Pod Fun - Larkin Poe

[DolurumMafikala]

Hi,

 

 

It's a bit sad that most of the posts these days are technical support requests - we don't seem to talk about actually using the Pod so much these days.

 

So here are a few things I've been enjoying recently and thought might be interesting to share:

 

I've been listening to Larkin Poe a fair bit in advance of seeing them later this year, so fuzzy or overdriven Fender sounds have been running through my head. On no account should you go and listen to "Bad Spell" as you will never dislodge that hook from your head!

 

Amp-wise, I've been using the BF Deluxe in the Vibrato channel, on the default settings, which seem quite "edge of breakup" ish. I've been finding putting the Overdrive or the Tube Compressor in front of it are nice ways to dirty things up when needed. I also use the Spring Reverb straight after the amp block, with the intention of this being a straight emulation of the actual amp's reverb. So pretty simple chain: Overdrive or Tube Compressor -> BF Deluxe Vib -> Spring Reverb. Sounds nice for practice... this is all bedroom levels so YMMV if you are able to play louder.

 

I've been watching the JHS Pedal Show on Youtube, which I find gives a fascinating history on many of the effects modelled in the Pod. I came to the DOD 250 history video after liking the Overdrive in the Pod and finding in the Model Gallery that it is a model of the 250. Why didn't they do a Model Gallery for the Helix I wonder? It was so cool for the HD.

 

Back to Larkin Poe, I caught a Youtube video where RebL talks about her pedalboard which uses an HX unit as the central effects processor and a hub controller for other pedals. Something that caught my interest was that her husband made her a pedal that was described as two-TSs back to back, with an additional boost when needed. It's a custom pedal. No problem to do that in the Pod, though, right? Just put three blocks in: Two TSs on mild settings and then some sort of boost and you are done. It is the work of seconds vs building your own custom pedal. I love the flexibility that the Pod delivers in this respect.

 

One last tip of the hat to the Pod. Of course, for the music I am talking about here I needed to try some fuzz. Whilst experimenting with the Overdrive (DOD 250) vs the Fuzz Pi (Big Muff) or Facial Fuzz (Fuzz Face) I noticed that my sound changed whether I had the DOD at the front of the the chain and turned off vs not in the chain. I knew the Pod modelled the input impedance of these devices and that fuzzes are often low so you lose the treble. This is exactly what was happening. The sound was darker if I didn't have the DOD first in the chain, even if turned off. This is all with the Z setting to Auto. I could override it by manually setting the Z to 1M or whatever. My point here is that the Pod was accurately modelling what should happen to the signal with those different pedals and different orders. What a machine!

 

Happy days,

DM.

 

 

 

[hurghanico]

What I found is that there is an effect that alone without the need to add any amp in the chain gives the sound of "Bad Spell".

Try the Sub Octave Fuzz (inspired by the PAiA Roctave Divider, fuzz with an octave below), select the bridge humbucker PU and add some reverb.

Ready for bad spell!

 

 

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[DolurumMafikala]

I love the Sub Octave Fuzz but hadn't thought about using without an amp model! Thanks for the tip :)

[hurghanico]

On 4/23/2023 at 9:06 AM, DolurumMafikala said:

I love the Sub Octave Fuzz but hadn't thought about using without an amp model! Thanks for the tip :)

 

You're welcome..

It happens that in some cases the effects alone without an amp are all that is needed for certain sounds.
I remember that in the first POD bean there was the Fuzz Face model but it was placed among the various amp models (instead of among the effects) and therefore in that case it was not even possible to combine it with an amp model but IIRC only with a cabinet, but it worked as it was..

after all effects in the distortion category are like hot amps without cabinets

 

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

All about POD HD500/X

help and useful tips