Line 6 PODxt Live

Everything a gigging guitarist would need.

The tone problem everyone seems to have with "modeling" is running this into their current amp. When you run Line6 or any modeling pedal through an amp you're basically layering a pre-amp on another pre-amp. I don't care how "clean" you set your amp up to be. The pre-amp in your current amp will color/distort the sound that the modeler intended. You MUST run any modeling rig direct into a power amp (PA) and then for stage volume I highly recommend the Tech 21 Power Engine. I've simply run across way too many guitarists who try to run POD stuff into Fenders, Vox, Mesa, etc. only to be disappointed and annoyed. You can only appreciate the "realness" of modeling when going direct into a clean power amp. Otherwise, don't even bother.

It's heavy and built pretty solid. I replaced the knobs with better ones and the rubber padding on the pedal.

Line 6 tech support is very good. I've dealt with them several times over the years and they're always helpful.

I've lugged around Mesa's and Fenders and Peaveys. I A/B'd my Boogie with the Line 6 equivelent through a Yamaha 02R board with Genelec monitors and could NOT tell the difference. It's then I was sold and bought the Tech 21 Power Engine for live playing with a Celestion Neo,(30lbs!). There is alot of pure snobery out there on tubes and "tube warmth". Does your audience really care? Can they even tell? If you can't, they can't. It's all about convenience and flexibility and reliability. In the grand scheme there is no noticable difference between modeling and real valves when set up properly, and if there is it's maybe 10%. I'll sacrifice it. Tube snobs can schlep around their amps and pay thousands for "boutique" tube amps, modeling is cheaper and practical. Get over your selves!

You can do a lot with this. A lot. Except sound good live. There are a lot of people who think that Line 6 amp/Pods sound good, I don't. If you plug it into a tube amp, it will sound ok, but not as good as the amp's natural distortion. If you a/b them, the Pod still falls short. I spent many hours with a friend using identical guitars and tube amps, and I found one sound (Ballsy on Line 6's tone site)that came somewhat close to being useable. It did have a full sound when you were strumming chords, but if you palm-mute at all it flattens right out. I set this up with my Mesa V-Twin in front, and bypassed them back and forth. No comparison! First of all, the recto sounds do not remotely sound anything like a Mesa. I tried using no cabinet to get a straight even match. The only good sounds are some of the cleans sounds. But I couldn't get an even match on the volumes of the high and low strings. I added more bass to try and fatten up the highest strings, but it made the low strings louder. I am a fan of the theory that if something sounds good, you don't need to spend hours/days/weeks tweaking it to sound good. I usually test an amp with all the tone controls at 12 o'clock. I've ended up wasting so much time playing with this thing, I could have been practicing or writing instaed.

The chorus sounds really nice I will say, the wah was surpisingly good also, but the effects are mostly average. All the delays are dirty sounding, with a slight modulation that can't be removed. The tremolo doesn't keep time at all, even with the tap tempo. The flangers and phaser are also weak at best.

I've also noticed that this pedal, like most cheap wahs is a tone sucker. Even if you crank the bypass volume, it's still not as loud or as clean as going straight into the amp. I tried using this just for effects through the loop, but it doesn't cut it.

It sounds best at home in front of my practice amp, but still falls short compared to my Vox Valvetronix 15w, my other practice amp.

Well, all the feet on the bottom are different heights, so the pedal wobbles slightly. The wah pedal is a bit shaky, and I'm afraid of breaking it. It also squeaks very loudly. Also the first time I used it live, some presets saved themselves over other ones because the save and edit buttons kept activating themselves. Very disappointing.

I bought this for one of my bands doing a lot of casino shows. They provide backline amps, and moving my gear during week long stretches is a hassle. I thought it would make my life a little easier. But, it just doesn't sound good.

I talked to the sound guys, who deal with pros on a regular basis. I have yet to find one that likes a Line 6, but someone mentioned the the Korg Toneworks/Tonelab(?)is a far superior sounding unit.

My other amps are a Red Bear MK-60, Peavey Triple-X, Peavey Ultra, H&K Switchblade (my main gigging amp), Vox Valvetronix practice amp (sounds far superior to Flextone I tried, but only 2 channels on the biggest one!@#), and a Sovtek Mig-50. I tried the PodXT into the Red Bear, the H&K, both Peaveys, the Vox, a Fender Dual Reverb, Roland JC120, Mesa Subway Rocket, and a JCM 2000 TSL.

I play in a few bands, one doing an all 80's show, one is a Trans-Siberian Orchestra Tribute, and one is a cover/original metal band. I had heard many good things about Line 6 from other musicians, but my two experiences with them have been disappointing. Line 6 maybe good for direct recording, but live? Not on your life. Actually, the Vox sounds better direct as well, but you can't save your presets.

I'm ashamed to say that the effects on the old Digitech RP-6 I used a few years back sounded better.

I've been playing about 11 years, and am quite critical about sounds. Line 6 is promoted as quality gear, which is why I checked them out. This is a practice unit only. Even then, I only use about 4 sounds. Look for this soon on Ebay, where I will be getting rid of it.

first of all, let me say that i bought this because i needed something quiet, and good for dorm room practice. the recording ability is a big plus, really really easy to record with this thing.

i mainly play hard rock, and metal, think stuff like Tool, Nevermore, Bulb, that sorts of stuff.

when i first got it, i was kind of suprised at the lack of versatility as far as pedals go. you can only have one stomp, one modulation effect, one delay, one amp, and one eq at a time. so no doubling up overdrive pedals to get a heavier tone. (i was previously using guitar rig II on my computer, and there is no limit to what you can use, but the pod sounds miles better)

no effects loop, i kinda wish it had one tho, so i could put a 15 band eq in the loop, and have more tonal control.

the interface is pretty easy to use, line 6 edit is even easier, i've noticed when i play with patches on the pod i sometimes forget about the cab and mic (they make a very big difference).

after about 6 months of using this thing, i finally found a tone that i am rather happy with maybe a month ago, and have slowly been tweaking all the little bugs out of it. that parametric eq certainly comes in handy.

i like a very clear, tight tone that sounds great with palm mutting, my current favorite patch is using the bomber uber model (on metal shop, i've yet to find a worthwhile metal tone without metal shop) with the following eq settings
drive: 32%
bass: 71%
mid: 74%
treble: 88%
presence: 85%
chan vol: 86%

Cab 4x12 brit T75
room: 18%
sm57 mic off axis

Screamer Stomp
Drive: 0% (necessary for a tight tone)
Gain: 35%
Tone: 70%

Parametric eq
Band 1
freq: 100hz
Gain: -0.2dB

Band 2
Freq: 750hz
Gain: -1.6dB

Band 3
Freq: 2300hz
Gain: 1.4dB

Band 4
Freq: 3100hz
Gain: 2.0dB

Reverb
small room
Pre: 13%
Decay: 0%
Tone: 43%
Mix: 29%

and i use a Dean vendetta (mahogany body, maple neck) with a dimarzio x2n in the bridge.

the thing about the podxt is it is not a magic tone box, it reacts the same way a mic'd up amp does. you have to know how to EQ things, or it will not sound good. this site helped me alot learning how to EQ properly http://www.vettaville.com/equalization.htm

the amp models. i've found that hardly any of them sound like what they're supposed to sound like, but there are still good tones to be had from most of them, if you know how to EQ.

also, the amps are not very noisy, i've never had feedback problems.

i'm giving it a 7 because it seems to have some clarity, and treble problems, i have my treble and presence pretty high on all my patches, because i seems to lack a bit of clarity. but then again, i think that most other people's tones that i hear sound muffled, so maybe its just me liking a pretty bright tone. also, i dont really like the clean too much. or the light distortion settings. i prefer the cleans of my peavey classic 20 to the cleans of the pod.

and one more thing, a tip on eq'ing it for a metal tone, you can not scoop the mids anywhere ever on any of the high gain models. most of them are pretty loose, so the screamer stomp with the drive at 0 and gain at usually no more than half will tighten it up, set tone to taste. i used to hate the screamer stomp, but i've since eq'd it to my liking.

also, there seems to be this thing when palm mutting, its hard to find a distorted tone that doesn't really accentuate the pick attack when palm mutting. it can be kind of frustrating at times, it does a djenty tone pretty well tho.

i wouldn't be suprised if it stopped working if i dropped it, which is why it stays on my desk, and not on my floor where it can get stepped on. (i dont play live, i bought it used with metalshop and the fx pack on it for cheaper than i could buy the bean new)

its made of metal, but the buttons, and the part where the little screen is are all plastic.

also, the footswich on mine squeaks pretty badly, apparently it was a defect with some of the older ones, but is now fixed. it doens't really bother me, because i never use the wah or volume pedal.

that being said, mine still works flawlessly (accept for the footswitch)

never delt with line 6 customer support.

i have been playing guitar for about 3 or 4 years, i dont really keep track. i have a fender american deluxe ash stratocaster, a dean vendetta with a dimarzio x2n in the bridge and dimarzio tone zone in the neck (was formerly the bridge pickup before i switched to the x2n), a peavey classic 20, and a taylor 410 acoustic.

if it were stolen or lost, i would probably hunt ebay to get another used one cheap, after all, i need something to practice quietly with, and this seems to be the best thing i've found so far. i've got all my patches saved on my computer just in case as well.

if theres one thing i wish it had, it would be an effects loop, so i could run and eq, and/or a sonic maximizer with it. going into the input doesn't work as well.

one piece of advice tho, try not to play mesas and bogners, and other really high end great sounding amps on the weekends, and then come back to this, you'll begin to hate your tone, unless you're the EQ wiz.

if you want to hear what this thing is capable of, go to http://www.soundclick.com/bulb all his stuff is recorded with a podxt. but be warned, everything he records (more or less) has been layered atleast twice, and he is one hell of a producer.

ok, i think i've covered everything. there's always something i forget...

These reviews, while helpful to some, have proven to be very misleading for the majority. How many times have you read a glowing review here only to be severely disappointed after buying the product over the internet without having tried it yourself?

Here???s some background on me which will shed some light on my taste in gear, tones, and music. Read this review through the lens of my personality and it may be of use to you.

I play a Les Paul Studio and the tone I go for is obtained by running it through a Mesa/Boogie half stack. I love fat, tight, and saturated distortion and Fender Twin cleans. I go for maximum headroom with both clean and distorted tones and absolutely detest speaker breakup in my tone.

My previous rig got me these tones in spades. I had a Mesa DC10 head and ran it through a 1960A cab with GT-75s. These speakers aren???t the best for cutting through in a mix, but with the abundance of mids inherent in the Boogie design, it didn???t pose much of a problem.

What did pose a problem were the limited amount of tones in my setup and the cumbersome nature of the amp itself. The tones available in the Boogie were abundant and spectacular, but I felt that I adapted to the tones too rapidly and lost my creative edge. On top of this, the tones were commonplace and everywhere in the radio. I need my own signature tones in addition to the staple Marshall and Mesa tones that I still rely on for some of my band???s original music.

The truth is that Marshalls and Mesas are the staples of modern rock and I would be left wanting these tones if I jumped into a niche rig. Enter Line 6.

I am not a techie and I do not like having to scroll through and edit things in order to find the tones my music demands. This review will not come from the perspective of a software programmer/analyst. Rather, it will be from the vantage point of a tube junkie who simply needs more than the world of analog gear has to offer. Sadly, I have realized that I have hit the ceiling in terms of my ability to purchase and transport all of the gear I need to get the sounds I need.

Let???s get into it.

Read the other reviews for technical specifications. The PodXT Live essentially gives you 32 4-channel amplifiers (32 banks or 4 channels).

On the bottom row of pedals you have ABCD- your channels, and a Tap/Tuner button. To the left of these, you have up/down pedals, which toggle through banks 1-32 (your amps).

Above these, you have Stomp, Mod, and Delay pedals, which are essentially your FX pedals. To the right, you have an expression pedal which can be either a Wah or Volume pedal.

There is a decently sized and illuminated LCD display along with some soft buttons and wheels for editing. There are also a myriad of jacks and outputs for connecting this device to a computer, Midi controller, etc.

I have only set up one bank of 4 channels. My setup is as follows:

Channel A: is a clean Fender Twin Reverb through a 2x12 cab with mic on-axis. Chorus and a light delay are programmed to come on automatically. They can be turned off with the pedals if I choose. The Stomp pedal is a TS9 set as a boost with a nice, gritty level of drive- nice and creamy, too.

Channel B: is a cloned version of A, but the delay is more pronounced.

Channel C: is a crunch channel with a subtle delay. It is a Fender Twin Reverb with a TS9 up front.

Channel D: is a lead channel created by mating a Dual Recto head with a 4x12 Mesa Recto Cab with the Mic off-axis and no room ambience. I have a delay along with a flanger on tap.

And I have 31 more banks to go.

I have heard the groaning from people who claim to hear digital artifacts or brittleness in their tone and I do not have this problem because I spent time tweaking my tones. In addition, my PodXT Live is running through the FX Return of a JSX head.

The XTL is very easy to tweak- the interface is very intuitive and once you spend a few minutes with it, you can deeply edit every aspect of your tone with absolute ease and without the manual. Of course, the manual is very helpful.

Again, in order for you to understand how to get the most out of this ingenious device, you must spend some quality time with it. When it is properly set up, you will capture the sound and most importantly, the feel of the amps and FX this thing models.

What I love is how you can mix and match heads with different speaker cabs, speakers, mic configurations, room ambience, etc. The amp models are spot on when set up properly, and the way the amp models react to tone adjustments is identical to the way the real amps respond.

I almost forgot, there is an additional 4-band EQ (set aside from the tone controls) which can be tweaked to not only boost or attenuate your tone, but the frequency of each band can be altered, as well. This can get you so many colors and textures in your clean or saturated tones- it is incomprehensible. It will take your Dual Recto and make it sound and respond like a VHT UL.

Even the FX interact with the amp models the way they do in real life. This is just amazing.

Oh, and the little peripherals such as the Tuner, Wah, Noise Gate, Compressors, etc are stunning. I do wish the Tuner???s note display would appear in the channel???s LED display window instead of the editing pane, but this is just nitpicking. The tuner is very useable and accurate. It is easily visible from stage.

Again, if you are getting any digital artifacts or harshness of tone, then you simply need to take a few minutes to tweak this thing. Out of the box, this unit wasn???t very impressive, but a few minutes of acclimating to its interface proved worthwhile. As a result, I am selling my tube heads, FX pedals, and pedal board. It has made my Mesa/JSX obsolete. This is the opinion of a man who has been playing 15 years and has designed and made my own vacuum tube amplifiers from scratch.

The tones coming from my speaker cab sound amazing at both stage volume and at practice levels. The tone is so stunning and authentic. When I play using my lead tones, it sounds exactly like an ideal (fantasy) Mesa/Boogie which has been processed in a fantasy studio by fantasy engineers.

To summarize, this gear will give you the feel and tones you are looking for. If you ever wanted to know what a cranked Plexi sounds and feels like with a RAT/TS9/Compressor/etc???running through it, then you will have the ability to play this setup for yourself.

If you can imagine it, then you can attain it with this rig. You are limited only by your imagination. This is the stumbling block for all of the people who complain about the lack of authenticity with this unit.

If you are running this through a cheap amp and driving it with a cheap guitar, then it will suck- just as the real pieces of gear it models would with the same setup. People that can???t set up a Dual Rectifier in real life will have the exact same problems with this one, as the tone controls interact the same way.

If you have this gear, invest a little bit of your time! Gone are the days when I have to tap dance between channel changes! I have every classic, modern, and untapped tone available. It's all on me.