AW: Pod XT pro delays etc.

["Rainer Thelonius Balthasar Straschill" <rs@moinlabs.de>]

Hi Luis,

just dug out a review I wrote on Harmony Central when, back in 2004, I did
test drive the PodXT Live (which I suspect is similar to the PodXT, 
although
details may vary). Here are the passages which I deem to be of greatest
importance:

About adjusting parameters with a real-time controller:
"The expression pedal and one additional pedal (not supplied) can be
assigned to Wah, Volume and "Tweak". Tweak can adjust several parameters,
several others not. This is especially stupid because none of the amp's
parameters can be "tweaked". No footpedal-controlled drive."

Tempo sync:
"MIDI implementation: well, it can neither send nor receive MIDI clock.
Which is a real pity, because both delay and mod effects can be synced to
the tapped tempo, so a MIDI sync would've come in real handy."

About quality of the effects:
"I could not warm to the EQ - it does not sound the way either a typical
guitarist's gear EQ nor a professional studio EQ nor a
Tchebychev/Butterworth/Gauss model should sound. By choosing the algorithms
for the stomp effect, I didn't quite grasp their approach: there are lots 
of
non-working guitar synth "emulations", yet it is lacking i.e. the best
models from the FM4 modeler. The mod effects were weak in the MM4, they are
weak here. Driving a delay model (i.e. multi head) into saturation causes
the thing to produce horrible artifacts and display CLIP. Neither the
original Space Echo nor its model in Line6's DL4 did do this. Adjusting the
delay time with contents in the delay doesn't work as smooth as with the 
DL4
(or with the originals), either.
I could not warm to the reverbs other than the Fender Blackface model, 
which
I personally like. I would've expected better delays.

The wah...is okay. But why not include different wah models (i.e. choose
between a Bad Horsie and a Dunlop and...). Or at least give me the
possibility to adjust it.

Mainly, this thing is cool for its amp and cabinet models. And they are
cool."

        Rainer