Line 6 POD xt Pro User Manual

POD

ULTIMATE TONE FOR GUITAR

POD

ULTIMATE TONE FOR GUITAR + DIG I/O

Pilot’s Handbook

An in-depth exploration of the revolutionary technologies and pulsing tonal pleasures that lurk within PODXT and PODXT Pro.

PRO

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

EFFECT MODELS

STOMPS MODEL BASED ON

FACIAL FUZZ .......................FUZZ FACE

FUZZ PI ..............................BIG MUFF PI

SCREAMER..........................TS 808

CLASSIC DIST......................RAT

OCTAVE FUZZ......................OCTAVIA

BLUE COMP ........................BOSS CS-1

RED COMP..........................DYNA COMP

VETTA COMP .......................LINE 6 ORIGINAL

AUTO SWELL.......................LINE 6 ORIGINAL

AUTO WAH..........................MUTRON III

LUX SPRING STD SPRING KING SPRING

AMP MODELS

# AMP MODEL MODEL BASED ON

0 ......BYPASS..........................(Bypasses the Amp Model)

1 ......TUBE PREAMP..................TUBE INSTRUMENT PREAMP

2 ......LINE 6 CLEAN...................LINE 6 21st CENTURY CLEAN

3 ......LINE 6 JTS-45..................LINE 6 ORIGINAL

4 ......LINE 6 CLASS A................LINE 6 ORIGINAL

5 ......LINE 6 MOOD..................LINE 6 ORIGINAL

6 ......SPINAL PUPPET................LINE 6 ORIGINAL

7 ......LINE 6 CHEM X................LINE 6 CHEMICAL X

8 ......LINE 6 INSANE.................WAY TOO MANY HOURS OF SHREDDING

9 ......LINE 6 ACO 2...................LINE 6 PIEZO ACOUSTIC 2

10 ....ZEN MASTER....................BUDDA TWINMASTER 2x12 Combo

11 ....SMALL TWEED .................‘53 FENDER DELUXE

12 ....TWEED B-MAN .................‘58 FENDER BASSMAN

13 ....TINY TWEED....................‘60 TWEED FENDER CHAMP

14 ....BLACKFACE LUX................‘64 FENDER DELUXE REVERB

15 ....DOUBLE VERB..................‘65 FENDER BLACKFACE TWIN

16 ....TWO-T0NE.......................GRETSCH 6156

MODULATIONS MODEL BASED ON

SINE CHORUS .....................LINE 6 ORIGINAL

ANALOG CHORUS.................CE-1 CHORUS

LINE 6 FLANGER ..................LINE 6 ORIGINAL

JET FLANGER.......................ADA FLANGER

PHASER..............................PHASE 90

U-VIBE................................UNI VIBE

OPTO TREM.........................FENDER OPTO

BIAS TREM..........................VOX BIAS

ROTARY DRUM & HORN........LESLIE 145

ROTARY DRUM ....................FENDER VIBRATONE

AUTO PAN...........................LINE 6 ORIGINAL

REVERBS

SMALL ROOM TILED ROOM BRITE ROOM

DARK HALL MEDIUM HALL LARGE HALL

DELAYS MODEL BASED ON

ANALOG .............................BOSS DM-2

ANALOG W/ MOD................EH MEMORYMAN

TUBE ECHO.........................EP-1 ECHOPLEX

MULTI-HEAD........................ROLAND SPACE ECHO

SWEEP ECHO ......................LINE 6 ORIGINAL

DIGITAL ..............................LINE 6 ORIGINAL

STEREO DELAY.....................LINE 6 ORIGINAL

PING PONG DELAY................LINE 6 ORIGINAL

REVERSE ............................LINE 6 ORIGINAL

RICH CHAMBER CHAMBER CAVERNOUS

# AMP MODEL MODEL BASED ON

17 ....HIWAY 100.....................HIWATT CUSTOM 100

18 ....PLEXI 45.........................‘65 MARSHALL JTM-45

19 ....PLEXI LEAD......................‘68 MARSHALL ‘PLEXI’ SUPER LEAD

20 ....PLEXI JUMP LEAD.............JUMPERED MARSHALL SUPER LEAD

21 ....PLEXI VARIAC...................VARIAC’D MARSHALL SUPER LEAD

22 ....BRIT J-800......................MARSHALL JCM 800

23 ....BRIT JM PRE....................MARSHALL JMP-1 PREAMP

24 ....MATCH CHIEF...................‘96 MATCHLESS CHIEFTAIN

25 ....MATCH D-30....................MATCHLESS DC-30

26 ....THREADPLATE...................2001 MESA BOOGIE DUAL RECTIFIER

27 ....CALI CRUNCH...................‘85 MESA BOOGIE MARK IIC+

28 ....JAZZ CLEAN .....................‘87 ROLAND JC-120

29 ....SOLO 100.......................SOLDANO SLO-100 HEAD

30 ....SUPER O.........................SUPRO S6616

31 ....CLASS A-15.....................‘60 VOX AC-15

32 ....CLASS A-30 TB.................‘67 VOX AC-30 TOP BOOST

SLAP PLATE VINTAGE PLATE LARGE PLATE

CABINET MODELS

# CAB MODEL MODEL BASED ON

0 ......NO CAB...........................N/A

1 ......1X6 SUPER O..................SUPRO S6616

2 ......1X8 TWEED.....................‘60 TWEED FENDER CHAMP

3 ......1X10 GIBTONE................GIBSON EXPLORER

4 ......1X10 G-BRAND................GRETSCH

5 ......1X12 LINE 6 ...................LINE 6 ORIGINAL

6 ......1X12 TWEED...................‘53 FENDER DELUXE REVERB

7 ......1X12 BLACKFACE.............‘65 FENDER DELUXE REVERB

All amp, cab and effect 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.

# AMP MODEL MODEL BASED ON

8 ......1X12 CLASS A.................VOX AC-15 W/ GRAYBELLS

9 ......2X2 MINI T.....................FENDER MINI TWIN

10 ....2X12 LINE 6 ...................LINE 6 ORIGINAL

11 ....2X12 BLACKFACE.............'65 FENDER BLACKFACE TWIN

12 ....2X12 MATCH...................'96 MATCHLESS CHIEFTAIN

13 ....2X12 JAZZ......................ROLAND JC-120

14 ....2X12 CLASS A.................VOX AC-30 TB

15 ....4X10 LINE 6 ...................LINE 6 ORIGINAL

# AMP MODEL MODEL BASED ON

16 ....4X10 TWEED...................'58 FENDER BASSMAN

17 ....4X12 LINE 6 ...................LINE 6 ORIGINAL

18 ....4X12 GREEN 20’s............MARSHALL W/ GREENBACK 20'S

19 ....4X12 GREEN 25’s............MARSHALL W/ GREENBACK 25'S

20 ....4X12 BRIT T75................MARSHALL W/ GR-T75'S

21 ....4X12 BRIT V30’S ............MARSHALL W/ VINTAGE 30'S

22 ....4X12 THREADPLATE..........MESA W/ CUSTOM CELESTIONS

CONTROLS REFERENCE

31 32 33 34 35 36

6 7

LEFT/MONO RIGHT LEFT/MONO RIGHT

L/MONO R/MONO LEFT RIGHT OUTIN

STUDIO:

LIVE:

-10 dBV

+4 dBu

GROUND LIFT

(not compatible with Floor Board or FB4)

FBV Class Foot Controller only

Unbalanced

EFFECTS RETURNEFFECTS SEND

LIVE:

FEED TO ONSTAGE AMP

GROUND

USBPEDAL

SERIES/PARALLEL VIA

I/O & DIG SELECT

BUTTON

STUDIO:

RECORDING OUTPUT

Line Level

Input

ANALOG REAMPING INPUT/OUTPUT

Balanced: Tip = + / Ring = -

Unprocessed

Guitar Out

UNBAL ANALOG OUT

BALANCED ANALOG OUT AES/EBU S/PDIF

SET MODES & LEVELS VIA

I/O & DIG SELECT

WARNING/AVIS:

SHOCK HAZARD – DO NOT OPEN. RISQUE DE CHOC ÉLECTRIQUE – NE PAS

OUVRIR. TO REDUCE THE RISK OF FIRE OR ELECTRIC SHOCK DO NOT

EXPOSE THIS EQUIPMENT TO RAIN OR MOISTURE. TO REDUCE THE RISK

OF ELECTRIC SHOCK DO NOT REMOVE COVER. NO USER SERVICEABLE

PARTS INSIDE. REFER SERVICING TO QUALIFIED SERVICE PERSONNEL.

BUTTON

29 30

1318

POWER

SIGNAL

( G

T E

)

S T O

M P

M O D

D E L A

CLIP

0 10

EFFECTS

231921

AMP MODELS

THIS DEVICE COMPLIES WITH PART 15 OF THE FCC RULES.

OPERATION IS SUBJECT TO THE FOLLOWING TWO

CONDITIONS: (1) THIS DEVICE MAY NOT CAUSE HARMFUL

INTERFERENCE, AND (2) THIS DEVICE MUST ACCEPT ANY

INTERFERENCE RECEIVED, INCLUDING INTERFERENCE THAT

MAY CAUSE UNDESIRED OPERATION.

OUT

0 10 0 10 0 10

CHAN VOLREVERB OUTPUT

0 10

MIDDLE TREBLEBASSDRIVE PRESENCE

N222

MIDI

OUT/THRUIN

POWER REQUIREMENTS

RISK OF ELECTRIC SHOCK

100 - 120V ~

100 W Max.

CAUTION

50 - 60Hz

DO NOT OPEN

NORMAL PAD

INPUT LEVEL

Guitar inPHONES

SELECT

POD

ULTIMATE TONE FOR GUITAR

PRO

DIG I/O

0 100 100 10

I/O & DIG

0 10

DRIVE

10 10

(

SELECT

)

0 10

MIDDLE

POD

ULTIMATE TONE FOR GUITAR

0 10

BASS

21 23

0 10

TREBLE

EFFECT

TWEAK

PRESENCE

1416

0 10

CHAN VOL

0 10

OUTPUT

15 13

AMP MODELS

NAVIGATION REFERENCE

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

SELECT

selects pages

• Otherwise, “SELECT” chooses Channel Memories

EDIT PAGES SAVE PAGES

• Amp Settings

• A.I.R. Settings

• Compressor and Gate Settings

• Stomp Select and Settings

• Modulation Select and Settings

• Modulation Settings (page 2)

• Delay Select and Settings

• Delay Settings (page 2)

• Reverb Select and Settings

• Wah and Volume Settings

• FX Tweak and Tempo Settings

)

(

TUNER PAGES

0 10

REVERB

EFFECTS

• 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.

• Save Sound to Channel Memory

• Custom Save Amp Model

• Custom Save Effects Setup

• Single Factory Channel recall

• Factory Recall

• MIDI Dump

• Tuner

• Input/Digital Out (PODxt Pro Only)

• What are you connecting to?

• Display contrast

• MIDI

• PODXT Software Version

FBV SERIES REFERENCE

FX LOOP

STOMP MODULATION

CHANNEL BCHANNEL A CHANNEL DCHANNEL C

FX LOOP STOMP BOX 1 STOMP BOX 2 STOMP BOX 3

FBV SHORTBOARD

DELAY

REVERB

TAP

HOLD FOR TUNER

CUSTOM FOOT CONTROLLER

VOLUME WAH

WAH PEDAL 1 PEDAL 2VOLUME

FACTORY/USER

AMP 2AMP 1

DELAYMODULATIONTREMOLOREVERB

TAP TEMPO

HOLD FOR TUNER

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

SIGNAL FLOW & EFFECTS ROUTING OPTIONS

GATE

VOLUME

WAH STOMP DELAYMODULATION

COMP

VOLUME

THE "WHAT ARE YOU CONNECTED TO?" EDIT PAGE

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

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

MODULATION DELAY

(

see text pages for PODXT Pro details

LIVE : 4x12 LIVE : 2x12STUDIO : DIRECT

AMP/CAB + A.I.R. II

REVERB

)

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.

LOOP

(PODXT Pro only)

LEFT OUTPUT

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.

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:

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

CAUTION:

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.

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. POD

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

5. Do not step on power cords. Do not place items on top of power cords so that they are pinched or leaned on.

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

7. Do not perform service operations beyond those described in the POD

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

To reduce the risk of ﬁre or

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

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

EEP THESE INSTRUCTIONS IN A SAFE PLACE

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

range of the included power supply).

voltage range of the unit).

Pay particular attention to the cord at the plug end and the point where it connects to the PODXT.

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

to practice “safe listening.”

CAUTION:

do not remove screws. No user-serviceable parts inside. Refer servicing to qualiﬁed service personnel.

To reduce the risk of ﬁre or electric shock,

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

Pilot’s Handbook. In the following

POD

Please Note:

Line 6, POD, PODXT, PODXT Pro, Vetta, FBV, FBV Shortboard, FBV4, Amp Farm, Line 6 Edit and ToneTransfer 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.

Quick Start Guide ................................................................................1•1

Register Now .......................................................................................................................................1•2

Get On-Line...........................................................................................................................................1•2

Line 6 Tone Transfer and Discussion Forums .............................................................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 and Connections...................................................................2•1

Getting Set Up...................................................................................... 3•1

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

POD

– In The Studio..................................................................................................................3•2

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

The In’s and Out’s of Great Tone .......................................................................................3•2

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

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

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

Midi Mania ..........................................................................................................................................3•4

POD

– Playing Live.......................................................................................................................3•5

Mount Up............................................................................................................................................3•5

Keeping Your Options Open..................................................................................................3•5

What are you connecting to? .................................................................................................3•5

Getting The Right Tone With An Amp............................................................................3•6

External Stomp Boxes and POD

POD

Pro – Configurations & Connections..................................................................3•8

.....................................................................................3•7

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

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

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

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

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

What are you connecting to?..................................................................................................3•11

FX Loop...............................................................................................................................................3•12

continued on next page

Getting Set Up

continued

AES/ÉBU or S/PDIF Data Fromat?............................................................................................3•13

Radiation Alert .................................................................................................................................3•13

Pedal Power.......................................................................................................................................3•14

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

Re-Amping with POD

Pro.......................................................................................................3•14

Analog Re-amping..........................................................................................................................3•14

Digital Re-amping............................................................................................................................3•16

Creating & Storing Sounds.................................................................. 4•1

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

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

Stompbox-style Control ................................................................................................................4•2

Editing Basics .........................................................................................................................................4•2

Double Press for Easy Access ...............................................................................................4•3

Inside the Edit Menu ........................................................................................................................4•3

Amp Knob settings........................................................................................................................4•3

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

Effects Editing....................................................................................................................................4•4

Setting your Tone to Tempo ......................................................................................................4•7

Reverb ......................................................................................................................................................4•7

Wah and Volume................................................................................................................................4•8

FX Tweak Knob Assign / Tempo Assign...............................................................................4•8

Saving Yourself......................................................................................................................................4•9

Saving Channel Memory ............................................................................................................4•9

Custom Save Amp Model.........................................................................................................4•10

Custom Save Effect Setup.........................................................................................................4•11

Single Channel Recall ...................................................................................................................4•12

Complete Factory Recall............................................................................................................4•12

MIDI Dumps......................................................................................................................................4•13

Modeled Amps & Cabs.........................................................................5•1

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

Cabinet Models ...................................................................................................................................5•28

Stompboxes & Effects.......................................................................... 6•1

About the Stompboxes...................................................................................................................6•1

Basic Effect Editing..........................................................................................................................6•1

Deep Dive Editing..........................................................................................................................6•2

Stomp Effects: Distortions and Overdrives.....................................................................6•2

Stomp Effects: Compressors....................................................................................................6•2

Comp/Gate Effects........................................................................................................................6•3

Modulation Effects .........................................................................................................................6•3

Tap Tempo........................................................................................................................................6•4

Reverb ......................................................................................................................................................6•5

Springs...................................................................................................................................................6•5

Rooms...................................................................................................................................................6•6

Halls........................................................................................................................................................6•6

Chambers............................................................................................................................................6•7

Plates......................................................................................................................................................6•7

The Stomp Effects .............................................................................................................................6•8

The Modulation Effects ..................................................................................................................6•17

The Delay Effects ...............................................................................................................................6•24

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 POD

Programs to Other Devices ...........................................................7•4

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

Changing POD

Tweaking POD

Full MIDI Automation of POD

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

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

.........................................................................................7•6

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

Putting Your Feet to Work ................................................................8•1

FBV Series Foot Controllers ........................................................................................................8•1

Hooking Up ...........................................................................................................................................8•1

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

Hooking up the Shortboard.....................................................................................................8•1

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

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

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

Appendices............................................................................................ 9•1

Amp Models .........................................................................................................................................9•1

MIDI Program Changes ...................................................................................................................9•2

POD

MIDI Controls ....................................................................................................................9•3

FBV Shortboard MIDI Controls..................................................................................................9•7

Line 6 Contact ......................................................................................................................................9•8

Warranty Info........................................................................................................................................9•9

UICK

TART

UICK START GUIDE

UIDE

or:

•

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

1 •

ANUAL

“M

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 controls, and then get deep with the inputs and outputs in the

Conﬁgurations & Connections

Turn the

Connect the inputs, or plug the left output into your guitar amp’s input. Or connect headphones to the

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

Connect your guitar to PODXT’s

Flip the

6. POD

7. Select an Amp Model using the A

8. Turn the E

9. Browse pre-programmed tones using the S

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

XT 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.

to max and the DRIVE, BASS, MID, TREBLE and PRESENCE to your heart’s desire. OUTPUT sets the, uh, output level.

EVERB and EFFECT TWEAK knobs so you’re happy with the sound. Tap

the TAP tempo button to set the speed of the selected effect.

of the four buttons below the display. You can press any one of those buttons twice for a “Manual Override” that gives you where-the-knobsare-is-how-it-sounds operation.

DON’T NEED NO STINKING MANUAL

? I

PODxt Pro —

section that starts on page

UTPUT

OWER switch to ﬁre up.

FFECTS knob to load an Effects Setup, then twist the

EFT

control all the way down to zero.

EVEL

IGHT OUTPUTS

and

HONES

to your recorder or mixer’s

jack on your PODXT for silent jamming.

(PODXT’s Pro

NPUT

MP MODEL knob. Set the CHAN VOL

ELECT knob or by pressing any

3•8

UITAR IN

!”

QUICK START GUIDE • Register now!

1 • 2

Register now!

Included in this manual is a handy, postage-paid card for you to send back to us to register your purchase. It’s

right now and drop it in the mail or jump on the Internet and register at the Line 6

very important that you fill that registration card out

Support Center — 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.

Get on-line and get good free stuff!

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 POD

XT ever more powerful.

Connect to www.line6.com to check out ToneTransfer—an extensive, free online tone library. 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 POD

XT. Visit the discussion boards, and you can learn tips & tricks, trade advice, and

generally hang out and get POD-a-licious with the whole extended family of PODxt users. Use the FAQTRAQ system to get answers to your technical questions and contact our product support 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 POD

XT.

QUICK START GUIDE • Introduction

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 POD since, well, since the guitar amplifier itself! POD 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 nocompromise 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.

XT is about the most amazing thing to happen to the electric guitar

XT delivers the incredible tones of the

1 • 3

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 newlysupercharged 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!—POD

How does POD

XT help you create a guitar tone that is out of this world, and then get

XT was born.

that tone wherever you need it? Easy! It’s…

QUICK START GUIDE • Introduction

1 • 4

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 silicon-based life forms like POD

XT.

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

QUICK START GUIDE • Introduction

and equalization characteristics of the modeled gear were carefully measured so that changes to knobs on the models would mirror the effects of these changes on the originals as closely as possible. We’re talkin’ major attention to detail here. Tone control center frequencies, slopes, and cut/boost range were painstakingly analyzed, in addition to a whole host of factors unique to each piece of gear. Not only that, but since many classic amps and effects have highly interactive circuits, we paid careful attention to the way that the setting of one knob changes the way that another knob may behave. All in an effort to make our Models as much like the amps, cabs and effects in our collection as possible. The resulting Amp, Cab and Effect Models are the foundation of POD

XT.

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 softwarebased 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.

1 • 5

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

QUICK START GUIDE • Introduction

1 • 6

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.

POD

XT’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 POD

XT.

•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

QUICK START GUIDE • And Away We Go....

another position, and that the two are separated by a mass of air that sound spreads through to reach the listener.

All of these important sound-shaping components are accounted for in your POD

XT. Turn the Amp Model knob to call up the amplifier emulation you want.

POD

XT 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 POD

XT’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 POD

XT Grand Tour....

1 • 7

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 POD 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 POD pack.

XT, use only the included PX-2 power

XT. The boxed numbers

2• 1

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 O not set for ridiculous volume before your slap them on your ears. Try an O setting of about 10 o’clock when first putting the headphones on, them turn up from there if you need more volume.

So that you hear appropriate sound through the headphones, POD switches to Studio Mode whenever headphones are connected (for more on Studio Mode, see “What are you connecting to?” on page 3•2).

UTPUT knob. Any time you use headphones, it important to be sure they’re

UTPUT knob

XT automatically

Controls & Connections

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

headphone level. Changing the O get the tone you want at any volume level. This setting is not saved when you store

2• 2

settings into one of the POD

POD

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

(for more on Live Mode, see “What are you connecting to?” on page 3•5).

POD

XT will give the best signal-to-noise performance when you have the OUTPUT

control at max. With the O 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 O connecting to recording, mixing, and other studio gear, be sure you are plugging

POD

XT’s outputs into line level, not microphone or guitar level inputs. Line level

inputs should allow you to turn POD 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 POD

UTPUT 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.

UTPUT level does not change your tone, so you can

XT’s memory locations.

UTPUT control turned down low, you may get extra hiss—

UTPUT as high as possible when

XT’s OUTPUT up all the way (or close to it) and

XT’s

Pedal - Looks like a telephone connector on steroids. Connect optional Line 6

FBV or FBV Shortboard foot controllers here. POD

XT’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 POD

XT 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 ToneTransfer online tone library, and POD

XT driver software. All this software—along with directions for using it—is free for

you to download at www.line6.com.

Controls & Connections

MIDI In & Out - Connect PODXT to your MIDI equipment to select

Channel Memories (via Program Change messages), or automate POD

XT 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 POD

XT 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 POD

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

XT and find out what MIDI can do for PODXT and you.

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, C the sounds you store in two different POD rhythm and lead tones). In general, you want to set the C

HANNEL VOLUME. Use this to balance levels between

XT Channel Memories (say between your

HAN 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 POD

XT’s display.

2• 3

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.

Controls & Connections

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.

2• 4

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

Reverb level. Several flavors of reverb live inside POD chambers, halls and plate reverbs.

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

combination of effects for you (all the details on effects are in Chapter 6, Stompboxes & Effects). Think of each Effect Setup as a virtual pedal board or outboard gear rack

that you can match with any Amp Model. When you turn the E 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 POD display to show you. The delay time is usually set by the T scoop, including how you can customize the E Creating & Storing Sounds. If the effect that E then, big surprise, E

YSTEM button is lit, the EFFECT TWEAK knob adjusts parameter values instead.

XT, including springs, rooms,

FFECTS knob, PODXT

XT’s

AP button. For the inside

FFECT TWEAK knob see Chapter 4,

FFECT TWEAK is “targeting” is off,

FFECT TWEAK won’t change anything. While the EDIT or TUNE/

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

electronic “circuitry” is running inside POD

XT 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 POD

XT’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).

Controls & Connections

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., 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 POD

XT, 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.

Select - The PODXT has 64 Channel Memories that store a huge variety of

complete amp-and-effect selections pre-programmed by the tone mavens at Line 6. They are arranged in 16 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 POD

XT (the FBV and FBV Shortboard) which are discussed later in Chapter 8.

2• 5

You load POD

XT channels by turning the SELECT knob. You can press one of the four

“soft buttons” under the display to load one of the other channels of the current bank. When recalling a channel, you may have left the physical B whereas the just-recalled channel has this control set to max. To change B

ASS knob at minimum,

ASS (or

anything else), just grab the knob you want and tweak. To leave the Channel Memory world and enter Manual operation, press any of the buttons under POD

XT’s display

twice. The display will read Manual Mode to let you know you’ve got WYSIWYG (what-you-see-is-what-you-get) operation, and all the physical knob positions are being used to determine your sound. More on all this later.

When the E the available display pages. When you press E parameters; when you press T system-wide settings; when S

DIT, SAVE or TUNE/SYSTEM button is lit, the SELECT knob selects from

DIT, it selects pages of effect and channel

UNE/SYSTEM, it takes you through all of the Tuner and

AVE 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.

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

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

Controls & Connections

2• 6

1. When the S

of POD

AVE, EDIT or TUNE/SYSTEM button is lit, a scroll bar on the left side

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 S

ELECT

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 E

Soft Buttons - These four buttons operate differently depending on what

FFECT TWEAK knob to do your adjusting.

you’re doing. Generally, these allow you to instantly load one of 4 channels in a bank, or get you in and out of Manual mode when you double-press (see S the E

DIT, SAVE, or TUNE/SYSTEM button is lit, you can press a Soft Button to select

the item displayed above it so it can be adjusted with the E

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

FFECT TWEAK knob.

ELECT above). If

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

• The C

• The S

• The M

• The D

OMP (Gate) button turns on/off the loaded Compressor effect

TOMP button turns on/off the loaded Stomp-Box effect

OD button turns on/off the loaded Modulation effect

ELAY 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 C the Compressor and Gate E take you to the first Stomp Box E press the E

DIT button) to leave Edit Mode.

To turn off the built-in Noise Gate, double press the C

OMP button two times quickly and you’re instantly taken to

DIT page. Double-pressing the STOMP button will quickly

DIT page. Double-press the same button again (or

OMP button, then turn the

Threshold parameter all the way down.

Controls & Connections

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 E

FFECT 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.

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:

2• 7

When using a pre-programmed sound, POD

XT 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 E

DIT 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 POD

To save the changes you’ve made to a Channel Memory, press the S button will start to flash. Just press S

AVE again if you want to overwrite the currently

XT to remember the tweak.

AVE button. The

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 E

DEST, turn the EFFECT TWEAK knob, and you will see that you are switching

FFECT TWEAK knob to change the character. Press the soft button under

through memory locations A, B, C, and D in each of the sixteen numbered banks. Pick one to store your sound in, and press that S

AVE 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.

After the sound is stored, you can bring it back any old time by simply turning the

ELECT 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 POD

XT 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 S

WEAK to choose a place to save to, and press SAVE again.

AVE, then DEST, then use EFFECT

Controls & Connections

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 S

2• 8

sound you liked, the S version of a Channel Memory any time. See Chapter 4 for details on this feature.

The S

AVE 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 A

MP MODELS or EFFECTS. See Chapter 4 for the details on that.

AVE.) If you accidentally save over a factory

AVE button’s additional pages let you recall the factory preset

Controls & Connections

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

While E

DIT 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 E

FFECT TWEAK knob. To learn more

about deep editing, please see Chapter 4.

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.

2• 9

Play a note on your guitar and POD

XT will show you what it is on that handy display;

all notes are displayed as flats, so you’ll see A 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 POD

YSTEM button a push and the tuner disappears just as swiftly as it came, taking you

XT’s TUNE/

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 E

WEAK counter-clockwise to select Bypass.

FFECT

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 E POD

XT while watching the display. This control lets you set the reference frequency

FFECT TWEAK knob on

anywhere from 430-450 Hz. This setting is stored so you don’t have to reset it every time you turn on POD

XT 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 T

AP 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 E

DIT pages, so you’ll see

exactly what Tempo you’ve Tapped. This is especially useful if you are trying to nudge your T

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.

Controls & Connections PODxt Pro

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

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

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

• Press it a second time to tell POD

live, how you have connected your effects loop and what kind of digital gear you have connected to POD

XT Pro.

XT Pro whether you’re using it in the studio or

FEATURE FOCUS

• 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.

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

something feeding audio to your POD press the I/O & DIG SELECT button and be sure you’ve got the right input selected. (This light doesn’t show input from USB, by the way.)

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 POD switch. For non-guitar sources, you may instead want to use the...

XT Pro, or try the Pad setting of the handy Input Level

XT Pro but you can’t hear it and don’t see it here,

Controls & Connections PODxt Pro

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 POD you’ll also need to press the I/O & DIG SELECT button and select the Line Input. The front panel’s Signal light shows you when you’ve got some signal coming, and the Clip light shows you when you’re overdoing it and need to

reduce the level you’re feeding to POD

Unprocessed Guitar Out - This connector actually has at least a

XT Pro for further processing. To use it,

XT Pro.

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 of your POD

XT Pro when

you’re mixing, and you can change amps, effects and every other aspect of your guitar tone with complete flexibility.

’Course, it would be pretty hard to record a good guitar take without hearing the amp and effects sound that you were planning to use, right? I mean, who can solo with a dry guitar signal? The answer is that you don’t listen to this unprocessed signal while recording—instead, you monitor your POD

XT 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.

2• 11

FEATURE FOCUS

POD

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

this signal digitally. You can set them to do this from the display pages of the I/O & DIG SELECT button .

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 POD

XT 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

Controls & Connections PODxt Pro

2• 12

plugged into the loop return, POD

XT Pro is smart enough to see this and disable the

loop so you still get sound. See page 3•12 for more details.

Unbalanced Analog Out - The display pages of the I/O & DIG

SELECT button configure these outputs for Studio or Live Use. In Studio Mode,

they’re ready to plug into a recorder with unbalanced –10 dBV inputs. In Live Mode, they don’t have speaker simulation, and are ready for connection to an onstage power amp. Whichever you choose, the front panel Output knob determines how much

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

Balanced Analog Out - The I/O & DIG SELECT button display

“pages” configure these outputs for Studio or Live Use. In Studio Mode, they’re ready to plug into a recorder with balanced +4 dBu inputs. In Live Mode, they’re ready to send great sounding –10dBV signals to the house sound system or P.A. The front panel Output knob does not affect the volume at these jacks in Live Mode. This lets you

make onstage 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.

FEATURE FOCUS

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 POD

XT Pro with one rate and word length, and choose a

different rate and word length for output.

POD

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

audio being received at either of its digital inputs, even if you are using an analog input to get audio into your POD your digital mixer POD

, set the

FORMAT to MATCH SPDIF , and PODxt Pro will clock to your mixer.

XT Pro. You can, for instance, connect a digital output from

XT Pro’s S/PDIF input, press the I/O & DIG SELECT button

PODxt Pro will also format the digital audio it outputs to match the incoming format.

GETTING SET UP • All Purpose Basics

GETTING SET UP

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

POD

XT 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:

PODxt - In the Studio PODxt - Playing Live PODxt Pro - Connection & Conﬁguration

But first, it’s the...

3 • 1

All Purpose Basics

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

on your POD

2. Connect your guitar to POD

3. POD

XT: Connect PODXT to whatever you’re going to be playing it into. The

UTPUT connectors 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 POD

XT mono, you can use either the LEFT or RIGHT output.

POD

XT 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 to select Guitar (or whatever else you want) as your input.

XT.

XT’s INPUT (PODXT Pro’s GUITAR IN) .

GETTING SET UP • PODxt — In The Studio

PODXT — In The Studio

PODxt Pro users, fast forward to the PODXT Pro – Conﬁgurations & Connections section at the end of this chapter.

3 • 2

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 T

UNE/SYSTEM button and turn the SELECT

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

Press the Soft Button below

STUDIO: DIRECT mode. In this mode, Line 6’s exclusive A.I.R. II DSP is active, and

DEST and turn the EFFECT TWEAK knob to select

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.

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 POD

XT, DEST will be automatically set to STUDIO: DIRECT, giving

you the best tone for private jamming.

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-tonoise ratio (lots of juicy guitar tone, not too much hiss) with POD 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 POD

XT. Some equipment

GETTING SET UP • PODxt — In The Studio

into one of these inputs, try setting the trim to minimum, and twisting POD

UTPUT and CHANNEL VOLUME knobs up to maximum. If your equipment

XT’s

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

Setting Levels

Start by setting PODXT to the sound you intend to use, strum hard, and set CHANNEL V

OLUME as close to max as you can without getting the CLIP indicator in

POD control on your system so you can get the maximum sound level out of your POD without going so far that you overdrive the input on your system and cause unwanted distortion.

XT’s display. Now play with the PODXT OUTPUT knob and any input volume

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

GETTING SET UP • PODxt — In The Studio

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 radiationinduced hum also, since it does not use traditional magnetic pickups.

3 • 4

Pedal Power

PODXT has a couple of foot control options that make getting great guitar tracks even easier: the L later chapter, it’s good to know that both allow you to select POD

INE 6 FBV and FBV Shortboard. While we’ll go into all the details in a

XT 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 POD and FB4 pedals will not work with your POD

XT Pedal jack. Remember that the older Line 6 Floor Board

XT.

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 POD any POD

XT 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.

XT Channel and automate

GETTING SET UP • PODxt — Playing Live

PODXT — Playing Live

PODXT Pro users, fast forward to the PODXT Pro – Conﬁgurations & Connections section at the end of this chapter.

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 POD

XT 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 POD

XT’s

righteous red aluminum chassis wherever you need it for mid-show tweaking. And that custom POD

XT 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 POD

XT’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 POD you can plug your POD

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

XT 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 POD

XT 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 insure that your little red pal gives you the best possible tones in any setup. To start the dialogue, press the T until the display asks, “What are you connecting to?”

UNE/SYSTEM button and then turn the SELECT knob

3 • 5

STUDIO DIRECT—When plugging PODXT straight into a P.A., or using in-ear

monitoring systems, press the Soft Button below knob to select

STUDIO DIRECT for amazing tone, night after night. Line 6

DEST and turn the EFFECT TWEAK

GETTING SET UP • PODxt — Playing Live

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!

LIVE 2X12 & LIVE 4X12—Choose one of these when plugging into a combo amp, head

and guitar cabinets, or power amp and guitar cabinets. The Mic and Room

3 • 6

components of A.I.R. are turned off, and the Cabinet Models are revoiced to sound their best coming through the kind of speaker you choose. Plus you’ve got...

VIBE—When one of the LIVE modes is selected, press the Soft Button below VIBE and turn the EFFECT TWEAK knob to choose from a set of tuning options

to further shape your sound to work best for your setup.

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

POD

XT remembers the DEST and VIBE settings you choose, so you don’t 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

When you’re playing PODXT into the front of a combo amplifier, it’s a good idea to start off with your combo 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 POD volume in addition to a volume control on the input, set them both so that the first volume doesn’t overdrive the master volume (so you’re getting a clean tone). This will vary from amp to amp, but usually the input volume is going to be less than the master volume to get a clean, 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 POD extra coloration. Once you get going, you can tweak the amplifier settings to suit your tastes. Try to set the POD

XT’s sounds come through as purely as possible. If you have a master

XT tone comes through without

XT’s OUTPUT so you’re not overdriving the input of the amp.

GETTING SET UP • PODxt — Playing Live

If you have a guitar amp with an effect return or a jack that lets you connect directly to the input to the power amp, you can plug POD

XT’s output right into that connection

and that will generally bypass the tone controls of the amp and avoid their coloring of POD

XT’s tones. When plugging into the effect return or amp directly this way, you

want to choose

LIVE 2X12 or LIVE 4X12 on the What Are You Connecting To? page.

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 POD 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 POD

XT with those other effects boxes in front, they’re going to act differently based on

the Amp Model you’ve selected on your POD 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 POD or its own S

TOMP effects.

XT has now graced your life with some pretty hip stomp

XT. It’s just like you’d expect — different

XT’s DRIVE knob

3 • 7

GETTING SET UP • PODxt Pro — Conﬁgurations & Connections

PODXT Pro — Configurations & Connections

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.

3 • 8

Selecting An Input

Press the I/O & DIG SELECT button once to see this page where you select from POD

XT Pro’s many inputs and digital options:

Press the far-left Soft Button below

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

FEATURE FOCUS

plugged into the rear panel Line Level Input . 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 since POD

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

AES L+R option merges the left and right AES inputs to mono,

panel analog inputs are ignored.

INPUT and select from these options:

SPDIF LEFT, SPDIF RIGHT, SPDIF L+R—Select one of these for the rear panel S/PDIF

digital inputs. The mono, since POD

SPDIF L+R option merges the left and right SPDIF inputs to

XT Pro only allows a mono input. When this is selected, the front and

rear panel analog inputs are ignored.

GETTING SET UP • PODxt Pro — Conﬁgurations & Connections

Input & Digital Out Options

Press the I/O & DIG SELECT button once to see this page and select from PODXT Pro’s many inputs and several digital options:

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

3 • 9

Press the Soft Button below FORMAT and spin the EFFECT TWEAK knob to

choose to output any combination of 16, 20 or 24 bits along with 44.1, 48, 88.2 or 96 KHz. POD

XT Pro will use its internal clock to generate the sample rate you

choose.

Or choose POD

MATCH AES IN or MATCH SPDIF IN from the FORMAT options, to have

XT 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 for

FORMAT to have PODXT Pro slave to the clock of your other digital equipment.

For instance, feed POD mixer, choose that source for

XT Pro’s digital input with an output from your digital

FORMAT, and PODXT Pro slaves to your digital

MATCH AES IN or MATCH SPDIF IN

mixer’s clock and matches its digital audio format. Sweet.

FEATURE FOCUS

GETTING SET UP • PODxt Pro — Conﬁgurations & Connections

MODE: Normal or Dry Guitar

3 • 10

Press the Soft Button below choose digital outs) or

NORMAL (delicious amp-cab-fx-mic-room processed sound comes out of the

DRYGTR (unprocessed guitar comes out of the digital outs). See

MODE and spin the EFFECT TWEAK knob to

page 3•14 for more info on why this can be cool.

GAIN: Extra gain on the digital outs

Press the Soft Button below to 12 db of gain on the digital outs only. This can be used to increase the digital output

FEATURE FOCUS

GAIN and spin the EFFECT TWEAK knob to add up

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 POD +0db—and play the signal back from your recorder to POD

XT Pro later, DO NOT add gain—leave the signal at

XT 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 unpredictable versatility during re-amping, this may be just your thing.... See

page 3•14 for more on that.

GETTING SET UP • PODxt Pro — Conﬁgurations & Connections

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 & D

IG SELECT button twice to see the

display ask, “What are you connecting to?”

STUDIO: DIRECT—When plugging PODXT Pro straight into a P.A., or using in-ear

monitoring systems, press the Soft Button below knob to select

STUDIO: DIRECT for amazing tone, night after night. Line 6

DEST and turn the EFFECT TWEAK

LIVE: 2X12 & LIVE: 4X12—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 through the kind of speaker you choose.

POD

XT Pro remembers the DEST setting you choose, so you don’t have to re-set

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’re back to your regular setup.

3 • 11

FEATURE FOCUS

GETTING SET UP • PODxt Pro — Conﬁgurations & Connections

FX Loop

Press the Soft Button below FX LOOP and spin the EFFECT TWEAK knob to choose

3 • 12

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 POD

If you set

LOOP to PARALLEL, PODxt Pro will send a parallel copy of its signal to the

XT Pro sound.

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 POD

XT Pro sound by

adjusting the output volume control of the connected effect unit.

PLEASE NOTE: Many effects can result in compromised sound when run in parallel, because the signal coming back from the effect unit is out of phase with the signal that has stayed in the POD

XT 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 E

DIT 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.

GETTING SET UP • PODxt Pro — Conﬁgurations & Connections

AES/EBU or S/PDIF Data Format?

PODXT’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 POD given you the 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:

XT Pro’s physical digital outputs always sends the same data, we’ve

DIGOUT parameter to decide whether this data should be formatted

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 radiationinduced hum also, since it does not use traditional magnetic pickups.

3 • 13

FEATURE FOCUSFEATURE FOCUS

GETTING SET UP • Re-Amping with PODxt Pro

Pedal Power

PODXT Pro has a couple of foot control options that make getting great guitar tracks even easier: the L

INE 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 POD 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,

3 • 14

it will plug into the POD Board and FB4 pedals will not work with your POD

XT Pro Pedal jack. Remember that the older Line 6 Floor

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 POD automate any POD

XT 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

FEATURE FOCUS

“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.

XT Pro channels,

XT Pro.

XT Pro Channel and

Analog Re-amping

Just like you would for normal recording, connect your guitar to the Guitar In jack on the front of the POD 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.

XT Pro. And connect PODXT Pro’s left and right Analog Outs to

GETTING SET UP • Re-Amping with PODxt Pro

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

Connect the monitor output from this record track that’s receiving the unprocessed guitar signal to the rear panel Line In jack of POD

ELECT button once to see this page:

XT Pro. Press the I/O & DIG

3 • 15

Press the Soft Button below

LINE IN. PODXT Pro is now ready to process the signal that’s received at the Line In,

INPUT and spin the EFFECT TWEAK knob to choose

while simultaneously 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 POD

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 POD

XT Pro to your recording system.

FEATURE FOCUS

GETTING SET UP • Re-Amping with PODxt Pro

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.

3 • 16

Connect your guitar to the Guitar In jack on the front of the POD POD

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

XT Pro. Connect

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

Press the I/O & D

IG SELECT button once to see this page if it’s not already

shown:

Press the Soft Button below

GUITAR IN. Select DRYGTR for the MODE option. Connect PODXT Pro’s AES/EBU or

INPUT and spin the EFFECT TWEAK knob to choose

S/PDIF digital outputs to your recorder. Do not monitor this signal while recording— you’re simply “saving it for a rainy day” so that you can “fix it in the mix.”

FEATURE FOCUS

Also, be sure 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...

GAIN is set to +0dB; adding gain to get a hotter signal to your record track

GETTING SET UP • Re-Amping with PODxt Pro

When you want to make use of that digitally recorded dry guitar signal, send it out of your recorder to one of POD

XT 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 POD

XT Pro at exactly the same level it was recorded at. Then connect PODxt

Pro’s analog or digital outputs to your recorder, and you record processed guitar sound while making whatever tone changes best fit the needs of your final production.

3 • 17

FEATURE FOCUS

Creating & Storing Sounds • Recalling Channel Memories

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 POD

XT’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:

4 • 1

Use the S 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!)

Try spinning that S perhaps lots more drive? No problem! Simply reach up, grab a knob and twiddle away, my friend. In addition to the tone, volume and R on/off buttons for the effects, plus the smart E to change the most important effects parameter.

ELECT knob to spin through the channels, which are organized into 16

ELECT knob to find something you like. Need a bit more bass, or

EVERB knobs, you’ve got those handy

FFECT TWEAK knob that is always ready

Recalling Effect Setups

One of the handier 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 POD

FFECTS 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!

XT sports 64 of these setups, and they are accessed by turning the

Creating & Storing Sounds • Stompbox-style Control

Stompbox-style Control

The PODXT lets you turn four PODXT effects on or off just as you would any other stompbox in your arsenal. The buttons above the POD

Comp (Gate)—This button turns our model based on the studio-standard LA-2A compressor on or off. Double press for the E compressor settings along with the full-time N

4 • 2

and turned on or off from the E

Stomp—This is where the distortion boxes, some stomp box compressors and Auto

Wah and Auto Swell live. Like all the other effect buttons, press to turn on or off, double-press to E

DIT.

DIT page.

XT display are the key:

DIT page that’s got the settings for the

OISE GATE, which can be tweaked

Mod—POD

turn the loaded one on or off, double-press to E

XT comes with several flavors of modulation effects. Use this button to

DIT.

Delay—The delay models are found here. Press on, press off, double press to E

Editing Basics

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. POD 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 E up. Now turn the S on your POD display, simply press the S

ELECT knob. Well lookey here, everything you’d ever want to tweak

XT is right there in front of you. To change something shown on the

OFT BUTTON directly below it and spin EFFECT TWEAK.

Everything you tweak here, by the way, is remembered when you press S choose a Channel Memory to save to.

XT’s knobs, buttons and display give

DIT button to light it

AVE and

DIT.

Creating & Storing Sounds • Inside the Edit Menu

Double Press for Easy Access

Want to change the Mod effect, or pick a different Delay model? No worries! Press twice quickly on the C the first page of parameters for the associated effect. Another double-press will pop you right back out of E takes a single press to select its page, or leave E

OMP, STOMP, MOD or DELAY button any time to go straight to

DIT, so you can surf for more tone. (The CAB/A.I.R. button just

DIT.)

Inside the Edit Menu

When the EDIT button is lit, you’ll see that there is a graphic representation of the E

DIT “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 E your place in the great circle of life, er, E

Amp knob settings

With the EDIT button lit, spin the SELECT knob counterclockwise to select the first page from the E It looks like this:

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

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!

DIT menu. This page shows the knob settings for the current channel.

DIT pages. This “scroll bar” is there to help you keep

DIT pages.

4 • 3

Creating & Storing Sounds • Inside the Edit Menu

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

4 • 4

directly by pressing the C

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.

AB/A.I.R. button). You’re now looking at something like this:

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 the Mic options, or press the button under

MIC, then use EFFECT TWEAK to spin through

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

AB/A.I.R. button.

Effects Editing

You edit all of PODXT’s Effects the same way. Simply double-press any effect on/off button to jump directly to the first page for that effect, press a button beneath the display to select a parameter, and twiddle the E selected. To get to any other page, whether for Reverb or whatever, turn the S knob while the E

DIT button is lit. And your handy “scrollbar” on the left of the display

lets you know where you are. See? We knew you were a power user, deep down inside.

In general, most effects only have two pages worth of parameters to keep it simple, and the most common parameters are on the first page. So if you can’t find what you’re looking for on the first page, turn S

ELECT one click clockwise and you’ll probably see

what you need there.

FFECT TWEAK knob to tweak what’s

ELECT

Creating & Storing Sounds • Inside the Edit Menu

Here’s an example. Double-press the S E

DIT page that looks something like this:

TOMP button. The Stompboxes only have one

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 Vetta Comp has ‘knobs’ for Sensitivity, and Level. Pressing the button under

FFECT TWEAK knob.

Other effects, such as D

ELAY and MOD, have 2 pages of parameters:

Delay Edit Page 1

Delay Edit Page 2

SENS selects it for tweaking via the

4 • 5

CONFIG, on page 2, is available for PODXT’s volume pedal, Delay, and Mod. It lets you

position each one either:

PRE – in front of the amp, where you’d place a stompbox, or

POST – after the amp, where you’d put a rack type effect.

A picture is worth a thousand words. Turn the page for a few good ones that illustrate this pre/post stuff.

Creating & Storing Sounds • Inside the Edit Menu

4 • 6

Here’s a typical routing with a M

Here’s another routing with both M

OD effect PRE and a DELAY running POST:

AMP/CAB – A.I.R. II DELAYMODULATION

OD and DELAY effects in the PRE position:

AMP/CABMODULATION DELAY

This is what the full signal flow looks like inside your POD post options for Mod, Delay and the Volume pedal:

XT, including the pre and

VOLUME

GATE

WAH STOMP DELAYMODULATION

COMP

VOLUME

MODULATION DELAY

AMP/CAB + A.I.R. II

REVERB

LOOP

(PODXT Pro only)

Creating & Storing Sounds • Inside the Edit Menu

Setting your Tone to Tempo

You’re probably wondering when we were going to let you in on the secret to giving your effects some groove. Well the secret is Note Values. Note values take the current tempo and apply a common set of calculations to derive delay times or modulation speeds that are perfectly in time with your music. Let’s put it this way: Ever wanted to have a 16th note Tremolo feeding into a dotted-eighth note Delay? Now you can.

Whenever you want to set a Mod Speed or Delay Time to be groov-a-licious:

1. Select the Delay

2. Spin E

FFECT TWEAK counter-clockwise until you start seeing little notes in the

TIME or Mod SPEED by pressing the button below it.

place where milliseconds or Hertz used to be.

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

Our next stop on our little trip through the EDIT wonderland is the Reverb page. After all, what self-respecting twangmaster wouldn’t want some reverb now and then? Here you’ll find the ability to change the reverb model (POD 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 R

EVERB knob.

XT’s got plenty of them), as well

4 • 7

Creating & Storing Sounds • Inside the Edit Menu

Wah and Volume

From the Reverb edit page, spin the SELECT knob one click clockwise and you’ll find

4 • 8

the W

Let’s check out the wah first. Over the last few years, many POD users have requested the ability to save the on/off state of the wah with a Channel Memory. That way when you recall that channel, the wah comes on automatically. Rejoice! Rejoice! Your wish has been granted by the all-merciful tone gods. And you didn’t even have to sacrifice your 60’s Telecaster in a fiery devotional ceremony! (Whew.) 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

Moving on to the right side of the Wah/Volume page.... Here you can determine the

behavior of an expression pedal (like the Line 6 EX-1) connected to the optional FBV Shortboard. When and the Shortboard’s built-in pedal will be dedicated to Wah. You can also choose the position of the volume pedal: set to T

TWEAK assigned parameter from its minimum value to its maximum value.

AH and VOLUME parameters. The display now looks something like this:

POSI and twiddling that EFFECT TWEAK knob.

PEDAL is set to VOLUME, the EX-1 will control PODXT’s Volume

PRE (before the amp model), or POST. When PEDAL is

WEAK, pedaling the expression pedal from heel to toe will move the FX

FX Tweak Knob Assign / Tempo Assign

Imagine this: you’re in the middle of the most inspired gig of your life and you wish to tweak the one effect parameter that would send you over the top and into sonic nirvana...

Shazam! Your wish has been granted. Follow me to the next E the E

FFECT TWEAK knob assignment. It looks like this:

DIT page that controls

Creating & Storing Sounds • Saving Yourself

From this page, you can decide what the E Channel Memory. Just press the button under the display that’s labeled use the E

FFECT TWEAK knob to choose the perfect parameter.

FFECT TWEAK knob will be adjusting in this

TWEAK, and

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 T you can press the button beneath

TEMPO and spin the EFFECT TWEAK knob until you

AP button a couple of times, or

get exactly the tempo that will make your heart beat with passion and joy!

Saving Yourself

PODXT lets you save as many as 64 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 S

AVE, then SAVE again. That’s it.

4 • 9

Of course, you might want to stick your sound somewhere else, or at least change the name so you know which one it is. POD

To save your edit to a new location - Make your edits, then press S

XT lets you do that just as easily.

AVE. This

calls up a screen that looks something like this:

Creating & Storing Sounds • Saving Yourself

4 • 10

Now, press the button under the display that reads then use the E

AVE again will confirm your decision, and save your sound to that Channel

FFECT TWEAK knob to pick a different Channel Memory. Pressing

DEST (short for destination) and

Memory, replacing what was there before.

Give your tone a name - Make your edits, then press S 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 character) and then use E you’re done, press S

FFECT TWEAK to change the selected character. When

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

AVE. Again, you’ll see a

CHAR (short for

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 A the Amp Model, including your chosen Cab Model, Mic selection and your personal tweak of the ‘room’. This way, when you turn the A 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:

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:

MP MODEL knob, loading your customized version of

MP MODEL knob to

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

AVE again.

Creating & Storing Sounds • Saving Yourself

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

POD turn the A

MP MODELS knob:

Controls you can customize

Amp Model Cabinet Model Microphone Model and Room amount Drive, Bass, Middle, Treble and Presence controls Channel Volume

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 POD 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:

XT just by spinning the EFFECTS knob. We’ve setup 64 of these

4 • 11

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 (destination) and then use the E

FFECT TWEAK knob to select a location to store it.

DEST

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

Creating & Storing Sounds • Saving Yourself

4 • 12

you want to change. Press the button under

FFECT TWEAK to change the selected character.

Commitment — Pressing S C

OMP, GATE, STOMP, MOD, DELAY and REVERB settings, and keep them forever

AVE again will now take a snapshot of your current

CHAR (short for character) and then use

and ever.

Single Channel Recall

Imagine this: you’re in the middle of massive inspiration, moving at the speed of light, and before you know it... you just saved an edit over one of your favorite factory presets. Perish the thought! Fortunately, we’ve got you covered. To recall that favorite preset:

Press S

You can now press S Memory, or turn the E you’d like to retrieve. Press S

AVE, and then use the SELECT knob to get to the page that looks like this:

AVE to recall the factory version of the chosen Channel

FFECT TWEAK knob to choose another Channel Memory

AVE again, and you’ve safely recovered that lost gem!

Complete

Factory Recall

If for any reason, or just for the sheer mad joy of it, you decide you need to reset your POD

XT’s entire memory to its factory-programmed state, then boldly do this: Press

AVE once, then use the SELECT knob to scroll to the page that looks like this:

Now ask yourself, “Do I really want to do this?” Now, ask it again. How about now? If this is truly your heart’s desire, then press S your goal. That’ll wipe your POD

XT’s memory and reset it just like it was when it left

AVE again and you’ll have accomplished

the Line 6 factory.

Creating & Storing Sounds • Saving Yourself

Warning: This erases ALL channels, as well as custom amp and effect settings you might

have created. Everything. If you haven’t backed up your PODxt’s memory (by using the

free Line 6 Edit software downloadable from www.line6.com, for instance) you will no longer have any of the custom sounds you may have created. So be sure and ask yourself again, “Do I really want to do this?” If the answer is yes, go on ahead with your bad self!

MIDI Dumps

If you want to transfer one or more tones directly from one PODXT to another POD

XT, 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 POD

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 64

POD Channel Memories:

XT to the MIDI In of the receiving device.

4 • 13

Press S

Press the button under

AVE once, and use the SELECT knob to scroll down to this page:

SELECT. Turn the EFFECT TWEAK knob to the left

(counterclockwise) until the display reads:

Creating & Storing Sounds • Saving Yourself

4 • 14

Now, if you press S will be dumped out of its MIDI jack. If another POD taken over by this data, making it a virtual clone of your own POD

AVE again, the entire set of 64 Channel Memories of your PODXT

XT is connected, its brain will be

XT channels! Who

knew cloning was so easy?

Transferring Only Some Channels - To transfer only one or more individual Channel Memories, Effects Setups or Amp Models from one POD

XT to another,

do this:

Press S

Turn the E

AVE once, and turn the SELECT knob to show the page that looks like this:

FFECT TWEAK knob to tell PODXT what to transfer:

Any Channel Memory:

All Channel Memories:

All Amp Models:

All Effects Setups:

Creating & Storing Sounds • Saving Yourself

Now, if you press S

AVE again, the MIDI dump you’ve selected will be transmitted out

the MIDI jack, into the brain of a receiving POD MIDI device for backup.

XT, or into your computer or other

4 • 15

Modeled Amps & Cabs • Which Amps and Cabs Are Modeled?

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 (and have) 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 POD 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.

XT. And it’s why, when describing the

5 • 1

So, now that you know what’s in store, let’s take a tour of the amp models that live inside your POD

There are 32 Amp Models living within your POD selections. When you turn the A combination. You can then mix’n’ match different cabs with the amp by pressing the CAB/A.I.R. button and choosing any Cab model you like with the E knob. Chapter 4 tells you how you can customize POD Amp/Cab combinations.

XT, and the original equipment that helped to make them possible.

XT, plus 22 Cabinet Model

MP MODELS knob, you select an Amp/Cab

FFECT TWEAK

XT to call up your favorite

Modeled Amps & Cabs • Which Amps and Cabs Are Modeled?

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 a JC120 (Roland’s popular “Jazz Chorus” solid state combo) onto the poweramp and transformer of a classic Marshall JTM-45 tube head, thereby giving you the crisp and

5 • 2

clear front end typical of a solid state amp, but with a rich, satisfying tube amp-style bite as you turn it up.

Line 6 JTS-45

Since the design of early Marshalls 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 JTM 45 and ran it into the poweramp and transformer of our ‘58 Tweed Bassman. What we got was way happening, as JTS-45 will attest. Great grind and nice punch. A tone the whole family can enjoy.

Line 6 Class A

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

Line 6 Mood

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

Modeled Amps & Cabs • Which Amps and Cabs Are Modeled?

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! Contains Ingredient X-27!), the Line 6 sound design guys wouldn’t tell us anything about what the inspiration for this one was 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 Dual Rectiﬁer on 10 being used as a preamp for a Soldano), while still retaining tonal deﬁnition and character. As a result, you get way lots of bottom end and cabinet character with tons of wide-ranging tone shaping. Crank up the Drive control and take no prisoners!

5 • 3

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.

Modeled Amps & Cabs • Zen Master

Zen Master

5 • 4

This model is 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 POD POD

XT’s models, you should set this control to 12 o’clock to get groovy with the

unadorned Budda-style vibe.

XT’s MIDDLE control. As is true for all such “bonus” tone controls on

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

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way

associated or affiliated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images

are provided for the sole purpose of identifying the specific products that were

studied during Line 6’s sound model development.

Modeled Amps & Cabs • Small Tweed

Small Tweed

Modeled after 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 T this Amp Model. Which left us with the B we set up the B

ASS 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 B

ASS and MIDDLE knobs at halfway to put them in ‘neutral’, turn the PRESENCE

to 0, and try the T

REBLE knob somewhere above halfway for a classic Tweed sound.

REBLE knob to give you this treble roll off when using

ASS and MIDDLE knobs just sitting there, so

5 • 5

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way

associated or affiliated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images

are provided for the sole purpose of identifying the specific products that were

studied during Line 6’s sound model development.

Modeled Amps & Cabs • Tw eed B-Man

Tweed B-Man

5 • 6

The classic ’58 Fender 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 M The M almost like a second treble control. The two are additive, so if you’re running POD

control might give you more bright than you really want. On the other hand, when you turn the M like many of the amps modeled for POD 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 POD 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.

IDDLE control isn’t a bandpass, as in most tone control setups. Instead, it’s

IDDLE knob higher than halfway up with this model, you’ll find that the TREBLE

IDDLE knob down, you’ll probably want to boost the TREBLE. The Bassman,

XT, you can get that kind of tone at a bedroom or studio level — or even

IDDLE and TREBLE controls are.

XT’s

XT, didn’t have a master volume. So to get the

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way

associated or affiliated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images

are provided for the sole purpose of identifying the specific products that were

studied during Line 6’s sound model development.

Modeled Amps & Cabs • Tiny Tweed

Tiny Tweed

Modeled after a 1961 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 POD

XT, it’s easy to get a classic Champ tone. Just leave the BASS, MIDDLE and

REBLE controls parked at 12 o’clock, which means they are “flat,” making no

contribution to the tone. Set P classic Champ tone through. When you’re ready to explore further sonic territory, spin those and work your magic.

RESENCE to 0, and it will also be letting the unadorned

5 • 7

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way

associated or affiliated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images

are provided for the sole purpose of identifying the specific products that were

studied during Line 6’s sound model development.

Modeled Amps & Cabs • Blackface Lux

Blackface Lux

5 • 8

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

ASS and TREBLE controls, leaving us, once again, with the prospect of a couple knobs

with nothing to say for themselves. But fear not; in this case, we’ve set up POD

IDDLE knob so you can add some post-Amp Model Midrange contouring for a little

more flexibility, while P knob to its “neutral” 12 o’clock position and the P 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 POD

XT’s

RESENCE adds, well, Presence. Once again, set the MIDDLE

RESENCE knob to 0 for the classic

XT.

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way

associated or affiliated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images

are provided for the sole purpose of identifying the specific products that were

studied during Line 6’s sound model development.

Modeled Amps & Cabs • Double Verb

Double Verb

The classic blackface Fender Twin (in this case, a 1965 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.

5 • 9

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

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way

associated or affiliated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images

are provided for the sole purpose of identifying the specific products that were

studied during Line 6’s sound model development.

Modeled Amps & Cabs • Tw o-Tone

Two-Tone

5 • 10

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).

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way

associated or affiliated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images

are provided for the sole purpose of identifying the specific products that were

studied during Line 6’s sound model development.

Modeled Amps & Cabs • Hiway 100

Hiway 100

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 ‘milspec’ 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.

5 • 11

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way

associated or affiliated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images

are provided for the sole purpose of identifying the specific products that were

studied during Line 6’s sound model development.

Modeled Amps & Cabs • Plexi 45

Plexi 45

5 • 12

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 JTM-45 we’ve ever heard, and it’s a constant battle at Line 6 to see who gets to take it home for the weekend.

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.

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way

associated or affiliated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images

are provided for the sole purpose of identifying the specific products that were

studied during Line 6’s sound model development.

Modeled Amps & Cabs • Plexi Lead 100

Plexi Lead 100

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 thing to help you really make friends with the neighbors. Hendrix used Marshalls 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 Marshalls.). 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, POD

XT’s model is set up to do pretty darned near the same thing.

the sound you’d have to crank your Super Lead to max—just

5 • 13

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way

associated or affiliated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images

are provided for the sole purpose of identifying the specific products that were

studied during Line 6’s sound model development.

Modeled Amps & Cabs • Plexi Jump Lead

Plexi Jump Lead

5 • 14

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.

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way

associated or affiliated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images

are provided for the sole purpose of identifying the specific products that were

studied during Line 6’s sound model development.

Modeled Amps & Cabs • Plexi Variac

Plexi 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’).

5 • 15

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.

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way

associated or affiliated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images

are provided for the sole purpose of identifying the specific products that were

studied during Line 6’s sound model development.

Modeled Amps & Cabs • Brit J-800

Brit J-800

5 • 16

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.

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 Marshalls 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...

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.

Brit JM Pre

Modeled Amps & Cabs • Brit JM Pre

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 MIDIcontrollable 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.

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.

5 • 17

Modeled Amps & Cabs • Match Chief

Match Chief

5 • 18

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.

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 POD

XT.

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way

associated or affiliated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images

are provided for the sole purpose of identifying the specific products that were

studied during Line 6’s sound model development.

Modeled Amps & Cabs • Match D-30

Match D-30

This model is 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.

5 • 19

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 POD check out POD

XT’s model of the DC-30.

XT’s model based on one), you’ll also want to

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way

associated or affiliated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images

are provided for the sole purpose of identifying the specific products that were

studied during Line 6’s sound model development.

Modeled Amps & Cabs • Treadplate Dual

Treadplate Dual

5 • 20

This Amp Model is based on a 2001 3-Channel Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier Solo Head.

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

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

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way

associated or affiliated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images

are provided for the sole purpose of identifying the specific products that were

studied during Line 6’s sound model development.

Modeled Amps & Cabs • Cali Crunch

Cali Crunch

We modeled this from our studies of 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. Boogies 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.

5 • 21

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way

associated or affiliated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images

are provided for the sole purpose of identifying the specific products that were

studied during Line 6’s sound model development.

Modeled Amps & Cabs • Jazz Clean

Jazz Clean

5 • 22

This Amp Model is modeled after the classic 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 T 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).

REBLE for a shimmering clean

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.

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.

Solo 100

This model is based on a Soldano SLO-100 head.

Modeled Amps & Cabs • Solo 100

5 • 23

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 bullet-proof 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.

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way

associated or affiliated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images

are provided for the sole purpose of identifying the specific products that were

studied during Line 6’s sound model development.

Modeled Amps & Cabs • Super O

Super O

5 • 24

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.

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 1x12-inch 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.

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way

associated or affiliated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images

are provided for the sole purpose of identifying the specific products that were

studied during Line 6’s sound model development.

Modeled Amps & Cabs • Class A-15

Class A-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 Vox AC 30 that was studied for Vetta, but this is a smaller amp (one, instead of two, 12-inch speakers) with a warmer, more “woody” sound.

5 • 25

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 B

RESENCE to 0, and play with the TREBLE control to get yourself some of those classic

ASS and MIDDLE in neutral (12 o’clock, or halfway up),

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.

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way

associated or affiliated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images

are provided for the sole purpose of identifying the specific products that were

studied during Line 6’s sound model development.

Modeled Amps & Cabs • Class A-30 TB

Class A-30 TB

5 • 26

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.

On this Amp Model, POD

XT’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.

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way

associated or affiliated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images

are provided for the sole purpose of identifying the specific products that were

studied during Line 6’s sound model development.

Modeled Amps & Cabs • Class A-30 TB

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 POD 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 POD sending it through POD

XT and cranking up the Drive and EQ controls to suit your

XT. Or punch up (or munch up) a synth bass track by

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 to hear. You generally don’t want to mix the pre-POD with the post-POD sound source right into POD

XT sound because of the comb filtering that results. Instead, jack the

XT and then only monitor it through PODXT. With the

tone controls at 12 o’clock, the EQ is “flat.”

XT, they’re gonna

XT sound

5 • 27

Modeled Amps & Cabs • Class A-30 TB

Cabinet Models

The following Cabinet Models are available on PODXT, and are accessed by pressing the C

AB/A.I.R. button, then turning the EFFECT TWEAK knob:

Cabinet Model Based On...

1x6 Super O 6x9 Supro S6616

1x8 Tweed 1961 Fender Tweed Champ

1x10 Gibtone 1x10 Gibson

1x10 G-Brand Gretsch 6156

1x12 Line 6 Line 6 1x12

1x12 Tweed 1953 Fender Tweed Deluxe

5 • 28

1x12 Blackface 1964 Fender Blackface Deluxe

1x12 Class A 1960 Vox AC-15

2x2 Mini T 2x2” Fender Mini Twin

2x12 Line 6 Line 6 2x12

2x12 Blackface 1965 Fender Blackface Twin

2x12 Match 1995 Matchless Chieftain

2x12 Jazz Roland JC-120

2x12 Class A 1967 Vox AC-30

4x10 Line 6 Line 6 4x10

4x10 Tweed 1959 Fender Bassman

4x12 Line 6 Line 6 4x12

4x12 Green 20’s 1967 Marshall Basketweave with Greenbacks

4x12 Green 25’s 1968 Marshall Basketweave with Greenbacks

4x12 Celest T-75 1978 Marshall with stock 70s

4x12 Celest V-30 1996 Marshall with Vintage 30s

4x12 Treadplate 4x12 Mesa Boogie

No Cab

You will probably want to use this Cabinet model with the Tube Preamp model for non-guitar sources. It is selected by default when you pull up the Tube Preamp Amp Model.

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way

associated or affiliated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images

are provided for the sole purpose of identifying the specific products that were

studied during Line 6’s sound model development.

Stompboxes & Effects • About the Stompboxes

STOMPBOXES & EFFECTS

About the Stompboxes

What guitarist doesn’t like Stomp boxes? PODXT’s got a bunch of great stomp box models adapted from Line 6’s DM4 Distortion Modeler, MM4 Modulation Modeler, and DL4 Delay Modeler pedals, and some brand spankin’ new models that come straight from our flagship combo, Vetta. We’ve also given you a few of the ol’ standby’s like Ping Pong and Stereo Delay. Who says you can get too much of a good thing?

In this chapter, we’re not only going to take a look at just which stomp box effects are modeled. We’ll also be talking about how you go about tweaking them. So hold onto your hats and glasses, and please keep your hands and feet inside the car at all times.

Basic Effect Editing

PODXT features a collection of sought-after stomp boxes and effects that you can assemble with any Amp Model into small ‘rigs’ with complete channel switching, stomp box-style on/off and Tap Tempo. Add an FBV or FBV Shortboard foot controller and you’ve got it all, hands-free. And there’s nothing hidden on this POD parameter can be adjusted without the need for a computer. Effects can be turned on or off at any time just by pressing one of the effect on/off buttons above the display.

XT. Any

6 • 1

There are 4 effect on/off buttons:

Comp (Gate)—This is the button to turn our model based on the LA-2A compressor on or off. Double pressing this button allows you to edit the compressor settings. It also gives you access to the full-time N

Stomp—This is where POD Like all the other effect buttons, press to turn on or off, double-press to E

Mod—POD turn them on or off, double-press to E

Delay—The delay models are here. Press on, press off, double press to E

XT comes with several flavors of modulation effects. Use this button to

XT’s distortion boxes and stomp box compressors live.

DIT.

OISE GATE.

DIT.

Stompboxes & Effects • About the Stompboxes

Deep Dive Editing

All of PODXT’s Stomp boxes and Effects share a similar way of editing and the real details are covered in Chapter 4, Creating & Storing Sounds. We’ll go over the two basic ways to do it here. To edit any effect’s parameters you can:

6 • 2

A. Press the E

DIT button, then use the SELECT knob to scroll through the pages and

find the parameters you’re looking for, or

B. Double-press an effect on/off button (press it twice quickly) to go straight to the

first page for that effect.

Stomp Effects: Distortions and Overdrives

Back before fuzzes, distortions, and overdrives existed, guitar players used to do stuff like slice their speakers with a razor blade to get that raunchy, distorted, lovely sound (check out Link Wray’s ‘Rumble’ for an example). While it sounded great, it did make it impractical to turn around and play a nice smooth ballad on the same amp.

Enter the ‘fuzz’ box. Legend has it that the first such devices were designed to duplicate the sound of a faulty mixer input strip. Whether this story is true or not, soon everybody was getting some ‘Satisfaction’ through the modern miracle of floor-based distortion.

Stomp Effects: Compressors

A compressor takes quiet sounds and loud sounds coming into it, and makes them have a more similar volume, so the loudest sounds aren’t so loud versus the quiet sounds, and the quiet sounds are closer to the level of the loudest sounds. The result is that a compressor can be set to keep boosting the level of your guitar signal as a note dies away, giving your guitar a longer note decay. In other words, plop a stomp box compressor down in front of an amp and you’ve got an instant sustain enhancer! As a side benefit, the compressor evens out your attacks and enables you to make up some gain (so you can hit the front end of your amp a bit hotter, but without extra beforethe-amp distortion that a distortion box would create when boosting input level to your amp). We’ve provided you with a number of stompbox compression options in POD so you can squash your signal ’til the cows come home.

XT,

Stompboxes & Effects • About the Stompboxes

Comp/Gate Effects

The Compressor effect available from the COMP (GATE) button is just the thing when you want to smooth out your levels the way that you would typically do in a recording studio. The the Compressor to be in smoothing things out. More negative numbers make the Compressor more active in taming your levels, so -32dB is a more aggressive setting that -16dB, say. The level reduction that the Compressor may cause.

The Gate effect helps eliminate unwanted noise when you’re not playing, and can be especially valuable when using high gain sounds. Like a security gate, it’s supposed to quickly open to pass the things that you want, and then swing closed to keep out the things that you don’t want. Turn the the Gate (

THRESH’s value will then be OFF, as shown above). The THRESH knob

determines how loud your playing has to be to open the gate. More negative numbers (where the knob is near its fully-counterclockwise setting) mean that the gate will open and allow sound through even when you are playing quietly, and less negative numbers (where the knob is near its fully-clockwise setting) mean that the gate will only allow sound to pass when you are playing pretty hard. The determines how fast the gate will swing closed. Like a gate in the real world, a fast decay means the gate might catch your trailing foot as you pass through—in this case, that means the gate will chop off the decay of your notes. And a slow decay means that as the gate swings slowly closed behind you, someone might have time to slip through behind you—in this case, that would be the unwanted noise that you hear as your notes decay. You’ll have to experiment with the happy medium for your particular guitar, playing style, and sound settings.

THRES (Threshold) knob determines how aggressive you want

GAIN knob lets you add back level to compensate for the overall

THRESH all the way down to minimum to disable

DECAY knob

DECAY to get just the right

6 • 3

Modulation Effects

Modulation effects are things that swoosh, pulse and warble—from phase shifters to flangers to choruses. Why are they called modulation effects? Well, if we consult a dictionary, we discover that ‘modulate,’ in the electronic world means to “alter the

Line 6 POD xt Pro User Manual

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual

Pilot’s Handbook

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Introduction

Welcome To PODXT...

Who is Line 6?

Modeling

Amp, Cab and Effect Models

There’s Magic in the A.I.R.

And Away We Go....

Controls & Connections

PODxt Pro

GETTING SET UP

All Purpose Basics

PODXT — In The Studio

What are you connecting to?

The Ins and Outs of Great Tone

Setting Levels

Radiation Alert

Pedal Power

MIDI Mania

PODXT — Playing Live

Mount Up

Keeping Your Options Open

What are you connecting to?

Getting The Right Tone With An Amp

External Stomp Boxes and PODXT

PODXT Pro — Configurations & Connections

Selecting An Input

Input & Digital Out Options

What are you connecting to?

AES/EBU or S/PDIF Data Format?

Radiation Alert

Pedal Power

MIDI Mania

Re-Amping with PODXT Pro

Analog Re-amping

Digital Re-amping

CREATING & STORING SOUNDS

Recalling Channel Memories

Recalling Effect Setups

Stompbox-style Control

Editing Basics

Double Press for Easy Access

Inside the Edit Menu

Amp knob settings

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

Effects Editing

Setting your Tone to Tempo

Reverb

Wah and Volume

FX Tweak Knob Assign / Tempo Assign

Saving Yourself

Saving a Channel Memory

Custom Saving Amp Models

Custom Saving Effect Setups

Single Channel Recall

MIDI Dumps

MODELED AMPS & CABS

Which Amps and Cabs Are Modeled?

General Notes About the Models

Line 6’s Originals

Line 6 Clean

Line 6 JTS-45

Line 6 Class A

Line 6 Mood

Line 6 Spinal Puppet

Line 6 Chemical X

Line 6 Insane

Line 6 Piezacoustic 2

Zen Master

Tweed B-Man

Tiny Tweed

Blackface Lux

Double Verb