I don't like the POD Pro!

[Badger]

Personally, I would be willing to bet that most people could not tell the differance between the pod pro and the real amps they are modeled after. Live, maybe, but once its recorded, I doubt it. Its the same way with my modeled piano..LIve it sounds like a recording of a piano, where the real thing sounds like the real thing. Recorded, they both sound like a recording of a piano. b

 

[keilson]

i could never get good tone out of my pod. Maybe I'm using it wrong. Can someone post a track using pod so i can hear what it is SUPPOSED to sound like.

 

[NobleSavage]

I've been wondering for a while: Do people who dont like Amp emulators like the POD/V-Amp/etc record at night at home like I do? Since this is Homerecording dot com, I would assume home recording, not studio, would be a big priority.

Now, if you don't like the artificialness of amp simulators, do you have a nice ambient room, rather than torture your sound with fake reverb? And of course, distortion pedals and transistor amps are no-no's, since 'real' distortion is only made by overdriving a good tube amp... and isn't multitracking guitars or any other instruments just a big cheat too?

Amp simulators have their place and right now, it's a good one. It allows home recording guitarists to record parts at night or any other time without risking eviction and/or divorce. Is it as good as a 'real' amp? Actually, they are usually more reliable than most tube amps I've had, which change tone on a daily basis. And when someone can get me a good mic/amp combo that offers me the tonal variations and quality of my V-amp and allows me to record any time of day for under 100 bucks, I'll be the first in line to buy it!

back to the main topic: I didn't like the POD either. But only because with my style, touch and guitars it didn't give me the tone I was after. The v-amp, for whatever reason, did.

 

[Badger]

When I was first thinking about getting an amp sim, I did the reasearch, carefully weighed the options, and then decided on the pod pro.


The reason.

I guy I know who worked at Mars traded me one for a junk car I had in my back yard.....A brand new one....I dont wanna know how he came up with one.....

 

[64Firebird]

The only research I did was to sit on a stool in mars for about 4 hours and demo all the amp simulaters they had on hand. I think they were about to throw me out when I bought it.

I hadn't thought about it sounding like a recorded guitar even when played live, but I think you might be right about that Bdgr.

 

[guhlenn]

i would agree about the pod sounding like recorded material... after all the hype i decided to give it a try and i hated it, but later i realised it was jsut that the sound was so consistend that i just wasn't used to it... kinda like double tracking in the control room *shudder*

Guhlenn

 

[keilson]

I record at home and am able to record my tube amp whenever I want. My home studio is in my basement which is completely underground. You can't even hear it if you go all the way upstairs. Once again would someone please post an mp3 here of their attempt to sound like a tube amp.

 

[64Firebird]

About a year ago, Bdgr and I were going to post a few MP3s and see who could guess which was a real Fender amp and which were sims. This Sunday, when we get together again, I'll take my amp over and we'll do it and everybody can see if they can tell them apart.

 

[Badger]

Mind you, i think your average drunk slob in a bar is not gonna care...

 

[Phildo]

At the end of the day, maybe it helps to think of it like this...

What's likely to sound the best...

...a £300 POD or a Boogie Triple Rectifier with a 57 on the speakers, a U87 for the ambience, and running through a couple of Neve pre's?

Yes, the POD's not going to sound the same as a boutique amp which costs two grand. It'd be daft to expect it to. That doesn't take away what a great product it is.

 

[Speeddemon]

Have ANY of you, who like the POD, tried the Digitech Genesis 3? I recently have, and it kicked the POD's ass in almost ALL departments (except for POD's Soldano XR88 pre, which sounds nice for metal):
-Better clean sounds (nice break-up tones possible
-Better effects
-Better ad/da conversion (helps for dynamics and response)
-reacts better when backing off your guitar's volume-knob
-looks cooler
-warp function is cool and works
-digital out

and yet, both POD 2.0 and Genesis 3 cost $300... I'll know where my G's at...

But yeah, the POD sounds like a pre-recorded amp, instead of an amp: that's why it's totally useless in front of a guitar amp (whether cheap or boutique). I only can imagine using the POD live on a Keyboard (or other fullrange) amp, next to directly in the mixer...

Really, if you haven't tried the Genesis 3 (especially the Blackface, Clean Tube, Hotrod and Britstack), you won't know how far modeling has come (put aside the $2000 Vetta and H&K Zentera...)

 

[shagfu]

Don't stone me

Maybe give the V-amp a try.

Some of the V-amp models sound better to me than the comparable pod stuff (jstation/pod).

The models sound more up front, and in your face to me.
The Pod models sound like a great amp with a mic sitting too far away sometimes.
The V-amp has decent effects too. Patch editing is pretty nice with the vamp software.

I found my V-amp1 on eBay for around $99. Got the upgrade EPROM for around $10 to upgrade the software to the V-Amp2.

But it may not be up your alley if you bought the pod pro. I assume you bought the pod pro also because it's rackmountable and perfectly fine for throwing in a rack for live use. The V-amp is more like the kidney-shaped pod and j-station...better off on a desktop.

Either way, they are dirt cheap and probably worth adding to your pod/jstation collection of tones.

You might have come across this website already, but if you haven't-it's a pretty decent collection of comparisons between all of the different amp modellers out there complete with audio samples.
http://www.dthraco.com/

 

[Richard Monroe]

I swear I still don't get it. Am I the only person on earth that jacks the POD in live mode into a power amp? You guys all talk like the only thing you can do with this thing is use it for a glorified DI. If you disable the cab modeling, jack it into a clean studio power amp with bridged 8 ohm output, and then into a real cab, and mic it, it will actually sound like the amp you're modeling. Then stick a 57 in front of it and mic the cab. Every response I hear goes like," I would never use a modeler, I always mic a cab.", or "Yeah I know it's not always ideal, but I can't afford 37 amps, and I can't crank them 'cause I live in a condo." etc., etc.
You can reproduce the tone profile of the modeled amp with POD (or probably any other decent modeler), and get the natural room reverb and cab/speaker ambience with a dynamic mic at a much lower volume. The problem arises when people plug POD into a guitar amp which adds its own unique tone color to the mix, usually clashing with the model, so they think POD isn't good for live applications. Just use a power amp. As far as the fx bank, I don't use a lot of effects, but it seems if you have fx preferences that aren't available in the POD, you would use the stereo effects send/return of the POD as an aux loop and use whatever pedal array you want.-Richie

 

[M.Brane]

I saw King's X last week and Ty was playing through 2 POD pros and a couple of their modulation/delay units. His tones were great. Maybe that's why he was using the external effects. He was pushing them through an old Mesa 290 power amp into 4 rectifier cabs.

Hey, we've come full-circle!

 

[Richard Monroe]

Go Ty- it works!-Richie

 

[64Firebird]

I've used my J that way, but in a live show, I prefer to use stomp boxes. Easier to make changes on the fly.

 

[Phildo]

I pretty much agree with Richard here. PODs are not really designed to be run into amp heads - regardless of what the manual says. I know one guy who runs his POD into a Marshall stack, so he can get "more Marshally". Sounds like cack. Muddy cack. He should leave his POD at home and just take the Marshall out (he's playing in a Deep Purple tribute band fer Chrissakes!)

I've used my Bass POD live a couple of times, and in a couple of ways - one way is to run it into a pair of JBL EONs (15" top w/horn plus 15" sub). The sound (running my Ricky 4001 through the Marshall Major preset with a coupla tweaks) is simply awesome. You can then take a balanced line feed from the EONs to the desk (if you need to), so you get the POD sound on stage and out front.

The other way I've done it (handy for multi-band gigs) is to take the unmodelled "DI" out to whatever bass amp is sitting around, to use as a stage monitor, and then give the FOH guy a DI'd feed from the modelled output. Simple, efficient and you know you'll be getting great tone from the FOH.

I'm sure the POD itself would do the same job.

Oh, and re the sounds of the POD compared to other modellers - I can't comment, only ever having used the POD, but the new (free!) v2.3 upgrade makes it sound like a new unit. Absolutely brilliant!.

I haven't tried the Genesis 3, but If it sounds better than the POD 2.3, then I'll be looking for one (oops...I feel GAS coming on).