^The PODs can sound very amazing when recorded direct.
I've been recording using my Behringer V-Amp 2 and to my ears it has a more spongy feel than the POD 2.0 and just in general a more tube amp like feel. The POD XT still beats my V-Amp, but considering the V-Amp 2 goes for half the price of a POD 2.0 (or in my case since I got a discount, less than half the price), the V-Amp 2 is a great deal indeed.
Also of note, is that I have used a Roland Cube 30 to direct record, and it sounded good. Once you double track the rhythm guitar parts (if you were doing metal like I was anyway) with the Cube, the results can sound actually really great and with a high recording sampling rate/bit rate, you can get it to sound pretty professional actually