Found MY TONE again!

[chrisolson]

After 4 weeks of f**king around, I brought my POD XT back to GC today. I made a critical decision -- I got a POD 2.0 again! I'M BACK!!! It took a while to figure this out though. I loved my Flextone III XL, but wanted something with a bit more "OOMPH". I bought the POD XT - a VERY cool unit - but I just didn't bond with it. TOOOOO much stuff. I'm a "turn it and burn it" kind of guy. I got that back! I also got the newer version 2.0 (2.3 actually) that is compatible with the FBV Shortboard.

I spent ENTIRELY too much time screwing around with settings I didn't even use with the POD XT. I LOVE the POD 2.0 for the simplicity - an idiot like me can use it without the manual! That's cool... They have addressed some of the "tweakability" issues with added "tap function" doo dads... I'll have to read ANOTHER manual ALL OVER AGAIN. But at least I can get a great tone right out of the box. No complaints there.

My only real issue now is that I have come to really like the sounds I'm getting out of my Crate GT3500H head (laugh if you want...:ROTF: ), and the POD 2 can only support 1 setting as far as the general setup, so I have to choose having it set as "assumes that POD is feeding a flat power amp and that your speakers are a closed back 4x 12 cabinet" (this is what I plan on doing as it goes straight into the power section, bypassing the preamp), or setting it to "assumes that POD is feeding into the front of a Head and your speakers are a 4x12 closed back cabinet. I'm not sure how much effect that will have when using the Crate preamp and the POD for effects. We'll see how it ends up working...

Anyway, I was screwing around with it a bit tonight, and I'm really diggin' what I'm hearing so far. I LOVE Line 6 stuff - sorry about you folks who don't, but to each their own.

Any former POD users that are now using the XT and either hating or loving the differences?

[IrfaanSE801]

I've liked the Line 6 stuff I've had (Spiders, PODs, Flextones), but I outgrew the tones after awhile. Then I had the XT Live which gave me some great tones (well, 1 tone I LOVED) but I spent more time tweaking than playing, so I went with a totally different setup than I love just as much. I do want to try the Vetta, but that's later on. I've already got enough to hold me over and don't need more gear

[chrisolson]

Yeah - the XT is the "tweaker's special" to be sure. That was the problem with it in my eyes...

[Shawn]

I simply thought the XT sounded too "unorganic". I bought and returned 2 of them. To me , the 2.0 is way better.

[Newc]

I'm just the opposite - I'm a techno-gear nerd

I had a POD 2 and an XTL, and neither one had the tweakability and amount of options I'm used to with my older rack gear. They sounded good and all that, and I could get some cool sounds out of them, but I need to find one that has all those amp models AND all the effects I use (as opposed to just models of classic "rock star" effects like the FuzzFace and whatever is good for getting a classic Hendrix/Frampton/Green tone). I need delays, reverbs, choruses, flanges, and phasers I can tweak for MY sound, not something I can turn on and sound like someone else.

Does the Line 6 Distortion Modeler have those amp tones just without the effects or does it just act like every other preamp that's ever been made?

[chrisolson]

Newc -- The L6 Distortion modeler is JUST distortion pedal models. They also made an AM4,which was an Amp Modeler ONLY. No effects. Thought about getting one once. I think they may be disc'd.

About the only effects I use are a little delay and some occasional chorus, although I'm warming up to reverb a bit in place of delay at times. I guess I throw some compression in sometimes as well.

Shawn -- I hear ya!! I KNOW Line 6 stuff, and I just couldn't get anything out of that XT that I liked...and I TRIED!!! It almost drove me crazy. But I can get great stuff out of the 2.0. Even moreso now that it is compatible with the FBV. I just wish the 2.0 had a knob for Presence like the XT did.

[Newc]

Thanks for the tip on the AM4.

[axeman81]

I'm definitely with Shawn. Not only that, but the 2.0 sounds a lot better for metal. they screwed with the microphone emulation in the XT, so I couldn't get my 2.0 patches to sound exactly the same in the XT I bought!!! needless to say, I took it back 2 days after, and so I had to buy a brand new 2.0 again...........(sold the old one to fund XT)

[chrisolson]

I'm on my 3rd POD 2.0 FWIW... I feel your pain!

[chrisolson]

The Crate "love affair" is over. I found out something -- no matter what I do, I cannot turn off the cab sims. So if I use it in the loop of the Crate (using the Crate as a preamp, and the POD for effects ONLY), I have to shut off the speaker sims, which is not really a big deal as long as I don't change any channels on the POD. If I leave them on, it just muffles the sound a bit. BUT - if I use th POD as the preamp, even if I shut off the sims and save it, when I change the channel, they come back on - no matter if I use the "AMP" or "DIRECT" switch. Weird...

Anyway, I decided that since I have found the tone I was missing by going back to the POD 2.0, and was using the POD primarily as my preamp, what was the point of having the Crate around as, essentially, a $600 solid state power amp? Strangely enough, the guy at Guitar Center said the exact same thing when I brought the head back. He said I was better off the way I'm currently doing it. I guess there is honor among thieves! LOL!!

Anyway, I have to do some screwing around with the "cabinet tunings" and see what I get, but when the "A.I.R." comes on (even in the "AMP" mode), it just doesn't sound near as good as it does once I shut that off. I lose the presence and clarity -- it sounds like I'm playing a half mile away. Here's the current setup:

Guitar >> POD 2.0 >>Alesis RA-100 power amp (in stereo) >> B-52 AT412B cab

POD -- A.I.R. switched to "AMP", cab tuning mode A (but I'm messing around with D as well), manually turning cab simulations OFF. That's when it sounds BEST. Or at least most like a "real amp".

Any thoughts here? Anyone know something about this that I'm missing?

[Dreamland_Rebel]

the little AIR switch in between the 2 outs will turn off the cab sim.
also there is a 2 button hold as you turn on (like the reset) where you can then change the output mode. just read the manuel on setup

[chrisolson]

the little AIR switch in between the 2 outs will turn off the cab sim.
also there is a 2 button hold as you turn on (like the reset) where you can then change the output mode. just read the manuel on setup

Yep - I mentioned that above -- "A.I.R. switched to "AMP", cab tuning mode A (but I'm messing around with D as well), manually turning cab simulations OFF. " -- Already been done. No difference. I have read the manual so many times I can almost quote it word for word... If I "tune" the POD according to the manual to my amp setup, and turn the switch to "AMP", theoretically, when you do this, if I turn the cab switch (on the effects wheel) to bypass or no cab, it should sound the same (you're shutting OFF something that shouldn't be ON), but it doesn't, so there's still something on. Kinda pisses me off, because it essentially renders your floorboard useless in the channel changing world... I'll have to screw around with it some more and see if there is SOME WAY OF DISABLING THIS!! Otherwise I'll have to give support a holler...oh, boy!!!

[Dreamland_Rebel]

are you saying that you DO hear a difference when turning the cab select wheel with the AIR switch set to AMP?

if you do not hear a difference then it's working the way it should.

[chrisolson]

Yes. I hear a DISTINCT difference. Makes me wonder... It's like when I spin the dial to the "no cab" setting (on either the DIRECT or AMP setting), it's like pillows have been taken off the speakers. With that said, when I flip between the two AIR settings, there is a sound difference, so I know the switch works. I have the newest version of the POD 2.0 - the one that is compatable with the FBV, so there shouldn't be any upgrades available now...