Pod XT and Powered Speakers

BobG · Post by **BobG** » 20 Jun 2005 11:19 am

I was wondering if any of you POD XT users run through a powered speaker instead of a combo amp.. And if so what brand of powered speaker would be most suitable.. I currently run my POD XT direct to the board and use my Nashville 1000 as a stage monitor. I'd like to replace the 1000 with a lighter powered speaker.. The speaker would have to be able to fill a smaller club when i'm not running throught the mains.
As always your suggestion are greatly appreciated.

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Bob Grado, Williams D10 (lefty), Peavey 1000,
Profex ll.

[This message was edited by BobG on 20 June 2005 at 12:20 PM.]

Jay Ganz · Post by **Jay Ganz** » 20 Jun 2005 1:35 pm

That's exactly what I did for this rig.

There's a lightweight 800 watt power amp in
this old original Bassman cabinet along with
an Eminence 15 neodymium speaker.
Total weight is 40 lbs. It's fed by my PODxt.
[This message was edited by Jay Ganz on 20 June 2005 at 02:35 PM.]

David Doggett · Post by **David Doggett** » 20 Jun 2005 6:23 pm

Jay, that setup is a real sleeper. Where do you keep the POD, and which amp model and effects do you use? And do you think 800 watts is enough...I don't know...seems kind of wimpy.

Bobby Lee · Post by **Bobby Lee** » 20 Jun 2005 8:39 pm

I'd be real careful about the "powered speaker" idea. Remember that the power amp, speaker and cabinet are all part of a musical instrument. It has to sing. It's real easy to get a dull, lifeless sound out of PA equipment with crossovers and a "flat" frequency response.

The steel guitar is only one part of the instrument you're playing.

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<img align=right src="http://b0b.com/Hotb0b.gif" width="96 height="96">Bobby Lee - email: quasar@b0b.com - gigs - CDs, Open Hearts
Williams D-12 E9, C6add9, Sierra Olympic S-12 (F Diatonic)
Sierra Laptop S-8 (E6add9), Fender Stringmaster D-8 (E13, C6 or A6)

Rainer Hackstaette · Post by **Rainer Hackstaette** » 21 Jun 2005 5:15 am

I am currently experimenting with a Mackie SRM 450, 12" speaker, 2" horn, 300/100W, and my PODxt. It sounds quite different, i.e. more hi-fi like, than the PV Session/Vegas I'm normally using. I want it mainly to better reproduce my Variax's acoustic guitar models. They sound decent, much better than through the Peaveys, but not real great.

For steel, it takes a lot of tweaking to get a warm sound.

As far as weight is concerned, the Mackie weighs 23.2 kilos/51 lbs. A similar active molded injection box with a 15" speaker would weigh in at 31 kilos. That's pretty close to the 66 lbs of the Session and Vegas.

Plastic does not automatically mean light. The main factor in weight is the speaker's magnet. If that is heavey then the enclosure has to be structurally stronger. That means more plastic, thus still more weight.

I'll have to test the combination on a live gig. I'm not yet convinced that it'll work out.

Rainer

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Remington D-10 8+7, Sierra Crown D-10 gearless 8+8, Sierra Session S-14 gearless 8+5, '77 Emmons D-10 8+4, '70 Emmons D-10 8+4, '69 Emmons S-10 6+5, Fender Artist D-10 8+4, '73 Sho~Bud LDG 3+4, Peavey Session 400 LTD, Peavey Vegas 400, Line 6 Variax 700

[This message was edited by Rainer Hackstaette on 21 June 2005 at 06:17 AM.]

Darvin Willhoite · Post by **Darvin Willhoite** » 21 Jun 2005 5:19 am

Jay, I'm curious, what kind of amp is in the cabinet and how is it mounted?

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Darvin Willhoite
Riva Ridge Recording

Jay Ganz · Post by **Jay Ganz** » 21 Jun 2005 5:25 am

David,
I keep the PODxt near me next to the steel.
I use the Double Verb setting (like the old
Fender Twin), but have a few different variations of it saved to memory to call up
depending on the room. The parametric EQ
is also tweeked a bit. I'd never need the
full 800 watts, but you'd be surprised how
great it sounds even at low volume compared to
a standard 200 steel amp. Alot more string
separation & clarity.

Darvin,
It's one of those Soundtech PS802 amps
(single space) with the front facing up.
See below > > >

Bob,
I know just what you mean. Since there's no
crossover, horn or tweeter I've avoided any
of the typical harshness you mentioned.

[This message was edited by Jay Ganz on 21 June 2005 at 06:35 AM.]

Bill Hatcher · Post by **Bill Hatcher** » 21 Jun 2005 5:55 am

I have a friend who plays standard guitar through the POD into a JBL Ion powered speaker. Done lot's of gigs with him and it sounded very nice.

bOb. I would not be concerned with the POD sound through a powered PA speaker. The POD itself is modeling the tone of a guitar amp so all your doing is amping that tone. Problem is when you use a PA head for the input of your guitar. THAT is probably the sterile sound your talking about.

David Doggett · Post by **David Doggett** » 21 Jun 2005 6:50 am

I agree with Bill. Guitar straight into PA (or bass amp with crossover and horn) - bad sound. Guitar into guitar amp and instrument speaker - good sound. But the POD is a different animal. The higher the fidelity of the amplification and speaker system, the more realistic the POD amp/speaker models will sound. The POD is designed to go straight into a recording board, yet still give the sound of a guitar amp and guitar speaker cabinet (how well it actually does this is another matter).[This message was edited by David Doggett on 21 June 2005 at 07:55 AM.]

David Spangler · Post by **David Spangler** » 21 Jun 2005 7:12 am

I have a Peavey PX300 powered extension which works well with the POD XT.

Also, I am building a system using a Parts Express PA "plate" amp with a Black Widow. It sounds great in tests but the finished cab for it will not be complete until later this week. It will have a POD XT Pro in the top 2 rack spaces, the plate amp in the back and the speaker below the rack in a tuned/ported enclosure. If I can figure out how to post pics, will do so in a few days.

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David Spangler

Post by **Dave Mudgett** » 21 Jun 2005 8:17 am

Let me chime in and third what Bill and David are saying. The Pod, using the speaker emulation, wants the cleanest possible amplification - Hi Fi. The goal is to let the Pod do all modeling and not color the tone with the amp.

That said, a honky PA horn isn't necessarily Hi Fi. My Pod sounds fine through a good PA. To monitor, I use either a real clean all-speaker bass amp or the Power-Amp-In of my Peavey Session 500 if I need some power. This is a reasonable solution, the more modern Peavey amps do have the Power-Amp-In, a nice feature.

I'd also like a lightweight, great-sounding and flexible powered speaker solution. I've tried a few, but haven't hit one I like yet. I think I'd prefer the all-speaker approach, no horn. Most horns (especially cheap ones) sound honky to me.

But Jay's Tweed Bassman solution is the coolest-looking I've seen. I've got an empty Tweed Deluxe cab, you got me thinking, but it's kinda small.

Gene Jones · Post by **Gene Jones** » 21 Jun 2005 8:56 am

*[This message was edited by Gene Jones on 13 November 2005 at 01:13 PM.]

seldomfed · Post by **seldomfed** » 21 Jun 2005 10:11 am

Dear 'PODites',
check out Atomic amps, perhaps not enough juice for steel , but a cool idea.
http://www.atomicamps.com/

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Chris Kennison
Colorado

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 21 Jun 2005 10:29 am

I haven't played out with it, but I hooked my POD XT into a Peavey DPC-1000 and two 12" Black Window 1203 speakers and it sounded pretty good. I tried it using my MosValve 500 power amp and it even sounded better.

Bobby Lee · Post by **Bobby Lee** » 22 Jun 2005 1:58 pm

That's my point exactly, Jack. You're using 12" guitar speakers in guitar speaker boxes, and power amplifiers that many of us favor for steel. That's very different from "powered speakers", which are typically designed to work with a PA mixer and include a crossover network and horn.

I remember that a company came out with guitar-oriented powered speaker box for the POD. I forget what it's called, though.

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<img align=right src="http://b0b.com/Hotb0b.gif" width="96 height="96">Bobby Lee - email: quasar@b0b.com - gigs - CDs, Open Hearts
Williams D-12 E9, C6add9, Sierra Olympic S-12 (F Diatonic)
Sierra Laptop S-8 (E6add9), Fender Stringmaster D-8 (E13, C6 or A6)

Roger Crawford · Post by **Roger Crawford** » 22 Jun 2005 5:29 pm

Not really powered speakers, but an interesting set-up Ron Elliott uses is the POD-XT into two Nashville 112's. He gets quite a tone from it!

seldomfed · Post by **seldomfed** » 23 Jun 2005 11:14 am

I remember that a company came out with guitar-oriented powered speaker box for the POD. I forget what it's called, though.

see my prev. post 2 rows up from yours Bob

chris

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Chris Kennison
Colorado

[This message was edited by seldomfed on 23 June 2005 at 12:15 PM.]