Line 6 POD xt, POD xt Pro User Manual

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Page 1

POD

ULTIMATE TONE FOR GUITAR

POD

ULTIMATE TONE FOR GUITAR

POD

ULTIMATE TONE FOR GUITAR+DIG I/O

PRO

POD

ULTIMATE TONE FOR GUITAR+DIG I/O

PRO

Pilot’s Handbook

An in-depth exploration of the revolutionary technologies and pulsing tonal pleasures that lurk

use free line 6 Monkey to Make sure your Podxt is uP to

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

within PODxt and PODxt Pro.

includes details on Version 3 features.

date: www.line6.coM/Monkey

Page 2

PODXT MODELS

PODXT, PODXT Live and PODXT Pro all include the Standard and Power Pack Models plus all guitar Cab Models.

See www.line6.com/modelpack to learn about adding other Model Pack Models.

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

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

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

DELAY Standard Power Pack FX Junkie

ANALOG DELAY ANALOG W/ MOD TUBE ECHO

MUTLI-HEAD

SWEEP ECHO DIGITAL DELAY

STEREO DELAY

PING PONG

REVERSE

ECHO PLATTER TAPE ECHO LOW REZ PHAZE EKO BUBBLE ECHO

DELAYS Standard Power Pack FX Junkie

ANALOG DELAY ANALOG W/ MOD TUBE ECHO

MUTLI-HEAD

SWEEP ECHO DIGITAL DELAY

STEREO DELAY

PING PONG

REVERSE

ECHO PLATTER TAPE ECHO LOW REZ PHAZE EKO BUBBLE ECHO

WAHS Standard Power Pack FX Junkie

VETTA WAH

JEN FASSEL WEEPER CHROME CHROME CUSTOM THROATY CONDUCTOR COLORFUL

STANDARD & POWER PACK AMP MODELS # 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

METAL SHOP AMPS # 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 AMPS # 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 THUDERBOLT 66 L6 BAYOU 67 L6 CRUNCH 68 L6 PURGE 69 L6 SPARKLE 70 L6 SUPER CLN 71 L6 SUPERSPARK 72 L6 TWANG

CAB MODELS # 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

GUITAR 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

EFFECTS

BASS AMPS & CABS

Page 3

1416

31 32 33 34 35 36

29 30

1318

MOD

2319

PODXT PRO CONTROLS REFERENCE

NAVIGATION REFERENCE

SELECT

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

• Otherwise, “SELECT” chooses Channel Memories

MOD

• For Comp, Stomp, Mod, and Delay, the effect is on when lit.

• CAB/A.I.R. is lit when you are using a cab simulation.

• Double press an effect button to go straight to its EDIT page.

EDIT PAGES SAVE PAGES

TUNER PAGES

OUT/THRUIN

FBV Class Foot Controller only

(not compatible with Floor Board or FB4)

GROUND LIFT

L/MONO R/MONO LEFT RIGHT OUTIN

OUT

GROUND

ANALOG REAMPING INPUT/OUTPUT

LEFT/

MONO

RIGHT LEFT/

MONO

RIGHT

BALANCED ANALOG OUT AES/EBU S/PDIF

MIDI

Line Level

Input

Unprocessed

Guitar Out

100 - 120V

50 - 60Hz

100 W Max.

POWER REQUIREMENTS

USBPEDAL

UNBAL ANALOG OUT

N222

CAU TION

RISK OF ELECTRIC SHOCK

DO NOT OPEN

EFFECTS RETURNEFFECTS SEND

Unbalanced

Balanced: Tip = + / Ring = -

SET MODES & LEVELS VIA

I/O & DIG SELECT

BUTTON

SERIES/PARALLEL VIA

I/O & DIG SELECT

BUTTON

STUDIO:

RECORDING OUTPUT

LIVE:

FEED T O ONSTAGE AM P

STUDIO:

+4 dBu

LIVE:

-10 dBV

0 10 0 10 0 10

0 100 100 10

CLIP

SIGNAL

MIDDLE TREBLEBASSDRIVE PRESENCE

CHAN VOLREVERB OUTPUT

AMP MODELS

EFFECTS

Guitar inPHONES

0 10

I/O & DIG

SELECT

INPUT LEVEL

NORMAL PAD

PODPRO

ULTIMATE TONE FOR GUITAR + DIG I/O

POWER

0 10

WARNING/AVIS:

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

THIS DEVICE COMPLIES WITH PART 15 OF THE FCC RULES. OPERATI ON IS SUBJECT TO THE FOLL OWING 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.

• Save Sound to Channel Memory

• Custom Save Amp Model

• MIDI Dump

• Tuner

• What are you connecting to?

• Display c ontrast

• MIDI/Variax

• PODXT Live Software Version

• 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

Page 4

MIDDLE

0 10

TREBLE

0 10

BASS

0 10

DRIVE

0 10

PRESENCE

0 10

CHAN VOL

0 10

REVERB

0 10

POD

ULTIMATE TONE FOR GUITA R

PODXT CONTROLS REFERENCE

OUTPUT

EFFECTSAMP MODELS

0 10

EFFECT

TWEAK

SELECT

10 10

15 13

1416

21 23

MOD

NAVIGATION REFERENCE

SELECT

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

• Otherwise, “SELECT” chooses Channel Memories

MOD

• For Comp, Stomp, Mod, and Delay, the effect is on when lit.

• CAB/A.I.R. is lit when you are using a cab simulation.

• Double press an effect button to go straight to its EDIT page.

EDIT PAGES SAVE PAGES

TUNER PAGES

• Save Sound to Channel Memory

• Custom Save Amp Model

• MIDI Dump

• Tuner

• What are you connecting to?

• Display c ontrast

• MIDI/Variax

• PODXT Live Software Version

• 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

Page 5

FX LOOP STOMP BOX 1 STOMP BOX 2 STOMP BOX 3

WAH PEDAL 1 PEDAL 2VOLUME

DELAYMODULATIONTREMOLOREVERB TAP TEMPOAMP 2AMP 1

HOLD FOR TUNER

CUSTOM FOOT CONTROLLE R

FACTORY/USER

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

STOMP MODULATION REVERB

FX LOOP

HOLD FOR TUNER

TAP

CHANNEL BCHANNEL A CHANNEL DCHANNEL C

FBV SHORTBOARD

DELAY

FBV SERIES REFERENCE

Page 6

AMP/CAB + A.I.R. II

REVERB LOOP

(PODXT Pro only)

MODULATION

COMP

THE "WHAT ARE YOU CONNECTED TO?" EDIT PAGE

(

see text pages for PODXT

Pro details

)

Use your A.I.R. settings to get the right mic sound you’re looking for! Choose from:

MIC 1.........................................................57 ON AXIS

MIC 2 .......................................................57 OFF AXIS

MIC 3 .....................................................421 DYNAMIC

MIC 4 ...................................................67 CONDENSER

LIVE : 4x12 LIVE : 2x12STUDIO : DIRECT

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

LEFT OUTPUT

Be sure to use TRS cables when you want to get +4dBu levels to the balanced inputs of a recorder, mixer or power amp.

GATE

VOLUME

MODULATION DELAY

WAH STOMP

DELAY

VOLUME

Use the

VIBE

parameter to adjust the sound for your particular Live setup. Experiment with all the options, since different amp/cab combinations can give very different results, and you may get the best sound with an unusual combination of settings.

SIGNAL FLOW & EFFECTS ROUTING OPTIONS

Page 7

The serial number can be found on the underside of your PODxt, or back panel of your PODxt Pro. 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).

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.”

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

Page 8

Please Note:

Line 6, POD, Podxt, Podxt Pro, Vetta, FBV, FBV Shortboard, FBV4, Amp Farm, Line 6 Edit 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.

Page 9

contents

Quick Start Guide 1•1

Go on-line and get more stuff! . . . . . . . . . . . . 1•2

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1•3

Welcome To PODxt... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1•3

Who is Line 6? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1•3

Modeling. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1•4

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

There’s Magic in the A.I.R.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1•5

And Away We Go.... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1•7

Controls & Connections 2•1

PODxt Pro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2•10

Getting Set Up 3•1

All Purpose Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3•1

What are you connecting to? . . . . . . . . . . . . 3•2

The Ins and Outs of Great Tone . . . . . . . . . . . 3•2

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

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

Pedal Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3•4

MIDI Mania . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3•4

Re-Amping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3•4

What is Re-Amping? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3•4

Page 10

PODxt — Playing Live . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3•9

Mount Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3•9

Keeping Your Options Open . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3•9

What are you connecting to? . . . . . . . . . . . . 3•9

Getting The Right Tone With An Amp. . . . . . . . . . 3•11

External Stomp Boxes and PODxt.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3•12

PODxt Pro — Conﬁgurations & Connections . . . . . . . 3•13

Selecting An Input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3•13

Input & Digital Out Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3•14

FORMAT: Sample rate, word length (bit depth), and clock source 3•14

MODE: Normal or Dry Guitar . . . . . . . . . . . . 3•15

GAIN: Extra gain on the digital outs . . . . . . . . . . 3•15

What are you connecting to? . . . . . . . . . . . . 3•16

FX Loop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3•17

AES/EBU or S/PDIF Data Format? . . . . . . . . . . 3•18

Radiation Alert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3•18

Pedal Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3•19

MIDI Mania . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3•19

Re-Amping with PODxt Pro . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3•19

Analog Re-amping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3•19

Digital Re-amping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3•21

Creating & Storing Sounds 4•1

Recalling Channel Memories . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4•1

Recalling Effect Setups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4•1

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

Double Press for Easy Access . . . . . . . . . . . . 4•2

Page 11

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

Amp knob settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4•3

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

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

Comp/Gate settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4•4

EQ settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4•5

Stomp settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4•6

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

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

Setting your Tone to Tempo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4•8

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

Wah Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4•9

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

Assigning the Pedal and Tweak Knob and dialing in Tempo . . 4•10

Saving Yourself . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4•11

Saving a Channel Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4•11

Custom Saving Amp Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4•12

Custom Saving Effect Setups . . . . . . . . . . . . 4•13

MIDI Dumps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4•14

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

III

Page 12

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

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

The Wah Pedals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6•13

The Modulation Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6•15

The Delay Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6•23

Reverb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6•30

MIDI 7•1

MIDI Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7•1

What’s MIDI? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7•1

In/Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7•1

MIDI Channel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7•2

MIDI Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7•3

Backing Up PODxt Programs to Other Devices . . . . . . 7•4

Other Things You Can Do with MIDI . . . . . . . . . . 7•6

Changing PODxt Channels with MIDI Program Changes . . 7•6

Tweaking PODxt Tones with MIDI Controllers . . . . . . 7•6

Full MIDI Automation of PODxt .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7•6

MIDI Setup Trouble-shooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7•7

Putting Your Feet to Work 8•1

Meet the FBV Shortboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8•1

Pushing Your Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8•1

Saving and Naming with the FBV Shortboard . . . . . . . 8•3

Using an EX-1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8•4

Appendix A: Amp Models 9•1

Page 13

Appendix B: MIDI Program Changes 9•3

Appendix C: PODxt MIDI Controls 9•4

Appendix D: Note Value Controller Values 9•7

Page 14

Quick Start Guide

Quick start Guide

or:

“Manual? I don’t need no stInkIng manual!”

PoDxt Pro owners, if you’re going to use anything beyond the standard guitar input and analog outputs, we can’t cover all your options on this brief page. See Chapter 2 to learn about con-

trols, and then get deep with the inputs and outputs in the PoDxt Pro — Conﬁgurations & Connections section that starts on page 3•8.

1. Turn the Output Level control 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 or power cable to your PODxt, and plug the

other end into a power jack.

4. Connect your guitar to PODxt’s Input (PODxt’s Pro Guitar In).

5. Flip the 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, then turning the

Select knob one step clockwise. Press the button below Dest (Destination) and then turn the Effect Tweak knob to tell your PODxt what type of amp you’re connecting to. PODxt will automatically override this setting when you plug in headphones, so you don’t have to do anything to get great headphone sound.

7. Select an Amp Model using the Amp Model knob. Set the Chan Vol to max and the Drive, Bass, Mid, Treble and Presence to your heart’s desire. Out-

put sets the, uh, output level.

8. Turn the Effects knob to load an Effects Setup, then 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.

9. Browse pre-programmed tones using the Select knob. Press the far left button under the display when the Edit button is NOT lit for a “Manual Override” and where-the-knobs-are-is-how-it-sounds operation.

1•1

Now before you run off, please give the page a quick ﬂip and....

Page 15

Quick Start Guide

1•2

Go on-line and get more stuff!

Included in this manual is a handy, postage-paid card for you to send back to us to register your purchase. It’s very important that you ﬁll that registration card out right now and drop it in the mail, or jump on the Internet and register at www.line6.com. Registering insures that you’re dialed in for warranty service (warranty info is at the end of this manual) and insures we can contact you if new software versions or other cool enhancements are offered — cutting edge technology and such.

Here at Line 6, our mission is to help you be more creative by bringing you powerful new technologies. As part of that mission, we focus great effort on making the Internet a valuable resource for every one of our customers. The Line 6 web site is one of the most effective ways for us to deliver you what you need to make you and your PODxt ever more powerful.

Connect to www.line6.com to check out Custom Tone—a truly massive, free, exclusive-to-Line-6 online tone library that gives you instant access to the signature sounds of the greatest guitarists, bands, songs and gear of all time. It integrates with the free Line 6 Edit software that lets you edit your PODxt’s sounds, and save copies of them on your computer. Our web site is also the place to download our GuitarPort software and USB driver software, all free for your PODxt. You can even add more Models to your PODxt (see www.line6.com/modelpacks for the details on that). And to make it easy to get all this cool, computer-related stuff, look for the handy Line 6 Monkey utility, down- loadable from our web site, which will check for and install the latest versions of everything for you! Visit the discussion boards to learn tips & tricks, trade advice, and generally hang out and get POD-a-licious with the whole extended family of PODxt users. Use the Support pages to get answers to your technical questions and contact our customer service experts. Or grab electronic versions of this book and other documentation, learn what your favorite artists are doing with Line 6 gear, and see the latest products we’re introducing for you.

Not on the Internet yet? This may be the time to make the big jump, and thereby ensure that you will get all the great resources we can offer for you and your PODxt.

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Quick Start Guide

Introduction

Welcome To Podxt...

Thank you for inviting PODxt into your life. Whether you use your PODxt as a direct recording miracle, a powerhouse preamp, a practice partner, or as a creative digital signal processing tool (and heck, why should it be just one of these?) — we think you’ll agree that PODxt is about the most amazing thing to happen to the electric guitar since, well, since the guitar ampliﬁer itself! PODxt delivers the incredible tones of the acclaimed Line 6 Point-to-Point Interactive modeling technology (as featured in our Vetta series amps) and fuses it with the wonderfully portable and easy to use POD, which has been the guitar recording world standard for years. So you’ve got the tonal heritage of the past century of guitar ampliﬁer and stomp box design, plus no-compromise recording and direct sound excellence — all ready to roll when you are.

Who is Line 6?

As you may know, Line 6 ﬁrst came on the scene several 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.

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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.

How does PODxt help you create a guitar tone that is out of this world, and then get that tone wherever you need it? Easy! It’s…

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Quick Start Guide

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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....

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 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

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Quick Start Guide

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 software-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.

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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.

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Quick Start Guide

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

• 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.

• 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.

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Quick Start Guide

All of 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, and gives 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 and Effect Models, it is the key to PODxt’s phenomenally satisfying direct recording sound.

And Away We Go....

So, now that you know what’s in store, it’s time to experience PODxt for yourself. Grab your favorite axe, plug in, and ﬂip back to the handy Quick Start Guide on the ﬁrst page of this chapter if you haven’t already been through that. Then fold out the back

cover and follow me, my friend, for the PODxt Grand Tour....

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controls & connections

Controls & Connections

Now would be a good time to turn to the nifty back cover of this manual and notice that it folds out. Ooh, pretty pictures! The idea is to have this essential pictorial reference always opened out while you’re thumbing through the manual. It’s also got all the essential details for quickly getting around on your PODxt. The boxed numbers that pop up throughout this manual correspond to the numbers on the foldout’s illustrations. The back side of the cover’s got handy pictures for the FBV and FBV Shortboard foot controllers, plus signal ﬂow and connection guides.

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

a standard IEC grounded power cable. For PODxt, use only the included PX-2 power pack.

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

this is a mono, un-balanced connection).

Phones - Plug your headphones in here for silent concertos. 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 when ﬁrst putting the headphones on, them turn up from there if you need more volume.

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So that you hear appropriate sound through the headphones, PODxt automatically switches to Studio Mode whenever headphones are connected (for more on Studio Mode, see “What are you connecting to?” on page

A quick note about headphones: Earbuds and headphones designed for use with portable MP3 players and tape players are very low impedance as well as not very accurate in frequency response. 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.

3•2).

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Controls & Connections

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 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.

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xt Pro users, note that this does not affect the level of the XLR Outputs in Live Mode (for

PoD

more on Live Mode, see “What are you connecting to?” on page

xt will give the best signal-to-noise performance when you have the Output con-

POD

trol at max. With the Output control turned down low, you may get extra hiss—which obviously ain’t what 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 out- puts into line level, not microphone or guitar level inputs. Line level inputs should allow you to turn PODxt’s Output up all the way (or close to it) and thereby get the best sound possible. If your 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.

Left & Right Output - (See numbers 33 and 34 for PoDxt Pro’s outputs.)

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

Pedal - Looks like a telephone connector on steroids. Connect optional Line

6 FBV or FBV Shortboard foot controllers here. PODxt’s do not work with the Line 6 Floor Board and FB4.

USB - PODxt’s USB jack lets you connect it directly to most computers, and

record your PODxt directly to a wide variety of popular recording software. We’ve included a USB cable for use with our GuitarPort Windows software, Line 6 Edit software for Mac OS X and Windows, our Custom Tone online tone library, and PODxt driver software. All this software—along with directions for using it—is free for you to download at www.line6.com.

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Controls & Connections

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

nel Memories (via Program Change messages), or automate PODxt settings (via controllers and/or SySex). You can also use MIDI (or USB) to communicate with the free Line 6 Edit software downloadable from www.line6.com. The PODxt MIDI OUT connects to another device’s MIDI IN; its MIDI IN goes to another device’s MIDI OUT. Please also see Chapter 7, Deep Editing and MIDI Control, to setup your MIDI gear with

xt and ﬁnd out what MIDI can do for PODxt and you.

POD

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.”

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.

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.

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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.

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Controls & Connections

Reverb - How much reverb do you want today? Spin this knob to set the Reverb

level. Several ﬂavors of reverb live inside PODxt, including springs, rooms, chambers, halls and plate reverbs.

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Effects - This knob selects from PODxt’s Effect Setups — which set up a com-

bination of effects for you (all the details on effects are in Chapter 6, stOmpBOxes &

ffects). 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 is 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.

Effect Tweak - 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. 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

weak won’t change anything. While the edit or tune/system button is lit, the effect

weak knob adjusts parameter values instead.

Amp Models - When you spin this knob, it’s essentially like changing what

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.

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Controls & Connections

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.

The ﬁrst 64 Channel Memories (Banks 1-16) store a variety 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 one of the thousands of great tones you’ll ﬁnd at customTone.com).

You load PODxt channels by turning the select knob. 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.

To leave the Channel Memory world and enter Manual operation, make sure the edit button is not lit, and press the Soft Button 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.

below the word manual. The display

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When the edit, saVe or tune/system button is lit, the select knob selects from the available display pages. When you press edit, it selects pages of effect and channel parameters; when you press tune/system, it takes you through all of the Tuner and systemwide 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.

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Controls & Connections

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

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

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1. When the

POD

Save, Edit or Tune/System button is lit, a scroll bar on the left side of

xt’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!

2. 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 NOT lit, the PODxt’s display will look about like this:

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 illustration, 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.

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.

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Controls & Connections

Effect On/Off Buttons - These four buttons allow you to quickly turn any

of four effects on or off (the effects are on when the buttons are lit).

• The cOmp button turns on/off the Compressor effect

• The stOmp button turns on/off the loaded Stomp-Box effect

• The mOd button turns on/off the loaded Modulation effect

• The delay button turns on/off the loaded Delay effect.

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 stOmp button will quickly take you to the ﬁrst Stomp Box edit page. Double-press the same button again (or press the edit button) to leave Edit Mode.

CAB/A.I.R. - Press the caB/a.i.r. button once to pick a Cab Model to 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.

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

button is the key. Exactly how it works is detailed in Chapter 4, Creating & Storing Sounds. But you’re probably impatient, so here are the basics:

When using a pre-programmed sound, PODxt will display the bank number, channel letter and channel name at the top of the display. If you turn one of the knobs or change a parameter in the edit mode pages, you’ll notice an asterisk appears to the left of the bank number. This is a reminder to you that you have tweaked the memorized channel, and that you should save it if you want your PODxt to remember the tweak.

To save the changes you’ve made to a Channel Memory, press the saVe button. The but- ton will start to ﬂash. Just press saVe again if you want to overwrite the currently loaded Channel, using the same name. Or, if you’d like to change the name ﬁrst, use the middle two Soft Buttons to select a character, then press the right soft button and turn the

ffect tweak knob to change the character. Press the soft button under dest, turn the

ffect tweak knob, and you will see that you are switching through memory locations A,

B, C, and D in each of the sixteen numbered banks. Pick one to store your sound in, and

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Controls & Connections

press that saVe button a second time. The button’s light will stop ﬂashing, a progress bar will shown on the display, and the sound is stored at the location you chose, replacing the sound that was there before.

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After the sound is stored, you can bring it back any old time by simply turning the select knob to call up the location where you stored it. (See Chapter 8 to learn how to do all this with your feet on the optional foot controllers).

If you aren’t using one of the PODxt Channel Memories — you’re in Manual mode, and you’re just getting the sound of where the knobs are set — you can store that state into a memory location the same way. Press saVe, then dest, then use effect tweak to choose a place to save to, and press saVe again.

If you decide you don’t want to store the sound after you’ve started saving, press any other button to cancel the save. (The save will also be canceled if you don’t touch anything for 15 seconds after pressing saVe.) If you accidentally save over a factory sound you liked, the saVe button’s additional pages let you recall the factory preset version of a Channel Memory any time. See Chapter 4 for details on this feature.

The saVe button also lets you customize any of the Amp Models and Effect Setups to your own taste, so your favorite version of the amp or effect comes up instantly when you turn amp mOdels or effects. See Chapter 4 for the details on that.

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Controls & Connections

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 Tune/System - Press that puppy and — 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 counter-clockwise to select Bypass.

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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 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).

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

the tempo that you’ve tapped.

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Controls & Connections

FEATURE FOCUS

Podxt Pro

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

2•10

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

If you see the Clip light 28 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 CLIP indicator shows in the display if you are clipping in the internal DSP.

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.

, which is a balanced TRS connection. A separate

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

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 26 and be sure you’ve got the right input selected. (This light doesn’t show input from USB, by the way.)

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...

Page 31

FEATURE FOCUS

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 26 and select the Line Input. The front panel’s Signal light 27 shows you when you’ve got some signal coming, and the

lip

light shows you when you’re overdoing it and need to reduce the level you’re

feeding to PODxt Pro.

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 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•14 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

Controls & Connections

2•11

of your PODxt Pro when

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

. 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•12 for more details.

Page 32

Controls & Connections

FEATURE FOCUS

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

button

2•12

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

conﬁgure these outputs for Studio or Live Use. In Studio Mode, they’re

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

“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

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

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.

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

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

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.

display

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

Page 33

GettinG set uP

The numbers in black boxes below and throughout the chapter refer to the back cover foldout’s illustrations

PODxt is ready to give you world-class tone, no matter what you’re plugging into. It’s as happy to live on stage, plugged into your ol’ standby amp, as it is working alongside the most elite of world-class recording systems. (And who wouldn’t be?) To tell you what you need for where you’re going, this chapter’s got three sections:

xt - In the Studio

Pod

xt - Playing Live

Pod

xt Pro - Connection & Conﬁguration

Pod

But ﬁrst, it’s the...

Getting Set Up

3•1

All Purpose Basics

1. Plug the power supply or cable into the wall, and connect it to the power connector on your PODxt.

2. Connect your guitar to PODxt’s Input (PODxt Pro’s Guitar in) 2 .

3. PODxt: Connect PODxt to whatever you’re going to be playing it into. The Output

connectors 5 are balanced 1/4-inch TRS (tip/ring/sleeve) connectors, ready to rock with pro +4dBu balanced equipment. They will also work quite happily with unbalanced -10dBV equipment and standard guitar cables. To run PODxt mono, you can use either the left or riGht output.

PODxt Pro: Use either pair of rear panel outputs, and see the details in the third section of this chapter. Press the i/O & diG select button 26 to select Guitar (or whatever else you want) as your input.

Page 34

Getting Set Up

3•2

Podxt — In the studIo

xt Pro users, fast forward to the

PoD

at the end of this chapter.

To use the USB connector, visit www.line6.com to download PoDxt USB Driver Software, as well as Line 6 Edit Mac/Windows software or GuitarPort (Windows only) software.

What are you connecting to?

Your PODxt needs to adjust itself to deliver the best possible sound depending on what you’re connecting to. Press the tune/system clockwise until the display asks, “What are you connecting to?”

Press the Soft Button below dest and turn the effect tweak knob 14 to select studiO:

direct mode. In this mode, Line 6’s exclusive A.I.R. II DSP is active, and you are treated

to a virtual speaker-cabinet-air-microphone experience that’s so good you may never use a regular guitar ampliﬁer and microphone set up again.

Podxt Pro – Conﬁgurations & Connections

button and turn the select 16 knob

section

The dest setting you select will be remembered by your PODxt, so you don’t have to re-set it every time you power up. If you change it to a different setting for a special situation you come across, don’t forget to change it back again to the setting you normally use once you get back to your standard setup. When you plug your headphones into PODxt,

dest will be automatically set to studiO: direct, giving you the best tone for private jam-

ming.

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

and

Page 35

Getting Set Up

channel VOlume 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.

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

Setting Levels

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

Olume

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.

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

3•3

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

Page 36

Getting Set Up

3•4

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 it does not use traditional magnetic pickups.

Pedal Power

PODxt has several foot control options that make getting great guitar tracks even easier: the Line 6 FBV foot controllers offer a range of functionality from basic A, B, C, D chan-

nel changes to full real-time control over almost every parameter in the PODxt. While we’ll go into all the details in a later chapter, it’s good to know that both allow you to select PODxt channels, tap in your effect speeds/times/tempos, and kick in the tuner, plus both give you Wah and Volume pedal control. Whichever of these two Line 6 foot controllers you choose, it will plug into the PODxt older Line 6 Floor Board and FB4 pedals will not work with your PODxt.

Pedal jack. Remember that the

MIDI Mania

Those of you with MIDI-capable studios will ﬁnd that your PODxt lets you control

everything via MIDI. Using MIDI, you can select any PODxt Channel and automate any

xt parameter. You are truly lord of your domain. Pretty neat, huh? Read the Deep

POD

Editing & MIDI Control chapter if you plan to venture into this realm.

Re-Amping

What is Re-Amping?

For years, creative recording engineers have used what they call “re-amping” to add a whole other layer of creativity to the recording experience (some would say that it’s a whole other layer of complexity, but we won’t get into that particular argument here). What re-amping consists of, in the old-school way, is using a splitter/direct box to feed the guitar to both an amp (for monitoring and recording one track) and straight to the board (for a completely unprocessed dry signal to tape on a second track). This gives the ability to tweak the guitar tone after the fact. If you get the perfect performance, but discover on mixdown that the guitar tone isn’t sitting quite right in the track, you don’t have to bring the guitarist back into the studio (paying his exorbitant rates) to re-cut the track. You simply feed the dry guitar track back out to an amp and dial up a more appropriate tone.

To do all this used to require the aforementioned splitter/direct box, some sort of impedance and level matching box for feeding the signal back to the guitar amp (because the

Page 37

Getting Set Up

signal coming out of the board or direct from tape doesn’t look like a live guitar signal to the amp, so it won’t sound quite like a live guitar when you’re done), a box full of mics, a closet full of amps, a tangle of cables, and a lot of time to set all that stuff up. What a pain, huh? Well, with the PODxt, you’ve already got the box full of mics and the closet full of amps. We’ve built the rest into the USB driver (which is, of course, available for free from the Line 6 website or through the Line 6 Monkey program we’ve mentioned

earlier in this manual).

Re-Amping via USB

Once you’ve downloaded and installed the USB driver, whether directly from the Line 6 website or by letting Line 6 Monkey do all the work for you, you’re ready to re-amp. Here’s how:

The PODxt Family USB driver (which we will henceforth refer to as the driver to save our delicate typing ﬁngers, okay?) has four (4) different signal routing options, all of

which have their own purpose.

1. Send processed guitar – This routing option is the default setting for normal

3•5

recording. As you can see from the diagram, the guitar goes right to the internal processing of the PODxt, the processed signal is sent to the computer (so you can record it) and the output of the PODxt shows both the processed guitar signal and the tracks that you’re playing on the computer. Pretty straightforward, isn’t it?

Page 38

Getting Set Up

3•6

2. Send clean guitar – This is the basic re-amping “get my dry guitar recorded”

setting. The dry guitar input signal is sent to the computer for recording, and also to the internal processing of the PODxt so you can hear how the guitar sounds through the amp and effects you’ve dialed up. The tracks you’re playing and the processed guitar signal are sent to the output of the PODxt so you can monitor your performance.

3. Send clean guitar, re-amp playback – This one’s a little tricky, but it has it’s uses.

The dry guitar is sent to the computer and to the internal processing. The computer signal is also sent to the internal processing and only the internally processed signal from the PODxt is sent to the outputs. This one is useful if you’re trying to double a guitar track you’ve already recorded (or play a harmony line or contrapuntal part to that track) for a track that you’ll also be re-amping. You’ll generally be playing only the 1st track and a click reference unless you like the sound of the entire band through a raging ampliﬁer.

Page 39

4. Send Re-amp playback – This would be your traditional re-amping set up. The

computer audio is sent to the internal processing of the PODxt, and the processed signal is fed back to the computer for recording and to the outputs of the PODxt for monitoring.

So how do we put this all together? Here’s the basic workﬂow:

1. Using routing setting 2 - Send Clean Guitar, record the basic guitar track while

monitoring the whole mix through the PODxt’s outputs. This should result in a recorded track of crystal clear, unprocessed dry guitar.

2. Using routing setting 4 - Send Re-amp Playback, use your recording program to

assign the playback of the track you want to re-amp to the PODxt input and arm a new track for recording that’s assigned to the PODxt output. When you press “Record” on your software, what you should end up with is a new track that has all the juicy goodness of PODxt’s amp and effect modeling, while leaving your original dry track alone, so you can do it all over again with yet another round of re-amping.

Getting Set Up

3•7

Obviously, with all these different routing options available, there are a lot of other

things you can do - far more than we can cover in this manual, as a matter of fact. We recommend spending some time experimenting with the other routing options after you get the basic process down, and if you come up with something really cool and twisted, let us know.

A few notes about stuff that you may run into:

Latency – No doubt about it, computer recording has latency issues. Anytime you send

Page 40

Getting Set Up

3•8

a signal in and out of the computer, it takes time, even if it’s only a couple of milliseconds. That new track you record by re-amping will be just a wee bit behind the original track. Do it a few times and it’ll start to sound funny. Check your recording software for a latency compensation feature. Sometimes it’s automatic, sometimes you just have to drag the new drag backwards a couple of ticks to line it up with the original. Unfortunately, there’s no magic wand for this. Time only moves forward, at least until you drag the track back.

Latency, part II – How your buffer size is set on your recording software can have an adverse effect on latency. Larger buffers equal higher latency, small buffers equal more load on your CPU, which can mean clicks, pops, and dropouts. Every system is different, so you’ll have to spend some time ﬁnding out what the most reliable settings on your system are. We highly recommend NOT having other programs (like email, browser, and especially games) running in the background while you’re recording. After all, they don’t play Pong on the board in a pro recording studio.

Imaging – It may have stereo outputs, but the PODxt’s input is mono only. You can’t feed it a stereo signal (well, you can, but what you’ll get out is mono). It’s important to remember that when you’re assigning tracks to the PODxt for re-amping.

Page 41

Podxt — Playing Live

xt prO users, fast forwarD to the pOdxt prO – cOnfiGuratiOns &

pOd

OnnectiOns section at the enD of this chaPter.

Getting Set Up

Mount Up

If you perform live, you’ll probably want to have the PODxt in a handy spot on stage. One of the easiest ways to get it there is with the optional PODxt mic stand/amp top adaptor you can get from Line 6 — it’s described on the Line 6 web site (where it can also be purchased). We know this is another shameless plug to get you to buy more gear, but what the heck — this really is a handy little item to get the PODxt’s righteous red aluminum chassis wherever you need it for mid-show tweaking. And that custom PODxt

carry case is simply smashing.... But let’s get back to educational stuff:

Keeping Your Options Open

When you’re playing live with PODxt, you’ve got a choice of setups. You can plug straight out of the PODxt’s outputs into the house system for awesome tone without the hassle of mics and cabinets and all that other stage setup. You can also choose to run

xt into a power amp and speaker cabinets, using it as the ultimate preamp. Or, you

POD

can plug your PODxt in between your guitar and a guitar ampliﬁer so PODxt acts as a tone shaping front end for the amp. Whichever setup you choose, you’re gonna have to tell your PODxt about it ﬁrst. Read along and we’ll get’cha dialed in like a pro.

What are you connecting to?

You can supply your PODxt with one of three answers to this question, and thereby ensure that your friend on the ﬂoor gives you the best possible tones in any setup. Press the Tune/System button and turn the Select knob clockwise until the display asks, “What are you connecting to?”

3•9

Page 42

Getting Set Up

studiO direct—When plugging PODxt 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 for amazing amp and effect tone, night after night. Line 6 exclusive A.I.R.

processing serves up a virtual speaker-cabinet-air-microphone experience so good you may never use a regular guitar ampliﬁer and microphone on stage again. You’re as powerful as the entire P.A.—and guaranteed to be in the mix!

3•10

cOmBO frOnt, cOmBO pwramp, stack frOnt & stack pwramp

— Choose one of these modes when you’re plugging your PODxt into another guitar amp, or a power amp and guitar speakers. When you’re running Amp Modeling in your

xt with one of these modes activated, the Mic and Room components of A.I.R.

POD

are turned off, and the Cabinet Models are revoiced to sound their best coming through the kind of speaker you choose. The “Pwramp” variations should be used when you’re 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. Choose a “Front” variation when you’re plugging right into the front of a combo amp or head, which will also run you through that amp’s preamp section. The two “Front” modes also give you some Tone Correction controls, as shown here:

The idea of these Tone Correction controls is to adjust 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 to get decent results in this sort of a conﬁguration, or shift the focus of the mid frequencies, so that’s what these controls are set to do. 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 that the PODxt will send out. 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.

Page 43

And last but not least On our lineup of available dest choices is...

Getting Set Up

BOSE PS1

—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.

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 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, then you’ll generally get the best results turning the amp modeling off on PODxt, and using a stomp box model when you want to add distortion. The sounds that are 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 be sure you’ve made the proper choice of cOmBO frOnt or stack frOnt on the “What are you connecting to?” system page (see page 3•5).

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. If you’ve got an amp with effect send/return jacks, or a power amp input, we recommend you ﬁrst try feeding your PODxt’s input into them, bypassing your guitar amp’s own preamp and its tone contribution. Then be sure you’ve made the proper choice of cOmBO pwramp or stack pwramp on the “What are you connecting to?” system page (see page the front of your amp, try cOmBO frOnt or stack frOnt mode on the “What are you connecting to?” system page.

3•5). If, instead, you’re plugging right into the guitar input on

3•11

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. When you’re plugging into the front of an amp, it’s a good idea to start off with that amp in neutral. What is “neutral,” you ask? Well, if you only have one volume control on your amp, set it low enough to get a “clean” tone; that ensures 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

Page 44

Getting Set Up

3•12

amp to amp, but usually the input volume is going to be less than the master volume to get a clean, non-distorted 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

utput so you’re not overdriving the input of the amp.

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 effects models, you probably still want to have the option of keeping those old pedals in your arsenal. No problem! Just remember that if you’re going to use PODxt with those other effects boxes in front, they’re going to act differently based on the Amp Model you’ve selected on your PODxt. It’s just like you’d expect — different combinations will produce a veritable feast of tone! Some distortion boxes may sound overly harsh if you max their output volume into your PODxt. Try lowering the distortion box’s volume, and you can always add more gain with PODxt’s driVe knob or its own stOmp effects.

Page 45

Podxt Pro — Conﬁgurations & Connections

FEATURE FOCUS

To use the USB connector, visit www.line6.com to download PoDxt USB Driver Software, as well as Line 6 Edit Mac/Windows software or GuitarPort (Windows only) software.

Getting Set Up

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

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

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

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.

digi-

3•13

Page 46

Getting Set Up

FEATURE FOCUS

3•14

Input & Digital Out Options

Press the i/O & diG select button 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.

once to see this page and select from PODxt

Page 47

MODE: Normal or Dry Guitar

FEATURE FOCUS

Getting Set Up

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•15 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

on that.

3•15

3•15 for more

Page 48

Getting Set Up

FEATURE FOCUS

3•16

What are you connecting to?

You can supply your PODxt Pro with one of three answers to this question, and thereby insure that your trusty tone partner gives you the best possible sound in any setup. To start the dialogue, press the i/O & diG select button “What are you connecting to?”

studiO: direct—When plugging PODxt Pro straight into a P.A., or using in-ear monitor-

ing systems, press the Soft Button below dest and turn the effect tweak knob 14 to select studiO: direct for amazing tone, night after night. Line 6 exclusive A.I.R. process- ing serves up a virtual speaker-cabinet-air-microphone experience so good you may never use a regular guitar ampliﬁer and microphone on stage again. You’re as powerful as the entire P.A.—and guaranteed to be in the mix!

liVe: cOmBO & liVe: stack—These modes are best when you are running into a power

amp that is driving guitar cabinets. The Mic and Room components of A.I.R. are turned off, and the Cabinet Models are revoiced to sound their best coming out of the 1/4-inch jacks to feed the kind of speaker you choose. The XLR outputs have additional processing to simulate the sound as it will be heard coming out of your speakers, and can be sent to a P.A. or house sound system.

twice to see the display ask,

BOSE PS1

speaker 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. It is important that you use only the XLR outputs in this mode, connecting them to the Bose system. (The 1/4-inch outputs do not output correct sound in this special mode.)

xt Pro remembers the dest setting you choose, so you don’t have to re-set every

POD

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’re back to your regular setup.

—Choose this when plugging into a Bose PS1 Cylindrical Radiator™ loud-

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Getting Set Up

FEATURE FOCUS

FX Loop

Press the Soft Button below fx lOOp and spin the effect tweak 14 knob to choose

series or parallel operation for the loop.

Setting lOOp to series means that 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 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% wet. Then adjust the balance of effect versus uneffected PODxt Pro sound by adjusting the output volume control of the connected effect unit.

3•17

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.

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Getting Set Up

FEATURE FOCUS

AES/EBU or S/PDIF Data Format?

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.

Since both of PODxt Pro’s physical digital outputs always sends the same data, we’ve

3•18

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, this parameter is for you:

Radiation Alert

You’ll probably 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 it does not use traditional magnetic pickups.

Page 51

Pedal Power

FEATURE FOCUS

PODxt Pro has a couple of foot control options that make getting great guitar tracks even easier: the Line 6 FBV and FBV Shortboard. While we’ll go into all the details in a later chapter, it’s good to know that both allow you to select PODxt Pro channels, tap in your effect speeds/times/tempos, and kick in the tuner, plus both give you Wah and Volume pedal control. Whichever of these two Line 6 foot controllers you choose, it will plug into the PODxt Pro Pedal 6 jack. Remember that the older Line 6 Floor Board and FB4 pedals will not work with your PODxt Pro.

MIDI Mania

Those of you with MIDI-capable studios will ﬁnd that your PODxt Pro lets you control everything via MIDI. Using MIDI, you can select any PODxt Pro Channel and automate any PODxt Pro parameter. You are truly lord of your domain. Pretty neat, huh? Read the

Deep Editing & MIDI Control chapter if you plan to venture into this realm.

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.

Getting Set Up

3•19

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.

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Getting Set Up

FEATURE FOCUS

3•20

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

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

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, 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.

Page 53

Getting Set Up

FEATURE FOCUS

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.

3•21

Press the i/O & diG select button

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

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 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...

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

once to see this page if it’s not already shown:

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Getting Set Up

FEATURE FOCUS

3•22

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.

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Creating & Storing Sounds

creatinG & storinG sounds

This chapter gives you the inside scoop on editing your new PODxt. Here, we’ll take you through everything from loading and changing sounds to full customization of PODxt’s Amp and Effect Models. Even you power users will want to read on and learn the tips and tricks to the quickest way around for instant tonal satisfaction. You can also use Line 6 Edit software, downloadable from www.line6.com, to edit your PODxt, backup your memory, and save a library of sounds on your computer.

Recalling Channel Memories

When you ﬁrst turn your PODxt on, the display will look something like this:

Use the select knob to spin through the channels, which are organized into 16 Banks, where each Bank has four Channel Memories: A, B, C, D. (Chapter 8 tells how to do this and more with your feet to make your guitar-playing hands happy!)

4•1

Try spinning that select knob to ﬁnd something you like. Need a bit more bass, or perhaps lots more drive? No problem! Simply reach up, grab a knob and twiddle away, my friend. In addition to the tone, volume and reVerB knobs, you’ve got those handy on/off buttons for the effects, plus the smart effect tweak knob that is always ready to change the most important effects parameter.

Recalling Effect Setups

One of the handy functions of your new PODxt is the ability to create and save custom Effect Setups. Think of them like pre-wired pedal-boards, or pre programmed rack gear. Your PODxt sports 64 of these setups, and they are accessed by turning the effects knob. Give that knob a spin to see the names and hear the sounds of all those Effect Setups as you turn. Later in this chapter we’ll show you how to save your own custom Effect Setups for use anytime, anywhere!

Editing Basics

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Creating & Storing Sounds

In this section we’ll take a trip into tweak. A Deep Dive into the way your PODxt works, and how to make it best work for you. PODxt’s knobs, buttons and display give you direct access to absolutely every detail. No need to connect to a computer for detailed editing as is required for the original POD.

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

4•2

you tweak here, by the way, 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? No worries! Press twice quickly on the cOmp, stOmp, mOd or delay button any time to go straight to the ﬁrst page of parameters for the associated effect. Another double-press will pop you right back out of Edit, so you can surf for more tone. (The caB/a.i.r. button just takes a single press to select its page, or leave Edit.)

directly below it and spin effect tweak. Everything

When the edit button is NOT lit, you’ll notice that the two right Soft Buttons have the boxed words Gate and eQ. Double-press one of them to jump right to the edit- ing page for that effect. Then press the edit button to leave again.

Inside the Edit Menu

When the edit button is lit, you’ll see that there 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 the menu, with each dot in the graphic representing one of the available edit pages. This “scroll bar” is there to help you keep your place in the great circle of life, er, edit pages.

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Creating & Storing Sounds

Amp knob settings

With the edit button lit, spin the select knob counterclockwise to select the ﬁrst page from the edit menu. This page shows the knob settings for the current channel. With the edit button NOT lit, double-press the Soft Button labeled amp to see the Amp Model settings. It looks like this:

At the top of the display you’ll also see the Amp Model name. Now, spin the amp

Odels knob. See 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 on the display. Cool, huh? And notice that the little dots are still where they were. This allows you to compare your edit with the saved settings for this Channel Memory. Now, that’s handy!

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Amp Bypass Channel Volume

If you’ve got the amp off, the display will instead look like this:

This is the volume that this channel will be set to when amp is bypassed. It does not affect the volume that you’ll hear when amp is not bypassed.

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Creating & Storing Sounds

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

From the Amp Knob display, turn Select one click to the right (you can also get here directly by pressing the Cab/A.I.R. button). You’re now looking at something like this:

4•4

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 displayed word caB, then use the effect tweak knob to spin through the available Cabinet models.

You can change the microphone selection or spread of the room the same way. Press the button under the displayed word mic, then use effect tweak to spin through the Mic op- tions, or press the button under rOOm and dial in more or less room.

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! Remember, you can get to this page at anytime from anywhere with a single press of the caB/a.i.r. button.

Comp/Gate settings

From the A.I.R. settings display, turn select one click to the right (you can also get here directly by double-pressing the cOmp button any time, or double-pressing the Soft Button under the word Gate when the edit button is not already lit). You’re now looking at something like this:

Just like any other edit page, you can press a Soft Button then turn the effect tweak knob to adjust the settings shown here. Chapter 6 tells you more about getting the most out of the Comp and Gate effects.

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Creating & Storing Sounds

EQ settings

From the Comp/Gate settings display, turn select one click to the right (you can also get here directly by double-pressing the Soft Button button is not already lit). Welcome to the eQ edit display:

under the word eQ when the edit

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. Press the far right Soft Button and turn the effect tweak knob to adjust freQ for the correctly 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 insure that the changes you’re making are improving your sound.

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Creating & Storing Sounds

Stomp settings

From the EQ settings display, turn Select one click to the right, or simply double-press the Stomp button. You’ll be looking at the Stompbox Edit page that looks something like this:

4•6

As with all of the effects, the ﬁrst button from the left below the display allows you to choose the effect 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.

Mod and Delay settings

Turn the Select knob one click clockwise from the Stomp page(s), or double-press the Mod button to see the Mod settings pages. Turn Select another couple clicks clockwise

or double-press the Delay button to see the Delay pages. 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:

Delay Edit Page 1

Delay Edit Page 2

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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 determine 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

elay 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:

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Creating & Storing Sounds

Setting your Tone to Tempo

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

4•8

1. Select the

2. Spin e

Delay time or Mod speed by pressing the button below it.

ffect tweak counter-clockwise until you start seeing little notes in the place

where milliseconds or Hertz used to be. 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, the time control will look like this:

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:

Here you’ve got the ability to change the reverb model (PODxt’s got plenty of them), as well as the associated parameters necessary to get that really groovy verb going on. The only thing you won’t ﬁnd is reverb Mix — that’s because the mix is controlled by the dedicated reVerB

knob.

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Creating & Storing Sounds

Wah Settings

From the last Reverb edit page, spin the select knob one click clockwise and you’ll ﬁnd the wah pedal parameters. 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 automatically. In fact, you can even save the position you want the wah to be set at when it comes on — by pressing the button below pOsi and twiddling that effect tweak knob.

Volume Settings

Spin the select knob one more click clockwise and you’re at the volume pedal parameters. The display should look like this:

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.

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Creating & Storing Sounds

Assigning the Pedal and Tweak Knob and dialing in Tempo

Light up the Edit button and spring the Select knob clockwise to the last page and you’ll get this page:

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Press the Soft Button

under assiGn, and you can pick what the pedal of an optional

FBV Shortboard will control. Here are your choices:

Setting Internal Pedal Pedal 2

1 - w/Off 2 - vOl

1 - tweak 2 - vOl

1 - w/v 2 - tweak

Wah/Off Volume

Tweak Volume

Wah/Volume Tweak

Press the Soft Button under tweak, and you can choose which parameter the effect

weak knob will adjust when you are not in the edit pages.

The right side of this display shows you the tempo for this Channel Memory. This tempo is used to calculate the time/speed of any delay and modulation effects that you set to follow tempo. You set the tempo by tapping the tap button a couple of times. Or you can press the button beneath tempO and spin the effect tweak knob until you get exactly the tempo that will make your heart beat with passion and joy!

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Creating & Storing Sounds

Saving Yourself

PODxt lets you save as many as 128 tones that you create as described earlier in this chapter. And even though we ship it to you chock full of some of our favorites, go ahead and save over whatever you want. We recommend spending some time with each of the factory sounds so you’ll know which you want to keep, and which you’ll want to save over. And don’t worry, because we’ll soon show you how to recall that favorite factory sound you just saved over and simply have to get back. You can also visit www.line6.com to check out the ToneTransfer database, surf around, pull a few down, and even add your own masterpieces to the lot.

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.

Of course, you might want to stick your sound somewhere else, or at least change the name so you know which one it is. PODxt lets you do that just as easily.

To save your edit to a new location - Make your edits, then press saVe. This calls up a screen that looks something like this:

4•11

Now, press the button under the display that reads dest (short for destination) and then use 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.

Give your tone a name - Make your edits, then press saVe. Again, you’ll see a display like the one above. Now, 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 tweak to change the selected character. When you’re done, press

aVe again to complete the job. See, that wasn’t so bad.

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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. This brilliance will then be available instantly at the turn of the amp mOdel knob, loading your customized version of the Amp Model, including your chosen Cab Model, Mic selection and your personal tweak of the ‘room’. This way, when you turn the amp mOdel knob to load the Plexi-45 model, you’ll get your personal Plexi-45, with all the controls set for your very own version. Here’s how it works:

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Choose an Amp Model, change the cab, tweak the room, and even use a different microphone. Press the saVe button, then use the select knob to show the display that looks like this:

You have entered the land of Custom Save. Now, if you want your current settings to be recalled with this Amp Model, simply press saVe again.

xt saves the following controls with an Amp Model, and loads them when you

POD

turn the amp mOdels knob:

Controls you can customize

Amp Models

Cabinet Models

Microphone Model and Room amount

Drive, Bass, Middle, Treble, and Presence controls

Channel Volume

EQ settings

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Creating & Storing Sounds

Custom Saving Effect Setups

As we mentioned earlier, you’ve got easy access to as many as 64 pre-wired pedal-boards and racks in your PODxt just by spinning the effects knob. We’ve set up 64 of these for you, but if you always use that tweaked-up fuzz box feeding into your favorite settings of an analog delay pedal, then phase it all up after the amp, and you use that over and over with different Amp Models, just make it your own custom Effect Setup. Then, you can mix it with any of your customized Amp Models any time you want.

It’s easy, just:

Press saVe and use the select knob to scroll down to the page that looks like this:

Where to put it — Press the button under the display that’s labeled dest (destina- tion) and then use the effect tweak knob to select a location to store it. You may decide to save these settings in the current location, or you can choose any of the 64 total spots.

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.

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.

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Creating & Storing Sounds

MIDI Dumps

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, read on. 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. If you’re exchanging MIDI with a computer, you also have the option of installing the PODxt Family USB Driver software (a free download from www.line6.com) and have your PODxt exchange MIDI messages with your computer over a USB cable.

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You can then transfer:

• All Channels

• The Current Channel

• The Effect Setups

• The Amp Setups (including your customizations)

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?

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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:

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

Any Channel Memory:

All Channel Memories:

All Amp Models:

All Effects Setups:

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.

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Page 70

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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...

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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

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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.

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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.

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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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-

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.

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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.

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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.

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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).

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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®.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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...

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Solo 100 - Based on* a Soldano SLO-100

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Modeled Amps & Cabs

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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.

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Modeled Amps & Cabs

Class A-30 TB - Based on* a 1967 Vox

AC-30 Top Boost

Music was changing in the early ’60s and guitarists were asking for more brilliance & twang. So the Jennings Company, makers of Vox® amps, decided to add Treble and Bass controls (and an extra 12AX7 gain stage, incidentally) in addition to the Treble Cut knob it already had (which in actuality was a sliding bandpass ﬁlter that always seemed like it was working backwards); this additional circuit became known as Top Boost.

The AC 30 with Top Boost was the amp made famous by many British invasion bands. Much of the unique character of the Vox® sound can be attributed to the fact that Class A amps overdrive in a very different way than Class AB. Brian May of Queen, Mike Campbell of Tom Petty’s Heartbreakers, and The Edge of U2 have all used classic AC 30s to make their music. Although usually played fairly clean, a cranked AC 30 has a great saturated lead tone, a la Brian May on the early Queen albums.

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On this Amp Model, PODxt’s middle control acts like the original Cut knob on the AC

30.

For this model, we used the Hi gain input of the Brilliant channel. We also turned the tone controls around, since original Top Boost amps had the bass and treble turned all the way down when the knob was all the way up. Go ﬁgure.

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Modeled Amps & Cabs

Tube Preamp

Not even close to being a guitar amp, but once we got started, we just couldn’t stop ourselves. The thinking went like this: ‘Once people get this PODxt, they’re gonna wish they could use it for everything — warming up keyboards, crunching up drums, fuzzing up vocals. We’ve gotta give ’em something to do that!’ So we did. The Tube Preamp Model lets you warm up any sound source the way producers and engineers often do in the studio with vintage tube gear. For more “edge” on vocals, try running your vocal tracks through PODxt. Or punch up (or munch up) a synth bass track by sending it through PODxt and cranking up the Drive and EQ controls to suit your taste. Although this is not actually a guitar amp model, you can even get some great guitar tones out of it. Also try using it as a direct box for bass. When you do this stuff, you want to use the Drive control like a mix knob on a reverb to control how much processing you want

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to hear. You generally don’t want to mix the pre-PODxt sound with the post-PODxt sound because of the comb ﬁltering that results. Instead, jack the sound source right into

POD

the EQ is “ﬂat.”

xt and then only monitor it through PODxt. With the tone controls at 12 o’clock,

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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. ORANGE is a registered trademark of Orange Musical Electronic Company, Ltd.

Citrus D-30 - Based on* a 2005 Orange

AD30TC

In 1968, in a little music store on Old Compton St. in London, Clifford Cooper was having trouble getting ampliﬁer manufacturers to take him seriously as a dealer, as they thought he was too young, and his shop too small. So he did what seemed only logical to an enthusiatic young man with a background in electrical engineering – he designed and built his own ampliﬁers, Since he had come into a large quantiy of bright orange vinyl, that was what he used to cover his cabinets. It wasn’t long before high-proﬁle musicians like Fleetwood Mac, Stevie Wonder, and Frank Zappa were beating a path to his door. This model is based on a Orange® AD30TC head, a 30 watt, Class A number with a great personality that gracefully marries vintage british mid-gain breakup with modern shimmer and presence. Back off the drive and you’ll get chimey boutique tones, dig in with the drive up and the AD30 purrs pure Brit Rock tone.

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Modeled Amps & Cabs

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Class A-30 Fawn - Based on* a Non Top Boost Vox

AC-30

This Amp Model is based on the Normal Channel of a Non Top Boost Vox® AC-30. The early Vox® amps were the ﬁrst designed especially for electric guitar (Hey, some early amps from other manufacturers have Accordion inputs! Polka, anyone?), and used Class A power amp designs, rather than the much more common Class AB type. We were lucky enough to ﬁnd what we are told was one of Bryan Adams’ favorite AC 30s for recording. Lenny Kravitz happened to be using it the week before we began testing. It was one of the gems in a great collection of vintage ampliﬁers offered for rental in Los Angeles, where Line 6 is located. We later bought this amp, and continued to hone our emulation of it. This is deﬁnitely a good place to start to get yourself some of those classic British invasion sounds. Like the Model A-15, the AC 30 NTB has only a single treble control, so PODxt’s Bass and Middle controls here are set up for cut/boost after the Amp Model processing to add a little extra ﬂexibility without compromising the accuracy of the model. The 12 o’clock setting on these controls is ﬂat response.

Here we modeled the Normal Channel and, as we did on the Class A-15 and Class A-30 TB model, we reversed the action of the Treble knob, so it doesn’t behave ‘backwards’ from every other amp.

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Modeled Amps & Cabs

Brit Gain 18 - Based on* a Marshall

1974X “authentic re-issue”

Based on the Marshall® 1974X “authentic re-issue” of the famous 1974 18W Combo from the late ‘60’s. (brief editorial aside: Marshall® has had a long tradition of coming up with model numbers that can easily be taken for years. The Model 1974 combo was manufacturer from 1965 to 1968, the Model 1961 and 1962 combos were ﬁrst made in 1965. Is it any wonder we look confused sometimes?). The 1974 has a basic preamp, (gain and tone controls) and a cathode biased twin EL84 power amp. It is a great recording ampliﬁer, with a wonderfully com-pressed and harmonically rich tone.

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Line 6 POD xt, POD xt Pro User Manual

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual