effects.
The VAMP seems noisy, but I have only tried it with my Epiphone Bass, not with my P Bass. Any of the settings that require the treble to be turned up get a lot of hiss. And there are several of the amp sims that are basically unusable because the hiss and noise are so prevalent.
However, if you get a relatively quiet amp sim, don't go totally nuts on the compression, gain, and treble, the sounds you can get are great.
The Reverbs and Delays are noisy as hell, too. The synth module makes up for that, as you can get some great sounds out of the nine different flavors of bass synth. Most of the effects are too noisy for real use, but I don't use much in the way of effects on my bass sounds, so thats fine.
Being able to tweak the presets with the software is GREAT. Fiddling with a bunch of non-intuitive knobs on a rack mounted piece is frustrating and hard on your back after awhile. Being able to do all your tweaking with a mouse RULES. Plus, you can load in different libraries, save things easily, rename things easily...its just a lot easier. If you actually tried to use the physical interfact Behringer gives you, you would probably go mad very shortly.
There are six different modes, three for studio and three for live playing that give you great flexibility as to where to where you can route the wet/dry/cab simmed signals. And you can use regular mic cables to connect it to your board. (I bought some short ones)
I am not a full time bass player, and this is ten times more processor than I'll ever need. Hell, my old Rockman Bassman did just fine before it died and I used
a Korg A-5 for a few years. I will be able to get the fifteen sounds or so that I need this thing to do, and that will hold me for another ten years.
So far so good. If it were just a little quieter...