I have had a Line6 POD X3 live for a year now and I ought to say that I'm pleased with what it provides.

I like the sound of it a lot but most of all I like the flexibility and playability it provides on live occasions; with a simple click I am able to change patches, a thing that saves time and makes me (the guitarist) enjoy playing live more (without having to press a thousand pedals to get from a specific sound to another).

At first, I was going directly into the PA system on gigs. That was OK in terms of general feeling but it lacked the "liveness".

I play in a band with three guitarists, the other two running through amps.

That gives them more sound energy on stage because their sound comes both from the amp and the monitoring system.

I used to hear myself only from the monitors and that made me a little "thin" in the live mix.

Additionally, the amp and cab (or a combo amp) add in for a more powerful and live sound than just plain monitors.

So I started using a JCM2000 with a 2x12 cab that I can have access to.

I plug my pod X3 output to the FX return of the amp, thus using the power amp only.

This was better than going into the PA system but still something didn't feel right comparing to the other guitarists.

It was like having a blanket over my amp, making my sound thinner and worse! (I know it's a silly example but that's how it actually feels!)

Anyway, I found a solution to this problem; by plugging into the amps input, I have a much better and more powerful sound.

I still use all POD's effects and sometimes even amp and cab sims (for some spacey clean sounds) and it is OK.

The bad thing is it only works with clean channels...

The distorted channels are a mess! That's because the amp's preamp messes up my whole gain...

I don't have a footswitch for the Marshall amp, so I wonder:

Is there any efficient way of setting up my POD so I can use drive and effects on the clean channel of the amp?

I once tried the screamer drive on the clean channel, but it doesn't have a lot of gain to play rhythmic parts.

I want to use the pod as separate stompboxes and being able to have clean and driven sounds.

What should I do? Should I use a different POD drive pedal? What would it be?

Should I have amp sims on when I play distorted rhythm parts so I can have more gain or this will make my sound hissy and noisy?

I am familiar with the 4 cable method, so if it is part of your proposed solution, just mention it!

My last question is whether I should turn off cab sims or not, considering that I play through an actual cabinet.

I tried turning them off but the sound was horrible!

I don't mind leaving them on but I want to hear you opinions on this.

The desired result is having the POD patches controlling my sound on the amp and me being able to play clean, distorted rhythm and lead sounds on the same channel of the amp (clean), being connected to the amp's INPUT (not the FX return).

I hope that's possible because I don't have the money to buy a footswitch...

Thanks in advance to whoever takes time to read my post!