BAss Pod Xt - Worth it?

[kyral210]

I gig allot around London, and I record allot using Ableton Live. I am considering ditching my sansamp for a Bass Pod Xt. What are your thoughts about this? Is the sound quality up to it? Good value for money? Robust enough to gig with?

[Nyarlathotep]

Sound quality is good, and yes it would be robust enough to gig with....

BUT: cab modeling sucks the big one. I blame the overcoloring mic models, but it dont matter much cus they are linked.

Since most (if not all) sansamps have cab modeling as part of them I feel it neccessary to say this.

My vote: stick with the SansAmp.

The real question is what is it about the SA that you dont like?

[kyral210]

The sansamp doesn't feel very versatile to me. I want to plug my bass into something that will simulate an SVT stack, head and cab! I also want a recording interface that isnt running a 1/8" jack from a BDI80 that is set to bypass. That system sucks!

[stflbn]

What you have to be careful about is using amp/cab simulation with a Pod, then feeding it into an Amp, then a cab which also colors the sound further based on the native sounds of that amp/cab.

One approach would be to use a pure PowerAmp/Cab setup and try to get the some transparent sounding cabs to run through. That would hopefully give you the most versatility.

But... you'll still likely be wanting to tweak the pod's settings to give you what you really need to hear, AND all to often the settings you setup at home practicing end up sounding differently then you'd expect in a band setting or at full volume in a gig. Which can put you into a situation of tweaking sounds right before a gig or during a gig.


I went away from that kind of versatility about a year ago in favor of a better overall sound that I massage a bit in the other directions I need with my boss VF-1.

If you're really looking for an SVT type sound then may be best to look that direction first, then find ways to adapt that core sound for other uses.