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Posted by: Roadside Sep 30 2008, 01:19 PM

Hey Markus,

first of all I want to tell you that I love your style and I enjoy all of your lessons:)

I would say I´m an intermediate player since I´m able to play your intermediate stuff:P but when it comes to gear I realy don´t know much. I read some topics in which you talked about your POD XT, so I checked out youtube for a review and I can´t find a realy senseful review. There are some but they don´t answer all of my questions.

Maybe you can give me a review for what I can exactly use the POD XT - Is it just for effects or can I plug it into my computer to record!? And what about the distortion is it mostly produced by your amp or the POD XT or whatever? As you see I don´t know much about that topic.

I´m currently playin´ on a Marshall MG 100DFX and I´m thinking about buying a new amp, which would be pretty expensive though. That´s the reason why I wanted to look for a cheaper way to "pimp" the amp:)

Thanks for your help and I realy appreciate your work@gmc

Tim

Posted by: Marcus Lavendell Sep 30 2008, 01:56 PM

Hi Tim,
thank you for your kind words!

Yes, I use a PODxt and I plug it straight into my computer for recording. So I don't use a guitar amp at all. All the distortion, eq, compression, reverb, delays & effects, etc... - it's all in the POD. and it's sounds great! I really recommend it

However, if we want to connect it to an amp then it's no problem. We just have to tell the POD what it is connected to (either an amp, or computer/studio). So if you want to keep your Marshall it will work great to use with the POD, and when you're recording just plug it to the computer instead. It can't get easier than that

Best thing is if you go to a music store and try one yourself. Otherwise I think you'll find all info you need, at the line6 website: http://www.line6.com/podxt/

Posted by: jer Sep 30 2008, 02:07 PM

These kinds of devices are AMAZINGLY versatile.

I use a Digitech GSP-1101. Similar beast. I've used others as well. GNX4, GNX3000. Just Digitech's answer to the Pod.

Anyway, they give you the ability to get nearly any sound you can imagine without any other gear. Well, nothing but the guitar and your cables anyway.

For playing at home its really all you need. Use your computer speakers if they sound decent. Or plug headphones into it. You'll have nearly any sound imaginable at your fingertips. You neednt fool around with mics to get good recordings. And you can do it all at 3am and not upset anyone in the house.

And as Marcus said, if you want to run it into the marshall you can do that too. Set the marshall to a great clean sound and use the pod for everything else, or use the marshall's gain channel if you like that sound better for what you are doing and use the pod's fx for everything else.

You really cannot go wrong with these things. Especially for the price.

I'm not trying to step on marcus' toes here. Just adding a bit more info since I'm familiar with these.

Posted by: Marcus Lavendell Sep 30 2008, 02:25 PM

Thanks for your post Jer!

Another cool thing is the possibility to save the settings to a file. So if you find another POD user you can ask for his preset and he could e-mail it to you. And then you'd have the exact same tone! We share these files all the time here at GMC

Posted by: jer Sep 30 2008, 02:34 PM

Thats a great feature.

I set up the patches on mine for the songs I play, and in the order I play them.

patch 1 - song 1 rhythm
patch 2 - song 1 lead
patch 3 - song 2 rhythm
patch 4 - song 2 lead

etc.

Very helpful.

And you can make tons of presets (patches) so you can have several variations if you want. I have a group of presets I use for my strat that are all a bit different than the ones I use for my ESP with EMGs. Each are tailored to the guitar.

These units work well with basses too. So you cna very inexpensively add a bass guitar to your arsenal for home recording if you want.

Posted by: Roadside Sep 30 2008, 08:33 PM

That sound so goddamn fantastic i need to get one:D

In which input is the pod xt plugged in@ the comp? and would you prefer a pod xt live? I mean its just 100euro difference and isn´t it just much better to pratice with a live podxt?

Posted by: Marcus Lavendell Oct 1 2008, 07:49 AM

You should be able use an USB cable from the PODxt to the computer, or you could plug the main out on the POD to the audio input on your sound card/computer (that's what I do).

I use the red "bean shaped" PODxt, and it's great for home recording/playing. But if you play live a lot, then the PODxt Live is better I think. All the tones are the same, the difference is just that the Live-version is a floorboard which is more suitable for live playing

Posted by: Roadside Oct 1 2008, 08:47 AM

It´s hard, I read a lot about the POD XT and other kind of gear yesterday. It seems like there are guys loving the POD XT more than anything else and others prefer a realy good tubeamp. Afterall, I need to test it at the store:)

Thanks Marcus:)

Edit: Last question: Which software is needed to record? the ones mentioned in the FAQ?

Posted by: Marcus Lavendell Oct 1 2008, 09:23 AM

There are lots of different software you can use to record

The one I use is called ProTools (see www.digidesign.com), but that's pretty expensive because you need specific hardware to run it. So I don't recommend that one to you, for now.

I'm on a Mac, and I can't say which programs are best for Windows. Maybe we can get some recommendations from our GMC'ers?

Posted by: Roadside Oct 1 2008, 10:06 AM

Would be great, I don´t like Mac Windows 98 Solves:P

Posted by: Marcus Lavendell Oct 1 2008, 01:11 PM

Hehe... ok

Well, I can list the few Windows sequencers that I can think of at the moment:
* Cubase
* Sonar
* Fruity Loops

Does anyone recommend some more programs?

Posted by: jer Oct 1 2008, 01:24 PM

Do you have a decent soundcard?

Is it an upgrade from what came in your PC?

If its the basic soundcard you may want to look at something like this:
http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com/product/Lexicon-Alpha-USB-Audio-Interface?sku=245507

It comes with a basic version of Cubase. (More than enough to get you started) as well as provides you a good sound interface for recording from the line outs on ANYTHING. There is also a mic input so you can record vocals, or a mic'd amp.

No phantom power though, so no condensor mic ability. You'd need to spend a bit more to get that.

This is a good device to have with any pc used for recording. VERY versitile. It actually becomes your soundcard when plugged it. Check out the link.

Posted by: Roadside Oct 1 2008, 02:39 PM

I´ve got an onboard soundcard. So this thing is jsut plugged in at an usbport and is than used as my soundcard so that I can connect the POD into this extra soundcard to record? And the programm is inclusive? Sounds pretty decent.

But isn´t it possible to plug the Guitar directly into my soundcard? I mean you got the 3 outputs at the fatass of your computer, one for cabs, one for a mic and the other one was never used by anyone:P Couldn´t I just plug the guitar into the Mic Output to record?

Posted by: Marcus Lavendell Oct 1 2008, 03:03 PM

No, that's not a good idea.
If you plug the guitar directly to your soundcard, you'd probably need some amplifier to get the signal up to the right level. But it would still not sound good because you won't have any distortion, effects, etc...

The correct way would be to plug your guitar to the POD, and then plug the POD to the soundcard (or an USB port)

I don't know... maybe I misunderstood your question?

Posted by: Roadside Oct 1 2008, 03:11 PM

That´s clear - first the pod then the soundcard. But jer said something about an extra soundcard if my one is on board, didnt he?

Posted by: TheOldOnes Oct 1 2008, 03:30 PM

This is a nice discussion - there has been alot of posts referring to the podxt's but I haven't really got a good picture in my head about its usefulness.

2 Questions:

1. Is the Pod X3 just an upgraded version of the Pod XT?
2. Is there free software out there that you can download to record your playing if you have a pod?

Posted by: jer Oct 1 2008, 03:46 PM

Yeah. If the pod has a usb out then you dont need any other audio interface.

Unless you want to record other things. Like vocals, mic'd cabinet, etc....

If its guitar only, and the pod has a usb out, then all you need is a PC.

Posted by: Roadside Oct 1 2008, 06:48 PM

Thank you that´s realy clear now:)

Posted by: Marcus Lavendell Oct 1 2008, 06:56 PM

1. Yes

2. I think Audacity is free. Don't know how good it is though, but I'm sure there are some other free programs that are decent.

Posted by: jer Oct 1 2008, 07:21 PM

The software is one reason I suggested the audio interface.

You get Cubase LE with that Lexicon unit. Thats more than half the cost of the unit itself.

Follow me? Don't end up spending $40-50 on a cheap software package when you could get a nice interface for $79 that comes with decent software.

You never know when you may want to record something with a mic.

Or use it as a direct input for things like Amplitube/Guitar Rig

But again, its not needed for just guitar.

Posted by: JoePower22 Oct 11 2008, 04:30 AM

Marcus,
I want to first say that your lessons are amazing and i've learned a lot from you. So thanks for that. Also, i have a podxt myself which i love. I use your preset (and i play a strat with a scalloped neck so I get somewhat of a similar tone to you). Playing like you is a different story though haha. However I'm never really satisfied with the way that my recordings sound once i mix them in Cool Edit (especially with adding the right reverb). Also i can never seem to get quite the same level of that "aw" sound I love so much. Yours is always perfect. Any advice? Also I was just curious about what kind of equipment you use when playing live to get that same tone as your pod (heads, cabs, overdrive/dist pedals, etc). Any advice would be appreciated here. Thanks a lot Marcus. -Joe

Posted by: Roadside Feb 21 2009, 09:35 AM

I just want to refer to that "aw" sound. Imho it has not too much to do with your POD XT presets - probably it´s just the missing technique, i.e. the insane vibrato Marcus has got.

I hope that this help even if the answer is 2 months too late:D

cheers