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 coming 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
Comments
IMHO, the POD is a great tool. Sometimes it takes a bit of twea
IMHO, the POD is a great tool.
Sometimes it takes a bit of tweaking, sometimes it takes a lot of tweaking, sometimes it takes about nothing to get it to sound right.
I have the POD Pro version, but i don't use the digital outs. I always take the outputs to whatever good micpre is available. At my home studio, i've got the Langevin Dual Vocal Combo. When I'm tracking at a larger commercial facility, i like to take it into the Neves or APIs. I do compress it a little bit (depending on the part).
I'm telling ya, i've been blessed to get some great tones this way. One time, i was recording this awesome guitarist and we split his signal to an AC-30 and/or Matchless on one side and the POD on the other (thru Neve 1066s). They sounded different, but we used both signals in the mix, and it was great. At some point that day, we even got a better sound with the POD and just printed it instead of the Vox. It's a good tool, but you have to experiment and find out what works for you and HOW to make it work for you consistently. Some tools just won't work on everything. I can drive a nail with a screwdriver, but i'd rather have a hammer.
Likewise, the POD works for me on a lot of things (the EQ makes a HUGE difference on this thing, i think), but sometimes (maybe even oftentimes) i want an AC-30 or a Chieftain or a Twin. The POD can definitely fool you, though, if used well.
It's also kinda like amps, y'know?
You ever had an amp you just couldn't get to sound how you wanted, even though others rave about it? Or you ever tried to record a guitarist who just couldn't seem to play right until you got a different amp on him, and then all of a sudden it clicked?
This is still music. It's about passion. Sometimes it's hard to not let the science get in the way. Sometimes it's REAL hard...
mark
Mark, I think your attitude is right on! I often get def
Mark,
I think your attitude is right on!
I often get defeated with this thing! As I said earlier, this thing keeps changeing and each day it is indeed a new introduction to its delivery!
However , I will be dammed if I havent gotten some tasty tracks with it!
My qestion to anyone is what may be considered a good preamp fo rhte POD?
I would think discrete over Tube , no?
Mad John
Zythum Studios
"The present day Composer refuses to die!" - Edgar Varese - 1921
I tried the old pod and was able to get the exact tone of my 65
I tried the old pod and was able to get the exact tone of my 65 Super Reverb with Weber speakers, hot rodded tube screamer and 58 Tele. Ok it wasn't exact but when mixed in with the rest of the tracks you cant tell that the first half of th song is my nice rig and the second half is an old pod. That being said I went out and ended up buying the VAMP 2 Pro. Cheap and I think it stomps on all the pods in terms of tone. (Not as many cool toys inside). I have used the VAMP on several bands R. tracks and solo tracks and they love it. I even did a comparison b/t my Super Reverb/Deluxe Reverb/Tube Screamer combo and the VAMP (Heavily tweeked) and they choose the VAMP. (I was kinda pissed but relieved too) The VAMP has its place but with heavy tweeking. I still think its not as nice as my old vintage tube stuff but then again I use all the time. My Nigel gets some tones better than I can get with my amps BUT it robs lots of power from my UAD card. True you can "lock it in" but it's not the same.
Have fun
J-3
I´ve been playing and recording guitar for some reasonable time
I´ve been playing and recording guitar for some reasonable time and have used both AMp FArm/Sans Amp emulator and the real nice thing like JCM 800´s, Twin Reverb´s, Jazz Chorus, etc.
For clean sounds, I prefer a combi of amp farm/Sans Amp. Uncle Kurt has just vomited when I wrote it at a thread regarding the new
I have not used the Pod Xt yet. I also like to combi these direct signals with the real thing miked with a beta 57 and a condenser a few feet away.
Make Peace, not War
Once in a GREAT while, a POD sound makes it onto a record i work
Once in a GREAT while, a POD sound makes it onto a record i work on... the real issue for ME, is that more than one track of it tends to add up quickly into unlistenable noise... it seems to add some subtle artifacts that on their own aren't annoying, but in more than one layer become so rapidly.
it's a nice tool for quick easy demo-ing but that's all, in my experience.
Even Amp Farm (which suffers from many of the same issues) ends up sounding better in the long run.
interesting. I have just finished a loooong recording session.
interesting. I have just finished a loooong recording session. I was myself playing and tracking, I guess for 3 hours... While playing, sound was better than when I quick punched on PT screen. Memory /buffers/cpu usage/etc etc fine.. It seemed it changed the tone slightly while recording...
The POD 1.0 has TRS outs!
The POD 1.0 has TRS outs!