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Today's Bonus:
- 36 Legendary and Classic Amp Models, 24 Cab & 4 Mic models, 50 Stompbox and Studio Effects, 128 Channel Memories
- Stereo XLR and 1/4-inch analog outs, AES/EBU, S/PDIF, and USB Digital I/O
- 24-bit A/D and D/A Converters, MIDI In, Out/Thru, RJ-45 Foot Controller Connector, USB Connector for Digital I/O, 24-bit/96k digital ins and outs (AES/EBU & S/PDIF), TRS Line Input and Unprocessed Guitar Output
- Stereo XLR Live/Studio Direct Ins/Outs (+4dBu/-10dBv), Stereo -inch -10dBv outputs, Stereo Programmable Effects Loop (Series or Parallel)
- Headphone Output, Precision Chromatic Tuning, Built-in Chromatic Tuner
- 24-bit A/D and D/A Converters, MIDI In, Out/Thru, RJ-45 Foot Controller Connector, USB Connector for Digital I/O, 24-bit/96k digital ins and outs
- 24-bit A/D and D/A Converters
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One of the axioms perhaps THE axiom of guitar amplification is that this:***Guitar Amps Need To Be Powered By Vacuum Tubes.
Another one, of amplification in general, is:
***Analogue Is Always Better Than Digital.
In pretty much every other field of electronics, vacuum tubes went the way of Eddie Cochrane, and at about the same time. Ever since, the transistor has been king. Transistors power your radio, your TV and (unless you're a REAL snob) your hi-fi.
But not your guitar amp. The only transistor amp of any note was the now discontinued Roland Jazz Chorus, and that was only popular because it was the Eighties, and a lot of strange things were popular back then.
There is something to be said for this. It has to do with distortion. Guitar amplifiers rely on distortion, whereas all other sorts of amplifier go to huge lengths to eradicate it. In a hi-fi the *lower* the total harmonic distortion reading, the more beautiful the sound.
As long as you're looking for distortion, then you'll want valves, as they tend to distort harmonically, whereas transistors don't. Valves sound "warmer" than transistors. (Roland Jazz Chorus players didn't want distortion. They wanted jangly, stereo sounds a la the introduction to Purple Rain. The Eighties was a strange decade.)
Indeed, the configuration of valves in an amplifier has a huge bearing on the sound. So a 1952 Fender Bassman combi amplifier sounds nothing like a 1971 Fender Bassman head, much less like a 1971 Fender Twin, much less a huge 1986 Marshall JCM 800 stack. If you want to play a range of styles, you need a lot of different amplifiers. You really do.
Here endeth the lesson on valve amps and total harmonic distortion.
The problem is this: valve amplifiers are expensive, big, heavy, temperamental and high-maintenance. Devising a transistor amplifier or better still, a signal processor that avoids the need for an amp altogether that sounds like a valve amp has been something of a holy grail for the last twenty years. There have been plenty of attempts, but none have sounded any good.
Until Line 6 released the wonderful POD. Not only is this little critter powered by transistors, but it is ALL DIGITAL. Not only that, but it doesn't emulate just one amplifier, it emulates ALL of them. For less than the price of a single valve amp. And you can put it in your ruck-sack.
To some, this is blasphemy. The cognoscenti will tell you that I am wrong; that I don't understand; that I don't have The Faith.
Let me assure you, I do.
In the home or recording environment (and this is an important qualification: more on that later) it really, really works. I am lucky enough to own all the amplifiers mentioned above, and the Pod versions of each are, for all intents and purposes the same.
The idea is very simple: mathematically, there is a linear relationship between the dry signal coming out of an electric guitar, and the amplified signal coming out of an speaker cabinet. There must be. If you can work out what this is the "algorithm" that converts one to the other then you can emulate the sound of that amp. Some bright spark at Line 6 sampled both and ran them through a computer. Bingo. You have your algorithm.
And this is what Line 6 has done in the Pod. But not by halves: they have completely mapped the algorithm for each of 32 different amps at different volume and tone settings even with different cabinets and different microphone placements so that the response of the dials on the front of the Pod maps exactly to particular amp you've dialled in. Not just your average Fenders and Marshalls, either: there are Howard Dumbles and Soldanos and, yes, even the silly old Roland Jazz Chorus. Prince will be pleased!
Where it doesn't work so well is in a live environment. I should say "*didn't* work" as my only experience using Pod live was with an ordinary Pod rather than the Pod Pro, and the Pod Pro has a "live/studio" switch which may well have fixed the problem. It was bad enough with the baby Pod that I've never tried again.
The problem was that all the modelling was done at low volumes. Therefore, they sound best used at low volumes (i.e. in the recording/home studio context). When you turned the thing up to "match day levels" the Pod sounded crummy. There is a scientific reason for this too: something to do with the energy required to pump air. Oddly, it works in reverse with real amplifiers a Marshall sounds ho-hum until everything's on eleven, and then it just sings. By contrast, the Pod's Marshall sounds great at room temperature, but on gas mark 9 the interaction you know and love between a guy, his guitar, and the big monster behind him, is just not there.
For the price, that's a qualification I can live with, especially as I have my Marshall to take on the road with me. It means I can keep it in the shed and not clutter up the living room with it. This means the Pod rates highly in terms of the Wife Appreciation Factor.
If that weren't enough, it's a doddle to use; it's fully spec'd for midi and digital outs and ins, and it has a very cool manual.
You know you want one.
Olly BuxtonThe unit came in perfect condition and sounds fantastic. Recording has become much easier and more inspired. I'm no longer limited to my AC30 and Marshall VM tones. The POD reproduces a great Fender Twin sound and the Vox AC30 model is so convincing that I don't bother to mic up the real thing anymore! The effects are a million times better than the original PODxt rack I have, especially the reverb. Re-amping is so easy and finding the tone in my head is faster and more efficient.I love using this thing at home in my small practice/recording room it really lives up to my expectations. I have used it live, I made my own cabinet to hold the Podxt Pro and 450 watt dual chanel Rack mount power amp and 2-12 in celestian speakers it sounds good, but I have swapped the Power amp with few different brands(loaned from friend who had the amps) and have seen a differance in the sound quallity. I own the 450 watt amp, but tried a much lower powered 200 watt (diff brand) and it sounded much better. I could spend alot of money tring out evry amp out there before I hit the perfect prw amp, not to mention speakers, but for a guy on a limited buget I loved having so many different sounds available. But for home this thing is auesome. I wil keep tring amps from friends why buy before U drive it, but I think a lower powered amp (I have been told Power amps sound be run at 90% to get best sound and My 450 is way to loud at that level)will eventually work out best and a new set of speakers that does not add color but reproduces the sound clear and lets the pod do the coloring.
