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GMC Forum _ GEAR & PRODUCTION _ Need A Better Live Sound, And Easier Too.

Posted by: leedbreak Oct 7 2010, 04:49 AM

Now, I use my podxt to go straight into the mixing board. There does seem to be some minor problems with some instruments canceling out other at times, is that possible and is going from the podxt straight into the board a bad idea all together.

I always seem to have EQ problems when going in to board. It is like I have to use the boards eq as well as the pod's, making creating new patches on the spot take too long.

So it is time for me to make a change, I need something easier to use on the spot. I am not sure if I need a new FX pod type thing to send to the board or to buy a good amp and mic it up. Any advise would be helpful,

TIA

Posted by: MickeM Oct 7 2010, 10:06 AM

My only good experience from POD (X3 Live) is for home recording, using it as a sound interface. It's touch to measure up with a good tube amp.
For a better live sound, maybe a small 1-10 watt amp that you mike? Real amp sound!
For easier to use on the spot, I've tested a Blackstar Dual pedal. It got two channels clean/crunch + dist, tube driven. Easy to dial in, great sound.

But as with everything, going straight into a PA you will lose some. I felt that especially sharing the speakers with the vocalist it's less good. Same goes for a miked real amp.
I'm convinced though that with a bigger PA, perhaps even assigning the guitar to it's own speakers, it will sound up to par.

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic Oct 7 2010, 04:07 PM

Hmm, that's a tough one, not knowing exactly what the problem is, or hearing it. All I know is that if I had those problems and a POD, I would swithed it with some guitar preamp device, possibly a pedal like tony recommended Blackstar one. H&K one could be good as well. You should try and see, you will definitely need speaker simulation as well. Getting some DI box with speaker simulation can solve this.

Posted by: Chris Evans Oct 7 2010, 04:21 PM

both myself and the other guitarist in our band had similar experiences with the PODXT live, a great unit at home for recording etc, but both of us always struggled with decent tone even going direct into our own amp cabs etc, we even hired a rehearsal room for a couple of hours one evening without the rest of the band just to set our gear up at volume, it helped a lot but neither of us were 100% happy with the end result.

In the end the pair of us went all the way back to a good old stomp box`s with a decent amp and cab to go through, and never looked back.

I`ve actually moved on to a very old Korg multi fx unit but its pretty much the same deal as seperate stomp boxs just in one handy package, easy to change patches and tweak them if I need etc.

there may be solutions to enable the use of the POD but ya cant beat a basic set up imo.

Posted by: ZakkWylde Oct 7 2010, 04:27 PM

Ultimately you will need a bunch of stompbox pedals and a good tube amp. Save up some cash and get a great rig, settling for some half-assed solutions will only result in frustration like you are feeling now with your pod!

Posted by: sted Oct 7 2010, 08:16 PM

A good solid tube amp will always be a good fall back position, I had the same problem with the pod too mate, they just dont feel right live, the new Pod HD series are meant to be much improved in this area but I think it will be more of the same.

So a decent tube amp and cab then? Maybe but it might not suit all your needs, , from what I remember you play in church quite a lot? A big amp can swamp the rest of the musicians up there with you in cases like this, around choirs and stuff you can find yourself obliterating th mix because their mic's need to be a lot more sensitive and will pick up yur guitar at any sort of reasonable volume, plus the fact you will get a huge amount of natural reverb in a space like this.

An iso cab might be worth a look mate, you can hook up a small amp head, crank the living daylights out of it but your feed will only go to the front of house so the sound guy can be a bit sympathetic with the mix and you arent compromising on tone, a Palmer PDI or Sequis motherload will give the same control.

Another one worth looking into is the expensive but oh so versatile Axe Fx too mate, you can DI this or have a small cab or a mixture of both, they are widely regarded as viable tube amp alternatives by many top players now but will give you more control and optioons in a smaller package than a thundering great Marshall might do!

Just my thoughts mate, hope they help.

Posted by: leedbreak Oct 13 2010, 07:36 PM

Great tips guys. Thanks

This past weekend I went back to my old RP-1 To get by and while it is old it has, IMO, better presets than anything I got my pod to do. I will check out some of these others.

Thanks Again

Posted by: Bogdan Radovic Oct 18 2010, 11:44 AM

Those multieffects units don't do too good live. I would definitely recommend you to get a classic setup - mic'ed amp + some stomps. When you go from POD straight to PA not only you will have "different" sound every time but you may have monitoring issues. Guitar amp on stage gives you control - you can set its tone how you like it + it acts as good monitoring so you and your band mates can hear you well.

Posted by: Mate Nagy Oct 18 2010, 03:59 PM

I would immediately avoid using multieffects live.
I think no multieffect device can catch up with the sound characteristics of a well set-up tube amp.
The long-term solution for this problem is to get a real tube amp.
You don't have to think about 100 watt monsters at first ( however they sound really awesome ).
There are 10-15 watts tube amps which really worth the value you pay for it.
For example orange tiny terror, vox nightrain, or the fender combos: blues junior, hot rod . . .
So there are a lot of good solutions you can choose from . . .