The Steel Guitar Forum

Is anyone on here using one of these for guitar or steel either? If so, what is your overall opinion of the unit?

OK in a pinch, or carrying to jam sessions. Great if you just have earplugs, or are recording a dry signal.

It also has stereo output if you adapt a 1/8" stereo plug to two 1/4" plugs.

Guts are Pod 2.0. The Delay is OK, the compression passable, reverb sucks.



EJL

Great for practice!

I didn't like using it live.

I have been using one for only a short time for both steel and 6-string. I've stuck primarily to the delay, compression and EQ to this point. I'm relatively satisfied. The price:performance ratio is reasonable for me. I like the ability to program it using the computer and USB. I agree that it is difficult to use live. Small buttons, small display make it tough for stubby fingers and old eyes.

I am also trying the tube preamp setting for my acoustic instrument pickups - but have not tried those outside of my basement yet.

Eric - could you expand on why you don't like the reverb?

Darvin,
I used it with my Nashville 112 for a gig that was kinda informal. It was ok and I'd use it again if the situation came up. It and the 112 makes a decent light weight setup. It's not as good as the Pod xt.
Dale

I tried my friends after Christmas and couldn't find anything clean that didn't have some distortion in it.
Nobody here has mentioned such a problem, and I was suprised to not find a truly clean sound. Did I miss something, or a lot?

Sorry not to see this til now..

Of course..

It seems to be more of a "blended delay" with more of a "boingy" "echoey" sound than the Podxt models. More "plate" sounding, which is not my particular preference.




EJL

To expand on what Eric states, the Pocket Pod is based on the recent version of the Pod 2 - they changed the DSP chip for the Pod 2 in the last couple of years from the original Pod 2 DSP chip. I've tried both the recent Pod 2 and Pocket Pod now, and the spring reverb is very grainy and "boingy", as he says.

My point is that - if you have used an older Pod 2 and liked the reverb (I do - I consider it largely comparable to something like a Holy Grail), don't necessarily expect the reverb on the newer Pod 2 or Pocket Pod to be the same. They are very significantly different, to my ears.

On any of these Pod 2 based units, I have found it possible to get away from the distorted patches. But to get the clean sounds I want, I generally need to edit the factory patches. I usually just go in and "deep edit" them to get the full range of parameters. Some of them have "Boost" switches that are best edited in "deep edit" mode. I have to admit that I never got very far into testing the Pocket Pod - for me, really bad-sounding reverb is a showstopper.

Of course, that's all just my opinion. YMMV and all that.

I bought one, hoping to replace my POD XT as it was smaller and I only use the POD XT for effects (No amp modeling or speaker modeling). But, after trying it for a couple of days and not finding anything I liked I sent it back to Musician's Friend.

Construction is very cheap.......plastic body and knobs. I was expecting more, but at $130, about par.

I like it VERY much for what it is. Cheap portable earplug amp / jam session effects rack, even a passable telecaster stereo pod 2.x.

It does have it's drawbacks and I have a Podxt I use for one nighters and an xtLive for Sit Down ( THAT'S WEEKENDS ANYMORE FOR THOSE OF YOU IN Los Gatos..) gigs.

The xts have the only "perfect" settings, and capabilities. Especially the xtLive with a compressor BEFORE the VP when you're using it for tele.

Like I said. I like the Pocket pod for what it is.



EJL