Old POD XT vs amp sim plugin

[pikingrin]

I got this thing way back in the day to cope with apartment life and I'm wondering whether or not I should keep it now. I don't necessarily want to part with it but, at the same time, I don't use it often enough to justify keeping it.

Are the ITB amp sim plugins worth a shot as a replacement?

As much as I use the POD (none nowadays), it makes more sense to just part with it but I would definitely want to replace it with a halfway decent plugin that could do as much (or close to it) as the POD is capable of. Just looking for a few suggestions, I guess.

 

[JDOD]

I got this thing way back in the day to cope with apartment life and I'm wondering whether or not I should keep it now. I don't necessarily want to part with it but, at the same time, I don't use it often enough to justify keeping it.

Are the ITB amp sim plugins worth a shot as a replacement?

As much as I use the POD (none nowadays), it makes more sense to just part with it but I would definitely want to replace it with a halfway decent plugin that could do as much (or close to it) as the POD is capable of. Just looking for a few suggestions, I guess.

mate, I've heard great things about amplitube on the ipad which I am going to get for my hotel room set up. Check the reviews. If I get it in the mean time I will keep you posted.

 

[Tripper John]

I would recommend Scuffham Amps sim. Amplitube is good, too, but I don't particularly like IK Multimedia's business M.O. I have an xt, and I can't sell it even at €75. The amp sim plugins are far superior, imo.

 

[d0gmA]

PODxt is fantastic and if you max it out with the model packs and PodFarm it makes an awesome studio asset. I have kept mine around because nobodys going to give me a 1/4 of what I have invested in it anyway and I can take it with me easy for session work.

 

[mjbphotos]

If you like the sounds from it, go for PodFarm 2.xx which can be used a plug-in in your DAW.

 

[pikingrin]

I would recommend Scuffham Amps sim. Amplitube is good, too, but I don't particularly like IK Multimedia's business M.O.

What's wrong with IK? I don't have any of there plugs yet...but you aren't the only one around here that doesn't like them for some reason.

Dogma and Tripper, that's kind of what I was thinking in regards to them losing their value. Doing a little searching around, there are a few on Ebay but none of them are listed anywhere close to what I have sunk in. Might be worth it to just hold on to it for a rainy day.

MJB, I was looking into the PodFarm option but that's another $300 to get what I already have in a hardware version. I'm going to do more digging through the Line6 site and see about firmware updates for this dinosaur; maybe they have some way to be able to control the XT ITB, although I'm pretty sure that way is called PodFarm.

JDOD, for sure keep me posted on that sim; I've been looking at Amplitube 3 for a while just to have a handy ITB option but haven't convinced myself to pull the trigger.

 

[d0gmA]

pikngrin check your monkey and make sure you don't already own pod farm 1. I got an offer a while ago since I owned all of the model packs to purchase pod farm 2 platinum for $49. Don't forget gearbox also as that contains a lot of plugins you can use in your daw as well and are licensed to your PODxt. I hate amplitube.

 

[pikingrin]

Thanks dogma, I just put monkey on my new PC earlier and checked it out. Firmware is the latest edition (or the last they updated) and I went ahead and splurged for the bass pack for a few more options for my bass (tech 21 svt di is good but it never hurts).

I jumped the gun and sent an email to line 6 to see about pod farm as I already paid so much for all the packs; if I can get pod farm platinum for $49 then I'll probably go ahead and jump on it. Thanks!

 

[Tripper John]

What's wrong with IK? I don't have any of there plugs yet...but you aren't the only one around here that doesn't like them for some reason.

Dogma and Tripper, that's kind of what I was thinking in regards to them losing their value. Doing a little searching around, there are a few on Ebay but none of them are listed anywhere close to what I have sunk in. Might be worth it to just hold on to it for a rainy day.

MJB, I was looking into the PodFarm option but that's another $300 to get what I already have in a hardware version. I'm going to do more digging through the Line6 site and see about firmware updates for this dinosaur; maybe they have some way to be able to control the XT ITB, although I'm pretty sure that way is called PodFarm.

JDOD, for sure keep me posted on that sim; I've been looking at Amplitube 3 for a while just to have a handy ITB option but haven't convinced myself to pull the trigger.

Re IKM, too long to go into, but, yeah, a lot of people are pissed with them. I bought a fair number of plugins at crossgrade prices, still weren't cheap, and then they practically gave them away, making re-selling practically impossible. Then there was the issue of 32 bit plugs not upgraded for 64 bit hosts, and on, and on.

Scuffham is really good. I would suggest doing a search on them. I bought in when it was only, I think, €79, and Mike, the developer, has continually upgraded its features without charging another penny to current customers. The sounds are great. Not as many choices compared to Amplitube 3 (I also have that), but far more authentic sounds. In comparison, the PODxt is sterile and digital sounding. The interface I found to be annoying as hell, too. Its only redeeming feature, I suppose, is that it doesn't tax the computer's CPU. Still, it is 10 year old tech. Things have moved on since then.

 

[JDOD]

I have Gearbox but been running L6 Monkey and they won't give me anything else. It's basically dated as fuck.

 

[mjbphotos]

Yeah, Gearbox was dropped when they got past the first versions of PodFarm. There are free versions of Podfarm, but you've got to pay to get the version with plug-in capability.
If you like the sounds you get from your XT, use it for reamping.

 

[pikingrin]

If you like the sounds you get from your XT, use it for reamping.

That's really not a bad idea; it's a good excuse to get a DI box good for reamping, at the very least.

 

[CoolCat]

if its my laziness or not, I couldnt get anything to work too well with the POD's, Im going to try some more with a X3Pro I got in a trade/CL deal...by selling some of the trade I have about $180 in the X3Pro right now.

The Gearbox and Pod farm is another story, theres a lot there, an abundance of stuff and when they toss in the Bass and Vocal sims, its plugs for me over the POD tones.

as a interface , or live rack piece its ok....but I still havent been able to beat the amp sim plug-ins.
if I dont get it this weekend the things going to go for something else.
Im glad I didnt pay $700, its GC price is $200, CL is about $250. ..in a few more versions probably be worth about $75.

 

[pikingrin]

if its my laziness or not, I couldnt get anything to work too well with the POD's, Im going to try some more with a X3Pro I got in a trade/CL deal...by selling some of the trade I have about $180 in the X3Pro right now.

The Gearbox and Pod farm is another story, theres a lot there, an abundance of stuff and when they toss in the Bass and Vocal sims, its plugs for me over the POD tones.

as a interface , or live rack piece its ok....but I still havent been able to beat the amp sim plug-ins.
if I dont get it this weekend the things going to go for something else.
Im glad I didnt pay $700, its GC price is $200, CL is about $250. ..in a few more versions probably be worth about $75.

Interesting... Maybe it was out of necessity at the time or maybe it's just a subjective thing but I remember getting some *usable* tones out of the XT. Messing around with it earlier, it's just not what it used to be. I think I'm going to keep it around for an alternate bass DI option and perhaps for reamping flavors but... I'd rather crank the real deal up. Although as of now I still have never messed with a plugin amp sim.

 

[delirium trigge]

I come with experience in this, some may disagree with me, but my whole life I have always practiced guitar in front of a computer, thus have used many plug ins. From the time I was barely a teenager with my first guitar port, to now, almost 30 years old with Amplitube 3. I went through many things inbetween.

I have the Pod HD500, the models are more updated than the XT you have. However, it comes nowhere near Amplitube. I am speaking about amplitube on Mac/PC, I also have amplitube on the iPad and honestly it's not that great. Especially if you want to do high gain stuff.

However, Amplitube on the Mac/Pc is impressive. For example, I use the Engl Powerball with an Orange Cab and tube screamer as my main amp on there. For cleans, I use a fender twin. It allows you to buy whatever cabs, mics, and amps you want. They emulate the real amps fairly well. The 5150 on there is good too. I think it sounds better than Peavey's Revalver 5150.

The reason I keep my Pod HD500, is because it works as a Midi Controller to my live rig, AND my amplitube home rig. It allows me to switch channels, use the wah, etc. If your Pod XT has a midi out on it, then keep it, because it'll work with the plug ins. That is all I use it for. I use it with my live rig for the same reason, however I don't use the sounds or effects of the Hd500, but it's a nice midi controller.

If you have a setup with a subwoofer the Amplitube sounds amazing. I use Rokit 6's and a 10 inch, M audio MBX10 subwoofer. So, the guitar sounds amazing through it, as well as bass.

I have no idea why hardware isn't better. Besides the Axe Fx, most hardware isn't that impressive nowadays. I do use a Digitech1101 through a mesa 50/50 live. So I am using a modeling pre amp for a live rig, however it sounds far more realistic than the Hd500, especially through the tubes. Without the tube power amp, the 1101 doesn't sound better than amplitube plugged in direct.

PodFarm does not come close to Amplitube. I know YouTube isn't the best way to judge things, but go check out some Engl Amplitube videos. Whatever it sounds like on YouTube, through your computer speakers/monitors, is probably about what it will sound like when you own the software. Especially if the person has not mixed and mastered it into a song.

You can get the free version to try it out, but it doesn't have any cool amps. If you don't want to pay 300 dollars for the full version, you can just buy the amps that you want. Or you can get special packages. For example, for 99 dollars you can get the metal package, or you can get the fender package, etc. I think it's best to go with the full version and then buy a few extra amps on top of that.

Also, some special packages come with interfaces. Even if you don't need them, might as well get it if it's free. Like Amplitube Metal comes with the i-Rig HD, which plugs into your Mac/PC or iPad.

It comes with the Orange Cab sim, which is the best Cab IR I've ever heard. Even when using other plug ins, or real pre amps, I run it through amplitube and bypass the amp and use that cab. I have downloaded a lot of sims over the years, and that one always sounds the best.

 

[CoolCat]

delirium..that was a great post.

So do you have any "free" plugins /sims, you liked.
I've found Gearbox and PodFarm to be great, in comparison to the hardware sims, but I havent really given much time to others.
I know Ive heard excellent samples of sims working well in mixes and indistinguishable from a live amp etc..

I dont know how one sim can be better than another sim once in the software world? other than visuals, GUI....I mean I only have Gearbox basic, not even the Platinum Pod Farm...and I have like a thousand choices!!
Ive seen the GOld Package pop up with my X3Pro and it was even more than the gear box.....all the mic choices, cabnet choices, room reverbs and etc,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,thousands of choices....

What makes Amplitube better? Presets are better?
I dont know, just wondering.

 

[minerman]

So do you have any "free" plugins /sims, you liked.

You can get Amplitube 3 free, but it's pretty limited...Guitar Rig 5 has a free version too, but again, it's pretty limited...

Here's some links, the first 3 are free, & the second have limited demos:

LePou plugins

Guitar Rig 5

Ignite Plug-Ins

TSE Plug-ins

Schuffham

I dont know how one sim can be better than another sim once in the software world? other than visuals, GUI....I mean I only have Gearbox basic, not even the Platinum Pod Farm...and I have like a thousand choices!!
Ive seen the GOld Package pop up with my X3Pro and it was even more than the gear box.....all the mic choices, cabnet choices, room reverbs and etc,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,thousands of choices....

I don't really know either, but IMHO, Amplitube 3 blows POD Farm or Gearbox completely away with their ampsims, stompboxes, and cabinet simulations in particular...I did a little shoot-out comparing my real Boss SD-1 with the emulated version in Amplitube 3, & it was really, really close, even ran through a real amp with a re-amp box...

FWIW, I owned a POD X3Live for years, & while it was ok when I first got it, technology has passed Line 6 up, I'm sure the new POD HD's are better, but in my experience, there was always a certain sound, I've heard it called "an alias", that I couldn't dial out, no matter what I did (post-eq in the daw, saturation plug-ins, etc)...

What makes Amplitube better? Presets are better?
I dont know, just wondering.

What makes Amplitube 3 good IMHO is the different cab & mic choices, plus the ablility to actually move the mics around, instead of just 2-3 different positions in POD Farm...The amps themselves are pretty good too, especially the newer ones, I don't know how they model/emulate them, but they do sound pretty good considering they're software...

I'm not saying you can't get good sounds with Line 6 stuff at all, I've heard some really good sounds with their stuff, but IMHO, Amplitube 3 is the best ampsim on the market (I'm not including the Axe-FX or the Kemper, those are supposed to be the best, but I'll never know because I'm not dropping that much $$$ on either of 'em), I even tried the Schuffham thing, & liked AT3 better myself...

 

[pikingrin]

I come with experience in this, some may disagree with me, but my whole life I have always practiced guitar in front of a computer, thus have used many plug ins. From the time I was barely a teenager with my first guitar port, to now, almost 30 years old with Amplitube 3. I went through many things inbetween.

I have the Pod HD500, the models are more updated than the XT you have. However, it comes nowhere near Amplitube. I am speaking about amplitube on Mac/PC, I also have amplitube on the iPad and honestly it's not that great. Especially if you want to do high gain stuff.

However, Amplitube on the Mac/Pc is impressive. For example, I use the Engl Powerball with an Orange Cab and tube screamer as my main amp on there. For cleans, I use a fender twin. It allows you to buy whatever cabs, mics, and amps you want. They emulate the real amps fairly well. The 5150 on there is good too. I think it sounds better than Peavey's Revalver 5150.

The reason I keep my Pod HD500, is because it works as a Midi Controller to my live rig, AND my amplitube home rig. It allows me to switch channels, use the wah, etc. If your Pod XT has a midi out on it, then keep it, because it'll work with the plug ins. That is all I use it for. I use it with my live rig for the same reason, however I don't use the sounds or effects of the Hd500, but it's a nice midi controller.

If you have a setup with a subwoofer the Amplitube sounds amazing. I use Rokit 6's and a 10 inch, M audio MBX10 subwoofer. So, the guitar sounds amazing through it, as well as bass.

I have no idea why hardware isn't better. Besides the Axe Fx, most hardware isn't that impressive nowadays. I do use a Digitech1101 through a mesa 50/50 live. So I am using a modeling pre amp for a live rig, however it sounds far more realistic than the Hd500, especially through the tubes. Without the tube power amp, the 1101 doesn't sound better than amplitube plugged in direct.

PodFarm does not come close to Amplitube. I know YouTube isn't the best way to judge things, but go check out some Engl Amplitube videos. Whatever it sounds like on YouTube, through your computer speakers/monitors, is probably about what it will sound like when you own the software. Especially if the person has not mixed and mastered it into a song.

You can get the free version to try it out, but it doesn't have any cool amps. If you don't want to pay 300 dollars for the full version, you can just buy the amps that you want. Or you can get special packages. For example, for 99 dollars you can get the metal package, or you can get the fender package, etc. I think it's best to go with the full version and then buy a few extra amps on top of that.

Also, some special packages come with interfaces. Even if you don't need them, might as well get it if it's free. Like Amplitube Metal comes with the i-Rig HD, which plugs into your Mac/PC or iPad.

It comes with the Orange Cab sim, which is the best Cab IR I've ever heard. Even when using other plug ins, or real pre amps, I run it through amplitube and bypass the amp and use that cab. I have downloaded a lot of sims over the years, and that one always sounds the best.

A lot of info and a good reference. Went ahead and pulled the trigger on Amplitube 3 and will download it later tonight. Also got a reamp box...because I'm a sucker for options I guess.

 

[ShanPeyton]

FWIW, I just got a new workstation i will be updating now and i also have a POD X3. I am definitely going to be keeping it. But i am going to be exploring Amplitube via the custom shop. I don't love IK Multimedia as a company but really, you dislike your inlaws as well but they always have some glowing attributes right? HaHa.

The custom shop is a free download i believe from what i have read and comes with a a few things to get you started to get a feel for the plugin and then you can purchase (after doing a free three day trial) of any amp, cab, mic whatever they have available.

That concept alone has it's appeal to me. Try before you buy. Still a sim but It's cool.

As for my POD. I am going to keep it. I worry it will be outdated and unable to be directly plugged into my PC at some point, but there is nothing stopping me from connecting it to my soundcard as a line in type of set up and using a tone?

Food for thought anyways?

 

[delirium trigge]

delirium..that was a great post.

So do you have any "free" plugins /sims, you liked.
I've found Gearbox and PodFarm to be great, in comparison to the hardware sims, but I havent really given much time to others.
I know Ive heard excellent samples of sims working well in mixes and indistinguishable from a live amp etc..

I dont know how one sim can be better than another sim once in the software world? other than visuals, GUI....I mean I only have Gearbox basic, not even the Platinum Pod Farm...and I have like a thousand choices!!
Ive seen the GOld Package pop up with my X3Pro and it was even more than the gear box.....all the mic choices, cabnet choices, room reverbs and etc,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,thousands of choices....

What makes Amplitube better? Presets are better?
I dont know, just wondering.

I have used free plug ins that I liked, however have no reason to use them in practice, because of Amplitube. The free plugins I have liked, I still ran through amplitube and used the Orange Cab IR and bypassed the amp on there.

There are a few reasons I think Amplitube is better. It sounds better than any of the plug ins I've used by far. Also, it has standalone software. I don't have to pull up a DAW session to use it. If I want to record ideas for a song though, it has a 4 track recorder at the bottom of the standalone.

The effects far by pass any effects on the HD500. I do not use presets. It does have some good ones and I have went through a few just to see. I know generally what I'm looking for and I'm able to execute it perfectly with Amplitube. I can't do that with the HD500. I can't even do that with my 1101, although the 1101 still sounds good live with a tube power amp.

Something is missing in the line 6 software compared to amplitube. Line 6 kinda sounds like a toyish, digital version of Amplitube. Although of course amplitube is digital, it doesn't have that sound that makes you think digital when you hear it.

I have even ran Amplitube through a tube power amp, Mesa 50/50, into a Mesa rec cab. I just plugged the monitor outs of the sound card into the power amp. It's pretty impressive when you hear it that way for a live situation as well. Most plug ins, I wouldn't attempt to do that.