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whats best for POD live use? keyboard amp? PE60?


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Wondering anyones suggestions for live use of the POD PRO. I've heard great things about Roland KC300 or 500 and the Tech 21 Power Engine 60. Some have even suggested the "series effects loop" of a tube combo. I want uncolored POD sound live - I have no intention of miking it because I want true stereo sound. I would have to but either two KC300's or two Power Engine 60's, anyway, anyone have any suggestions for me? Thanks in advance:p

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It's my understanding that the Power Engine was designed specifically for such an application, so it's probably the guitar player's choice. Another choice might be a powered PA speaker such as made by EV, Yorkville, Mackie, Crest, Peavey, etc. The powered speakers could be used in a variety of ways down the road, but would probably be a little more expensive than two Power Engines.

 

Peace,

D

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power engine, it looks better, sounds better too actually. More guitar feel, there is something really weird about having a monitor going into your face that only has guitar in it.

I prefer electric guitar coming out of something that at least looks like a guitaramp.

 

If you need to put other stuff through it as well, then that's a different story.

 

You could get a power amp and a 2*12 cab i you like that sound..

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I've tried a power amp with full range PA speakers and it sounded bad - overcolored with ruined tone. I have tried plugging into the "series effect loop" of the 5150 combo - this bypasses the combo's preamp and goes directly into the amp tubes and speakers - it souded muddy and dark coming out of the 5150 sealed cab. I can't image I would get much better sound out of a separate power amp and extension cab. :rolleyes:

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Originally posted by andyhumb

I've tried a power amp with full range PA speakers and it sounded bad - overcolored with ruined tone.

 

 

PA systems are specifically designed to not color the sound. My money's on your problem there was on the input side, most likely the settings on your POD Pro. Modelers take some time to get just right.

 

D

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  • 5 months later...
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I'll bump this, because I'm wondering if there are any "all-in one" power amp/speaker cabinet alternatives to the Tech 21 Power Engine. I don't play live much (more into home recording) so a relatively lo-cost integrated one-piece unit would be preferable to a separate power amp and cabinet for those times when I do need to play my Pod in live situations with my drummer and bassist. Any suggestions?

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Actually, I can help with your question. I bought the power engine 60 and used it for awhile - I got rid of it because it does not have enough power to truely sound good in a live band setting. In my opinion, its the perfect solution for the POD for HOME use. Ignore what the sellers tell you, its just not truely powerful enough for live use. The only other solution is an old used Roland keyboard amp - If I were you, I'de search ebay for a used power engine 60 - its IDEAL for bedroom playing! (I have since sold my POD and went to an all tube "old school" amp head and cabinet system)

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Originally posted by andyhumb

I've tried a power amp with full range PA speakers and it sounded bad - overcolored with ruined tone. I have tried plugging into the "series effect loop" of the 5150 combo - this bypasses the combo's preamp and goes directly into the amp tubes and speakers - it souded muddy and dark coming out of the 5150 sealed cab. I can't image I would get much better sound out of a separate power amp and extension cab.
:rolleyes:

 

I'm becoming more and more hesitating lately about this topic so take this with a grain of salt :

 

- Let me start by saying that I've heard people getting good results live with each of the above solutions. And pretty bad ones as well.

 

- Coloring is something you may or may not want. Logically you'd want to hear live what you hear in your headphones. That means transparent amplification - no color.

On the other side many people want to de-digitalize the sound coming from the simulator as well, giving it a warmer, rounder tone, closer to that trademarked guitar tube amp tone. Hence people suggest trying guitar power amps and cabinets. From my experience, that might work out fine if you only use 2-3 different sounds. It's hard to optimize for more sounds (especially clean sounds and FX-heavy sounds). So IMO this kinda defeats the purpose of having a digital preamp (I mean if you play in a one-style band, be it metal or blues, hell get one real amp focussing on the sound you're after !).

That being said, simple amplification of the tone you hear through headphones yields other problems like harshness or time FX overprocessing and you still have to tune those.

 

- Coloring may come from the speakers (and cabinet characteristics), as guitar speakers have limited range, or from the amp (especially guitar dedicated tube power amps) but to a much lesser degree. Keep in mind as well that you want CLEAN headroom, not tube power amp saturation. Again I've heard people achieve excellent lead tones by overdrivning their poweramp tubes as well. But then, their clean sounds were horrible...

 

- Full range PA speakers are the least coloring devices you ever may find

- Guitar combos are about the most coloring (tone modifying) devices. Mostly due to the cabinet/speakers.

- Keyboard combo's are like wannabee full range PA speakers. They're actually in between your guitar combo and a PA setup, regarding range. To me, they're kinda obsolete.

See, even keyboard players switch to PA speakers now. I certainly do ...

 

If I'm not mistaken, your tech21 amp is kinda like a small PA : SS power amp + extended range speakers. If you like the sound but the volume is too low, the logical next step would be the PA speaker and poweramp setup.

 

One thing to remind is that you need to turn the speaker sims on your preamp ON when using full range amplification, and OFF when you use guitar-like cabinets/speakers. But I suppose you knew that.

 

Personally, I've had very bad results with FX returns in my Marshall stack, average results with my 2-way keyboard amp and best results with a powered speaker. But it's still far from being perfect ...

 

I'm currently thinking about a tube power amp (like a Mesa-Boogie 2:90) and full range speakers. But I don't really know if it would be any better ...

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You could try a motion sound 200s. It has 2 10's and 2 horns and is the best sounding keyboard amp on the market. It doesn't color the sound very much and gives you a stereo spread when you are on stage. Just put it about 3 feet behind your head on an amp stand and it's like wearing huge headphones. I have one(keyboardist) and it's probably the best investment I've made in a while. it's about $650-750 though. I a little steep but less than buying two pwered mackies or ev's or eons. It also has plenty of clean power. Check out their site at www.motion-sound.com.

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  • 6 months later...
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Nice, yet older, topic.

 

I have a Sansamp PSA-1 and I'm still looking for the perfect solution.

 

The Sansamp sounds great (with headphones) when I run through my Peavey Microbass bass combo (solid state).

I also have a Marshall Valvestate 8008 poweramp and a 1912 1x12 cabinet from marshall. Sound results with the PSA-1 at low volume aren't that great.

 

Who tried out those Tech 21 Cabinets?

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