Pod XT

Paul King · Post by **Paul King** » 12 Dec 2004 6:38 am

I was looking at some of the websites this week and saw where David Spires was using a Pod XT. I am wondering if any other steelers are using the Pod XT or what is the most popular effects unit that most steelers are using today. Christmas is around the corner and maybe Mrs. Clause might just get me something for being such a great guy this year. I don't have to tell what her response would be to that.

John Sluszny · Post by **John Sluszny** » 12 Dec 2004 11:08 am

Paul,I bought mine last month.It sounds great,it's very quiet.David Spires' settings are great to start with and are a good starting point to further experimenting(different amps,cabs,efx,etc...)It takes a little while to get used to, but I'm sure you'll like it.My best regards to Mrs Clause.

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 12 Dec 2004 12:51 pm

I've had one a little over a month. Been using it as an "effects processor" with a Nashville 1000.

I primarily just use a (spring) reverb and digital delay program. But, I've also got one with the rotary horn, another with chorus, another with phase and another with just reverb.

I've got a couple that I could use the Pod Xt for both a preamp and processor.

Brad Sarno · Post by **Brad Sarno** » 12 Dec 2004 2:03 pm

I love my XT. It sits right next to me on my pack-a-seat side hatch. For steel it's only used as an FX processor into my Twin. Great delays, reverbs, modulation FX, and more. Real easy to tweak. Great tuner too. If I play guitar at the gig too, I'll just pick a setting with an amp model to get a more guitar type sound.

Brad Sarno

Randy Pettit · Post by **Randy Pettit** » 12 Dec 2004 7:19 pm

Paul,
I've messed around with a Pod xt for about a year and a half, using it direct to the board, or in front of a Nashville 1000. Do a search on David Spires and the Forum's own poet laureate, Eric West

- those guys have spent countless hours refining various Pod settings for recording and live playing. For straight, clean steel, I took the "Sultans of Swing" preset (Fender Twin with 2x12) and tweaked it a little. There are many other amp/cab combos that sound great as well. It sounds even better now with the 15" speaker cab, but you have to download that from the Line6 website (it's easy).

Dean Parks · Post by **Dean Parks** » 12 Dec 2004 11:21 pm

Hey guys, does the PodXT firmware update work without erasing your custom user presets?

-dean-

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 13 Dec 2004 3:21 am

Yes, the updates wipe out any presets. Use the Line 6 Edit program and you can save your presets to the PC. But the updates are worth it.

But, as they have made major changes, some of the preset parameters may change and you may have to edit them after you reload them, with the Line 6 Edit program.

Chick Donner · Post by **Chick Donner** » 13 Dec 2004 4:26 am

I've got an XT with Ver 2 software. Love it. basically replaced a QuadraVerb GT, after purchasing a Genesis 3 and a Behringer V Amp Pro and using each for only a couple of weeks. Shoulda just got the XT first and been done with it. Great box.

Kevin Hatton · Post by **Kevin Hatton** » 13 Dec 2004 3:37 pm

Is there a distortion setting on it?

Ben Slaughter · Post by **Ben Slaughter** » 13 Dec 2004 4:12 pm

Lots of options for distortion Kevin. You can use the distortions from the amp models OR use one of several models of "stomp box" type distortions.

Brad Sarno · Post by **Brad Sarno** » 13 Dec 2004 4:13 pm

Yea Kevin, it models the Tubescreamer, Big Muff, Rat, Octavia, Fuzz Face, and maybe more. That's just pedals. They also model amps that can be overdriven. Sometimes I'll use an amp model like an old Tweed Fender Deluxe or Bassman to get some dirt, but I'll leave the cabinet modelling off so I don't over-color the sound. The PODxt is pretty cool as far as digital emulation of analog goes.

Brad

Eric West · Post by **Eric West** » 13 Dec 2004 6:50 pm

Poet Laureate indeed... a fat lot of good it does me when I'm wr... wro....w...wron...... well, you know what I mean.

I've had mine for a year.

I'll list the bad first.

The compressors aren't worth much if they are after the volume pedal. Neither are the distortions. The overdrive must be from the drive knob. For all the talk I haven't seen a volume pedal offering that works.

The reverbs aren't stereo, and only one delay, and one chorus are stereo.( Also a stereo pan with adjustable speed. I use it a lot.)

The USB recording function must be recorded and THEN the volume increased in the recording proggy. If you use your amps as a playback source you can splatter your 15 inch BWs. It's that much louder than your recording level. If you choose the Pod as the playback device, mind that you turn the output WAY down.

Now.

I have completely fallen for the Pod. The Fender amp models through a couple hundred clean Peavey watts, are convincing. It's easy to save different settings for different songs and venues, from tiny tweed tubers, to the biggest amp models and a 15 inch speker model. Old plate reverbs, adjustable delays, etc.

OK.

If I had it to do over, I'd have spent the 700 for the Pod xt pro rack mount. It's got controllable I/O volume, and lowz outs. Also a couple other functions.

I have used it every weekend for a year, and a lot of five niters. Hasn't missed yet.

The 299 price puts it on a better footing, but I have gotten my 399 out of mine, and have no plans to scrap it.

I'd go for it WAY before one of those cheapo behringer forgeries.

EJL [This message was edited by Eric West on 13 December 2004 at 06:51 PM.]

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 14 Dec 2004 3:32 am

One thing I haven't got around yet. If I use a "clean" amp/preamp without a speaker emulator, I get distortion if more than one string is picked, e.g. pick strings 4 and 5 at the 10th fret together and there is some intermodulation distortion. But, if a speaker is added to the string the distortion goes away.

This "intermodulation" distortion is the same thing that happens on a lot of older "stomp boxes" with a steel. I had a DOD 565 stereo chorus unit and it would get the "intermodulation" distortion if more than one string was picked (but I used it for a leslie emulator, which worked well, and the distortion was not really apparent).

Tore Blestrud · Post by **Tore Blestrud** » 14 Dec 2004 10:33 am

I have used the POD XT for a couple of months, both recording and live. I love it! I most often end up using the Twin-mod with 2x12, some reverb and delay. In front of a Peavey it sounds really good live (I was abouth to say almost like a real Twin without breaking, but I won't). The Matchless Chief-mod sounds great for overdrive slide-stuff.
Yesterday I played a gig at a club in town, and decided not to bring a heavy Peavey amp out of lazyness. I went stright to the board with a dedicated monitor for myself. The soundman is a real pro, so the monitoring was no problem, and it sounded real nice. Not decided yet if it sounded good enough to drop bringing the amp to "weekday-jobs", but it was nice to know that the POD does the job

David Doggett · Post by **David Doggett** » 14 Dec 2004 1:39 pm

Here's my mixed review, which I've posted before. Up intil my POD XT got stolen, playing the tube preamp or Twin models through my NV400 (200 watts solid state) only sounded good up to moderate volumes. At high volume it began to sound more like a stressed Peavey solid state amp than the tube models. I think to capture the high volume tube sound you would need 300 or more watts of clean, hifi ss power. The Vetta amp, that Line 6 designed to use their models, is a 300 watt very hifi amp. A NV 1000 with it's 300 watts might work. Also, a good PA would probably work. Since I can buy real Fender tube amps (silver face Twins, Duals, or Super Twins) much cheaper than a Vetta, I temporarily gave up on that. If I had the money and could return it, I might want to try a Vetta head. The idea of all those models and power in a single relatively lightweight unit is appealing. However, if you wanted to go that route, it might make sense to use a POD with a powerful hifi rack power amp, so that you could trade up in future years when Line 6 comes out with new better PODS. If you don't play really loud, or you always have a good PA to mike your amp or go direct, then you might be happier than I was with the tube models.

Other than the volume problem, I liked all the vintage effects (over a dozen kinds of reverb), and the headphone jack. A good thing is that you can preset the gain and volume for the distortion you want, and they will automatically be at the same place the next time you use the preset. My current Digitech 100 is a poorly designed piece of junk that makes you reset the gain and volume every time you come back to a preset - useless during a performance. It's not a stomp box, it's a stomp-and-fiddle-with-the-gain-and-volume-knobs-through-the-first-verse box.

The POD tuner sucked. It was only stable enough to use on my uni's high strings.

Now that I have real tube amps to play through, I don't need those amp models. When I get the bread, I might buy another POD just to get all those effects. You get about 30 effects for the price of about 3 separate stomps. [This message was edited by David Doggett on 14 December 2004 at 01:47 PM.]

Ben Slaughter · Post by **Ben Slaughter** » 14 Dec 2004 2:48 pm

I'd say the PODxt is the most versitile box you could get. For six string, if you need to sound like Van Halen and Brent Mason in the same set, or for steel, if you need to sound like Paul Franklin and Duane Allman in the same set, it's all there. For that matter, if you are doing double duty on guitar and PSG, I think, the POD is the only way to fly. Just set your amp to zero and away you go.

If you're into one sound, all night long, there's probably more efficient ways to get there.

Like Eric, I'm kind of wishing I'd got the Pro, rackmount model. Had the POD 2.x Pro, and liked that, but $300 is less than $700.

Dave Ristrim · Post by **Dave Ristrim** » 15 Dec 2004 5:11 am

I love my PODxt and PODxt Pro. I have heard negative things about them, like "not enough gain", but have worked around those issues. I have played most of my Buddy Jewell shows direct with the rack PODxt Pro.
Dave Ristrim

Scott Appleton · Post by **Scott Appleton** » 15 Dec 2004 9:13 am

I love the pod xt clean line 6 no speaker into 200 watts and 1 JBL 12 and 1 JBL 15 great combo.

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Mullen S12 Almost Mooney
71 Tele, Regal 45
Sho Bud S10 NP
Line 6 Flextone 3 + JBL D130, Nash 112

Terry Sneed · Post by **Terry Sneed** » 15 Dec 2004 1:20 pm

Question about the Pod xt verses the Pod 2.0
I read in another thread the 2.0 was not as good as the xt. some were sayin it had a muddier sound than the xt, true?
Terry

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Zum D10 /8x5 / session 500rd
steelin for my Lord

Ben Slaughter · Post by **Ben Slaughter** » 15 Dec 2004 3:36 pm

Terry that was probably me. The XT is head and shoulder above the 2.0 and I have both and have used both for PSG. Is much more difficult (if not impossible) to get a good sparkling clean tone out of the 2.0. The 2.0 is a waste of time at this point, IMO.

In the XT, not only are the amp models better, but you also have the added feature of the FX models. It's really like having two units, 1) an amp modeler and 2) an FX box (like a ProFex or TubeFex). Plus the speaker cab emulation AND the mic emulation.

The big thing for PSG is there's a TON more clean headroom in the XT. Basically you can get a stronger clean signal than the 2.0. I always found that you had to keep the output level really low to get anything approaching a clean signal from the 2.0. Then you had to turn your amp or trim up really high, then the whole signal chain gets really noisy.

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 16 Dec 2004 7:06 am

I have the POD XT programs that I am using on my web site. You can download them and load them into your POD XT with the Line 6 Edit program (free from Line 6).

These are just some programs I came up with quick to use. Someday I'll tweak them and have better ones.

http://web.tampabay.rr.com/jstoner1/podxt.htm

Terry Sneed · Post by **Terry Sneed** » 16 Dec 2004 10:36 am

Thanks Ben, I think the xt will be the unit I get when I'm able to get one.

Terry

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Zum D10 /8x5 / session 500rd
steelin for my Lord

Tom Diemer · Post by **Tom Diemer** » 16 Dec 2004 8:02 pm

I like my XT a lot, mostly for recording sans amp, never really liked it in front of an amp - too colored and hard to control. Then I learned reading Line 6's discussion board how to hook it up correctly. They say to use it with an amp, set it to live 2x12 or 4x12 (sets the output to mono), connect it to the power amp in of your amp, bypass the preamp completely.

I hooked it to my NV400 that way. The sound is incredible. The twin module sounds just like a twin, etc.

I added the optional amp models from the line 6 web sight, including the one called "Dual Verb" Dual showman model. That one amp model was worth the additional cost imho. Sounds great with steel, and with my tele, strat, and Epi Dot(335 clone)6 stringers.

Curious if anyone else has tried connecting theirs like this? I assume if you leave it in direct mode and connect two amps, you would be able to use the stereo effects. Maybe I'm the only one that didn't know to do it this way?

I have a Peavey Stereo Chorus 400 (superb steel amp imho), soon as I can get the parts to make the cabling to connect to those dual i/o jacks, I want to try hooking it to that in stereo.

Ben Slaughter · Post by **Ben Slaughter** » 17 Dec 2004 10:50 am

I hate to hog this thread, but...

Tom, I went through the same thing where I couldn't get a good tone through an amp (this was back in the 2.0 days). Then I figured out that if you use the "power-amp" input OR you set all your amps EQs to ZERO (12 o'clock on Peaveys, a little different on Fenders), and let the POD be the pre-amp, that's how it is supposed to work, and does quite well.

You can use 2 amps and take advantage of the stereo FX. Also, don't quote me on this, but I think that when you set it to "live" mode, you loose all the speaker cabinet simulation and the mic simulations. So, you gotta play with it.

Karl Oberlander · Post by **Karl Oberlander** » 17 Dec 2004 12:54 pm

I was looking at a POD but opted for the Guitar Rig instead. It's a new type of thing for effects using a PC/laptop and a foot stomper. I love this thing. Just going through the presets was a kick and it got a ton of different effects you can utilize. Even has duwl virtual tape decks that you can use to loop and play overdubs. Great with either a guitar or a lapsteel.

Kobe

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Gibson D-8 Console Grande - Stringmaster T-8 - Alkire EHarp D-10
Fender Super Reverb
kobe@austin.rr.com
http://home.austin.rr.com/kobeco