So first, some background: I have been playing in churches on the worship teams for the past 5+ years, and I estimate that I probably will continue to do so for a long time. For the uninitiated when it comes to that scene, it's big-time into clean stages: these days they want everyone going direct and everyone using headphone monitoring. Most people use in-ears, but I personally hate those in-ear canalphones, so I usually opt for over-the-ear headphones.

Anyway, the point is that a DI guitar solution is sort of par for the course these days. I have recently been using a Tech 21 Sansamp GT2 and various delays and dirt pedals. However, lately I've been having trouble getting good sounds out of the GT2, so I decided to try out a friend's Pod HD400 last night during a mid-week jam thing at the church.

The result? Wow, what a difference. It made me want to throw away my pedalboard and just get a Pod for everything. So while I may not be getting rid of my pedals immediately, I am seriously contemplating a Pod for live use at church. Now, the question is which one to get. That's where all of you come in.

I know the HD500 is easily the most flexible, but I am wondering about the wisdom of using a menu-heavy modeling unit for live use. For those familiar with the units, would an HD300 or HD400 be a better option? Bear in mind that this would be primarily for live DI use where I'd need a good amount of flexibility in terms of styles, but where I would not necessarily use tons and tons of effects. In other words, it's not really for recording, but more as an amp replacement for one specific application.

I'm leaning toward the HD400 as it has the full slate of effects and dedicated switches for presets, but I'd like to know what all of you think about it.