The Steel Guitar Forum

I have seen alot of people talk about the Pod Xt so I looked it up online today. I saw that it has a Leslie effect but I could not find a sample of that on the website. Does anyone have a sample of what this effect sounds like running through the Pod xt.

Thanks
Bill

I use the Leslie effect on the PODxt all the time when out with the band. It's great for
blues flavored stuff. I don't have a sample right off hand, but I can tell you both the slow
& fast speeds sound good. It's not quite the
same as my Motion Sound Pro-3T which has an actual rotating horn....and it's probably not
quite as good as a Rotosphere, but the PODxt definitely does a decent job!

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It's not a stereo effect, and the speeds are immediate and only two fixed ones.

The "auto pan" however, is stereo, and has a choosable speed.



EJL

<SMALL>It's not a stereo effect, and the speeds are immediate ...</SMALL>

On my Pod 2, the effect gradually speeds up and slows down when the speed is changed, fairly similar to an actual Leslie rotor. I use it to add texture and soften things up a bit. It sounds pretty authentic in a live setting. I have had musicians come up to ask where I put the Leslie cabinet.

It's not a stereo effect, but neither is a single live Leslie cabinet. My real Leslie also has only two speeds - the idea is to really simulate a Leslie cab. I think it works pretty well.

Hmm. Seems like unless you have someone else run it you couldn't change speeds while you are playing it. How do you do it?

Mine's of course an xt..

EJL

Same way as I switch speeds on my real Leslie / Hammond A-100 - I reach over and switch it with my right hand. I keep my Pod on a stool just to my right. To change the speed, hit the tempo button twice - a short interval between the hits gives the fast setting, a long interval gives the slow swirl. Or, one can have two separate patches juxtaposed - then just hit the up or down button. It can be switched pretty quickly.

If you want to use your feet, Line 6 also makes a simple foot pedal that switches between four patches.

This is one of the things I like about the Pod 2 - the real knobs allow one to do things pretty rapidly onstage.

You guys that have the pod 2.0 how do you control the noise? I had one, and the buzz was unbearable.

Terry

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Mullen RP D10 /8x5 / Nashville 112/ American Tele
pickin for Jesus

I think the Leslie sound of the XT is decent. My biggest complaint is that it's not stereo so not all that suitable for recording. I don't know if this would work, but if anyone has the optional expression pedal for the XT maybe it's possible to assign that to the Leslie rate to gradudally change it?

Another thing you can do with the newest update is add in a little pitch shifting with the 5th to get a drawbar type of thing going (idea stolen from b0b).

Terry, some of the amp models are noisy, some are not. On the Pod and Pod 2, Line 6 talked about making the models as close to the original amps as possible, noise included. Really, my old tube amps are just as noisy as the Pod patches - even more noisy if we're talking about a high-gain tube amp. Engineers have complained about noise from single-coil pickups and tube amps for a long time.

It is possible to tweak some of this noise out, but on the Pod 2, some of the parameters can only be changed via a MIDI cable to a game port or sound card with MIDI inputs, using "deep edit" mode. With XT, all parameters are available easily on the Pod itself, and deep editing uses a USB cable, much easier.

They're two different beasts, both good, IMO. I split steel and guitar a lot, and I really prefer Pod 2 for guitar, and have found a way to make it work for steel also. I'm sure I'm not alone here - Line 6 continues to manufacture and sell the Pod 2 - $199 instead of $299 for a new Pod XT - not enough of a difference in price if everybody views the XT as totally superior, methinks. I know several guitar players that emphatically prefer Pod 2.

On the Leslie effect not being stereo - well, a real Leslie is a 3-dimensional effect. I can imagine two ears hearing significantly different things up close, but it seems to me that from a distance, where most listeners are, it's pretty close to a point source. Sure, it would be nice to have the stereo field to simulate multiple mics, but I'm not sure how critical it is. Anyway, I think the Pod sounds best when run through a good clean but warm-sounding amp and mic'd. YMMV, of course.

A "leslie" simulates the "doppler effect" (change in apparent frequencey)that you get when a train passes. A stereo wouldn't really emulate the doppler effect as it needs to emulate from one source, not two sources or split between two sources.

You need something, like the old rotating horn for the effect, which is not stereo or something that will emulate the rotating horn. The rotating horn is what I use in my POD XT for my Leslie effect. The POD XT program that I use is avaliable for downloading on my web site (it is an effect only - no premap or speaker modeling). www.gulfcoaststeelguitar.com

I think what people are saying about doppler effect vs. stereo effect and distance of listener from a real Leslie speaker are all valid, but I know for recording a real leslie it's nice to use more than one mic to create a stereo field, which is not possible with the XT.

That said I am very glad I bought my XT and use it all the time.

Thanks Dave for your info. If I'm goin to pay $200 for the pod 2 to get a good Tele tone, I think I'd rather go ahead and spend another $100 for the xt, because I'd like to be able to use it with my steel also. And the xt is very quiet.

Terry

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Mullen RP D10 /8x5 / Nashville 112/ American Tele
pickin for Jesus


<font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Terry Sneed on 14 June 2006 at 06:02 PM.]</p></FONT>

Terry,

all the noise was gone when I istalled the 2.2 chip in my POD. The difference was unbeliebeable.

Martin, how much was the chip? And did you install it yourself?

Terry

Someone is selling a used XT on the forum for a great price.

Hi Terry,

as far as I remember I got the chip through an endorsement deal that someone else had. I can't remember if they sold it seperatly, but I installed it myself, piece of cake with the manual.

I guess Line 6 doesn't support the old 2.0-PODs anymore since the XT employs a totally different electronic design. I'd get an XT in a minute if I could afford one. Maybe you can drop them a line and ask about the chip upgrade...

Thanks Martin. I just ordered a Podxt. But I'll have to sell a few items to pay for it.

Terry

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Mullen RP D10 /8x5 / Nashville 112/ American Tele
pickin for Jesus