plattino's Reviews

I just love it (again). POD X3 is ALive!

Hi, Equipboard-Maniacs!! :-) Well, I came back to this unit after some time now experimenting with analog pedals and tube gear again (does this ever end? ;-).

Someday I bought my H&K Tubemeister 36 and thought it was a good idea to stay completely analog for the best possible ANALOG DREAM-TONE. Hehe.

So I watched many reviews and went out and bought killer analog-pedals and yes a switcher, cables and so on. After days of experimenting I had the analog tone....:)

At home it was allright, a little better as the setup/sound I had before BUT with my band it was just to much of everything. Don't know how to describe! Worst was that I'm used to do a overall boost of the my guitar-sound for guitar solis and passages where I simply must be a little louder in a song. Go and search for a good little analog unit that does the trick without changing the tone and that can handle a line signal from the amp's FX channel! You will be surprised!

Well I ended up buying a 19" unit to do just that! :-)) Crazy but it just worked again ;-)

And I ended up with a truckload of equipment to carry around! Oh no. Damn! Just for beeing a-true-tube-sound-analog-pedal-guy again ;-)

One evening I took out my old POD X3 unit and just linked it with the tube-amp via the 4-cable method and BAM! There it was. I was surprised how good the sound came from the amps effects-loop through the Line6 unit's D/A converters.

I thought it would kill the sound somehow and sure it does something to the tone, yes....but in a very good way! It adds a little crisp high-end to the tube-signal and rounds out the low-end a little. It also gets a little bit transparenter. For me just perfect. After three gigs with my new/old setup I must say it is the best tone I had ever had. Really. Well until the next year...LOL.

No, I just love it! I also connect my Roland GP-10 as a guitar modeler into an Electro-Harmonix Soul Food pedal and then the signal goes straight in the Line 6 unit….(if you want more details about the signal chain just write me). But I tell you...WOW! Hybrid is the way to go! At least for me.

What?? No use of the Line6 AMP Modeling? Nope. At the moment I don't really care of the Line6 modeling amps because the H&K Tubeamp is really all I need. And Tubes have to be in the signal-chain to get this sound. I more use the X3 Live as a central switching station and as an awesome FX unit and here it really shines!

So my advice is if you search: take your best guitar, buy a good tube amp with a effects loop (H&K Tubemeister is awesome), buy good cables and put this unit in the effects loop and you have all you'll ever need! I think you can buy a used unit for a very cheap price now 'cause everybody is switching to the newer Line6 stuff now I suppose. Perhaps I will test the newer models also but for now I see no reason for doing that. So yep, I come to an end. ;-))) Just my options and nobody have to agree! Hybrid is the way to go! ;-)

I hope you like this review and it helps someone finding his DREAM-Tone. (again) :-) Have a nice day.

Conclusion:

• very flexible!
• good sounding converters
• as a perfect combination with a tube amp
• awesone fx section with everything you'll ever need - USB audio interface for recording (multichannel)
• software for your computer to edit and use the units amps/effects as a plugin
• many connections possible

More?...hm...just read the specs at line6.com ;-) I'm too lazy for this. But its really good! :-))

This one shines

This little tubeamp is very versatile. A real good piece of German technology. If you switch it on it looks like our christmas tree but with a so much better sound :-)) I especially like the clean tone which is a trademark-sound from H&K amps I think. The rocktone is also very good, it can scream at loud levels.. Has a build in power soak 0/1/5/18/36 Watt and a build in redbox (speakersim). Its really small and handy carrying around to gigs or if you don't like it light enough to throw it out of the window... I play this and my Marshall Plexi. Nothing's missing in my dreams for now...if you're talking about tube-amps.

Best V-Guitar system at the moment

Roland/Boss did a real good job on this one! Soundwise it's the best V-Guitar System I played. I had the VG-8 and the VG-88 but this little yellow box is a real sound-monster. Pristine clean and fat sounding tones! Huuuh!
What makes me to give one star less is that they just forgot to implement that damn old midi interface. I can not understand this and I already had sleepless nights about this misdoing! So one star less. Anyway! Must have for future thinking guitarists like...you :-) tks.

Best Whammy Digitech ever made!

Yes it's true! IMO. Best whammy Digitech ever made. I use it for cool filter/wah effects and the whammy is...well....a whammy :-) Love it. It also can act as a real cool booster. I will never sell mine!

Red beauty with wonderful sound and a beautiful neck-shaping.

This is my main guitar at the moment. I really love how she looks and sounds. People tell me that she looks ugly but I don't care. :-)) I bought the beauty appr. 15-20 years ago. I can't remember the year exactly, my hairs are getting grey ;-) I was working at my father's guitar-shop and I bought it directly from the Emex distribution salesman. Anyway...I love this guitar! The only thing I changed was the rear-pickup as I misliked the original one. Now it's a Seymour Duncan hot rails I belive. This replacement really changed the sound from good to outstanding. The neck-pickup is the original one and that sounds incredible! It has a very transparent sound...more of a piezo-pickup sound...hard to describe....it's also very nice for edgy bluesrock riffs. This is guitar is very well build and has a really nice neck-shaping. I also use it with the Roland VG Systems during the years so it is always equipped with the GK pickup for a more future look :-) What more to say? I'm really search for a another one but I just can't find one. Sad. It is just too rare I suppose... Thanks for reading and don't hesitate to contact me for questions or if you want to sell one. ;-))

Red beauty with wonderful sound and a beautiful neck-shaping.

This is my main guitar at the moment. I really love how she looks and sounds. People tell me that she looks ugly but I don't care. :-)) I bought the beauty appr. 15-20 years ago. I can't remember the year exactly, my hairs are getting grey ;-) I was working at my father's guitar-shop and I bought it directly from the Emex distribution salesman. Anyway...I love this guitar! The only thing I changed was the rear-pickup as I misliked the original one. Now it's a Seymour Duncan hot rails I belive. This replacement really changed the sound from good to outstanding. The neck-pickup is the original one and that sounds incredible! It has a very transparent sound...more of a piezo-pickup sound...hard to describe....it's also very nice for edgy bluesrock riffs. This is guitar is very well build and has a really nice neck-shaping. I also use it with the Roland VG Systems during the years so it is always equipped with the GK pickup for a more future look :-) What more to say? I'm really search for a another one but I just can't find one. Sad. It is just too rare I suppose... Thanks for reading and don't hesitate to contact me for questions or if you want to sell one. ;-))