When the Line 6 Pod came out back in the 90s, it revolutionized the way guitarists created bad tone. But the convenience of not having to carry around heavy amps or mounds of guitar pedals and “mimic” just about any guitar sound you wanted outweighed the obvious sound disadvantages to the real thing.

Technology has come a long way since then and some pretty big software companies have made some pretty good software that do a pretty decent job of replicating good guitar tone as plugins for recording software like ProTools and Logic. Until now, there haven’t been many options to effectively use those plugins via your computer in a live concert setting. Amplitube is hoping to change all that with their new integrated pedalboard. I’ll have to try it out and give it a good listen to see if it is all it is cracked up to be, but it is a promising alternative for those still wishing they didn’t have to lug around an amp and pedals.