Question:
Man I was looking through my Podxtl manual today and realized I've been running it the wrong way, or at least I think I have. If I want the cleanest possible signal, should I run it into the effects loop return on the amp and have the pod set to "preamp combo" instead of "studio direct"? I guess this post is for Pod owners as it's kinda technical but anyways. Is there a better way to run it because I want to be able to plug it into PA systems and it sound the same as much as possible.
Answer:
ok, here's what i read in the manual. it said that if you are running into an amp you can get the best tone from it by putting the XTL on the "power amp in" setting and running into the power amp in on your amp (also known as the fx loop in). that way the amp doesn't color your tone any.
Answer:
If you want it to sound the same as the PA, your best bet is a non-guitar hi-fidelity amp like a keyboard amp or a powered monitor. Your best bet with a guitar amp is to run it directly to the power amp but it will probably color the tone a little bit. I don't know how close to the PA sound you need to get. When you are going into a PA with a processor you need to have it set so that you are using some speaker emulation. The other option would be to run the processor to the amp and mic the amp.
Answer:
Well when I run it into the effects return it gives the tone the same "buzz" as on the amps distrotion, a real heavy metal sound. So I think I'll continue running it into the front and next time I have the chance I'll see how the sound compares with running it straight to a PA system.
It's not that important, but I'd like to have the sound so that I can just take the POD and plug in. It's for when I get a real, touring, guitar job. Haha, like that will even happen.
Answer:
Presbystrat is right - PA's use full range speakers while guitar amps use speakers with a more limited frequency range. Running the XTL through the effects loop or poweramp will bypass the amp's EQ, but you still have the speaker to deal with, so it's going to be hard to find patches that sound equally good with both setups.
Try listening to the XTL through headphones. The presets in banks 1-8 are geared towards direct applications (headphones, PA, mixers, etc.). These should give you an idea of what you will sound like in a PA system (assuming your headphones are decent quality).
Once you find some settings you like, setup identical patches in other preset locations to use with your amp. Tweak these until they sound close to your direct/PA settings. Remember to play around with the cab and mic models on the POD.
One nice thing with the XTL - there are a lot of empty user banks to store your patches. Might as well put them to use!
Hope this helps.
Keith
Answer:
Most of the time, the key is experimentation. Just try different output modes with your setup, and see what you prefer. When runnin through an amp, I'll usually use the combo front setting while running into the power amp.