Is the POD sucsessful for any of you Pros?

Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2002 1:24 pm

OK, I'll admit it , I have both and I have had them for a year now. My studio has been on and off due to construction changes , so my time with the PODs has been scattered.At first I thought they were a God send , but my experience is that each time I aproch either , it is as if for the first time.I wonder if the modeling I am hereing just sounds better when going to tape.I have tried every method , except computer , thats not my bag , but even comming out of an amp I never seem to be satisfied that the PODs are emulateing what they claim.So I was curious as to how many of you deal with musicians that get great to astonishing results from the Bass or Guitar POPDs?Cheers,Mad John
Zythum Studios"The present day Composer refuses to die!"
Edgar Varese - 1921

Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2002 1:53 pm

It has never happened in my studio. Classic amps, classic mics, great mic pres, and super comps. Is there any other way?One guy brought in a POD in the early POD days, but we tried it and never used it.Ampeg B-15, 1962 Fender Bassman, Deluxe Reverb. Super Reverb, 1947 Gibson & a small Marshall. Old Sennheiser 421s, Shure SM 57s. Hot rod LA 4s, 1176. Get the picture? Don't learn this lesson the hard way like your Mackie disaster.

Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2002 3:17 pm

That is not a lesson I need to lern my friend.I have been recording for 22 years now and I am quite aware of the classic amp sounds.My 1980 Fender Twin has been my little buddy all of these years. I use great amps in the studio myself , I was raising the qestion for thoses who might have had good examples of the POD being a sucsess in the studio.I see no reason for makeing a remark to me as if your elbowing me saying "Look kid , dont fool your self with the glowing lights , do your self a favor and buy the real deal!"I have never really recorded sucsessfully with the PODs and I never thought they sounded real.Anybody else?Mad John
Zythum Studios"The present day Composer refuses to die!"
Edgar Varese - 1921

Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2002 3:50 pm

I recorded a band who brought one in, but after he recorded one track with it, and then ABing it with my marshall jcm2000 he quickly made up his mind. We ended up using it on guitar once, just for a lo fi effect, but it rocked on drums, and doing weird stuff to vox and bass. I'm going to pick one up, but wont be using it for what its meant for.

Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2002 6:17 pm

I find them just about bearable.. There seems to be a 'sweet spot' on the outputs of them, (is it 'never over 7' - I dunno....)I admit to a keen iterest in the next line 6 range the Vetta series...! I have had my eye on a head for a while.. Smile

Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2002 9:26 pm

So we agree they are not good enough for real tones in real recording situations.I feel the process effect is still not organic enough , but hell what do you expect from this sort of technology?It is what it is.Mad John
Zythum Studios"The present day Composer refuses to die!"
Edgar Varese - 1921

Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2002 11:54 pm

Well I have the Flextone Combo(pod with speakers), and it does not beat my Soldano, or Marshall. Although it has some usefull sounds that they both cannot do. I find that recording with the speakers makes a difference.With Ampfarm in TDM I find the pre used to record the guitar has an greater effect on the sound then a clean input.Although I use my Bass Pod all the time since the day I got it, I get great Bass sounds from it. Well better then a stock bass amp. If some one has a nice SWR or mesa I will still mic it. Although it is better then a di or a peavey/trace type amp.

Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2002 1:06 am

I've used it for crazy vocal stuff a lot. I did do a almost freebe demo for a band where we used it for all the guitars. All the drums were a D4 and the bass was just DI. It came out to be a very clean demo that setup in about 5 min. And has worked very good for the bands booking agent. Everybody says it sounds great. I haven't listened to it since we did it.

Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2002 1:54 am

Mmhh, I guess it all depends on what music you are going to record. I have gotten really good results with the POD for heavy, downtuned rythm guitars, but then I tweaked it alot (Sounddiver, EQing) - it worked very well. But you must really take your time with this thing...it's not good for clean guitars though - very noisy and spitty, but great for layers of heavy rythm guitars.
On the other hand, I am really a fan of this line 6 stuff...I also have a Flextone XL in the studio and in my opinion this thing sounds awesome and blows any Marshall (hate em!) away....but, YMMV, as always and I know a lot will disagree.Best,Markus

Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2002 3:05 am

Does anyone else think that the Pod is surprisingly noisy? Even though not everyone is fanatical about noise, so much seems unnecessary considering how quiet (& better sounding) the Roland VG-8 is. btw, did anyone get to hear the bass version of the VG-8 at NAMM?The Behringer Pod-alike is supposed to have 26db better snr with the free ver. 2.0 upgrade, too bad it's so damn ugly. Wink

Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2002 10:17 am

Excuse me for trying to steer you in the right direction. I don't see anything patronizing or condescending in my post.

Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2002 10:40 am

It's ok Jeff , sorry , I took your comment the wrong way!I agree about useing the Bass POD!It seems to work well to tape and is not as confussing , or time consumming as the 2.0!I am still trying to find the right set up for the guitar POD.The main ins of a Roland JC 120 works the best so far. I have tried tube amps (both in the effects return and in the Preamp section of the amps) and they seem to not work at all well woth the PODs.Non tube amps are part of the key , but you would be hard pressed to truly get organic sounding tones with out the help of certain distortions.Like it has already been stated , the clear tones on the guitar PODs are really not that good , at least for me , but I do keep trying.Every day is the first day! Very Happy

:confused: Mad John
Zythum Studios"The present day Composer refuses to die!"
Edgar Varese - 1921

Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2002 11:11 am

Don't discount the POD until you've spent some "quality" time with her!If you plug your POD in direct and compare it to a miked Marshall into a good pre, you're likely to say "what the fuck was that"...like I did.If you use SoundDiver, and run your POD into an API / Neve & FATSO chain, you'll likely to say "Marshall who"...like I did.Extra Bonus Tip: Stick a 57/Api in front of your monitor, crank it up, and record your POD track to another track...now do your comparison! Cool

Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2002 11:16 am

I use a POD all the time (reluctantly at first) but now love it. We have an older Fender Twin Reverb, Fender Vibralux, and a Peavey Classic 50, as well as some other Fender etc amps, and I still use the POD often. Especially for light or heavy distorted guitar, always with my favorite distortion pedal before it (Tube Screamer, Rat, XXL) and a quality mic pre and or compressor after it. Sounds good to me.

Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2002 11:26 am

Hi Coldsnow , I have a Peavey Classic 50 watt head too!Are you saying you use the POD thru that sometimes?When you use the Pre/Comp is that micking tech or direct?I originaly tried useing the POD into a Manley pre and it quikly took me off that route.Finding the right personel techniques for micking the amp with the POD is something I still desire greatly!Mad John
Zythum Studios"The present day Composer refuses to die!"
Edgar Varese - 1921

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