Line6 Pod X3 vs Blues Jr with SM57 - pick the amp...

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pure.fusion

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Hi all.

In a nutshell - over the last few months there have been posts asking about simulated guitar effects (POD, Boss etc) vs mic'ing a real amp.

Here is a sample (link below) where I've recorded *three* sections of self-indulgent wank, two with simulated sounds from the Line6 Pod X3 and one with my little Blues Jr mic'd up with a Sure SM57.

Note that I tossed a coin and they are in "Random" order.

>>> Sample <<<

So out of Parts 1, 2 or 3, which one is the real amp? Chime in!

Which one do you like better? Chime in!

Again, excuse the playing - I get sloppy when I'm posting for forums and/or testing for myself.

Discussion:

I think the Pod Line 6 stuff does a really good job at simulating guitar amps and mic - really amazing compared to what we had 20 years ago.

I think the sounds produced by the Pod are on par with sounds produced by real amps when using a mild to medium amount of distortion.

The class A Blues Jr will crap over the Pod on a clean to slight break up sound, and heavy - well that's for someone else to test. I guess the heavy sounds in the Pod are good too, but it's not my scene .... man.

Guitar used was my '88 Jem77FP, Dimarzio HB in the bridge.

This all came about when I was gearing up to record a song and was slightly disappointed when I liked the POD sound over the real amp. .. feels like cheating!

I'm keen to hear your thoughts.

Hope this helps someone.
Cheers,
FM
 
I'm not going to guess which is which but I will give my opinion. The first section sounds sort of hazy/indistinct. The second section has more clarity than the first but was still a bit meh. The third section sounds very different from the first two. It has a more up front sort of tone which sounds the best out of the three.
 
I'm gonna almost agree. The first section, from 0:00 to 0:50 was with a wah left in one position. It's sounds good, and is very usable. Not 'muscular', but it does sound usable and wouldn't make me cringe if this was me and my CD was getting airplay. You have to keep in mind the music and the guitar. With a JEM and a Blues Junior you ain't going for Beano tone. You don't feel the tubes sweat, but still, I'd use it without any reservations if this was my style. This isn't my kind of music at all, but I appreciate the effort and can appreciate that overall it sounds fine.
From 00:50 to 1:37 gets better for me. Now it sounds more muscular, and I can almost swear I hear the pick attack on the strings. Maybe I'm hallucinating, but I like it more, and not just because the Michael Schenker 'half-cocked' wah is gone. I just like it a bit more. It sounds nastier, and has some teeth.
From 1:37 to 2:24 now drops again to 'good but not awesome' feel to the tone. It sounds thinner. I don't hear the aggression, don't feel the heat, don't........ ah, it sounds fine, too. But the second section is just the one I'd use for a 1st choice. Any section works, and most players (of this style) would love the tone. If you were in a studio and heard this on playback, would you complain with any 'section', and demand to rerecord it with a different tone? I wouldn't; time is money. At home you have all the time in the world to muck about and try for that golden tone. But if I'm paying by the hour, any section would have my smiling on playback. But the second section would have me grinning.
 
ranjam said:
With a JEM and a Blues Junior you ain't going for Beano tone
Click to expand...

Beano tone? What does this mean?

Thanks for your feedback. Yep, I would agree with you exactly on your description the three tones. There is a heap more tweaking can be done to acheive more POD sounds, but the blues Jr actually took 2 hours to dial in to a "acceptable" high gain sound and that's pretty much as good as it gets.

The "half cocked wah" sound is a characteristic of the Jem and it's dimarzio pickup. Really, that guitar is meant for buckets for distortion...

Cheers,
FM
 
Amp sims can sound great, but where they fail for me is when it's time to really get loud. A tube amp does this better. At moderate volumes, i can really like simulations, but they can't get loud and feedback in a natural way like a good old tube amp.
 
ocnor said:
So which one is the real amp?
Click to expand...

Last sample was the real amp.

As I said, I was a bit disappointed with the sound compared to the sim. I've since adjusted the mic position against my amp so that it's on axis rarther than 45 degrees of axis and it sounds fantastic. A lot clearer with more treble and bite to it - so much so that I'd dial some of the gain down.

I've found my sound. On with the recording...

Cheers,
FM
 
That's what I figured. Although it wasn't a huge difference,the third sample just had a certain open and distinct tone that the other two lacked. I guess that I'm not quite as deaf as I thought.
 
I still liked the middle one, but then I like mashed potatoes. 'Beano' tone is the silly name given to that tone Clapton got on the first Blues Breakers album. On the cover he is sitting on a curb reading a Beano comic book. Apparently that tone makes other amplifiers jealous and women's clothing fall off. Dangerous stuff. There's plenty of other good tone out there on record, but once a myth gets created, it's almost impossible to put it to bed. There was a lot of good tone from back then, just as there was a lot of really awful tone put to vinyl. And some myths I just don't get. The Jimmy Page/Tele/Supro tone myth? Sounds mediocre to me, but how do you kill that myth?
It was all good with your clips. I liked it all. Maybe not the music, but the sounds were fine. Are you playing for other guitar players? Are you playing for an audience of people who just appreciate what you are doing? Who cares what I think as another guitar player? It all worked, and I'd be happy with any of it when it came back mastered.
 
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Beano tone. Right. (I had no idea) Yep, I'm sure everybody has their own influences and likes; Eric Clapton being far from one of mine.

I'm only playing for *me*. The tone quest is only for my own recording, which I am about to finish soon. If I manage to do it, it will be the *first* original recording of quality that I would have finished. I wanted to make sure that the tone was the best posible within my grasp, only to avoid regrets of tracking, mixing and finishing a song and always being reminded of a clunky guitar tone that has a slight annoying frequency bugging your ears.

Thanks for the info. (What a strange thing, the fact that there are "tone myths" floating around society...)

Cheers,
FM
 
As far as the tone for that style of music, I prefer the first one. Can't wait to hear the finished product. Too bad you can't get Tony Williams and Tony Newton to back you. :D Let me know when it's done.
 
Screw your POD X3. You'll never get a good sound with that or the amp. What you need is a Zoom 505! Not the pussy assed 505 II, be a purest. A Zoom 505 direct through the board will make you play like your strings were made of nipples. Lucky for you, I happen to have one of those bad boys around here somewhere. Because I like you, I might be willing to do you a favor and take all of that crap gear off your hands for the Zoom 505 and a newish Martin Stinger if you throw in a little boot. :P
 
The 505 is not an interface. When did they put a USB port on it? If you like spending more time editing patches, the 505 can be cool. POD Farm just does more, records direct to your computer, and costs just a few bucks more than a 505. Not a tough decision for me. Now if I was in some thrash band........
 
"Screw your POD X3. You'll never get a good sound with that or the amp"

Given that different people have different tasts in guitar sound, influenced by different artists and budgets and also the device itself may have different features to suit people of all different stages in production and budget and lifestyle yada yada yada, it'd be pretty stupid to put up a single product and say "this is the one". Wouldn't you agree?

FM
 
Jesus sarcasm falls flat on you people. You have no humor.
 
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