Dumping it all for a pod

[Guest MoJo]

With all the disillusion I've suffered recently trying to achieve a decent live sound, I am seriously considering getting rid of my backline altogether and investing in a Bass Pod XT live and a decent powered monitor. My rig is only really for onstage monitoring any way as it's DI'd into the desk.

Has anyone else gone down this route for live work and do you
[list=1]
[*]Regret it?
[*]Wish you'd done it sooner?
[/list]

Cheers

[NancyJohnson]

[quote name='bassman2790' post='467066' date='Apr 19 2009, 10:28 PM']With all the disillusion I've suffered recently trying to achieve a decent live sound, I am seriously considering getting rid of my backline altogether and investing in a Bass Pod XT live and a decent powered monitor. My rig is only really for onstage monitoring any way as it's DI'd into the desk.

Has anyone else gone down this route for live work and do you
[list=1]
[*]Regret it?
[*]Wish you'd done it sooner?
[/list]

Cheers[/quote]

I wouldn't go so far as to say I would dump everything for a POD.

I'd used one on and off since the Bass POD arrived on the market whenever it was, ten years or so ago. I've owned both the guitar and bass versions, both of which are very versatile pieces of hardware that I would certainly argue give you an immense array of sounds at the push of a button (or two) - they are both great for recording and certainly on the odd occasion I've used it plugged straight into a desk during rehearsals the results of which [albeit through headphones] have been quite pleasing. The Bass POD certainly formed the backbone of my sound up until six months ago (plugged into the effects return of an Ashdown). That said, I have never gigged just using the Bass POD, but I have using the guitar version (and never again either).

What this would come down to really for me would be whether I got to the stage where I couldn't lug gear around (I did buy a trolley recently), but also the reliance on there being a house system for me to plug into wherever I was rehearsing/gigging. Let me say one other thing. There is no better thing than standing in front of your rig (irrespective of the size) and feeling the bass move through you and around you (and making that dumbass guitarist try harder to get his sound right). The POD doesn't do this. Like I said, it's great, but you're moving air by emulation.

Finally, on the subject of live sound, it's taken donkey's years, but I'm pretty much there. It's taken a while and only really arrived with a new head six months ago that essentially gave me the sound I was achieving through the POD.

My advice would be buy a POD and route it through your effects return, or if you don't have one, into the main amp input with everything flat.

Best
P

[Guest MoJo]

My dilemma is that I don't have any spare cash at the moment. The guitarist in our band has got his sound well and truly sorted. He runs his Gibson Explorer through a Hughes and Kettner Switchblade amp into a matching 4 x 12 H&K cabinet. The sound he gets is incredible.

By comparison, my poor Trace 2x10 combo pales into insignificance. It's not like we're into a volume war as we have known each other for a long time and work well together for the good of the band. I often have to tell him to turn it up . I just feel that my tone lets the side down a bit at the moment. I've only just got back into work after being made redundant in October. I can't even afford a car and travel everywhere by bus so the chances of me taking home an Ampeg SVT and 8x10 cabinet are zero.

Maybe I should just keep puttin my gig money to one side until I can afford a big valve head and quality cabinet.

[xilddx]

I did, believe me, the sounds are ace, and your rig is easy.

[AM1]

[quote name='bassman2790' post='467086' date='Apr 19 2009, 11:06 PM']My dilemma is that I don't have any spare cash at the moment. The guitarist in our band has got his sound well and truly sorted. He runs his Gibson Explorer through a Hughes and Kettner Switchblade amp into a matching 4 x 12 H&K cabinet. The sound he gets is incredible.

By comparison, my poor Trace 2x10 combo pales into insignificance. It's not like we're into a volume war as we have known each other for a long time and work well together for the good of the band. I often have to tell him to turn it up . I just feel that my tone lets the side down a bit at the moment. I've only just got back into work after being made redundant in October. I can't even afford a car and travel everywhere by bus so the chances of me taking home an Ampeg SVT and 8x10 cabinet are zero.

Maybe I should just keep puttin my gig money to one side until I can afford a big valve head and quality cabinet.[/quote]

Have you thought about a Sansamp? There is a pretty good Ampeg sound to be had without actually buying an Ampeg head. PM me if you are interested in more detail, I know of one that might be for sale for around £100. Have a look on youtube for some Sansamp clips.

[ARGH]

Yes get a head..get a cab.....

Pods..are not the way,if they were,the amp industry would have died..thay are made of plastic,plastic breaks onstage..dont do it.

[ped]

I 'dumped it all for a pod' a while back. I went with the XT pro and floorboard option. I had already owned the pod alongside my amp and used it exclusively for all my recording and home playing through IEMs. I think it was when I played a gig in Manchester after recovering from a back operation that I realised what a good idea it was. All I took to the gig was my pod, my IEMs and my bass. I got my studio sound live and could hear myself better than ever before.

It got to the point where my amplifier became a glorified personal monitor - the larger the gigs the less I needed an amp because all the audience could hear was the FOH anyway. The pod route worked as long as the monitors at the venue were up to it - not for sound necessarily as I had my headphones, but for a bit of 'rumble'. Without IEMs though I would be uneasy about using just the pod because more often than not the monitors at the venue are not up to much, unless or course your band has their own setup.

I sold the pod a while back for the Roland equivalent, the Vbass, and haven't been happier. I use it for recording and home playing and live through the PA, but I also have a bass stack with a poweramp which I can plug the Vbass into alongside the PA or any combination of the others if I need to, because sometimes only a rig will do.

It works for me and I think lots of people are coming round to the idea of such a setup in the search for lightweight solutions.

Cheers
ped

[alexclaber]

Conceptually it's a good theory but a decent powered monitor that can handle bass will cost a lot more than an equally fat sounding and loud head/cab combination.

Alex

[Rich]

[quote name='ARGH' post='467140' date='Apr 20 2009, 12:46 AM']Yes get a head..get a cab.....

Pods..are not the way,if they were,the amp industry would have died..thay are made of plastic,plastic breaks onstage..dont do it.[/quote]
The monitoring thing might not be 'the way' or your particular cup of lapsang, but it does seem to be increasingly popular. Sansamps and so on, it doesn't have to be Pods specifically.
Personally I could be quite tempted to go down the in-ear route.

[Guest MoJo]

[quote]The monitoring thing might not be 'the way' or your particular cup of lapsang, but it does seem to be increasingly popular. Sansamps and so on, it doesn't have to be Pods specifically.
Personally I could be quite tempted to go down the in-ear route.[/quote]

I like the idea of in-ear monitoring and can imagine that hearing a consistant tone wherever one stands on stage would be very pleasing.

The only slight concern with this POD/PA/IEM set up is one that cropped up when I kind of dipped my toe in the water with this concept before in my party band with a GT6-B fed back through a wedge monitor and that is the lack of bass presence on-stage for the other band members. I'm fairly happy that out engineer is producing a decent FOH sound (although this raises another question which I shall raise in another thread) but I'm after a decent on-stage sound. The only option in this case would be for us all to go over to IEM.

[quote]Have you thought about a Sansamp? There is a pretty good Ampeg sound to be had without actually buying an Ampeg head.[/quote]

I bought the Tech 21 VT Bass pedal a while ago, really to add a bit of grit into my tone. It was a great pedal, very versatile and great for recording. It didn't sound so hot through my amp, needing a full range cab to get the best out of it. I expect a Sansamp would be equally as good, if not better than a Pod as a preamp. If I decided to go down that route, I would have to try both to see which suited best.

[NancyJohnson]

[quote name='ARGH' post='467140' date='Apr 20 2009, 12:46 AM']Pods..are made of plastic,plastic breaks onstage..[/quote]

Dare I say it, have you actually even picked up a POD? The case is metal, the recessed button array is plastic, the knobs/controls are just like the knobs on a regular amp. They are very robust bits of kit.
P

[xilddx]

[quote name='NancyJohnson' post='467199' date='Apr 20 2009, 08:50 AM']Dare I say it, have you actually even picked up a POD? The case is metal, the recessed button array is plastic, the knobs/controls are just like the knobs on a regular amp. They are very robust bits of kit.
P[/quote]

Thank you, well said.

[alexclaber]

The thing is that a POD isn't magic - it's just a preamp with some extra stuff in there to give power amp / cab simulation. You will still run into the weak link that is the loudspeakers - and monitors still have the same problems that bass cabs do - not enough ability to handle lows at high SPL with low distortion. If you have serious monitors, the kind that can make a kick drum sound good, then a POD makes sense, or if your whole band is willing to shift to in-ears, but otherwise you still have the same problem as before, just through different gear.

Alex

[Dubs]

I don’t get the whole “plug straight into the desk” approach. I’ve used a Pod XT Live for about 4 years now, and it’s a great bit of kit, but if it was a choice between a good backline or a Pod, the backline would always be my first choice.

[largo]

A bit off topic but ..... Your guitarist has a H&K head with 4x12 cab AND you have to get something lightweight/portable because you use public transport ?

[Guest MoJo]

Ha Ha .... no. I get a lift to the gigs with the vocalist in his van so I could have an 8x10 if I could afford it. I switched to the 122H after being disillusioned with my previous Laney B1 (1500w) into 2 Marshall MBC410 cabinets. I imagined that 2 4x10's would be able to shift enough air to move small children. The inefficient drivers in the MBC cabinets however offered such a poor performance that I couldn't shift enough air to part my hair. Then I had a eureka moment when attending a friends gig and hearing his Trace 1210. I was amazed at how these two little drivers drove the band along. I asked myself, "Why am I lugging all this gear around when you can get a sound like [b]that[/b] out of a little combo. The Laney and MBC's were sold and I managed to get hold of the 122H (the forerunner to the 1210) at a reasonable price from the friend of a fellow basschatter.

BTW: I wouldn't call it lightweight or portable. The thing weighs a ton and with a handle on each side, is awkward to carry

Edited April 20, 2009 by bassman2790

[Prosebass]

Another possible route is using a Behringer V-Amp Pro , a decent power amp and a lightweight high power cab.
I have one mated to a Inter M R300 amp (300 watt bridged into 8 ohms) I went for this amp due to its 8 ohm bridged setting and run it through a single 12" 300 watt cab that measures 14" x 14" x 12" (home-made with a Skytronic 902.442 300 watt / 600 watt peak driver ) although there are quite a few good 12" or 2 x 10" commercial cabs that would do the job.
Total cost of my setup was £58 for the V-amp, £50.00 for the power amp and £40.00 for the cab (all bought second-hand)

Having tried a few heads recently I much prefer the V-Amp with its amazing amount of variation and fine tuning plus if you add a Midi - controller pedal you can use quite a few different settings in a live situation. The V-amp also gives you the option of wet / dry DI output to your desk and even SPDIF if needed

[chris_b]

I think you're right to want to dump the lot. But why would you want a POD?!?! Get better gear! My suggestion would be a good 500w head and a top quality 4x10 or 6x10 neo cab. THen your "sound" will not be so elusive! Another good idea is to try a Barefaced cab.

[Guest MoJo]

Is there an opportunity to try a Barefaced Cab? Is there anyone in the West Midlands with one?

[Guest MoJo]

[quote name='chris_b' post='467302' date='Apr 20 2009, 11:02 AM']I think you're right to want to dump the lot. But why would you want a POD?!?! Get better gear! My suggestion would be a good 500w head and a top quality 4x10 or 6x10 neo cab. THen your "sound" will not be so elusive! Another good idea is to try a Barefaced cab.[/quote]

I think maybe I should have hung onto the B1 and got a better cab....DOH

[BassMunkee]

I've done it, and I wish that I had done it sooner.
It's an excellent piece of kit.

[Noisyjon]

Surely it's a 'horses for courses' situation.
There's nothing wrong with the POD and IEM setup, if there's enough P.A. at your gigs to cope. If not then having a powered monitor or power amp & speaker cab there to cover things would sort it.

Good luck on your quest!

BTW I always loved the idea of a backline and monitor free stage setup, with electronic drums, pods and IEM's instead. I think it was Garbage that toured like that some years ago. It must be wierd taking an earpiece out to hear...nothing!

[jim_bass]

[quote name='Prosebass' post='467295' date='Apr 20 2009, 10:54 AM']Another possible route is using a Behringer V-Amp Pro , a decent power amp and a lightweight high power cab.
I have one mated to a Inter M R300 amp (300 watt bridged into 8 ohms) I went for this amp due to its 8 ohm bridged setting and run it through a single 12" 300 watt cab that measures 14" x 14" x 12" (home-made with a Skytronic 902.442 300 watt / 600 watt peak driver ) although there are quite a few good 12" or 2 x 10" commercial cabs that would do the job.
Total cost of my setup was £58 for the V-amp, £50.00 for the power amp and £40.00 for the cab (all bought second-hand)

Having tried a few heads recently I much prefer the V-Amp with its amazing amount of variation and fine tuning plus if you add a Midi - controller pedal you can use quite a few different settings in a live situation. The V-amp also gives you the option of wet / dry DI output to your desk and even SPDIF if needed[/quote]

Glad you are liking the V-Amp mate.

After selling all my rack gear (including my V-amp to Prosebass) I have gone back to an amp/cab. My Ashdown Klystron 500 in on it's way as we speak. The v-amp was too complicated for me and I never had time to use all of the features.

[MB1]

[quote name='bassman2790' post='467066' date='Apr 19 2009, 10:28 PM']With all the disillusion I've suffered recently trying to achieve a decent live sound, I am seriously considering getting rid of my backline altogether and investing in a Bass Pod XT live and a decent powered monitor. My rig is only really for onstage monitoring any way as it's DI'd into the desk.

Has anyone else gone down this route for live work and do you
[list=1]
[*]Regret it?
[*]Wish you'd done it sooner?
[/list]

Cheers[/quote]

MB1.
Sounds Like a POD Makeover!......
1.Snog.
2.Marry.
3. Avoid.
4. Sorry!,I'll Get Me Coat!.

[risingson]

I wouldn't drop everything for the POD unless you were particularly enamoured with its sound. In-ear monitoring I reckon would be preferable maybe (I'm about to go down that route). Not cheap though, but I guess you pay for quality most of the time.

Edited April 21, 2009 by liamcapleton