Line 6: POD Pro

I'm an old school kinda guy, so when a POD Pro found its way into the rack at my studio I just kept laughing at the idea of really using it on electric guitars - and I usually don't. I've only plugged a guitar or bass into it a few times, but I use it a lot. It's the best thing for adding a bit of grit to an already recorded guitar solo, fucking up a vocal sound and/or sending the drums into lo-fi hell. You can even plug cheap Casio keyboards into it for new exciting "synth" sounds. I still haven't really read the manual, so I just run sounds through the XLR connectors on the back and twist the front panel knobs until something sounds right. I guess it's a good tool for people who want big guitar sounds in their apartment, but that's not my situation, so I use it as an effects processor gone mad - and I love it! ($600, www.line6.com)