After owning my Line 6 Bass POD for a week (and being thoroughly in love with it), I experienced a strange problem.
That day, instead of using the presets, I decided to use the manual mode and just play different combinations of amps and effects to see what interesting tones I could discover. No problems there. I played for a couple of hours then shut it off. Later that same day, I came back to continue. I switched my POD on and the display spelled out the letters “baSSPod” (as usual) then… nothing! Black display. None of the buttons would light or function. No sound was going through the unit.
In a panic, I called the music store to ask what to do. Naturally, they said to bring it in for repair. They couldn’t exchange it because I’ve already sent in the warranty. However, I’m moving across the country in a week and couldn’t really wait for repairs!
Out of desperation, I decided to try a memory wipe (holding the preset up/down keys while switching the power on). It worked. I played with the POD presets for a minute, then shut it off and back on. It still worked. I tried using the manual mode, shut it down, and then on again. No problems… just that amazing variety of tones. It’s worked fine ever since! I was at a loss to understand what had happened or why a memory clear fixed it. I’d done NO tone editing or saving with this unit. So, for a speedy answer, I wrote to a Line 6 Bass POD Beta Tester I’d met recently.
It turns out I’d stumbled on the one known bug for Bass POD. It’s a weird one, which is why nobody caught it during beta testing. If you shut off the unit with a patch in memory that uses the analog chorus, the Bass POD will hang on reboot, and a memory reset (described above, and in your manual) is the only fix. For temporary prevention, try not to turn the POD off with analog chorus loaded. The permanent solution is to email [email protected] with your name, address, and Bass POD serial number to get a new EPROM. Make the subject line “Bass POD EPROM”, and it will get immediate attention.
I don’t want this article to make anyone question the POD or Line 6. I am still thoroughly impressed with the quality of my unit, and their quick response to my email makes me appreciate their customer support, too.
It boils down to this: the POD uses software to achieve its stellar sound, and with any software there’s always a possibility of minor bugs. If you know your unit is one of those affected, write to Line 6. If you’re not sure and want to test your POD, try the tone combination above (in manual mode). But please don’t bury Line 6’s mailbox with requests if your unit is functioning normally. You know, Microsoft could learn a thing or two from Line 6 about writing great (almost) bug-free software.
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