Everyone's raving about Line6 Pod.. but

[sogon78]

I've been using it for a couple of days and I'm already looking for a new effects pedal.

I was going to use it mostly for live gig and some recording since it's got the amp modeling and everything but..

The main thing that bugs me about this pedal is that is pretty much NO consideration to providing any decent clean sounds.

It is possible, but you would have to turn the main volume of all your high settings down, and the main volume way up for the less gain settings to get a better blend between the two.

Plus the modulation effects are pretty much on and off, there is no subtleness with them, especially the phaser.

Well..

I understand that it's only 200bucks but if need be I'm willing to spend more money to compromise the downsides I've noticed above..

so..


Any recommendations??

 

[TelePaul]

would you consider a few individual stomp boxes?

 

[eeb]

yeah that might be the way to go.. amp modelling pedals are usually not very good..

mind you the line 6 dl4 delay pedal is a great pedal.. but other than that i'm not overly impressed with line 6

 

[ggunn]

I've been using it for a couple of days and I'm already looking for a new effects pedal.

I was going to use it mostly for live gig and some recording since it's got the amp modeling and everything but..

The main thing that bugs me about this pedal is that is pretty much NO consideration to providing any decent clean sounds.

It is possible, but you would have to turn the main volume of all your high settings down, and the main volume way up for the less gain settings to get a better blend between the two.

Plus the modulation effects are pretty much on and off, there is no subtleness with them, especially the phaser.

Well..

I understand that it's only 200bucks but if need be I'm willing to spend more money to compromise the downsides I've noticed above..

so..


Any recommendations??

I feel your pain. One of the worst things about my Pod 2.0 is the tremelo. At anything but the fastest speed it is so slow as to be completely unusable and tuning the speed to fit the song is just not doable. I called them thinking mine was broken, but they confirmed that that is just the way it is. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

I also tried (just once) using it through the PA and monitors instead of an amp, but my bandmate's Fender Twin just blew it off the stage no matter what settings I tried. It sounds great through headphones, but that's about it.

 

[sogon78]

I'm actually looking into the TC electronics gears.

I'm wondering if any of you guys have experience with these machines.

 

[ggunn]

I'm actually looking into the TC electronics gears.

I'm wondering if any of you guys have experience with these machines.

I don't have any of their stuff, but a good friend of mine has several of their units and absolutely raves about them. They are pricey, though.

 

[wbcsound]

Agreed that the fx are less than stellar, Digitech owns that market in my opinion. However, I disagree that you can't get good clean sounds. Below is a clip using a Pocket POD. You should be able to adjust each individual patch's volume as well as the individual amp models volume to balance out the levels.

PP Clean

 

[Riffmaster]

If you're talking about the POD 2.0, there's nothing to really rave about there. They've made some considerable improvements since then. I use a Toneport w/ Gold Pack upgrade and it suits almost all my amp and effect needs.

 

[jeffree]

I had the same experience with the original PODs--don't know about the newer versions. As someone who records primarily clean tones and can't always use an amp, I eventually stumbled upon the Johnson J-Station modeler. What a great unit--not as good as my amp, of course, but definitely usable in most recording situations. Here's an old SOS review of it, including a comparison with the POD. I see a lot of the discontinued J-Stations around for under $200.

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/aug00/articles/jstation.htm

 

[suprstar]

Wow, not a lot of love for POD's here eh.. Ima have to go against the grain on that one, cuz I LOVE my POD! I've been using mine for playing live, band rehearsal, silent practicing, and recording since I got it. If you dont think you can get good tones out of it, go ask Meshuggah!

The main thing that bugs me about this pedal is that is pretty much NO consideration to providing any decent clean sounds.

I will agree that the default patches aren't that great.. But who cares? You know you can go online and download a gazillion patches on line6.com by any and all other POD users right? I beleive you can use the Line6 Gearbox or go directly to http://www.line6.com and find it there. There's literally thousands of patches, they're hit and miss, but they have ratings so it's pretty ez to weed out the crappy ones. You can search for 'Van Halen Unchained' or 'Slash solo' and find damn near anything.

It is possible, but you would have to turn the main volume of all your high settings down, and the main volume way up for the less gain settings to get a better blend between the two.

Gain down, volume up.. So balance your volumes and save the channels, whats so hard about that? You have to do that on your real amps too!

Plus the modulation effects are pretty much on and off, there is no subtleness with them, especially the phaser.

I can't comment on that one, cuz I don't really use em that much.. I use a little chorus here and there, sounds good to me.. Again, are you running the gearbox? Connect your PC to your POD via usb, you can edit ALL fx on the screen with the mouse. You see all the 'pedals' in the chain, all settings, etc.. Click a pedal and see ALL parameters of that pedal. WAY better than trying to fool around with the POD itself. I find it a LOT easier getting sounds I like.

 

[jasonbmerrill]

i have a podxt for sale with model packs if anyone is interested

/spam off

 

[sogon78]

I can't comment on that one, cuz I don't really use em that much.. I use a little chorus here and there, sounds good to me.. Again, are you running the gearbox? Connect your PC to your POD via usb, you can edit ALL fx on the screen with the mouse. You see all the 'pedals' in the chain, all settings, etc.. Click a pedal and see ALL parameters of that pedal. WAY better than trying to fool around with the POD itself. I find it a LOT easier getting sounds I like.

I hear you.. Didn't mean to bash on the users of POD.

I'm just going for something with less digitized sound.. it really has more to do with the personal taste..


Although I will try out the Monkey thingy that you mentioned.

Thanks!

 

[suprstar]

Agreed that the fx are less than stellar, Digitech owns that market in my opinion. However, I disagree that you can't get good clean sounds. Below is a clip using a Pocket POD. You should be able to adjust each individual patch's volume as well as the individual amp models volume to balance out the levels.

PP Clean

Not a digitech fan... Over a 10 or so year period, I had a gsp-2101, 2 RP-200's, and a RP-300. I also own a digitech vocal 300. ALL broken in some form.. The rp300 expression pedal stopped working.. The vocal 300 up-channel pedal stopped working. One rp200 wont even power up, on the other, the plastic body got cracked and the LCD panel went out. The gsp-2101 got beer spilled in the pedalboard, so that one's my fault Flimsy build imo, I'd be afraid to step on one too hard now! Plus I was never a big fan of the amp models, I think the pod tones are way better.

My pod is 3 or 4 years old now, it has been dropped, spilled on, had drum hardware piled on top of it, all sorts of general gigging abuse, and still works like new. It's made of steel, not plastic, it feels solid. I saw a review that said someone ran over his pod with a car and is fine albeit a little scratched up, I beleive it!

 

[suprstar]

I hear you.. Didn't mean to bash on the users of POD.

I'm just going for something with less digitized sound.. it really has more to do with the personal taste..


Although I will try out the Monkey thingy that you mentioned.

Thanks!

No offense taken, dont worry about it. Def. check out the software, channels were pissing me off too til I tried that,

 

[wbcsound]

Not a digitech fan... Over a 10 or so year period, I had a gsp-2101, 2 RP-200's, and a RP-300. I also own a digitech vocal 300. ALL broken in some form.. The rp300 expression pedal stopped working.. The vocal 300 up-channel pedal stopped working. One rp200 wont even power up, on the other, the plastic body got cracked and the LCD panel went out. The gsp-2101 got beer spilled in the pedalboard, so that one's my fault Flimsy build imo, I'd be afraid to step on one too hard now! Plus I was never a big fan of the amp models, I think the pod tones are way better.

I will agree to the general flimsy build and less than great sound of the previous Digi generation. However, they've addressed many of the build quality issues (still some issues with jacks breaking though) and their current generatin of modeling is very good. Do they sound better than Lline 6? Honestly, they both excel at certain sounds. However, in the modulation, reverb, delay, and pitch department I still think Digi is a clear winner.

 

[suprstar]

I will agree to the general flimsy build and less than great sound of the previous Digi generation. However, they've addressed many of the build quality issues (still some issues with jacks breaking though) and their current generatin of modeling is very good. Do they sound better than Lline 6? Honestly, they both excel at certain sounds. However, in the modulation, reverb, delay, and pitch department I still think Digi is a clear winner.

I will give digitech the crown for pitch fx. I use the whammy effect on one patch (i think, maybe it's the detune one?) to tune my whole guitar down 2 steps. So my E guitar becomes a D guitar, my drop D becomes drop C, etc.. Got another patch that drops 4 steps too, so I effectively turned 3 guitars into 9 guitars! It's nice taking 2 guitars to a show instead of 4 or 5! I had Boss PS something-or-other stompbox that was supposed to do something similar, but didn't work at all.. And I don't think there's an equivalent function on the POD's.

 

[jasonbmerrill]

I will give digitech the crown for pitch fx. I use the whammy effect on one patch (i think, maybe it's the detune one?) to tune my whole guitar down 2 steps. So my E guitar becomes a D guitar, my drop D becomes drop C, etc.. Got another patch that drops 4 steps too, so I effectively turned 3 guitars into 9 guitars! It's nice taking 2 guitars to a show instead of 4 or 5! I had Boss PS something-or-other stompbox that was supposed to do something similar, but didn't work at all.. And I don't think there's an equivalent function on the POD's.

there isnt. and yes the whammy is great

 

[kojdogg]

everyone was raving about the line6 pods in the late 90's and early 00's...
if you're using it live (it kind of sounds like you're sending it straight into an amp?), you need to make sure you set it properly as outlined in the manual-- iirc make sure the a.i.r. setting is the right one, flatten the eq's, etc. if you can't get any clean sounds you may be sending too hot of a signal into what's ultimately amplifing it. the original pods always seemed better for recording than live performance and line6 has released several products since that are more suited for that (e.g. spider/spider valve/flextone/vetta amps, floor pod, pod xt live, etc.).

 

[BuzzHaze]

I use a digitech GNX3000, it's excellent for both live and recording, plenty of clean sound plus you can model your own. It's built well IMO. I've had it for 2 years now...still going strong.