Long title, sorry!

I have messed around with a lot of configurations since I got my X3L a couple of years ago, and recently stumbled into a variation of the 4-cable method, that has been working pretty well for me so far, with my amp. Lousy amp!... Marshall solid state 1x12. But that is ok, because, I am about to get a '96 USA Deville 4x10 Hot Rod, from an original owner in excellent condition - but that's another post..

OK - so, I have power issues with my apartment in Chicago, where I channel horrible noise from my guitar to amp, or POD from any outlet in the house. Other places I have plugged in, no problem. Plus, my clean channel of this amp has a weird 60 cycle hum that doesn't happen on the "drive channel", so I took to plugging the POD output into the FX return of this amp.

Well, that led me to experiment with plugging the guitar into the amps front input, then putting the POD into the amps FX loop. Also, one more thing before I get into details, I also use an outboard compressor pedal, in my case a Keeley 4-knob comp. I put this into the FX-loop of the POD. This does wonderful things for the POD, in terms of controlling level spikes, packaging up the tone nicely, and a sweet level spike containment of all the wah models. Seriously, those wah models can be viscious!. Put them through an analog limiter/compressor, and they sound way better!!

So, without "Furthur" ado: (if you get a chance, go check out Furthur, they sound AWESOME now with "Faux Jerry", John Kadelcik from DSO!!! Check archive.org, free streaming of the shows, stellar... Best Bobby and Phil have sounded in years!!)

Ok, so my dual FX-loop, with an analog compressor rig...Try this:

1. plug 1st cable into your guitar into your amps front input

2. plug 2nd cable from amps FX-send (out)*  to POD guitar in. (You might need to set the input pad "on" depending)

3. plug 3rd cable from POD 1/4" out to amps  FX-return (in)*

4. plug 4th cable from POD FX-send(out) to  outboard compressor input

5. plug 5th cable from POD FX-return(in)  to outboard compressor output (I use a Keeley 4-knob comp for this)

* note: I  think on some amps (like the Fender hot rod series) these fx loop in/out jacks are labeled "preamp out"  and "poweramp in"

**note: make sure if your amp has an FX-loop dial, to turn it all the  way to 100% mix.

Ok, so programming, here's the intent I go for with tone 1:

- stomp set up as a classic distortion or tube screamer, or whatever you like!

- "comp" switch pedal set to turn amp model on/off

- mod set to the new "script phaser" which has tap tempo. Sick!! Can totally do leslie speaker slowdown / speedup with this!!

- I have been messing with an amp model set to the mesa boogie model, I think it's "cali crunch"

*> on the amp model, turn the  cabinet to "no cabinet", which also turns off the mic

**>> the thinking here, this is used as an extra stomp pedal, and since amp models have nice eq controls, think of it like a totally expanded distortion pedal, with low/mid/high and presence controls on most every amp model. Since you are not using cab or mic models, this is subjective to what sounds good coming out of your amplifier at your place!

-On the  POD: turn on the FX loop, make sure set to 100% mix, and then go back to adjust return boost if required.

-On  the outboard comp: Start with setting the compression amount less than 12 o'clock, and  set the master volume out to between 1/2, 2/3 or 3/4 up. On the  POD, set the FX-loop mix to 100%, and set the return to about +4, or +8, or +12db  boost, depending on how you set the external compressor. My Keeley has 4 knobs : compression, master volume, attack speed, and input trim. Typically set the attack and input trim to the same as the Keeley 2 knob, which is fastest attack time, no input gain reduction. Sometime I ease up on the trim (input gain) to get more clarity, the higher this knob is set, the faster the pedal squashes signal. As I turn the trim down, it is cutting input signal, adding headroom, and reducing the need for compression until higher levels, regardless of the master output setting. In actual sonic audio terms, it makes the treble increase since the treble freqs are the first to spike from the POD, they are the first to get cut down by the Keeley, softening the tone. Rolling this trim back can actually serve to dial in the right amount of bite to softness ratio. More trim gain reduction, more treble increases. Less input gain reduction, more treble gets squashed and softened!

Placing that outboard comp in the POD's fx loop really does sweet wonders for amp models overdrive and stomp pedals too. You can now use all master volumes as a type of tone control, rather than really messing with your output volume. The Keeley is kind of expensive, so this can totally work with an 80 dollar boss cs-3 or whatever you can get your hands on. In theory, should even work with a dyna-comp, though that tends to color the sounds, but still provides that limiter / compression effect, so you can make it work just to try it out..

The reason I say you can use the amp models drive and master volume, plus the stomp modesl drive and gain setting as "tone" control rather than volume control, is because the outboard comp (keeley, etc) is acting as limiter and also a compressor, so the sounds are all louder than the keeley is allowing to come out, causing a squashing of everything. The more you turn up the volume and drive and gain, the more it squashes! It actually can create some wild effects, because, it's like this:

Imagine you have a glass of liquid. The glass is your output volume. Turn up the keeley, make the glass bigger, turn down the keeley, make it smaller. Now, turn up the compression, and turn up all the gain and output levels of everything going into the keeley, and rather than making the glass bigger, you are now making the liquid denser. If you over compress, eventually you can squash all dynamics out of your guitars signal range, making the level of the hardest pick strike equal to the softest, and same for guitar volume control on the guitar. Back off some on the comp if you get to that extreme ratio, of maximum amount of compression juicing up the signal, with maximum squash, which is least amount of volume allowed out of the speaker.

Regarding "pre" and "post" settings on the POD: these now matter! If you have not used the FX loop previously, these setting didn't play as much of a role in drastically shaping your sound. You can set several of the FX on the POD pre or post. In particular, I will talk briefly about that, in regard to this rigging / setup. I like to use the weird analog or modulation based delays sometime, but they can also do a weird runaway sound effect that can cause some strange volume spikes. Same for alot of the more fun mods, like phaser, flanger, etc. If you experience unwanted volume spikes / issues with these effects, they can be set to "pre", which is before the effects loop, IE, before the outboard compressor (keeley). This forces these effects into the level control of the analog comp, which can be nice. It can also make mud soup! So, try both, mess with them. For instance, digital delay and stereo delays sound great as "post", same for chorus in the mod (post).

Mind,  you, this is all "tone 1" only. No amp modelling, no mic modelling.

If  you want to also send XLR with amp and mic modelling, you could then do something like,

- attach the other  1/4" out from the POD to the AUX input on the POD,

- set tone 2 as AUX  in,

- mute tone 1 to the XLR outs and

- mute tone 2 to the 1/4" outs.

- Set tone 2  with noise gate, POD's compression

**(no FX-loop, can only be used mono on one  tone or the other), and then also

- use a clean amp model with cab and mic  emulation.

- Give it some room in the amp setting.

- Maybe use the new  "dimension" mod for a nice subtle chorus like stereo effect, and

- a small  amout of a big reverb (less than 10%) of something like 'cavernous'.

The main  thing I REALLY like about this rig, is the outboard (keeley) compressor  in the POD's effect loop. It makes the wah models sound good. All of  them. No more noisy weird volume boost. Play with the master volume on  the outboard comp, play with the amp vs. line level send on the POD, and  get those right, and the outboard comp acts as a nice analog smoother,  limiter, which holds back the weird wah volume peaks, plus, since the  POD is in the FX loop of the amp, the noise gate kills any extra amp  noise. Even kills a 60 cycle hum I get from the clean channel of my  crappy solid-state Marshall. I can't imagine how good it sounds on a  nice tube amp!: