POD !

[Stiglar]

ok i thought i'd make a new subject for this since you guys are all so in love with this thing hehe

i've never used one but after hearing some of the tones you guys are cranking out of it i think i have to check them out ...

i have a couple of questions though ....

are they good for the gig type situation ? .. or are they used more for home studio kinda sounds and emulations ?

how does this usb computer thing work .. do you download patches off the net ?

oh yeah feel free to use this thread to lavish more praise onto the POD hehe

i'm afraid i'm completely clueless when it comes to effects etc since my effects consist of a chorus and a wah hehe

so any extra little info about versatility would be relaly helpful thanks guys

[wahwah]

I didn't buy it for live work mate but I'd be prepared to take it to a gig and try it. In fact I'm doing a sort of rock guitar thing soon, just me backing tracks and a PA-playing some classic rock and I would definitley use it for that as it'll give me Angus, Eric Clapton, Michael Schenker, Eddie, SRV etc. I know Rols is very critical of them for live but I suppose you have to try it yourself. It comes supplied with 32 different amp simulations plus speaker sims and LOTs of effects. These include sims of the MXR flanger and Phase 90 (which I use live in my Modualtion Modeller anyway).

To REALLY control the POD, I'd say you eventually need the floorboard which is like a Pete Cornish style all in one. It has wah, volume, saves 36 patches, tuner, noise gate etc. This makes the POD easier to control by foot rather than hand. You can download patches either into the POD or to a folder for later use. They are on the site at www.line6.com I've had it a month now and I have done 9 covers-the latest one AC/DC which is a real difficult one to get as he uses a 45 watt Marshall from the 60's in the studio. I reckon I nailed it-you tell me? I've done a track with J-Mart and that has him with his Roccaforte and me with the POD-they both sound good. I don't do this purist bullshit-we all have different ears and what sounds good to one person can sound not so good to another.

I got it for versatility and ease of recording...it took me 2 hours to find a tone, get a level and record 'Back in Black' today. No-one complained because I did it all with my headphones on. Hope this helps.

[CanyonCarver]

Good deal,

The POD is great for recording at home and practicing with headphones. It can also be plugged to a house system at a gig or a PA system and will give you the sounds you need.

I have an older POD than wahwah and Mondola, theirs have more features and intricate options, plus incredible presets you have just heard... I use mine to play over backing tracks all the time, running it through the PC while playing the songs with iTunes.

This gets me thinking about upgrading to the POD XT right now. We'll see about the finances though...

You can also step up and buy a Vetta amplifier, which contains all the POD features in the package of a 2x12, 100 watt amp. The Vetta is also available as a head that you can mate with 4x12 cabs from Line6 that are voiced to reproduce the tones as accurately as possible.

The Line6 Web site has all the info you need and links to download areas where you can get new sound patches, exchange with other people...


You can also tweak the POD settings from your computer with a software Line6 provides.

As wahwah put it, it's all the fun you can get without taking your clothes off.

[Stiglar]

thanks heaps man

i gotta admit your tones sound amazing in your latest recordings you've pumped out ...

it doesn't look like the kinda thing i'd wanna be fiddling with at a gig or osmething .. .and i tend to use one sound only 90% of the time .. so in that respect it may not be for me .. but god damn .. i'd love to rip some of those tones out one day! .. it's a tough case !

[wahwah]

Well, you do the fiddling at home and save it to a memory...then you don't have to worry 'bout fiddlin' with anything but the sweet honeys that show up! [img]images/smilies/afro.gif[/img]

[wahwah]

final word on it Stig...I'm hopeless with technology-I hate faffing about for ages and fucking leads everywhere. So far, I swear I haven't spent more than 2-3 minutes mucking about with one of the patches.I don't have the time or patience-I just wanna record something and move on to the next thing! I don't try and sell these to people-Line6 can do that. I'm sure all the other units do similar or better things. Thing is, I had a Flextone combo and it never let me down. I sold it to get 5150 stuff and I'm ALWAYS fucking about with it trying to reduce the noise levels that occur when I'm not playing. The flextone COULDN'T do the Edward sound but how many of you are actually gonna go and play 21 VH songs every week on a decent sized stage??? It's VERSATILE and thats why I got it. [img]images/smilies/music487.gif[/img]

[rolsguitars]

don't get me wrong, I used the first run POD for a very long time live if you will, I mean I didn't play out but in my Music room I had it hooked up in stereo to 2 120 watt 5150 heads into 2 4x12 cabs, it ran thru a HUSH IIC and a DOD 15 band stereo EQ, it had great tones in it and I would have used it onstage ( I had the floorboard too) but it had it's shortcomings like no stereo dtune feature (ala eventide) etc. and I wanted something rackmount so I ended up with the Oberheim GM 1000.
When I got the PODXT it had (to me) one good sound in it and that was the Eruption preset, the other presets live thru my rig did not sound anywhere near as good as the old POD did they were lifless and mechanical sounding again to my ears. That's just my opnion if I had one I'd rather have the old one, and I know I'm not the only one that noticed
the sound change between the 2.
Also I should point out I had a lot of equipment running that old POD, 2 5150 heads, 2 4x12 cabs, Hush IIC , DOD 15band stereo EQ, plus the EQ on the heads and of coarse my custom guitars [img]images/smilies/icon_mrgreen.gif[/img] that's a lot of stuff to make it sound good live, and it *had* to be played in stereo
Rol.

[wahwah]

Haha! Having said 'I'm not trying to sell it', I then spotted my sig! [img]images/smilies/icon_lol.gif[/img]

[El_jalepeno]

I keep reading they aren't really that adaptable in a live setting [img]images/smilies/headscratch.gif[/img] But neither are most of the other amp modelers out there from what I have read. I have a V-Amp, but I wouldn't be conmfortable playing live with it as my primary tone instead of my amp. But that's just me [img]images/smilies/icon_mrgreen.gif[/img]

[ericgtr]

I just made a post at the lin6 forums, I talked to a couple of their reps at NAMM and they mentioned that I should do that. You have to admit, it's perfect for what we do here and we have a million freakin topics on it.

[CanyonCarver]

About the purits point of view, I think no-one will argue that nothing replaces the air-moving capability of a massive, Marshall amp that's ripping at full volume and can turn your guts inside out with its growl and all the harmonies, or a powerfull Mesa Boogie, or an overdriven Fender Bassman playing at the edge of meltdown...
I think what all POD users can agree on is the versatility of this tool and the fact that it allows us to play in different styles without have to actually own 32 rare and expensive vintage amps.
If $450 gets you a new POD with all these great sounds, amps, cabs, effects and mic options, you do the math.

I still dream of owning a Marshall JCM800 some day... [img]images/smilies/icon_thumb.gif[/img]

[wahwah]

Tell you whats wierd CC, we rehearsed on Monday (Unchained) and I'd been playing guitar for about 7 hours thru the POD and when I got to rehearsal I was REALLY disappointed with the 5150 as I couldn't play HALF as good with that sound as I could with the stuff me and J-Mart have been doing. You said about the fact that it makes you feel that you can be on stage with Bon Jovi in front of 80,000 people or in the studio with Mutt Lange...coming back down to earth and having to MAKE my amp sing was a real bummer after having that feeling for most of the day! Me and Julian are gonna get this track sorted in the next few days and it's great because Julian has his modded Marshall and I got the POD and what you hear is two guitarists playing rock...I don't think you question what we're using? I know we're both over the moon with the performance and maybe thats the main thing...like I said before, having captured that near perfect tone, you then gotta DO something with it rather than keep on tweaking it until you lose whatever it was you thought you had in the first place! [img]images/smilies/icon_thumb.gif[/img]

[Mondy]

Well, I can't believe the difference it has made to me.

It's so easy to use. All the presets I have listened to are great already. Plus, I haven't got a clue what I am doing with all the knobs on my amp, and pedals; and it doesn't help that it's an even bigger knob that's tweaking them... [img]images/smilies/icon_mrgreen.gif[/img]

It takes me forever just to get something out of my current gear, by which time I am pretty pissed off, so not in the right frame to do anything.

Once I had got the signal into the computer (not the POD's fault, my lack of Cool Edit knowledge) then I was away.

Jen was asleep next door, and when I've messed around with the guitar before, I've always woken her up because I've had to mic the amp, or when I play it back it annoys her. Then she comes and complains, and it annoys me, and then I'm not in the right frame of mind at all...

But the signal goes straight into the computer via the USB port. So there's no sound. You pop the headphones on though, and you can hear everything. Plus, you don't get any interference from one track coming through on another track, which I used to get before.

I mean, I did 4 recordings last night, and I was buzzing !!!

On top of this, Line6 offer great support. I got my POD XT, but there was no CD-ROM for the drivers. No problem, I went onto the site, and just downloaded it. Hey presto, I'm up and running ASAP... There's flash updates for the thing, and loads of tone settings from Line6 or other users that you can download...

The manual is written in plain english, so it's easy to understand, but the thing is so bloody easy to use anyway. Just look at me. Tone was crap before, get this little gadget, and suddenly I'm in tune, and sound alright. Job done !!!

I just love it, and it's brought back my passion for playing guitar. All the barriers with my gear and setup and environment have been blown away. I was feeling guilty for buying it, but after one night, I already feel it's justified it's purchase.

I have yet to put the Wolfie or the Ibanez through it, but I think they sound much better than the Kramer 1984 reissue I was using last night that seems to just flavour the sound the one way...

I hope to use it to learn what effects are making what sounds for when I do eventually biuy a real amp, because I too dream of a Marshall Stack !!!

[img]images/smilies/rock.gif[/img]

If I had one emoticon to sum it up, it would be :

[img]images/smilies/woot.gif[/img]

[Stiglar]

well it sounds great for home use i just don't know if it would really suit what i need it for which is playing live...

for what we do here though it's perfect . i love the idea that it plugs straight into your computer as well i get sick of having to crank my amp up and having to record some quick ideas on acoustic guitar to avoid waking people up !


i think i might have to just rely on a couple of pedals and my 5150 cranked to 11 in some live gigs! hehe

what would you guys suggest i try out ? past stomp pedals i really know nothing about this kinda stuff and i wouldn't mind learning ! i'd love to get that big fat balance/rhrn vh sound !

[nepenthe]

My friend owns POD 2 , i used it with gary moore les paul and marshall amp and sounds were perfect and in my opinion that would be great for band gigs but if you wanna do something like vai's shows i dont recommend it