POD Tips and Tricks Needed

Chris Schlotzhauer · From: Colleyville, Tx. USA

My ProFex went dead on me last week and I have POD 2.0. Last night, I experimented with it in hopes of using it this weekend as a replacement. I got some good tones just for clean steel. All I ever used the ProFex for is preamp gain for headroom, verb, delay occasionally. I'm still getting some annoying hiss on the POD. I fear getting on stage with not enough headroom without adding noise. I'm playing thru a Nashville 400 with the controls set "neutral" according to the POD book.
Any tips, settings, or frustrations anyone want to share?

Brad Sarno · From: St. Louis, MO USA

To keep the hiss down, make sure your volume is set high. Not the "output" control, but the preset "volume" that you store for each patch. If that's too low, and you try to make up the gain with the output knob and your amp, you'll be bringing up the noise and hiss. See if that helps.

I'd also still use the amp's EQ a bit, maybe not as much as before, but some. The amp still needs that Peavey midrange EQ to help balance out the speaker and cabinet tone. You actually need that to get the amp "flat" sounding. Then let the POD amp model eq's do the tone control. You may want to turn "off" the POD speaker cabinet emulation and just use the amp models. Sometimes a speaker emulation into a speaker can just be too much voicing.

Brad Sarno

Ben Slaughter · From: Madera, California

I've been using a POD 2.0 on stage for a while. I've found the best amp model for clean stuff is "tube preamp," but the "blackface" works too if you're into the Twin sound. What Brad says about the volume level and NV400 EQ is correct. The POD couldn't get the mids where I wanted them. I also like the Verb out the NV400 better than the POD.

Here's what I do. On any of the amp models, turn the "channel volume" all the way up and the "drive" all the way down. Then add in "drive" for volume and bite. The opposite configuration will give you distortion. Make sure the "Studio/Live" switch is set to "live." Use the noise gate if it helps.

After all of that, the POD is still pretty dang noisy, BUT, it hasn't been a problem for me on stage.

PS, I'm toying with using both a POD and a Tubefex. Just played with it for the first time last night.

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Ben
Zum D10, NV400, POD, G&L Guitars, etc, etc.

Chris Schlotzhauer · From: Colleyville, Tx. USA

Woah...you threw out some terms I'm not familiar with. I'm not in front of my POD now, but where do I turn off/on "speaker cab imulation"? And where is the "studio/live" switch? When I get home tonight I'll experiment some more with your recommenations, which I really appreciate.
Thanks guys

Chris

Mark Herrick · From: Bakersfield, CA

Just stay away from the speaker cabinet immolation button...

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Brad Sarno · From: St. Louis, MO USA

Yea Mark, but sometimes pyrotechnics are just what you need to entertain a tough crowd

Brad

Jon Light · From: Saugerties, NY

Chris--hold the tap tempo button while you turn the cab select (effects) knob to 6 oclock--bypass. Now you are not running thru any speaker sim. And in the back, between the right and left output jacks is a mini slider switch that switches between direct and amp.
Also, is your Pod ugraded to 2.2 or 2.3? If not, let me know--I believe I've got a spare chip. I never A/B'ed the before and after but word was that the upgrade was much needed to lower the noise floor. In other words, to quiet down the Pod.
For the several months that I used it, I went into the back of my Evans--bypassing the preamp completely. I used the blackface patch primarily. I had the drive up pretty high. It gave me just a little bit of grind that I dug. I used some spring reverb and sometimes a touch of compression. I haven't messed with it in a while and it would be interesting to compare it with the Fender amps I've become accustomed to in the past year. I was pretty happy with it while I was using it.

Chris Schlotzhauer · From: Colleyville, Tx. USA

Thanks Jon. The studio/live switch is the same as the direct/amp switch. I see now. I didn't know there were upgrades after 2.0. I thought it went to POD XT after that. Frankly, I havn't used the POD much, but recently, I've been using it in my studio on guitar, and I'm getting some good results. Since my ProFex crapped out, I am in panic mode to get something I can use on the front end of my steel, other than straight into amp. I'll give this a try tonight. Thanks again!

Jonathan Cullifer · From: Gallatin, TN

I played with a POD 2.0 into the back of my Nashville 400 for a while (no preamp). I used the Tube Preamp with a little bit of delay. While the tone didn't sound like I would have really had it, it worked, and the reverb was better than my 400. Now I alternate between a Nashville 112 and a Webb amp--straight in.

As with the hiss, I've got it too, but I've played in several places with it and it's always been down to an acceptable level even when the volume was high.

Good luck!

Jonathan

David Spires · From: Millersport, OH

I'm not trying to push or sell anyone on yet another effects unit, but the POD XT absolutely cures the background hiss in any of the POD 2.x versions. The clean amps are cleaner, it seems like more headroom, and absolutely no noise. I'm running it direct to console for Jo Dee Messina, and the sound guys love how quiet the noise floor is.

$0.02 more,

David Spires

Kurt Kowalski · From: Kendall, NY USA

I too have been using the POD XT for some time now. It took some time and getting used to and tweaking, but now I really like it.

I have been going "Ampless" for a while. Plugging straight into the board and having the sound man give me my own wedge and monitor mix. It's like having my own amp tipped in front of me. I love it and I love showing up to the gig with the little POD slung over my shoulder in a small case.

The settings I have been using the most are the tube pre-amp and digital delay chained with the variable (knob) settings tweaked to the sound I want.

I also like having the headphone output for tuning. As well the on-board tuner is pretty cool too.

My $.02 FWIW,
Kurt

Chris Schlotzhauer · From: Colleyville, Tx. USA

Jon, I played with POD last night and I did what you said about the speaker imulation. WOW...the tone was there and not brittle like POD's can be. One question. When I hold the tap tempo down and dial to bypass, is the speaker imulation still bypassed if I choose to navigate to the other effects? Do I repeat the process to toggle "on" the imulation? I assume when you turn POD on, the speaker sim is default "on"?

Jon Light · From: Saugerties, NY

Chris--what you've gotta do, first of all, is find something you like and save into the memory bank. This will save all info including what speaker cab (or none) you have chosen. Whether you do this or you just do the manual procedure, yes, you can mess with effects without changing the speaker settings---the speaker selection only happens with the tap tempo button held down.

I forget now but I think you can permanently choose the default of each amp sim--what type of reverb, which speaker cab, etc. with a couple of button punches so that when you choose "Blackface" it will have no speaker sim. But that's no big deal. Just takes a sec to turn off the speaker sim.
I did find that sometimes if I was looking to build a rich overdrive sound the speaker sims added that last bit of color that I was looking for. So they are not totally worthless. They are mainly for direct-to-board recording.

[This message was edited by Jon Light on 03 June 2004 at 12:31 PM.]

Danny Naccarato · From: Burleson, Texas

Chris, call me when you get a chance. I used one of these for quite a while on an artist gig...also in the studio....

Danny

Chris Schlotzhauer · From: Colleyville, Tx. USA

OK, just to update you guys on my weekend experience with the POD. I definitely like the tone I'm getting. I have been using "blackface" setting with speaker sims off. I really like the spring reverb, I mean this is as close to a Twin as I've heard without being a Twin. I did 4 gigs with it this past weekend. All shows had good sound crews, so I feel like I was giving them a good signal to work with. My Nville 400 was mic'd in all cases. I also had my own monitor mix on all shows. The headroom is still an issue. I am going into the amp front panel input like normal. My pre/post gains are nearly pegged. That just doesn't seem right. When I had a ProFex my pre would be on 10, but post was on 3-5 MAX. So the ProFex pre's are much hotter. Our stage volume is pretty high, and I know next week I will play at the Spoke in Austin where the sound has one monitor mix, and headroom is needed in general. Out of nessecity, I will continue to give the POD a shot. Any ideas about headroom would be appreciated.
Bill Terry, I got your email. I'll get back with you, or you can chime in here with your "tips" (unless they're a secret)

David Doggett · Posted 8 Jun 2004 12:45 pm

I tried a POD XT into the front of a NV400, before the POD got stolen. I too found that the tube preamp and Twin models were pretty good for pedal steel. I turned off the speaker cabinet models. To get maximum volume, be sure the POD's gain and volume are adjusted properly. I don't believe a POD will allow you to play louder than going straight into the amp, but it should not cut your volume if you have the POD gain and volume up sufficiently.

I found the POD amp models sounded good through the NV400 up to moderate volumes. But the closer you get to maximum volume, the less it sounded like the models, and the more it sounded like a maxed out solid state NV400 - not good in my book. The problem is that the amp models require very high fidelity amplification to reproduce them properly. Playing into a very powerful PA would probably be preferable to to the NV400 for high volume situations. Possibly you could run the NV400 at moderate volume and mike it.

I rarely have an adequate PA, so I gave up on the amp modeling for high volume playing. I now use two Dual heads or a Super Twin head through two 15" speakers. But I still like to have a processor for distortion, different types of reverb and effects. The Digitech A100 I have has some problems, and I'm considering getting another POD. It's still the cheapest way to get so many effects.

Bill Terry · From: Bastrop, TX

Chris, I got no tips... I'm lookin' for some

I've never gotten a steel tone through my Pod that I cared much for, despite a lot of time trying.

Jon Light · From: Saugerties, NY

Hey Chris---here's one. Hold tap tempo button and turn channel volume up past 12 oclock. Or even, turn it down and then turn it up. There is a (clean) volume boost there.
Do you have a manual? There's a whole bunch of hidden stuff in this pod doohickey. You can (or used to be able to) down load a pdf manual from the Line6 website.

Have you tried going into the back of your Nash, just for the hell of it? The amp in insert? This is how I used the Pod (in my Evans) and it avoided overly harsh, double preamped sound. I could see this increasing headroom although there's no reason to expect greater overall level.
--BTW--the same tap button boost exists on the drive control but that will give you serious grit.

----let me add that I'm surprised by your inability to get the levels you need. I ran the Pod ito the Evans and also into the smaller Mosvalve power amp (1140, I think?) and never had any problem getting the levels I needed. The Nash should have all that you need, I would think.

[This message was edited by Jon Light on 08 June 2004 at 04:46 PM.]

Chris Schlotzhauer · From: Colleyville, Tx. USA

I will try that Jon. Seems like I remember reading somewhere in the book a way to boost the internal volume.
Bill, I was getting an awsome tone. Maybe you should re-visit your POD. I've had mine for years and pretty much given up on it, and was thinking about selling it until my ProFex crapped out. I started this post to get ideas from those who have stuck with it. Go try some of the methods listed above before you rule it out. I'm not saying I'm 100% satisfied yet, but if I get this headroom thing worked out, I might be.

David Spires · From: Millersport, OH

By headroom - I assume you mean that it just isn't loud enough when running your amp's power amp section fully on, etc.

On my XT (and when I played with previous POD versions), I use the compressor all the time, but only for gain boost. On my XT, I have the threshold set at -1db (not much compression), but the makeup gain set at +12db. You have to be careful that you don't clip internally in the unit, but I found that this helped the output volume - since for steel I keep the drive setting pretty much off.

If you haven't tried this, it may help.
Good luck,

David Spires

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