POD Lovers...

[Strat O'Caster]

Everyone on here just LOVES Line6. I own a Flextone II. Being a computer professional I thought that it would be the coolest thing ever. Unforunately, Line6 stuff is great for people who dont know what good tone sounds like! Technically its really cool, but nothing is going to give you that fat rich tube tone other than a tube! The models are decent, but for any real tone conisseur they comeup way short.

I am trying to sell my 6 month old Flextone II with Floorboard Controller and the FB4 Controller. Interested - email adam@christensontrans.com

Let the Flames Begin!

[Snowdog]

Well, actually I am going to agree on one thing. The Flextone amps aren't all that IMHO. I really don't blame you for selling yours. I do love my Pod however! And, making a blanket statement about Line 6 owners not knowing good tone simply shows us you aren't as bright as YOU would like to think. Not a flame,,,just the simple truth.

[Aaron Cheney]

I've said it before, I'll say it again... PODs are great when you think of them this way:
There is no doubt that you can tell the difference between a POD and a Marshall Plexi, or Fender Black Face, or whatever. NO DOUBT. That is not what the POD is for.
The real test is: can you tell the difference between a POD recorded to tape and placed in a mix, and a Marshall, or Fender, or whatever. I submit to you that you cannot.
Take a piano for another example. 99.9% of all pop piano recorded today are from a synth of some sort. But does a synth through a P.A. sound as good as a full size grand? No way. Can you tell the difference between a full size grand on tape and a synth piano on tape in a mix. No. The synth is good enough.
A POD is good enough.
Plus, it's cheap, it's small and light, it's consistant, and I don't have to spend and hour fiddling w/ mic's to find the sweet spot, and another hour retracking because the neighbor's dog was barking.
It will never replace a great amp. But it certainly has a place in my studio.
As for Line6 as a whole, one good product does not a good company make. I don't have a lot of experience w/ their amps, but I have heard very mixed reviews.
So I guess I both agree and disagree, and that's what makes life interesting.
Aaron
http://www.aaroncheney.com

[Mountaineer]

Line6 stuff is great for people who dont know what good tone sounds like! Technically its really cool, but for any real tone conisseur they comeup way short.

Sounds to me like you are pretty stupid to shell out $1,000 for tone you don't like . . . or did you buy it without listening first? Either way, you're stupid! This earns you a one way trip to the pig pen! Have a blast!

[robert jaybird]

I am not a fan of modeling amps.I have an ampeg vl 1200.Its the one designed by lee jackson and I bought it for $299. I tell ya, my ampeg blows it all away for the most part. I also own a pod, and at first I hated it. Then I tweaked and recorded with it. What I finally realised is that I could get a better tone with the pod then I hear on just about any album in the classic rock repetoire.

If you experiment with it combining it with different combos of pre's, e.q's and compression it can be awe inspiring. The thing is its this great technology that is giving me every sound in the classic rock repetoire(give or take a few).Its meat and potatoes. The yamaha dg on the otherhand comes with thosen spectacular 3 dimensional sounds that you may not hear every day, It sounds cooler, but its not as flexable. Lots of people swear by sans amps stuff also. And rocktrons stuff is used by some great players, Im dying to give their stuff a testdrive

So i have one tool with my pod.Soon Ill have another one with a yamaha dg. Also my ampeg fuckin rocks, I got a hot rodded marshall by lee jackson for $299. Its just beautiful, the cleans the dirt, the smothness. But its gotta be loud to get that otherwise forget it.

I think when your doing intensive arrangements where everything is layered and meticulously placed that the pod is it. But there are things I can do abusing my tubes in obscene(or tasteful) ways that I couldnt with any modeler because when I play I employ technique wich can push a pod to the point that it can either give its self away or not. If I play like I do a tube amp its a no go, but if I play it like a pod it will fool you and this is why I like both.

It wont fool me though, I can smell one of those fuckers from a mile away. Of course if somebody takes the time to get unique tones it would fool me as well.Still I hear lots of professional and amature stuff that SCREAMS pod.

with a tube amp the tools you use in your set up down to each component are in your control.with pod you have all these options that someone else selected but its more controlled and consistant because theres no tubes to get you pulling out your hair over.

I dont care about accurate models, just cool tones.

My next thing may be a cabinet simulator/filter that exepts my heads load. then I can use my amp direct like a pod.Palmers stuff does that

Also i bet if you ran a pod through a budda slavemaster direct that would also enhanse it. I think the pod by itself is just ok, but when you use these tools to enhanse it THEN it becomes this magical thing.

And to finish my long winded meanderings some of the pods models I can easily Identify on recordings. Far fewer people use the yamaha dg, so that could add something unique.

This is like synth modules. Its best to use more than one for different sound qualities and to doctor them up in different ways.Same with the pod.When someone does all their sounds with the pod it sounds neat and tidy and like its a pod, not a tube amp and not very interesting either.mix and match

Godamn Im long winded today...
Must be the weather.

[Stan Williams]

I've been playing guitar for a long time and i know all about the feel of a tube amp. I've even owned a lot of the amps that are on the pod, but, it still has a place in recording. If you can't come up with a good tone with the pod, then it's the playing, not the pod. Another thing is that not all of those amps on the pod are great sounding amps even if you have the original, which may explain why i hated the modeled version and the original.

Somedays your the windshield, somedays the bug !

[Wide Awake]

I think it is rediculus to say that a Pod doesn't sound exactly like or play like a tube amp....everybody already knows that. However, the Pod is about $300 and I can't name one tube amp that I would buy for less than 500 to 1000 dollars US. I like the sound of the Pod on recordings but I would not buy a modeling amp for live playing. They just still have a digital quality about them. It might be because I have been playing guitar for 25 years and I grew up with sound of Fender and Marshall tube amps and that is what my ears have indentified as "good".

Everybody likes different guitar sounds. I'm a blues and jazz fusion player, and the sounds I look for in an amp or direct device are much different than someone who plays metal or heavy rock or country.

These things are a lot like synths. You might buy one that has two or three really good, useable sounds and the rest are mediocre sounds that you will never use. You may have to own more than one to get real variety. The same way most guitarists own many amps, solid state and tube.

Good article on these things in Guitar Player this month. I love that they recommended putting an overdrive or distortion pedal in front of a really clean sound or just the speaker simulator. If you buy the right overdrive pedal you can get a lot more out of these devices. Buying the right pedal is tough. They all sound different depending on the pick-ups and amp. simulator you are using.

[BlueTurban]

To all POD users.

What is the best possible "DIRECT" amp in the market?
I don't care about playing live , I have plenty of gear for that.

I have a full blown PC based studio with Cakewalk Pro Suite , Gigasampler and a MidiMan 1010 interface.

I have looked into POD2.0 and POD Pro. Does anyone know what advantage the POD Pro has , other than the SPDIF out?

Thanks in advance.

[GT]

Srat,

Also don't forget that your Flextone has a completely different set of speakers than what most of we Pod owners are running through.

After running a Pod through a good set of stereo speakers, I can't even imagine running it through guitar speakers.

Bottom line, speakers are a big factor when determining what something sounds like.

Try running your flextone line out to a good set of stereo speakers, then get back to us.

This is the main reason the pod is so good, is it is meant for HIFI, stereo recording, more than as an amp.

[Aquanaut]

i also run my guitar through the Tube Preamp setting, and then run left and right to my two amps. then i can use the eq and all that...all turn up the drive for a slightly overdriven sound.

>>>michael

[Aquanaut]

first i run my guitar through my effects, then to the pod, then to the amps. it works well live.

>>>michael

Stereo speakers!!

God, the one true instrument of Rock n Roll is being reduces to this. UHG!

[GT]

Chris N,

I said good stereo speakers, they are few and far between.

What I meant is that Pod was made for recording, and it does that well (direct in).

When you play back a recording it is usually through stereo speakers.

[guhlenn]

hey GT,

i don't know shit about the pod's and never will, but here's just an observation; if you have to record and playback to get a good sound then the pod is ment for engineers and not guitar players. IMHO

greetz guhlenn

[Wide Awake]

guhlenn-

You don't have to play back to get a good sound. If you are using monitors then what are hearing when you record is what you hear on playback. Assuming your levels were set properly, are using a good recorder, and your guitar isn't a piece of junk.

But you already knew that.

[guhlenn]

yes i did and it doesn't add anything to the argument that engineers might love it, but it seems not to be so great for the guitar player.

and BTW; playback doesn't say anything 'bout the time interval between recording and playback. Hence it doesn't matter if you play it back immediatly via your monitors or later on your home system, does it? It just seems a hassle to get a good tone and me being a guitarplayer i can tell ya most like to plug and play (to keep it in computer terms)
(i think Chris N knows what i mean)

greetz guhlenn

[Wide Awake]

guhlenn-

If you mean that it doesn't make sense to use a Pod in a live situation then I'm in agreement. I usually plug right into a tube amp with only one analog pedal. I think Pods are good for home recording and songwriting but seem like a lot of work to use live. It works for some people though.

I'm not an engineer, far from it. I've been playing professionally for 24 years as a teacher and in many rock groups. I'm in a jazz/fusion group that plays once a week.

[guhlenn]

that's what i mean , sort of anyway. These simulators are made to sound like other amps and IMHO that's their biggest mistake. If it would give a unique sound (which it should be possible) it would be far more interresting then modeling some amp which never is perfect. I heard some new fear factory with the line 6 stuff and well... i hate to say it but i wish they didn't steal his modded jcm 800. Digital always sounds fake to me... or overproduced, don't know how to put it but i guess you got the idea by now...

greetz guhlenn

Among other things, it's like putting the cart before the horse. Music is not meant to made in a vacuum. First you produce a sound that can be reproduced again and again in an open air setting, then if it's good you try to record it for permanent record. Believe me I'm not a "no effects, keep it pure" kind of guy. I like toys. I've messed with these things a lot and waisted so much time, saying to myself "I'll never be able to produce this adequately live" and wondering if I should be spending more time using a good amp, quality reverb and delay, and start playing music. This is what I did and I am much happier for it. My sound cuts through live, it doesn't get lost in a sea of digital distortion and effects. I will agree for a direct in recording situation they can work, But I always missed the fact that a electric guitar is meant to be plugged in and fill a huge room with awesome sound. That in itself is inspirational. So much today has the ear candy appeal, which for me quickly fades with age and experience.

[guhlenn]

that could have been my words, except that i've sworn not to use a digital effector of any kind anymore. (only my spring reverb in very small doses actually...)

greetz guhlenn

[WWillis]

If you choose to limit yourself that's fine, but understand there is a place for effects. Maybe not in your music, but that's your choice. The "purity" argument is kind of silly, I'd argue then that to be pure there is no room for electricity and amplified sound, since it colors the tone of the instrument being played. How ridiculous does that sound? The great thing about music is that it is whatever you make of it, and whatever inspires you. Live performance is an entirely different animal than the studio, where the only "rules" are defined by your imagination and technical limitations. To follow your logic guhlenn, you'd be against overdubbing and a lot of the techniques bands/artists use to get flexible, easy to manipulate mixes.

There is no right or wrong way ... guitar playing wasn't "meant" to be anything other than a tool for an artist to create with, whether that is through a Marshall stack dialed up to 11, or a direct box patched into a P.A. system, or listened to through a cheesy effects processor, or whatever. I don't like a lot of the music out on the market, but you know what? Obviously someone else does because it sells. I just listen to what I like and don't worry about the rest.

[guhlenn]

i wasn't starting a riot here!

You didn't hear me say " Noone should use digital effects anymore"

i don't care, do what you like. I just think your tone will suck when using Zoom or whatever crap is outhere... but knock yourself out, go ahead.

Why do people always get offended when i say that I (notice the I ; that means i'm talking bout me...*sigh*) don't like the sound digital effects give me? I use (well analog but n-i-way) distortion like hell. i even use reverb as stated previously.

And if you did follow my logic you wouldn't have posted cause i stated it (the pod) seemed more for an engineer then a guitarplayer. This means that in the studio the pod might be fine, it just doesn't seem to fit in a live situation (which i'm usually in). It also DIDN'T rule out the possibility of some liking the thing for live situations.

So WTF are you saying? it seems that you need to justify the fact that you do use effects... well you don't. Keep the purist argument it is total crap i never said i am or wanted to be a purist.

Always the same thing when i post something about not liking effects; some ignorant fool gives me the "you use distortion too" argument. Read my f*cking post better...

Guhlenn

[robert jaybird]

WOW!!
Guhlenn, on the neophyte scale between 1 and 10 you get an 8 1/2. First of all lots of people use the pod live. Secondly becasue its used in the studio doesnt mean its just for engineers. As a guitarist I want good tones as much as anybody. In fact my philosophy towards tone is "by any means necessary".

By this view of mine I take tools like the pod and my amp and experiment till I get what I want. What ive found is that in an Ideal situation where you have a good room and a gem of and amp, the amp is still the way to go. The fact is most dont have the big room, and while we all think our amps are the best, when you lay it onto the h.d. and actually listen it falls short. So, a solution thats been devised is DIRECT RECORDING wich takes the idyosyncracies of all these shifting variables out of the equasion. What this means is that with some of these tools, the pod not necessarily being the best, used properly you will actually get better results.

The idea of devices for direct recording goes back way before the pod, and is not some plot by engineers, as guitarists willingly use it if they end up with a better sound. 8 out of ten guitarists set ups come up short in the studio, so then the choice is A: stick with the flawed idea that all the tones you love are from miced amps and end up with crappy tone, or b: EXPERIMENT until you get something that sounds good to your tastes.

In my experimentation I have found it best to not rely on one technique solely. And when I do use the pod I dont just plug straight in, I mess with it combining other equipment.Another tool wich ive said a zillion times already is a speasker simulator that lets you use your amp diorect. I use any tool that will work. Imho, when the pod is used intelligently its a godsend.Still, up against my amp it isnt quite there yet.

If you dont like the pod theres SO much other stuff out there that sounds great for direct recording. the sans amp ps-1, yamaha dg, mesa boogie forula pre amp, hughs and kettner tubeman, palmer speaker simulator/power attenuaters etc etc etc. Those combined with different eq's compression, mics, pre amps, efx etc etc and of course amps help. It can be as simple or as complex as you want it to be.

[guhlenn]

what's a neophyte? a dutch hardcore gabber band was called that way ....


Ok now for the last time: i do not disapprove of whatever equipment your using.

i like my amps sound most.

why do you think of me as being against all forms of guitar playing and or recording except the tradional miced amp way????? this is not true by a long shot.

i don't get it... do i HAVE TO experiment with amps effects di's and speaker simulators???

is it impossible for me to just like my JCM2000 cranked and a sm57 in front of it? do i have to buy a POD? and believe me i tried more equipment then you think. from DI's to effects and recording preamps, attenuators and more...

is it so unbelieveable that i like my amp dry the most?

seeing most reactions it is...

ah well, greetz guhlenn

and BTW: my setup gives me good tone in a recording situation, at least to my taste. Wasn't that the fact why i bought my amp? to get the tone i want? OH yeah, that's right...

[virtual.ray]

I just got a Digitech RP200 for $130 and I think it sounds damn good.I mention this 'cause it's got a pedal on it so you don't have to spend any more money to use it live,unlike some other products...