Pod XT Question

Jon Light (deceased) · Post by **Jon Light (deceased)** » 12 May 2006 10:51 am

Much has been posted about the Pod XT and it makes for an impressive library of knowledge base material. Great job, everybody.
A slightly different angle here, seeking people who have been where I'm coming from.

Has anyone who is using the Pod (or has used and moved on) primarily for its effects done so to replace multiple stomp boxes? I have been on a see-saw of expanding, contracting, expanding, contracting pedalboards. Effects are definitely part of my thing---I like to bring an appropriate palette of colors to each gig, as called for. On a given day it may be a couple of different overdrives or fuzz, Rotosphere, chorus, delay, comp.---it depends on the artist and my ideas of what I can bring to enhance the music.
But I'm in a mode right now where if I could replace a bunch of pedals with a Pod and be happy with the versatility, the quality of the sound, the fingertip tweakability.....it's on my mind. Have any of you been way into pedals, gone with a Pod and been satisfied?

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 12 May 2006 11:56 am

Jon, I'm using mine for effects only. I run the POD XT between my Hilton VP and the input of my amp.

I have my "basic" program with digital delay and reverb, I have another with just a slight amount of reverb, another for chorus, another for leslie, etc.

I've been using mine that way since I got it in Sept 04.

Ron Sodos · Post by **Ron Sodos** » 12 May 2006 12:03 pm

Until last year I had about 6 stomp boxes on the floor with a session 400. I play steel and guitar. I play mostly guitar on the blues and rock tunes we play and steel on country. Then I was given a racknmount Alesis effects device and compressor. It got better. I bought a nashville 1000 and it got even better. No more stomp boxes. Then I went to the Mesa show and met Tommy Dodd who played the show with a POD XT and a small Stewart power amp. I couldn't believe the sound. I bought one and I have been ecstatic. I sold the Nashville 1000 and use the Stewart power amp with 2 15" Black Widows stereo. I have the best steel tone i ever had with any effect i want. I also get perfect guitar tone for blues and rock, including distortion, flange, phase anything i want. The POPD XT has any type of eff3ect you need all programmed into it. If you want to add you can download. It has a USB connection to add tones and effects. Its amazing....I love it. And so much less to carry. No more aching back...

Jay Ganz · Post by **Jay Ganz** » 12 May 2006 1:32 pm

Jon,
Which effects pedals are you looking to eliminate from your set up? The PODxt's effects
are top notch for the most part.

-----------------

Jon Light (deceased) · Post by **Jon Light (deceased)** » 12 May 2006 2:05 pm

I'd ditch the pedalbaord if I could get good Leslie (I absolutely love the Rotosphere and I use the ramp up/down feature a lot---I also use it sometimes at slow speed as a--what? phase/flange/chorus?), good delay (DanEcho on the board) reverb (Holy Grail). I use a Sparkle Drive for grit but I'm starting to think of some higher gain pedals to add to the board---I'd like a Marshally Plexi sound. I'd have a compressor in there but I've run out of room on the board--power supplies for the different voltages plus that big old Roto take up a ton of real estate. I think I've just about talked myself into the Pod. Plus I did like the amp sims on my Pod 2 and I could see getting back into that idea, maybe. Especially since the XT is supposed to be so much better than the 2.
There was a great priced XT package on the forum a few days ago that I wish I had jumped on.

Jay Ganz · Post by **Jay Ganz** » 12 May 2006 5:56 pm

Well, right off....you can't ramp up & down with the PODxt. It does a good job on the Leslie (slow & fast speed) but I'm sure it's not quite a Rotosphere. The reverbs are exceptional & fully tweekable. Delays (analog & digital) also do a great job. In addition to the OD and Fuzz pedals, there's the Marshall Plexi amp (for example) that you can overdrive. Only thing is, it might not be as easy to access all the different settings in a live situation like you would by just stomping on individual pedals.

Billy Murdoch · Post by **Billy Murdoch** » 13 May 2006 12:11 am

Hi All,
I too have been around the houses with stomps and multi fx,in fact if I were to count all the $ I have spent on effects I could probably have bought more Zums.
I had a very good sound with the Boss RV3 and was satisfied until I saw Tommy Dodd at Dallas in March using his Pod XT.
I got a great deal on E bay and have been gigging with it for about a month.
I have (as always) fallen into using only one setting,probably due to laziness,I would welcome any settings which any of the Pod users have found to be good.I did a search and could'nt really find a lot of ideas for programming.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Best regards
Billy

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 13 May 2006 2:04 am

Billy, my, downloadable, POD XT programs are on my web site. www.gulfcoaststeelguitar.com

I'm using the "Rotary Drum+Horn" as my leslie simulator.

Billy Murdoch · Post by **Billy Murdoch** » 13 May 2006 4:38 am

Jack,
Many thanks for the info and what a great website,I will certainly visit often.
Billy

Bo Borland · Post by **Bo Borland** » 13 May 2006 5:12 am

How do you access the programmed settingson the XT?
I have been using a DeltaFex and although I like the effects, accessing them on the fly is not easy. Bt the time I get it dialed in to my liking, the tune is over. I wrote down the settings for each effect I wanted, reading the card and dialing in is not time effective.

Rick Schmidt · Post by **Rick Schmidt** » 13 May 2006 6:28 am

Bo...I'd say you just make your own "patches" on the Podxt, either by editing the factory presets or just by starting from scratch, and then save the most useable ones in a block location in the user memory. You can have a few basic patches with different (pre-edited & saved)stomp box settings that you can simply toggle on and off. It's pretty quick to switch the patches themselves from the "select" button. (a midi switcher could also be a cool tool for that too)

A cool trick is that you can program the "tweek" dial to control any parameter of any one effect on each different patch. I havn't tried it yet, but I'd imagine you could probably simulate a "ramping" mod effect by doing this.[This message was edited by Rick Schmidt on 13 May 2006 at 07:29 AM.]

Jon Light (deceased) · Post by **Jon Light (deceased)** » 13 May 2006 6:37 am

I was just about to say something about your question, Bo but Rick got there first. I know that on the Pod 2 there are a couple of knobs that will adjust the key parameters of whatever effect is selected, stomp box style.

OK--Jay, I know you via the forum for several years and I have high regard for your opinions and facts.
Can you or anyone else confirm that the rotary speaker thing does not ramp up/down? Seems odd since the Pod 2 does this at the touch of a button. I don't mean to harp on this one feature but lately I have three different acts where this is a highly effective effect in one/two songs. (Yeah, I'm probably overdoing it....)

David Spangler · Post by **David Spangler** » 13 May 2006 9:00 am

My experience with pedalboards and multiple stomp boxes was very frustrating. I could get the results I wanted but at the expense of ground loops, hum, intermittent connections and accidentally getting the knobs turned on the stomp boxes which defeated the function of the stomp box.

Back in 1990 I got my first multiple effects processor, a Digitech GSP-21 Legend with the foot controller. For me the initial learning curve was steep and it took a couple months before I was comfortable with playing it live. But I used it successfully for several years and had no desire to go back to the stomp boxes.

Being a gear/geek/tweaker, I have since owned and used a number of multiple effects processors including: Digitech RP-1, RP-12, 2112, 2120, Alesis Quadraverb GT, Boss GP-5, GP-3, GP-6, VF-1 Then Rocktron Chameleon, VooDu Valve, Prophesy, Lexicon MPX-2, Roland GP-100, Line 6 POD, POD Pro, POD XT, POD XT Live, POD XT Pro AND others I can't recall.

My favorites are the Boss VF-1, Rocktron VooDu Valve and the Line 6 POD XT Pro.

For me the 3 favorites have minor disadvantages:

Boss VF-1: No analog output level control
Rocktron VooDu Valve: No built-in tuner
POD XT Pro: only 2 speeds on the Leslie/rotary speaker effect.

I built an oak cab with The POD XT Pro in the top, a Black Widow 1501-4 in the bottom and a Parts Express 250W PA Plate Amp in the back. It does it all, just not set up for stereo, and it's heavy. I have pics and details.

Currently, I am building up a new "super rack" which will house another POD XT Pro, a Stewart World 1.2 power amp, a Korg DTR1000 tuner, an Alesis DEQ230 (MIDI-controllable graphic equalizer) and a Furman power/light unit. I will be using a pair of SS closed 115 cabs with the new Eminence Patriot Commonwealth 15 speakers for stereo or one cab with the amp bridged for mono.

Imagine what I could buy if I was making a LOT of money gigging...

------------------
David Spangler

Jon Light (deceased) · Post by **Jon Light (deceased)** » 13 May 2006 9:19 am

Among the most important attributes of a multi-effector (for me) is on-the-stand- tweakability. This rules out some of the fine sounding rack mount engines with their menus, sub-menus and sub-sub-meus.
The newer generations of units like the Yamaha DG and the Pods and whatever else have so much more appeal by providing analog-like knobs.

Re: rotary speed, here is an excerpt from the XT manual:
<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>The SPEED knob for our model based on the Leslie acts like the Fast/Slow switch that
came on the unit’s preamp, ramping between the two speeds. This effect also gives you
TONE and MIX settings. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Is it just a real time speed controller or does it regulate the acceleration (ramp up) if you throw it hard right/left?

Eric West · Post by **Eric West** » 13 May 2006 9:40 am

Jon.

You might not like the answers.

1. The Leslie is not "Ramp up and down".

2. Especially overdrive is NOT before the Volume pedal where it should be, nor is the compressor.

Many of the effects like "vibe" and "leslie" are NOT stereo for use between two amps. NOR is the reverb. A couple of the delays are, and a chorus is, but that's it. There is an "auto pan" that I use between amps, but it's only good live when you mike both amps and go into a stereo board. Or like last nite for me when I miked neither one. The tremolo isn't stereo. It's worth a quick read of the online pdf manual to see which ones are and aren't.

Don't let anybody tell you that it would be "easy enough to make a 'midi cable' Volume pedal" without showing you how to do it or where to get one. They've probably been drinking.

All that said, I'd still take my xt over a pedalboard.

If the Podxt Live had a volume pedal on the left, I'd get one.

All the banks can be set up with different default effects. That's usually easier than punching them in and out on one channel. Say for different songs where you use a darker sound and a tremolo, or a chorus without a delay or with a different reverb. Especially reverb modela don't change well "on the fly".

There's a two button four bank switch that I use if there's a job where I go between four channels, and it lets you put the Pod behind the amps where no one will step on it.

The tuner sucks.

Actually the compressor can be set to be used in your live volumes, but you have to get it totally there before you can adjust it to do what you want when you use it. Likewise the ODs. I've done that with my "Tele Channel" but I sometimes would like to use my stomp compressor. I think I'm gonna do just that tonite.

That's a lot of seemingly negative info, but still like I said, if mine went out after close to three years of my constant weekly hard use, I'd buy another one today before the gig tonite.

The "Auto Wah" works good for "Chicken Truck", but it's been ten years since I've been in a band that played it...

Seriously, check one out on a "return basis". You might get hooked on it too.

EJL

Jay Ganz · Post by **Jay Ganz** » 13 May 2006 9:50 am

The reverbs on mine are all stereo.

Eric West · Post by **Eric West** » 13 May 2006 10:15 am

Well on the Podxt the reverbs are indeed nice, but every effect in the manual that is "stereo" is noted as such that I've found.

There is no adjustment for any separation as in the stereo effects either which pretty much confirmed it for me in addition to the manual.

Because of the nature of reverb it's easy enough to believe that it is stereo though..

The Behringers are, like my old defunct Deltafex.

I could certainly stand being corrected.

The manual was pretty flaky inre to the TRS outputs and the use of the USB recording function..

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>Reverb
When we set out to create PODXT, we devoted our fanatical modeling technology and
energy for innovation to developing no-compromise reverb effects. PODXT’s collection
of reverb models emulate physical environments (rooms and halls), plate reverbs
(which traditionally feature a big steel plate with some sort of speaker driving it, and
usually multiple pickups to pick up the vibrations of the plate), spring reverbs (the kind
guitar players know best), and even a couple of unique new models that you’ll have to
hear to appreciate.

Springs
Ahh, the ‘sproing’ of a good spring reverb tank. Ya say you wanna play surf music,
neighbor? Well sir, you’ve come to the head of the stream! The only thing missing is
the ugly crash when the bass player stumbles over your amp.
Lux Spring
The blackface Fender Deluxe amp had a two spring reverb tank, which we’ve
modeled here.

Standard Spring
One of the many things that people have loved about the blackface Fender Twin
Reverb over the years has been its rich, dense reverb sound. The three-spring tank
offered a more complex sound than Fender’s earlier spring reverbs. Go find yourself a
bevy of bikini-clad beauties, wax up your board, and dig in.
All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way
associated or affiliated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images
are provided for the sole purpose of identifying the specific products that were
studied during Line 6’s sound model development.
Stompboxes & Effects • Reverb

King Spring
A Line 6 original, inspired by the Sealy Posturepedic. If three springs are cool, how
about a whole mattress full of Slinkies? Richer, denser, wigglier. A good night sleep is
guaranteed, or we’ll give you your money back.
Rooms
Over the years, inventive recording engineers have pressed all sorts of rooms into
service as reverb chambers. Stairwells, hallways, and basements have been some of the
popular choices. We’ve tried to present a good cross-section in your PODXT.

Small Room
As its name implies, this reverb model will give you the kind of sound you’d get when
recording an amp that’s mic’d up in a small room. Fortunately, unlike the small rooms
that you might have handy at home, say, this room has well-tuned acoustics, no
traffic noise coming from the nearby street, and you don’t have to worry about the
upstairs neighbors yelling, “Turn it down!”—don’t you hate it when people ruin a
good take like that?

Tiled Room
Think of this one as recording your guitar in the hall bathroom. All that porcelain
has always made for great reverb, and lots of classic recordings were done by
making the saxophone player stand in the ‘necessary’ and wail. Or at least that’s
what they told them. Sax players can be so naive.

Brite Room
A live, bright room to add life to any guitar track.
Halls
We’re not talking about the passageway between your living room and bedroom. We’re
talking large, cavernous spaces here.

Dark Hall
A large concert hall with many reflections. This one is all about size and is great for
that huge backdrop of reverb that doesn’t get in the way even when turned all the
way up.

Medium Hall
A medium sized hall with heavy reflections, this one is meant to be heard.

Large Hall
A very large concert hall. It doesn’t get much bigger than this.

Chambers
Back in the day, there was no such thing as digital reverb. But people still wanted to be
able to add more ‘room’ to the sounds they were recording. Someone got the bright idea
of building a big empty room where sound bounced around nicely. They stuck a speaker
in there, fed the sounds that needed loving through said speaker, and arranged
microphones to pick up all the resulting ambience so it could be mixed back in with the
music. These early reverb chambers all had a different personality, and some studio’s
reputations were made based on their individual reverb sound.

Rich Chamber
A rich chamber great for making that crunch tone even fatter.

Chamber
Typical of a studio chamber, this reverb goes well with just about anything.
Cavernous
Okay, so it does get bigger than Large Hall. Fire this ’verb up and get set for a long
night of dandelion dreams.
Plates
Plate reverbs were the first type of ‘mechanical’ reverb. The basic design includes a big
steel plate or sheet of gold foil with some sort of speaker driving it, and usually multiple
pickups to capture the vibrations of the plate.

Slap Plate
This reverb dishes up the vibe of early rock and roll recordings, like Sam Phillips’
great work at Sun Studios. Thank you very much.

Vintage Plate
A classic plate reverb that you won’t forget.

Large Plate
Well with Large Hall and Cavernous lying around, we just had to dish up a big ol’
Plate of goodness. This one makes a great bed of reverb for playing over and washes
up real good with soap and water.

-Podxt Manual-<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Not a mention of stereo anywhere.

EJL

Jon Light (deceased) · Post by **Jon Light (deceased)** » 13 May 2006 10:48 am

Glad to see your response, Eric, as I am well aware that you've been driving one hard for a while. Your list of negs. is a mixed bag for me--I would want the dirt effects before the vol pedal too (although that is considered assbackwards by most guitarists who would rather regulate the dirt via guit vol & touch) but stereo in any context means nothing to me--never have done stereo and don't have any interest---now anyway. Tuner on the 2 sucks too. I was staring at the XTLive unit and wishing for the same thing about the pedal except ultimately I want the controls at my fingertips.
Today I've just been messing with my Pod2.3 which I used to like--haven't touched in quite a while--and for some reason I'm sufficiently unimpressed with it that I think it's out of the running. So now the either/or is PodXT/no PodXT.
I have no doubt that I would like it. Only question is whether it is a step toward as good or better sound, convenience, versatility, portability, etc. as I've got going now or away from it.
Knowing me (as I sort of do) I'll likely get one. Probably used on Ebay for a good price.

Eric West · Post by **Eric West** » 13 May 2006 11:38 am

Well for 3 bills you couldn't get more than three or four of the effects and functions that I like the best, besides the interface via USB that I never seem to get around to using.

It is 24 bit too. All the recording stuff I've been doing around here anyhow which is not a whole lot, but some pretty nice digital studios use it and we have a good laugh about all those old "analog" guys with their big old mikes, headphones and cassette players claiming that "they can tell". (sorry Lloyd.

.

Like I said for any four of the functions I use all the time I'd have to pay a lot more.

The most I've had go wrong with mine, and it goes thru a LOT is that I've had to unjam a couple knobs and work the pots around.

Like I said, if the VP was on the other side of a Liveboard, I'd sure give one of those a whirl, and I'm thinking of one seriously for my Tele as it gets off the ground.

EJL

Larry R · Post by **Larry R** » 13 May 2006 6:50 pm

What Ron Sodos said. Ditto's.

You may want to buy the 4 pedal shortboard like I did and program your favorite 4 channels into one User Bank (i.e. User Bank #17 A,B,C,D).

Jay Ganz · Post by **Jay Ganz** » 13 May 2006 7:07 pm

All I know is, when listening through headphones, the reverbs are in stereo.
I've heard other great sounding reverbs that are
mono (such as the insert effects on my 16 track
recorder)...but you can hear through
headphones that they're in mono. Definitely an
obvious difference.

Bob Martin · Post by **Bob Martin** » 13 May 2006 8:34 pm

I know this is about pods and that line but I just want to mention the Boss GT-8 it is a floor processor that operates like stomp boxes or like digital rack mounts either way you like with just a click of a button on the pedal itself.

I don't think you would be dissapointed with it. Although it's made for 6 stringers what else is new with. The only processor line that was ever made with steel in mind as far as I know was the peavey line profex-thru TTFex. I haven't heard any bad effects on the GT-8 yet and to me it doesen't have that little high end buzzy sound when recording direct with amp modelers. Have you ever noticed with the pod the little fizzy buzzy sound when modeling a clean amp going direct to the pa or recorder. You may not have heard it like I did but that's the reason I went with the Boss rather than the Pod. If I hadn't wanted amp modeling it would have been a toss up.

I hope I gave you some useful info to add to the mix so you can make an educated decision on your purchase.

Bob

Eric West · Post by **Eric West** » 13 May 2006 11:40 pm

Thanks Jay. Like I said the Manual is lacking in a few other departments, and I'm not really surprised. The only time I listen to headphones is recording and then it's a control room mix. I'll have to check it out.

I really like the reverb and I use "Cavernous" with 0 "decay". ( least amount of repeats I guess..) I can use a lot without rolling up freqs.

EJL

Jon Light (deceased) · Post by **Jon Light (deceased)** » 14 May 2006 6:52 am

Bob Martin---I have looked at that unit before (online) and I'm looking at it again---definitely an impressive machine. Looks a bit more user friendly than the Pod too. But it has the same problem as the Podxt Live---the pedal is hung out on the right. I play on some stands with so little floor space that whatever I end up doing, it has to have this in mind. With my current pedalboard, I have my volume pedal on the board, sort of in the middle so that the board is 75% underneath the steel. It would be unlikely that I could find a floor unit like the Boss & Pod that was configured just right for my space needs.

Jay Ganz · Post by **Jay Ganz** » 14 May 2006 9:02 am

Eric,
Yeah, the only reverbs that're mono are the
various spring reverbs (as they should be).
Plate, rooms, etc. are stereo.