Axe verses Podxtpro

M

MickUF

Member
yea mentioning the Pod is prob taboo here but I have a question that may tie over to other units. First off I LOVE my Ultra. I use it live in my band and it does everything I could ever ask. With that said,I use to have a Pod XT pro rig years ago and sold that unit. There was always a part of me that missed what I was getting from the Pod so I picked one up cheap the other day. Heres my issue/question... I use my Ultra as a glorified effect unit. no amp models at all. I run a chain like this guitar/AxeUltra/Ac30 with a Korg A3 in the axe loop. If I set up a simple clean sound or for testing a row of shunts and compare with the Pod.. I find the Pod has a beefier more saturated in your face sound. I find the axe seems padded down far more tinny and less vol.(using version 9.03) I find the Pod also has more headroom before clipping. I tried each unit seperate then for fun I setup a cain of shunts and put the Pod in front of the axe and it again gets sucked or padded down.. My question is I have no effects or any blocks in this test chain so theres nothing to tweak. Is there anywhere I could look or try that wont clip out the Axe fx? My channel input vol is around 1 oclock anything more goes red. Ive never messed with any output settings on the axe and would think it shouldnt need any boosting. Somthing I havent tried is guitar/amp and see what that is like compared to a row of shunts in the axe.

Any help or suggestions appreciated

Mick
 
You're obviously doing something wrong. The pod pro colors anything you put thru it a lot whereas the axefx is as flat as you can get, provided you set up levels correctly.

You have to set your input level just as you said, so that the red lights barely light up during the loudest peaks you can generate. But the output levels are equally important, you want to restore the signal to its original level, not any louder or lower. So use the input and output pots to achieve it.

BTW, the axefx has a global eq setting that affects your sound even if there are only shunts in your layout! Press the global button and set your global eq completely flat if it isn't!
 
Doesn't your amp have an fx loop? Why do you use it thru the amp's input? Many fxs only sound good thru the loop, and you can even set up your axefx so that it is in front of the amp AND in the fx loop at the same time so that you can put fx before the amp and inside it.
 
I will give that a try..No my amp doesnt have any effect loop Im using an older ac30. Thanks for the reply

Mick
 
I sounds need to adjust some things. Both the Pod XT and the Axe-fx use 24 bit internal processing. The headroom should be about the same. It is on mine (and w/ the X3 as well). The fact that it isn't on yours suggests some gain staging issues. This may be the reason you are not getting satisfactory results.

In addition, the Axe-fx A/D/A converters are better on the Axe-fx and should be less colored than the XT. I will find a post I made that may help a little with gain staging things.
Here it is:
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=15100&p=142083#p142083
 
MickUF said:
My question is I have no effects or any blocks in this test chain so theres nothing to tweak.
Click to expand...
Uhh, yes there are parameters to tweak. They're the input and output volume controls on the front panel of the Axe-Fx. If you get them set correctly, you won't be able to hear the difference between the Axe-Fx and a good quality guitar cable.

My channel input vol is around 1 oclock anything more goes red.
Click to expand...
Leave it where it is.

Ive never messed with any output settings on the axe
Click to expand...
You have to set the output level control somewhere. For your purposes, you should set it in the unity gain position, i.e., where there is no level difference when you place it in the signal chain instead of going straight into the amp.
 
dpeterson said:
maybe he's liking the "color" that the xt is doing.
Click to expand...


Possible, but that doesn't explain the difference in headroom.

If it was, it should be easy enough to use a spectrum analyzer and dial up something close on the Axe-fx.
 
hi mickUF

even if you have no effect or any block just shunt , there are thing to tweak in the "mix" section (at the end of the layout section)

there are 4 level + 4 pan and a main output, check if all of these are on 0dB. and all the pan in the middle.
after that , i would suggest plug the POD in the axe fx 's rear input (don't forget set the I/O in "rear") as it's a line level device, and it's less "color" added to the sound (IMHO) than in front.
i know that some people don't agree with me, but try, it will take you 2 mns , and you'd may like it.

BTW any analog or digital gear will color your sound, so don't expect a real transparent signal...or use a mixer , like all pros touring guys do ;-) IMHO
hope it helps :cool:
 
Except the clipping question that i never pay attention between the two gears, i have made an A/B test about 1 week ago using my pod xt pro into the same configuration than my Axe-Fx at home, so into a little single ended amp plugged into the top cab of my JTM45/100 stack.
I'm trying to sold this xt pod pro for one year now, so i just plug it a last time to see if i was not doing a mistake. I have to say that after that i'm wondering if this post is fair. It just remember me that there is really no comparison.
When i've bought my Axe i had a prophesy and i've already tested the pod xt pro into the effects loop of the prophesy. It sucked so much the tone that for me it was just not usable.
 
I'm with too_much_power, javajunkie, and Jay on this one -- I think it's just a matter of getting unity gain set up correctly. Keep in mind that no matter what you do within your effect chain, your overall output volume on the analog outs will still be controlled via the Output 1 and/or Output 2 knob position.

If you have a computer input where you can measure dB, and the ability to generate a tone (e.g. via a cable tester or the like), you can measure direct and then though Axe-Fx. Otherwise, you can try to get it close enough by ear.

There should be no tone change at all, if there is a more saturated tone from your POD, you probably are increasing gain. Try playing with adjustments to the master volume on the POD (bring it down) and the Output on the Axe-Fx (bring it up) and see if that balances things out between the units. All POD-bashing aside, I don't think there should be any tone suckage whatsoever if you have the amp and cab sims off and/or bypassed.
 
Don't forget about the gate. It seems kind a hidden to me...
Layout-window, use page buttons to get there. Set the threshold higher or set the ration to zero to turn it off.

More important settings are in the I/O-windows Mode and Audio.
Mode: Choose the right input...
Audio: The way the output is set makes a difference...

There is an overall way to set the input and output volumes in the I/O window CTRL via midi.

Bernd
 
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