All-in-One, Floor-Mounted Amps/Effects Units?

Guys, our church setup mics all instrument inputs directly to a FOH mixer. The guitars and bass use older, pedestal-mounted Line 6 POD units, which I find tedious to use on-the-fly.

Ideally, I'd like to find a low-cost, simple, floor-mounted, amps/effects unit with built-in tuner and volume/wah pedal.

At home, I use a Line 6 M9 thru my amps.

At church, I could use the M9 fronted by a Behringer GDI21/Tech 21 SansAmp GT2/Tech 21 Character Series pedal, but I'd rather have an all-in-one solution that I could just leave at church.

If I can find a low-cost solution, the church is willing to pay for it.

What are you guys using?

Thanks for any help.

There are lots of used Line6 Pod XT Live units floating around. If ytou've got the bucks, you could spring for the new HD 300. I just got one to use in church, and it's got some great sounds.

It would drive me nuts not to have an amp.

I'm using a POD HD, which probably doesn't fall into the low-cost bucket, but is the all-in-one solution you are looking for. I'd chain/cable-lock it to the floor if you leave it there, seriously, even in a church.

Low-cost options might be found in the Zoom family. I played with one that my son had for a while and even used it before getting the POD. BUT, the problem I had with it was that you had to program every patch - no individual effects control. That meant more fiddling with it to arrange patches, i.e., so an effects change could be done with a patch switch, by making them adjacent. Maybe they've got a better solution now. Soundwise, it was fine for church, but not as good as the POD HD.

Honestly, leaving it at church and not having the same thing at home would be a problem for me. I periodically like to be able to review the patch selection against a recording and see if can use any tweaking or other changes that may freshen things up (for me, anyway).

Might pick up a foot controller for the POD. Makes it easier to use in a live setting.

Hey, FenderGuy53, a couple of question to try and help you out.

1. Without an amp on stage with you, how would you monitor yourself? In-ears? Floor wedges?
2. What qualifies as low-cost?
3. Have you ever used a modeler direct to the board without an amp before?

POD XT or X3 Live's should be floating around and cheap now that the HD series is out. There are plenty of good tones to be had in both.

Hey, FenderGuy53, a couple of question to try and help you out.

1. Without an amp on stage with you, how would you monitor yourself? In-ears? Floor wedges?
2. What qualifies as low-cost?
3. Have you ever used a modeler direct to the board without an amp before?

1. Floor monitors
2. $250 or less
3. No

I have the POD HD500 and love it. I go directly into the board - no amp. At times, it is a little difficult to hear myself - our drummer is LOUD and the young man playing acoustic guitar doesn't seem to know how to stop playing.

1. Floor monitors
2. $250 or less
3. No

Ok, Your budget puts you in the used POD X3 live range. That's a pretty solid unit, but there is a definitely a learning curve. I've never played a VOX Tone Lab stuff outside of the music store, but people who have them seem to love them. IF you could find a used POD HD 300 in your price range, that would be a good choice. The HD series is definitely more amp-like in term of feel than previous generations. Make no mistake, though, it all feels different than playing a real amp.

The biggest potential issue you have going direct no matter what you choose is hearing yourself in the monitors. If you can get your own mix in your monitor, you should be good to go. If you share your mix, it may get frustrating quickly. Nothing worse than not being able to hear yourself in the monitor and not really being able to do much about it.

With all of these modelers, though, you are going to have more choices than you will ever use. To start, try to find one amp model that you bond with and go with that for a while.

Ok, Your budget puts you in the used POD X3 live range. That's a pretty solid unit, but there is a definitely a learning curve. I've never played a VOX Tone Lab stuff outside of the music store, but people who have them seem to love them.

What do you think about the Line 6 Floor POD Plus? I just read about it and it appears to be set up like our POD 2.0 unit, only MUCH better!



The biggest potential issue you have going direct no matter what you choose is hearing yourself in the monitors. If you can get your own mix in your monitor, you should be good to go. If you share your mix, it may get frustrating quickly. Nothing worse than not being able to hear yourself in the monitor and not really being able to do much about it.

Yes, the monitor for the rhythm guitars is connected to a mixer which allows us to add in any amount of mix from any of the line inputs (including vocals).


With all of these modelers, though, you are going to have more choices than you will ever use. To start, try to find one amp model that you bond with and go with that for a while.

I hear you.

I think you guys are over thinking it. OP didn't say he had a problem with monitors or hearing himself. He finds the old Pod a pain to change on the fly...

I'd save my money and find one or two good amp tones out of the Pod unit, and run a couple of effects on a small pedal board in front of it. Make it YOUR sound. For an example; when you need some delay you step on it, if you need some boost you step on it. Simple. Take the time to find a good AMP tone or two from the Pod and save it. Build your own modest pedal board and use it to change on the fly. Then your sound is with you at home to practice with too.

IF you could find a used POD HD 300 in your price range, that would be a good choice. The HD series is definitely more amp-like in term of feel than previous generations. Make no mistake, though, it all feels different than playing a real amp.

Yeah, I'm starting to like that HD300. For not much more $$$ than the Floor POD Plus, I get a looper and HD effects!

The $200 asking price for the Floor POD Plus brand new is a little absurd IMO. The core modeling technology in that unit is close to 10 years old. Not that it is bad, but c'mon Line 6, that is 3 generations ago....$150 TOPS.

I never like telling anybody to bust their budget, but if you could find a deal on the HD300, I would keep that in consideration. It is definitely a step up in sound and feel. I lucked out and got a $100 off deal at Guitar Center when I bought my HD500.

It would drive me nuts not to have an amp.

Ya know, I thought it would for me, too, but you get used to hearing it through the monitors. I'd MUCH rather hear it through the monitors cuz when you have your amp at knee level, you're not hearing the true tone, but if you (a) mic your amp and listen to it through the monitors or (b) use a modeler and listen through the monitors, you're hearing EXACTLY what the house is hearing and you're able to truely tweak your tone to the mix (not just dial it in to knee level and not be hearing just how much shrilly high end everyone else is)

-Paul

Don't rule out DigiTech's stuff. The RP500 list for $200, but I got mine from EBay as a "B-Stock" For around $140. It looked like a brand-new factory-sealed unit to me. It sounds great, has a built-in volume pedal, tuner and looper.

+1 for Digitech. I use an RP1000, and it sounds very natural and is super easy to use. The RP500 and 350 use the same technology, so they would sound the same.

When we are not going through the PA System, I always put my amp in a chair and tilt it back. You gotta be able to hear what you are doing or you will have the old people whincing and plugging their ears.

I mostly play acoustic but, I used an Rp50 / telecaster once with great sucess. Kinda weird with no amp but pretty cool and minimal. I hate carrying a bunch of stuff in to play 4 songs.

Ok, Your budget puts you in the used POD X3 live range. That's a pretty solid unit, but there is a definitely a learning curve...

IF you could find a used POD HD 300 in your price range, that would be a good choice. The HD series is definitely more amp-like in term of feel than previous generations. Make no mistake, though, it all feels different than playing a real amp.

Well, our church bought me a Line 6 Floor POD Plus, which is working out MUCH better than my old bean-shaped POD (I love the pre-set/stomp box setup). Unfortunately, the Floor POD Plus just doesn't have the audio quality of the newer MFX units. Plus, it's very frustrating not being able to "see" my amp/stomp box settings. I'm now thinking about sliding the Floor POD Plus over to the other rhythm player and getting another MFX unit.

Our lead player uses a POD X3 Live. I think the X3L is much more than I need or would ever use.

The HD300 is a good choice, but my concerns are having to stomp two switches to bank up/down, and not being able to have a Compressor AND OD/Distortion at the same time. The HD400 may be a better choice. I like the pre-set/stomp box setup on the POD HD series units.


+1 for Digitech. I use an RP1000, and it sounds very natural and is super easy to use.

How does the RP1000 compare to the POD HD series units?

I used a Digitech RP150, great sound, built like a tank, but hard to 'edit' on the fly.
No volume/effect pedal on that model, but on the 250 up there is.
I switched to a Vox tonelab, doing fine with that too, easier to edit with the dials on the top.
Either will go into a PA fine.
When we don't have a PA I just take my old Fender Champ.

There are lots of used Line6 Pod XT Live units floating around. If you've got the bucks, you could spring for the new HD 300. I just got one to use in church, and it's got some great sounds.

I'm using a POD HD, which probably doesn't fall into the low-cost bucket, but is the all-in-one solution you are looking for.

POD XT or X3 Live's should be floating around and cheap now that the HD series is out. There are plenty of good tones to be had in both.

Ok, Your budget puts you in the used POD X3 live range. That's a pretty solid unit, but there is a definitely a learning curve. IF you could find a used POD HD300 in your price range, that would be a good choice. The HD series is definitely more amp-like in term of feel than previous generations. Make no mistake, though, it all feels different than playing a real amp.

I never like telling anybody to bust their budget, but if you could find a deal on the HD300, I would keep that in consideration. It is definitely a step up in sound and feel.

+1 for Digitech. I use an RP1000, and it sounds very natural and is super easy to use. The RP500 and 350 use the same technology, so they would sound the same.

Talk to me more about the Line 6 POD's, specifically the XT Live, X3 Live and HD300.

What's the difference among those units? Is the modeling on the HD's that much better than the XT's and X3's?

For the HD300 users, do you find the shortcomings limiting (e.g., not being able to use Compressor AND OD/Distortion at the same time, having to stomp two pedals to move up/down on the channels)?

I'm still keeping the DigiTech RP1000 in my back pocket, too...

You may want to consider holding out for Fender's new Mustang floor. If it sounds anything like the Mustang III, I'm in trouble! I hear it will be quite affordable as well.

...Fender's new Mustang floor. ... I hear it will be quite affordable as well.

299, not quite as affordable as I'd like.

You may want to consider holding out for Fender's new Mustang floor. If it sounds anything like the Mustang III, I'm in trouble! I hear it will be quite affordable as well.


$299

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/guitars/fender-mustang-floor-module/h79025000000000?src=3WFRWXX&ZYXSEM=0&CAWELAID=1184391414

http://static.musiciansfriend.com/derivates/18/001/681/881/DV016_Jpg_Large_H79025_V.jpg

As far As the HD 300 goes; not hard to use. The sounds are that much better than previous versions. It's not a problem that you cant use OD and compression together. If you really need that, make a patch with the compression on and turn up the drive on the amp setting.

I found when I started using mine that less is better, especially with modulation effects. We have a big band and a lot of effect gets muddy really quick.

I play mostly electric rhythm and usually need a clean sound that cuts through. If I need more gain, it's all in there. I set up a bank of identical amp settings and then add effects to that. It makes it easy to use.

How does the RP1000 compare to the POD HD series units?

Oops, sorry, didn't see this until now.

I don't have the POD HD, but the other guitar player in my band just got an HD 500. My RP1000 sounds great, but wow, I'm really digging his tone too! On the RP1000, I find myself primarily using the Marshall and Vox models--they sound very natural.
I haven't A-B'd them or anything, so I can't really comment on the sound difference--they both sound good, but I'm starting to wonder if the POD HD sounds better. But then, I often think other guitar players sound better than me anyway. :grin:

One thing I can say is that the RP series is very intuitive and easy to tweak, whereas I've heard that the HD is a bit more complicated? Also, the display on the RP is easier to see in a gig situation--the HD display is pretty small.

Everyone in my church uses either an X3 Live or XT Live except me. I use a Digitech RP250 because it's small, easy to use and with the laptop interface and X-Edit, I dial in whatever I want before rehersal and tweek during rehersal. I then put the sounds in order of the songs and click one foot button and have the volume/wah pedal.

I know you're mainly looking for an all-in-one, but you mentioned at the forefront that you *could* use something like a Tech 21 Character series pedal along with your M9. I would really advocate this solution as there would be very little learning curve. You would be able to have all you tones that you're already comfortable with via your M9, and then it would just be a matter of getting your "amp pedal" set to taste.

I've been using a Tech 21 Liverpool for a few years now and I absolutely love it. My usual setup has been just OD > Liverpool > Delay > FOH.

Incidentally, I haven't even been using an OD lately. Instead, I've just been setting the Liverpool a bit dirtier and relying more on picking dynamics for how clean or overdriven I want my tone to be. I've also been relying more on my pickup switch lately for different tone colors rather on multiple ODs (innovation by regression!). All this is to say: it's very dynamic and response. I dig it a lot. I also don't miss dealing with amp-related stage volume headaches :)

My worship pastor bought us a line 6 floor pod xt a few years ago, but I didn't like it. I can't stand not having an amp on stage. I bought my own Fender G-DEC 30 three. It's light and easy to carry. It has all kinds of built in backing tracks to practice along with. It has a built in multi effects processor, 80 storable presets, online parameter tweaking, the footswitch is extra. It has adequate sound to work as my on stage monitor without me having to rely on the sound man to have me up in the floor monitors. The choir members never want me as loud as I want me. It has stereo line level outs that I run the "L" out to a DI box, then on to the main board in the sound booth. The soung guy can put me wherever he needs me, and I can dial me up where I want me right at my feet. It works well.
Now for the bad news! My worship pastor is convinced we need to go to the "silent stage" concept, so for our last Christmas cantata I had to wear earphones to hear myself because they don't mix me hot enough in the monitor for me to hear myself.
I know this is rambling, but it try one out. The mustang series would work well also.

I use an Eleven Rack. I have custom ear molds. It takes a little while to get used to but it's a much more reliable system. Unless your a feature artist, the amps will Allways get shoved to the side. With modelers at least you know what the house is getting from you.