Curious to hear more from POD players who use theirs at gigs. Are you running the amp emulation out to the PA via 'LINE'? Not too familiar with how PODs work...
If so, it seems to run counter to the whole 'clean signal out through a DI' approach that I've had most sound guys use. That said, there's still the occasional sound guy who mics my combo (an Ashdown 1x15).
I don't feel the need to have a huge head/cabinet combo on stage, given that the PA is what's controlling my sound. But I wouldn't mind a bit more sonic control through something like a POD.
One of my complaints about the XT Live is that you can't run both a signal WITH the cab modeling and another, separate signal WITHOUT the cab modeling simultaneously. This means a couple of things:
- If you are running to both the PA and an amp on stage, you have to choose between have no cab/mic modeling in the house, or doubling up and have cab/mic modeling running into your cab, which will seriously change your on-stage tone and mess with your perception of how you sound as far as monitoring accurately
- If you want to run to both the PA and your amp, you can use the LEFT/MONO out for one and the RIGHT out for the other, but then you can't use any stereo effects like chorus or ping-pong delay.
The POD xt Live does have a headphone out, and if you're careful about levels, you could use this as a stereo output to the board, leaving the main L/R outs free to go to your amp. However, you'd still have the problem of choosing between LINE mode (cab & mic modeling) or AMP mode (no cab or mic modeling).
As I understand it, the new POD X3 Live addresses this issue by having two separate sets of outputs. The line outputs on the X3, additionally, are XLR (two of them), and the amp outputs are 1/4" (on the XT Live, there are just two 1/4" outs, L/MONO and RIGHT, and a switch for AMP/LINE). Both models have stereo headphone jacks.
If you do like I do and use a power amp + cab, instead of a head, it matters less. I use the LINE setting on mine, which means the sound coming from my cab does have cab & mic modeling already on it, but I just use a Crown power amp, so at least there's no amp modeling doubled up, too. The proper signal of amp modeling + effects modeling + cab modeling + mic modeling goes to the house. Most of the time, though, I'd say at about 80% of my gigs, I use in-ear monitors, and no amp on stage, just running my Line6 to the house by itself and monitoring that tone directly.
The idea behind the clean-signal-out-through-the-DI-to-the-house is really not that it's better tonally; it's just convenient as far as isolation and set-up/tear-down. It's true that basses depend less on the amp part of the signal chain for their tone than guitars, but a great amp is still an important part of bass tone, and you don't want to completely cut that out when there's a way to model it instead. Ideally, what would go into the DI is not your bass signal directly, but a good microphone on your favorite, well-isolated bass cab, powered by an amp head of your choice. Even acoustic guitars sound a lot better with a preamp in between, and they sound the best when the signal feeding the DI is in fact a mic positioned in front of the guitar, not through a pick-up. In my opinion, the only instruments that really sound good direct are instruments that are designed to go direct: Synths, keyboards, electronic drum sets, etc.
You could run an electric guitar through a DI box and into the house, too, but you very rarely see that, because electric guitars tend to sound like crap when run completely dry & direct. In my humble opinion, so do basses. They sound much better through a nice amp mic'ed up properly, or at least through a Line6 model of one.
There's a good reason that touring pros who use in-ears all around still haul their SVTs and mic them up, instead of just using a direct box: It sounds better that way.
^ Vic Wooten; notice the Shure KSM on the mic stand for ambient coverage through their in-ears
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Aerosmith's Tom Hamilton & his rig
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TBer Johnny April of Staind's live rig
There are many more examples. Even when there are no amps on stage, a lot of times, backstage, there is an amp mic'ed up, even if it's a smaller one.
For most small clubs where the room acoustics matter a lot more than whether your amp is part of your signal chain or not, it doesn't really matter, and a DI box is fine. But for bigger shows at clubs (as opposed to bars), IME, most pro sound guys expect and are prepared for you to want your amp mic'ed, if you're not using some kind of amp modeling. My 2 cents...
