(From the Line 6 website)

"The last decade has been incredible for guitarists and musicians everywhere. There have been huge leaps in technology that just didn’t seem possible way back in the early ‘90s. In the December 2004 issue of Total Guitar, Europe’s best-selling magazine decided to narrow down over 1,500 different products from the last decade down to just the top 50. We were pleasantly surprised to hear that we got four products into the top 25, but we didn’t expect this: POD took the #1 spot with Variax 500 right next to it at #2!"

(My podXt Live is on the way - I cannot wait to plug it into my PAS!)

Congrats to Line 6! Guitarget, you're gonna LOVE your XT Live!

I'll second that. Although I must admit to one downside - since I've changed to the PodXT Live and Bose PAS, I've noticed a huge void in my life.

I was one of those guys that was constantly on ebay scouring for great deals on pedals, amps, cables, rackmount PA gear, power amps, road cases - anything I may need to upgrade my (huge) PA system or my (huge) personal guitar rig. I always had at least 30 items tagged on my ebay watched list, and I scoured the local Want Ads and "used gear" section of local music stores as well. It was pretty consuming, but I enjoyed it, and there was always something that I needed.

Since I made the change, I still find myself in the old habit of scouring, but I really don't NEED anything. The PAS / XTL rig sounds so good, and it's so EASY to get it to sound good, that I don't know what would improve it. My watch list is like 8 items long now, and it's comprised of cool stuff like vintage single ended amps - but I know I won't buy them, because I don't really need it. I will probably pick up the ocassional cool little amp or pedal every now and then just out of habit, but I really have absolutely NO desire to go back to the inconsistency and hassle of micing an amp. I've tried both routes with the PAS, and the XT Live wins hands down.

Do you know what it's like to go cold turkey from being SEVERLY G.A.S. afflicted, to not wanting to buy anything? Man, it just feels weird.

But wait...there's that Amber Variax 700 with trem....okay I'm starting to feel better now.

Well, I haven't mentioned anything to the wife yet about how Variax guitars just happen to be made for the podXt......

Now I wish I had spent the extra $20 on two-day shipping.....

g-j,

That's a great post. I know how you feel. My G.A.S. has really focused on 6-stringed objects these days. How about a Dano Bari buddy? I think you need one.

Steve

quote:

Originally posted by Steve-at-Bose:
How about a Dano Bari buddy? I think you need one.

Steve

Like the one on my stand in this photo?



I 2nd the comments about moving away from the amp/pedal addiction. PAS w/XT Pro has been an awesome package for 99% of my playing. However, if I want a possibly inspiring blues tone, mic'ing a small combo amp into PAS seems to be full of good mojo/juju.

I'm thinking of trying a Z Vex nano head with ext speaker cab mic'd with SM57 soon. 1/2 Watt little sucker, check it out -

http://zvexamps.com/

This message has been edited. Last edited by: ASAT,

Asat - hi!

If you edit your message and take the word
LEFT
out of the

[IMG:LEFT]

tag in your message, this will fix the your posting.

ASAT,

Hey, is that a bari with 3 pickups?? I didn't know they made a bari that shape. I thought they were all the single cut version. Coooooool.

We've played with the Zvex and it sounds really good. Very cool little guy. Give a Fender Pro Jr a try as well. It sounds great mic'ed using the 57 preset IMO.

Steve

I tried the Nano at one point, too. It's really well built and has a really good saturated sound. But the 1/2 watt was just too squishy for me - I couldn't really get any any clean headroom out of it that appealed to me.

I've tried several small amps with the system - including the Pro Jr, Blues Jr, Traynor YCV-20 (which was beautiful to look at - deep burgundy tolex w/ wheat grill cloth), Gibson GA-5, Fender Champ - and some bigger amps too. They all sounded really good, but there was a certain "smallness" to the sound of them coming through the PAS, in my opinion, especially in context with a full band playing. I tried a few different mics and placements, but still wasn't blown away by any of them.

Besides, I get bored pretty quickly with "one sound" guitarists, so to get all the tones I like through one of those small amps, I'd still have to haul around my big ol' pedal board. But once I got my hands on the PodXT Live, I saw no need to try anything else. With a few hours of tweaking up front and the creation of a few custom patches, I have a much bigger fatter greasier nastier blues tone than I got through any of those amps. And that one little pedal is full of excellent sounding effects that have replaced a huge (and expensive) pedalboard of new and vintage stomps - many of which have been fetching some nice $$ on ebay...seen what a Mu-Tron, Siegmund DoubleDrive, or Valverb gets these days? Each one nearly paid for the XTL by itself.

quote:

Originally posted by ST:
Asat - hi!

If you edit your message and take the word
LEFT
out of the

[IMG:LEFT]

tag in your message, this will fix the your posting.

Thanks ST, 'discovered the colon ":" has to be removed too.

quote:

Originally posted by Steve-at-Bose:
ASAT,

Hey, is that a bari with 3 pickups?? I didn't know they made a bari that shape. I thought they were all the single cut version. Coooooool.

We've played with the Zvex and it sounds really good. Very cool little guy. Give a Fender Pro Jr a try as well. It sounds great mic'ed using the 57 preset IMO.

Steve

Yeah Steve, the Hodad Baritone comes with 3 pups, adjustable intonation bridge, etc. They were "new" a couple of years ago and it was very reasonable when 1st introduced. 'Been a great axe too!

I've gotta highly modded Pro Jr. and a Matchless Spitfire but they just still get pretty loud on their own. When mic'ing I would like to keep the amp volume down as far as possible.

http://www.gerhartamps.com/gilmorejr/gilmorejr.htm
makes a 1/2 watt amp kit too. Z Vex seems to offer a more elaborate preamp and it would be nice to use as a "noodle" amp with the cheese whiz built-in speaker in hotel rooms.

quote:

I've tried several small amps with the system - including the Pro Jr, Blues Jr, Traynor YCV-20 (which was beautiful to look at - deep burgundy tolex w/ wheat grill cloth), Gibson GA-5, Fender Champ - and some bigger amps too. They all sounded really good, but there was a certain "smallness" to the sound of them coming through the PAS, in my opinion, especially in context with a full band playing. I tried a few different mics and placements, but still wasn't blown away by any of them.

Was glad to find this post jonz...I was all ready to buy a Fender Jr Pro on eBay. I'm having trouble getting my guitarist to tweak out our POD XT LIVE. He is having trouble with the stomp features in that they won't get louder for his leads. He also isn't really spending any face time with it to get it in tune.

What can I do to inspire him?

Pete

Don't bypass the Pro Jr on my word, Pete. There are quite a few guys using it with the system who really like it. I just wasn't able to find "my" sound with it... and I really don't want to haul a huge and finicky pedalboard around anymore. But I really haven't liked ANY mic'd amp (including my beloved Matchless) through the PAS all that much. He should give a couple small amps a try, it just might be what he's looking for.

By the way, my foot is almost constantly on the volume pedal of the Pod. I set my sounds up so that I'm at about half throttle on most rhythm part, and have plenty of extra volume for leads when I push the pedal down.