gassing for a POD 2.0 - am I nuts??

[dstroud]

so been using some plugins for quick demos - wanting to free up some CPU power. so I'm thinking a POD 2.0 boosted with an SD-1. any suggestions other than the POD or the POD is good? TIA!

 

[garey77]

I remember liking it for practice purposes. Got a pretty good shred tone w/some fun cabinet modeling options. On the cheap, you can't beat it.

 

[Chubtone]

About a year ago i had a 2.0 come into the store for cheap and I remembered hearing a lot of good stuff about it. I took it home and checked it out for direct recording and we have really come along way since then. I thought it was pretty bad. Just about any of the free software stuff with good IR's is better.

If you are wanting it for live, I can't help you there as I didn't try it out that way. Needless to say, I didn't keep it.

 

[Speeddemon]

I had a Digitech Genesis 3 at the time the POD 2.0 was around. Looking back, both were substandard, BUT...
there was 1 nice high-gain tone in the POD 2.0, that was lost in the POD XT...the "Line 6 High Gain". This was brought back in the POD X3 (with a new name..I think something like Modern High Gain)... Proces-power wise, the X3 is a lot better and has a lot more fx-routings. I bought one used that I keep around. It's not bad, but don't expect state-of-the-art modelling. Though the X3 is far more recommended IMHO than the 2.0.

 

[Elric]

there was 1 nice high-gain tone in the POD 2.0, that was lost in the POD XT...the "Line 6 High Gain". This was brought back in the POD X3 (with a new name..I think something like Modern High Gain)...

There is no model that appears in the X3 that is not also available for the XT. Tonewise the XT and X3 are the same except that the X3 allows dual amps and has more CPU/better routing as you noted. POD Farm is like a software X3.

I strongly prefer the X* series to the POD 2. The 2's really have the blanket over the speakers thing happening. I think they went insane on the LPF on the output to avoid being called 'digital' sounding and to improve the impression of 'warmth'. The XT had much better response in the high end (and people immediately called it 'fizzy'). The parametric EQ on the X series is exceedingly useful for managing the high end as needed. The HD series was an absolute trainwreck (IMHO); had one hated it.

There are lots of cheap things that make the early L6 units mostly unappealing. If I needed modeled tone on the cheap I'd look at an Eleven Rack without pro tools. Those go for practically nothing.

 

[mooncobra]

no doubt, you are nuts!

 

[dstroud]

thanks for the info guys. I actually ordered a Pocket Pod - sounds seemed pretty decent and lots of options from the demos I saw. Hopefully better than the 2.0

 

[FUZZboat]

I discovered that side-to-side podfarm (on a $50 dell XP 2GB ram) sounded >> than pod 2.0
which seems to indicate the processing power in the pods is bare bones at best

 

[rsm]

Nope. I just got a Line 6 AMPLIFi 150. Had to ship it back because one of the speakers was making hissing noises, but I'm getting another. Recent price drop + coupon = nice price. I already have an AMPLIFi FX100 I dig.

Helix is at the top of my GAS list, but overkill for my needs...I'm hoping they make a derivative floorboard at a lower price or amp like the Firehawk 1500 with the HX processing.

 

[Hung Huy Tran]

there was 1 nice high-gain tone in the POD 2.0, that was lost in the POD XT...the "Line 6 High Gain". This was brought back in the POD X3 (with a new name..I think something like Modern High Gain)...

There is no model that appears in the X3 that is not also available for the XT. Tonewise the XT and X3 are the same except that the X3 allows dual amps and has more CPU/better routing as you noted. POD Farm is like a software X3.

I remember guys buying add-on packs for the XT. Are the amp sims from those packs included on the X3?

 

[glassjaw7]

The Soldano preamp model sounded good

 

[Halikus]

Personally I found that my 2.0 sounded much more like the real amps than my XTlive did. The XT models seemed to have massive ammounts of compression that was fundamental to every tone in it that i couldn't stand oh and most of the high gain tones were full of bees...

 

[Juggernaut]

Not nuts at all, I got some killer tones out of a pod pro boosted with a bad monkey.

 

[Elric]

there was 1 nice high-gain tone in the POD 2.0, that was lost in the POD XT...the "Line 6 High Gain". This was brought back in the POD X3 (with a new name..I think something like Modern High Gain)...

There is no model that appears in the X3 that is not also available for the XT. Tonewise the XT and X3 are the same except that the X3 allows dual amps and has more CPU/better routing as you noted. POD Farm is like a software X3.

I remember guys buying add-on packs for the XT. Are the amp sims from those packs included on the X3?

Yes, there were amp packs for the XT, the X3 included those models by default, IIRC. But an XT+packs == X3 model set. There's no model that is exclusive to the X3 series, that's why I said 'available'. FWIW, I would not buy an XT unless it had all the models. In fact, I wouldn't buy an XT or an X3 but that is beside the point, LOL.

BTW, the POD2 model that was the chosen one IMHO was the JCM800 model. Some fantastic recordings done with that one. It differed significantly from the XT JCM.

 

[Speeddemon]

there was 1 nice high-gain tone in the POD 2.0, that was lost in the POD XT...the "Line 6 High Gain". This was brought back in the POD X3 (with a new name..I think something like Modern High Gain)...

There is no model that appears in the X3 that is not also available for the XT. Tonewise the XT and X3 are the same except that the X3 allows dual amps and has more CPU/better routing as you noted. POD Farm is like a software X3.

I remember guys buying add-on packs for the XT. Are the amp sims from those packs included on the X3?

Yes, there were amp packs for the XT, the X3 included those models by default, IIRC. But an XT+packs == X3 model set. There's no model that is exclusive to the X3 series, that's why I said 'available'. FWIW, I would not buy an XT unless it had all the models. In fact, I wouldn't buy an XT or an X3 but that is beside the point, LOL.

BTW, the POD2 model that was the chosen one IMHO was the JCM800 model. Some fantastic recordings done with that one. It differed significantly from the XT JCM.

Maybe I should have clarified "STOCK XT vs stock X3". But yeah, the Metal Pack did include that high gain sound for the XT.

Anyway, there's a very useful video from Glenn DeLaune (can't find it now), that shows some tips and tricks on how to make a good use of the parametric EQ, especially as a low pass filter, to roll off some highs, that helps the tone.
I've uploaded quite a few X3 patches to the L6 website, and was quite proud of my rather realistic AC/DC and Steel Panther patches.
It turned out -without having the knowledge at the time- that I used the correct amp (JTM45) sim for Malcolm Young's tone.

 

[Hung Huy Tran]

there was 1 nice high-gain tone in the POD 2.0, that was lost in the POD XT...the "Line 6 High Gain". This was brought back in the POD X3 (with a new name..I think something like Modern High Gain)...

There is no model that appears in the X3 that is not also available for the XT. Tonewise the XT and X3 are the same except that the X3 allows dual amps and has more CPU/better routing as you noted. POD Farm is like a software X3.

I remember guys buying add-on packs for the XT. Are the amp sims from those packs included on the X3?

Yes, there were amp packs for the XT, the X3 included those models by default, IIRC. But an XT+packs == X3 model set. There's no model that is exclusive to the X3 series, that's why I said 'available'. FWIW, I would not buy an XT unless it had all the models. In fact, I wouldn't buy an XT or an X3 but that is beside the point, LOL.

BTW, the POD2 model that was the chosen one IMHO was the JCM800 model. Some fantastic recordings done with that one. It differed significantly from the XT JCM.

I was just playing around with the Pod farm 2.5 free download. The jcm 800 was terrible on its own but once I put an IR on top of the L6 cab it was decent. I assume the latest pod farm is still the x3 models?

It's been a long time since I had the pod 2.0 and played thru the jcm 800 on that one. I don't remember liking anything on the 2.0 but that was before I knew about IRs.

IIRC there were two bogner presets on the X3. One of them I really liked, but apparently it didn't make it to the HD series because I was not able to recreate that particular tone on my HD300.

 

[Hung Huy Tran]

BTW, the POD2 model that was the chosen one IMHO was the JCM800 model. Some fantastic recordings done with that one. It differed significantly from the XT JCM.

What are some examples?

 

[midnightlaundry]

Seek professional help immediately..

 

[Hung Huy Tran]

 

[d1469d]

I have a POD. It is good to have hooked up for fast recording song ideas. I have had mine for several years now.