Line 6 PODxT

J

-Julian

New member
I am condisdering buying a rack pre amp, more so for live gigs, and to record with, and I have been looking at the Line 6 pre-amp model, PODxt pro. Ive read some reveiws on the product but id rather gather information here about it. With any personal experiences with it(recording, live, or just trying it) or if any body has heard anything good or bad about it.
Thank you for any one commenting.

*If anyone is to recomend a diferrent model or pre-amp my bugget is slim, to range around 800 and below
 
Amp Modeling is DEAD

First, I have tried them all and owned two; I bought one of the first POD’s then went on to the ToneLab SE (better then the POD IMHO) then sold it after a year. BECAUSE Nothing I repeat NOTHING sounds as good as a properly miked amp. If you just want to use it in your bedroom with headphones to make all kinds of funny noises, great. But if you are serious about tone please don't waste your time and money on an amp modeler they all suck!
 
I think it depends on what your goals are. For use as a preamp before a an actual power amp and cab, they work great live. I remember seeing Meshuggah at ozzfest playing through PODs straight into the P.A. with no cabs whatsoever, and their guitars sounded a lot better than most of the other bands, granted there was extremely short setup times between bands, so there probably wasn't a great deal of care going into the miking and dialing in of guitar tones at the board. But then again, thats how alot of local gigs are, too.

For recording demos and jotting down ideas late at night theyre awesome too. Of course they dont sound as good as a real amp miked up with care, but you're not always going to want to mike up a loud amp, and the tonal difference may not be that big of a deal if you're doing casual recording. I personally love my PODs. They dont sound as good as a real amp CAN (I emphasize the word "can" because if you dont take your time when miking an amp and/or are unexperienced, the POD will actually sound better), but theyre excellent at what they do.
 
Putting aside the argument about whether any amp modeler can truly produce the sound of the amps they model, I would offer this:

In my opinion, the Pod XT does a very, very good job of modeling those amps with which I am familiar (as real amps). The presets are not perfect but all settings are readliy customizable.

It just depends on what you want to do and what kind of tone flexibility you want. If you plan on using one particular amp all the time - like a vintage Fender or Marshall or whatever - you'd probably be better off just to buy the amp.

But if you want a lot of tonal flexibility and cannot afford to buy, say, 30 amps to cart around all the time, nothing beats a decent amp modeler.

In the end, amps and modelers are just tools, after all. If you can get the sound(s) you want with a Pod, more power to you. If not, as in Double's case, buy an amp.

Disclaimer: I own a Pod XTL, like it, and use it constantly. I recommend it highly .
 
I have a PODxt and I don't like it. The tones are ok, fine for most sounds but they just can't produce the tones I want. Also, I find the PODxt kills the tone and response of my guitars. Just a personal thing, not a flame on those POD lovers out there. I also had a Digitech GNX1 before that which I think did a better job tonewise but now when I'm not using my Triaxis I use a Boss GT-Pro which to my ears is far superior. One thing I'll say for the PODxt is the desktop software is easy to use.
 
Superhuman, one thing that I have noticed is that on one preset - the "Eruption" setting on Bank 2 - the decay is very odd-sounding. This model sounds great when your guitar volume is full up and you keep hitting notes or power chords. But when you back off the the guitar volume the tone and note decay just goes to shit.

Now, that may be a result of the default effects chain, and I haven't had a close look at the compressor/gate/EQ settings. I haven't noticed it on other presets, either.

Anyway, I only use a couple of the presets on the Pod. Most of the time I work with user-defined settings, and I use models of amps with which I am familiar so that I can dial in the tone accurately.

I'd say the biggest inherent disadvantage to a modeler (assuming that you can get a tone you like) is being unable to invoke feedback. I mean, that's really difficult unless you have your monitors cranked like a motherfucker and you are standing on the chair in front of one of 'em. (Don't ask me how I know. :D )
 
I run the POD xt into my direct line-ins in the back of my amps.
Definitely need to create your own tones though or tweak the pre-programmed ones.
A POD xt Pro into a stereo power amp then into 2 cabinets sounds like fun! ;)
 
I have an XT-Live and a Pod pro and love em both. They sit next to a Marshall TSL100 on top of a 4x12. They are different from the Marshall and I'd not part with either !
 
Pod 2.0

I have the earlier POD which has older models and while I was happy with it, it never jumped out in brightness like my old Fender Champ. Pod's sound like an amp after its been mic'd, recorded and compressed a little. I do find that the it does sap tone and sustain. I recently tried Amplitude LE which was more like a dynamic jumpy tube amp and then bought the Native Instruments Combo pack.
$79 for an AC 30 vox , Fender Twin, and Plexi Marshall................these are smoking great sim's that make the POD sound like a lifeless turd. Plus you can
open several channels in a DAW and have an AC 30, Fender and Plexi panned across the stereo field with different gain and tone settings for a fantastic layered studio sound. Very impressive. I just bought a Fender Blues Jr. to have some class A tube for live sound and even though its only 15 watts but is as loud as a 100 watt solid state, It doesn't sound good until its at #5 which is way to loud for practice and quite a pain on the neighbors if I just want to track overdubs. So, I'm keeping my POD 2.0 for live to run straight to the soundboard and blend that with my Fender Blues Jr. for a layered uncompressed dynamic sound. I did find that the POD sounds brighter with more reverb detail when the High Z impedance switch on my Mackie 400F is
set to ON. The POD is sopposed to be ready for the direct but, I find its output low and it should not need additional low impedance correction.
Check out the Native Instrument VST Combo Pluggin line direct into a good
interface. It sounds fantastic. Like a good Amp mik'd in a great room through quality equipment. Its clean, dynamic and breaks up under load with bright detail like an AC 30 is sopposed to sound like. I find the POD 2.0 unconvencing, dull, dark and undynamic with little sustain unless the gain is way up.
I'm keeping the POD for live y split to board for convinence with a stage small amp cause I don't need to bring a laptop and I don't want to bring two 100 amps and and spend time miking them to get "that sound". The POD is at least going to be close and have the charactor over get nothing in a quick set up.
 
...at this point anyone who's been the in the guitar forum knows my views on Line 6.














...DON'T.
 
Thank You

well first off im sorry because i havnt beeen able comment on your reveiws, BUT thank you for all of them,
I think i have gathered enough information to think about what im going to do. Im going to go to my local guitar center and try it out, more to see what i can get out of it, Ive been thinking about it and right now, i think ill be getting the POD later... get it, but not know maybe focus in on not a modeler but maybe somthing else,
Thank you again guys, if you guys have anything more to say please and thank you.
-Julian
 
why not pick up a second hand pod XT (200 bucks on ebay) and give it a go. it is the same engine as the xt pro and you have the chance to give it a thorough testing (with the rest of your own kit) and not have to be bothered with sales staff and obnoxious drummers etc whilst taking your time.

If you don't like it, put it back up on ebay and you have lost nothing except the cost of the shipping.
 
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