Hey guys. I thought this would be a good place to ask for people that have tried different options on their Mesa amps. I own a PODxt LIVE (will be some time till I can afford some TC Electronics stuff) and I would like to try and take advantage of the tons of differnt sounds and effects this baby has to offer. I am waiting for my dual rec to arrive, but I have played it in a music store and know it has enough gain to make me happy. Have any of you experimented running some amp mods, with the cab sims off, through their rectifiers? Seem like this would be a great little tool to be able to have a ton of presets ready to rock on stage. I am also very new when it comes to tube amps, but Im guessing it would be hard to get a mesa to sound bad. ANy experiences anyone would like to share? Thank you.
Mesa Dual Rec with a PODxt LIVE
- Thread starter ivsaken
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ivsaken said:
Quite the contrary.. it's very easy to get it to sound bad. When you get your amp make sure you read that manual cover to cover... Mesas are TOTALLY different than most amplifiers and their tone controls are unique and interactive. After you read the manual and figure it out you'll be able to access tones of great tones.
Don't shrug off reading.. honestly I hate reading owners manuals but the Mesa one is required reading.
fbomb
Well-known member
seriously read the manual,it will help u soooooo much.for such a great sounding amp ,its really easy to make it sound like junk. i have a pod xtl and i dont think it sounds that great ,maybe i dont have the patients to dial in some good effects.dont be mistaken and think you will get a good boogie sound out of it,cause nothing compares to a boogie. but like u i like the idea of using the pod for just effects. good luck and let me know if u get the pod sounding good with the boogie,i u dont mind.
You will find yourself not reading it once and then pitching it....but coming back to it time and time again. Ive owned my triple for 2 years now and I still go back and read specific parts over again all of the time! :wink:
Guitarzan
Well-known member
Sorry man, I would never belittle a Mesa by putting any kind of multi-effects processor in front of it. Let alone a Line 6. I used to own a L6 POD and then an XT, one day I just decided to plug into my Marshall Studio 15 that I was putting all this stuff in front of... HOLY CRAP...guess what???? My tone came back...Imagine that.
scottkahn
Well-known member
For best results, turn off the amp modeling and cab sims and just use the Pod XT Live as a multi-fx processor... if you let it color the tone of your Boogie you will be disappointed.
I used one of these for a short period inserted into the effects loop of a Boogie head -- just for effects -- while I was waiting for some new rack gear and it worked fine. Not great though. I just use it for practice at home (my real amp setup is in my studio).
I used one of these for a short period inserted into the effects loop of a Boogie head -- just for effects -- while I was waiting for some new rack gear and it worked fine. Not great though. I just use it for practice at home (my real amp setup is in my studio).
ibanez4life SZ!
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If anything, I'd run it in the loop with effects only....otherwise, don't let it degrade your tone.
Platypus and the rest said:
What they said.
The manual from Mesa is the only manual of any musical product I have ever purchased that actually provided useful and vital information on how the product functioned - and how to make it sound good. If you don't invest the time in the manual - and approach it like other amps you have used, you run the risk of thinking you actually need the Pod thing to get a good sound.
My recommendation is to NOT connect anything except your guitars to your Mesa until you have spent the time to understand how the amp works. Find those amazing tones that fit your style, and become one with the amplifier. Throwing extra devices into the mix won't let you experience the Mesa for all that it is.
At least for me, the more time I spent dialing in tones - the quicker I came to realize I didn't need any other products. On the rare occasion I want delay or something - I am to the point now that I don't want anything getting in the way of the Mesa tone, so - I mic the cabinet, run the mic'd signal through a mixer with FX running through the board loop. But, I am silly like that.
Elpelotero
Well-known member
don't get discouraged at first if you find a lot of problems using the parallel fx loop, assuming you got a new 3ch DR. the older ones have serial loops, as do the road kings and roadsters. the parallel loops are notorious for causing lots of frustration with multifx processors. you'll need a lot of patience and reading old posts on this forum to get some good results. i personally would only throw some reverb and delay on the clean channel, and some on channel 2 vintage. i'd leave modern alone.
i would just get a Chorus and Delay pedal ... I think you will get some headaches running the POD through the loop. It will deaden your sound even if you run it in Bypass mode, only using effects.
get a used Boss DD-3 (75$), and used Boss Chorus (40-60$)
get a used Boss DD-3 (75$), and used Boss Chorus (40-60$)
FPFL
Well-known member
with the loop of the new amps, won't pedals will be worse than the live b/c at least the live can be adjusted for -10 or +4 levels.
has anyone here actually tried an 'FX only' Live in the loop of a modern mesa? would a gt-8 be better?
i like the convenience of a floor device for quick set up at gigs.
wondering which wasy to go.
-P
has anyone here actually tried an 'FX only' Live in the loop of a modern mesa? would a gt-8 be better?
i like the convenience of a floor device for quick set up at gigs.
wondering which wasy to go.
-P
scottkahn
Well-known member
My original post said that I used the Pox XT Live in a Mesa/Boogie effect loop (in a Nomad 55 at the time). I turned off the modeling and cab sims and just used it for modulation, delay and reverb stuff and it worked fine.
The Boss GT-8 won't be any better/worse -- they're pretty comparable products. Again, if you used that one, for best results just use it for FX and not for modeling.
The problem though is that if you try to use the XT Live for its wah, that effect typically sounds a lot better in front of the amp rather than in the FX loop, and you can't split up the signal routing like with an expensive processor such as the TC Electronic G System (where you can send wah stuff to the input and other effects to your loop).
I would get a few pedals as suggested by others, and then keep the XT Live for practice. You can use it at home with headphones (with modeling, etc.) but use dedicated pedals in your Boogie rig.
The Boss GT-8 won't be any better/worse -- they're pretty comparable products. Again, if you used that one, for best results just use it for FX and not for modeling.
The problem though is that if you try to use the XT Live for its wah, that effect typically sounds a lot better in front of the amp rather than in the FX loop, and you can't split up the signal routing like with an expensive processor such as the TC Electronic G System (where you can send wah stuff to the input and other effects to your loop).
I would get a few pedals as suggested by others, and then keep the XT Live for practice. You can use it at home with headphones (with modeling, etc.) but use dedicated pedals in your Boogie rig.
FPFL
Well-known member
Scott,
Thanks as always, but you skipped the one question I was really curious about...
do you think the buffers (tone suckage) in the L6 Live is worse than than running a couple boss pedals in the loop? I mean all wah in the loop sounds bad, its not an L6 thing, and yes a POD is ideal for home use, but all that aside, I do wonder if the tone suckage on the Live is really worse than a chorus and a dd-3 or a DL4 for that matter. I was only thinking about it for time based FX and possibly gate.
Note - the DL4 was a bit of a tone flattener (had one for years) but it was otherwise a dream pedal, it --kills-- me that they haven't or won't make a DL4-II with less tone suck. L6 heads say "get the Live its the DL4 with more options and better buffering", which is why I went to thinking of the Live.
-P
Thanks as always, but you skipped the one question I was really curious about...
do you think the buffers (tone suckage) in the L6 Live is worse than than running a couple boss pedals in the loop? I mean all wah in the loop sounds bad, its not an L6 thing, and yes a POD is ideal for home use, but all that aside, I do wonder if the tone suckage on the Live is really worse than a chorus and a dd-3 or a DL4 for that matter. I was only thinking about it for time based FX and possibly gate.
Note - the DL4 was a bit of a tone flattener (had one for years) but it was otherwise a dream pedal, it --kills-- me that they haven't or won't make a DL4-II with less tone suck. L6 heads say "get the Live its the DL4 with more options and better buffering", which is why I went to thinking of the Live.
-P
