Needed help with Pod Express

[Jacobson527]

Hello, i've recently bought my first Pod express and i need help with connecting it to my Marshall amp. Is there a way to make the amp only use the settings on the Pod express and not on the amp itself? Whenever i use them together, it sounds weird and doubled. Thanks in advance.

[silverhead]

You’re right. There is doubling going on. Actually, probably a double double! (That can be good if you’re Canadian, but I digress.) If you are connecting the POD express output to your Marshall amp guitar input then you are using two amps: the amp model in the Pod Express and your Marshall preamp section. That won’t sound good. And, unless you do some editing on the POD Express preset you are also doubling up the cab/speakers: the default cab selected along with the amp model in the Pod Express and your physical Marshall cabinet. Again, not good.

 

What you want is:

- connect the POD Express output to the Return input on your Marshall amp

- edit your POD Express preset to select no cab, the OFF setting (see manual pg 20)

 

That way you are using only one amp (the POD Express) and one cab/speaker (your Marshall).

[Jacobson527]

Hello again, thank you for responding and helping. I've already turned the cab off on the pod express. There might be problem with the inputs though. I have Marshall MG15GFX and it has normal input, footpedal and MP3 input and one output for headphones. This makes me even more confused since i dont even know what return input is. Thank you
 

[silverhead]

Many amps have FX Loop capability, which includes a Return input. Unfortunately your amp doesn’t. That means you can’t easily get a signal to your cab/speaker without going through the Marshall’s guitar input (preamp section). You could experiment with using the amp’s MP3 input which probably bypasses the preamp section and feeds directly to the cab/speaker but you’ll need to experiment with levels.
 

If that doesn’t work well, that means you should not use an amp model in the POD Express preset; select the OFF amp model. Your POD Express ends up being an FX only device.

 

For best results using  the POD Express for amp modeling you will need to use a physical amp that has a Return input. If you then want to use the POD Express cab modeling, consider abandoning a physical amp and use a decent FRFR monitor, not a guitar amp cabinet. Ideally, use two studio monitors if you want to take advantage of stereo FX.

[Jacobson527]

Sorry for responding late, didn't really have time during Christmas. Anyway, thank you for help but unfortunately another problem has emerged. The LED next to the Clean preset started blinking red and I don't know if I should be concerned about it. I've tried searching what It could be, I even read the owners manual multiple times and didn't find anything about it. I also quite don't understand why it runs on 9 volts but only fits 3x 1.5 volt batteries.

 

Thank you