THE POD XT Live-what are your thoughts??

[bluepowder]

Hey guys
was contemplating buying a POD XT Live as a gift for my younger brother,
he likes all kindsa rock like floyd whitesnake gnr etc...also loves instrumentalists like vai vinnie moore marty friedman petrucci
so was wondering if this pedal is good for him,if not any other suggestions??Ps he performs a lot too...cheers

 

[serialninja]

as a modelling unit, there're always tradeoffs.

the obvious pros: huge array of sounds, very versatile especially with the Line 6 controller floorboard, you can (and should, for minimal coloring) go direct to the mixer (as in guitar > POD > mixer), sounds great on recordings and is very convenient.

cons: not a tube amp. the modelling is hit or miss, some are pretty accurate models of amps, some aren't. generally the basic sounds are ok but require tweaking to get them to sound REAL good. effects tend to be hit or miss; most of the modulation effects aren't very good. live at higher volumes it sounds very different from when you play through headphones or on recordings. like all digital modelling amps, it's prone to power spikes, which can wipe out your settings and all your tweaking. make sure you use it with a surge protector.

so...if versatility is your brother's thing, this is a good piece of equipment to get, and you can get great usable sounds if you tweak it for long enough. if you're REALLY particular about sound and you don't mind spending more to get just one sound that you really dig, perhaps a tube amp with a good clean is the place to start. if that's the case, i'd recommend a Fender Blues Junior for pristine clean, a Bassman 50 or 100 (depending on the amount headroom you want) for a warm clean, or Peavey's greatest secret, the Classic 30 or 50 (depending again on how much headroom and volume you require) for a flat clean. very good for building effects on and creating your own sound.

 

[bluepowder]

thanks a lot man that was some helpful info,i think i will get him the pod xt after all he likes an array of sounds....i myself have a digitech rp200 but recently i bought a set of stompboxes...i like the sound of the stompbox better...but i have a 15 w ibanez amp i wanna go in for a better amp,but as all students have a money problem..any suggestions?how expensive is the peavey 30

 

[serialninja]

you're welcome.

not sure how much a peavey classic 30 is in singapore...i know you can get a classic 30 112 (1 12-inch speaker) for about US$500 if you get it in the u.s. and around US$300 if you get it second hand. i imagine it's around S$1k if you get it in singapore from Swee Lee. might be more because i remember going there and asking how much a Classic 50 head and 412 enclosure would be and if they could ship it in (because they didn't have it in stock at the time) and the price they quoted me was obnoxiously overpriced.

nevertheless, the classic series is worth saving up for. a good basis for building your sound. very clean, very neutral e.q. the one thing you want to watch out for is that the circuitry is PCB-based. PCB is, you know, the green plastic board with inbuilt circuitry, same type they use in computer motherboards and such. so you want to make sure that whenever you play your amp, it's in a place with good ventilation and/or cooling so that the tubes don't end up melting the board.

 

[serialninja]

two more things: tube amps put out a volume-wattage ratio of about 5 times that of transistor amps. so a Peavey Classic 30 goes up to about as loud as a 150W solid state amp. also, the classic 30 can drive an extention cabinet if i remember right, so you can arrange it such that your setup is in stereo, or you can use a larger speaker cab or whatever.