Best non-guitar amp for live direct use and POD XTL

[markD]

when i play small jazz or wedding gigs i will use my POD 2.0 into a peavey 2000 PA amp into a klipsch 3 way PA speaker. it works perfect. kind of my own mini, mono PA system. the peavey is 1000 watts per side at 4 ohms. the klipsch can handle 800 watts continuous. while i NEVER crank it to that level, the clean power that is available allows the POD to sound exactly like it does through headphones or my powered studio monitors.

[jwoods986]

Tech 21 Power Engine series. They are made exactly for this.

[NextInLine]

Tech 21 Power Engine series. They are made exactly for this.

Agreed, no pre-amp, just a power amp with a celestion speaker = Tech 21 Pe-60. They have more powerfull models, but I think they don't have speakers just a power amp like a guitar head.

I use 2 pe-60's with my pod xt, stereo and they sound great

[Thor Von Clemson]

Next in Line... how loud can those things get? I need something that is loud enough for rehersal at least. We practice at a high volume.

[jgcable]

I have tried all the suggestions mentioned above. Trust me... the best solution for a live loud sound in stereo is to use a tube power amp and 2 cabinets (or a 2 x 12 or 4 x 12 cabinet wired in stereo).
Tubes will give you the punch, warmth and volume. Running in stereo will give you a wider sound. If you don't need stereo... the 5150 is a great amp to power the XT Live. Just plug it into the effects return of the 5150. The other cool thing is that if the XT Live craps out you always have the 5150 to play through.

[NextInLine]

Next in Line... how loud can those things get? I need something that is loud enough for rehersal at least. We practice at a high volume.

I can use just one of them for small gigs. (like gigs at pubs/bars I don't know how you call them ) I don't know how Ioud is loud for you or not but I think they are loud enough for me.

To give some examples, I never used them at max volume, and I can use one of them while the other guitarist of my band uses a 4x12 cab. Hope this helps

[jgcable]

The Tech 21 PE-60 is nice but it has 2 features that will not work for you if you are in a metal band with a loud drummer.
1. Its a 1 x 12. 1 12" speaker is not enough to play with a loud drummer and bass player.
2. Its an open back cabinet. Open back cabinets suck for metal. Its VERY hard to dial in a tight tone. I use a combination of open back and closed back cabs but if I bring just one it has to be at least 2 x 12's and a closed back design.

[hammer84]

I use either my Atomic Reactor, or a BOSE PAS. I have both and use them according to the gig.

If you want LOUD you need to follow JG's advice. Get a nice tube poweramp ans a couple of cabs.

[chrisolson]

I used an ALesis RA-100 reference power amp, plugged my POD Pro into it, and ran it stereo into a pair of Marshall 1936 2x12 cabs. It sounded WONDERFUL. You can mess around with the cab sims to find something to your liking, but I left mine pretty much with whatever the default sims were. I was hapy with that for a number of years. Wish I had that set-up back...

[fritzreiser]

I just ordered a Traynor K4 Keyboard amp for use with my PODxt Live. I'll let you know how that works out after it arrives on Monday.

Check out the specs for the K4 and K2 amps. They sound like they were made with modelers in mind.

I got the K4 yesterday shipped in a box with no packing materials whatsoever. Just the amp in a plastic bag. Needless to say it suffered a good deal of shipping damage and it sounds like garbage. So, I can't give a fair assessment of this option for you.