Doth the PodXT (presets) sucketh... yea, sucketh mightily?

Kind Of Loud · Post by **Kind Of Loud** » Sat Sep 23, 2006 4:07 pm

Hey James....

Man that sounds like one sweet amp you have there...Congrats...!!!

I have a Plexi 1959SLP Reissue I bought back in '98....Slowly but surely, with the help of some decent amp techs in my area, I'm gettin this thing to sound pretty damn close to that glorious "plexi tone"....Only thing left to do is grab some NOS tubes...I like the EL34's, but that venture is gonna run some moola, goin' the NOS route.!! HA! HA.!!!

Glad you mentioned your choice of speakers...I have the same cab as you, with the vintage 30's.....But my G.A.S keeps tellin' me, for recording purposes, get some greenback 25's...As great sounding as my cab is, I find after recording it, it tends to be a bit fizzy in the top end...I use a 57 going into a UA-2610...Apogee Rosetta....to DP....
Yeah those greenbacks are tuggin' at me...!! HA! HA!

Yeah,... Boogies.....5150's.....Kranks....they're all great amps. But for my money, once "thou" gets a taste of a GOOD Marshall, there's no comparison.
....'tis the stuff of dreams!!!
Amen, Bro..!!!

YouTube · Post by **James Steele** » Sat Sep 23, 2006 4:13 pm

Kind Of Loud wrote:Hey James....

Man that sounds like one sweet amp you have there...Congrats...!!!

I have a Plexi 1959SLP Reissue I bought back in '98....Slowly but surely, with the help of some decent amp techs in my area, I'm gettin this thing to sound pretty damn close to that glorious "plexi tone"....Only thing left to do is grab some NOS tubes...I like the EL34's, but that venture is gonna run some moola, goin' the NOS route.!! HA! HA.!!!

Glad you mentioned your choice of speakers...I have the same cab as you, with the vintage 30's.....But my G.A.S keeps tellin' me, for recording purposes, get some greenback 25's...As great sounding as my cab is, I find after recording it, it tends to be a bit fizzy in the top end...I use a 57 going into a UA-2610...Apogee Rosetta....to DP....
Yeah those greenbacks are tuggin' at me...!! HA! HA!

Yeah,... Boogies.....5150's.....Kranks....they're all great amps. But for my money, once "thou" gets a taste of a GOOD Marshall, there's no comparison.
....'tis the stuff of dreams!!!
Amen, Bro..!!!

You know... I wish I could afford gettin NOS tubes. I have owned 2 heads of this type and to my memory it never sounded so good as when I had plain ol' Sylvania tubes in many years ago. Right now I have groove tubes throughout. I would like to play with Mullards for the preamp tubes as I've heard good things, and yeah... the Greenbacks are calling me. There's a good site on the net that sells speakers at pretty good prices and they'll sell a set of four for a discount. I can't remember the URL right now.

Kind Of Loud · Post by **Kind Of Loud** » Sat Sep 23, 2006 4:46 pm

James....

I've dealt with this dude, and he's pretty reputable as far as testing all his NOS stock...He won't send ya' some crap that don't work.

http://www.kcanostubes.com/content/esto ... roduct=378

mikebeckmotu · Post by **mikebeckmotu** » Sat Sep 23, 2006 8:56 pm

Wow - I completely forgot about the deep edits using the USB port on my POD 2. You're right, James, that's the best way to get at the good sounds - I never liked the presets much either - they all seemed tinny to me. My POD has been stuck in the closet for about two or three years and it completely slipped my mind.

Monkey Man - it's the tryin' that keeps ya flyin' so it's good to know you're still cracking the jokes while in ill health. I'm sorry to hear you're not well, and I sincerely wish you a speedy autobahn back to health. And then it's a round of bananas for everybody!

mikebeckmotu · Post by **mikebeckmotu** » Sat Sep 23, 2006 9:02 pm

and now, for James' amusement, a photo of an experiment I did:

YouTube · Post by **James Steele** » Sat Sep 23, 2006 10:43 pm

mikebeckmotu wrote:and now, for James' amusement, a photo of an experiment I did:

Ha! Does that look like FUN or what! Now THAT'S how you get a rock and roll guitar sound my brother! Boy... that's an awesome photo. I gotta ask... that's a D112 on the Mesa cabinet isn't it? How does it sound? I had someone recommend an old EV N/D408 and they're pretty cool on close micing guitar cabs. Gary (Timeline) bought one and took it apart and said it was made pretty cheaply, but some way or another it sounds good on guitar cabs.

Again man... that looks like an awesome rig... a play for hours, never want to put the guitar down rig... I think the photo pretty much vividly illustrates why things like this can't be duplicated digitally. There's nothing like a real amp setup... just like there's nothing quite like a REAL grand piano, or a REAL B3 with Leslie...

Thanks for the drool-inducing photo!

Kind Of Loud · Post by **Kind Of Loud** » Sat Sep 23, 2006 10:44 pm

mikebecmotu wrote:

Wow - I completely forgot about the deep edits using the USB port on my POD 2. You're right, James, that's the best way to get at the good sounds - I never liked the presets much either - they all seemed tinny to me. My POD has been stuck in the closet for about two or three years and it completely slipped my mind.

••••....
Thanks for the tip.......

Kind Of Loud · Post by **Kind Of Loud** » Sat Sep 23, 2006 10:54 pm

mikebeckmotu wrote:and now, for James' amusement, a photo of an experiment I did:

HOLY ••••...!!!!
Heaven.......!!!!!

Now stand back...!!! I'm gonna start a simple jam here...!!!
E/D/A......

Help me out......!!!!!!
Jaaaaaaaiiiiilllllll ........Brrrrreeeeeaaaaaaak..!!!!!!
I CAN"T HEAR YOU....!!!!!!
Jaillll.......Break....!!!!!!!!

Kind Of Loud · Post by **Kind Of Loud** » Sun Sep 24, 2006 7:42 am

Ya know guys....
With that photo that mike posted, that's one of the reason's I like my Pod...
The ability to mix and match amps and cabs, at the click of the mouse....Don't get me wrong.....Digital technology, can't compete with the set up in that photo...!!!

I have the XTPro...
What's cool about it, is the reamping it can do....I always record now, with the dry "un-processed" signal....Pretty slick to sit back, and use that signal to experiment, like mike did, and combine a Marshall tone, with a "scooped" Boogie. and some AC30 for some top end....
Matter of fact, I also send that dry track out to my "Reamp" box, and reamp my real Marshall..Pretty cool to hear that amp blasting away, without a guitar in my hands..!!! HA! HA!

So I have found some use for this XT....
And thanks again mike, for that photo...!!!
I keep staring at it for some reason...!!!

mikebeckmotu · Post by **mikebeckmotu** » Sun Sep 24, 2006 11:46 am

oops - duplicate post

mikebeckmotu · Post by **mikebeckmotu** » Sun Sep 24, 2006 11:49 am

Ha! I'm glad you all enjoyed the photo. It was TRUE FUN and no amount of soundproofing was very effective in this case. There are even a few more amps and mics out of the frame - we were having one of those days where you throw all the rules out the window and just go overboard simply to clear out the cobwebs and see what happens for possible inspiration.
I played my SG and Telecaster as well as a DeArmond Les Paul copy through this rig (all the amps at once). If I had any kidney stones before that session, well, I'm sure they've been decimated...
James - I'm pretty sure that is a D12 in front of the Mesa. I didn't do all the mic setups (they're not my mics, to be clear) but I think that particular mic was helpful to get the proximity blast of the bass end of the Mesa, which got blended with the other mics, including some that were set far back for room sound.
This was easily the loudest rig I've ever used, as well as the coolest looking one. Whether you like loud guitars is one thing, but to experience playing a note and feeling it vibrate through your entire body is a thrill that most people would appreciate, methinks.
Like we've said here, the visceral part cannot be replicated in software.
And for Kind of Loud: you're pretty close with your virtual jam - I think the first thing I played when I plugged into those amps with the SG was, of course, Highway to Hell. Those crazy Aussies are still the Kings Of Riff in my book.

monkey man · Post by **monkey man** » Mon Sep 25, 2006 4:15 am

mikebeckmotu wrote:Monkey Man - it's the tryin' that keeps ya flyin' so it's good to know you're still cracking the jokes while in ill health. I'm sorry to hear you're not well, and I sincerely wish you a speedy autobahn back to health. And then it's a round of bananas for everybody!

Thanks, Mike; you're a champ.

FWIW, I believe the POD XT and Variax do indeed sucketh.
They're certainly missing detail and "life".
Then there's the 'verb; a temptation best resisted.

If one had Altiverb, however, some inroads concerning acoustic detail at least, could be made.
It's all down to budget and space for some, including the monkey.
To these folks, yea, the PODs and Variaxes sucketh not.

It's this market they're truly appropriate for, methinks.

monkey man · Post by **monkey man** » Mon Sep 25, 2006 4:22 am

mikebeckmotu wrote:... Highway to Hell. Those crazy Aussies are still the Kings Of Riff in my book.

Good call. Absolute classics, especially "Back in Black".

Believe it or not, Angus used a tiny combo miced-up backstage!
I've been told it was 15 watts or something.
A wall of Marshalls was present but non-functional.
Removing the grills would apparently reveal... emptiness!

This makes sense to me because of phase issues and "punch" alone.
Then there's controllability and adjustments to consider in a live context.

Cheers 'Corners, and thanks again, Mike.

mikebeckmotu · Post by **mikebeckmotu** » Mon Sep 25, 2006 3:29 pm

Figures! (the mic-ed 15 watt). Lots of huge guitar sounds were done with small amps in the studio, from what I've read. Even the Pixies used some small amps on stage - Joey Santiago had to have a small amp so he could go rock the Peavey back and forth to get the reverb spring to make crash noises for some of his solos, after all.

Also: I didn't miss the new sig line - I responded in another thread, but it got yanked by Mr Steele (it was spam). Now I've been officially honored at the 'Nation so all is good.

monkey man · Post by **monkey man** » Tue Sep 26, 2006 6:02 am

`
Yeah, Mike; those (small combo) stories are out there.

I never could understand the "wall of Marshall" thing, even 'though they looked pretty cool in the vid clips.
Perhaps that's how it got started, and folks just assumed they needed a physical wall in order to achieve a wall of sound?
Phil Spectre didn't need a wall.

I don't need a wall. Monkeys like walls.
Phil Spectre didn't need a wall.

Dang; I've exceeded my CPU bandwidth again.