The Steel Guitar Forum

I have been playing without amps for years thanks to the POD technology. Now that I have gotten serious about PSG, I am sticking with the idea of going ampless w/ears again. IMHO you have your reverb-delay-chorus-amp and speaker config in ONE unit!! Has anyone tried it? Hated it? Loved it? Pro's? Cons?

Let the opinions flow!!!

I seen Franklin using one not long ago, but i think he was using it with a walker preamp. I compared a pod with a profex using a Walker amp, it sounded cleaner to me, better definition between notes on chords. These were both the super-dooper model.

I use the PodXT and like the all-in-one functionality, but I run it into a Nashville 400. Sometimes I put a Seymour Duncan Twin Tube Classic between the Pod and the amp for a "tube-y-er" sound.

I've heard great results with good buffers, preamps, and tube power amps...but, I'll stick with my tube amps for now. Little more to maintain, but, I like the mic'd sound better than DI'd.

-vwg

There are several of us using POD XT's for Pedal Steel. I've developed some effects only programs and Tommy Dodd, who sells POD XT's, sells a holder that connects to a steel leg and also has a set of POD XT programs for steel that include preamps, effects, etc.

The POD is not very good for Pedal Steel, the POD XT is the desireable model.

There are many threads in the Electronics section on the POD XT.

I had a SpiderIII cab once and while it did everything you could want as far as effects, it did not do it well. This kind of soured me on Line6 products. Have not tried the POD so can't comment on that.

I had a pod for a year or so. I tried a friends digitech rp150 and it sounded better than the pod, so I got one and sold the pod.

When I started playing pedal steel, I used a Deluxe Reverb, which was also my main amp for guitar. It sounded great with steel at low volumes, but it got to the point where I couldn't get it loud and clean enough, even with a lot of tweaking - high-headroom speakers, 5751 tube in the first preamp position, and so on. So I started messing around with the super-clean solid-state Peavey pedal steel amps, which I initially didn't care for. I took some time to dial in my Pod 2 to my old blackface Deluxe Reverb, and it really was quite convincing, so I started using it a lot for both guitar and pedal steel at higher volumes than the 'real thing' would work for. I tried a Pod XT, but I didn't think that specific Deluxe Reverb emulation was right, to my tastes, no matter what I did.

As I developed on steel more, I started figuring out how to dial in the loud & clean Peavey amps. When I got a Peavey Tubefex with some good pedal steel presets, I pretty much became dissatisfied with the Pod for pedal steel - that Deluxe Reverb sound was good for some things, but for others it wasn't quite crisp and clean enough for me. I still frequently use the Pod 2 for guitar - I can generally avoid bringing two amps if I preamp a Peavey pedal steel amp using the Tubefex for pedal steel and Pod 2 for guitar.

I imagine that I would be much happier with the Pod XT if I took Jack Stoner's approach of using just the effects for steel, but I've never warmed up to the XT for guitar, so I guess I'll just leave well enough alone.

In a pinch I can run the Tubefex (for steel) and Pod 2 (for guitar) straight into the PA, but I much prefer having a good, clean pedal steel amp in the back line.

If I remember right, the thing that I didn't like was the fact that I couldn't seem to get a good lightly overdriven tube sound that I liked. I could get a lot of really distorted sounds and some pretty cool effects. Many times I thought I liked the sound I had, but then I'd take the pod out of the circuit, and it just seemed like the tone quality was always a little fuller. It just sounded a little cheap and cheesy with the pod.
I also got that "extra out of tune note modulation distortion" sound with the tube amp simulators. Even the ones that were supposed to sound clean. I remember thinking if my tube amp sounded like that at low clean levels, I'd send it to Ken Fox to get the filter caps replaced.
I tried recording with it straight to the board once, and the engineer said he was getting too much noise, and he didn't like the sound of it. It was a bluesy song with distorted steel/slide guitar sound. We ended up going through a distortion pedal that just happened to be there, straight into the board. He liked the sound and noise level better. One of the reasons I got the pod in the first place was I thought if might keep me from having to carry an amp in some situations. I just never found that situation.
With the rp150, I can add effects with a little more subtlety. It's still easy to play with the knobs enough that the processed sound, overshadows the guitar and amp sound. Jacks approach is the right one. Start with a guitar and amp sound you like, and use the effects unit to sweeten it a little.
Sometimes it's hard to decide who's playing the guitar, and who's playing an effects unit.

I have been using my POD XT Live for a few with guitars, until I realized I did prefer amps by far.
Now I use it mostly for quick demo recordings or very small clubs gigs.
I think it's a nice "tool", as good as a great simulation can be, but being capable of too many effects it's maybe easier to get a bad tone rather than a very good one.
I have never really used it on PSG and I will surely try.

Have any of you great POD/pedal steel tones to share?

Wow...I thank all of you for the great posts!!! Through being an engineer all these years...I have always put my trust into our house guy and my in ears. Once I started listening to a mix rather than individual sounds, it clicked!! I found that something that sounds GREAT in the mix...can sound pretty crappy by itself. That is mainly why I have gone ampless for so many years. I have used the XTPROLive on my tele rig w/Boss CS2 and a tuner and have just fell in love with it. I was going to try the 2.0 for the steel rig.

Although modeling is still in its infancy, I think it has found itself a niche in the industry.

AGAIN..thanks so much for all of the input!! (no pun intended).

I've been using a Pod Pro almost a year along with a Lexicon MX200 in the studio going direct and it works fine for me.

Tony

I've been recording using my POD XT direct to my Focusrite Saffire Pro 40 and then to Sonar (8.5.3 PE). I record dry and add whatever I want in the mixdown.

I have a preamp program, just for recording.

I have a podxt and it is good, but this weekend i picked up a Vox Tonelabs SE I had stored to run my Asher lap steel through. For the stuff I'm playing, I'm enjoying the vox over the podxt.

Yes, for traditional clean steel sounds, PodXT works well for recording .

Try the Twin amp model, but use the Class A cabinet, and "mic" model off-axis... 57, 421, and 67 all sound OK depending on the brightness of your steel.

Keep in mind that the Twin model is extremely touchy regarding interaction between all the tone controls... tweak extensively and save often. Also save several, so you can come back with fresh ears to check your work.

To hear some great steel thru a pod, listen to sound bytes on the Tommy Detamore site. Details on which song is Pod can be found in an older post.. sorry if this is no longer current:
http://steelguitarforum.com/Forum11/HTML/009355.html

For traditional slide guitar sounds, with a "transition" light overdrive, it's not so easy. A real amp may be better there. Full out crunch can be a little better than light overdrive.

All in all, I like the PodXT better for pedal steel than for guitar. Vox Tonelab can be good for that, as can the Axe-FX by Fractal Audio. I haven't had a chance to chase a steel sound with this last unit yet.

Semi off-topic, anyone tried the Digidesign Eleven Rack for traditional steel guitar?

Definitely like the PodXT better for clean stuff; the distortion models sound fake. That's why I added the tube pedal. I use the line 6 boutique model mostly; it seems "sweeter" that using no model at all.

Here is a couple of samples, I did a song demo project for semi-retired Nashville songwriter Jimmy Peppers last year. It was done with my Franklin and the POD XT direct.

The first one, Love Was The Answer used one of the preamp programs on my web site, dry.

The second one, Don't Give Up Your Day Job was done with an added compressor in the POD XT for a different effect.

Last year I replaced my PODxt Live with the POD X3 Live - both of these have an external expression pedal jack, and any 250k volume pedal works fine. Not only does your signal not pass through the volume pedal, but you can set the minimum and maximum volume levels for it on the X3. This way I have my floor board near my guitar, with the lap steel plugged into the second input, and the volume pedal wherever I need it. Not analog, but it sounds pretty damn good. Line 6 now has the M9, which has the same effects but no amp modelling, and it's much smaller, and also has jacks for expression pedals.

I tried a Pod Pro for a couple of years but never really found the sound I was looking for.

Tony if you don't mind me asking, what amp modeling do you like with the pro?

Harry, I think it's the Blackface Deluxe Reverb I'm using. The Twin sounds pretty good but there's some strange digital overtone something going on so, I can't use it. I have the 2.0 too and it's not as bad. I don't like the reverbs so I use the Lexicon for that. It records great and the studios like the tone I get with it. Works for me.

Tony

I use the XTPROLive for my tele rig...LOVE IT!! but havent fired up my 2.0 for the steel rig yet...for now I am trusting my in ears and of course my house guy...

Setup:
ZumSteel/Stageone
Goodrich L120
Goodrich 6a Super Sustainer
POD 2.0(Chorus-Verb-Delay-Amp Model)
Straight to House...

I've used the PODxt on gigs for a few years now. It's excellent but I've got even more lazy and have been using a Pocket POD (believe it or not).
I just throw it into my pak-a-seat. The only slight pain is you have to do fine tweeking when it's hooked
to your computer (with their software) and then save the setting. But there ARE good tones in there.
You just have to "dig" a little. I feed it directly into a powered speaker cabinet.

I used a Pod X3 for a couple of years and was pretty happy with it. It's a great unit for one stop shopping. If you've got your sounds setup before the gig it makes things really easy. In that price range it's a great unit. I've moved away from it to a Lexicon MX400 and like it a little more. It doesn't give me the same number of options, but I like the reverb and delay sounds a little better. I now have to use some additional pedals to get the same options, but I like the overall sound of my setup now. That being said, I'm not getting rid of my pod.

-Jeff

My favourite settings on the POD XT are the 'Blackface Lux' for clean sounds (for guitar, PSG or bass), and the 'Plexi' settings for overdriven sounds (guitar or PSG). When I record with the POD I just plug it into the sound card of my computer.

I have been using the X3L since it was introduced. I like the fact you can "upgrade" the firmware and effects.