pedals

I'd go with some pedals, maybe chorus, overdrive, and distortion to start. Pedals are a lot easier to switch on & off when gigging, rather that sorting through banks presets on a multi-effects unit. JMO

Dan

Have you got the floorboard controller with the pod?? if not it might be worht considering buying one of those.
it will make the pod "gig friendly"??

thanks for the replies.

i've pretty much given up on the pod xt live now, not keen on buying more gear to make it gig friendly incase i still don't like it. i've gigged it once, sounded crap so i ended up just going right through the amp.

I've been looking at the proco rat 2 for a distortion pedal, i've been advised to stay away from BOSS?

Any ideas on a chorus pedal and some kind of boost for the rat?

i've pretty much given up on the pod xt live now, not keen on buying more gear to make it gig friendly incase i still don't like it. i've gigged it once, sounded crap so i ended up just going right through the amp.

Did you turn off the speaker emulation on the patch before you ran it into your amp? I read somewhere that pods will sound bad through an amp if the speaker emulation is still on in the patch. You need to turn it off. I don't have it handy but I seem to remember that the manual for my pod said to turn off speaker emulation for amps. I wouldn't give up on it yet.

Nothing wrong with Boss effects IMO. I have a Boss DS1 Distortion pedal, and it's really good. For a chorus pedal, I'd recommend the Electro Harmonix Small Clone. Very lush analog chorus.

Dan

i'll soldier on with the POD while i'm trying out new pedals then make my decision, i'll have to dig out my user manual and really give it a go.

I checked out a few reviews of the small clone, eveyrone seems to say it sounds great but it can be hissy, or even make a pop when clicking it on, don't know if these people are elitist effects users or not though, could be a bit of an extreme review.
I've also been looking at the Electro-Harmonix Clone Theory (Chorus/Vibrato), again though, reviews of hiss when it's on.

After checking out reviews and some youtube demo's i'm edging away a bit from BOSS and hoping to get something like one of the Electro-Harmmonix pedals, i like the idea of a more analog-y sound to digital.

I checked out a few reviews of the small clone, eveyrone seems to say it sounds great but it can be hissy, or even make a pop when clicking it on, don't know if these people are elitist effects users or not though, could be a bit of an extreme review.

My Small Clone is very quiet, (no hiss), and I've never heard a "pop" when switching it on.

Dan

you will probably go through many pedals just like the rest of us. the quest for tone is fun.
I too have heard good things of EH. I had a multi effects board and tired of it fast.
my rig is stripped down to a few pedals. two are modded. my Turbo Tubescreamer was modded by analogman.
he customized it to what I wanted. cool. I love this thing now.
for now stick with pedals and tweak them. eventually you will know what you are after.
it took me years.

Nothing wrong with Boss effects IMO. I have a Boss DS1 Distortion pedal, and it's really good. For a chorus pedal, I'd recommend the Electro Harmonix Small Clone. Very lush analog chorus.

Dan

personally i think my ds1 sounds like a tinny piece of garbage



personally i think my ds1 sounds like a tinny piece of garbage

I like my DS1, but it is probably one of the most difficult pedals to EQ I've ever owned. I keep the tone dial from about 10-11 o'clock position, any higher than that and it is very shrill and harsh. I also keep gain fairly low, from about 7-11 o'clock position, above that and it is a very noisy pedal. I have also found the DS1 sounds best if you roll off the volume on your guitar some, 7-8. It gets a thicker, but more defined tone.

So, it is a very fussy pedal, but when you get the settings right, it has a pretty great tone IMHO.

The Proco Rat is a good pedal, it is more of a fuzz pedal than distortion.

I'm a little late to the party here, but i'm also running a POD XT Live (had it going on 3 years). Your problem is most likely in your A.I.R. settings. You don't necessarily have to turn them off, but the right one is important. I'd suggest adjusting your mic placement and cab models first. Now having said that. I do find the distortions to be a bit weak in the POD. i like the proco rat model and still use it quite a bit, but I have since started running 2 od/dis/fuzz pedals. A Wampler SuperPlextortion and A Skreddy Lunar Module. Putting these 2 pedals in front of the POD was like a Rolls Royce upgrade. It changed everything for the better. The improvement isn't so dramatic with other pedals. I also purchased an H2O chorus/echo which, don't get me wrong, is also a pretty decent pedal I just don't think it's worth the improvement over the POD for $190. There is a tonal difference which gives the edge to the H2O, but for almost 1/2 the cost of the POD I expected more. Over all though the POD is a great unit. I a/b between a Power mixer and a Valve junior depending on the amp models I'm using and getting good results.