POD / DI / and Guitar type

B

brokeup

New member
Hello all,

Does any one get a good sound/tone using a stratocaster through a POD as a DI / Modeler ?

Heres the reason im asking. I run an american fat strat through through a POD 2.0, to a behringer mixer, to my 24/96 soundcard. It seems like all the EQ in the world, compression, whatever, cannot fatten up this sound. It sounds like its coming out of a tin can. Now I tried my mexican squire through the same set up, only it has the armstrong superstrat mod, and with all three pickups working, they sound has a significant improvment in tone and over all 'presence'.

Now could it be that my strat ( all stock ) either needs a tune up, like a better quality pickup, or do i need some kind of seperate DI box, to help the weakness of the POD.

I have recorded my fat strat through a $10 dynamic mic and a 15W crate practice amp, in the same set up, except skipping the POD and going straight to the mixer, and it sounds 10000% better.
 
brokeup said:
I have recorded my fat strat through a $10 dynamic mic and a 15W crate practice amp, in the same set up, except skipping the POD and going straight to the mixer, and it sounds 10000% better.
Click to expand...

well there you have it
 
hey,

yes i tried to go straight with the POD into the soundcard, still no good.

I dont think its a "user error". the POD is pretty cut and dry. I set it to direct, pick an amp, pick a cab, some EQ, thats pretty much it. Ive experimented with every single amp and cab setting on thier. Ive tried every combo the POD has to offer.

I know i will never get the same sound as a mic, but the sound i get with the POD with my stratocaster, is very unacceptable. But i read that alot of people have gotten 'great sound' with the POD. Can anyone show me a sample or song with a guitar straight into the POD mono, straight to the soundcard that sounds good, especially with a strat ?

that would rock

thanks
 
Sorry, I shouldn't have left it at that. It could be equipment error, or just incompatibilities in what gear you are using vs. what you are trying to accomplish.

Here is a sample of a POD lead sound from another site I visit. It is a "real world" example, by a regular POD user, and to me, sounds pretty decent. Better than a $2500 tube amp? Most likely not. It is WAY better than any 15 watt crate amp I have ever heard. In fact, worlds better that any crate amp I can ever recall hearing live or recorded for that matter (not that that is saying much...lol).

Example - POD lead tone
Here is the thread on the other site, for the sake of reference:
http://www.guitars101.com/vb/showthread.php?t=37536
 
amra said:
Sorry, I shouldn't have left it at that. It could be equipment error, or just incompatibilities in what gear you are using vs. what you are trying to accomplish.

Here is a sample of a POD lead sound from another site I visit. It is a "real world" example, by a regular POD user, and to me, sounds pretty decent. Better than a $2500 tube amp? Most likely not. It is WAY better than any 15 watt crate amp I have ever heard. In fact, worlds better that any crate amp I can ever recall hearing live or recorded for that matter (not that that is saying much...lol).

Example - POD lead tone
Here is the thread on the other site, for the sake of reference:
http://www.guitars101.com/vb/showthread.php?t=37536
Click to expand...

Sounds horrible to me - but I guess whatever floats your boat...
 
Codmate said:
Sounds horrible to me - but I guess whatever floats your boat...
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No offense, but after listening to the "Loungecore" montage on your homepage, your opinion on this doesn't really suprise me.
 
amra said:
No offense, but after listening to the "Loungecore" montage on your homepage, your opinion on this doesn't really suprise me.
Click to expand...

Well - in the 16 years I've been playing in bands I've played many styles of music. The lounge stuff with Smokehand is just the latest.

I reckon most rock/metal guys would discard that tone you posted there pretty fast. I certainly wouldn't use it on anything of that nature.

There are quite a few distorted tones on the Smokehand album actually - but nothing like that horrible wasp-in-a-bottle digital, toppy stuff.

Saying that, I'm always critisising the guitar sounds on rock albums. I heard the Darkness album for the fist time in a while recently and thought the guitars were flat and generally characterless.

Maybe that's the 'modern rock tone'.

Give me Ritchie Blackmore's sound (in the Deep Purple days naturally), Jimi Hendrix's or Jimmy Page's sound on Led ZepII over any of these over-compressed, lifeless modern rock sounds any day of the week.
 
Well, it's all a matter of personal preference, from the matter of what you are trying to create. You're talking apples to oranges. At the risk of taking this thread off course, I personally was never impressed or felt inspired by Ritchie Blackmoore's sound. I can appreciate his talent, but his sound was just blah. It sounds OLD. That's the only way I can put it.

The bands you are talking are all completely different from any type of music where a tone like this would even be relevant. In any case, I am not trying to recommend a modeler as something that is capable of creating breathtaking tones comparable to "Hendrix" or "Paige", come on man, be realistic. We are talking about something that costs a couple hundred bucks.

What I AM saying, is if you are getting better tone out of a 15 watt crate, and a $10 microphone, something is wrong. Either with your setup, your modeler, your guitar or your usage of them. What I am saying, is that you are likely going to have to spend $800-$1000 or more for a head, or a used combo, some expenditure quality recording gear(mic, preamp, etc), and some amount of experience micing an amp to get any better. And even then, some people would STILL be better off just using a modeler.

Codmate said:
Well - in the 16 years I've been playing in bands I've played many styles of music. The lounge stuff with Smokehand is just the latest.

I reckon most rock/metal guys would discard that tone you posted there pretty fast. I certainly wouldn't use it on anything of that nature.

There are quite a few distorted tones on the Smokehand album actually - but nothing like that horrible wasp-in-a-bottle digital, toppy stuff.

Saying that, I'm always critisising the guitar sounds on rock albums. I heard the Darkness album for the fist time in a while recently and thought the guitars were flat and generally characterless.

Maybe that's the 'modern rock tone'.

Give me Ritchie Blackmore's sound (in the Deep Purple days naturally), Jimi Hendrix's or Jimmy Page's sound on Led ZepII over any of these over-compressed, lifeless modern rock sounds any day of the week.
Click to expand...
 
brokeup said:
I know i will never get the same sound as a mic, but the sound i get with the POD with my stratocaster, is very unacceptable. But i read that alot of people have gotten 'great sound' with the POD.
Click to expand...

Different people have different standards of what sounds "great". I suspect your standards may be higher than those of the average POD-lover.
 
Although I don't have a POD, I do have a DigiTech Genesis I and my Boss BR-532 has COSM amp models built-in. It seems to me that these things do clean-ish tones just fine, but when it comes to distortion tones, they always seem to sound "fake" in some regard. They're either too thin or have so much over-emphasized low-end that they sound like crap.

If another guitar sounds fine through your POD, then maybe you've found your answer. It is altogether possible that the Fat Strat just doesn't sound good through the modeler. I have some guitars that sound better through certain amps...I suppose that happens.

I mean, if you listen to the song "untitled two" on my myspace music page, that is a Squier '51 through the DigiTech Genesis I (on the "Hot Rod" amp model, which is supposed to be a Mesa Boogie model (?!) with the 2 x 12 cab selection). I've gotten several compliments on that tone, even though on paper it might not look like it'd be a great combo. However, that same Squire '51 doesn't sound really good through my Peavey Classic 50 because it sounds too bright through it.

It's stuff like that that I bring up to justify having so many guitars and amps. :D

I'd even suggest maybe borrowing some other guitars and seeing how they sound through the POD. Maybe a pickup swap would work for you. I dunno.

EDIT - have you tried not using the "direct" mode? I don't know how the POD is set up, but "direct" is a cabinet option on the DigiTech, which, obviously, you'd select if you were using this in front of an amp. Maybe you're not getting the full effect of the cabinet selections by being in "direct" mode? Just a thought.
 
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hey amra,

i listened to your example, not what im going for, but it proves that he POD can do A LOT better than what im pulling out of it with my strato.

I tried a 80's univox on it with higher output, 2 humbuckers, and the sound did improve a little. But it is still very distant, it sounds like i was just micing the strings of my guitar with no amp at all ! Ive even put vol/EQ boosters in front.

I talked to someone this weekend who has said they have great success with the POD recording to DAT. ( i didnt hear the samples ) the difference is of course the DAT, and he swaped out his pickups for some "texas special" ones he told me.

hiwatt,

yea ive also tried the cab setting on it, that setting actually puts out a high buzz when i go direct. its suppose to be only for using it in conjunction with an amp. ive been trying to pull a good sound out of this for a couple of months !
 
Brokeup,
Maybe your POD is defective? Is it still under warranty? Also, maybe you could go back to where you bought your POD at, and try it with one of their guitars. Take your guitar along, and if that POD sounds way different(better) with THEIR guitar, take yours in and try it. If it sounds the same as yours did, then I guess that guitar for whatever reason isn't going to work well with a POD. If it sounds much better than what you are getting, then something is wrong with your POD....

Also, one more thought - how does that guitar/POD combo sound through headphones? If it sounds good, but what your computer is getting sounds bad, then maybe it is something in your recording chain/settings...?

Just throwing some ideas out there.
 
Have you tried coming out of the headphone into your soundcard? I am begining to thing your POD is defective, and if the sound improves out of the headphone out, you probably would be safe in assuming that. I agree with arma. While the tones out of the POD might not exactly match vintage gear, it should sound alright. They don't give them away, you should get what you paid for!
 
is there any way i can drop a sample online so you guys can hear it ? ill make a short mp3, buti dont have any hosting.
 
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