I am just wondering if you own both of these why you think anyone else is better equipped to answer how to best achieve the sound you are looking for than you.

Because I am completely new to the recording field and I was wondering if I was doing somethings wrong. When I record with my pod the raw unmixed audio for some reason doesn't sound as good as when a friend of mine does it using basically the same equipment. The same goes for Guitar Rig. Obviously this is because I am not using either to their full potential, I was hoping that somebody with more expertise in the subject would be able to give me some insight into which one is more versatile and suited for the task when used to their full potential. I was also wondering if anybody had an opinion on other products of a similar price range that are better for the task.

Hey Welcome to RO. I wasn't trying to be snide before, it is almost impossible to instruct an artist on getting his or her sound. If you are able to get the sound you are looking for but having trouble capturing that in a recording thats different. I have only toyed with Guitar rig a few times and very briefly, I have played around with Line 6 stuff and found that for ME it was more intuitive, but was never completely satisfied with the sound I got from either. I definitely prefer an amp and trying to record it, though that can be trying as well. I do know a couple of guys who are very good at dialing in a modeled sound which is an art in itself. You may find some other program easier or better for you but either of the two programs as you noted can produce very good results. Your best route maybe to pick your friends brain re: how he is setting up the models, after that the other major consideration is proper gain settings while recording. Remember the tried and true adage garbage in = garbage out. In other words you have to get it sounding awesome before pushing the record button.

Have your friend record you and have him show you his settings.

Remember that your guitar is part of the equation as well. I have always been big on taking a DI of my guitar signal straight to disc until recently when I became more involved with mic recording. In the past few months I have done quite a fair amount of guitar modding. I swapped out the pickups for aftermarket ones and swapped out my stock electronics for upgrade parts. Well I took a DI to compare my guitar's raw tone to the tone it had before and WOW what a difference. There is no trickery in taking a raw DI, if that's what your guitar sounds like DI'd, then that's what your pod is hearing. Not saying you should spend $200 on guitar mods like I did, but you should definitely look into it.

Guitarfreak wrote: Remember that your guitar is part of the equation as well.

Good point, I gave up on the pod when I was still running a squire through it, but i've now gota fender with some badass EMGs on it, and i've not even tried it through the pod yet, but through Guitar Rig there is a marked improvement.

Thanks to everybody for all their comments and advice