Running a POD XT thru a mesa..

[Animeka]

I figured running a Line6 POD thru an amp would be a good idea (we've been doing it on the Roland Cube 30) but I find it sounds too.... digital/processed sometimes. Once I get a mesa, should I ditch it or use it for effects without the amps/cabs simulators?

Marc

 

[Laskyman]

Once I get a mesa, should I ditch it or use it for effects without the amps/cabs simulators?

You may want to keep the Pod for quiet practice (without the Mesa), but I wouldn't want to use it for effects with a "big-boy" amp...plus, you will definately find that moving into a Mesa from a modeler will "uncover" some issues with technique- Mesas are fairly unforgiving about that. While some modelers (Boss GTs, Digitech) can interface well with amps (via 4CM), the Line 6's do not, plus, IMHO, the effects are sub-par as well.
You will be better off with individual boxes or a dedicated processor.

Just my .02- but why would you want to wreck $$$ tone with $ effect.....


Laskyman

 

[MusicManJP6]

I agree with Laskyman. The POD is not a good idea to use with the Mesa. You could experiment with running the POD straight through the effects return of the Mesa. This may get you much closer to what you want to hear out of the POD. Basically if you run it in front of your Mesa then you are running it through the gain and EQ of the Mesa as well which makes it sound WAY MORE digital/processed. Running it through the return bypasses the preamp of the Mesa (input gain and eq) and allows the POD's EQ to be the sole factor in the overall tone. Turn off any cab, mic, and speaker sims when doing this though. Those will muck with the sound too.

But, like Laskyman said, once you hear the Mesa's tone you won't want to use the POD with it. It will only be used for quiet practicing and recording direct if I had to guess.

OR, you could trade that POD in for a BOSS GT-8 and utilize the 4 cable method. That's what I do and I love it. You'll need some patience, several cables, a series loop, and a good ear to make the 4CM work.

 

[Animeka]

Once I get a mesa, should I ditch it or use it for effects without the amps/cabs simulators?

You may want to keep the Pod for quiet practice (without the Mesa), but I wouldn't want to use it for effects with a "big-boy" amp...plus, you will definately find that moving into a Mesa from a modeler will "uncover" some issues with technique- Mesas are fairly unforgiving about that. While some modelers (Boss GTs, Digitech) can interface well with amps (via 4CM), the Line 6's do not, plus, IMHO, the effects are sub-par as well.
You will be better off with individual boxes or a dedicated processor.

Just my .02- but why would you want to wreck $$$ tone with $ effect.....


Laskyman

What is a dedicated processor? Rackmount effects?

 

[nathan28]

Never use a pod if you have a mesa. Unless you have to be quiet.

 

[Don]

PODs were not designed to be run through guitar amps and they sound pretty crappy that way.

I use one for quiet practice and recording onto my computer.

 

[Animeka]

PODs were not designed to be run through guitar amps and they sound pretty crappy that way.

I use one for quiet practice and recording onto my computer.

That's what I realised... So headphone only or reference speakers for the POD uh?

Marc

 

[MusicManJP6]

Have you tried it through the effects return yet?

 

[boswell]

Put the POD thru a Dual Rectumfrier on the Mesa setting and you have yourself a Quad Rectumfrier :wink:

 

[Elpelotero]

POD can be used for efx only...if you have a Series Loop. Otherwise, welcome to phase city.

 

[Animeka]

Have you tried it through the effects return yet?

The Cube 30 that we have doesn't have that option afaik...

Marc

 

[Laskyman]

What is a dedicated processor? Rackmount effects?

A dedicated processor is a unit(s) for effects only- either individual stomps (see my sig), or a rack mountable unit (TC G-Major, rocktron expression, etc...).
For a long time I used a Boss GT8 as my effect unit- hooked it up with the 4CM, and it was quite versatile. I decided to complement my Mesa with individual higher quality effects rather than a "multi-effect" unit and for me it was a great decision. My rig has never sounded better.
Some prefer rack style multi-effects, but I prefer (at least at this time in my life- tone for me has been a moving target through the years) a well planned pedalboard.
Truth be told- a Mesa behaves best with pro-quality gear. I see no point in putting a "nickel hat" on a "five-dollar head".....

Laskyman

 

[Chris McKinley]

I have a POD XTLive floor unit and cannot use it with my Triple Rec even if I wanted to because it's a digital unit and my loop is parallel. If I ever decide to do the serial mod to the loop, I'll be able to use it all I want. If you want to use your POD in the loop, you will also need a serial loop to prevent the phase noise between a parallel loop's unaffected signal and the digital processor's slightly delayed signal.

If you do decide to do this and run your POD through your Mesa amp and then (presumably) into a guitar cabinet, however, you have to remember that the POD's are designed to give full-frequency output, which is not what any power amp or guitar cabinet is designed to produce. Therefore, as someone mentioned, you'll need to disable the A.I.R. speaker cabinet simulations on the POD. Likely, you'll also want to turn off the AMP simulator and use the POD purely as a multi-effect unit. Keep in mind that the whole setup still won't sound quite the like the POD sounds on its own in that you're placing your delay/modulation/reverb effects before the amp's power amp, which is not quite ideal, but can still sound decent.

Again, though, even as a multi-effect unit, the POD is still designed to produce a full-frequency output, meaning that you may find that you need to place an equalizer either before the POD or directly after it to get it to sound more authentically like a guitar/preamp/poweramp/speaker cab. Real amps & cabs don't produce full frequency response and, in fact, that is part of why they sound so good....they are tailored to produce a frequency response curve that sounds particularly good with the electric guitar. The unaffected POD signal is equally strong across the entire frequency spectrum and tends to sound unusually harsh and fizzy in the high end, the mids lack any real character, and the lows can be both muddy and boomy with too much very-low frequency signal in the <80 Hz range.

Since the POD comes with a built-in pre-EQ as one of the effects, I'd use that, and then place a nice graphic EQ after the POD just before the effects return of the amp. That way, you can use it to bring the POD's output back under control and more like a guitar is supposed to sound like.

 

[dbright]

I use the pod pro to record scratch tracks with. It often sounds so good we keep the tracks. I have spent many hours analyzing and programming classic tones to cop the guitar icons. However, live is different. I would NEVER run a emulator through a Mesa or any other good tube amp. I f you want to use it go out and buy a cheap transistor bass amp. Set it up lou8d and clean. start with the pod's master volume at less than 50%. try it with cab sim on and off.

if you have patience and a good ear you can tweak some super nice tones. BUT...none will be as good as your mesa with a quality processor.

also you will not get the pick attack that a great guitar/amp can provide.

 

[jdurso]

What is a dedicated processor? Rackmount effects?

more times than not they're rack mounted. the ones that are not that come to mind are TC Electronic Nova system and G system. The difference between those and you standard multifx like boss gt8 and pod xt is that they do a few things well and TC is known for great fx. they dont try to be an all around unit with amp and cab models, they just stick to fx. Now if you dont mind having a rack unit i highly recommend something liek the TC gsharp, gmajor, m300 or m350. high quality fx for reasonable prices and can get him (your son) a very sweet JP lead tone with the right amp. I used the TC m300 with a triaxis/2:90 rack setup and with the right guitar i was in JP heaven. What kind of FX does he lean towards because if he only uses a few (delay, chorus, reverb) and you dont wnat to go with a rack there are some great stomp boxes out there like the visual sound h2o or boss rv-5.

 

[jdurso]

i just thought of something too... line 6 is putting out a new stompbox floor system called the m13 which combines pretty much all their different stomp fx including delays, verbs, mods, filters, distortion, etc. there is no amp models or cab models, just fx and you can use the four cable method which is always a plus. street price will probably be around $400 but you can offset that by selling of the POD and maybe one of those cubes... just a thought

 

[Animeka]

..duplicate...

 

[Animeka]

What is a dedicated processor? Rackmount effects?

more times than not they're rack mounted. the ones that are not that come to mind are TC Electronic Nova system and G system. The difference between those and you standard multifx like boss gt8 and pod xt is that they do a few things well and TC is known for great fx. they dont try to be an all around unit with amp and cab models, they just stick to fx. Now if you dont mind having a rack unit i highly recommend something liek the TC gsharp, gmajor, m300 or m350. high quality fx for reasonable prices and can get him (your son) a very sweet JP lead tone with the right amp. I used the TC m300 with a triaxis/2:90 rack setup and with the right guitar i was in JP heaven. What kind of FX does he lean towards because if he only uses a few (delay, chorus, reverb) and you dont wnat to go with a rack there are some great stomp boxes out there like the visual sound h2o or boss rv-5.

Actually, the only thing I think would be missing for now would be a good delay pedal and a tuner (and a power supply). We already have a Boss DS1 and a Dunlop Wah pedal (never used either much). So we'll experiment with those on the Express 5:50.

I read a few threads about tuners and delays here and I'm more confused than ever. So many different types of delays Tuners, while several choices are there, aren't that complicated to figure out I'm thinking of the Boss TU2 for a tuner, although the Petersons look nice.

I'll probably sell the POD XT Live to cover some of those expenses, as well as one of the Cube 30 amps.

Marc

 

[jdurso]

for a delay i would take a look at the visual sound h2o. i demo'd one the other day through an express at GC and man that pedal sounds wicked. very smooth tone and i find the chorus and delay not overwhelming. takes care of two effects at once too. also ive always enjoyed the boss rv-5, dd-20 or even the TC Nova Delay. i've had great success with all of them in the past. right now i have a eventide timefactor which can do amazingly complex delays but it lacks reverb which IMO doesnt make sense. its also pretty involved so not recommended for non-tweakers. but definitely check out the visual sound h2o if you can, especially the version2

 

[Animeka]

for a delay i would take a look at the visual sound h2o. i demo'd one the other day through an express at GC and man that pedal sounds wicked. very smooth tone and i find the chorus and delay not overwhelming. takes care of two effects at once too. also ive always enjoyed the boss rv-5, dd-20 or even the TC Nova Delay. i've had great success with all of them in the past. right now i have a eventide timefactor which can do amazingly complex delays but it lacks reverb which IMO doesnt make sense. its also pretty involved so not recommended for non-tweakers. but definitely check out the visual sound h2o if you can, especially the version2

I was thinking of going with the DL4. The TC ND-1 looks great but seems complicated. The H2O would be cheaper though.