What Would You Guys Do?

In my situation? Some of you might be going through it now. Our stage volume is about to come waaaaaaay down. We're removing most wedges and going with the Aviom system. Our horns and such will keep wedges as will the choir. The band though, will have in-ear monitors. I've used the Avioms before and really like them.

My question is new ampage. I have a Flextone III Plus and it is on its last leg. It has volume problems and such that are all hardware-related. I had Line 6 run me through a battery of tests and they confirmed bad hardware. The amp has been out of warranty for a few years now. I was thinking of getting a Blues Jr. and a few effects. I don't use that much; but the ones I do use, I use the heck out of them. That said, since we're doing in-ears, should I just get a new POD HD unit? I'm afraid with the BJ, I won't be able to rev it up enough to hit the sweet spot.

Thoughts/advice?

If they would let me, I would have some kind of amp on stage. You can use a Line 6 pedal board or whatever, but I still like having a real amp, if nothing else as my own personal monitor. Something you control.

If they would let me, I would have some kind of amp on stage. You can use a Line 6 pedal board or whatever, but I still like having a real amp, if nothing else as my own personal monitor. Something you control.

I wouldn't need an amp for a monitor. I will be using in-ears. I wouldn't hear it anyway...

I'm on in-ears and have recently switched from amp and pedal board to a POD HD direct. No regrets. And actually more I work with it, the more I'm impressed with it.

What I would do is get the church to invest in some form of Line6 system for the church. With in ears you don't need, or even want to deal with an amp. But unless you want a direct modeling system for yourself you would be buying something for just one application.

We use Line6 at our church. It is not the amp I would choose for myself, but it works there and it's good enough. We also have 4 electric guitarist rotating so I like being able to store my settings and call them up when I'm playing.

I'm on in-ears and have recently switched from amp and pedal board to a POD HD direct. No regrets. And actually more I work with it, the more I'm impressed with it.

That's what I was hoping to hear.

We use Aviom's at my church and we did the rotate the POD thing. It worked fine, but the other guitarists kept wiping out my presets, so I bought my own used one. It worked fine and sounded good through my headphones, but when I took it to church, it sounded crappy, atleast to me. I was spending more time tweaking it at home , than I was practicing the songs and all I was emulating was my sound I was getting out of my pedalboard and amp...and falling short. I finally convinced the sound **** at church to let me build an iso box for a speaker cabinet I could play my amp through, off stage, since amps on stage are clearly of the devil, and I haven't been happier since. To the average church-goer, they won't know if you're playing through a boutique tube amp or a 5watt practice solid state amp, but it does make a difference playing what you're accustomed to and comfortable with. As long as you're down with the POD's, then I say go for it. It was nice just plugging in my light little POD and playing, rather than lugging all the other gear.

If you don't already have separate effects that you like, get a POD, or something similar.

If you already have effects that you like, get a Tech 21 Character pedal & a good direct box, run 'em into the board. I use that setup at church, since I really like my pedalboard... I run my guitar > pedalboard > Tech 21 Blonde (dialed in to sound like my '59 Bassman LTD) > board. It's easy to use, it sounds great, I get lots of compliments, and most folks think I have an amp on stage.

http://tech21nyc.com/products/sansamp/characterseries.html

Yeah the pod hd500 is great thing especially with aviom. They have improved a lot since the later models.

If you want real though. A blues Jr or ac15. With just bare needed pedals. For delays I really recommend the nova delay from tc. And overdrive a fulltone fulldrive.

So much you can do though.

If you get the amp and they are worried about stage noise. Build a wooden box and insulate it. Then you can crank as much as you want also.

I would still use an amp, for me the amp, speaker, and mic are all part of the tone chain just as much as a pickup or strings.

We have Aviom units at my church and 4 electric guitar players on rotation. 2 of us use amps and mics, and the other 2 use line 6 floor boards. The fellows using the line 6 units are all saving for amps now because the tone despite being good, gets lost in the mix when placed next to a great sounding tube amp (just our opinion, no offense intended).

Those units can be nice in a studio where 100 amp tones are needed quickly to fill out the a track or two, but nothing there is just nothing quite like having the dynamics and feel of a good amp amp speakers.

POD HD to in-ear will work fine, and the congregation won't know the difference.

I like Nub's option of a Tech 21 character pedal if you have effects you really like. I run a Vox ToneLab LE, but we use wedges, so I could never get the mix I liked out of 'em and wound up running the LE into the FX return of an Egnater Rebel 30 combo. Lots of folks like the PODs, including our worship pastor. With Avioms you should be fine as you'll be able to dial your guitar in the mix as much as you'd like. One word of warning - get GOOD buds or you'll probably be really frustrated.

I bought my flextone III when we were going through the same thing. If I were to do it again today, I would get the line 6 112 with bogner tubes. It's supposed to be phenomenal... and you'll get that tube interaction without volume when you want it.

I hope mine doesn't do this... how long did your line 6 last?

I bought my flextone III when we were going through the same thing. If I were to do it again today, I would get the line 6 112 with bogner tubes. It's supposed to be phenomenal... and you'll get that tube interaction without volume when you want it.

I hope mine doesn't do this... how long did your line 6 last?

It's still going. I'm running flash memory v1.10. Sometimes I like it better than v1.00, sometimes not. I have had to "reboot" the amp a few times because the logic seems to get messed up. What happens is the master volume basically isn't functional and the volume is always there; even if the master volume is at zero. I bought it new in 2004.

I normally use my X3 Live with wireless in-ears and love it. Friday, I played it at a church with an Aviom system and the clarity was incredible.

If your used to using Line 6 products, then absolutely go with the POD.

Butch, is this going to be your first experience with in-ears? [EDIT: Reread your original post and see that you have used Avioms before. I'll leave the rest in for the benefit of others reading] If so, regardless of what you ultimately decide to run for your rig, just be prepared...in-ears take some getting used to. A good mix makes all the difference in the world, but the feel...again it just takes some getting used to.

Now regarding my earlier post about switching to the POD HD, when I said that I have no regrets, I really mean it. With in-ears, the playing experience of POD HD vs. my amp is very similar. That certainly was not true of earlier versions of the POD, though. Tone and feel was just not there.

I have my tube amp rig dialed in and really enjoy playing it, but side by side, I'm getting stuff out of the HD that sounds as good...and truth be told, better in many cases. If I weren't on in-ears, would I still choose the POD? Hard to say. In the house it sounds really good, but I guess it would depend on how monitoring was set up. I don't like these modelers running into a traditional guitar amp even if it is only for my own stage monitoring...now that sounds fake to me.

I will say that there is definite validity to the concern that these modelers can get lost in a real mix. I spent an afternoon plugged into the FOH mixer and set up a couple of really great patches....only to find that in the full mix those great tones were bland at best and completely buried in the mix at worst. I found that most of that had to do with my selection of mic model in the POD...a lot of the mic models included sound wonderful for that recording studio tone, but just don't work well in a live mix. I switched back to a tried and true SM57 to get a more lively sound and adjusted tone controls accordingly. Now all of my patches sit REALLY well in the mix...no problems cutting through at all. The interesting thing is that the tones in isolation still sound good, but I would never have thought to set them up that way if I hadn't been doing it in the full mix. But honestly, isn't that true regardless of what you are running through? I think the main point is that it is just easier to do with a real amp sitting in front of you.

I used Avioms for one gig. That's what I'm basis of my experience. Also, with respect our current mix, the other guitarist and our bassist use a preamp processor then go to the board; no tube amps. The other guitarist uses a VOX Valvtronics and the bassist uses some little Digitech thing. The drummer, percussionist, and orchestra (piano included) are using miked instruments.

WW(yg)D

WW(yg)D

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WW(yg)D

Now THAT'S funny! :lol:

I have a close friend who is now studying at Berklee College of Music that started using a Line 6 POD x3. I had used the Pod XT live before, and totally hated it. Thought it sounded like digital garbage crap. But my friend started using his X3 with his Vox AC-30 and the tone was awesome. My first thought was "how could you possibly screw up tone with an AC-30? His soud must be because of the amp." However, he started just bringing the pedal board to church when he played and it still sounded great. He was using a Fender American Strat, just so you have an idea of the set-up.

Anyway, while you'll always be able to get a better sound with a nice tube amp, the Pod X3 live makes some great direct-in tones. I highly recommend it.
Just for some proof, listen to (www.myspace.com/taylorpowellband).
I like "Wander" better for an example of his tone. This is his X3 and strat plugged direct in.

???

Nub got it :mrgreen:
WWJD. worship forum. WW(You Guys)D
:mrgreen:

Nub got it :mrgreen:
WWJD. worship forum. WW(You Guys)D
:mrgreen:

Hehe, I got it... I'm kinda dense.