I am not a fan of modeling amps.I have an ampeg vl 1200.Its the one designed by lee jackson and I bought it for $299. I tell ya, my ampeg blows it all away for the most part. I also own a pod, and at first I hated it. Then I tweaked and recorded with it. What I finally realised is that I could get a better tone with the pod then I hear on just about any album in the classic rock repetoire.
If you experiment with it combining it with different combos of pre's, e.q's and compression it can be awe inspiring. The thing is its this great technology that is giving me every sound in the classic rock repetoire(give or take a few).Its meat and potatoes. The yamaha dg on the otherhand comes with thosen spectacular 3 dimensional sounds that you may not hear every day, It sounds cooler, but its not as flexable. Lots of people swear by sans amps stuff also. And rocktrons stuff is used by some great players, Im dying to give their stuff a testdrive
So i have one tool with my pod.Soon Ill have another one with a yamaha dg. Also my ampeg fuckin rocks, I got a hot rodded marshall by lee jackson for $299. Its just beautiful, the cleans the dirt, the smothness. But its gotta be loud to get that otherwise forget it.
I think when your doing intensive arrangements where everything is layered and meticulously placed that the pod is it. But there are things I can do abusing my tubes in obscene(or tasteful) ways that I couldnt with any modeler because when I play I employ technique wich can push a pod to the point that it can either give its self away or not. If I play like I do a tube amp its a no go, but if I play it like a pod it will fool you and this is why I like both.
It wont fool me though, I can smell one of those fuckers from a mile away. Of course if somebody takes the time to get unique tones it would fool me as well.Still I hear lots of professional and amature stuff that SCREAMS pod.
with a tube amp the tools you use in your set up down to each component are in your control.with pod you have all these options that someone else selected but its more controlled and consistant because theres no tubes to get you pulling out your hair over.
I dont care about accurate models, just cool tones.
My next thing may be a cabinet simulator/filter that exepts my heads load. then I can use my amp direct like a pod.Palmers stuff does that
Also i bet if you ran a pod through a budda slavemaster direct that would also enhanse it. I think the pod by itself is just ok, but when you use these tools to enhanse it THEN it becomes this magical thing.
And to finish my long winded meanderings some of the pods models I can easily Identify on recordings. Far fewer people use the yamaha dg, so that could add something unique.
This is like synth modules. Its best to use more than one for different sound qualities and to doctor them up in different ways.Same with the pod.When someone does all their sounds with the pod it sounds neat and tidy and like its a pod, not a tube amp and not very interesting either.mix and match
Godamn Im long winded today...

Must be the weather.