Line 6 and the return of Gearlust
I haven’t had a “gear-crush” in quite a while. I think I’ve grown out of it as I’ve gotten older…. well that and the fact that I’d rate shopping retail for music equipment somewhere between dentist appointments and rush hour I-5 traffic on the “fun to do on my free Saturday afternoons” scale.
Having said that, the new Pod X3 live from Line 6 definitely has my attention right now. The two features I think make it crush-worthy are:
- Two amps at once
- Programmable Effects Loop
The truth is, it probably doesn’t sound any different than the Pod XT I’m currently using, but those two little additions make it pretty enticing. I’d love to be able to add an Octave pedal or Whammy pedal into my virtual rig. It has several more amp simulation models than the XT too. However, I find that I pretty much only use a few of the amp models anyway. I’ve got a pretty good “generic bluesy rock & roll” sound set up using the Cali Crunch amp and my The Edge sound for our U277 shows which of course uses the Vox AC-30 model.
I’ve been pretty pleased with the sound I’m getting of of that old Pod. It improved a LOT when they added the ability to have a dedicated 4 band EQ on each patch. Definitely helped to liven up the sound. I’d say it’s about 90% authentic sounding. In a studio situation I still feel like it sounds fake (which it is), but playing live and pushing it through my tube powered Peavey Classic 50 combo it’s as close to the genuine article as I need to get.
The main benefit I get from using an emulated rig as opposed to good ol’ fashioned stomp boxes and tube amps of course is the versatility. It’s great being able to push one button and jump from a punchy clean chime-y rhythm sound to a full-distortion with crazy-long-delay solo sound like one needs to in a song like “Bullet the Blue Sky”.
On the other hand, I could opt for ultimate realism and get two rack cases full of gear as well as a full pedal board and 8 individual amps like my doppelgänger here.
I’d better find a house with a bigger garage!
Filed under: Gear by aaron