I had a terrific recording session this weekend. I did 3 tracks on reso and 3 on lap steel. First on reso: Neumann mic, not sure what model, but about 14 inches in front of the guitar about equidistant between the bottom soundwell (screenless), and the neck. Talk about fat! Best sound I've ever gotten out of the girl. Then we started on lap steel and the engineer had me run through a new Pod HD. I'm telling you the sound he got out of that thing made me feel like a superhero. Nearly infinite sustain, incredibly thick, fat tone, yet with so little distortion that every note was clean and audible. I don't think I have the brains to own one, because they look really complicated, but if you're into the techie stuff, that is one monster of a machine. He showed me some other things it can do and, there isn't much you can't do with it. 

That's good to hear Webb.

I've been a Pod user since shortly after they came on to the market.  I have not recorded an electric guitar or bass track through an amp since then.  It just makes so much sense.  

I've not used the Pod HD yet.  I own the Pod xt and yes, they have gotten rather complicated.  While it takes some time to find the sounds you like, recalling them is easy enough and it is well worth the effort.  I can't think of playing electric lap steel without the Pod.  

I come from the background where we once thought that you needed a bunch of guitars (and pickups) and a cadre of amps to get the classic sounds but those days are done IMO.  The Pod can give you most any tone you would ever need.  

I like software modeling.  I have the usual plug-in software  modeling products too but I keep going back to the Pod,  And I can use it live as well.  It's a good product..

Dennis

Dennis, how does the POD work out for live playing?  I recently started playing a standard electric guitar in our church worship band and have been using a mic'd modeling amp with some on-board effects plus a couple pedals.   I was thinking about the possibility of ditching the amp/pedals and just using a POD direct into the PA.  What are your thoughts?  Thanks.

Jim

Jim, as it happens, I have played through a Pod at church.  How you wire things up depends on the entire set-up and who else might be playing of course.  My Pods have been the desktop Pod models.  When I play solo, I go from electric guitar into the Pod and then a Peavey acoustic guitar amplifier, which is for all intent a small PA amp.  If I go into a larger PA, I can use the stereo imaging of the Pod, otherwise things would remain monaural.

It's really a matter of what you are comfortable with.  Some folks like the control of using their amp.  For others, the Pod is enough. If I use an amp, I set it up for a clean tone and plug the pod in and play. I don't touch anything on the amp after that.  I only have the FBV4 floor switches which will let me change patches but I still have to be able to tweak things on the Pod itself on occaision.  I have not used the PodLive versions but they should be better suited to playing live than using one of the Pod kidney beans like I have owned. And they would still be useful in the studio.

I think the Pod removes a lot of complexity from getting a good sound either live or in recording.  When I started out recording in the 70's, we would spend a lot of time in the studio figuring out which guitar, which  amp to use, where to place it, how to mic it and what other bits would be necessary in the signal chain to get the desired sound.  Now you plug into the Pod, that plugs into the board and you select your preset and play. 

And all this is not to say that the other modeling solution do not work as well.  It is surely a matter of taste and preferences.  I just happen to like the tone of the Pod for classic amp sounds (Fenders, Vox, Marshall, Mesa, Dumble). Even the Pod's clean preamp models are useful.  There are also a lot of models in the Pod that I will never use - not much into death metal, you know.  The effects simulations are very good to but I don't come from a very complex stompbox world myself so much of that is lost on me.  

Dennis

Thanks for the info., I appreciate it.  I haven't played electric since the early 80's and have just been getting back to it in the past 3 months or so.  The POD thing is all new to me and my set-up years ago was very simple.  I'm looking to get maybe 5 or 6 different sounds.  I want to be able to bring them up quickly and reliably and be able to switch sounds in the middle of a song.  But I don't want a lot of gear or complexity either, so I thought maybe a POD type of setup could be the answer.  I'm still experimenting with what I've got - I'm using a Roland 40XL amp which has most of the effects I'm looking for, but they can only be combined in certain ways,  Practically I can get the equivalent of 3 different channels without having to adjust amp controls by hand.  It'd be nice to have a a POD or live board that could be programmed for exactly the sounds I'm looking for and be able to access them quickly with a footswitch.

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Originally posted by jmb3450

It'd be nice to have a a POD or live board that could be programmed for exactly the sounds I'm looking for and be able to access them quickly with a footswitch.

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I think a Pod can do that.  But to Webb's point, the user preset programming is where the complexity comes in.  The newer Pods can give you  the option to set up a particular combination of amp, cabinets and effects, save them to user memory and call them back up easily with a pedal click or two.  There are so many options that they can make your head spin.  You'd have to do some work to get things where you want them. Don't forget to add the cost of the floorboard or the PodLive into your cost estimates though. 

I've seen quite a few players that just use the Line6 presets. They avoid programming sounds themselves.  And most of those presets are quite usable in their own genres. But to get what you want, you may have to learn to pick and choose yourself.  The amps I like are there, the cabinet simulations I want are there, the mic options are there and the few effects I want are there.  So I like the Pod and it works for me.  I've even used it for acoustic guitar because the reverbs, delays and chorus effects are as good or better than most pedals or PA presets I'd have available.

One of the issues I see with devices like the Pod is that it is impossible to find a place where you can actually try these things out in the manner you would like to use them.  A lot of local music store do not carry them - too expensive.  Places like Guitar Center keep them under lock and key so you can't get at them -  but if they do let you get at it the young buck sales guy will go straight to the triple rectified, ear bleeding settings.  Cool hehe!  So you almost have to depend on finding another player that has one that you can consult with to see if it will work for you.  That was how I got into using the Pod, a co-worker had recorded an album using one(He then bought a Line6 Vetta).  I then got lucky and happened to attend an in-store demo given by a Line6 rep.  No one else showed up and we had the afternoon to ourselves to explore the Pod.  I bought my first Pod that day, upgraded to Version 2.0 after that arrived and bought the XT after it was out a while.  The X3 and HD are attractive but I have what I think I need at this point.

Dennis

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Originally posted by Slidennis

quote:

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Originally posted by jmb3450

It'd be nice to have a a POD or live board that could be programmed for exactly the sounds I'm looking for and be able to access them quickly with a footswitch.

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I think a Pod can do that.  But to Webb's point, the user preset programming is where the complexity comes in.  The newer Pods can give you  the option to set up a particular combination of amp, cabinets and effects, save them to user memory and call them back up easily with a pedal click or two.  There are so many options that they can make your head spin.  You'd have to do some work to get things where you want them. Don't forget to add the cost of the floorboard or the PodLive into your cost estimates though. 

I've seen quite a few players that just use the Line6 presets. They avoid programming sounds themselves.  And most of those presets are quite usable in their own genres. But to get what you want, you may have to learn to pick and choose yourself.  The amps I like are there, the cabinet simulations I want are there, the mic options are there and the few effects I want are there.  So I like the Pod and it works for me.  I've even used it for acoustic guitar because the reverbs, delays and chorus effects are as good or better than most pedals or PA presets I'd have available.

One of the issues I see with devices like the Pod is that it is impossible to find a place where you can actually try these things out in the manner you would like to use them.  A lot of local music store do not carry them - too expensive.  Places like Guitar Center keep them under lock and key so you can't get at them -  but if they do let you get at it the young buck sales guy will go straight to the triple rectified, ear bleeding settings.  Cool hehe!  So you almost have to depend on finding another player that has one that you can consult with to see if it will work for you.  That was how I got into using the Pod, a co-worker had recorded an album using one(He then bought a Line6 Vetta).  I then got lucky and happened to attend an in-store demo given by a Line6 rep.  No one else showed up and we had the afternoon to ourselves to explore the Pod.  I bought my first Pod that day, upgraded to Version 2.0 after that arrived and bought the XT after it was out a while.  The X3 and HD are attractive but I have what I think I need at this point.

Dennis

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I talked with the engineer today and he told me that he was only using factory presets on my lap steel on Saturday. This is encouraging, as I bought an X3 from Sweetwater Sound when I was working in Nashville and I sent it back because it was too complicated. I had been using a 2.0 Pod on my pedal steel because I was a multi guy and had to limit my rig to keep it as simple as possible. I couldn't find a single setting on the X3 that was good for pedal steel even though my archaic 2.0 sounded great. I guess that scared me away from future versions. But if this one has presets that sound that good, perhaps I'll try one again. Sweetwater was great about returning it, I remember, so Jim, if you want to try it out, maybe you could go that route and return it if it doesn't work out for you. It is a very deep machine and probably would cover every base you would need it for. The engineer said he actually uses it on his acoustic guitar and mandolin when he performs. He said it has some great acoustic settings which surprised me.

Webb, I am with you on the Pod 2.0 versus the X3.  The 2.0 was great and I was really reluctant to let it go.  I have to work with the XT to get the sounds I want but they are in there.  The 2.0 was easy as pie for me.  

It seems that the Line6 guys are setting up the presets more for the 13-25 year old guitar player and filling them up with more of the multi gain stage over saturated sounds than the simpler older amp models they started out with.  Maybe Line6 are getting back to their roots on the HD. 

Dennis

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Originally posted by Slidennis

Webb, I am with you on the Pod 2.0 versus the X3.  The 2.0 was great and I was really reluctant to let it go.  I have to work with the XT to get the sounds I want but they are in there.  The 2.0 was easy as pie for me.  

It seems that the Line6 guys are setting up the presets more for the 13-25 year old guitar player and filling them up with more of the multi gain stage over saturated sounds than the simpler older amp models they started out with.  Maybe Line6 are getting back to their roots on the HD. 

Dennis

Well, it still has a lot of kid stuff, but there are some very useful settings. I haven't heard the acoustic settings yet, but Kimbo really loves them and he's a well-seasoned engineer and player. But it he does say that there is definitely a learning curve to the programming if you want to go beyond the presets.

I just picked up a Pod HD500. The presets are mostly worthless, but I can tell that it has some great sounds in it. I played my lap steel through it recently and was very impressed.

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Originally posted by parker65

I just picked up a Pod HD500. The presets are mostly worthless, but I can tell that it has some great sounds in it. I played my lap steel through it recently and was very impressed.

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I'm sure in the grand scheme of things, that's true. I know that X3 I had, had tons of kiddie presets that were worthless and there really were none that I could even use on my pedal steel. But, at least this one has a few decent ones, and a lot of possibilities if you dig deeper. I'm just not sure I'm ready to spend that kind of time trying to figure one out. I take that back. I'm NOT ready. :(