For Metal.

From the videos and clips on their websites, i'm leaning towards the GT-8 the most, it seems to be versatile whilst not being too overloaded with useless features.

The Pod XT has the whole downloading-effects thing going for it, but I can't see myself using that much, i prefer to dial in my own sound.

The Tonelab has the tube, which should technically produce a nicer sound, but the sound clips don't do much for me.

The tube in the Tonelab is a cheap one. If you replace it with a better one, the sound will (naturally) be much better.

(according to Shintock)

according to everyone who has upgraded their tube

I love my Tonelab, and since I swapped my tube for a GT, I got rid of the flubby low-end and the grainy hi-end on my hi-gain patches. Damn Chinese garbage.

For metal, I believe the XT Live probably would give you more of what you're looking for. The Recto model on the Tonelab is ok at best (the only thing that bugs me about it), so I'm sure you'd prefer the XT Live in that aspect. But the Marshall and Soldano models on the Tonelab absolutely kick ***. I LOVE the JCM2000 pushed with a distortion box.

However, I've only had experience with the TL desktop box. The SE has some additional distortion boxes modelled. In my experience, the punchiest (both with modellers and with real amps) distortion usually comes from a medium-gain amp pushed by a good pedal. Sometimes I'll even drive my Tonelab with my Zack Wylde OD pedal.

Here's a clip I just slapped together JUST FOR YOU CAUSE I LOVE YOU, using the Fender Bassman with the acoustic simulator to get Pettruci's "hybrid" piezo+electric sound, and then the distorted guitars (badly doubled) are Marshall and Boogie.

Also, you might check out this thread on the Harmony-Central forums, MrMunky put out some awesome sound clips. The ones on Vox's site are terrible. There's also the Yahoo Tonelab group with some sound samples as well.

Looking at the actual units though, the XT seems to have a menu system which I want to avoid, whereas the GT relies more on dials (which is better for hands-on adjustments). Line 6 stuff can sound really good but relies heavily on a computer to do it, and i'd prefer to avoid that if the benefit over the (quite sexy) GT-8 is minimal.

I never tried the GT-8, but based on my experience with my Bass POD XT (same "OS" as the PodXT and the XT Live), the menus aren't that great. You're always in the menus for any fine tuning. All the basic stuff (EQ, gain, volume, amp model) is available with dials/buttons instead of through the menus. In the menus, you'll find the stompboxes, cabinets and effects - all the stuff you tweak the most.

On the Tonelab, everything is hands-on. There are no menus for patch editting.

Are you planning on using a modeller for recording, for live use or just for practicing?

all of the above.

Tonelab or POD. The GT-8 just doesn't sound as good. The Tonelab seems to sound better than the POD but the POD is pretty good too.

Do you need the effects, or just the basic tones?

If you're going to plunk down that much cash on a GT-8, you might want to check out the Mesa-Boogie Recto recording preamp. All tube, with analog speaker emulation. It comes with a footswitch, so you can just plug it direct and play live, and works great for recording. You all also pair it with Mesa's 2:100 power amp and a cab, and you get a Dual Rectififer stack. I know you can get them for $900 here in Canada, same price as the GT-8.

Or you might want to check out the Tech21 Sansamp PSA preamp. Great sounds, solid-state (no digital). You'd have to buy a MIDI-controller for patch-changing, though.

Basically, i'm going to buy a new guitar fairly soon, it will be expensive and have decent pickups.

I'm also going to buy a new amp (currently got a crappy solid state marshall), nothing particularly expensive though.

I'm more keen on having a versatile range of distortion, overdrive, compression, noise reduction, chorus, delay etc effects rather than having lots of fancy amp modelling. I don't want to sound like other guitarists I just want to sound good. The GT-8 has a nice dynamic channel-switching feature (based on picking attack) which i'm not sure the other multifx floor units have.

Also, it's going to be tricky to get hold of anything less well-known unless I get lucky on ebay or something.

If you're going more for the stompboxes and effects, then the GT-8 is probably your best bet. I've heard nothing but great things about the effects on the GT-8, especially about the flexibility when it comes to routing. You might also want to check out the Boss ME-50, which does the dirt boxes and effects without the amp modelling, but seems less flexible.

Did you check out the NAMM video for the GT-8? That dynamic amp-changing feature is pretty cool. I especially liked the dual-amp feature.

Oh, BTW, with the Tonelab, there's no way to bypass the amp modelling, so if you're planning on using it just for the stompboxes and effects, you're SOL.

Wow, I just noticed the GT-8 can switch the channels on your amp. In-****ing-credible. I want one now.

Anyone want to buy my Tonelab and some assorted stomp boxes? :p