I remember my main (and longest) gigging band and how we went thru gear phases......went from playing tiny peavey practice amps to solid state combos, to pods, to tube heads, to axe fx, and much more in between. With each change, the band itself changed.....everything from how we wrote and played songs, to how we set up tones, and I remember everytime we made major gear changes (2 guitars and bass, and we almost ALWAYS changed gear at the same time) we'd all be like...'uh....ok this is......different'. I think the biggest change was when we made the jump from solid state amps and modellers to tube amps many years ago.....I still remember those first few practices......all of a sudden things were clear as day, and we were all prominent in the mix, which sounded MUCH less muddy and mushy, and we started sounding professional.
The problem was, that we sounded DIFFERENT.....VERY different. The tones that we were used to hearing were gone, and we had trouble finding back the 'sweet spots' in the mix. I suspect that this case is not much different. They're gonna have to step up their game now, cuz there's no turning back after you go axe
Tell 'em lose the PODs, that's 1/2 the problem right there!!! Someone suggested tech 21 stuff, and I TOTALLY agree - I use some tech 21 stuff when I can't lug around heavy tube amps or axe fx, and they're cheap and can fit in your pocket. Sound WAAAAAY better than PODs, and are all analog, and sound fantastic...and they won't have to save up much, they can sell the pods and get enough money to get a tech 21 character series pedal.
