PODxt: worth having?

[abhishek]

well just the topic iv been looking for.im a beginner in terms of using effects.never used one.but now i want to widen my playn tones n sound.so i was really impressed by the pod's tht i read reviews bout.
1.really silly.cos im completely ignorant bout this but;in the pod,if im using wah,is there a pedal for it?!or do i need to get something else that accompanies it?!real stooopid!!!
2.on the line6 site,the bass pods shown are the bass pod,pod pro,pod xt,pod xt pro...how much do each of these costs?!which model wd u suggest for a beginner like me?!im basically lookin for a very funk-driven sound out of it..prob diff wah's,flanger..oh ya the amp emulations are real sweet!

 

[jpo259]

1.really silly.cos im completely ignorant bout this but;in the pod,if im using wah,is there a pedal for it?!or do i need to get something else that accompanies it?!real stooopid!!!

You need to get the floorboard that is made for whatever POD you are getting. It has two (old) or one (new) pedal with it.




2.on the line6 site,the bass pods shown are the bass pod,pod pro,pod xt,pod xt pro...how much do each of these costs?!which model wd u suggest for a beginner like me?!im basically lookin for a very funk-driven sound out of it..prob diff wah's,flanger..oh ya the amp emulations are real sweet!

POD, POD 2.0, POD Pro....JUNK

POD XT, POD Pro XT-excellent tool

Older POD, POD 2.0 I think run for like $199.00

Pod XT-$350.00???

BASS POD Pro XT-$699.00-BEST OF ALL.

With the NEW XT models, you need the FBV Shortboard to have a wah pedal and to be able to switch presets and efffects live. FBV Shortboard costs about $250.00. The stuff ain't cheap.

Getting a 'funky tone' is EASY!!! 'Ten-Tube-Tone' (Aguilar DB-750) amp preset, compress the hell out of it. EQ to your liking. Use the Auto Wah (Mu-Tron) stomp effect. Add some phaser Mod. effect. Maybe even some digital delay!! Whooopp!! There ya go!!! Funky like a Monkey!!!


Here's my stuff: Bass POD Pro XT in rack

And the FBV Shortboard controller:

 

[abhishek]

thanks a ton jpo.well ya im looking at the xt's rite now.could u pl tell me whats the big difference b/w the xt n the xt pro for a whopping difference of 300$?!as far as i heard they're only diff when it comes to recording.but live they are pretty much the same.

also hw would u rate the effects on the xt with respect to other multifx processors?!

and is there a cheaper yet sturdy and functional switchboard than the FBV4?!

 

[jpo259]

thanks a ton jpo.well ya im looking at the xt's rite now.could u pl tell me whats the big difference b/w the xt n the xt pro for a whopping difference of 300$?!as far as i heard they're only diff when it comes to recording.but live they are pretty much the same.

also hw would u rate the effects on the xt with respect to other multifx processors?!

and is there a cheaper yet sturdy and functional switchboard than the FBV4?!

Hmmm. First, the difference between the Bass POD XT and the Bass POD Pro XT is that the Pro is rack-mountable. As far as the FBV4, that sounds like the old floorboard for the old POD's The new, XT Pods need the FBV Shortboard. That is what is pictured above.

As far as the effects. well, here is where so many bass players have a problem with the POD.......and I don't. It is a digital effects processer. It has GREAT effects. VERY EASY to use...IF...you are used to using digital effects. The stomp box crowd seems a little less 'tecnically adept' at using digital effects. And, many bass players swear by their tube amps. Digital and solid state don't do it for everybody. Works for me!!! As with EVERYTHING in the POD, you NEED to get inside each page and experiment with the different: Amp models, Cab models, and EFFECTS.

Here is a little something for anyone thinking about a POD XT: When you get it, (or, do this at the music store): listen to all the factory presets. THEN............put it on Manual Mode. This is found at a memory postion one LESS than 1A. There, you can scroll through every amp model with it's 'associated' cab, no effects, no nothing, and listen to each modeled amp. THAT is where you start to find what you like and don't. There also, you can take an amp model and scroll through every CAB model to see how they sound together. The presets basically suck. Find your own tone. Find it and store it in memory. You'll have to overwrite a factory preset, but, who cares? You can always get it back. Set up a memory bank with an amp and cab of your choice. EQ it. Add effects. Say you have a model you like. You have it in memory. Try EVERY EFFECT with it, checking out EVERY PARAMETER of each effect. THAT IS WHERE you find what works for you. NOTICE: There are many, many, many possibilities and combinations here. And that seems to be at the heart of why so many people are turned off by the POD. Not me!!!!

 

[abhishek]

oh ya the Shortboard is what i meant !my bad!

so the only difference ur telling me is that the pro xt pro is so much more expensve just cos its rack mountable/!?!im hoping so..cos then ill pick up the pro xt w/o any doubt!

n the shortbord looks to much for my basic needs.is there a basic model?!id jus like it where i canhave the wah/vol pedal n prob a bank switcher.

have u tried out the fx loop?!always wanted to know bout it!!n is the fx loop in pod xt as well or is it only in the pro?!

and would you by any chance happen to klnow the dimension and weight of the two models,xt and xtpro?!cos implannin to ship it down n tht wd make a big deffierence

thanks

 

[jpo259]

oh ya the Shortboard is what i meant !my bad!

so the only difference ur telling me is that the pro xt pro is so much more expensve just cos its rack mountable/!?!im hoping so..cos then ill pick up the pro xt w/o any doubt!

n the shortbord looks to much for my basic needs.is there a basic model?!id jus like it where i canhave the wah/vol pedal n prob a bank switcher.

have u tried out the fx loop?!always wanted to know bout it!!n is the fx loop in pod xt as well or is it only in the pro?!

and would you by any chance happen to klnow the dimension and weight of the two models,xt and xtpro?!cos implannin to ship it down n tht wd make a big deffierence

thanks

1. As far as I know, the FBV Shortboard is all that will work with the POD XY/POD Pro XT. They make a pedal called an 'Expression Pedal'. I don;t know if it works only as a vol. pedal separately or not.

2. As far as expense, I think the rack-mount POD Pro XT has more connectability options for digital ins and outs.

3. I have not tried the effects loop. Not sure what you mean by that. Let me make this clear: The Bass POD XT/POD Pro XT works best as a dedicated preamp with it's own poweramp and cabinet system. Or, straight to the house souns system. Oh, and , as far as I know, what is in the POD Pro is in the POD.

4. Dimensions. Hmmm. The Pod Pro XT is approx. 12 lbs. It comes in a white box about 20"L, 9" W, 5" tall. The unit istself is a 2-space rack unit. About 6" deep.

The POD is the 'bean' shaped unit. About 9" x 5". I am sure it weighs no more than 7 lbs.

 

[abhishek]

Well as far as i knoiw,the loops are used to loop a line that ur playing @ that time.it loops it on-the-fly over which u can play another line.think i got it right!confused?!

and how much of a difference does the connectability for digital ins n outs make?!im sure they do make a big diff,but how often do u use them?!cos i dont even know what some of the digital interface in it mean n for wt purpose they r used!!

have the price of the xt's been constant or has it dropped.cos im most prob gonna be pickin it up only by mid-april.so any chances of it dropping price?!

n where would u guys suggest buying it online.i did look up on ebay.good thing bout them is that sometimes they've international shipping for 30$ which ROX!considering i live in India.i was actually plannin to ship it down to a friend of mine in Minnessota.and then he cd prob bring it here later on.wt wd u guys say-musicainfriend.com or nething else?!

 

[jpo259]

Well as far as i knoiw,the loops are used to loop a line that ur playing @ that time.it loops it on-the-fly over which u can play another line.think i got it right!confused?!

The POD's have no ability to loop.

and how much of a difference does the connectability for digital ins n outs make?!im sure they do make a big diff,but how often do u use them?!cos i dont even know what some of the digital interface in it mean n for wt purpose they r used!!

The Dig in/out is mostly for recording. The POD Pro XT has XLR outs as well as 1/4''. I don't think the POD has the XLR outs, either.

have the price of the xt's been constant or has it dropped.cos im most prob gonna be pickin it up only by mid-april.so any chances of it dropping price?!

As far as I know, the price of the Bas POD Pro XT has remained around $699.00. I have seen a price drop on the bean POD XT, though.

n where would u guys suggest buying it online.i did look up on ebay.good thing bout them is that sometimes they've international shipping for 30$ which ROX!considering i live in India.i was actually plannin to ship it down to a friend of mine in Minnessota.and then he cd prob bring it here later on.wt wd u guys say-musicainfriend.com or nething else?!

Ebay. Guitar Center. West LA Music. GC and West LA will ship anywhere and are competitive about their prices. You could call any GC or West LA and get a price quote. Musiciansfriend, Music 123, etc. They all have 'em.

 

[abhishek]

first of all jpo,thanks a ton for responding to my 'sometimes' silly queries almost instantly.thx a ton!

so here are some more:

as i asked u before,have u ever used the loops when u play?

n could u pls tell me what the xlr out n 1/4" do??

n iv heard that there is a volume drop once u use the effects.is this true?!or is it just that the patches havent been tweaked well?!

 

[John Herzog]

The regular ol Bass Pod XT does have balanced outs, they are TRS instead of XLR. I personally don't like the effects on it except mabye the phaser. If you turn the CAB modeling off though you do get a large volume drop.

 

[caesarbass]

I had one for a week and sold it. I really didn't like the way it made my bass sound, I prefer to plug right into my amp. I don't even like it for recording, I prefer going straight into the board through an Avalon or a nice tube pre.

 

[SteveC]

I've had both the Pro and new PodXT, 2 or 3 times, and always sold them. I really wanted to like them, but I just didn't. I am very happy with my preamp options - an Avalon U5 and a SansAmp BDDI. I run either/both through a QSC PLX 1202 and a Bergantino HT112. That basically covers my "clean" tone which is waht I use most. If I need that "Fat Tube" or "SVT" tone, I use the BDDI. I don't use effects much, so I have a chorus pedal.

For me, it wasn't worth having. Your findings may be different.

 

[Bob Rogers]

I'm sort of in Steve's situation in that I've come to settle on pretty narrow range of tones for the music I'm playing right now. At the moment I'm still using my Bass POD, but I'm looking to move to a dedicated tube preamp. If I was in Joe P.'s situation, or something like a wedding band playing lots of covers, I'd be moving up to a Bass PODxt. (I'm sticking with the guitar PODxts.)

But I'm glad I bought the POD. It has been a good learning tool. I've been able to play extensively with some pretty good approximations of a lot of different amps and effects. Of course, it's not the real thing, but since I'm not near a big city I'd be hard pressed to even find the real thing, let alone pay for it.

I don't know what kind of gear Jon has access to in India, but I think this is probably a good thing to experiment with even if he were to grow out of it some day.

 

[xonebass]

I just wanted to first give a big hand to JPO. Someone else has figured out my secret

I currently run a very similar setup to JPO's. My rig consists of the Bass Pod Pro XT run as a preamp and digital effects module directly into a QSC 3402 (yeah it's a lot of power and I like it like that). My cabinet is a modified Ampeg PR-410 (with Eminence Delta 10's rated 2000W RMS). And no I don't use anything else to get my tone - I'm totally satisfied (well not with my playing but that's something else).

FYI, pictures of my rig can be seen on our webpage below or directly at this link http://www.freewebs.com/inthexone/about.htm at the bottom of the page. Although not pictured, I too also use the FBV shortboard. It's the way to go. You can also see that my guitarist uses a Vetta.

JPO and I are using very similar methodologies when it comes to the Bass Pod Pro XT. We both use the Bass Pod (when we're using it) as it's own preamp and effects unit. We both like to listen in the manual mode or listen to each amp model with every different cabinet. Also, we know how to use eq. If a 6 band parametric eq scares you this is not your rig. We also say no to factory patches. We either make our own from scratch or tweak the ones that exist.

One other secret is that I aways create my patches at stage volume. If you create your patch at bedroom volume it will have too much low end. For those of you who can't get good sounding effects, there are options of how to place an effect in the chain of command. For example most stomp boxes sound good "in front" of the pre-amplifier but some sound better after. There are options to use a cross-over for the effect so that you don't loose your low end (but keep the effect for the high end). Very useful if you have a low B string.

In short there are so many options on the Bass Pod Pro XT that I would say I haven't touched the surface of what can be done and I've owned it for 9 months. I also have the expertise of a Vetta user of 2+ years (my guitarist) to help.
So for those guys who buy it and take it back in a week - .

You can't figure this unit out in a month (and that's if you had no life). The way to approach this unit is the same way you might approach learning ProTools. It's a serious investment of your time. But for those of us who want 20+ tones out of their bass and don't want to carry around 20 amplifiers (each costing thousands) it's pretty much the only way to go.

After all that though, I'm really happy to see so many die hard tube users out there who say that digital solid state technology sounds like stale donuts. Yeah that's right I sound like a stale donut and you wouldn't want to spend all the time to figure the Bass Pod Pro XT because then you might have tones as good as mine

 

[abhishek]

oh god u guys really know how to get me all confused!!hehe..but thanks a ton for responses to my queries n in general!!

i dunt think that over 2000+tones would really be of any use to me.prob 5 out of those.so im also thinkin bout a sansmap bddi pedal and a boss chorus pedal.but somhow still the pod xt's still seems to be my fasve.dunno why tho.

another thing is that,here, in India the pod xt costs more than double the price than that in the U.S!it costs prob a whoppin 700$!!!the price of a POD XT PRO for POD XT!WOW!does tht suk or wt!

 

[xonebass]

It may make more sense for you to buy it overseas and then pay for the shipping (what about $100 or so) if it's that expensive.

One other thought for those of you seriously considering is to check out the user manual at the Line 6 website (assuming you haven't already www.line6.com). You can download the entire thing as a pdf. You can get a lot of good information out of it, but admittedly you really need to have the unit in hand with the manual to understand things more thoroughly.

Hope that helps.

 

[abhishek]

ya done that already-downloaded the manual i.e
but as u said,makes sense only w the unit next to me!
i was plannin to ship it to a friend of mine in MN neways..lets see

 

[jpo259]

first of all jpo,thanks a ton for responding to my 'sometimes' silly queries almost instantly.thx a ton!

so here are some more:

as i asked u before,have u ever used the loops when u play?

n could u pls tell me what the xlr out n 1/4" do??

n iv heard that there is a volume drop once u use the effects.is this true?!or is it just that the patches havent been tweaked well?!

Once again, the POD CANNOT loop. Anything you read about a 'loop' is about the fact that you can set up any effects you choose to use with each preset in any order you want. An effects 'loop'. That is all.

Difference between the XLR out's and the 1/4" outs is that the XLR's are balanced. That is all.

Volume drop/boost either with effects or switching presets can be done away with by adjusting the output volume of the preset and the gain of each effect. You cannot use the POD effectively without addressing Output volume and effect gain. You HAVE TO spend time in the editing pages and learn how thing work.

 

[jpo259]

I just wanted to first give a big hand to JPO. Someone else has figured out my secret

I currently run a very similar setup to JPO's. My rig consists of the Bass Pod Pro XT run as a preamp and digital effects module directly into a QSC 3402 (yeah it's a lot of power and I like it like that). My cabinet is a modified Ampeg PR-410 (with Eminence Delta 10's rated 2000W RMS). And no I don't use anything else to get my tone - I'm totally satisfied (well not with my playing but that's something else).

FYI, pictures of my rig can be seen on our webpage below or directly at this link http://www.freewebs.com/inthexone/about.htm at the bottom of the page. Although not pictured, I too also use the FBV shortboard. It's the way to go. You can also see that my guitarist uses a Vetta.

JPO and I are using very similar methodologies when it comes to the Bass Pod Pro XT. We both use the Bass Pod (when we're using it) as it's own preamp and effects unit. We both like to listen in the manual mode or listen to each amp model with every different cabinet. Also, we know how to use eq. If a 6 band parametric eq scares you this is not your rig. We also say no to factory patches. We either make our own from scratch or tweak the ones that exist.

One other secret is that I aways create my patches at stage volume. If you create your patch at bedroom volume it will have too much low end. For those of you who can't get good sounding effects, there are options of how to place an effect in the chain of command. For example most stomp boxes sound good "in front" of the pre-amplifier but some sound better after. There are options to use a cross-over for the effect so that you don't loose your low end (but keep the effect for the high end). Very useful if you have a low B string.

In short there are so many options on the Bass Pod Pro XT that I would say I haven't touched the surface of what can be done and I've owned it for 9 months. I also have the expertise of a Vetta user of 2+ years (my guitarist) to help.
So for those guys who buy it and take it back in a week - .

You can't figure this unit out in a month (and that's if you had no life). The way to approach this unit is the same way you might approach learning ProTools. It's a serious investment of your time. But for those of us who want 20+ tones out of their bass and don't want to carry around 20 amplifiers (each costing thousands) it's pretty much the only way to go.

After all that though, I'm really happy to see so many die hard tube users out there who say that digital solid state technology sounds like stale donuts. Yeah that's right I sound like a stale donut and you wouldn't want to spend all the time to figure the Bass Pod Pro XT because then you might have tones as good as mine

EXCELLENT POST!! You hit the nail on the head describing the plethora of editing options and the methodology of obtaining GREAT live tones!!! GREAT to see someone else using the POD AS DESIGNED!!!! Yah, most people play a couple of the factory presets and go "Bleh". Read the owners maunual. It says right there that the presets are Line 6's ideas, and are there to spark YOUR ideas. EVERY SINGLE ONE of the factory presets can be dumped or seriously modified. Oh, wait, you, xonebass, know that!!! Anyway, great post!!!!

 

[xonebass]

Thanks JPO, and I totally agree with you about using the unit as designed.

Recently my guitarist spoke with one of the head engineers over at Line 6 (they're in Agoura, CA) and he said, "it's good to see that your bassist is using his Bass Pod Pro XT as it was designed to be used", that is, as a preamplifier and effects unit in front of a clean solid state amplifier with a relatively flat cabinet.

Yep, you're definately correct about making your own patches. In fact I don't have any unmodified factory patches in my Bass Pod right now (although I can back them up at any time) and I have over 50 original patches (because in some of our songs I'll use like 8 patches! each) that I use on about 20 or so songs. Sometimes the differences between patches is quite subtle, but it makes my foot work easier.

Funny that we're both into prog. (you like old school prog and I play prog metal) Maybe you just need to be a certain personality to figure it out. I have to admit I can't really picture your average punk or emo bassist using this unit. More than one note (or one tone) = too complicated. Haha!