Sorry,...... POD?

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Smokepole

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I read through a ton of posts this morning but won't buy another item without posting with you gentleman first.

Not after the satisfaction I'm getting from my DMP3 and RNC.

Is the POD a good way to go? If so, which one? My guitar amp, although nice and portable, doesn't record worth a shit. (Roland Cube 100)

I write and play everything from country to jazz, easy listening to rock. I'm recording alone so it's basically one track at a time. The only effects I really like are slight delay at times and maybe a little chorus once in a while. Good clean tones and warm overdrive sounds are a must. I really am not looking for that highly processed sound. I do have some effects in my deck and also a digital delay pedal. I read some posts saying they weren’t to fond of the effects in the POD.

Any surprises out there like that RNC




Does the POD come in a nice box?
 
POd does not come in a nice box, but they sell agig bag for it. I use POD Pro, the rack mounted version, which has the same effects, but more comprehensive I/O's- also functional as a direct box for almost anything. Hell we use it for a DI with a Celtic lap harp with an old Barcus-Barry transducer.-Richie
 
some alternatives worth looking into are the tech21/sansamp line of products. I've been using a sansamp original lately and it is awesome. I've had it for years and recently went to the local guitar center to compare to the pod, behringer v-amp, and digitech genesis 3. On tube sounds, it held it's own very well and actually edged them all in certain aspects. where it failed miserably was user interface in comparison.. but it is just a little stomp box.
 
Sorry Pod. Although the pod is a good cheap alternative to the home recordist, I much prefer the sound of a vox ac30, a Marshall or a messa boogie. Theres no substitute for a good valve amp. The roland cube 100 is basically a good bass practice amp. Guitars are going to sound pretty crap through it. Theres a lot of praise around here for the pod. This is home recording and most of us can aford a pod tomorrow, but a good valve amp cost the same as a cheap car.
Something else to think about. Pods have a shit load of options. And its a fun toy which could have you playing around with it more than actually just playing. Do you really need all those options. Brian may used a vox ac30 for everything. Hendrix used a marshall for everything. If you play everything from country to rock then either of these amps will give you all the sounds you need much better than dialing in a british quad box sound from your pod. In 3 years time your pods buttons will be failing or you'll be constantly downloading geeky upgraded sounds to try and (waste time) make it sound way cool (waste time) and over a 10 year period (wasting time, getting older) you'll have gone through 3 or 4 of these wicked fun little boxes but a vox or a marshall is there for life.

Scott Tansley
www.feel-rock.com
 
Good points guys, thanks so far

Scott, I loved the sound of my old 50-watt Marshall and am sorry I ever got rid of it, but it didn't have a real lot of versatility in my opinion. The guys you mentioned sounded great and used the equipment well but didn't try to sound or play like George Benson or Larry Carlton the next day.

You are right though; I would rather have some amps too.

I would be real satisfied with my old Marshall an old Twin and an old Boogie and maybe new Jazz Chorus.
 
Scott Tansley said:
and over a 10 year period (wasting time, getting older) you'll have gone through 3 or 4 of these wicked fun little boxes but a vox or a marshall is there for life.

Scott Tansley
www.feel-rock.com
Click to expand...
Over a 10 year period, you have bought 5-10 sets of tubes for your Marshall or Vox, and a set of tubes cost as much as a Digitech Genesis 3 (which is IMHO next to the Sansamp PSA-1 the best amp sim right now... it totally smokes the POD).
Ofcourse I agree that a REAL amp sounds better if miced and mixed properly, but recording your Dual Rectifier 2x 4x12" stack at 2am ain't gonna happen in your HOME RECORDING studio... that's where the amp modelers come in play:
-easyness
-versatility

Setting up a Marshall JCM800 w/ 4x12" Greenbacks, biasing it, placing your fav. guitar mics (think SM57, Sennh. e609,MD421, Royer R121, Coles 4038), test-tracking it, reset the mics, and finally recording it takes a lot of time, money and trouble...
And I believe that when a amp modeler like a Digitech genesis 3 gets there for like 95%, I'll rather pay $300-400 for that NOW, than
$2000 VOX AC30
$3000 Mesa Dual Rectum Frier
$500 2nd handed JCM800
$1500 Fender Blackface Twin reissue
etc. etc.
$79 SM57
$300 MD421
$2000 R121
$200 cabling
etc. etc.

get the point, Mr. HOME recorder? ;)
 
Scott Tansley said:
Sorry Pod. Although the pod is a good cheap alternative to the home recordist, I much prefer the sound of a vox ac30, a Marshall or a messa boogie...
Click to expand...
Yea... Yea... Yea...
It never fails, a guy asks a POD question and we get an answer about how much better spending 5K would be...Duh...This is like asking about a Grand Piano Sample and getting the repsonse that "...a Steinway in Carnegie Hall sure sounds a lot better..."

Smokepole,
The POD may be too processed for you. I've gotten pretty good results comparing it to my BF Champ and Princeton Reverb. Also, the Greenback cabinet emulation does a decent job. If you decide on the POD or similar, you may want to consider PC software to control it. I use Patchwizard with my POD and this makes significant differences in my ability to control it.

Presently I have a JCM-800, BF Champ, BF Princeton Reverb, BF BandMaster, and a 4x12 Greenback loaded cabinet and the POD is not what I would call a cheap sound. Is it exact, no, but it can be a good tool in the studio.
 
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Smokepole said:
I would be real satisfied with my old Marshall an old Twin and an old Boogie and maybe new Jazz Chorus.
Click to expand...

Just fyi, I get some pretty damn convincing sounds out of my sansamp going into my Roland jazz chorus 120 with a compressor. How convincing? Well, sitting it next to my Marshall, the only difference is the "feel". I attribute most of that to the difference in cabinet... closed back marshall compared to open back roland. Hell, I out marshalled my buddy's valvestate with that set-up! The boogie sounds dont' sound much like my v-twin. That's my only boogie reference. I have no fender references other than recordings, but I'm in love with the sansamp fender sounds. I can get some nice SRV, EJ, and chicken picken tones via my Musicman Sillouhette Special.
 
Thanks again so far
JR#97 which model are you using, what price range.

The Sans Amp PSA-1 seems to be about $500

Digitech Genesis 3 and the Pod about $250-$300

Correct me on these prices, I haven't price shopped yet just trying to check out some of this stuff on google

Sonixx you're right about me not wanting a real processed sound. (All right, I am an old fart) The effects are not real important to me either. Just some variety of classic tones that will make nice recordings without a lot of background noise or hiss. I'm not using a computer when I record so software probably is not an option. This computer is real old, it was free.

Thanks guys
Joe
 
Fucking arsholes........just kidding.
But the question was "Is the POD a good way to go?"
For most home recordist the pod IS the way to go. Valve amps are too loud(never stoped me) and like I said they cost as much as a cheap car. But I was just answering the fucking question.

I'll definatelly think twice about giving any advice on guitar sound from now on. Its not worth the fucking agro.

Buuuuuuuuurp...
 
If you like clean or slightly grungy tones I don't think the POD is a great choice. It is cool for balls out distortion but it doesn't seem to translate subtle distortion and dirt very well. There seems to be an obvious switch between clean and distorted while playing. It just doesnt handle that subtle overdrive very well.

For blues and classic rock I think a Fender Blues Jr and some distortion pedals will give you better results.
 
how about someone post some mixes with pod and amp so he can see the difference, i would but i'm not home right now. I like my marshall dsl401 tube amp. Speeddemon, I can record in my house till 4am if I want. It's pretty sound proof being underground and all. But if you aren't so lucky the POD does allow easy recording. It can sound too processed if you follow a simple preset.
 
Sorry, not to be unnecessarily negative, but the POD always sounds very cheap and processed to me. It is versatile though.

I think the Yamaha DG Stomp is the best tube emulator.

In order of sound quality:
1. Real tubes: Even from a very cheap tube amp. They may not be versatile, but can usually be tweaked to a good tone or two.
2. DG Stomp: Pretty good, pretty versatile
3. GT6: More versatile, not quite as realistic.
4. J-Station: Versatile but synthetic
5. POD: Versatile but cheap and synthetic.
6. Humming the part into a radio shack mike: Actually, this tone beats the POD, but it is hard to stay in tune.

Sorry, I never tried the sansamp, or some others.
Just my opinions.
 
I just sold a Pandora PX3. It had about 40 preset tones that were so cool....... for about 15 minutes. Once reality set in I really only liked 2 or 3. The tones were named after players, like B.B. My favorite was the guy named " BYPASS"??????( he really had a clean sound)

I don't want to make that same mistake
 
keilson said:
how about someone post some mixes with pod and amp so he can see the difference,
Click to expand...

I don't record with the POD. I only use it for jamming and rough song demos. (Take that for what it's worth).
 
You're all on crack!
The POD rocks. I've had mine for almost 3 years, and it's never failed me. Of course, I dropped it a bunch of times, and now the headphone output is a little freaky, but the knobs work great, the sounds are great, and all the other i/o is great.

The best thing about the POD is that I can dial up a very good sound for whatever tune I'm working on in about 30 seconds. Then I'll record a pass or two, listen back, and then go and work on the sound for another minute or two, and by this point I'm usually 99% happy with it. That other 1% that I might be looking for in a sound is something that I will never get without spending an extra $5-10k on amps, and an extra $3k on soundproofing.

I have a few old (all pod) songs out there, http://charger.iuma.com .
 
charger, all i gotta ask is where the heck are you buying equipment. You can get tube amps for way less than that. The POD is ok for some types of sounds, but it just doesn't cut it all the time. And no offense but I don't really like the sound you got on those tracks.
 
i have 4 tube amps, none of them very expensive, and they're all great for getting at least one usable sound. But I also have neighbors and a fifteen month old child. I don't know why people are so elitist about this, the pod sounds good. it's 300 bux for 32 amps, what do you expect, a fucking matchless?

Hey keilson, to each his own, you asked for examples of the POD sound, I gave them, now I'm sorry I posted them for you. At least I have the guts to post audio, unlike most people in these POD/amp arguments.
 
calm down man.....the pro's are the one's that can take some criticism. as shown
 
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