GrumpyRocker

Line 6 has announced a forthcoming update to the POD HD range of guitar modelling systems. The update adds a new Marshall guitar model and finally adds bass and vocal amp support.

Other features include enhanced functionality for use with Variax modelling guitars.

At this rate Line 6 might actually have a finished product deserving of release a couple of years after the POD HD was actually released.

Click through for the full POD HD firmware 2.0 press release.

Harry reviews the new high-gain guitar amplifier from Laney. But is the Ironheart a one-trick metal pony, or much more than that?

Find out after the jump.

Budget guitar pickup company Irongear has added an active pickup to its range - the Volt humbucker. Previously the company's excellent range of pickups were all regular passive pickups.

So then, the City Link has just arrived with my new amp. I've taken a punt on a Laney Ironheart. There was nowhere to try one around here and so I thought I'd take advantage of being able to try one at home for seven days thanks to online sales blah blah.

In my review of the Peavey Vypyr 75 I pointed out that to get the full functionality of the amplifier you would need one of the two Sanpera pedals. The larger and more feature rich version - the Sanpera II - is the feature of this review.

The pedal board is housed in a sturdy metal chassis that feels like it could cope with some hard gigging. The two expression pedals also feel tough and all the foot switches are solid. It certainly seems a sturdier system than one might imagine at this pricepoint and the build belies the slight silliness of the design.

While the Vypyr allows you to store and recall 12 presets, adding the Sanpera II opens that up to 400 presets. The Sanpera also opens up the functionality of the looper and gies you pedal control over volume, pitch shift and wah.

The looper functionality is somewhat disappointing but Peavey has promised to address this in the next firmware update for the amp. The problem is that the loop always play back too loud, even almost muting it via the volume pedal while recording is not ideal. This isn't an actual problem with the Sanpera II though, and the pedal controls for recording/play and stop/reset work perfectly well.

So to do the other pedals which allow you to change the delay tap tempo, move memory banks up and down, and choose from one to four presets in each bank. Pushing forward on the volume pedal allows you to enter tuner mode. The other pedal is initially inactive but pressing down on it enables the wah, or pitch shifter if that's what you've selected via the amp effects section.

Modelling amplifiers are becoming an increasingly common option at the less expensive end of the guitar amplification market. Previously if you wanted to emulate more expensive amps you would have to buy some kind of effects unit and footpedal that you would connect to your amplifier.

Now companies such as Line6 with its Spider amps and Peavey with the Vypyr series are offering all in one solutions that aim to provide guitarists on a budget with a selection of tones they could only previously dream of.

The Peavey Vypyr 75 combo modelling guitar amplifier is an interesting beast. Though it does not feature vacuum tubes it is not a wholly digital device, distortion sounds are created in an analog fashion via Peavey's transtube solid state technology. The practical upshot being that the distortion and overdrive on offer sounds much more warm and natural than many rival digital-only offerings.