Behringer Bass V-AMP Modeling Preamp  

I've had this for several years & have had zero problems. Patches have always saved & showed up every time & this unit is as quite as a line 6 pod if set you it up correctly .. (except for a few patches) The manual is not that great .. but I def have seen worse. I would prob give the line 6 pod the nod if the price was the same but considering the pod is 3 times more expensive I think the V-amp more than holds its own.

Having owned both the pro rack version and now the portable unit, I've got to tell you it's well worth the money.  Forget all the Behringer haters and so called music experts, as long as you accept it for what it will and won't do, you quickly realize it's well worth the money. As with all Behringer products some are very good for live playing out, and ALL the products are excellent for smll apartment studios.

I didn't buy this unit; it was given to me by a guitar player that I used to play with.  I began using this unit after reseting to the default settings per the manual.  I used some of the presets as they sounded pretty decent, except for the kind of "digital" sound that it produced.  For my style of playing, this kind of unit is too much.  I'm kind of a minimalist, keeping the bass line as simple as possible while still filling the pocket; this essentially puts everything else out front while supporting the song.  I think there is too much stuff in here for this approach because there are too many things to tempt a player that are completely unnecessary for a working bassist.  Plus, it gets confusing and iritating searching through these hundreds of presets to get a sound that you want. I do mainly studio work now, and this unit is far too noisy for quality recording.  I have played live with it using default settings from the factory, and the sound guy liked it well enough for that.  If you are laying something down for reference in a home studio setting, it may be ok; not for a paying client.  Also, I found it difficult to get "the" sound out of this unit, but got good sound from it.  I found it difficult to save presets that I did like well enough to keep.  Evaluate your style before you buy a novelty item like this.  For me, I like as little between the bass and the speakers as possible, and that is why I initially liked this unit.  However, this particular unit gave way too much color, and colored tone is what I was trying to avoid in the first place.  I'm better off now having a small rack of a Tech21 Sansamp RBI, Korg rack tuner, and BBE Maxcom compressor.  Other effects that my client's want are added at the studio by the engineer. All in all, this thing is fun to play around with.  If you like effects and pedals and stuff like that, get a footboard to attach to the MIDI jack to make life a little easier on yourself.  Like any gear, PLAY BEFORE YOU BUY!  It seems cool, but once the novelty wears off, you may not like what you get.

I bought this thinking that I would be able to dial in that sound I wanted from my bass guitar.  The hum is REALLY bad especially if you're recording (why I don't even use this on any tracks!) Effects aren't bad but don't shine through at all. You have to tweak with it a LOT to get what you want. Each time I boot mine up I ALWAYS lose a patch I saved, even if I saved via MIDI. This cheap Line 6 rip-off should be replaced with a REAL Line 6 abled product that can handle your bass guitar needs honestly. This should be sold for 20 bucks in my opinion, unless you want to mess around with it.  Don't use it for studio recording applications, you will regret the time you have to take to re-record your work!