Line 6 POD xt, POD xt Live User Manual

POD

ULTIMATE TONE FOR GUITAR

XT

POD

ULTIMATE TONE FOR GUITAR

XT

POD

ULTIMATE TONE FOR GUITAR+DIG I/O

PRO

XT

POD

ULTIMATE TONE FOR GUITAR+DIG I/O

PRO

XT

Basic Features Guide

An in-depth exploration of the revolutionary technologies and pulsing

tonal pleasures that lurk within PODxt, PODxt Live and PODxt Pro.

Includes detail on Version 3 features.

use Free Line 6 Monkey to Be sure your Podxt is uP to date:

www.line6.com/monkey

Electrophonic Limited Edition. Also available at www.line6.com. Revision H.

The serial number can be found on the underside of your PODxt, or back panel of your PODxt Pro
or PODxt Live. It’s the number that begins with “(21)”. Please note it here for future reference:

SERIAL NO:

WARNING: To reduce the risk of fire or electric

shock, do not expose this appliance to rain or moisture.

CAUTION: To reduce the risk of fire or electric shock, do not

remove screws. No user-serviceable parts inside. Refer servicing to
qualified service personnel.

CAUTION: This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B digital device pursuant to Part

15 of FCC Rules. Operation is subject to the following two conditions: (1) This device may not cause harmful interference, and
(2) this device must accept any interference received, including interference that may cause undesired operation.

The lightning symbol within a triangle means
“electrical caution!” It indicates the presence
of information about operating voltage and
potential risks of electrical shock.

You should read these Important Safety Instructions

Keep these instructions in a safe place

Before using your PODxt, carefully read the applicable items of these operating instructions and safety suggestions:

1. Obey all warnings on the PODxt and in this Pilot’s Handbook.

2. Do not place near heat sources, such as radiators, heat registers, or appliances which produce heat.

3. Guard against objects or liquids entering the enclosure.
4a. PODxt: Connect only to AC power outlets rated 100-120V or 230V 47-63Hz (depending on the voltage range of

the included power supply).

4b. PODxt Pro: Connect only to AC power outlets rated 100-120V or 220-240V 47-63Hz (depending on the voltage

range of the unit).

4c. PODxt Live: Connect only to AC power outlets rated 100-120V or 230V 47-63Hz (depending on the voltage

range of the included power supply).

5. Do not step on power cords. Do not place items on top of power cords so that they are pinched or leaned on. Pay
particular attention to the cord at the plug end and the point where it connects to the PODxt.

6. Unplug your PODxt when not in use for extended periods of time.

7. Do not perform service operations beyond those described in the PODxt Pilot’s Handbook. In the following

circumstances, repairs should be performed only by qualified service personnel:

• liquid is spilled into the unit

• an object falls into the unit

• the unit does not operate normally or changes in performance in a significant way

• the unit is dropped or the enclosure is damaged

8. Prolonged listening at high volume levels may cause irreparable hearing loss and/or damage. Always be sure to
practice “safe listening.”

PODxt Pilot’s Handbook © 2006, Line 6, Inc.

The exclamation point within a
triangle means “caution!” Please
read the information next to all
caution signs.

Please Note:

Line 6, POD, Podxt, Podxt Live, Podxt Pro, Vetta, FBV,
FBV Shortboard, FBV Express, FBV4, GearBox, Amp Farm,
Variax and Custom Tone are trademarks of Line 6, Inc. All
other product names, trademarks, and artists’ names are
the property of their respective owners, which are in no
way associated or affiliated with Line 6. Product names,
images, and artists’ names are used solely to identify the
products whose tones and sounds were studied during
Line 6’s sound model development for this product. The
use of these products, trademarks, images, and artists’
names does not imply any cooperation or endorsement.

POD

XT

Quick

Open this booklet to the spread for your version
of PODXT, and refer to its numbered illustration

when reading the Basic Features guide.

Reference

QUICK START: PODXT Live

1. On the rear panel, turn the small OUTPUT LEVEL knob all the way down to zero, flip the switch
to the amp position if you’re plugging into an amp, or the line position if you’re plugging into
line level equipment such as a recorder or mixer, or using only headphones.

2. Connect the LEFT and RIGHT OUTPUTS to your recorder or mixer’s inputs, or plug the left output
into your guitar amp’s input. Or connect headphones to the PHONES jack on your PODXT Live
for silent jamming.

3. Connect the included power pack to your PODXT Live, and the other end to a power jack.

4. Connect your guitar to PODXT Live’s INPUT. Flip the switch there to NORM for most guitars or

PAD for extra-hot-output pickups.

5. Got a Variax guitar? Connect it to the PODXT Live’s rear panel Variax jack, using only Line 6-
supplied Variax cables. See Variax on page 3•2.

6. Flip the rear panel POWER switch to fire up.

7. Press the OUTPUT MODE/SYSTEM button. Press the button below DEST (Destination), then turn

the EFFECT TWEAK knob to tell your PODXT Live what you’re connecting to. This setting will be
overridden when you plug in headphones, so you don’t have to do anything to get great headphone
sound.

8. Turn up the rear panel OUTPUT LEVEL knob so you can hear PODXT Live’s output, but don’t turn
up so high that you’re overdriving the input of whatever you’re plugging into.

9. Turn the SELECT knob to choose from preset sounds, organized in 32 Banks of 4 Channels, with
Channels labeled A, B, C, D. Banks 1-8 are great for use with headphones, mixers and recorders.
Banks 9-16 are designed for in front of an amp. Banks 17-32 are ready to fill with your own
sounds, or ones you download from the Line 6 web site. With the EDIT button NOT lit, press
the left button under the display for “MANUAL Override,” where-the-knobs-are-is-how-it-sounds
operation.

10. Turn the knobs to further adjust. CHAN VOL adjusts the volume of this Channel Memory relative
to the others.

11. Step on the AMP, STOMP, MOD, or DELAY switches to turn those parts of your sound on/off.
Double-stomp one of these to go straight to its edit page.

Refer to the illustration on the right

when reading the Basic Features Guide.

PODXT LIVE HARDWARE/NAVIGATION REFERENCE

BANK

BANK

1 23 5 47 8

DO NOT OPEN

CAUTION

RISK OF ELECTRIC SHOCK

OFF

ON

SAVE EDIT

9v AC 2000 mA minimum

POWER REQUIREMENTS

N222

25

A B C D

29

SERVICE PERSONNEL. THIS DEVICE COMPLIES WITH PART 15 OF THE FCC RULES. OPERATION IS SUBJECT TO THE FOLLOWING TWO CONDITIONS: (1) THIS DEVICE MAY NOT CAUSE HARMFUL INTERFERENCE, AND (2) THIS DEVICE MUST ACCEPT ANY INTERFERENCE RECEIVED, INCLUDING INTERFERENCE THAT MAY CAUSE UNDESIRED OPERATION.
SHOCK HAZARD – DO NOT OPEN. RISQUE DE CHOC ÉLECTRIQUE – NE PAS OUVRIR. TO REDUCE THE RISK OF FIRE OR ELECTRIC SHOCK DO NOT EXPOSE THIS EQUIPMENT TO RAIN OR MOISTURE. TO REDUCE THE RISK OF ELECTRIC SHOCK DO NOT REMOVE COVER. NO USER SERVICEABLE PARTS INSIDE. REFER SERVICING TO QUALIFIED

WARNING/AVIS:

LINE/AMP

LEVEL

U.S. Patent No. 5,789,689

17

VARIAX USBMIDI

VARIAX USB

OUT/THRU

MIDI

IN OUT/THRU

MIDI

IN

1416

STEREOLEFT/MONO RIGHTLEVEL

PHONES

PHONES

RIGHT

L/MONO

OUTPUT

DRIVE BASS MID TREBLE PRESENCE CHAN VOL

AMP TONE CONTROLS

9 10 11

OUTPUT

MODE

SYSTEM

18

AMP STOMP MOD DELAY

232221

19

26

AUX INPUTINPUT

PAD

INPUT

24

TAP

HOLD/TUNER

SERIAL NUMBER STICKER

2830

NORM/PAD

PEDAL 2 POWEROUTPUT TO AMP/LINE

PEDAL 2POWER PHONES AUX INPUTVARIAXUSB

Pro Modeled Vintage & Modern FX
Custom Tone Recording Outputs

POD

PRO GUITAR TONE ON THE FLOOR

WAH

TWEAK

VOLUME

27

XT

LIVE

SELECT

• When EDIT, SAVE or TUNER is lit, “SELECT” selects pages.

• Otherwise, “SELECT” chooses Channel Memories.

A B C D

• Comp, Stomp, Mod, Delay: on when lit.

• CAB/A.I.R.: lit when using a cab simulation.

• Double-stomp a switch to go straight to its EDIT pages.

T

I

D

E

EDIT PAGES

• Amp Settings

• Amp Bypass Settings

• A.I.R. Settings

• Compressor and Gate Settings

• EQ Settings

• Stomp Select and Settings

• Stomp Settings (page 2 for some models)

• Modulation Select and Settings

• Modulation Settings (page 2)

• Delay Select and Settings

• Delay Settings (page 2)

• Reverb Select and Settings

• Reverb Settings (page 2)

• Wah Settings

• Volume Settings

• Switch Pedal, Effect Tweak and Tempo Settings

E

V

A

S

SAVE PAGES

• Save Sound to Channel Memory

• Custom Save Amp Model

• MIDI Dump

OUTPUT

MODE

SYSTEM

SYSTEM PAGES

• Tuner

• What are you connecting to?

• Display contrast

• MIDI/Variax

• PODXT Live Software Version

QUICK START: PODXT

1. Turn the small OUTPUT LEVEL knob all the way down to zero.

2. Connect the LEFT and RIGHT OUTPUTS to your recorder or mixer’s inputs, or plug the left output

into your guitar amp’s input. Or connect headphones to the PHONES jack on your PODXT for
silent jamming.

3. Connect the included power pack to your PODXT, and plug the other end into a power jack.

4. Connect your guitar to PODXT Live’s INPUT.

5. Flip the rear panel POWER switch to fire up.

6. PODxt comes ready to rock for direct connection to your recording setup. If you’re connecting

to a guitar amp, it’s essential to let your PODXT know so it gives you the best tone. Do this
by pressing TUNE/SYSTEM button, then turning the SELECT knob one step clockwise. Press the
button below DEST (Destination), then turn the EFFECT TWEAK knob to tell your PODXT what
you’re connecting to. This setting will be overridden when you plug in headphones, so you don’t
have to do anything to get great headphone sound.

7. Turn up the OUTPUT LEVEL knob so you can hear PODXT’s output, but don’t turn up so high that
you’re overdriving the input of whatever you’re plugging into.

8. Select an Amp Model using the AMP MODEL knob. Set CHAN VOL to the max and the DRIVE,
BASS, MID and TREBLE to your heart’s desire.

9. Turn the SELECT knob to load an Effects Setup, wthen twist the REVERB and EFFECT TWEAK knobs
so you’re happy with the sound. Tap the TAP tempo button to set the speed of the selected effect.

10. Browse pre-programmed tones using the SELECT knob. Press the far left button under the display
when the EDIT button is NOT lit for “MANUAL Override,” where-the-knobs-are-is-how-it-sounds
operation.

Refer to the illustration on the right

when reading the Basic Features Guide.

PODXT HARDWARE/NAVIGATION REFERENCE

6

P

D

T

U

P

T

U

O

T

H

G

I

T

U

P

T

U

O

T

F

E

L

R

E

7

S

B

L

U

A

M

I

D

I

85

O

U

T

M

I

D

I

I

N

10 10

10

0 10

BASS

0 10

MIDDLE

POD

ULTIMATE TONE FOR GUITAR

0 10

TREBLE

XT

10

0 10

PRESENCE

1

20

D

O

M

D

17

18

E

L

A

Y

C

A

B

/

A

.

I

.

R

.

E

N

U

T

T

S

E

M

Y

S

EFFECT

TWEAK

1416

T

A

P

24

EFFECTSAMP MODELS

11

0 10

CHAN VOL

12

0 10

REVERB

T

U

P

N

I

2

9

0 10

DRIVE

4

0 10

OUTPUT

P

H

O

N

E

M

O

C

V

E

A

S

21 23

SELECT

E

T

I

D

22

S

15 13

P

M

O

T

S

P

19

3

SELECT

• When EDIT, SAVE or TUNER is lit, “SELECT” selects pages.

• Otherwise, “SELECT” chooses Channel Memories.

D

O

M

D

P

M

O

T

S

P

M

O

C

E

L

A

Y

C

A

B

/

A

.

I

.

R

.

• Comp, Stomp, Mod, Delay: on when lit.

• CAB/A.I.R.: lit when using a cab simulation.

• Double-press a button to go straight to its EDIT page.

E

D

T

I

EDIT PAGES

• Amp Settings

• Amp Bypass Settings

• A.I.R. Settings

• Compressor and Gate Settings

• EQ Settings

• Stomp Select and Settings

• Stomp Settings (page 2 for some models)

• Modulation Select and Settings

• Modulation Settings (page 2)

• Delay Select and Settings

• Delay Settings (page 2)

• Reverb Select and Settings

• Reverb Settings (page 2)

• Wah Settings

• Volume Settings

• Pedal, Effect Tweak and Tempo Settings

V

E

A

S

SAVE PAGES

• Save Sound to Channel Memory

• Custom Save Amp Model

• Custom Save Effect Model

• MIDI Dump

E

N

U

T

E

T

S

M

Y

S

SYSTEM PAGES

• Tuner

• What are you connecting to?

• Display contrast

• MIDI/Variax

• PODXT Software Version

PODXT PRO HARDWARE/NAVIGATION REFERENCE

SET MODES & LEVELS VIA

I/O & DIG SELECT

BUTTON

PODXT Quick Start
(on previous page)
gives a fast run
through of basic
setup.

Connections &
Configurations

chapter of Basic
Features Guide has
step-by-step-step
setup instruction for
the various options
of PODXT Pro,
including more
advanced setups.

35

1

POWER

36

Balanced: Tip = + / Ring = -

ANALOG REAMPING INPUT/OUTPUT

Line Level

Input

SERIES/PARALLEL VIA

LEFT/MONO RIGHT LEFT/MONO RIGHT

21

V

A

E

S

E

T

D

I

22

I/O & DIG SELECT

EFFECTS RETURNEFFECTS SEND

Unbalanced

P

M

O

C

)

E

T

A

G

(

16

Unprocessed

Guitar Out

BUTTON

20

D

O

M

D

17

E

L

A

Y

C

A

B

/

A

.

I

.

R

.

14

P

M

O

T

S

18

UNBAL ANALOG OUT

STUDIO:

RECORDING OUTPUT

LIVE:

FEED TO ONSTAGE AMP

L/MONO R/MONO LEFT RIGHT

BALANCED ANALOG OUT

STUDIO:

LIVE:

2319

U

T

S

Y

S

T

A

24

-10 dBV

N

E

T

E

M

P

+4 dBu

GROUND

GROUND LIFT

37 38 39 40 41

V

A

E

S

SAVE PAGES

• Save Sound to Channel Memory

N

E

U

T

T

E

S

M

Y

S

SYSTEM PAGES

• Custom Save Amp Model

• Custom Save Effect Model

• MIDI Dump

Refer to the illustration above when

reading the Basic Features Guide.

• Tuner

• What are you connecting to?

• Display contrast

• MIDI/Variax

• PODXT Software Version

PODXT PRO HARDWARE/NAVIGATION REFERENCE

10

MIDDLE TREBLEBASSDRIVE PRESENCE

0 10

11

IN

OUT

4

MIDI

OUT/THRUIN

USBPEDAL

9

0 10

3

AES/EBU S/PDIF

CHAN VOLREVERB OUTPUT

0 10 0 10 0 10

12

THIS DEVICE COMPLIES WITH PART 15 OF THE FCC RULES.
OPERATION IS SUBJECT TO THE FOLLOWING TWO
CONDITIONS: (1) THIS DEVICE MAY NOT CAUSE HARMFUL
INTERFERENCE, AND (2) THIS DEVICE MUST ACCEPT ANY
INTERFERENCE RECEIVED, INCLUDING INTERFERENCE THAT
MAY CAUSE UNDESIRED OPERATION.

OUTIN

15

AMP MODELS

34
33

CLIP

SIGNAL

EFFECTS

13 31

WARNING/AVIS:

SHOCK HAZARD – DO NOT OPEN. RISQUE DE CHOC ÉLECTRIQUE – NE PAS
OUVRIR. TO REDUCE THE RISK OF FIRE OR ELECTRIC SHOCK DO NOT
EXPOSE THIS EQUIPMENT TO RAIN OR MOISTURE. TO REDUCE THE RISK
OF ELECTRIC SHOCK DO NOT REMOVE COVER. NO USER SERVICEABLE
PARTS INSIDE. REFER SERVICING TO QUALIFIED SERVICE PERSONNEL.

FBV Class Foot Controller only

(not compatible with Floor Board or FB4)

0 100 100 10

Guitar inPHONES

INPUT LEVEL

NORMAL PAD

2

CAUTION

RISK OF ELECTRIC SHOCK

DO NOT OPEN

POWER REQUIREMENTS

100 - 120V ~

50 - 60Hz

100 W Max.

N222

32

I/O & DIG

SELECT

POD

ULTIMATE TONE FOR GUITAR + DIG I/O

XT

PRO

E

D

T

I

EDIT PAGES

7

6

42

• Amp Settings

• Amp Bypass Settings

• A.I.R. Settings

• Compressor and Gate Settings

• EQ Settings

• Stomp Select and Settings

• Stomp Settings (page 2 for some models)

8

• Modulation Select and Settings

• Modulation Settings (page 2)

• Delay Select and Settings

• Delay Settings (page 2)

• Reverb Select and Settings

• Reverb Settings (page 2)

• Wah Settings

• Volume Settings

• Pedal, Effect Tweak and Tempo Settings

PODXT FAMILY AMP & CAB MODELS

GUITAR AMPS & CABS

STANDARD & POWER PACK AMPS
# Standard Power Pack

0 BYPASS
1 TUBE PREAMP
2 LINE 6 CLEAN
3 LINE 6 JTS-45
4 LINE 6 CLASS A
5 LINE 6 MOOD
6 SPINAL PUPPET
7 LINE 6 CHEM X
8 LINE 6 INSANE
9 LINE 6 ACO 2
10 ZEN MASTER
11 SMALL TWEED
12 TWEED B-MAN
13 TINY TWEED
14 BLACKFACE LUX
15 DOUBLE VERB
16 TWO-T0NE
17 HIWAY 100
18 PLEXI 45
19 PLEXI LEAD 100
20 PLEXI JUMP LEAD
21 PLEXI VARIAC
22 BRIT J-800
23 BRIT JM PRE
24 MATCH CHIEF
25 MATCH D-30
26 TREADPLATE DUAL
27 CALI CRUNCH
28 JAZZ CLEAN
29 SOLO 100
30 SUPER O
31 CLASS A-15
32 CLASS A-30 TB
33 L6 AGRO
33 L6 LUNATIC
34 L6 TREADPLATE
36 VARIAX ACOUSTIC
101 CITRUS D-30
102 CLASS A-30 FAWN
103 BRIT GAIN 18
104 J-2000 #2
105 LINE 6 BOUTIQUE
106 LINE 6 MODERN GAIN #1

PP

CABS
# Cab Model

0 NO CAB
1 1X6 SUPER O
2 1X8 TWEED
3 1X10 GIBTONE
4 1X10 G-BRAND
5 1X12 LINE 6
6 1X12 TWEED
7 1X12 BLACKFACE
8 1X12 CLASS A
9 2X2 MINI T
10 2X12 LINE 6
11 2X12 BLACKFACE
12 2X12 MATCH
13 2X12 JAZZ
14 2X12 CLASS A
15 4X10 LINE 6
16 4X10 TWEED
17 4X12 LINE 6
18 4X12 GREEN 20’S
19 4X12 GREEN 25’S
20 4X12 BRIT T75
21 4X12 BRIT V30’S
22 4X12 TREADPLATE
23 1X15 THUNDER
24 2X12 WISHBOOK

METAL SHOP
# Amp Model

37 BOMBER UBER
38 CONOR 50
39 DEITY LEAD
40 DEITY’S SON
41 ANGEL P-BALL
42 BRIT SLIVER
43 BRIT J-900 CLN
44 BRIT J-900 DST
45 BRIT J-2000
46 DIAMOND PLATE
47 CRIMINAL
48 L6 BIG BOTTOM
49 L6 CHUNK CHUNK
50 L6 FUZZ
51 L6 OCTONE
52 L6 SMASH
53 L6 SPARKLE CLN
54 L6 THROTTLE

COLLECTOR CLASSICS
# Amp Model

55 BOMBER X-TC
56 DEITY CRUNCH
57 BLACKFACE VIBRO
58 DOUBLE SHOW
59 SILVERFACE BASS
60 MINI DOUBLE
61 GIBTONE EXPO
62 BRIT BASS
63 BRIT MAJOR
64 SILVER TWELVE
65 SUPRO ‘62 THUNDER
66 L6 BAYOU
67 L6 CRUNCH
68 L6 PURGE
69 L6 SPARKLE
70 L6 SUPER CLN
71 L6 SUPERSPARK
72 L6 TWANG

PODXT, PODXT Live and
PODXT Pro all include the
Standard and Power Pack Models
plus all guitar Cab Models. Metal
Shop, Collector Classics and
Bass Expansion are optional

Model Packs.

BASS AMPS & CABS

BASS EXPANSION AMPS
# Amp Model

73 TUBE PREAMP
74 L6 CLASSIC JAZZ
75 L6 BRIT INVADER
76 L6 SUPER THOR
77 L6 FRANKENSTEIN
78 L6 EBONY LUX
79 L6 DOPPELGANGER
80 SUB DUB
81 AMP 360
82 JAGUER
83 ALCEMIST
84 ROCK CLASSIC
85 FLIP TOP
86 ADAM AND EVE
87 TWEED B-MAN
88 SILVERFACE BASS
89 DOUBLE SHOW
90 EIGHTIES
91 HIWAY 100
92 HIWAY 200
93 BRIT MAJOR
94 BRIT BASS
95 CALIFORNIA
96 JAZZ TONE
97 STADIUM
98 STUDIO TONE
99 MOTOR CITY
100 BRIT CLASS A100

BASS EXPANSION CABS
# Cab Model

25 1X12 BOUTIQUE
26 1X12 MOTOR CITY
27 1X15 FLIP TOP
28 1X15 JAZZ TONE
29 1X18 SESSION
30 1X18 AMP 360
31 1X18 CALIFORNIA
32 1X18+12 STADIUM
33 2X10 MODERN UK
34 2X15 DOUBLESHOW
35 2X15 CALIFORNIA
36 2X15 CLASS A
37 4X10 LINE 6
38 4X10 TWEED
39 4X10 ADAM EVE
40 4X10 SILVERCONE
41 4X10 SESSION
42 4X12 HIWAY
43 4X12 GREEN 20’S
44 2X12 GREEN 25’S
45 4X15 BIG BOY
46 8X10 CLASSIC

PODXT FAMILY EFFECT MODELS

EFFECTS

STOMPS
Standard Power Pack FX Junkie

FACIAL FUZZ
FUZZ PI
SCREAMER
CLASSIC DIST

OCTAVE FUZZ
BLUE COMP
RED COMP

VETTA COMP

AUTO SWELL
AUTO WAH

KILLER Z
TUBE DRIVE
VETTA JUICE
BOOST + EQ
BLUE COMP TREB
DINGO-TRON
CLEAN SWEEP
SEISMIK SYNTH
DOUBLE BASS
BUZZ WAVE
REZ SYNTH
SATURN 5 RING M
SYNTH ANALOG
SYNTH FX
SYNTH HARMONY
SYNTH LEAD
SYNTH STRING

BASS OVERDRIVE
BRONZE MASTER
SUB OCTAVES
BENDER

MODS
Standard Power Pack FX Junkie

SINE CHORUS

ANALOG CHORUS

LINE 6 FLANGER

JET FLANGER

PHASER

U-VIBE

OPTO TREM

BIAS TREM

ROTARY DRUM
+HORN

ROTARY DRUM
AUTO PAN

ANALOG SQUARE
SQUARE CHORUS
EXPO CHORUS
RANDOM CHORUS
SQUARE FLANGE
EXPO FLANGE
LUMPY PHASE
HI-TALK
SWEEPER
POD PURPLE X
RANDOM S/H
TAPE EATER
WARBLE-MATIC

WAHS
Standard Power Pack FX Junkie

VETTA WAH

JEN FASSEL
WEEPER
CHROME
CHROME CUSTOM
THROATY
CONDUCTOR
COLORFUL

DELAY

DELAYS
Standard Power Pack FX Junkie

Standard Power Pack FX Junkie

ANALOG DELAY

ANALOG DELAY

ANALOG W/ MOD

ANALOG W/ MOD
TUBE ECHO

TUBE ECHO

MUTLI-HEAD

MUTLI-HEAD
SWEEP ECHO

SWEEP ECHO

DIGITAL DELAY

DIGITAL DELAY

STEREO DELAY

STEREO DELAY
PING PONG

PING PONG
REVERSE

REVERSE

ECHO PLATTER

ECHO PLATTER
TAPE ECHO

TAPE ECHO
LOW REZ

LOW REZ
PHAZE EKO

PHAZE EKO
BUBBLE ECHO

BUBBLE ECHO

REVERBS
Standard Power Pack FX Junkie

LUX SPRING

STD SPRING

KING SPRING
SMALL ROOM
TILED ROOM

BRITE ROOM

DARK HALL

MEDIUM HALL

LARGE HALL
RICH CHAMBER

CHAMBER
CAVERNOUS
SLAP PLATE

VINTAGE PLATE

LARGE PLATE

FX Junkie is included with PODXT Live and can be added to PODXT and PODXT Pro.

Learn about adding Model Pack Models:

www.line6.com/modelpacks

FBV REFERENCE

FBV foot controllers are optional, adding foot control to PODXT and PODXT Pro. They
include the necessary hookup cable: plug it into the jack on the back of your PODXT that’s labeled
Pedal. The pedal is powered over the cable, so there’s no need for a ‘wall-wart’ or other external
power supply for the FBV—one cable, and you’re done! If you ever need to replace the cable, it’s
a standard CAT-5 Ethernet cable, available just about everywhere these days.

Choose any of the 32 Banks of Channel Memories, then step on A, B, C, or D to actually

1

load the Channel Memory. (FBV Express doesn’t provide Bank select from its footswitches.)

Load one of the four Channel Memories in the current Bank.

2

PODXT Pro only: Turn effect loop on off. Unlike other FBV switches, this one

doesn’t switch until you lift your foot off of it.

3

PODXT only: rather than let this go to waste, it’s used to turn Comp On/Off.

Turn the Stomp effect on and off. Light above the switch is lit when effect is on.

4

5

6

FBV only: Switch Comp and Gate on and off. Lights shown if these effects are on.

Switch Modulation and Delay and Reverb on and off. Light on, effect on.

9

8

7

Tap twice to set Tempo on PODXT. Light flashes to show you current tempo. Hold for
two seconds to activate PODXT’s tuner. The FBV display shows the note you’re playing

10

and lets you know whether you’re sharp or flat.

11

Lights show what the pedal(s) are controlling. (See Chapter 4 for details.)

Press fully forward to click the toe-switch,
switching the pedal’s function and/or

12

switching the wah on/off. (See Chapter
4 for details.)

A B

FBV Shortboard only: Connect an
expression pedal (such as the Line 6

13

EX-1) to control Volume or Effect

2

Tweak. (See Chapter 4 for details.)

C D

10

11

CD

12

AB

FBV REFERENCE

Name & Save with FBV and FBV Shortboard only:

• Hold FX Loop until NAME EDIT is displayed.

• Stomp and Mod on FBV Shortboard (Reverb and Tremolo on FBV) move left and
right, selecting a character in the name.

• Delay and Reverb on FBV Shortboard (Mod and Delay on FBV) change selected character.

• Then use the Bank Up/Down switches to choose a bank to save to, and A, B, C or D to
complete the save to that Channel Memory.

• Press TAP any time to cancel saving.

3

1

FX LOOP

FBV SHORTBOARD

11

13

4

STOMP MODULATION

CHANNEL BCHANNEL A CHANNEL DCHANNEL C

2 10

3

FX LOOP STOMP BOX 1 STOMP BOX 2 STOMP BOX 3

4

5

6

7

CHANNEL A CHANNEL B CHANNEL C CHANNEL D FAVORITE CHANNELBANK DOWN BANK UP

FACTORY/USER

8

9

DELAY

7

4

REVERB

VOLUME WAH

12

TAP

HOLD FOR TUNER

11

CUSTOM FOOT CONTROLLER

8

9

DELAYMODULATIONTREMOLOREVERB TAP TEMPOAMP 2AMP 1

10

WAH PEDAL 1 PEDAL 2VOLUME

12

HOLD FOR TUNER

1

2

USING AN ADDED EX-1 EXPRESSION PEDAL WITH FBV SHORTBOARD

The FBV Shortboard allows you to connect an expression pedal, such as the Line 6
EX-1, to provide dedicated volume pedal control or act as remote control over the parameter

assigned to the Effect Tweak knob. This lets you remotely control the Rotary Drum Speed, for
example, while allowing the on-board pedal to control Wah or Volume. And since the Effect
Tweak and pedal assignements are stored with a Channel Memory, you can even change setups per
Channel Memory.

To set up this pedal:

1. Press the Edit button and turn Select until you see this page (LOOP is shown only for
PODXT Pro):

2. Press the button under ASSIGN and select either VOLUME, to control the volume, or

TWEAK, to control the parameter.

3. Be sure to save if you want to keep your changes.

When ASSIGN is set to TWEAK, moving a connected EX-1 from heel to toe will move the
assigned parameter from its minimum value to its maximum value. When ASSIGN is set to

VOLUME, the FBV Shortboard’s Volume light will go out, the EX-1 will control the PODxt’s

volume and the on-board pedal will be your dedicated wah pedal. Turn Select to the previous
page to choose the position of the volume pedal: PRE (before the Amp Model), or POST (after
the Amp Model).

contents

PODxt & The GearBox Platform 1•1

GearBox computer software showing PODxt tone controls 1•1

Line 6 Monkey, Online Account Setup & Registration . . . . 1•1

GearBox Software. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1•2

Where’d all this stuff come from? . . . . . . . . . . . 1•2

Modeling. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1•3

Amp, Cab and Effect Models . . . . . . . . . . . . 1•4

There’s Magic in the A.I.R.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1•4

And Away We Go.... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1•6

Controls & Connections 2•1

PODxt Live . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2•10

PODxt Pro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2•12

Getting Set Up 3•1

Getting The Right Tone With An Amp. . . . . . . . . . 3•3

FX Loop (PODXT PRO only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3•4

Setting Levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3•6

Radiation Alert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3•7

PODxt Pro — Input Select, Digital In/Out and Reamping . . . 3•8

Selecting An Input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3•8

Input & Digital Out Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3•9

FORMAT: Sample rate, word length (bit depth), and clock source 3•9

I

MODE: Normal or Dry Guitar . . . . . . . . . . . . 3•10

GAIN: Extra gain on the digital outs . . . . . . . . . .3•10

Re-Amping with PODxt Pro . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3•11

Analog Re-amping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3•11

Digital Re-amping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3•12

MIDI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3•14

What’s MIDI? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3•14

In/Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3•14

MIDI Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3•15

Backing Up PODxt Data to Other Devices . . . . . . . 3•16

MIDI via USB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3•16

Creating & Storing Sounds 4•1

GearBox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4•1

Editing Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4•1

Double Press for Easy Access . . . . . . . . . . . . 4•1

Inside the Edit Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4•2

Amp knob settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4•2

Amp Bypass Channel Volume . . . . . . . . . . . . 4•3

Cabinet and Mic settings (There’s magic in the A.I.R.!) . . . 4•3

EQ settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4•4

Stomp settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4•5

Mod and Delay settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4•6

Setting your Tone to Tempo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4•6

Config . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4•7

Reverb settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4•8

Wah Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4•8

II

Volume Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4•9

Saving Yourself . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4•14

Saving a Channel Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4•14

Custom Saving Amp Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4•15

Custom Saving Effect Setups on PODXT & PODXT PRO . . . 4•16

MIDI Dumps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4•17

Modeled Amps & Cabs 5•1

Which Amps and Cabs Are Modeled? . . . . . . . . . . 5•1

Cabinet Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5•34

Effect Model Details 6•1

Comp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6•1

Gate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6•2

The Stomp Effects: Fuzz, Distortion, Overdrive . . . . . . . 6•3

Stomp Effects: Compressors . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6•9

The Stomp Effects: Synths and Filters . . . . . . . . . . 6•15

The Wah Pedals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6•18

The Modulation Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6•20

The Delay Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6•30

Reverb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6•39

III

Quick Start Guide

Podxt & the GearBox PLatForM

GearBox computer software showing PODxt tone controls

Your new PODxt brings you a whole lot more than just what’s inside its metal casing.
Plug a USB cable into it, hook that to your Internet-connected computer, and you’re
ready to tap into the world’s most advanced tone platform for guitarists.

1•1

Line 6 Monkey, Online Account Setup & Registration

www.line6.com/monkey is the place to begin. That’s where you’ll get Line 6 Mon-

key, the intelligent software update utility that makes it easy to get the latest software,
updates and options for your PODxt. Use it to set up a Line 6 account and register your
PODxt purchase (you can also used the enclosed, postage-paid card for registration if you

don’t have Internet access). Registering is very important because it ensures that you’re
dialed in for warranty service and makes it possible for us to contact you if new software
versions or other cool enhancements are offered — cutting edge technology and such!

Once you’ve got Line 6 Monkey, run it and follow Monkey’s lead to get the free GearBox
software, driver, and any available updates for your PODxt.

Quick Start Guide

GearBox Software

1•2

The GearBox software is tone control central. It gives you visual control of your PODxt,
makes it easy to backup your PODxt’s memory, includes plenty more great presets, and

connects you directly to our exclusive online library of thousands of Tones professionally
programmed by Line 6 to match the greatest guitarists, songs, bands and gear of all time.
GearBox can run alongside your favorite recording software, letting you easily control

every detail of your PODxt right from your computer during recording. And our exten­sive online documentation includes step-by-step instruction for using GearBox with
some of the most popular Windows® and Macintosh® recording software, to help make
your computer recording experience a great one. GearBox even connects you to Guitar­Port Online, our exclusive online world for guitarists who want to play along with the
latest and greatest tracks, lessons and licks, covering the greatest guitarists of all time.
Check it out when you’re looking to pick up a few new tricks, or just have a great time
playing some tunes.

Where’d all this stuff come from?

As you may know, Line 6 first came on the scene a number of years back with a new kind
of guitar amplifier — the first to put digital software modeling technology to work in a
combo amp for guitarists. We also knew then that guitarists need great amp tone when
recording, but generally don’t have the room to crank up that classic stack, or the money
to hire a team of ace engineers to get it to tape. So we squished our patented modeling
technology down into a small, kidney-bean-shaped wonder called POD, and forever
changed the world of guitar recording.

Once we’d gotten this whole modeling amp and POD thing started, it was time to see
what we could do if we really cranked up the horsepower and took our modeling to the
next level. I mean, once you’ve climbed to the top of the mountain, it’s on to the next
mountain, right? So, eyes glowing like power tubes, we stocked up on the Pepsi, gathered
our genius engineers into a secret lab, fired up our extensive collection of amplifiers and
stomp boxes... and spirited their treasured tones into a newly-supercharged modeling
technology we dubbed Point-to-Point modeling. It first hit the streets in the award-win­ning Vetta amp, whose superb tone and unparalleled selection of dream amps, cabinets
and effects make it a pretty good contender for the world heavyweight amp title. After
that, we poured the same magic elixir into the classic POD and—ta-dah!—PODxt was
born.

Quick Start Guide

To make all this good stuff really rock in the world of computer recording, we added
GearBox software, free for every owner of PODxt and our TonePort and GuitarPort
recording and modeling interfaces. Combine that with Line 6 Monkey, our world class
driver software technology, options like GuitarPort Online and Model Packs, plus our
massive online tone library, and it’s all added up to be the world’s most advanced tone
system for guitarists. We call the whole shooting match The GearBox Platform.

Of course, the single most important thing about the GearBox Platform and your PODxt
is the way they give you the world’s greatest sound for guitar. And at the heart of it all
are the Amp, Cab, Mic and Effects Models that you only get from Line 6.

Modeling

Modeling: just what is it, and why is it so important?

To answer that question, we’ll start with tubes (better know as “valves” to our friends in
England and elsewhere). Tubes, we can all agree, are the heart and soul of pretty much
every legendary guitar amp, and are key to the warm, harmonic-rich tone quality of
those amps. Solid state devices (transistors) are simply unable to duplicate tube warmth
and performance. And “hybrids” — a tube in a circuit along with a bunch of transistors
— are really a vain attempt at warming up a transistor-based tone. They fall short in any
comparison to a 100% tube circuit. So that’s it — tubes or nothin’, right? Well, not any

more....

1•3

You see, Line 6’s team of crack engineer-guitarists has spent years understanding pretty
much everything there is to know about tube-powered gear, including exactly how dif­ferent types of tubes respond under various conditions typical of guitar amplifier design.
How tubes process an input signal, how the signal is colored and shaped, at what point it
begins to distort, the quality and characteristic of the distortion, what happens when the
signal gets to other parts of the system — complicated stuff, but all analyzable as elec­tronic data. A guitar pickup output, after all, is an electronic signal, and tubes and all the
rest are really just a complex form of signal processing.

Having sussed it all out, the Line 6 engineers translated all this arcane knowledge into
software that simulates the signal processing of guitar amps’ tubes and other electronics,
entirely within the digital domain. Cool, huh? The Line 6 crew also directed their caf­feine-enhanced modeling attention to a study of guitar speaker cabinets and the impor­tant part they play in communicating great guitar tone. And the great variety of stomp
box and rack effects that guitarists use to juice things up. They translated it all into

Quick Start Guide

1•4

yet more powerful software, and it’s this revolutionary DSP (Digital Signal Processing)
software-based modeling technology that gives Line 6 the power to create super silicon­based life forms like PODxt.

Amp, Cab and Effect Models

The tone and technology know-how of Line 6 thus comes to you as Amp, Cab and Effect
Models based on a collection of gear recognized by guitarists the world over as true “tone

classics.” These models were tweaked through careful, scientific A/B comparisons to the
gear that inspired them, with an ear open for the effects of different volume levels and
settings of the originals’ tone and gain controls. The gain and equalization characteris­tics of the modeled gear were carefully measured so that changes to knobs on the models
would mirror the effects of these changes on the originals as closely as possible. We’re
talkin’ major attention to detail here. Tone control center frequencies, slopes, and cut/
boost range were painstakingly analyzed, in addition to a whole host of factors unique
to each piece of gear. Not only that, but since many classic amps and effects have highly
interactive circuits, we paid careful attention to the way that the setting of one knob
changes the way that another knob may behave. All in an effort to make our Models as
much like the amps, cabs and effects in our collection as possible. The resulting Amp,
Cab and Effect Models are the foundation of PODxt.

Now, then — here are a couple of things we want to be completely crystal clear on:

1. The Line 6 modeling process is a patented, 100% digital soft-

ware-based technology exclusive to Line 6.

2. Line 6 Modeling is not sampling, nor is it solid state; no special

guitar, pickup, or cabling is needed.

There’s Magic in the A.I.R.

PODxt delivers its modeling tones through another innovation: Line 6’s A.I.R. direct
recording output. The A.I.R. (acoustically integrated recording) technology is the result
of intensive research and careful study of the tonal characteristics produced by the inter­action of amplifiers, cabinets, speakers, microphones and the recording room during the
recording process.

Quick Start Guide

The direct output of many preamps, amplifiers and direct box-style amp replacements
available today offer some limited form of cabinet simulation or speaker emulation.
Those that happen to be more than simple high end roll-offs have little or no control
options. Generic cabinet simulations cannot reproduce the markedly different tones
resulting from the choice of speakers, wood, and other details of a great real-life speaker
cabinet. Other equipment also fails to reproduce the significant tonal contribution of
microphone selection and placement, and do nothing to reproduce the subtle ambience
of the recording space.

The result is the familiar dissatisfaction with direct recording products — even those
that deliver a reasonably usable basic tone fail to reproduce the “life” of the guitar sound,
and destroy the proper feel in the process. It is as if your guitar strings became heavier
and less responsive, like they just went up a couple of gauges when you plugged into your
direct box. And your sound lost its life.

xt’s combination of Amp Models and A.I.R. technology provides superior direct

POD

tones by recreating all the elements contributing to a great recorded guitar sound, and
giving you that tone with the same feel as playing through a real amp and speaker cabi­net:

• The effect of the guitar amplifier circuit is emulated by the Amp Model you choose.
Each model was developed from extensive study of a classic amplifier treasured as a
tone classic.

1•5

• In a guitar amp, once the guitar signal passes through the electronics, it is output
to one or more speakers in a speaker cabinet. The specific design of the speakers, how
many there are, and how they are arranged contributes significantly to your guitar
tone, as does the construction and resulting tone of the wood box itself. A Marshall
head driving a single 12-inch speaker in an open-back cabinet, for instance, will sound
dramatically different from the same head driving a 4x12 closed-back cabinet. Line 6
has carefully constructed virtual software speaker cabinets that emulate the contribu­tion made by real speaker cabinets to get great guitar sound.

• Once the sound makes it out of the speaker cabinet, the next important link in the
recording system is the microphone that receives that sound. Guitar recordists select
different microphones, and arrange them in different placements, to get particular
sounds. A microphone pointing directly into the cone of a speaker will hear something
different than one positioned off-axis. Line 6 carefully analyzed the coloring that vari­ous microphones add to the guitar sound, as well as the effects of different mic place­ment techniques, and gave you control of these details in your PODxt.

Quick Start Guide

1•6

• The guitar amp, cabinet, and microphone don’t just sit in empty space. The room
that they are in contributes importantly to the guitar sound you will record. Reverb
can be used to capture the basic character of the space, simulating the effect of the
sound reflecting off the room’s walls, floors and ceiling. But there are other subtle
details that have more to do with the “spread” of the sound as it passes through the air
between the speaker and microphone. This final component is the key to the sense
that the listener is in one position in the room, and the guitar sound is in another
position, and that the two are separated by a mass of air that sound spreads through to
reach the listener.

All these important sound-shaping components are accounted for in your PODxt.
Turn the Amp Model knob to call up the amplifier emulation you want. PODxt auto­matically matches that amplifier with an appropriate cabinet and microphone setup,
giving you the sound of that setup coming through the air of a recording space. Turn
the reverb knob to taste, and start recording incredible mic’d up sound. Press a button
and twiddle a knob or two, and you can switch cabinets, change out mics and their
placement, and adjust the “spread” of the sound in your virtual room as well.

The A.I.R. direct recording output is exclusive to Line 6. In combination with the Line
6 Amp, Cab, Mic and Effect Models, it is the key to PODxt’s phenomenally satisfying
direct recording sound.

And Away We Go....

Now that we’ve completed our little technology tour, it’s time to experience PODxt for
yourself. Grab your favorite axe, plug in, open the handy Quick Reference booklet to
the spread for your particular PODxt, and follow me, my friend, for the non-stop excite-

ment of the PODxt Grand Tour....

controLs & connections

Controls & Connections

Numbers below refer to Quick Reference booklet.

1

Power Switch - Flip this to bring your PODxt to life.

PODxt & PODxt LIve: use only the included PX-2 power pack.

PODxt PrO: ncludes a standard IEC grounded power cable.

2

Input/Guitar In - Plug your guitar in here. (You techies will want to know

this is a mono, un-balanced connection).

xt LIve: set the switch to norm for use with most guitars. The pad position

POD

may work better with guitar pickups that have particularly high output levels, to
prevent them from overdriving the front end of your PODxt Live in an unpleas­ant-sounding way.

3

Phones - Plug your headphones in here to avoid noise complaints from the

neighbors (or the rest of your family). The volume is set by the Output knob. Any time
you use headphones, it important to be sure they’re not set for ridiculous volume before
your slap them on your ears. Try an Output knob setting of about 10 o’clock to start,
them turn up from there if you need more volume.

To give you great sound through the headphones, your PODxt automatically switches
to Studio Mode whenever headphones are connected (for more on Studio Mode, see
“What are you connecting to?” on page 3•2).

2•1

A quick note about headphones: Earbuds and headphones designed for use with portable
MP3 players and tape players are very low impedance, and often are not very accurate
in frequency response (hey, we’re just telling it like it is!). This makes them not suitable
for use with PODxt. We recommend a pair of 150-600 ohm pro or semi-pro level studio
headphones for best results.

4

Output - This controls the overall output level of PODxt and also sets the

headphone level. Changing the Output level does not change your tone, so you can get

Controls & Connections

the tone you want at any volume level. This setting is not saved when you store settings
into one of the PODxt’s memory locations.

When running into line level gear (like recorders, mixers and PA’s), PODxt will give the

2•2

best signal-to-noise performance when you have the Output control at max. With the

utput control turned down low, you may get extra hiss—which obviously ain’t what

O

you want—if you turn up your mixer or recorder’s output to compensate. In order to al­low you to set the Output as high as possible when connecting to recording, mixing, and
other studio gear, be sure you are plugging PODxt’s outputs into line level, not
microphone or guitar level inputs. Line level inputs should allow you to turn PODxt’s

utput up all the way (or close to it) and thereby get the best sound possible. If your

O

gear has inputs that function as mic/line level inputs, try to set the trim for those inputs
to the minimum level, and PODxt’s Output to maximum, when setting levels.

POD

feeding into the front of a guitar amp, and otherwise choose line. When run­ning into a guitar amp, you’ll want to avoid setting the level knob so high that
you’re overdriving the front end of your amp. Try turning any drive-type control
on your amp low so that it’s not adding more “dirt” to your sound, and compare
the PODxt Live sound on headphones to the sound coming from your amp to
be sure the sound from the amp isn’t getting too crunchy because you’re feed­ing it too much level from the PODxt. The tone from the headphones and from
the amp will of course sound different, depending on the “color” that your amp
adds. You just want to make sure that you’re not getting extra distortion degrad­ing your sound and preventing you from achieving the tones you want with your
PODxt-Live-and-amp-setup.

xt LIve: Flick the rear panel switch to amp when you’ve got your PODxt Live

xt PrO: The Output knob does not effect the level of the XLR Outputs in

POD

Live Mode (see page 3•5).

5

Left & Right Outputs

PODxt LIve: The unbalanced 1/4-inch connectors here get your PODxt Live’s
sound to a guitar amplifier, recorder, mixer or PA system.

xt: These balanced 1/4-inch TRS (tip/ring/sleeve) connectors are ready to

POD

rock with pro +4dBu balanced equipment. They will also work happily with
unbalanced –10dBV equipment and standard guitar cables. If you need mono
output, you can use either one.

Controls & Connections

PODxt PrO: See

6

Pedal

PODxt LIve: Not included. (You’ve already got your footswitches and pedal!)

xt & PODxt PrO: Connect optional Line 6 FBV or FBV Shortboard foot

POD

controllers here. See the end of the Quick Reference booklet for FBV details.

xt’s do not work with the older Line 6 Floor Board and FB4.

POD

7

USB - PODxt’s USB jack lets you connect directly to compatible computer, and

take advantage of the many computer-powered features of the GearBox Platform, includ­ing direct digital recording with a wide variety of popular recording software, visual tone
control, a huge online tone library, easy access to updates, and a whole lot more! To get
started, visit www.line6.com/monkey.

8

MIDI In & Out - Connect PODxt to your MIDI equipment to select Chan-

nel Memories (via Program Change messages), or control PODxt settings (via MIDI
continuous controller messages and/or MIDI SySex messages). The PODxt MIDI OUT
connects to another device’s MIDI IN; its MIDI IN goes to another device’s MIDI
OUT. Chapter 3 has more info on MIDI.

9

Drive - This knob controls how hard you’re driving the input of the chosen Amp

Model. Like the input volume control on a non-master volume guitar amp, higher set­tings give you more “dirt.”

39

and

40

for info on outputs.

2•3

10

Tone Controls - Bass, middle, treBle, presence. Just like any guitar amp,

only when you change Amp Models, the response and interactivity of the controls
changes, too — so they act like the tone controls of the original amp that inspired the
Amp Model you’ve selected.

11

Chan Vol - This knob controls the relative volume level of the “channel” you

are playing through — thus, channel vOlume. Use this to balance levels between the
sounds you store in two different PODxt Channel Memories (say between your rhythm
and lead tones). In general, you want to set the chan vOl as high as possible to insure
you’re getting the best signal-to-noise ratio performance — but back off on this control if
you’re seeing CLIP in PODxt’s display.

You probably want all of your favorite sounds as loud as possible, while also hav­ing the right difference in volume between your lead and rhythm sounds, clean

Controls & Connections

and dirty sounds, etc. Right? OK, then, to get this happy balance, start with your
favorite ‘clean’ sounds. Turn up their Chan Vol as high as you can without getting
the CLIP indicator in PODxt’s display when you strum hard. and save them that
way. Then switch amongst them to see if some are too loud, and turn them down

2•4

a bit to match well with the others. Next, move on to select your ‘dirtier’ crunch
and lead tones, comparing them to the clean sounds and saving them with lower
Chan Vol settings to match well with those clean sounds. Now, each time you use
your PODxt, you just have to set an Output volume level you like, and you can
switch amongst your various sounds without unhappy volume differences.

12

Reverb

PODxt LIve: Reverb level is adjustable from the Reverb Edit page, described on on
page 4•8.

POD

13

Effects

PODxt LIve: Not included. You have all the same effects capabilities as PODxt &
PODxt Pro; Effect Setups are simply preset combinations of those capabilities.

xt & PODxt PrO: Spin this knob to set Reverb level.

xt & PODxt PrO: This knob selects from Effect Setups — preset combina-

POD

tions of effects. Think of each Effect Setup as a virtual pedal board or outboard
gear rack that you can match with any Amp Model. When you turn the effects
knob, PODxt shows the name of the Effect Setup that gets loaded and you’ll
hear the effects change instantly. The effect buttons light to show which effects
are on. There are 64 of these effect “rigs” pre-programmed and ready for you to
use.

14

Effect Tweak - When the Edit, Output Mode/System, and Save buttons

AREN’T lit, this knob varies some aspect of the effect you’ve chosen. Turn it up and the
effect will generally go deeper, louder, faster, longer or just plain more. You’ll know what
you’re tweakin’ because a window will pop up on PODxt’s display to show you. The de­lay time is usually set by the tap button/footswitch. For the inside scoop, including how
you can customize the effect tweak knob see Chapter 4, Creating & Storing Sounds.
If the effect that effect tweak is “targeting” is off, then, big surprise, effect tweak won’t
change anything!

While the edit or tune/system button is lit, the effect tweak knob adjusts the

currently highlighted value instead.

15

Amp Models

Controls & Connections

PODxt LIve: Not included. Double-press amp footswitch to pick an Amp Model.
From there, you get the same results as the PODxt & PODxt Live get from their
dedicated Amp Model knob.

xt & PODxt PrO: When you spin this knob, it’s essentially like changing what

POD

electronic “circuitry” is running inside PODxt to make your amp sound. (See the
groovy details in Chapter 5, Modeled Amps and Cabs.) You’ll see the Amp
Model names change in PODxt’s display. When you choose an Amp Model,
Cabinet and Microphone Models are also loaded automatically. For instance,
when you choose the Brit Hi Gain model (based on the classic Marshall JCM
800 head), a Cabinet Model based on a Marshall 4x12 will be loaded with it.
You can also choose a different cabinet/mic setup by pressing the caB/a.i.r.
button (below).

In fact, Amp Models automatically load with all the amp-related settings pre-set for
a ready to go tone. Drive, Bass, Mid, Treble, Presence, Cab/A.I.R., EQ etc. will all be
determined by the Amp Model you choose — giving you a ready-to-rock sound with
the turn of just this one knob. Once you get familiar with PODxt, you can change these
amp-associated defaults to customize the settings of each of the Amp Models to fit your
tastes. Note that when you’re in Manual Mode, Drive, Bass, Mid, Treble, Presence, Channel

Volume and Reverb are set by the physical knob positions instead of being automatically set with
the amp selection. Complete details are in Chapter 5.

16

Select - The PODxt has 128 Channel Memories. They are arranged in 32 banks

of four channels each. (The four are called A, B, C, and D.) You can think of each bank
as a sort of virtual four-channel guitar amp — and you’ll find that the same layout is used
on the optional Line 6 foot controllers for PODxt (the FBV and FBV Shortboard) which
are discussed later in Chapter 8.

2•5

xt LIve: The first 32 Channel Memories (Banks 1-8) store a variety of com-

POD

plete amp-and-effect selections pre-programmed by the tone mavens at Line 6 to
sound great when feeding a recorder, mixer, PA or headphones. The second 32
(Banks 9-16) are designed to run in front of a guitar amp. The next 16 (Banks
17-20) are specifically set up to use with the Line 6 Variax modeling guitar,
which fully integrates with the PODxt Live (see the section on using with a
Variax in Chapter 3 for more detail). The last 48 (Banks 21-32) are left for your

Controls & Connections

own creations — or you can load them up with some of the thousands of great
tones you’ll find in the online tone library accessible from the GearBox software.

POD

2•6

of complete amp-and-effect selections pre-programmed by the tone mavens at
Line 6. The second 64 (Banks 17-32) are left for your own creations (or you can
load them up with some of the thousands of great tones you’ll find in the online
tone library accessible from the GearBox software.

You load PODxt channels by turning the select knob (or stepping on the Bank up/dOwn
and a, B, c, d switches included on the PODxt Live or available on the optional FBV
foot controllers). When recalling a channel, you may have left the physical Bass knob at
minimum, whereas the just-recalled channel has this control set to max. To change Bass
(or anything else), just grab the knob you want and tweak.

When the edit, save or Output mOde/system button is lit, the select knob selects from
the available display pages. When you press edit, it selects pages of amp, effect and chan­nel parameters; when you press Output mOde/system (on PODxt Live) or tune/system
(on PODxt & PODxt Pro), it takes you through all of the Tuner and system-wide set­tings. When save is lit, you’ll find amp and effect customization features as well as MIDI
dump operations. The vertical “scroll bar” on the left side of each display page shows you
where you are in that group of pages.

xt & PODxt PrO: The first 64 Channel Memories (Banks 1-16) store a variety

xt LIve: To leave the Channel Memory world and enter Manual operation,

POD

step on the a, B, c or d footswitch and hold it for 2 seconds. In this mode,

xt Live’s display will show “Manual Mode” in place of the Channel Memory

POD

name, and the physical positions of the amp tOne cOntrOls and channel vOl-

ume knobs will determine your sound.

xt & PODxt PrO: To leave the Channel Memory world and enter Manual op-

POD

eration, make sure the edit button is not lit, and press the Soft Button below the
word manual. The display will read Manual Mode to let you know you’ve got
WYSIWYG (what-you-see-is-what-you-get) operation, and all the physical knob
positions are being used to determine your sound. More on all this later.

17

Display - PODxt’s LCD (liquid crystal display) is your window into every param-

eter and setting available. Here’s how to get around:

1. When the save, edit and Output mOde/system buttons are NOT lit, the display
shows you the name of the selected Channel Memory, and the Amp Model that

Controls & Connections

it uses. (And lets you use the Soft Buttons as described in 18.)

2. When the save, edit or Output mOde/system button IS lit, a scroll bar on the
left side of PODxt’s display shows you where you are in the available display
“pages.” Press one of these buttons to see the scroll bar now. For those that really
need to get all the nerdy details, each dot in that bar represents a page. As you
turn the select knob, you move through the pages and so does the little square.
When you’re on the first page, the little square is at the top. When you get to the
last page, the square’s at the bottom. Square goes up, square goes down. Square
goes up, square goes down. Fun for the whole family!

3. Each page typically has words that appear in the bottom of the display. These
words label things you can adjust. Press the button below the thing you want to
adjust, then turn the Effect Tweak knob to do your adjusting.

18 Soft Buttons - These four buttons operate differently depending on what

you’re doing.

If the edit button IS lit, the Soft Buttons will let you select which displayed setting
you’d like to tweak. See Chapter 4 for the detail on that.

2•7

xt LIve: If the edit button is NOT lit, the PODxt Live’s display will look

POD

about like this:

Press any one of the Soft Buttons below the display to turn the item above that
button on or off. In the example above, the cOmp, amp, and Gate processing are
off, and the eQ is on. Double-press any of these Soft Buttons to show the set­tings for that item, then press the lit edit button to exit that display when you’re
done tweaking details.

PODxt & PODxt Pro: If the edit button is NOT lit, the PODxt’s display will
look about like this:

Controls & Connections

2•8

You can press the far left Soft Button to enable manual mode. Press the second
Soft Button from the left to show the saved settings of the Amp Model’s tone
controls, then press the lit edit button to exit that display. Press one of the two
Soft Buttons on the right to turn the Gate and eQ effects on/off (in the illustra-
tion, the Gate effect is off, and the EQ effect is on). Double-pressing the button
for Gate or eQ will jump you right to the detailed settings for those effects. You
can then press the lit edit button when you’re finished tweaking.

19

Effect On/Off Buttons/Switches

PODxt LIve: These footswitches show you which of these “blocks” of sound pro­cessing is currently running. Light on means that item is active. Light off means
it’s bypassed. Step on a switch to switch it on/off. Chapter 4 tells you about edit­ing the details of the Amp, Stomp, Mod and Delay. Chapter 5 tells you about
the individual Amp Models that PODxt Live gives you, while Chapter 6 tells
you all about the individual Stomp, Mod and Delay Models.

POD

tOmp, mOd and delay effects on or off (the effects are on when the buttons are

s

lit). Double-press one of these buttons to adjust the loaded effect or load a differ­ent one. For example, just press the cOmp button two times quickly and you’re
instantly taken to the Compressor and Gate edit page. Double-pressing the

tOmp button will quickly take you to the first Stomp Box edit page. Double-

s
press the same button again (or press the edit button) to leave Edit Mode.

xt & PODxt PrO: These four buttons allow you to quickly turn the cOmp,

20

CAB/A.I.R.

PODxt LIve: Cab/A.I.R. settings are adjustable from the A.I.R. Settings Edit page,
described on on page 4•4, with all the same features as PODxt & PODxt Pro.

xt & PODxt PrO: Press the caB/a.i.r. button once to pick a Cab Model to

POD

pair with your amplifier, select the microphone used on the cabinet and even set
the amount of “room” that the mic captures. Unlike the effect On/Off buttons,
this button is not an on/off type control. A single press of this button simply lets
you change cabs and mics quickly. When the Cabinets are off, this button’s light
will be off as well.

Controls & Connections

21

Save - When you want to store your own tweaked-up sounds in your PODxt this

button is the key. Press it, choose what to store and where to store it, and press the but­ton again to complete the Save. All the details are in Chapter 4, Creating & Storing
Sounds.

22

Edit - A deep-dive into tone central is available at the press of the edit button.

While edit is lit, the select knob selects pages of everything that makes up a Channel
Memory. From here, you set all the effect parameters, select cabinets and microphones,
and assign a parameter to the effect tweak knob. To learn more about deep editing,
please see Chapter 4.

23

Output Mode/Sytem & Tune/System

PODxt LIve: The Output mOde/system button takes you to the System pages,
the “What are you connecting to?” page. Holding the tap footswitch takes you
directly to the system page for the tuner. Once on a system page, you can turn
the select knob to see the other system pages.

xt & PODxt PrO: The tune/system button takes you directly to the system

POD

page for the tuner. Turning the Select knob one step clockwise takes you to the
“What are you connecting to?” page. Once on a system page, you can turn the

elect knob to see the other system pages.

s

2•9

When the tuner page is selected — shazam! Instant digital chromatic tuner. All Amp
Model and effects processing are bypassed so you can hear those questionably-tuned
strings clearly, should you choose to do so.

Play a note on your guitar and PODxt will show you what it is on that handy display; all
notes are displayed as flats, so you’ll see Ab instead of G#. Play that string you’re trying
to tune again, spin its tuning key so it goes sharp and flat, and the little ball will move to
the right if it’s sharp and back down to the left when the note’s flat. The little ball will
sit right in the middle when you’ve got it just right. Give PODxt’s tune/system button a
push and the tuner disappears just as swiftly as it came, taking you right back to normal
operation.

Tuner Bypass/Volume - Normally, the audio will be muted while you’re tuning, but if
you prefer to hear yourself tune, press the button labeled Mute, and turn effect tweak

Controls & Connections

counter-clockwise to select Bypass.

Tuner Reference - Want a different reference than A=440Hz? When you’re in the
tuner mode, press the button labeled 440 Hz and turn the effect tweak knob on PODxt

2•10

while watching the display. This control lets you set the reference frequency anywhere
from 430-450 Hz. This setting is stored so you don’t have to reset it every time you turn
on PODxt if you decide you want to be different (or if that piano in your rehearsal room
has decided to be different).

24

Tap - PODxt allows you to control the time and speed of your effects by simply

tapping on this button. To use the tap control, just tap the button at the tempo you
want and the effects that are set to “lock” to that tempo will change to match what you
tapped. There’s also a Tempo parameter near the end of the edit pages, so you’ll see ex­actly what Tempo you’ve Tapped. This is especially useful if you are trying to nudge your

ap setting to just the right value. See Chapter 4 to learn how to set up effects to follow

t

the tempo that you’ve tapped.

POD

(PODxt & PODxt PrO users can add footswitch tuner activation with an FBV.)

xt LIve: Hold the tap footswitch about 2 seconds to activate the tuner.

PODxt Live

The following controls and connections are found on PODxt Live only. PODxt & PODxt Pro
users can add an FBV for equivalent footswitch features, and can connect a Variax using the
standard 1/4-jack, without special Variax digital control features.

25

Bank Up/Down - These choose amongst PODxt Live’s 32 banks of Chan-

nel Memories, similar to the select knob. Once you’ve footswitched your way to a new
bank, you’ll then also need to step on the A, B, C or D footswitch to actually load one of
the channels from that bank. (We set things up this way so your audience won’t hear you
switching through channels as you make your way to your next bank of sounds.)

26

A, B, C, D - The lights on these footswitches show you which of the Chan-

nels in the current Bank is running. You can step on any of them to choose a different
channel — basically the same thing you can do with the select knob. You can also step

on one of these switches and hold it for two seconds to activate a Manual Mode. In this

Controls & Connections

mode, PODxt Live’s display will show “Manual Mode” in place of the Channel Memory
name, and the physical positions of the amp tOne cOntrOls and channel vOlume knobs
will determine your sound.

27

Onboard Pedal - The lights to the left of this pedal show whether it will

operate the Wah effect, Volume Pedal, or (when both lights are lit) Tweak, which is the
same thing controlled by the effect tweak knob. When operating the Wah, you can
press hard with your toe at the top of the pedal, and the wah — as well as the wah light
to the left of the pedal — will turn on and off. To learn how to change what the pedal
controls, see page 4•9. (PODxt & PODxt Pro users can add pedal features with an FBV.)

28

Pedal - Connect a standard expression pedal, such as the Line 6 EX-1, and you’ll

be able to assign it to control the Volume Pedal or Effect Tweak functions. See page 4•9
for the detail on that.

29

Aux Input - Connect a CD player, MP3 player, drum machine or other device

here, and you’ll hear it at PODxt Live’s headphone and Amp/Line outputs. Very handy
for jamming along! Use the output volume control on the connected device to set its
level. This aux input signal will NOT be fed to the USB digital audio output.

30

Variax - Connect a Line 6 Variax guitar here, and experience a whole new world

of possibility and sound-control power. In addition to a direct digital audio connection
between the guitar and PODxt Live, you can even have the Variax change sounds each
time you choose a new Channel Memory from your PODxt Live’s footswitches or Select
knob. You can learn more about the Variax family of guitars — each one giving you the
sound of an entire guitar collection in one instrument — at the Line 6 website.

2•11

Be sure to keep the protective plastic cap on this connection when it’s not con­nected to a Variax, so you won’t damage it by mistakenly inserting a 1/4-inch guitar
cable or other connection. When you are ready to connect a Variax, use only Line 6
supplied Variax-compatible cables — not standard Ethernet or other cables — to
avoid damage to the jack.

Controls & Connections

PODxt Pro

The following controls and connections are found on the PODxt Pro only.

31

2•12

Input Level - The Normal setting of this switch is appropriate for most guitars.

If you see the Clip light coming on, that means you’re overloading PODxt Pro’s input. If
that happens frequently, try the Pad setting here. This switches in input circuitry that’s
appropriate for hotter signals output by some guitars with active pickups, or from key­boards and other sources. For those non-guitar sources you may also want to try the rear
panel Line Level Input, which is a balanced TRS connection. A separate CLIP indica­tor shows in the display if you are clipping in the internal DSP.

32

I/O & Dig Select - Press this to tell your PODxt Pro what it’s connected to

so it can give you the best sound, and to choose digital audio and other options.

• Press it once to select where you’re going to connect your input source to the

POD

• Press it a second time to tell PODxt Pro whether you’re using it in

the studio or live, how you have connected your effects loop and
what kind of digital gear you have connected to PODxt Pro.

• Press it a third time and it will dismiss the pages and take you back to whatever was

in the display before you pressed the button.

xt Pro, and exactly what you want to come out of the digital outputs.

33

Signal Light - This lights to say, “Yep, I’m hearing some input.” If you’ve got

something feeding audio to your PODxt Pro but you can’t hear it and don’t see it here,
press the i/O & diG select button and be sure you’ve got the right input selected.
(This light doesn’t show input from USB, by the way.)

34

Clip Light - This lights to say, “Whoa, Nelly! That’s too much input!” (And,

again, it doesn’t show the status of USB audio.) Reduce the output level of the device
that’s feeding your PODxt Pro, or try the Pad setting of the handy input level switch.
For non-guitar sources, you may instead want to use the...

35

Line Level Input - Here’s a balanced connector for non-guitar sources (or

the line level output of a wireless guitar system). It’s also perfect for “re-amping”—feed­ing an already-recorded guitar into PODxt Pro for further processing. To use it, you’ll
also need to press the i/O & diG select button and select the Line Input. The front
panel’s Signal light shows you when you’ve got some signal coming, and the clip light
shows you when you’re overdoing it and need to reduce the level you’re feeding to

Controls & Connections

PODxt Pro.

30

Unprocessed Guitar Out - This connector actually has at least a couple

of potential uses. If you’ve got a separate rack-mount tuner, you can feed it with this
signal for instance. But the real reason it’s here is to let you do the kind of after the fact
adjustments to your guitar tone that Pro Tools users with our Amp Farm plug-in software
have come to rely on.

The idea is this: you record this unprocessed guitar out signal to your recording system.
Then, you play it back through the Line Level Input 29 of your PODxt Pro when
you’re mixing, and you can change amps, effects and every other aspect of your guitar
tone with complete flexibility.

’Course, it would be pretty hard to record a good guitar take without hearing the amp
and effects sound that you were planning to use, right? I mean, who can solo with a dry
guitar signal? The answer is that you don’t listen to this unprocessed signal while record­ing—instead, you monitor your PODxt Pro’s left/right processed outputs during the re­cording process. You can even record both the unprocessed guitar out and the processed
left/right outputs at the same time, so you’re ready for complete flexibility in later tone
adjustments, or you can just stick with what you had. Page 3•11 has details.

xt Pro’s digital outputs can also send unprocessed signal, if you prefer to capture

POD

this signal digitally. You can set them to do this from the display pages of the i/O & diG
select button 26.

2•13

31 32

Effect Send & Return - The effects loop is designed for line level

devices, like rackmount effect processors, not for stomp boxes (which you can run hap­pily in front of your PODxt Pro). Use the left jacks if you want to run the send or return
mono. You can choose to run the loop series or parallel from the display pages of the i/O

& diG select

button 26. If you have the loop set to series, but nothing plugged into
the loop return, PODxt Pro is smart enough to see this and disable the loop so you still
get sound. See page 3•4 for more details.

33

Unbalanced Analog Out - The display pages of the i/O & diG select

button 26 configure these outputs for Studio or Live Use. In Studio Mode, they’re
ready to plug into a recorder with unbalanced –10 dBV inputs. In Live Mode, they
don’t have speaker simulation, and are ready for connection to an on stage power amp.
Whichever you choose, the front panel Output knob 4 determines how much signal

Controls & Connections

you’ll get at these jacks. You can use either jack as a mono output, by the way.

2•14

34

Balanced Analog Out - The i/O & diG select button

26

display
“pages” configure these outputs for Studio or Live Use. In Studio Mode, they’re ready to
plug into a recorder with balanced +4 dBu inputs. In Live Mode, they’re ready to send
great sounding –10dBV signals to the house sound system or P.A. The front panel Out-

put knob

4

does not affect the volume at these jacks in Live Mode. This lets you make

on stage adjustments to your volume without affecting the P.A.’s levels.

35

Ground - This switch lets you lift the grounds of PODxt Pro’s XLR Balanced

Analog Outs. This can be handy if you get an audible hum caused by a ground loop
when connecting to other grounded equipment.

36

AES/EBU & S/PDIF Inputs & Outputs - These jacks send and

receive digital audio signals. The display “pages” of the i/O & diG select button

26

choose which of these connections to use, along with sample rate, word length (“bits”)
and other details. You can use digital input at the same time as analog output, or analog
output as the same time as digital input, or any combination. You can even send digital
audio into PODxt Pro with one rate and word length, and choose a different rate and
word length for output.

xt Pro does not include a separate clock connector, but it can clock to the digital

POD

audio being received at either of its digital inputs, even if you are using an analog input
to get audio into your PODxt Pro. You can, for instance, connect a digital output from
your digital mixer PODxt Pro’s S/PDIF input, press the i/O & diG select button

26

set the fOrmat to match spdif, and PODxt Pro will clock to your mixer. PODxt Pro
will also format the digital audio it outputs to match the incoming format. Note: The
FX Loop in the PODxt Pro exists entirely after all of the digital processing and is in the
analog signal path, directly before the main outputs. This means that anything run in the
loop will not be present in the digital output signal.

GettinG set uP

What are yOu cOnnecting tO?

Getting Set Up

Your PODxt needs to adjust itself to deliver the best possible sound depending on what
you’re connecting to.

xt LIve: Press the Output Mode/System

POD

the “What are you connecting to?” page.

xt & PODxt PrO: Press the tune/system

POD

knob clockwise until the display asks, “What are you connecting to?”

23

button to light it up and see

23

button and turn the select 16

DestinatiOn chOices

studiO direct

straight into a P.A., or using in-ear monitoring systems, press the Soft Button below dest
and turn the effect tweak knob 14 to select studiO: direct.

cOmBO frOnt, cOmBO pwramp, stack frOnt & stack pwramp

the Soft Button below dest and choose one of these modes when you’re plugging your

xt into another guitar amp, or a power amp and guitar speakers. The Mic and Room

POD

components of A.I.R. will be turned off, and the Cabinet Models revoiced to sound their
best coming through the kind of speaker you choose. (On a PODxt PrO, the XLR out­puts have additional speaker emulation processing in these modes, so you can connect
them to a P.A. or house sound system while using the 1/4-inch outs to drive an amp.)

—When connecting your PODxt for direct recording, running it

—Press

3•1

Use a pwramp setting when running straight into a poweramp driving speakers, or run­ning into the effect return of an amp so that its own preamp is bypassed and you’re get­ting your PODxt’s signal right to the power amp section.

Getting Set Up

Choose a frOnt setting when plugging right into the front of a combo amp or head, and
some extra Tone Correction controls will appear.

3•2

tOne cOrrectiOn

—With cOmBO frOnt or stack frOnt chosen for dest, you get

Tone Correction controls:

These are for adjusting PODxt’s overall sound to compensate for the tonal response of
the preamp section of the amp that you’re plugging into. We’ve found that it is often
necessary to reduce the low frequency or high frequency parts of the PODxt sound
to get decent results in this sort of a configuration, and sometimes it helps to shift
the focus of the mid frequencies. Press the Soft Button 18 below lOws or hiGhs and
twiddle the effect tweak 14 knob to reduce the amount of low or high frequencies.
Use fOcus to choose which mid frequencies to emphasize.

Note: When running PODxt into a guitar amp (as opposed to studio monitors or
headphones) remember that different speaker/amp combinations sound wildly
different. Consider the name of each dest choice as a recommendation only,
and experiment with all the options to see which sounds best for your particu­lar setup.

BOSE PS1

—Press the Soft Button below dest and choose this when plugging into a
Bose PS1 Cylindrical Radiator™ loudspeaker system. We specially tuned this mode for
great sound from the innovative new sound system that you can learn more about from
www.bose.com. (On a PODxt PrO, the 1/4-inch outputs do not output correct sound
in this special mode.)

xt remembers the “What are you connected to?” settings you choose, so you don’t

POD

have to re-set them every time you power up. If you change to a different setting when
using a different setup, don’t forget to change back to your standard setting once you get
back to your regular setup.

Getting Set Up

Getting The Right Tone With An Amp

The first thing to consider when running PODxt in front of an amp is what you want to
achieve.

If you want to use your amp for its tone, with PODxt supplying effects and some extra
distortion when needed, you’ll generally get the best results by turning the amp modeling
off on PODxt, and using PODxt’s Stomp when you want to add distortion. The sounds
pre-programmed in Banks 9-16 are set up this way, to complement the tone provided
by your amp. For this setup, you’ll want to plug right into your amp’s front panel guitar
input, and choose cOmBO frOnt or stack frOnt on the “What are you connecting to?”
system page (see page

On the other hand, if you want to use PODxt’s amp modeling ability to transform the
basic tone of your amp to make it sound more like another amp, you’ll probably want
the amp modeling on. For this kind of setup, we recommend you connect PODxt’s
output to your amp’s effect return or power amp input jack, and choose cOmBO pwramp
or stack pwramp on the “What are you connecting to?” system page (see page 3•1). If
you don’t have these jacks on your amp, go ahead and connect to the guitar input on
the front of your amp, and try cOmBO frOnt or stack frOnt mode on the “What are you
connecting to?” system page. Then set your amp’s sound to “neutral”: if you only have
one volume control on your amp, set it low enough to get a “clean” tone; so PODxt’s
sounds come through as purely as possible. If you have a master volume in addition to
a volume control on the input, set them both so that the first volume doesn’t overdrive
the master volume (so you’re getting a clean tone). This will vary from amp to amp, but
usually the input volume is going to be less than the master volume to get a clean, non­distorted sound. If you have passive tone controls, try setting your mid control at max,
and your treble and bass controls at zero (this is actually “flat” equalization-wise on most
amps). Active tone controls may vary, but just be sure you’re not overdriving the amp so
the PODxt tone comes through without extra coloration. Once you get going, you can
tweak the amplifier settings to suit your tastes. Try to set PODxt’s Output so you’re not
overdriving the input of the amp.

3•1).

3•3

It’s also important to be realistic about what you’re going to achieve here — as good as it
is, PODxt won’t be able to make a $100 combo amp with a cheap speaker sound exactly
like the vintage amp of your dreams.

Getting Set Up

3•4

External Stomp Boxes and PODxt

If you’ve been playing guitar for a while, you probably have some favorite pedals that you
dig. And even though PODxt has now graced your life with some pretty hip stomp box
and rack Effect Models, you probably still want the option of keeping those old pedals
in your arsenal. No problem! Note that some distortion boxes may sound overly harsh if
you max their output volume into your PODxt. If that happens, try lowering the distor­tion box’s volume, and you can always add more gain with PODxt’s drive knob or its
own stOmp effects. And of course when you use effect units in front of your PODxt, and
switch Amp Models, you’re going to get different results depending on the PODxt Amp
Model you’ve selected.

FX Loop (PODxt PrO only)

When you press the tune/system
until the display asks, “What are you connecting to?” with a PODxt PrO, you’ve got an

fx lOOp setting. Press the Soft Button below it, and spin the effect tweak

choose series or parallel operation for the loop.

23

button and turn the select 16 knob clockwise

14

knob to

Setting lOOp to series means PODxt PrO will send its full signal out to the effect, and
then output the signal that returns from the effect. If you turn the effect off, or turn its
output level all the way down, you won’t hear anything. Use the mix control on the ef­fect unit that’s connected to the loop to determine how much effect you hear versus how
much of the uneffected PODxt PrO sound. Please note that the PODxt PrO’s effects loop
is entirely analog and is placed directly before the analog outputs, so anything run in the
loop will not be present in the digital out. This is a great way to record “wet cab/dry cab”,
as you can record dry signal from the digital outs, then use the main outputs to record
the loop-effected signal separately.

If you set lOOp to parallel, PODxt Pro will send a parallel copy of its signal to the loop,
while simultaneously sending its signal to its own outputs as usual. Some people prefer
this type of setup, because only a small portion of their tone is run through the effect,
preventing some effect units from degrading their overall tone. When running parallel,
you should set the mix control on the effect unit that’s connected to the loop to 100%

Getting Set Up

wet. Then adjust the balance of effect versus uneffected PODxt Pro sound by adjusting
the output volume control of the connected effect unit.

PLEASE NOTE: Many effects can result in compromised sound when run in paral­lel, because the signal coming back from the effect unit is out of phase with the
signal that has stayed in the PODxt Pro. This is generally not a problem for delay
or reverb, as long as the external effect is running 100% wet. It is often a problem
with modulation effects (chorus, phase, flange, etc.), compression, or any other ef­fect that includes some unprocessed sound mixed with processed sound. For these
effects, series is generally the way to go with the effects loop.

You can turn the loop on/off from a connected FBV foot controller or the loop on/off pa­rameter in the last edit displays. This on/off state is stored with Channels that you save,
so you can have some with the loop on, and some with the loop off.

Choosing AES/EBU or S/PDIF Data Format (PODxt PrO only)

PODxt Pro’s AES/EBU and S/PDIF digital outputs are both active at the same time, and
each have the electrical properties appropriate to their respective digital standards. The
ones-and-zeroes digital data that is transmitted in the AES/EBU and S/PDIF standard is
almost—but not exactly—the same.

3•5

Since both of PODxt Pro’s physical digital outputs always sends the same data, we’ve
given you the diGOut parameter to decide whether this data should be formatted accord­ing to the AES/EBU standard, or the S/PDIF standard. In practice, many pieces of equip­ment will accept either data format from either connector, but if you want to be sure you
are sending exactly the right format that you prefer, press the Soft Button below diGOut
and turn the effect tweak knob 14 to select the format that you prefer:

Getting Set Up

3•6

the ins anD Outs Of great tOne

If you’re hooking your PODxt up to a recorder, mixer, or other equipment, be sure you
are plugging its outputs into line level inputs on your other gear, as opposed to micro­phone level or guitar level inputs. This will insure that you get the best signal-to-noise
ratio (lots of juicy guitar tone, not too much hiss) with PODxt. Some equipment only
gives you a single input for both mic & line level sources, allowing you to trim low level
signals (like mics) up to a high level at the inputs. If you are plugging your PODxt into
one of these inputs, try setting the trim to minimum, and twisting the Output

hannel vOlume

c

line-level only inputs, you’ll probably get better performance by plugging into these,
rather than the wide-ranging mic-to-line level trimmed inputs.

Setting Levels

Start by setting PODxt to the sound you intend to use, strum hard, and set channel

Olume

v

display. Now play with the PODxt Output knob and any input volume control on your
system so you can get the maximum sound level out of your PODxt without going so far
that you overdrive the input on your system and cause unwanted distortion.

TIP: You probably want to have all of your favorite sounds as loud as possible,
while also having the right difference in volume between your lead and rhythm
sounds, clean and dirty sounds, etc. Right? OK, then, to get this happy balance,
start with your favorite ‘clean’ sounds. Turn up their Chan Vol as high as you can
without getting the CLIP indicator in PODxt’s display when you strum hard. and
save them that way. Then switch amongst them to see if some are too loud, and
turn them down a bit to match well with the others. Next, move on to select
your ‘dirtier’ crunch and lead tones, comparing them to the clean sounds and
saving them with lower Chan Vol settings to match well with those clean sounds.
Now, each time you use your PODxt, you just have to set an Output volume level
you like, and you can switch amongst your various sounds without unhappy vol­ume differences.

11

11

knobs up to maximum. If your equipment has a couple of open

as close to max as you can without getting the CLIP indicator in PODxt’s

4

and

Getting Set Up

Radiation Alert

You’re also likely to find, especially if you are using a guitar with single coil pickups, that
it is quite easy to pick up some serious noise from any computer CRT (which stands for
cathode ray tube) display you might have in your studio. CRT displays are, after all, just
special purpose ray guns that shoot photons at you all day long. Your guitar pickups re­ceive and amplify the electro-magnetic fields that your display radiates, and you hear this
in your audio signal as buzz and hum. Moving farther from the CRT, and turning your
guitar so it does not directly face the computer’s display, will minimize this problem. But
if you find yourself in a tight studio setup, needing to lay down some quick tracks, and
being pestered by CRT-induced buzz, you may find it helpful to do as we have sometimes
done: set up your track to record and start your pre-roll; reach up and flick your computer
monitor’s power switch off; record your guitar part; stop your recording, flick the monitor
back on, and check out the buzz-free playback. Flatscreen LCD monitors generally don’t
cause hum and buzz. And just in case you’re looking for an excuse to buy one... Line 6
Variax guitars are immune to this sort of radiation-induced hum also, since they don’t
use traditional magnetic pickups.

3•7

Getting Set Up

3•8

PODxt Pro — Input Select, Digital In/Out and Reamping

Selecting An Input

Press the i/O & diG select button 26 once to see this page where you select from

xt Pro’s many inputs and digital options:

POD

Press the far-left Soft Button below input and select from these options:

Guitar in—Pick this when plugging your guitar straight into the front panel input

2

jack. When this is selected, audio from the rear panel’s line level input and digital inputs
is ignored.

line in—Select this option when whatever you want to run through PODxt Pro is

plugged into the rear panel line level input 29. When this is selected, audio from the
front panel input and the digital inputs is ignored.

aes left, aes riGht, aes l+r—Select one of these to use the rear panel aes/eBu

36

digital inputs. The aes l+r option merges the left and right AES inputs to mono, since

xt Pro only allows a mono input. When this is selected, the front and rear panel

POD

analog inputs are ignored.

spdif left, spdif riGht, spdif l+r—Select one of these for the rear panel s/pdif

36

digi-

tal inputs. The spdif l+r option merges the left and right S/PDIF inputs to mono, since

xt Pro only allows a mono input. When this is selected, the front and rear panel

POD

analog inputs are ignored.

Getting Set Up

Input & Digital Out Options

Press the i/O & diG select button 26 once to see this page and select from PODxt
Pro’s many inputs and several digital options:

FORMAT: Sample rate, word length (bit depth), and clock source

Press the Soft Button below fOrmat and spin the effect tweak 14 knob to choose to
output any combination of 16, 20 or 24 bits along with 44.1, 48, 88.2 or 96 KHz. PODxt
Pro will use its internal clock to generate the sample rate you choose.

Or choose match aes in or match spdif in from the fOrmat options, to have PODxt Pro
clock to the sample rate being received, and output data in the same rate/bit format.

Clocking to external gear: Whatever you’ve selected as your input (including analog
Guitar In or Line In), you can still pick match aes in or match spdif in for fOrmat to have

xt Pro slave to the clock of your other digital equipment. For instance, feed PODxt

POD

Pro’s digital input with an output from your digital mixer, choose that source for fOrmat,
and PODxt Pro slaves to your digital mixer’s clock and matches its digital audio format.
Sweet.

3•9

Getting Set Up

MODE: Normal or Dry Guitar

3•10

Press the Soft Button below mOde and spin the effect tweak 14 knob to choose nOr-

mal (delicious amp-cab-fx-mic-room processed sound comes out of the digital outs) or
dryGtr (unprocessed guitar comes out of the digital outs). See page 3•11 for more info

on why this can be cool.

GAIN: Extra gain on the digital outs

Press the Soft Button below Gain and spin the effect tweak 14 knob to add up to 12 db
of gain on the digital outs only. This can be used to increase the digital output level of
sounds that don’t have a lot of distortion or other settings that are driving their levels up.

“Danger, Will Robinson!” Well, not danger, really, but important to know: If you are
recording the dry guitar signal via the digital output and intend to re-amp the signal by
digitally feeding it back to PODxt Pro later, DO NOT add gain—leave the signal at
+0db—and play the signal back from your recorder to PODxt Pro’s digital input without
an increase or decrease in level. If you dash madly forward and don’t follow this advice,
you’ll be feeding the re-amp signal to PODxt Pro at a different level than the signal that
was used while you were tracking the guitar in the first place, and the change in input
gain to PODxt Pro will make it impossible to get a clean sound, or will give you a less
gainy sound than you expect. Of course, if you’re a danger-lover looking for unpredict-

able versatility during re-amping, this may be just your thing.... See page

3•11 for more

on that.

Re-Amping with PODxt Pro

Having issues with commitment? PODxt Pro address your needs with its support for
re-amping—the process of recording “dry,” unprocessed guitar and then processing
it “live” during mixing so that you have totally flexibility to adjust your tone. This is
similar to the way most people record vocals without reverb—they may “audition” some
reverb while tracking, but the vocal signal sent to their recorder is generally sent without
the reverb, so they can make the final choice of reverb tone and amount during mix­down. Even if you don’t plan to rely on re-amping all the time, you may find it handy
to record a re-amp-ready dry guitar at the same time as your standard processed guitar
signal, so the dry guitar is standing by if you need to salvage what might otherwise turn
out to be an unusable take of a once-in-a-lifetime performance.

Analog Re-amping

Just like you would for normal recording, connect your guitar to the Guitar In jack on
the front of the PODxt Pro. And connect PODxt Pro’s left and right Analog Outs to
your audio system to you can hear what’s coming out of them. Play a little guitar just to
make sure you’re hearing it. OK so far.

Now, connect the rear panel Unprocessed Guitar Out to an analog input of your
recording device, and route it to a record track. This is the signal you will be recording
so that it can be used for re-amping during mixdown. You may also, if you wish, track

xt Pro’s left and right outputs to your recorder at the same time.

POD

Getting Set Up

3•11

Connect the monitor output from this record track that’s receiving the unprocessed gui­tar signal to the rear panel line in jack of PODxt Pro. Press the i/O & diG select button

26

once to see this page:

Press the Soft Button below input and spin the effect tweak 14 knob to choose line in.

xt Pro is now ready to process the signal that’s received at the line in, while simul-

POD

taneously sending your unprocessed guitar signal to the Unprocessed Guitar Out, so
you can record it.

Dial up your tone as you normally would, and record. The dry signal will be recorded,

Getting Set Up

3•12

and all the while you will hear the full Amp, Cab and Effects processing of your PODxt
Pro at the same time. Like listening to reverb on your vocal while recording, without
committing it to the recorded track. Pretty cool, huh?

Now, as you mix, you can adjust the guitar tone to your heart’s content. Turn up the
Drive a little, back off on the Chorus—heck, change the Amp Model and use a differ­ent modeled microphone selection. When you are ready to commit a processed sound to
a track, you can record the left and right analog or digital outputs of the PODxt Pro to
your recording system.

Digital Re-amping

In this scenario, we’re going to track PODxt Pro’s analog outputs, while also recording
a “safety” track of dry guitar digitally, so the dry guitar can be used later if you need to
make a tone change.

Connect your guitar to the Guitar In jack on the front of the PODxt Pro. Connect

xt Pro’s left and right Analog Outs to your audio system so you can record them

POD

while you are also listening to what’s coming out of them. Play a little guitar. Hear it?
OK so far.

Press the i/O & diG select button 26 once to see this page if it’s not already shown:

Press the Soft Button below input and spin the effect tweak knob to choose Guitar in.
Select dryGtr for the mOde option. Connect PODxt Pro’s aes/eBu or

s/pdif

digital outputs to your recorder. Do not monitor this signal while recording—

you’re simply “saving it for a rainy day” so that you can “fix it in the mix.”

Also, be sure Gain is set to +0dB; adding gain to get a hotter signal to your record track
won’t improve signal to noise ratio or any other aspect of audio quality, and will cause
problems when you actually attempt to use this signal later for re-amping, so take our
advice: don’t do it!

Now, the idea is to record the main analog outputs to your recorder, while the dry guitar
is also being recorded on a separate track. Monitoring the processed guitar signal and

Getting Set Up

punching in/out works exactly as you would expect it to if you were recording any other
analog signal into your recording app/device. The bonus here is that you also have a digi­tally recorded unprocessed guitar signal that can be used to create a new (or additional)
sound that you can use later. Speaking of which...

When you want to make use of that digitally recorded dry guitar signal, send it out of
your recorder to one of PODxt Pro’s digital inputs, and select that input as AES left has
been selected here:

Don’t change (increase or decrease) the playback level of the dry guitar track; send it out
to PODxt Pro at exactly the same level it was recorded at. Then connect PODxt Pro’s
analog or digital outputs to your recorder, and you record processed guitar sound while
making whatever tone changes best fit the needs of your final production.

3•13

Getting Set Up

POD SENDS

INFO TO YOUR

OTHER GEAR

THRU THIS

CABLE....

.... AND

RECEIVES
INFO THRU
THIS CABLE

POD SENDS

INFO TO YOUR

OTHER GEAR

THRU THIS

CABLE....

.... AND

RECEIVES
INFO THRU
THIS CABLE

3•14

MIDI

What’s MIDI?

MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a communications protocol designed
to let various music-making machines exchange information. It allows one device to
control another, and several devices to all be used together in coordination. We’ll give
you basic info on MIDI here. More details on MIDI and your PODxt is available online
at www.line6.com/manuals .

In/Out

Every PODxt has two MIDI connections: In & Out. You connect PODxt to other MIDI
devices by connecting MIDI cables to these connectors. Each connection is a one-way
street: information flows from the Out of one device to the In of another device. For
information to flow back, you must connect a second cable, from In to Out:

MIDI Settings

PODxt provides several MIDI-related settings.

Getting Set Up

xt LIve: Press the Output Mode/System

POD

16

elect

s

POD

knob clockwise to the MIDI setting page.

xt & PODxt PrO: Press the tune/system

23

button to light it up turn the

23

button and turn the select 16

knob clockwise to the MIDI setting page.:

MIDI Channel— MIDI allows 16 different channels of information to be transmit­ted and received through one MIDI cable. The MIDI channel is independent of, and
has nothing to do with, PODxt’s Channel Memories. You tune PODxt in to listen to
a particular MIDI channel (like choosing a channel on a TV or a station on a radio),
and make sure the device that you want PODxt to listen to is transmitting on that
same MIDI Channel. Press the button under chanl and start spinning the effect

weak knob to change any MIDI Channel from 1 to 16. Or turn one clock farther to

t

choose OMNI—this means PODxt will ‘listen’ on all MIDI channels, which is fine if
it’s your only connected MIDI device. PODxt always accepts SysEx data on any chan­nel, so if you are only working with Sysex data, this channel setting is only important
to determine what channel your PODxt will send on.

3•15

Program Change—PODxt allows you to respond to incoming MIDI Program
Change messages (pGm On), ignore these messages (pGm Off), or pass the received
program change regardless of the MIDI Output setting (pGm echO). Program change
messages tell a device to switch from one sound or setup to another. With PODxt, pro­gram changes change from one Channel Memory to another. So, for instance, when

xt receives program change number 0, it will select Bank 1, Channel A. When it

POD

gets program change number 1, it will select Bank 1, Channel B. And so on.

Output—PODxt’s MIDI Out generally sends out the MIDI messages generated by
your PODxt when this parameter is set to Out. You also have the option of changing it
to act as a MIDI Thru. When you choose thru for the Output, PODxt will not gener-

Getting Set Up

3•16

ate any outgoing MIDI messages. Instead, it will take whatever comes in at its MIDI In
and send it straight “thru” to the MIDI Out so you can get this same info to some other
MIDI device. Note that in Thru mode, the MIDI Out simply passes on what’s received
at its MIDI In; it does not combine PODxt MIDI messages with this incoming MIDI
data.

Backing Up PODxt Data to Other Devices

We recommend using GearBox software to backup PODxt memory data for safety. You
can get it from Line 6 Monkey (www.line6.com/monkey). Chapter 4 also provides infor­mation on using MIDI to backup PODxt memory.

MIDI via USB

If you want to send and receive MIDI between your PODxt and a computer, you have
the option of using USB for this, instead of MIDI cables. You’ll need to install the

xt driver using Line 6 Monkey, and select PODxt as the MIDI device in the soft-

POD

ware that you’re doing your MIDI communications with. If you’re using GearBox, there’s
no need to separately configure the MIDI communication. Just select your PODxt as the
device for GearBox to use, as described in GearBox’s Help.

Creating & Storing Sounds

creatinG & storinG sounds

GearBox

GearBox software is free to download using Line 6 Monkey. It lets you tweak PODxt

with the help of your computer. Get it from Line 6 Monkey: www.line6.com/monkey

Of course, everything is also tweakable directly from your PODxt’s own controls, starting
with...

Editing Basics

To begin your editing adventure, all you have to do is press the edit button to light it up.
Now turn the select knob. Well lookey here, everything you’d ever want to tweak on
your PODxt is right there in front of you. To change something shown on the display,
simply press the Soft Button
here is remembered when you press save and choose a Channel Memory to save to.

Double Press for Easy Access

Want to change the Mod effect, or pick a different Delay model? Just press twice quickly
on PODxt Live’s amp, stOmp, mOd or delay footswitches 19 or double-press PODxt
& PODxt PrO’s cOmp, stOmp, mOd or delay buttons 19 to go straight to the first page
of controls for that footswitch or button. (You’ll also see that the edit button lights up.)
Another double-press will pop you right back out of Edit, so you can surf for more tone.

xt & PODxt PrO: the caB/a.i.r. button just takes a single press to select its

POD

page, or leave Edit.

18

directly below it and spin effect tweak. Everything

4•1

When the edit button is NOT lit, the Soft Buttons
features. Press for on/off, or double-press to jump to an effect’s Edit page. Then press the

dit button to leave again.

e

18

give you direct access to other

Creating & Storing Sounds

Inside the Edit Menu

When the edit button is lit, there’s is a graphic representation of the edit “menu” on
the left side of the PODxt’s display. Turn the select knob, and notice that the box in the
graphic slides up and down, with each dot representing one of the available edit pages.
This should help you keep your place in the great circle of life — er, edit pages.

4•2

Amp knob settings

With the edit button lit, spin the select knob counterclockwise all the way to the first

dit page, showing the current settings of the Amp Model. (You can also get here by

e

double-pressing the Soft Button below the word amp when the edit button is NOT lit.
On a PODxt Live, double-pressing the amp footswitch will also do the trick.)

The top of the display shows the Amp Model name.

xt LIve: Spin the effect tweak knob to choose from the Amp Models.

POD

xt & PODxt PrO: The amp mOdels knobs picks your Amp Model.

POD

As you select Amp Models, notice how the tone controls change. This shows you the
settings that the helpful elves at Line 6 have programmed for each Amp Model. (Read
on to find out how to customize them for your taste._

Look carefully now... do you see the little ‘dots’ by the knobs? These tell you where the
knobs were last saved. Reach up and spin the Drive knob. Notice that the knob moves
but the little dot beside it stays put. This let you compare your edit with the saved set­tings for this Channel Memory. Now, that’s handy!

Creating & Storing Sounds

Amp Bypass Channel Volume

Turn the effect tweak knob one click past the amp knob page for this page::

This is the volume that this channel will be set to when amp is off. It doesn’t affect the
volume you hear with amp on.

Cabinet and Mic settings (There’s magic in the A.I.R.!)

From the amp bypass volume display, turn Select one click to the right. (On a PODxt
& PODxt PrO, you can also get here by pressing the Cab/A.I.R. button). You’re now
looking at something like this:

4•3

These are the advanced A.I.R. settings where you can mix and match any cabinet model
with any amp, as well as dial in the perfect microphone setup.

Press the button under the word caB, then use the effect tweak knob to spin through
the available Cabinet models. You can change the microphone selection the same way:
press the button under mic and give effect tweak a spin.

Low settings of rOOm give you the sound of moving the virtual microphone closer to
the virtual cabinet (you’ll hear only a small amount of the early reflections caused by
the sound echoing in the room). Higher settings increase the early reflections, as if you
moved the mic farther from the cabinet, to get more room tone as part of the sound.

Together, these settings allow you to completely customize the sound of the virtual re­cording environment we call A.I.R. — all without leaving the privacy of your own mind!

Creating & Storing Sounds

Comp/Gate settings

From the A.I.R. settings page, turn select one click to the right. (On a PODxt &

xt PrO, you can also get here by pressing the Comp/(Gate) button. Or on a

POD

xt Live, double-press the Soft Button below the word cOmp when the edit button is

POD

NOT lit.) You’re now looking at something like this:

4•4

Just like any other edit page, you can press a Soft Button below the display, then turn the

ffect tweak knob to adjust the settings shown here. Chapter 6 tells you more about

e

getting the most out of the Comp and Gate effects.

EQ settings

From the Comp/Gate settings page, turn select one click to the right. (Or double-press
the Soft Button below the word eQ when the edit button is NOT lit.) Hello, eQ:

The 4 graphic sliders on the left side of the page show you the gain settings of the four
bands of PODxt’s 4 Band Semi-Parametric EQ. The bands toward the left are for lower
frequencies, the bands toward the right are for higher frequencies, and you can adjust
the gain and frequency of each of them. The far left band is a low shelf, affecting all
the sound at and below the frequency you select for it, and the far right is a high shelf,
affecting the sound at and above its frequency. The middle two are band pass filters,
affecting the sound centered on their frequency. The currently selected band is shown
with heavier graphics, like the fourth band in the illustration. Press one of the two Soft
Buttons on the left to select one of the four bands for adjusting.

Pressing the two left Soft Buttons simultaneously will set the EQ “flat,” so all bands have
a gain setting of 0 and a default setting for frequency. Press the third Soft Button from
the left and turn the effect tweak knob to adjust Gain for the correctly selected band.

Creating & Storing Sounds

Press the far right Soft Button and turn the effect tweak knob to adjust freQ for the cor-
rectly selected band. As you do all this, you can press two right Soft Buttons simultane­ously any time to turn the EQ off (“EQ Bypassed” will show at the top of the display) and
on to see what difference the EQ is making, and ensure that the changes you’re making
are truly improving your sound.

Stomp settings

Turn select one click clockwise from the EQ display or double-press stOmp for the
Stomp edit page:

The left button below the display lets you choose the Stomp Model. You can also see
that the model selected here, Vetta Comp, has ‘knobs’ for Sensitivity and Level. Pressing
the button under sens selects it for tweaking via the Effect Tweak knob.

Some Stomp effects will have a second page, which you’ll see if you turn the Select
knob. See Chapter 6 to learn the details of the many Stomp models, and how to get the
most out of each one of them.

4•5

Creating & Storing Sounds

Mod and Delay settings

Turn select one click clockwise from the Stomp page(s) or double-press mOd to see
the first Mod edit page. Turn it one more click to see the second Mod page. Turn select
another click or double-press Delay to see the first Delay page, then one more click to
see the second Delay page. For the most part, things here work like the other edit pages
already described (and Chapter 6 will tell you about all the Mod and Delay models in
detail). The pages look something like this:

4•6

Setting your Tone to Tempo

Delay Edit Page 1

Delay Edit Page 2

Mod Speed or Delay Time can optionally be set using note values and tempo:

1. Select Delay

2. Spin e

time or Mod speed by pressing the button below it.

ffect tweak counter-clockwise until you start seeing notes. Pick the note

value you’d like your time or speed to match.

3. Tap twice on the t

ap button to set your tempo, and your Delay and/or Mod now

match the tempo you tapped.

When you set your Delay time to match dotted-eighth notes, for instance, its time con­trol will look like this:

Creating & Storing Sounds

AMP/CAB – A.I.R. II DELAYMODULATION

AMP/CABMODULATION DELAY

AMP/CAB + A.I.R. II

REVERBCOMP

GATE

VOLUME

MODULATION DELAY

WAH STOMP DELAYMODULATION

VOLUME

Config

The config parameter on the second Mod and Delay pages determines whether those
effects will come before (pre) the amp or after it (pOst) in the signal flow.

Here’s a typical routing with a mOd effect pre and a delay running pOst:

Here’s another routing with both mOd and delay effects in the pre position:

And this is what the full signal flow looks like inside your PODxt, including the pre and
post options for Mod, Delay and the Volume pedal:

4•7

Creating & Storing Sounds

Reverb settings

Our next stop on our little trip through the edit wonderland is the Reverb page. To get
there, turn the select knob one click clockwise from delay’s last edit page:

4•8

Here you’ve got the ability to change the Reverb Model (PODxt’s got plenty of them),
as well as the associated settings necessary to get that really groovy verb going on.

xt LIve: Turn select one more click clockwise to show a second reverb edit

POD

page, where you can change the mic level of the reverb. (

xt & PODxt PrO: Set reverb mix from the reverB

POD

12

knob.

Wah Settings

From the last Reverb edit page, spin the select knob one click clockwise and you’ll find
the Wah Model settings. The display now looks something like this:

Here you can choose the Wah Model and save the on/off state of the wah with a Chan­nel Memory. That way when you recall that channel, the wah comes on (nor not)
automatically.

The wah effect is generally expected to be controlled by the pedal built into a PODxt

ive, or the one on an FBV or MIDI controller. The pOsi setting represents the current

L

angle of that pedal, with 0% meaning the pedal is fully heel down, and 100% meaning
it’s fully toe down. If you don’t have a pedal connected, you can still adjust pOsi to get a
“parked wah” sound.

Creating & Storing Sounds

Volume Settings

Spin the select knob one more click clockwise and you’ve got the volume pedal page:

Here you can choose the position of the volume pedal in your signal flow: pre (before the
amp model), or pOst. The min setting determines how much volume you’ll hear when
the volume pedal is at its minimum (heel down) setting. Set it to 0% to have silence in
the heel down position.

4•9

Creating & Storing Sounds

Amp Switch, Pedal, Tweak, Tempo and Loop Settings

PODxt LIve: Light up the edit button and spin the select knob clockwise to the
second to last page:

4•10

xt & PODxt PrO: Light up the edit button and spin the select knob clock-

POD

wise to the last page:

switch: (pOdxt live Only) Press the Soft Button

weak to assign the amp switch to control Amp or Comp.

t

assiGn: Press the Soft Button under assiGn and spin effect tweak to pick what the

18

under switch and spin effect

pedal(s) of your setup will control. PODxt Live provides a built-in pedal (we’ll refer to
this as Pedal 1), and the option to connect a Pedal 2 such as the Line 6 EX-1. PODxt &

xt PrO give equivalent features when you add an optional FBV family foot control-

POD

er. Your choices for pedal assignments are shown on the opposite page.

tweak: Press the Soft Button under tweak and spin effect tweak to pick which setting

you’d like to control from the effect tweak knob or a pedal set to control Tweak.

tempO: Press the Soft Button under tempO and spin effect tweak to fine tune the tempo

that is set by the tap button/footswitch.

lOOp: (pOdxt prO Only) Press the Soft Button under lOOp and spin effect tweak to

turn the effect loop on/off.

PODxt LIve Or PODxt & PODxt PrO wIth FBv Or FBv ShOrtBOarD:

ASSIGN Setting Pedal 1 Pedal 2

1-w/OFF
2-vOL

1-twk
2-vOL

1-w/v
2-twk

Controls wah. Press forward to acti­vate toe switch, and turn wah on/off.

Controls Tweak. Controls Volume.

Press forward on pedal to activate

toe switch and change from Wah to

Volume control.

Controls Volume.

Controls Tweak.

PODxt & PODxt PrO wIth FBv exPreSS:

ASSIGN Setting Pedal

1-w/v
(2-vOL)

1-twk
(2-vOL)

1-w/v
(2-twk)

Press forward on pedal to activate

toe switch and change from Wah to

Volume control.

Controls Tweak.

Same as first option above, switching

control from Wah to Volume.

Creating & Storing Sounds

4•11

Creating & Storing Sounds

Variax Digital Connection & PODxt Live

The Variax line of guitars is unique, thanks to Line 6 modeling technology that gives you
a whole collection of guitars in one single instrument. (You can learn more about Variax
at www.line6.com.) Connect one to your PODxt Live, and you can take charge of your
entire guitar-amp-effects sound with your feet.

POD

any other guitar tone setup. In that case, you won’t get the special digital control
features described here, but you will get the full range of standard Variax fea-

4•12

tures.

On a PODxt Live, the last Edit page gives you the ability to decide, for each Channel
Memory, how the Variax will respond when you select the channel on the PODxt Live.
Light up the edit button and spin select until you get to this last page:

Press the Soft Button 18 under mOdel, and you can choose dOn’t chanGe (PODxt Live
will not force Variax to change sounds when this PODxt Live channel is selected) or any
of the available models in the Variax — in which case PODxt Live will force the Variax
to this model when you load up this PODxt Live channel, allowing you to change your
entire guitar-amp-effects sound via footswitch!

xt & PODxt PrO: You can also enjoy a Variax with a PODxt, PODxt Pro or

The other Soft Buttons give you access to the other settings that your Variax lets you
save with your PODxt Live Channel Memory to give you a dialed-in guitar sound when
you select this PODxt Live channel.

If you select Variax Models by pressing the left Soft Button here and twiddling effect

weak, you’ll see that in addition to the Variax’s Custom models, there are versions of

t

the rest of the Models whose names are preceded by “F-” and a set preceded by “U-”. The
“U-” Models are the same ones that you get when you operate the Variax’s own hardware
controls for Model selection. These are the same Models that you can customize using
the Variax Workbench hardware/software package (details at the Line 6 website). The
“F-” Models are a “Factory” copy of these same models that are never edited. The reason
they’re there is so that PODxt Live sound programmers can always have a known set of
Models available in a connected Variax — even one that’s been fully customized with

Creating & Storing Sounds

Variax Workbench. All Line 6 provided sounds will be programmed to use these Factory
versions of your Variax Models. You should restrict yourself to these Models if you want
to be able to share your PODxt Live + Variax settings with other Variax owners, and get
predictable results even if they’ve customized their Variax. If you’d prefer to use some
other Model instead, you can choose a new one from your Variax while you’re on this
Edit page, and you’ll see that PODxt Live updates to show this Model’s name. If you then
save that PODxt Live channel, it will select that Variax Model for you each time.

One other detail: each PODxt Live channel actually stores a separate set of parameters
for different types of Variax guitars. This way, a programmed sound can be ready to
call up one Model on one type of Variax, while selecting a different Model (or none at
all) if a different type of Variax happens to be connected. For instance, a classic rock
lead sound might be set to pull up a LESTER Model on a Variax electric, while leaving
the Model selection of a Variax Acoustic alone. We did it this way so that Line 6 pro­grammed preset sounds for PODxt Live would be able to “do the right thing” regardless
of which kind of Variax might be connected. As of this writing, there are two families of
Variax guitars available that include the Variax Digital Connector enabling these special
control features from PODxt Live: the Variax 300/500/600/700 electric family (all guitars
in this family use the same Model set), and the Variax Acoustic.

4•13

Creating & Storing Sounds

Saving Yourself

PODxt’s lets you save adjustments to its 128 Channel Memories, as well as other details.

Saving a Channel Memory

One of the simplest things to do with PODxt is call up a Channel Memory, make a few
tweaks, and save that Channel without changing its name. To simply save a Channel
you’ve changed, press save, then save again. That’s it.

4•14

Of course, you might want to stick your sound somewhere else, or at least change the
name so you know which one it is. In that case, after you’ve pressed save for the first tim,
and you’re looking at something like this:

To save your edit to a new location - While on this save page, press the button
under the display that reads dest (short for destination) and turn the effect tweak
knob to pick a different Channel Memory. Pressing save again will confirm your deci­sion, and save your sound to that Channel Memory, replacing what was there before.
(Or press tap to cancel and leave things un-saved.)

Give your tone a name - While on this save page, use the two Soft Buttons under
<cursOr> to move the cursor under the letters you want to change. Then press the
button under char (short for character) and turn effect tweak to change the selected
character. When you’re done, press save again to complete the job.

Creating & Storing Sounds

Custom Saving Amp Models

Using this powerful feature, you can pack your PODxt with all the special amp tweaking
genius that only you possess, so when you first select the Plexi-45 model, you’ll get your
personal Plexi-45, with all the amp-related settings just the way you like them. PODxt
loads the following controls along with an Amp Model:

Settings loaded with an Amp Model:

Amp Model selection

Cabinet Model selection

Microphone Model and Room amount

Drive, Bass, Middle, Treble, and Presence controls

Channel Volume

EQ settings

xt LIve: Once you’ve custom saved an Amp Model, it will load with these settings

POD

when you turn effect tweak from the Amp edit page.

xt & PODxt PrO: Once you’ve custom saved an Amp Model, it will load with these

POD

settings when you turn the amp mOdels knob.

4•15

To do the customizing, choose an Amp Model, change the cab, tweak the room,
choose the mic setup, and tweak up some EQ if you’d like. Then press the save button,
are turn the select knob to show the display that looks like this:

Press save again.

Creating & Storing Sounds

Custom Saving Effect Setups on PODxt & PODxt PrO

(thIS Feature IS nOt IncLuDeD On PODxt LIve) Saving your own Effect Setup means you can
then load those effect settings from the effects knob. This is handy if you want to use
the same combination of effect settings over and over again, without altering your amp­related settings. Once you’ve got your combination of effects running, press save and use
the select knob to scroll down to the page that looks like this:

4•16

Where to put it — Press the button under the display that’s labeled dest (destina-
tion) and turn the effect tweak knob to select one of the 64 Effect Setup memories.

What to name it — If you want to give your new Effect Setup a name, now’s the
time to do it! Use the cursOr < and > buttons to move the cursor under the letters you
want to change. Press the button under char (short for character) and then use effect

weak to change the selected character.

t

Commitment — Pressing save again will now take a snapshot of your current cOmp,

ate, stOmp, mOd, delay and reverB settings, and keep them forever and ever.

G

Creating & Storing Sounds

MIDI Dumps

If you just want to backup your memory, we recommend GearBox, available from Line 6
Monkey (www.line6.com/monkey). It works with a standard USB cable connecting

xt to your computer.

POD

If you want to transfer one or more tones directly from one PODxt to another PODxt,
or between PODxt and a MIDI data recorder, workstation, computer or sequencer, you’ll
need a standard MIDI cable to do the deed. Connect the MIDI Out of your PODxt to
the MIDI In of the receiving device, as described in Chapter 3.

Transferring All Channel Memories - This feature will let you send all of your

xt Channel Memories out via MIDI for a complete back-up of the 128 Channel

POD

Memories:

Press save once, and use the select knob to scroll down to this page:

Press the button under select. Turn the effect tweak knob to the left (counterclock-
wise) until the display reads:

Now, if you press save again, the entire set of 128 Channel Memories of your PODxt
will be dumped out of its MIDI jack. If another PODxt is connected, its brain will be
taken over by this data, making it a virtual clone of your own PODxt channels! Who
knew cloning was so easy?

4•17

Creating & Storing Sounds

Transferring Only Some Channels - To transfer only one or more individual Chan­nel Memories, Effects Setups or Amp Models from one PODxt to another, do this:

Press save once, and turn the select knob to show the page that looks like this:

4•18

Turn the effect tweak knob to tell PODxt what to transfer:

Any Channel Memory:

All Channel Memories:

All Amp Models:

All Effects Setups: (this feature is not included on PODxt Live):

Now, if you press save again, the MIDI dump you’ve selected will be transmitted out
the MIDI jack, into the brain of a receiving PODxt, or into your computer or other
MIDI device for backup.

Restoring Data - You don’t have to do anything special to restore data to your

xt. Just send the data to PODxt via MIDI, and it will recognize and receive the

POD

data and show messages on its display to tell you what data it successfully receives.

Modeled Amps & Cabs

ModeLed aMPs & caBs

Which Amps and Cabs Are Modeled?

General Notes About the Models

As you may have guessed, we’re tone fanatics here at Line 6. Once we’ve set our sights
on creating a software emulation of a particular kind of amp, we will scour the globe in
search of just the right specimen—that one, very particular amplifier that has the magic.
We are also intensely mindful of the fact that, although amp model names may stay the
same over the years, the circuit designs sometimes change radically. Amps from ’57, ’62,
’65, ’67, ’75, and 2001 may all bear the same model name, yet sometimes have totally dif­ferent sound and response, and quite often a different look as well. And as we all know,
even two amps with the same circuit design, from the same era, can sound radically dif­ferent, just on the basis of variance in component tolerances, among other things. Plus,
there’s the fact that every amp has its own special way of settling in over the years. And,
just like people, some of them only get better with age. That’s exactly why we went to
so much trouble to find the very best examples we could of every amp that we wanted
to model for PODxt. And it’s why, when describing the software amp models that are
emulations of other amplifiers, we’ve included photos here of the actual, individual amps
that we lovingly selected, studied and measured—so that you’ll know exactly which amp
we’re talking about.

5•1

So, now that you know what’s in store, let’s take a tour of the amp models that live inside
your PODxt, and the original equipment that helped to make them possible.

There are 42 Amp Models living within your PODxt, plus 24 Cabinet Model selections.
When you turn the effect tweak knob, you select an Amp/Cab combination. You can

then mix’n’ match different cabs with the amp (see Chapter 4 for details). Chapter 4
also tells you how you can customize PODxt to call up your favorite Amp/Cab combina­tions.

Modeled Amps & Cabs

*

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way associated or af­filiated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images are provided for the sole purpose
of identifying the specific products that were studied during Line 6’s sound model development.
ROLAND® and JAZZ CHORUS are registered trademarks of Roland Corporation. MARSHALL is
a registered trademark of Marshall® Amplification PLC. FENDER® and BASSMAN® are registered
trademarks of Fender Musical Instruments Corporation.

Line 6’s OriginaLs

We’ll start the introductions with the original Amp Models that Line 6 created to give
you even more tonal options than you could get from vintage gear alone:

Line 6 Clean

To create this Amp Model, we essentially grafted the preamp and tone stack of our
model based on* a JC-120 (Roland®’s popular “Jazz Chorus” solid state combo) onto
the poweramp and transformer of our model based on* a classic Marshall® JTM-45 tube
head, thereby giving you the crisp and clear front end typical of a solid state amp, but
with a rich, satisfying tube amp-style bite as you turn it up.

5•2

Line 6 JTS-45

Since the design of early Marshall®s was based on the Fender® Tweed Bassman circuitry,
we wondered what it would be like if we took the preamp and tone stack of our model
based on* the Marshall® JTM 45 and ran it into the poweramp and transformer of our
model based on* the Fender® ’58 Tweed Bassman. What we got was way happening, as
JTS-45 will attest. Great grind and nice punch. A tone the whole family can enjoy.

Line 6 Class A

One of the most satisfying tonal experiences as a guitarist is to play through an amp
that’s driven to the point where the poweramp is just starting to distort, but before it
achieves full clipping. For many players, this is the coveted ‘sweet spot’ they look for on
an amp. Because we’re not limited to physical reality when we’re creating amps in the
digital world, our goal for this one was to make an amp model that was nothing but sweet
spot. One of the great side effects is the ease of coaxing feedback out of this one.

Line 6 Mood

And here we give you a fantasia tone, based on our memories of grunge guitar tones we
have known and loved.

Modeled Amps & Cabs

*

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way associated or af­filiated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images are provided for the sole purpose
of identifying the specific products that were studied during Line 6’s sound model development.
DUAL RECTIFIER® is a registered trademark of Mesa/Boogie®, Limited. VOX® is a registered trade­mark of Korg Europe Limited.

Line 6 Spinal Puppet

You know how, when you’re playing head-bangin’ music, you look out into the audience
and see all those heads bobbing up and down? Those are Spinal Puppets. Need we say
more?

Line 6 Chemical X

Just like those secret ingredients that detergent companies used to crow about (Now
with Ingredient X-27!), the Line 6 sound design guys wouldn’t tell us anything about the
inspiration for this one or who it might have belonged to (no matter what type of bribery
we attempted). Suffice to say that it’s a very punchy hi-gain sound that also cleans up
quite nicely when you roll your volume back.

Line 6 Insane

Our goal here was to provide you with as much input gain distortion as possible short of
complete meltdown. You get ridiculous, rich tube drive to shame the distortion of pretty
much any amp on the planet (sort of like a Mesa/Boogie® Dual Rectifier® on 10 being
used as a preamp for a Soldano®), while still retaining tonal definition and character. As
a result, you’ll enjoy lots of bottom end and cabinet character with tons of wide-ranging
tone shaping. Crank up the Drive and take no prisoners!

Line 6 Piezacoustic 2

This one is designed to work with the piezo output of solidbody electrics that have one
of those newfangled bridges with the ‘acoustic’ pickup built in. Since you don’t have to
worry about the body shaking itself to pieces with feedback on that type of guitar, we’ve
cooked up this model with more low-mids and low frequencies.

Line 6 Agro

An aggressive high gain amp with a unique Mid control that will take you though the
entire gamut of tone on one knob. How did we do it? The mid knob for this model
changes the character of the distortion. When set to minimum the distortion exhibits
Fuzz pedal characteristics. When the Mid is set to noon it creates creamy modern high
gain amp tones a la Soldano®. And when the Mid knob is turned up to Max it’s very
much reminiscent of that Class A Vox® sound. Of course, then there are all the places in
between...

5•3

Modeled Amps & Cabs

*

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way associated or af­filiated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images are provided for the sole purpose
of identifying the specific products that were studied during Line 6’s sound model development.
MESA/BOOGIE® and RECTIFIER® are registered trademarks of Mesa/Boogie®, Limited.

Line 6 Lunatic

High gain with lots of high mids and no mud. Great for layering with other amps to cut
through on the high end. A wide range of top is available with the Treble and Presence
controls (maybe to the edge of lunacy).

Line 6 Treadplate

The original POD and POD 2.0 had a popular amp model that was our best attempt at
the time to make a model based on* the Mesa Boogie® Rectifier® series of amplifiers.
In addition to the Boogie® vibe, that model had some unique qualities that were all its
own, and people it liked so much, they asked us to let them get that same sound with the
newest generation PODxt. So here it is. In a way, Treadplate marks the first time we’ve
actually modeled another Line 6 product! Here is an excerpt from the old POD manual

5•4

to describe it: “...modeled after* a 1994 Mesa Boogie® Dual Rectifier Tremoverb®. You can
use this Amp Model to get that tight, high gain sound used by bands like Dream Theater or
Metallica.”

Line 6 Variax Acoustic

One of the great features of the Variax Digital Modeling Guitars from Line 6 are their
models of acoustic instruments. These sounds are best appreciated through a full range
monitor or P.A., due to their high frequency content. This Amp Model was created in
order to allow the Variax’s acoustic models to sound as full-range as possible through the
speakers of typical guitar amps. This can come in handy when you’re using an acoustic
model from a Variax, and listening to it through a guitar amp’s speakers. Keep in mind
that since this model provides a large amount of high frequency boost (to compensate for
the natural roll-off of typical guitar speakers) and overdriving a model playing an acous­tic guitar is not usually a desired thing, this model will likely appear softer than most
of its compatriots. If you need more gain, the Drive knob can be used to add some tube
preamplification.

Modeled Amps & Cabs

Zen Master - Based on* a Budda Twinmaster 2x12 combo

The Budda has a great, warm, Class A/B, sound. The Budda philosophy is all about
power tube distortion. Simplicity is the key. With relatively low front end gain, highly
interactive tone controls, and tube rectifier “sag,” it’s great at getting a classic cranked
sound for small gigs and recording (it’s all of 18 watts). Since the original Twinmaster has
no mid control, we’ve added a little bonus to our model in the form of some post-Amp
Model mid contouring available via PODxt’s middle control. As is true for all such “bo­nus” tone controls on PODxt’s models, you should set this control to 12 o’clock to get
groovy with the unadorned Budda-style vibe.

5•5

We used the Twinmaster’s Input 2, which is lower gain, when creating this model.

*

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way associated or af­filiated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images are provided for the sole purpose
of identifying the specific products that were studied during Line 6’s sound model development.

Modeled Amps & Cabs

*

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way associated
or affiliated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images are provided for the sole
purpose of identifying the specific products that were studied during Line 6’s sound model develop­ment. FENDER® and DELUXE REVERB® are registered trademarks of Fender Musical Instruments
Corporation.

5•6

Small Tweed - Based on* a 1953 “wide panel” Fender

®

Tweed Deluxe

®

This Amp Model will snarl with the best of them. The original amp had only a single
tone control, essentially a treble roll off. We set up the treBle knob to give you this
treble roll off when using this Amp Model. Which left us with the Bass and middle
knobs just sitting there, so we set up the Bass and middle as post-Amp Model controls,
which essentially lets you EQ up your tone as you would do on a mixing console after
recording your amp. Set the Bass and middle knobs at halfway to put them in ‘neutral’,
turn the presence to 0, and try the treBle knob somewhere above halfway for a classic
Tweed sound.

Modeled Amps & Cabs

*

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way associated or af­filiated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images are provided for the sole purpose
of identifying the specific products that were studied during Line 6’s sound model development.
FENDER® and BASSMAN® are registered trademarks of Fender Musical Instruments Corporation.

Tweed B-Man - Based on* a 1958 Fender

®

Bassman® 4x10 combo

The Bassman® 4x10 combo was the amp that started it all—instant rock and roll tone.
Originally a bass guitar amp, the Bassman® became a Blues staple for 6-string guitar­ists. It has the fat bottom end you’d expect from a bass amp, but also has the Fender®
twang on the top. Incidentally, when Jim Marshall built his first amps with Ken Bran
they were heavily influenced by the early Bassman®. One of the interesting things about
the Bassman® is just how interactive the middle and treBle controls are. The middle
control isn’t a bandpass, as in most tone control setups. Instead, it’s almost like a second
treble control. The two are additive, so if you’re running PODxt’s middle knob higher
than halfway up with this model, you’ll find that the treBle control might give you more
bright than you really want. On the other hand, when you turn the middle knob down,
you’ll probably want to boost the treBle. The Bassman®, like many of the amps modeled
for PODxt, didn’t have a master volume. So to get the kind of tone that the Bassman®
can deliver at higher gain settings, you had to crank it up loud enough to do some serious
damage to anyone who might be standing close by. With PODxt, you can get that kind
of tone at a bedroom or studio level — or even through your headphones! Try a Drive
setting of about 4 or 5—it’s guaranteed to dredge up the best R&B licks you know.

5•7

Modeled Amps & Cabs

*

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way associated or af­filiated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images are provided for the sole purpose
of identifying the specific products that were studied during Line 6’s sound model development.
CHAMP® is a registered trademark of Fender Musical Instruments Corporation.

5•8

Tiny Tweed - Based on* a 1961 Fender

®

Tweed Champ

®

This model has a great sound when the Drive is cranked (not bad clean, either). These
amps were originally designed to be sold to beginners, but rock and rollers quickly dis­covered that you could get a great distorted sound at fairly low volume levels. Many of
the classic guitar solos of the 50’s were recorded through a Champ®. The Champ® had no
tone control, only volume. With your PODxt, it’s easy to get a classic Champ® tone. Just
leave the Bass, middle and treBle controls parked at 12 o’clock, which means they are
“flat,” making no contribution to the tone. Set presence to 0, and it will also be letting
the unadorned classic Champ® tone through. When you’re ready to explore further sonic
territory, spin those and work your magic.

Modeled Amps & Cabs

*

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way associated
or affiliated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images are provided for the sole
purpose of identifying the specific products that were studied during Line 6’s sound model develop­ment. FENDER® and DELUXE REVERB® are registered trademarks of Fender Musical Instruments
Corporation.

Blackface Lux - Based on* a 1964 Fender

®

Blackface Deluxe Reverb

®

The Holy Grail for many blues, country, and “roots” players has been a blackface Fender®
Deluxe Reverb®. After listening to quite a few candidates back when we were seeking
the ultimate Deluxe Reverb® to model during our development of Flextone and POD, we
stumbled upon an extremely cool ’64 Deluxe. We still haven’t found one better.

Most players love a Deluxe when it’s turned up to about 7 for a nice gritty sound that
cleans up when you back off your guitar’s volume knob just a little. Notice how the tone
control response changes as this Amp Model’s Drive is changed: clean settings are crisp
and present, while more driven settings will mellow the high end. This is typical of what
you get from a Deluxe and is nicely captured here. The Deluxe itself has only Bass and

reBle controls, leaving us, once again, with the prospect of a couple knobs with noth-

t

ing to say for themselves. But fear not; in this case, we’ve set up PODxt’s middle knob
so you can add some post-Amp Model Midrange contouring for a little more flexibility,
while presence adds, well, Presence. Once again, set the middle knob to its “neutral” 12
o’clock position and the presence knob to 0 for the classic Deluxe sound. Tweaked up
right, this tone will cut through and sing. We jacked into Input 1 of the Vibrato Channel
to get this model cooked up for PODxt.

5•9

Modeled Amps & Cabs

*

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way associated or af­filiated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images are provided for the sole purpose
of identifying the specific products that were studied during Line 6’s sound model development.
FENDER® and TWIN REVERB® are registered trademarks of Fender Musical Instruments Corpora­tion.

5•10

Double Verb - Based on* a 1965 Fender

®

Twin Reverb

®

The classic blackface Fender® Twin® was a real workhorse. Everybody used it, from jazz
and country players to serious rockers. I myself remember seeing Johnny Winter at a
concert where both he and Rick Derringer—am I dating myself or what?—were using six
Twins stacked in a pyramid. Each. We were in the second balcony and it was REALLY
loud even all the way back there. The Twin® has a lot of tonal flexibility and is at home
in a great many different situations. It never gets extremely overdriven and dirty, mostly
just louder—a lot louder. This is the amp for the classic surf sound. Dial up the spring
reverb, switch on the tremolo, crank up the volume, and look out for bikinis.

Like most everyone who owns one, we plugged into Input 1 of the Normal Channel for
modeling purposes.

Modeled Amps & Cabs

*

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way associated or af­filiated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images are provided for the sole purpose
of identifying the specific products that were studied during Line 6’s sound model development.
GRETSCH® is a registered trademark of Fred W. Gretsch Enterprises, Ltd.

Two-Tone - Based on* a Gretsch

®

6156

Another amp made by Valco/Supro, this is the Gretsch® 6156. One of its curiosities is
that the output transformer is actually mounted on its single 10-inch speaker, rather than
on the amp chassis. It also has a lovely wraparound grill cloth, for a real futuristic look
(or what passed for it in the ’50s).

5•11

Modeled Amps & Cabs

*

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way associated or af­filiated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images are provided for the sole purpose
of identifying the specific products that were studied during Line 6’s sound model development.
HIWATT® is a registered trademark of Fernandes Company Ltd. VOX® is a registered trademark of
Korg Europe Limited. SELMER® is a registered trademark of The Selmer Company.

5•12

Hiway 100 - Based on* a Hiwatt

®

DR-103

Based on a Hiwatt® DR-103, this model gives a great, punchy sound that will cut
through almost anything and retains great definition even when cranked. That’s ex­actly what designer Dave Reeves was looking for when he left the Sound City division
of Dallas Arbiter in 1966 to form HyLight Electronics. Though his first designs were
more reminiscent of the Vox® and Selmer® amps of the day, it wasn’t long before Reeves
had started producing the amps that ’60s Brit-Rock fans have become familiar with.
Renowned for their ‘tank-like’ construction (due in part to Reeves’ hiring of ‘mil-spec’
wiring specialist Harry Joyce), it was no small wonder this amp was the choice of Pete
Townshend for so many years. It wasn’t just Townshend using Hiwatt®, either. Many
of the then-current crop of British rockers like Pink Floyd, The Moody Blues, Manfred
Mann, and Jethro Tull were also Hiwatt® endorsees. Crank this one up and you can see
for miles.

Modeled Amps & Cabs

*

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way associated or af­filiated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images are provided for the sole purpose
of identifying the specific products that were studied during Line 6’s sound model development.
MARSHALL® is a registered trademark of Marshall Amplification PLC. FENDER® is a registered
trademark of Fender Musical Instruments Corporation.

Plexi 45 - Based on* a 1965 Marshall

®

JTM-45

This Amp Model is based on a ’65 ‘block logo’ (predates the “scrolled” Marshall® logo)
JTM-45 head, complete with a gold Plexiglas front panel. When the royal agents we had
dispatched to the U.K. found this particular amp, we instantly fell in love. The amp even
has the original KT-66s in it, still in great shape! It’s one of the finest examples of a JTM­45 we’ve ever heard, and it’s a constant battle at Line 6 to see who gets to take it home
for the weekend.

5•13

Those interested in the genealogy of tone will be interested to note that the JTM-45
marked the beginning of Marshall®’s transition from a mellower Fender®-like tone to the
distinctive, bright “crunchy” sound of the later Marshalls®.

Modeled Amps & Cabs

*

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way associated or af­filiated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images are provided for the sole purpose
of identifying the specific products that were studied during Line 6’s sound model development.
MARSHALL® is a registered trademark of Marshall Amplification PLC. FENDER® is a registered
trademark of Fender Musical Instruments Corporation.ts Corporation.

5•14

Plexi Lead 100 - Based on* a 1968 Marshall

®

‘Plexi’ Super Lead

Modeled after the infamous ‘68 Marshall® ‘Plexi’ Super Lead—coveted by tone connois­seurs the world over. We literally scoured the world for this particular amp, finally finding
a great example of a Super Lead languishing (we like to think fate preserved it for us) in
Holland. By the time this amp was built (ca. 1968), Marshall® had completely changed
the circuitry away from the Fender® 6L6 power tube heritage and moved to an EL34
tube. Another major tone difference was due to the necessary output & power supply
transformer changes. All this mucking about added up to create a tone forever linked
with Rock Guitar. Amps of this era didn’t have any sort of master volume control, so to
get the sound you’d have to crank your Super Lead to max—just the thing to help you re­ally make friends with the neighbors. Hendrix used Marshall®s of this era; a decade later
Van Halen’s first two records owed their “brown sound” to a 100-watt Plexi (Our Super
Lead, in fact, has the ‘lay down’ transformer that was unique to ’68 models, the same as
Hendrix and Van Halen’s Marshall®s.). To get a crunch sound out of a Plexi, you would
likely crank the input volume and tone controls (to 10!). You’ll find that, in keeping
with our “make-it-sound-a-whole-lot-like-the-original” concept, PODxt’s model is set up
to do pretty darned near the same thing.

Modeled Amps & Cabs

Plexi Jump Lead - Based on* a 1968 Marshall

®

‘Plexi’ Super Lead

Guitar playing is all about experimentation, isn’t it? That, and finding all the possible
ways to get more distortion out of whatever gear you have at hand.

One of the fun things you can do with a Plexi is take a short guitar cable and jumper
channel I and channel II (as they’re frequently numbered) together for a little extra
saturation. Some guys loved this sound so much that they pulled the chassis and perma­nently wired a jumper into the amp.

Being the obsessive/compulsive tone freaks we are, we just had to give you a model of
this setup, too.

5•15

*

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way associated or af­filiated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images are provided for the sole purpose
of identifying the specific products that were studied during Line 6’s sound model development.

Modeled Amps & Cabs

*

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way associated or af­filiated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images are provided for the sole purpose
of identifying the specific products that were studied during Line 6’s sound model development.
MARSHALL® is a registered trademark of Marshall Amplification PLC.

5•16

Plexi Variac - Based on* a Marshall

®

Super Lead Variac

Ahhh, the stuff of legend. According to the stories, part of the magic behind Edward
Van Halen’s ‘Brown Sound’ was a Marshall® 100 watt Super Lead being purposely run at
higher voltage through the auspices of a Variable AC Transformer (aka a ‘Variac’).

While we don’t generally recommend experiments with high voltage sources, especially
ones that might blow up precious gear, we felt it was our duty to see if the stories were
true. So we cranked the Variac up to 140v AC and gave the ’68 Super Lead a power
workout. (Don’t worry, it survived to rock again.) We’re thinking those stories must not
be too far from wrong.

Modeled Amps & Cabs

*

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way associated or af­filiated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images are provided for the sole purpose
of identifying the specific products that were studied during Line 6’s sound model development.
MARSHALL® is a registered trademark of Marshall Amplification PLC.

Brit J-800 - Based on* a 1990 Marshall

®

JCM-800

Turn to this Amp Model to conjure up tones of the coveted JCM 800, one of Marshall®’s
most universally-acclaimed modern amps. This updated version of the Plexi continued
Marshall®’s heritage with added gain and edge for a new generation of rock guitarists.
One of the biggest differences here is that the tone controls are located after the preamp
tubes.

5•17

Incidentally, some versions of JCM 800’s get their distortion by clipping a diode. The
amp we modeled uses a tube for distortion.

The JCM 800 is, of course, the metal sound Marshall® made famous. And although not
many people play Marshall®s clean, it is a great tone, so you should also be sure to check
out this model with a low Drive setting. Of course, you can always pump up the drive
and rage...

Modeled Amps & Cabs

*

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way associated or af­filiated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images are provided for the sole purpose
of identifying the specific products that were studied during Line 6’s sound model development.
MARSHALL® is a registered trademark of Marshall Amplification PLC. ADA is a registered trade­mark of Audio Design Associates, Inc. MESA/BOOGIE® is a registered trademark of Mesa/Boogie,
Limited.

5•18

Brit JM Pre - Based on* a Marshall

®

JMP-1

Marshall®’s entry into the rackmount preamp world, the JMP-1, has been a favorite of
‘big-hair’ metal guitarists as well as many others looking for a tight, highly saturated tone
without the compression of poweramp ‘sag.’ It was also one of the first MIDI-controllable
preamps.

The overdrive flavor of the JMP is somewhat “Boogie®-esque” and many people saw the
JMP as Marshall®’s answer to the ADA MP-1 and Mesa Boogie® preamps. First intro­duced in the early nineties, the JMP has enjoyed a recent surge of popularity with new
metal bands looking for a really tight, aggressive, well focused tone without being overly
scooped. Your seven string is gonna love our model developed from our careful study of
the JMP-1.

Modeled Amps & Cabs

*

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way associated or af­filiated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images are provided for the sole purpose
of identifying the specific products that were studied during Line 6’s sound model development.
MATCHLESS® is a registered trademark of Matchless, LLC. FENDER is a registered trademark of
Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. MARSHALL® is a registered trademark of Marshall Am­plification PLC.

Match Chief - Based on* a Matchless

®

Chieftain

We crafted this model from our studies of the Matchless® Chieftain. The Matchless® has
an EL34-powered “modern class A” design — hence this model’s name — and a unique
tone (largely due to the complicated EQ scheme).

The Chieftain was designed by Mark Sampson at Matchless® to blend a Fender®/Mar­shall® type front end with a classic ‘spongy’ and very reactive Class A power section.

5•19

With higher gain than the DC-30 (which is next in our hit parade), the Chieftain is a
great roots-music amp. It also features the incredibly sexy feature of a light up front logo
name plate, which may not affect tone, but it sure does look cool.

When, sad to say, Matchless® went out of business, both the Chieftain and the DC-30
became highly collectable pieces of gear, with used ones often fetching up to a thousand
dollars more than their original price. We’re happy to do our part to keep the Matchless®
legacy alive with the Matchless® models in your PODxt.

Modeled Amps & Cabs

*

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way associated or af­filiated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images are provided for the sole purpose
of identifying the specific products that were studied during Line 6’s sound model development.
MATCHLESS® is a registered trademark of Matchless, LLC. VOX® is a registered trademark of Korg
Europe Limited.

5•20

Match D-30 - Based on* a Matchless

®

DC-30

The DC-30 was the amp that really put Matchless® on the map. Mark Sampson, the
amp’s designer, who was generous enough to tell us the story of this amp’s creation, set
out to create a road-worthy Class A amp that could cover a wide range of tones.

Built like a tank (and weighing nearly as much), the DC-30 paid tribute to early Vox
amps. So if you like a Vox® AC-30 (or PODxt’s model based on one), you’ll also want to
check out PODxt’s model of the DC-30.

Modeled Amps & Cabs

*

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way associated or af­filiated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images are provided for the sole purpose
of identifying the specific products that were studied during Line 6’s sound model development.
MESA/BOOGIE® and RECTIFIER® are registered trademarks of Mesa/Boogie, Limited.

Treadplate Dual - Based on* a 2001 Mesa Boogie

®

Dual Recitifier® Solo

The Dual Rectifier® was part of Boogie®’s more modern, high gain approach for that “big
hair” sound. In contrast to the earlier Boogie®s, the Dual Rectifier®’s tone controls have
more influence at high gain settings, so you can scoop the mids and increase the bottom
end.

5•21

We used Channel 3 on the Modern setting for this one with the rear switches set to Bold
and Tube Rectifier, respectively.

Modeled Amps & Cabs

*

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way associated or af­filiated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images are provided for the sole purpose
of identifying the specific products that were studied during Line 6’s sound model development.
MESA/BOOGIE® and MESA ENGINEERING® are registered trademarks of Mesa/Boogie, Limited.
FENDER® and PRINCETON® are registered trademarks of Fender Musical Instruments Corpora­tion.

5•22

Cali Crunch - Based on* a Mesa Boogie

®

Mark IIc+

Mesa® Engineering started out with Randall Smith souping up old Fender® Princeton
amps for SF Bay area musicians. Over the years, the amps evolved, adding effects loops,
switchable channels, and Randall’s Simul-Class design, in which one pair of output tubes
is run Class AB and the second pair run Class A. Boogie®s were really the first modern
guitar amplifiers and were quickly adopted by many players looking for more ‘oomph’ in a
smaller package.We used the Drive channel to do our modeling.

Modeled Amps & Cabs

*

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way associated or af­filiated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images are provided for the sole purpose
of identifying the specific products that were studied during Line 6’s sound model development.
ROLAND® is a registered trademark of Roland Corporation.

Jazz Clean - Based on* a Roland

®

JC-120

This transistor amp was known for a strident clean sound and built-in stereo chorus.
When using the JC-120 model, try cranking up the Treble for a shimmering clean sound
that’ll cut through just about any mix. It’s also perfect for that 80’s “new wave” sound
(after all, it was Andy Summers’ favorite amp with The Police).

You should also try setting all the tone controls at 12 o’clock for a darker jazz tone. It’ll
give you an essentially flat response, providing a balanced tone across the fret board for
jazz chord melodies or single-line phrasing.

5•23

Modeled Amps & Cabs

*

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way associated or af­filiated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images are provided for the sole purpose
of identifying the specific products that were studied during Line 6’s sound model development.
MARSHALL® is a registered trademark of Marshall Amplification PLC.

Solo 100 - Based on* a Soldano SLO-100

5•24

Mike Soldano first came to fame as the guy who could do all the really cool mods to your
Marshall®. It wasn’t long before he started building his own ‘hot-rod’ amps—sporting
chromed transformers and chassis, no less. Mike’s amps are also famous for their bullet­proof construction and military spec wiring and components.

While primarily known for its high gain personality, the SLO-100 has a great clean tone
as well. Eric Clapton put Soldano on the map when he played “Saturday Night Live”
with his Soldano SLO-100.

Modeled Amps & Cabs

*

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way associated or af­filiated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images are provided for the sole purpose
of identifying the specific products that were studied during Line 6’s sound model development.
TELE® is a registered trademark of Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. Supro® is a registered
trademark of Zinky Electronics.

Super O - Based on* a Supro

®

S6616

Yet more of the stuff of legend. Jimmy Page has admitted to using his ’58 Tele® and a
Supro® amp to record most of the first two Led Zeppelin albums. The only problem is,
he’s never really copped to which Supro® model he used, since his simply saying the word
‘Supro®’ caused a run on pawnshops and music stores everywhere, making it virtually
impossible to find another one of whichever model it was that he used.

5•25

We went so far as to impose on our friendship with people we know who were actually
present during the recording of “Led Zeppelin II” to see if they remembered anything
about that particular amp. They didn’t recall the specific model number, only that it was
“a grey and silver tiny little bastard.” Other sources have claimed that it was the 1x12­inch version. So, until Pagey speaks, the mystery remains, but, whatever the truth of
those Zep sessions may be, we’re confident that this Supro® S6616 model can be a fine
entrance ticket to the Houses of the Holy.

By the way, that’s a 6x9-inch speaker in this amp, just like in your car stereo. Go figure.

Modeled Amps & Cabs

*

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way associated or af­filiated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images are provided for the sole purpose
of identifying the specific products that were studied during Line 6’s sound model development.
VOX® is a registered trademark of Korg Europe Limited.

5•26

Class A-15 - Based on* a 1960 Vox

®

AC 15

Here’s another Vox®-inspired Amp Model. This model is based on Channel 1 of a won­derful 1960 AC 15. The sound is similar to the more famous Vox® AC 30, but this is a
smaller amp (one, instead of two, 12-inch speakers) with a warmer, more “woody” sound.

Once again, the original amp had only a single tone control—a treble cut. We faithfully
modeled that and then slipped in some post-Amp Model Bass and Mid contouring. Set
the Bass and middle in neutral (12 o’clock, or halfway up), presence to 0, and play with
the treBle control to get yourself some of those classic British invasion sounds.

To model this, we plugged into Input 2, which is slightly darker than Input 1, and gives
you more of that classic warm sound that the AC 15 is famous for.