Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility Jump to content

Who uses the Pod HD live through a power amp?


colmac2000
 Share

Recommended Posts

...and do you have any sound clips? Which power amps do you use? Any thoughts about this as a setup?

 

My plan is to use a HD500X into something like a Rocktron Velocity 300 into a Marshall 1936v. I don't have the Rocktron yet. I could also run it into the FX return of my amps (either an Orange TH30 or a H&K Switchblade) but ideally I want to avoid having to cart those to gigs.  :)

 

What about the Magnum 44? It surely can't be good enough for gigs? Can it?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What about the Magnum 44? It surely can't be good enough for gigs? Can it?

That little thing will probably surprise you....I've only used one live once (it was a few years ago) when my TS100 crapped out at sound check. It was plenty loud. Only problem with it is that at higher volumes it will start to break up a little, so clean tones will likewise start to get a little dirty. That may or may not be a good thing, depending on the sound you're after. But it's obscenely loud for something the size of an eyeglass case.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That's a loaded question - 

one way or another, everyone runs their unit through a power amp, otherwise you wouldn't be able to hear yourself. I mean, even your computer speakers have a power amp. No power equals no noise. Headphones, same thing - they use a power amp, albeit, very low power.

 

 

But as to the "gig" portion -- 

I toured the world in bands like Alice Cooper and Meat Loaf. My rig consisted of a Peavey Bandit 65. 

Your amp isn't filling the stadium. You have a PA to do that. 

 

And that philosophy is even more important in your locals bars where a little combo could actually fill the room. 

 

 

 

Live - run your Pod direct to the pa. Have them feed you back through the monitors. 

For your bedroom, you want something that provides a transparent tone so that your tone isn't colored. It really sucks when you create tones and then hook up to a PA or recorder, only to discover that your tone is missing a lot of bass because your amp/cab choice added it to what you heard at home.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I use 60w Tech 21 PE60 ~33lbs. Easy on, easy off sounds good mic'd. The PA handles everything and unless you are going to deafen yourself onstage you will too. You really only need stage monitoring and an accurate representation of your tone through the PA.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I hear you but the reality is that I'm not touring with Alice Cooper...not this year anyway. I am playing pubs with unpredictable PA setups, usually not mic'd up. For the past 10 years I have used valve amps into a Marshall 2x12 and I'm not ready to go direct quite yet. Anyway, my plan is to be using the Pod into a standard guitar cab via a suitable power amp, preferably not too heavy or expensive.

 

The Rocktron Velocity 300 looks like a good option but is fairly pricey...but if that's what a decent sounding amp costs, then fair enough. But if I can get similar results from the pedal-sized Magnum 44 then great! Seems too good to be true though.  :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

But before I played in those bands, I played in bars. What did I use - the same Bandit 65. The difference is, I was always mic'd. There were always monitors. Yeah, always. Why would you ever be so unprofessional as to use your guitar amp for house sound! 

It is our names on the marquee. Take control. No one is walking out of the venue saying "gee whiz, that is a good band, but the house sound was really awful". But they do walk out saying "what the hell was going on with that band." ~~and guess who they won't come see again. 

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

...and do you have any sound clips? Which power amps do you use? Any thoughts about this as a setup?

 

My plan is to use a HD500X into something like a Rocktron Velocity 300 into a Marshall 1936v. I don't have the Rocktron yet. I could also run it into the FX return of my amps (either an Orange TH30 or a H&K Switchblade) but ideally I want to avoid having to cart those to gigs.  :)

 

What about the Magnum 44? It surely can't be good enough for gigs? Can it?

I use a Sherlock Signal Station Stereo 50/50 valve power amp into a couple of Line 6 DT25/50 12' speaker cabs - it's supposedly based on the Fryette Power Station, with lots of clean headroom, (I rarely drive it above 2-3). I previously used an early 80s Marshall JCM800 cab with 2 GT-12-65s. A very fine speaker when putting a standard guitar amp head through them, but a bit dark for full modelling which I use.

Basically there are loads of options, but if you're using full modelling, and wants lots of different tones, either use FRFR, or a transparent power amp (people here use either Valve or Solid State), and neutral sounding speakers.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The 44 Magnum is loud as hell with an efficient speaker.When I use it live it is mounted inside the back of an open back 1x 12 cab with a

400 watt Eminence PA driver in it.Its plenty loud with a mic on it or not. I have played gigs with no mic in a 5 piece funk soul band with my Fender Pro Junior with an Eminence Ragin Cajun speaker in it and the sound monkey told me to turn it down.

 

Loud is never a substitute for good.

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Loud is never a substitute for good.

 

I guess that's what I'm wondering...is it good?  :)

 

My only experience of power amps are the valve power sections of my valve amps, which I have used to power the Pod via the FX return. I would guess these are 'good' power amps in that they probably produce a pretty warm, full-sounding tone.

 

Listening to YT comparisons of power amps, I can certainly hear that some sound warmer and fuller than others, so it's not all about loudness. And it's not always the valve ones that I prefer. I haven't heard any comparisons of the Magnum 44 though and I'd be concerned that it might sound harsh or sterile.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I guess that's what I'm wondering...is it good? :)

 

My only experience of power amps are the valve power sections of my valve amps, which I have used to power the Pod via the FX return. I would guess these are 'good' power amps in that they probably produce a pretty warm, full-sounding tone.

 

Listening to YT comparisons of power amps, I can certainly hear that some sound warmer and fuller than others, so it's not all about loudness. And it's not always the valve ones that I prefer. I haven't heard any comparisons of the Magnum 44 though and I'd be concerned that it might sound harsh or sterile.

Unfortunately there's only one way to find out....sound clips won't help you much because until the thing is in front of you, plugged into your gear in a real-world situation, there's no reliable way to gauge whether or not you're gonna like it. On the plus side, as power amps go, this thing is practically free. Buy one from someplace with a liberal return policy, and try it out. Absolute worst case scenario if you can't return it, you're out ~$150. I've paid bigger bar tabs...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Pianoguy has some very valuable points, all valid, all practical.

 

I would add that it's helpful to create your tones in a DAW using backing tracks so that you can edit it in such a way as it sits in the mix, before it hits the interface, before it hits a a connection to FOH.

 

The better you do this, the better FOH will have a usable tone from you across your live tone library.

FOH will like you better for this, as they will have very little eq'ing to do to your signal making their job easier of carving out a live mix.  They'll have a good gain structure to build from, and you'll end up liking what you get back in your monitors or your I.E.M.'s.

 

This takes time, a lot of back and forth, but if you invest this time wisely, and even have someone more experted than you give a critical listen & provide their input, it can, and likely will pay off big time.

 

Additionally, with regard to stage volume, anything that you can do to reduce that will also make the job easier for FOH to provide a good tangible mix for the room.

 

Consider this, the loudest acoustic instrument on stage sets the minimum stage SPL.  Most of the time, it's the drums, but I've seen plenty of examples where guitar players were trying to achieve a break in the sound barrier with excruciating volumes.  You need only be loud enough on stage as to hear yourself.  You may consider rather than firing your cabs from the backline towards the front, to relocating them to the side and fire them in from there, like a side fill.  If it's only for you to hear yourself, then put them where you'll likely hear them no matter where you are on stage, and you've just knocked your SPL down a bit to make FOH's job easier.  Plus, it gives you more room to run around on stage.  You might even consider downsizing to 2x12 cabs, since they're aim with more focus in mind.  This is what I did back in my final year of touring in 2002.  Sold off a couple of 4x12 cabs & went down to a single 2x12 on each side.  Even then, where the room sounds like poop, there have been times that I have gigged and not heard a note that I played because the room sounds like bees in a boxcar.  This is where professionalism trumps idealism.  You've rehearsed for this, you know your job, you know your role, and you have the physicality to do your job, along with the muscle memory that goes along with it.  You show up, you do your job.  The main person who absolutely needs to hear himself is the vocalist.  So long as everyone else can hear the drummer, you can make it work.  Again, this won't be ideal, but, you've not rehearsed up to this point just to the point where you get it right.  You've rehearsed to the point to where you can't possibly play it wrong.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

To share my experience

 

EHX 44 Magnum is great for rehearsal, gigging, and of course miced. Nice sounding full, not solid state fizzy sound sometimes excepected or feared.

 

Good for the buzz effect woaw... this noise with this small piece of gear !!!!!

 

Loud enough to cover an acoustic drum, and more really astonishing

 

 

 

Rocktron velocity, i have one too and it's lolipop great amp, even too powerfull it can kill everyone...

 

 

I add my question how do you setup you amp and signal chanin for poweramp and cab use ?

 

I've struggle longly with this configuration and found recently that using full amp + not cab + a studio eq with a +12DB boost at 150hz  and + 6db boost at 8k, is to me the only solution to produce a tube amp like feeling .

 

I mean having a bodied and full sound, with high projection as a normal amp does.

 

Did you noticed the same ?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You know the "at home bee's knees" is running it through a tube power amp. Was cranking an HD through an old Crate V32 last week.......... nice.

 

I go full amp sim studio direct btw and eq according to physical amp/cab sounds (at near volume if I can).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My preferred set up is using the Pod with my DT25, but I'm still working through whether the L6 link is better than direct into the amp. My other usual set up is straight into the front of my AC15. My 'sound' is an AC15 but I'm in a covers band where I need Fender cleans and heavier Marshall sounds, so I have three main patches for those models with the same basic FX, and then 'special' patches for particular songs. However, Last weekend I was playing a city far away and borrowed two friends amps (one as a spare).

The main amp I used was a fender blues Deville and I went into the power amp via the FX return. Once the amp warmed up it sounded great with the amp modelling. Unfortunately, the valves were old and were shot by the end of our rehearsal, so I ended up using the spare, a Marshall valve state. The sound was ok for the AC and Fender setting but wasn't so good for the Marshall (weirdly!). I also found with both amps I had to adjust all the channel volume settings for my patches. I guess this is because the Dt will match the output stage as part of the patch. The sound through the Marshall sounded tinny and digital to my ears, though people in the audience thought it sounded fine. There were moments on stage where we couldn't hear the Marshall settings which affected our performance.

 

Furthermore, I have used the Pod into the power amp of a Line 6 HD100. I patches on the pod are better quality than the HD 100 ones. This sounded good too, but the amp was just too loud for the venues I play, so I sold it.

 

In summary, playing into a power amp can work well. I've found pleasing results with valve amps as you get more warmth and I find the sound projects better. It gives a means to play gigs where you can't take your own amp. However, you run the risk of the valves being temperamental (but you have this with any valve amp!)

 

I've only gone into the desk once, for a rehearsal, and id love to do this more often, but the time I tried it I didn't like the results. I would like to try again as this would make my life easy for gigs. Plus I could get dual amp set ups, acoustic and electric sounds with my variax, and interesting Fx such as stereo delays, panning FX and so on. My fear is it will sound digital and lack warmth, plus I might not get good sound on stage without backline and relying on the monitors.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...