Line 6 POD XT Live

Hey, my name is Carson, I play in a classic rock "cover band" and I have a band that plays christian songs for small or new youth groups . I play lead guitar for both and and I've been playing for about 4 years.

I bought my PODxt Live at Guitar Center in Charlotte, NC, for $380.00.

One of my favorite things of the PODxt Live is that you can hook it up the PC and download tones of your choice i.e.-van halen, zakk wylde, etc... Another thing you can do is take one of the many presets and change it around it call it your own. There are many other things you can do on your PC with Line 6, like
download Line 6 edit or Line 6 monkey, those things make everything a WHOLE lot easier when your downloading tones. Line 6 edit you can make your own tone and save it to your PODxt Live and even give it a name! There are many other things you can do with the PODxt Live but if I explained them all you would be reading this all night.

The only thing I don't like abouth this pedal is that you can't plug in a second guitar (for fun).

The PODxt Live is shaped in a rectangle and it is black. The screen and stomp pedals are also
lit so it makes it easier to see in the dark.

If you have been playing guitar for 1 year or 100 years I strongly suggest the PODxt Live, but if want lug around your big half-stacks and 3 billion pedals thats fine with me! But having it all on a 1x2 pedal is ALOT easier

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

The Line 6 POD XT Live is a multi-effects board that models amplifiers, stompboxes, and effects. It has a 1/4" inputs and 1/4" left (mono) and right outputs. There is also a 1/8" input for CD or MP3's player at line level with adjustable gain for that channel. There are also MIDI connections which can be used with a sequencer to change patches. There is also a connection for the Variax guitars, whose one tone patches can be saved into each patch bank for easy switching.

There are large buttons to switch on and off the amp, stompbox, and effects for each patch. There are also two buttons to switch between patch banks, each of which have four buttons to change between the patches of each bank. The patch information is visibly displayed on a screen on the floorboard. Each patch can be named.

The amp, stompbox, and effects models can be updated by purchasing patches from the Line 6 online store.

UTILIZATION

Editing the patches is very easy. The manual is extremely helpful and offers further insight into how the POD XT Live operates.

The preset sounds are pretty each, and each of them are around 80% of the way there but will probably require some tweaking to meet your individual needs. Many, many factors can be edited on each patch, including the type of microphone that is being emulated as well as its placement in front of the synthesized speaker. The amp models are EXTREMELY close to the originals in most cases.

SOUND QUALITY

The models being amplified are EXTREMELY close to the originals in most cases. Many like the sound of the POD right out of its outputs and simply record that. I only use my POD XT Live for practice and shows, and prefer to play straight through my Mesa Boogie Single Rectifier for recording. If I needed some kind of specialty patch or live effects in a studio recording environment, I would probably implement the XT as it is definitely usable. I have used it in the studio to record scratch guitar tracks.

OVERALL OPINION

At this point, I couldn't do it live without one of these wonderful Line 6 products. My only gripe is that when switching patches, if using a delay the delay is cut prematurely, with no option to continue the rest of the delay when switching patches. The original POD and POD 2.0 did not work in this way, so if there was a 2 second delay set on one patch, it would continue with the rest of the delay when another patch was punched up, making for a seamless transition. That being said, I don't have any other problems with the XT Live, and that one thing is only a minor annoyance. The consistency that the XT Live is able to provide me from show to show is tremendous and prevents me from fiddling with my amplifier too much before each performance.

When I first tried this unit I was not happy with it at all. I was playing a Vox Ac30 and wanted to get some good amp simulations and stomp boxes with effects in an all in one unit that could run into my clean amp. So let me try and dial up some Slash tones or some Zeppelin or even maybe some VH. Not only was this thing not capable of even coming close but it sounded so bad that I almost gave up on it. So I went out and bought a JCM2000 basically getting me the start to that Marshall tone from the bands I mentioned above and just stuck with using the unit as an effects processor for modulation and delays. That is where this thing lives. They claim to have good amps sims and stomp boxes but both of these features lack tremendously. Now if your accustomed to tube distortion then this is a miss for that feature, but if your looking to have some cool delays and flangers then this is a perfect setup for home or live situation.

Another thing that I would prefer in this unit is real stomp boxes buttons. I don't know what they are called but the shiny clickers that are featured on most stomp boxes. The pads they use on this unit to me can break or get sticker if you spill beer on it. I don't feel that this construction will be built to hold up to the road as much as regular Boss pedals go.

Another cool feature is that you can run a line out to a recording booth. I did not test this since I don't personal record at home. I heard that Lincoln Brewster uses this unit for his live tone which is surprising. He actually uses this to achieve his amp and cab simulation going out to the PA mix. Either way most tube guys would never do this, but it is available if desired.

UTILIZATION

Extremely easy to use if you have ever used a POD operation before. If you are new to the POD world then it may take you a couple of minutes. But everything goes in sequence as if it were a real amp, cab, compression, stomp box, modulation, delay, and then wah. So it goes in series order as if it were real units. So I would recommend taking the approach of normal amp and cab and then fill in the effects accordingly.

Like all Line 6 products the manual if very helpful. They explaining set up preparation and operational understanding. They guide you through the set up for your individual rig and give suggestions for other ways of hook up. They have a good informative manual that is very helpful.

SOUND QUALITY

For me it lacks in the stomp box feature and the amp sims. Though I don't expect an amp sim to sound anything like the original. So that point is probably moot. What they do very well in my opinion is the delays. I love the delay sounds and various types and styles of delays available. For me they sound good and give my tone the color or effect that is needed.

I used this with a Vox Ac30, Marshall JMP, and a Marshall JCM2000 going into a vintage Marshall 4x12 with Blackback speakers rated at 25 watts. In each amp the unit sounded fantatsic. Especially the Marshall's. Since I was using the natural OD from the Marshall, the effects from the POD were very nice in different applications. I was using a Strat, Tele, and a Les Paul in each situation. I'm a Marshall tone kind of guy so I spent most of my time playing around with those amps using the delays, flangers, and phase of the POD to achieve my rock tones. I didn't like the chorus affect as much as the others but I don't use that much chorus anyway so it didn't matter to me much.

OVERALL OPINION

The thing that I would change would be the the foot clickers. I would like them to beef up that so it would be more road worthy. The thing I really enjoyed was how sweet the tones I could get combo-ed with a Marshall in the the effects loop. Saving patches for certain songs was a breeze. Having my set list there with one click of a button saved through the midi operation was so easy. This unit can be found for around $250+ or - so you won't break the bank to much. Plus Line 6 Pod units seem to keep a lot of their value so if you didn't like it you could probably let go of it with out a huge hit or loss.

I would recommend this to any gear head who wants easy effect operation to go with his current rig. It is not high end so if you wanted more tweakability then I would step up to the POD HD series or POD Pro.