Line 6 Bass POD xt Live

The Line 6 Bass POD xt Live is a bass amp modeling and effects floor unit: a pedalboard-sized processor that recreates the sound of bass amplifiers and cabinets and adds effects, all controlled with your feet during a gig. It carries 28 amp models that Line 6 describes as "Legendary and Classic Bass Amp Models", covering vintage tube heads, solid-state combos and Line 6's own designs¹. It stores 64 channel memories, so complete amp, cabinet and effect setups can be saved and recalled¹.

The controls and footswitches

The Bass POD xt Live is built to be played live rather than edited from a desk. Its control surface combines knobs with footswitches and a pedal, so a player can change sounds without bending down mid-song. Line 6 gives it dedicated stompbox on/off footswitches¹, a tap tempo/tuner switch¹, and a combination wah/volume/tweak pedal¹. An RJ-45 foot controller connector on the Bass POD xt² and the POD xt⁴ allows an external controller to be attached.

• Dedicated stompbox on/off footswitches, for switching effects in and out the way individual pedals would be¹
• A combination volume, expression and wah pedal, built into the unit's right side, assignable to volume, wah or other parameters¹
• An input for an additional expression pedal, so a second pedal can be added for more simultaneous control¹
• 64 channel memories, each holding a full setup that can be recalled from the floor¹

The guitar version of the same hardware, the POD xt Live, follows the same layout: dedicated stompbox on/off switches, a tap tempo and tuner switch, and a combination wah, volume and tweak pedal³. The tap tempo and tuner switch on that unit shows the family's approach of folding utility functions into footswitches rather than separate buttons.

The amp models

The 28 amp models span tube and solid-state designs from most of the major bass amplifier makers, plus several Line 6 originals and a bypass option¹.

The range runs from the Ampeg B-15A flip-top combo and the SVT head, through the Gallien-Krueger 800RB and Eden Traveler WT-300 solid-state designs, to high-wattage rock heads like the Marshall Major and Hiwatt 200 DR¹. The Line 6 originals, such as Sub Dub and Doppelganger, are designs with no single real-world counterpart, and the bypass models let a player route around the amp modeling entirely¹.

The rack-mounted Bass POD xt covers the same modeling territory in a studio format, and its amp model list includes the Acoustic 360 among its models, with six more beyond those its page names².

Inputs, outputs and MIDI

The rear of the unit carries the connections for a full live or studio rig¹.

• Bass input for the instrument
• Aux input for CD/MP3 players, drum machines and similar sources, useful for practicing along to backing material¹
• Discrete outputs for modeled and direct sound, so the processed amp-modeled signal and a direct signal can be sent to separate destinations, for example to a stage amp and to the front of house desk¹
• Input for an additional expression pedal¹
• Full MIDI support¹

The discrete modeled and direct outputs are the feature a working bass player would notice most: the modeled sound can feed an amp or the PA while a clean direct feed goes to the desk, or the two can be blended later. The related Bass POD xt rack unit makes the same idea explicit with what Line 6 calls "Discrete Processed & DI Outputs", along with +4dBu / -10dBV balanced 1/4-inch outputs, a USB connector for digital I/O, and MIDI In and Out/Thru². The guitar POD xt Live adds stereo 1/4-inch analog amp/line outs to the same connection set³.

For players wiring a modern rig, the full MIDI support means the unit can sit in a MIDI pedals setup, receiving program changes from a controller or sending them to other gear¹³.

Where it sits in the Line 6 family

The Bass POD xt Live is the bass-specific, floor-based member of a four-unit family, all now discontinued¹²³⁴:

The guitar POD xt Live shares the footswitch layout, the aux input, the expression pedal input and the full MIDI support of the bass version, with 24 cabinet and 4 microphone models of its own³. Line 6's later floor processors, such as the Line 6 Helix Guitar Processor, carry the same idea of a footswitch-driven modeling floor unit forward with newer hardware.

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