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8K views 9 replies 7 participants last post by  Darin 
#1 ·
Any Pod Pro users using power amp and cab set ups? I am looking at the Carvin Legacy 2x12 witht the Carvin 150 power amp. Any opinions? Any suggestions would be helpful thanks. P.S. I do not play out anymore, this is more for home studio recording and the fact that I like to jam with friends once in a while.
 
#2 ·
Cab & Power Amp

There are a lot of alternatives with respect to amping PODs - I'd recommend checking out as many of the following as possible:

1) Power Amp (both solid state and tube) into either a full range speaker cab (which a lot of people like because the dynamics of a full range speaker cab are much better than your typical guitar cab - supposed to reproduce the PODs tone accurately without coloring it at all) or a standard guitar cab.
2) Tech 21 Power Engine - designed specifically for POD-like preamps - come equipped with and without tweeter.
3) Keyboard / acoustic guitar amps - these are almost like a mini-PA. Carvin makes a 3 channel amp (click here).
4) Poweramp in of standard guitar amp thereby bipassing the amps preamp section.
5) Standard input of a standard guitar amp.

I personally route my POD Pro into a QSC solid state poweramp which I feed into a Crate PE15 PA cab with CD tweeter. My only complaint with this setup is that it's a little on the brite side and must be EQd properly to remove some of the harshness. Gresh here on the forum routes his POD Pro into a Boogie tube power amp into a boogie 2X12 cab with great results.
 
#9 ·
Re: Cab & Power Amp

There are a lot of alternatives with respect to amping PODs - I'd recommend checking out as many of the following as possible:

1) *Power Amp (both solid state and tube) into either a full range speaker cab (which a lot of people like because the dynamics of a full range speaker cab are much better than your typical guitar cab - supposed to reproduce the PODs tone accurately without coloring it at all) or a standard guitar cab.
2) *Tech 21 Power Engine - designed specifically for POD-like preamps - come equipped with and without tweeter.
3) *Keyboard / acoustic guitar amps - these are almost like a mini-PA. *Carvin makes a 3 channel amp (click here).
4) *Poweramp in of standard guitar amp thereby bipassing the amps preamp section.
5) *Standard input of a standard guitar amp.

I personally route my POD Pro into a QSC solid state poweramp which I feed into a Crate PE15 PA cab with CD tweeter. *My only complaint with this setup is that it's a little on the brite side and must be EQd properly to remove some of the harshness. *Gresh here on the forum routes his POD Pro into a Boogie tube power amp into a boogie 2X12 cab with great results.
Im in excactly the same situation! I have a POD XT Live that I'm really happy with as a pre-amp, but I need a good alternative to amp this thing. I will use it for band rehearsal and live playing! Home, I will most likely do as I do now, and just plug it in my mixer and play through the studiomonitors. Works great!

I've been thinking a lot about buying a good poweramp (which one?!) that suits the pod well, but it's a difficult choice!! The possibilities to try different poweramps are very limited where I live! So it's really hard to find something that i'll know will work!

I've also considered to just not use to POD anymore, and go with a really good amp, but Im really happy with it. .

Please help me, hehehe ;D
 
#3 ·
Cab & Power Amp

Volume is a definite concideration for me. I like the sound coming out of a cab, but I have a 5 yr. old and a 3 yr. old and I don't want to blow their little ears off. Often my oportunity to play and record is after they are gone to bed. I could build a box in for a cab but what is the point. If I wanted to hear it thru headphones I would just plub into the headphone jack. Thanks again for the help, I think Boogie may be a little out of my price range right now. I can get the Carvin 150 for $229 and the Legacy 2x12 for about $350 new. The PA is a good Idea too. I could jam with my backing tracks or drum machine (yes that is what married guys do if youre wondering). If I use a PA, sould you recomend buying an EQ to go with?
 
#5 ·
Cab & Power Amp

Hi and welcome to the forum!!

I just went through the same exact thing you are going through, and I damn near bought the exact same pieces, the carvin power amp and legacy 2x12. Price wise your right on the money. The only thing that really steered me away from the carvin was volume. 75 watts solid state per side is the rating but thats running it with either a 2 or 4 ohm load. Running a guitar cab you are going to be at 8 or 16 most likely which will reduce the "real" wattage at the speaker. So I was leaning towards the DCM 600 for the increased headroom. Then I decided to take a trip to a local Mesa dealer with a bunch of gear to trade (just in case). I plugged my exact set up into a mesa power amp and cab and was just floored. The tubes do something, I can't explain it. I have always been a tube guy, and believe it or not I absolutely love my POD Pro. Running through a tube power amp is the best of everything in my opinion. It is truly a professional set up. The natural compression of tubes just cannot be replicated completely.

Price wise, boogie stuff is over the top...but if you take your time you can find some good power amps at good prices. I only have a 20/20 power amp, new they list for $499. THe 50/50 has a different tone (6L6s), and nearly doubles that price. The 2:90 and 2:95 are the cadillacs. My 20/20 is freakin loud, really freaking loud and that's just running it out one channel in mono.

It really comes down to what your end game is. Are you just into using it for recording and basement work, and nothing live...then your best bet will be just to go straight into to your recording set up and use your existing reference monitors. If you want the option to use your rig live, then you've got some decisions to make. Among them are 1) Headroom constraints 2) Price 3) and how everything sounds at gig volume.

You're really never gonna know how they compare until you sit the rigs side by side. Randy is right, his rig is much brighter than mine, mine is quite mid-range-ish at low volumes and a lot of that has to do with my speakers (vintage 30's), but at volume they open up and just sing and the top end is just beautifully rolled off enough to keep it from getting harsh. But his sounds just killer with the piezo out of his 2027, I have one too but it does have the crystaline sound through my rig...it's not bad, but the guitar cab can't faithfully do a piezo justice.

If you have any other questions, feel free to e-mail me. In the grand scheme of things, you can't really go wrong as long as you stick with quality items. Guys are running pods through some crazy stuff and they still sound amazing. Good luck.
 
#6 ·
Cab & Power Amp

Thanks Gresh!! Actually, loud is not what I want. I guess I want the best of both worlds. Something that will crank, yet still sound good at lower volumes. Anyone with kids knows that the oportunities to play come at some strange hours in the night. Sort of like sex once youre married.....You take it when you can get it!! :biggrin:
 
#7 ·
Cab & Power Amp

Juniper,

I've got kids and a wife so I completely understand your situation. Most of my playing is also done at night after the kids are in bed. For this application, I route my POD Pro into the S/PDIF input of my M Audio Audiophile soundcard which along with the output of my Soundblaster Live! card is then routed out to a Behringer Mixer. The mixer feeds some cheap (~$100) Altech Lansing computer speakers with a subwoofer. This is great because I can play at extremely low volumes and still sound great. I use the control out for this so that the main out of the mixer goes to my power amp such that if I want volume, I simply turn on and crank up the poweramp which feeds my Crate PE15 PA cab. Otherwise, I route everything through my computer speakers.

Here's some pictures of the setup (1 | 2).
 
#8 ·
Cab & Power Amp

Guys, I've had some problems controlling the "high-end" on my Pod Pro at loud volumes. I'm running it into a Mesa 2:90 into a dual recto 4x12 w/vintage 30's.
I kinda got frustrated and just went out and bought a Triaxis and a H&K access preamp.
How do you guys keep the high end from getting shrill?
 
#10 ·
Re: Cab & Power Amp

Guys, I've had some problems controlling the "high-end" on my Pod Pro at loud volumes. I'm running it into a Mesa 2:90 into a dual recto 4x12 w/vintage 30's.
I kinda got frustrated and just went out and bought a Triaxis and a H&K access preamp.
How do you guys keep the high end from getting shrill?
You can't. It's Pod's main weakness. Although I did run mine through an 800 watt tube power amp (PA amp) into a Legacy 4x12. And it sounded the best it ever has. I think the combonation of tubes, and tones of power was the trick. It was thicker than any other set up I used with the Pod.
 
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