POD

PRO GUITAR TONE ON THE FLOOR

XT
LIVE

Pilot’s Handbook
An in-depth exploration of the revolutionary technologies and
pulsing tonal pleasures that lurk within PODXT and PODXT Pro.

Electrophonic Limited Edition. Also available at www.line6.com. Revision A.

CONTROLS REFERENCE NAVIGATION REFERENCE

DO NOT OPEN 9v AC 2000 mA minimum SERVICE PERSONNEL. THIS DEVICE COMPLIES WITH PART 15 OF THE FCC RULES. OPERATION IS SUBJECT TO THE FOLLOWING TWO CONDITIONS: (1) THIS DEVICE MAY NOT CAUSE HARMFUL INTERFERENCE, AND (2) THIS DEVICE MUST ACCEPT ANY INTERFERENCE RECEIVED, INCLUDING INTERFERENCE THAT MAY CAUSE UNDESIRED OPERATION.
RISK OF ELECTRIC SHOCK SHOCK HAZARD – DO NOT OPEN. RISQUE DE CHOC ÉLECTRIQUE – NE PAS OUVRIR. TO REDUCE THE RISK OF FIRE OR ELECTRIC SHOCK DO NOT EXPOSE THIS EQUIPMENT TO RAIN OR MOISTURE. TO REDUCE THE RISK OF ELECTRIC SHOCK DO NOT REMOVE COVER. NO USER SERVICEABLE PARTS INSIDE. REFER SERVICING TO QUALIFIED
CAUTION POWER REQUIREMENTS WARNING/AVIS: SERIAL NUMBER STICKER
OFF
OUT/THRU IN STEREO RIGHT LEFT/MONO LEVEL

• When EDIT, SAVE or TUNER is lit, “SELECT”

NORM/PAD

selects from the pages listed below

N222

U.S. Patent No. 5,789,689

ON LINE/AMP
POWER USB VARIAX MIDI PHONES OUTPUT TO AMP/LINE AUX INPUT INPUT PEDAL 2 • Otherwise, “SELECT” chooses Channel Memories

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
POWER USB VARIAX OUT/THRU MIDI IN PHONES RIGHT OUTPUT L/MONO LEVEL AUX INPUT INPUT PAD PEDAL 2

10 11 12 13 14 Pro Modeled Vintage & Modern FX

EDIT
• Amp Settings
Custom Tone Recording Outputs • A.I.R. Settings
AMP TONE CONTROLS EDIT PAGES
• Compressor and Gate Settings

DRIVE BASS MID TREBLE PRESENCE CHAN VOL

POD
PRO GUITAR TONE ON THE FLOOR
XT
LIVE
•
•
•
•
EQ Settings
Stomp Select and Settings
Stomp Settings (page 2 for some models)
Modulation Select and Settings
• Modulation Settings (page 2)
OUTPUT
SAVE EDIT MODE • Delay Select and Settings
SYSTEM
• Delay Settings (page 2)
15 16 17 18 • Reverb Select and Settings

WAH
• Reverb Settings (page 2)
• Wah and Volume Settings
BANK AMP STOMP MOD DELAY • Pedal, Effect Tweak and Tempo Settings

TWEAK
SAVE

VOLUME
• Save Sound to Channel Memory
SAVE PAGES • Custom Save Amp Model
• Custom Save Effects Setup
• MIDI Dump
23
19
20 OUTPUT
21 22 MODE
SYSTEM • Tuner
TUNER PAGES • What are you connecting to?
• Display contrast
BANK A B C D TAP
HOLD/TUNER • MIDI/Variax
• PODXT Live Software Version
 EFFECT MODELS FX JUNKIE PACK MODELS (See www.line6.com/modelpacks for other Model Packs)
STOMPS MODEL BASED ON MODULATIONS MODEL BASED ON DELAYS MODEL BASED ON STOMPS MODEL BASED ON MODULATIONS MODEL BASED ON DELAYS MODEL BASED ON
FACIAL FUZZ .......................FUZZ FACE SINE CHORUS .....................LINE 6 ORIGINAL ANALOG DELAY....................BOSS DM-2 METAL STOMP.....................BOSS MT-2 METAL ZONE ANALOG SQUARE ................SQUARE CE-1 CHORUS ECHO PLATTER ...................BINSON ECHOREC
FUZZ PI ..............................BIG MUFF PI ANALOG CHORUS.................CE-1 CHORUS ANALOG W/ MOD................EH MEMORYMAN TUBE DRIVE .......................CHANDLER TUBE DRIVER SQUARE CHORUS ...............LINE 6 ORIGINAL TAPE ECHO ........................EP-3 ECHOPLEX
SCREAMER..........................TS 808 LINE 6 FLANGER ..................LINE 6 ORIGINAL TUBE ECHO.........................EP-1 ECHOPLEX VETTA JUICE .......................LINE 6 ORIGINAL EXPO CHORUS ....................LINE 6 ORIGINAL LOW REZ ...........................LINE 6 ORIGINAL
CLASSIC DIST ......................RAT JET FLANGER.......................ADA FLANGER MULTI-HEAD ........................ROLAND SPACE ECHO L6 BOOST + EQ ..................LINE 6 ORIGINAL RANDOM CHORUS ..............LINE 6 ORIGINAL PHAZE EKO ........................LINE 6 ORIGINAL
OCTAVE FUZZ ......................OCTAVIA PHASER..............................PHASE 90 SWEEP ECHO ......................LINE 6 ORIGINAL BLUE COMP TREB ................BOSS CS-1 W/ TREBLE SWITCH ON SQUARE FLANGE..................LINE 6 ORIGINAL BUBBLE ECHO ....................LINE 6 ORIGINAL
BLUE COMP ........................BOSS CS-1 U-VIBE................................UNI VIBE DIGITAL DELAY .....................LINE 6 ORIGINAL DINGO-TRON ......................MUTRON III DOWN EXPO FLANGE .....................LINE 6 ORIGINAL
RED COMP..........................DYNA COMP OPTO TREM.........................FENDER OPTO STEREO DELAY.....................LINE 6 ORIGINAL CLEAN SWEEP ....................LINE 6 ORIGINAL LUMPY PHASE ....................LINE 6 ORIGINAL
VETTA COMP .......................LINE 6 ORIGINAL BIAS TREM..........................VOX BIAS PING PONG .........................LINE 6 ORIGINAL SEISMIK SYNTH ..................LINE 6 ORIGINAL HI-TALK ..............................LINE 6 ORIGINAL
AUTO SWELL .......................LINE 6 ORIGINAL ROTARY DRUM & HORN........LESLIE 145 REVERSE ............................LINE 6 ORIGINAL DOUBLE BASS ....................LINE 6 ORIGINAL L6 SWEEPER ......................LINE 6 ORIGINAL
AUTO WAH..........................MUTRON III ROTARY DRUM ....................FENDER VIBRATONE BUZZ WAVE .......................LINE 6 ORIGINAL POD PURPLE X ...................LINE 6 ORIGINAL
AUTO PAN...........................LINE 6 ORIGINAL REZ SYNTH ........................LINE 6 ORIGINAL RANDOM S H .....................LINE 6 ORIGINAL
SATURN 5 RING M ..............LINE 6 ORIGINAL TAPE EATER ........................LINE 6 ORIGINAL
REVERBS SYNTH ANALOG ..................MOOG AND ARP WARBLE-MATIC ...................LINE 6 ORIGINAL
LUX SPRING SMALL ROOM DARK HALL RICH CHAMBER SLAP PLATE SYNTH FX .........................LINE 6 ORIGINAL
STD SPRING TILED ROOM MEDIUM HALL CHAMBER VINTAGE PLATE SYNTH HARMONY ..............LINE 6 ORIGINAL
KING SPRING BRITE ROOM LARGE HALL CAVERNOUS LARGE PLATE SYNTH LEAD ......................MOOG LEAD
SYNTH STRING ...................ARP/SOLINA STRINGS
AMP MODELS
# AMP MODEL MODEL BASED ON # AMP MODEL MODEL BASED ON
0 ......BYPASS ..........................(Bypasses the Amp Model) 19 ....PLEXI LEAD 100...............‘68 MARSHALL ‘PLEXI’ SUPER LEAD
1 ......TUBE PREAMP..................TUBE INSTRUMENT PREAMP 20 ....PLEXI JUMP LEAD .............JUMPERED MARSHALL SUPER LEAD
2 ......LINE 6 CLEAN...................LINE 6 21st CENTURY CLEAN 21 ....PLEXI VARIAC...................VARIAC’D MARSHALL SUPER LEAD
3 ......LINE 6 JTS-45..................LINE 6 ORIGINAL 22 ....BRIT J-800 ......................MARSHALL JCM 800
4 ......LINE 6 CLASS A................LINE 6 ORIGINAL 23 ....BRIT JM PRE....................MARSHALL JMP-1 PREAMP SIGNAL FLOW & EFFECTS ROUTING OPTIONS
5 ......LINE 6 MOOD ..................LINE 6 ORIGINAL 24 ....MATCH CHIEF...................‘96 MATCHLESS CHIEFTAIN
6 ......SPINAL PUPPET ................LINE 6 ORIGINAL 25 ....MATCH D-30....................MATCHLESS DC-30
7 ......LINE 6 CHEM X ................LINE 6 CHEMICAL X 26 ....TREADPLATE DUAL.............2001 MESA BOOGIE DUAL RECTIFIER
8 ......LINE 6 INSANE.................WAY TOO MANY HOURS OF SHREDDING 27 ....CALI CRUNCH...................‘85 MESA BOOGIE MARK IIC+
9 ......LINE 6 ACO 2...................LINE 6 PIEZO ACOUSTIC 2 28 ....JAZZ CLEAN .....................‘87 ROLAND JC-120
10 ....ZEN MASTER....................BUDDA TWINMASTER 2x12 Combo 29 ....SOLO 100.......................SOLDANO SLO-100 HEAD
11 ....SMALL TWEED .................‘53 FENDER DELUXE 30 ....SUPER O .........................SUPRO S6616
12 ....TWEED B-MAN .................‘58 FENDER BASSMAN 31 ....CLASS A-15 .....................‘60 VOX AC-15
13 ....TINY TWEED ....................‘60 TWEED FENDER CHAMP 32 ....CLASS A-30 TB.................‘67 VOX AC-30 TOP BOOST GATE
14 ....BLACKFACE LUX................‘64 FENDER DELUXE REVERB 33 ....L6 AGRO .........................LINE 6 ORIGINAL
15 ....DOUBLE VERB..................‘65 FENDER BLACKFACE TWIN 33 ....L6 LUNATIC......................LINE 6 ORIGINAL
16 ....TWO-T0NE.......................GRETSCH 6156 34 ....L6 TREADPLATE ................LINE 6 ORIGINAL
17 ....HIWAY 100 .....................HIWATT CUSTOM 100 36 ....VARIAX ACOUSTIC.............LINE 6 ORIGINAL
18 ....PLEXI 45.........................‘65 MARSHALL JTM-45

CABINET MODELS
# CAB MODEL MODEL BASED ON # AMP MODEL MODEL BASED ON # AMP MODEL MODEL BASED ON VOLUME WAH STOMP MODULATION DELAY AMP/CAB + A.I.R. II
0 ......NO CAB...........................N/A 8 ......1X12 CLASS A.................VOX AC-15 W/ GRAYBELLS 17 ....4X12 LINE 6 ...................LINE 6 ORIGINAL
1 ......1X6 SUPER O ..................SUPRO S6616 9 ......2X2 MINI T .....................FENDER MINI TWIN 18 ....4X12 GREEN 20’s ............MARSHALL W/ GREENBACK 20'S
2 ......1X8 TWEED.....................‘60 TWEED FENDER CHAMP 10 ....2X12 LINE 6 ...................LINE 6 ORIGINAL 19 ....4X12 GREEN 25’s ............MARSHALL W/ GREENBACK 25'S
3 ......1X10 GIBTONE ................GIBSON EXPLORER 11 ....2X12 BLACKFACE .............'65 FENDER BLACKFACE TWIN 20 ....4X12 BRIT T75................MARSHALL W/ GR-T75'S
4 ......1X10 G-BRAND ................GRETSCH 12 ....2X12 MATCH...................'96 MATCHLESS CHIEFTAIN 21 ....4X12 BRIT V30’S ............MARSHALL W/ VINTAGE 30'S
5 ......1X12 LINE 6 ...................LINE 6 ORIGINAL 13 ....2X12 JAZZ ......................ROLAND JC-120 22 ....4X12 TREADPLATE............MESA W/ CUSTOM CELESTIONS
6 ......1X12 TWEED...................‘53 FENDER DELUXE REVERB 14 ....2X12 CLASS A.................VOX AC-30 TB 23 ....1X15 THUNDER ...............'62 SUPRO THUNDERBOLT
7 ......1X12 BLACKFACE .............‘65 FENDER DELUXE REVERB 15 ....4X10 LINE 6 ...................LINE 6 ORIGINAL 24 ....2X12 WISHBOOK.............'67 SILVERTONE TWIN TWELVE
16 ....4X10 TWEED...................'58 FENDER BASSMAN COMP EQ VOLUME MODULATION DELAY REVERB
All amp, cab and effect product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way associated or affiliated with Line 6. These product names and descriptions are provided for the
sole purpose of identifying the specific products that were studied during Line 6’s sound model development.
 The serial number can be found on the left side of the rear panel of your PODXT Live.
It’s the number that begins with “(21)”. Please note it here for future reference:

SERIAL NO:

WARNING: To reduce the risk of fire or CAUTION: To reduce the risk of fire or electric shock,
electric shock, do not expose this appliance to do not remove screws. No user-serviceable parts inside. Refer
rain or moisture. servicing to qualified service personnel.

CAUTION: This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B digital device
pursuant to Part 15 of FCC Rules. Operation is subject to the following two conditions: (1) This device may not cause
harmful interference, and (2) this device must accept any interference received, including interference that may cause
undesired operation.

The lightning symbol within a triangle means The exclamation point within a
“electrical caution!” It indicates the presence triangle means “caution!” Please
of information about operating voltage and read the information next to all
potential risks of electrical shock. caution signs.

YOU SHOULD READ THESE IMPORTANT SAFETY INSTRUCTIONS

KEEP THESE INSTRUCTIONS IN A SAFE PLACE

Before using PODXT Live, carefully read the applicable items of these operating instructions and safety suggestions:

1. Obey all warnings on the PODXT Live and in this Pilot’s Handbook.

2. Do not place near heat sources, such as radiators, heat registers, or appliances which produce heat.

3. Guard against objects or liquids entering the enclosure.

4. Connect only to AC power outlets rated 100-120V or 230V 47-63Hz (depending on the voltage range of the
included power supply).

5. Do not step on power cords. Do not place items on top of power cords so that they are pinched or leaned on.
Pay particular attention to the cord at the plug end and the point where it connects to PODXT Live.

6. Unplug your PODXT Live when not in use for extended periods of time.

7. Do not perform service operations beyond those described in the PODXT Live Pilot’s Handbook. In the
following circumstances, repairs should be performed only by qualified service personnel:

• liquid is spilled into the unit

• an object falls into the unit

• the unit does not operate normally or changes in performance in a significant way

• the unit is dropped or the enclosure is damaged

8. Prolonged listening at high volume levels, especially with headphones, may cause irreparable hearing loss
and/or damage. Always be sure to practice “safe listening.”

PODXT Pilot’s Handbook © 2003, Line 6, Inc.

 Please Note:

Line 6, POD, PODXT, PODXT Live, PODXT Pro, Vetta, FBV,

FBV Shortboard, FBV4, FBV2, Amp Farm, GuitarPort,
Line 6 Monkey, Line 6 Edit and Custom Tone are
trademarks of Line 6, Inc. All other product names,
trademarks, and artists’ names are the property of
their respective owners, which are in no way
associated or affiliated with Line 6. Product names,
images, and artists’ names are used solely to identify
the products whose tones and sounds were studied
during Line 6’s sound model development for this
product. The use of these products, trademarks,
images, and artists’ names does not imply any
cooperation or endorsement.
Quick Start Guide ................................................................................ 1•1
Register Now! ......................................................................................................................................1•2
Go on-line and get more stuff!....................................................................................................1•2
Introduction ............................................................................................................................................1•3
Welcome to PODXT Live .......................................................................................................1•3
Who is Line 6? ................................................................................................................................1•3
Modeling .............................................................................................................................................1•4
Amp, Cab and Effect Models .................................................................................................1•5
There’s Magic in the A.I.R. .......................................................................................................1•5
And Away We Go ........................................................................................................................1•7

Controls and Connections................................................................... 2•1

Getting Set Up...................................................................................... 3•1

All Purpose Basics ...............................................................................................................................3•1
Variax..........................................................................................................................................................3•2
On Stage ..................................................................................................................................................3•2
Keeping Your Options Open ..................................................................................................3•3
What are you connecting to? .................................................................................................3•3
Getting The Right Tone With An Amp ............................................................................3•5
External Stomp Boxes and PODXT Live ..........................................................................3•6
In The Studio .........................................................................................................................................3•5
What are you connecting to? ..................................................................................................3•7
The Ins and Outs of Great Tone ..........................................................................................3•7
Setting Levels ...................................................................................................................................3•8
Radiation Alert .................................................................................................................................3•8
MIDI Mania .........................................................................................................................................3•9
Creating & Storing Sounds.................................................................. 4•1
Recalling Channel Memories ......................................................................................................4•1
Editing Basics .........................................................................................................................................4•1
Inside the Edit Menu ........................................................................................................................4•2
Amp Knob settings ........................................................................................................................4•2
Amp Bypass Channel Volume ................................................................................................4•3
Cabinet and Mic settings (There’s magic in the A.I.R.!) ............................................4•3
Comp/Gate settings......................................................................................................................4•4
EQ settings .........................................................................................................................................4•4
Stomp settings..................................................................................................................................4•5
Mod and Delay settings ..............................................................................................................4•6
Config....................................................................................................................................................4•6
Setting your Tone to Tempo ......................................................................................................4•7
Reverb Settings.....................................................................................................................................4•8
Wah and Volume Settings .............................................................................................................4•8
Assigning the Pedal and Tweak Knob and Dialing in Tempo....................................4•9
Variax..........................................................................................................................................................4•10
Saving Yourself......................................................................................................................................4•12
Saving Channel Memory ............................................................................................................4•12
Custom Saving Amp Models ...................................................................................................4•13
MIDI Dumps......................................................................................................................................4•14

Modeled Amps & Cabs......................................................................... 5•1

Which Amps and Cabs Are Modeled? .................................................................................5•1
Cabinet Models ...................................................................................................................................5•29

Effect Model Details ............................................................................. 6•1

Comp .........................................................................................................................................................6•1
Gate ............................................................................................................................................................6•2
The Stomp Effects: Fizz, Distortion, Overdrive..................................................................6•3
The Stomp Effects: Compressors ..............................................................................................6•8
The Stomp Effects: Synths and Filters......................................................................................6•14
The Modulation Effects....................................................................................................................6•17
The Delay Effects.................................................................................................................................6•28
Reverb........................................................................................................................................................6•37
MIDI ....................................................................................................... 7•1
MIDI Basics ............................................................................................................................................7•1
What’s MIDI?.....................................................................................................................................7•1
In/Out....................................................................................................................................................7•1
MIDI Channel....................................................................................................................................7•1
MIDI Messages .....................................................................................................................................7•3
Backing Up PODXT Live Programs to Other Devices ................................................7•4
Other Things You Can Do with MIDI ..................................................................................7•6
Changing sounds with MIDI Program Changes ............................................................7•6
Tweaking PODXT Live Tones with MIDI Controllers ..............................................7•6
Full MIDI Automation of PODXT Live...............................................................................7•6
MIDI Setup Trouble-shooting .....................................................................................................7•7

Appendices ............................................................................................ 8•1

Amp Models .........................................................................................................................................8•1
MIDI Program Changes ...................................................................................................................8•2
PODXT MIDI Controls ....................................................................................................................8•3
Variax Date in PODXT Live ..........................................................................................................8•9
Line 6 Contact ......................................................................................................................................8•10
Warranty Info ........................................................................................................................................8•11
 QUICK START GUIDE • “Manual? I don’t need no stinking manual!”

QUICK START GUIDE 1•1

or:
“MANUAL? I DON’T NEED NO STINKING MANUAL!”
1. On the rear panel, turn the small OUTPUT LEVEL knob all the way
down to zero, flip the switch to the amp position if you’re plugging into
an amp, or the line position if you’re plugging into line level equipment
such as a recorder or mixer, or using only headphones.
2. Connect the LEFT and RIGHT OUTPUTS to your recorder or mixer’s
inputs, or plug the left output into your guitar amp’s input. Or connect
headphones to the PHONES jack on your PODXT Live.
3. Connect the included power pack to your POD XT Live, and plug the
other end into a power jack.
4. Connect your guitar to PODXT Live’s rear panel INPUT. Flip the switch
there to NORM for most guitars, or PAD for extra-hot-output pickups.
5. Got a Variax guitar? Connect it to the PODxt Live’s rear panel Variax
jack, using only Line 6-supplied Variax cables. See Variax on page 3•2.
6. Flip the rear panel POWER switch to fire up.
7. Press the OUTPUT MODE/SYSTEM button. Press the button below
DEST (Destination), then turn the EFFECT TWEAK knob to tell your
PODxt Live what you’re connecting to. This setting will be overridden
when you plug in headphones, so you don’t have to do anything to get
great headphone sound.
8. Turn up the rear panel OUTPUT LEVEL knob so you can hear PODXT
Live’s output, but don’t turn up so high that you’re overdriving the input
of whatever you’re plugging into.
9. Turn the SELECT knob to choose from preset sounds, organized in 32
Banks of 4 Channels, with Channels labeled A, B, C, D. Banks 1-8 are
great for use with headphones, mixers and recorders. Banks 9-16 are
designed for in front of an amp. Banks 17-32 are ready to fill with your
own sounds, or ones you download from the Line 6 web site. With the
EDIT button NOT lit, press the left button under the display for
“Manual Override,” where-the-knobs-are-is-how-it-sounds operation.
10. Step on the AMP, STOMP, MOD, or DELAY switches to turn those parts
of your sound on/off. Turn the knobs to further adjust. CHAN VOL
adjusts the volume of this Channel Memory relative to the others.
11. Now before you run off, please give the page a quick flip and....
QUICK START GUIDE • Register now!

1•2 Register now!

Included in this manual is a handy, postage-paid card for you to send back to us to
register your purchase. It’s very important that you fill that registration card out
right now and drop it in the mail, or jump on the Internet and register at
www.line6.com. Registering insures that you’re dialed in for warranty service
(warranty info is at the end of this manual) and insures we can contact you if new
software versions or other cool enhancements are offered — cutting edge technology
and such.

Go on-line and get more stuff!

Here at Line 6, our mission is to help you be more creative by bringing you powerful
new technologies. As part of that mission, we focus great effort on making the
Internet a valuable resource for every one of our customers. The Line 6 web site is one
of the most effective ways for us to deliver you what you need to make you and your
PODXT Live ever more powerful.

Connect to www.line6.com to check out Custom Tone — a truly massive, free,

exclusive-to-Line-6 online tone library that gives you instant access to the signature
sounds of the greatest guitarists, bands, songs and gear of all time. It integrates with
the free Line 6 Edit software that lets you edit your PODXT Live’s sounds, and save
copies of them on your computer. Our web site is also the place to download our
GuitarPort software and USB driver software, all free for your PODXT Live. You
can even add more Models to your PODXT Live! (See www.line6.com/
modelpacks for the details on that.) And to make it easy to get all this cool,
computer-related stuff, look for the handy Line 6 Monkey utility, downloadable
from our web site, which will check for and install the latest versions of everything for
you! Visit the discussion boards to learn tips & tricks, trade advice, and generally
hang out and get POD-a-licious with the whole extended family of POD XT users. Use
the Support pages to get answers to your technical questions and contact our
customer service experts. Or grab electronic versions of this book and other
documentation, learn what your favorite artists are doing with Line 6 gear, and see
the latest products we’re introducing for you.

Not on the Internet yet? This may be your time to make the jump, and thereby ensure
that you will get all the great resources we can offer for you and your POD XT Live.
 QUICK START GUIDE • Introduction

Introduction 1•3
Welcome To PODXT Live...
Thank you for inviting PODXT Live into your life. Whether you use it as the ultimate
multi-effect pedal, a direct recording miracle, a powerhouse preamp, a practice partner,
or a creative digital signal processing tool (and heck, why should it be just one?) — we
think you’ll agree that PODXT Live is about the most amazing thing to happen to the
electric guitar since, well, since the guitar amplifier itself! PODXT Live delivers the
incredible tones of the acclaimed Line 6 Point-to-Point Interactive modeling
technology (as featured in our Vetta II series amps), fuses it with the wonderfully
portable and easy to use POD which has been the guitar recording world standard for
years, and smacks it all down on the floor for rugged professional use. So you’ve got the
tonal heritage of the past century of stomp box and guitar amplifier design, plus no-
compromise recording and direct sound excellence — all ready to roll when you are.

Who is Line 6?
As you may know, Line 6 first came on the scene several years back with a new kind of
guitar amplifier — the first to put digital software modeling technology to work in a
combo amp for guitarists. We also knew then that guitarists need great amp tone when
recording, but generally don’t have the room to crank up that classic stack, or the
money to hire a team of ace engineers to get it to tape. So we squished our patented
modeling technology down into a small, kidney-bean-shaped wonder called POD, and
forever changed the world of guitar recording.

Once we’d gotten this whole modeling amp and POD thing started, it was time to see
what we could do if we really cranked up the horsepower and took our modeling to the
next level. I mean, once you’ve climbed to the top of the mountain, it’s on to the next
mountain, right? So, eyes glowing like power tubes, we stocked up on the Pepsi,
gathered our genius engineers into a secret lab, fired up our extensive collection of
amplifiers and stomp boxes... and spirited their treasured tones into a newly-
supercharged modeling technology we dubbed Point-to-Point modeling. It first hit the
streets in the award-winning Vetta amp, whose superb tone and unparalleled selection
of dream amps, cabinets and effects make it a pretty good contender for the world
heavyweight amp title. After that, we poured the same magic elixir into the classic
POD and—ta-dah!—PODXT was born. It’s now available in the original bean shape, a
rack mount, and the floor unit that you are enjoying.
QUICK START GUIDE • Introduction

1•4 So, how does PODXT Live help you create a guitar tone that is out of this world, and
then get that tone wherever you need it? Easy! It’s…

Modeling
Modeling: just what is it, and why is it so important?
To answer that question, we’ll start with tubes (better know as “valves” to our friends
in England and elsewhere). Tubes, we can all agree, are the heart and soul of pretty
much every legendary guitar amp, and are key to the warm, harmonic-rich tone
quality of those amps. Solid state devices (transistors) are simply unable to duplicate
tube warmth and performance. And “hybrids” — a tube in a circuit along with a
bunch of transistors — are really a vain attempt at warming up a transistor-based
tone. They fall short in any comparison to a 100% tube circuit. So that’s it — tubes or
nothin’, right? Well, not any more....

You see, Line 6’s team of crack engineer-guitarists has spent years understanding
pretty much everything there is to know about tube-powered gear, including exactly
how different types of tubes respond under various conditions typical of guitar
amplifier design. How tubes process an input signal, how the signal is colored and
shaped, at what point it begins to distort, the quality and characteristic of the
distortion, what happens when the signal gets to other parts of the system —
complicated stuff, but all analyzable as electronic data. A guitar pickup output, after
all, is an electronic signal, and tubes and all the rest are really just a complex form of
signal processing.

Having sussed it all out, the Line 6 engineers translated all this arcane knowledge
into software that simulates the signal processing of guitar amps’ tubes and other
electronics, entirely within the digital domain. Cool, huh? The Line 6 crew also
directed their caffeine-enhanced modeling attention to a study of guitar speaker
cabinets and the important part they play in communicating great guitar tone. And
the great variety of stomp box and rack effects that guitarists use to juice things up.
They translated it all into yet more powerful software, and it’s this revolutionary DSP
(Digital Signal Processing) software-based modeling technology that gives Line 6 the
power to create super silicon-based life forms like PODXT Live.
 QUICK START GUIDE • Introduction

Amp, Cab and Effect Models 1•5

The tone and technology know-how of Line 6 thus comes to you as Amp, Cab and
Effect Models based on a collection of gear recognized by guitarists the world over as
true “tone classics.” These models were tweaked through careful, scientific A/B
comparisons to the gear that inspired them, with an ear open for the effects of
different volume levels and settings of the originals’ tone and gain controls. The
gain and equalization characteristics of the modeled gear were carefully measured
so that changes to knobs on the models would mirror the effects of these changes
on the originals as closely as possible. We’re talkin’ major attention to detail here.
Tone control center frequencies, slopes, and cut/boost range were painstakingly
analyzed, in addition to a whole host of factors unique to each piece of gear. Not
only that, but since many classic amps and effects have highly interactive circuits,
we paid careful attention to the way that the setting of one knob changes the way
that another knob may behave. All in an effort to make our Models as much like
the amps, cabs and effects in our collection as possible. The resulting Amp, Cab
and Effect Models are the foundation of PODXT Live.

Now, then — here are a couple of things we want to be completely crystal clear on:

1. The Line 6 modeling process is a patented, 100% digital software-

based technology exclusive to Line 6.

2. Line 6 Modeling is not sampling, nor is it solid state; no special

guitar, pickup, or cabling is needed.

There’s Magic in the A.I.R.

For recording and direct feed to a mixer, PA system, or headphones, POD XT Live
delivers its modeling tones through another innovation: Line 6’s A.I.R. direct
recording output. The A.I.R. (acoustically integrated recording) technology is the
result of intensive research and careful study of the tonal characteristics produced
by the interaction of amplifiers, cabinets, speakers, microphones and the recording
room during the recording process.

The direct output of many preamps, amplifiers and direct box-style amp
replacements available today offer some limited form of cabinet simulation or
speaker emulation. Those that happen to be more than simple high end roll-offs
have little or no control options. Generic cabinet simulations cannot reproduce the
QUICK START GUIDE • Introduction

1•6 markedly different tones resulting from the choice of speakers, wood, and other
details of a great real-life speaker cabinet. Other equipment also fails to reproduce the
significant tonal contribution of microphone selection and placement, and do
nothing to reproduce the subtle ambience of the recording space.

The result is the familiar dissatisfaction with direct recording products — even those
that deliver a reasonably usable basic tone fail to reproduce the “life” of the guitar
sound, and destroy the proper feel in the process. It is as if your guitar strings became
heavier and less responsive, like they just went up a couple of gauges when you
plugged into your direct box. And your sound lost its life.

PODXT Live’s combination of Amp Models and A.I.R. technology provides superior
direct tones by recreating all the elements contributing to a great recorded guitar
sound, and giving you that tone with the same feel as playing through a real amp and
speaker cabinet:

• The effect of the guitar amplifier circuit is emulated by the Amp Model you choose.
Each model was developed from extensive study of a classic amplifier treasured as a
tone classic.

• In a guitar amp, once the guitar signal passes through the electronics, it is output to
one or more speakers in a speaker cabinet. The specific design of the speakers, how
many there are, and how they are arranged contributes significantly to your guitar
tone, as does the construction and resulting tone of the wood box itself. A Marshall
head driving a single 12-inch speaker in an open-back cabinet, for instance, will
sound dramatically different from the same head driving a 4x12 closed-back
cabinet. Line 6 has carefully constructed virtual software speaker cabinets that
emulate the contribution made by real speaker cabinets to get great guitar sound.

• Once the sound makes it out of the speaker cabinet, the next important link in the
recording system is the microphone that receives that sound. Guitar recordists
select different microphones, and arrange them in different placements, to get
particular sounds. A microphone pointing directly into the cone of a speaker will
hear something different than one positioned off-axis. Line 6 carefully analyzed the
coloring that various microphones add to the guitar sound, as well as the effects of
different mic placement techniques, and gave you control of these details in your
PODXT Live.
 QUICK START GUIDE • And Away We Go....

• The guitar amp, cabinet, and microphone don’t just sit in empty space. The room
1•7
that they are in contributes importantly to the guitar sound you will record.
Reverb can be used to capture the basic character of the space, simulating the
effect of the sound reflecting off the room’s walls, floors and ceiling. But there are
other subtle details that have more to do with the “spread” of the sound as it
passes through the air between the speaker and microphone. This final
component is the key to the sense that the listener is in one position in the room,
and the guitar sound is in another position, and that the two are separated by a
mass of air that sound spreads through to reach the listener.

All of these important sound-shaping components are accounted for in your

PODXT Live. Stomp on the AMP foot switch to enable an amplifier emulation. You
can then press the second button under the PODXT Live display while the EDIT
button is NOT lit, select the Amp Model of your choice, and POD XT Live
automatically matches that amplifier with an appropriate cabinet and microphone
setup, and gives you the sound of that setup coming through the air of a recording
space. So you’re ready to start playing or recording with incredible mic’d up sound!
Press a button and twiddle a knob or two, and you can switch cabinets, change out
mics and their placement, and adjust the “spread” of the sound in your virtual room
as well.

The A.I.R. direct recording output is exclusive to Line 6. In combination with the
Line 6 Amp, Cab and Effect Models, it is an indispensable part of POD XT Live’s
phenomenally satisfying sound.

And Away We Go....

So, now that you know what’s in store, it’s time to experience POD XT Live for
yourself. Grab your favorite axe, plug in, and flip back to the handy Quick Start
Guide on the first page of this chapter if you haven’t already been through that.
Then fold out the back cover and follow me, my friend, for the POD XT Live Grand
Tour....
 Controls & Connections

CONTROLS & CONNECTIONS

2• 1
Now would be a good time to turn to the nifty back cover of this manual and notice
that it folds out. Ooh, pretty pictures! The idea is to have this essential pictorial
reference always opened out while you’re thumbing through the manual. It’s also got all
the essential details for quickly getting around on your PODXT Live. The boxed
numbers that pop up throughout this manual correspond to the numbers on the
foldout’s illustrations. The back side of the cover’s got handy pictures for the FBV and
FBV Shortboard foot controllers, plus signal flow and connection guides.

1 Power Switch - Flip this to bring your PODXT Live to life. Use only the
included PX-2 power pack to supply power to your PODXT Live.

2 USB - PODXT Live’s USB jack lets you connect it directly to most computers,
and record your PODXT Live directly to a wide variety of popular recording software.
We’ve included a USB cable for use with our GuitarPort Windows software, Line 6 Edit
software for Mac OS X and Windows, our Custom Tone online tone library, and
PODXT Live driver software. All this software — along with directions for using it — is
free for you to download at www.line6.com.

3 Variax - Connect a Line 6 Variax guitar here, and experience a whole new
world of possibility and sound-control power. In addition to a direct digital audio
connection between the guitar and PODXT Live, you can even have the Variax change
sounds each time you choose a new Channel Memory from your POD XT Live’s foots
witches or SELECT knob. You can learn more about the Variax family of guitars —
each one giving you the sound of an entire guitar collection in one instrument — at the
Line 6 website. Be sure to keep the protective plastic cap on this connection
when it’s not connected to a Variax, so you won’t damage it by mistakenly
inserting a 1/4-inch guitar cable or other connection. When you are ready
to connect a Variax, use only Line 6 supplied Variax-compatible cables —
not standard Ethernet or other cables — to avoid damage to the jack.
 Controls & Connections

4 MIDI In & Out - Connect PODXT Live to your MIDI equipment to select
Channel Memories (via Program Change messages), or automate POD XT Live settings
(via controllers and/or SySex). You can also use MIDI (or USB) to communicate with
2• 2 the free Line 6 Edit software downloadable from www.line6.com. The PODXT Live
MIDI OUT connects to another device’s MIDI IN; its MIDI IN goes to another
device’s MIDI OUT. Please also see Chapter 7, Deep Editing and MIDI Control,
to setup your MIDI gear with PODXT Live and find out what MIDI can do for you.

5 Phones - When you want to listen with headphones, plug them in here. The
volume is set by the OUTPUT LEVEL 6 knob. Any time you use headphones, it’s
important to be sure they’re not set for ridiculous volume before your slap them on your
ears. Use a low setting of the knob when first putting the headphones on, then turn up
from there if you need more volume.

So that you hear appropriate sound through the headphones, POD XT Live
automatically switches to Studio Mode whenever headphones are connected (for more
on Studio Mode, see “What are you connecting to?” on page 3•7).

6 Output To Amp/Line - The unbalanced 1/4-inch connectors here get

your PODXT Live’s sound to a guitar amplifier, recorder, mixer or PA system. Flick the
rear panel switch to AMP when you’ve got your PODXT Live feeding into the front of a
guitar amp, and otherwise choose LINE. The rear panel LEVEL knob sets the — you
guessed it! — output level. Changing the OUTPUT level does not change your tone, so
you can get the tone you want at any volume level. This setting is not saved when you
store settings into one of the PODXT Live’s memory locations.

When running into a guitar amp, you’ll want to avoid setting the LEVEL knob so high
that you’re overdriving the front end of your amp. Try turning any drive-type control
on your amp low so that it’s not adding more “dirt” to your sound, and compare the
PODXT Live sound on headphones to the sound coming from your amp to be sure the
sound from the amp isn’t getting too crunchy because you’re feeding it too much level
from the PODXT. The tone from the headphones and from the amp will of course
sound different, depending on the “color” that your amp adds. You just want to make
sure that you’re not getting extra distortion degrading your sound and preventing you
from achieving the tones you want with your PODXT-Live-and-amp-setup.
 Controls & Connections

When running into line level gear (like recorders, mixers and PA’s) POD XT Live will
give the best signal-to-noise performance when you have the OUTPUT control at max.
With the OUTPUT control turned down low, you may get extra hiss—which obviously
ain’t what you want—if you turn up your mixer or recorder’s output to compensate. In
2• 3
order to allow you to set the OUTPUT as high as possible when connecting to
recording, mixing, and other studio gear, be sure you are plugging PODXT’s
outputs into line level, not microphone or guitar level inputs. Line level inputs
should allow you to set PODXT Live’s amp/line switch to LINE, then turn PODXT’s
OUTPUT up all the way (or close to it) and thereby get the best sound possible. If your
gear has inputs that function as mic/line level inputs, try to set the trim for those inputs
to the minimum level, and PODXT’s OUTPUT to maximum, when setting levels.

7 Aux Input - Connect a CD player, MP3 player, drum machine or other device
here, and you’ll hear it at PODXT Live’s headphone and Amp/Line outputs. Very
handy for jamming along! Use the output volume control on the connected device to
set its level. This aux input signal will NOT be fed to the USB digital audio output.

8 Input - Plug your guitar in here. (You techies will want to know this is a mono,
un-balanced connection.) Set the switch to norm for use with most guitars. The pad
position may work better with guitar pickups that have particularly high output levels,
to prevent them from overdriving the front end of your PODXT Live in an unpleasant-
sounding way.

9 Pedal 2 - Connect a standard expression pedal, such as the Line 6 EX-1, and
you’ll be able to assign it to control the Volume Pedal or Effect Tweak 12 functions.
See page 4•9 for the detail on that.

10 Select - PODXT Live has 128 Channel Memories. They are arranged in 32
banks of four channels each. (The four are called A, B, C, and D.) You can think of
each bank as a sort of virtual four-channel guitar amp.

The first 32 Channel Memories (Banks 1-8) store a variety of complete amp-and-effect
selections pre-programmed by the tone mavens at Line 6 to sound great when feeding a
recorder, mixer, PA or headphones. The second 32 (Banks 9-16) are designed to run in
front of a guitar amp. The last 64 (Banks 17-32) are left for your own creations — or
 Controls & Connections

you can load them up with one of the thousands of great tones you’ll find at
www.customtone.com for transfer to your PODXT Live using the Line 6 Edit or
GuitarPort software that you can download for free from the Line 6 web site.
2• 4
You load PODXT Live channels by turning the SELECT knob (or stepping on the BASS
UP/DOWN and A, B, C, D switches described later in this chapter). When recalling a
channel, you may have left the physical BASS knob at minimum, whereas the just-
recalled channel has this control set to max. To change BASS (or anything else), just
grab the knob you want and tweak.

To leave the Channel Memory world and enter Manual operation, step on the A, B, C
or D foots witch 21 and hold it for 2 seconds. In this mode, PODXT Live’s display
will show “Manual Mode” in place of the Channel Memory name, and the physical
positions of the AMP TONE CONTROLS 13 and CHANNEL VOLUME 14 knobs
will determine your sound.

When the EDIT, SAVE or OUTPUT MODE/SYSTEM button is lit, the SELECT knob
selects from the available display pages. When you press EDIT, it selects pages of amp,
effect and channel parameters; when you press OUTPUT MODE/SYSTEM, it takes you
through all of the Tuner and system-wide settings. When SAVE is lit, you’ll find amp
and effect customization features as well as MIDI dump operations. The vertical “scroll
bar” on the left side of each display page shows you where you are in that group of
pages.

11 Displays - The left of these displays always shows the bank number and
channel letter of the currently selected Channel Memory. The right of these displays,
PODXT Live’s LCD (liquid crystal display), is your window into every parameter and
setting available. Here’s how to get around that right display:

1. When the SAVE, EDIT and OUTPUT MODE/SYSTEM buttons are NOT lit, the
display shows you the name of the selected Channel Memory, and the Amp Model
that it uses. (And lets you use the Soft Buttons as described in 17 .)

2. When the SAVE, EDIT or OUTPUT MODE/SYSTEM button IS lit, a scroll bar on
the left side of PODXT’s display shows you where you are in the available display
“pages.” Press one of these buttons to see the scroll bar now. For those that really
need to get all the nerdy details, each dot in that bar represents a page. As you turn
the SELECT knob, you move through the pages and so does the little square. When
 Controls & Connections

you’re on the first page, the little square is at the top. When you get to the last
page, the square’s at the bottom. Square goes up, square goes down. Square goes up,
square goes down. Fun for the whole family!
2• 5
3. Each page typically has words that appear in the bottom of the display. These words
label things you can adjust. Press the button below the thing you want to adjust,
then turn the EFFECT TWEAK knob to do your adjusting. Here’s more detail:

12 Effect Tweak - While the EDIT, OUTPUT MODE/SYSTEM and SAVE

buttons AREN’T lit, this knob varies some effect-related aspect of the sound that your
PODXT Live is currently running. Turn it up and that effect will generally go deeper,
louder, faster, longer or just plain more. You’ll know what you’re tweakin’ because a
window will pop up on PODXT Live’s display to show you. (If you’re looking for the way
to set the delay time, note that that’s usually set by the TAP button.) To learn how you
can customize the EFFECT TWEAK knob, see page 4•9. If the effect that EFFECT
TWEAK is “targeting” is off, then, big surprise, EFFECT TWEAK won’t change
anything.

While the EDIT, OUTPUT MODE/SYSTEM or SAVE button IS lit, the EFFECT TWEAK
knob adjusts parameter values instead of tweaking your effect.

13 Amp Tone Controls - DRIVE, BASS, MIDDLE, TREBLE, PRESENCE.

These control the tone of the Amp Modeling that you have selected. (The AMP foots
witch determines whether the Amp Modeling is on or off; if it’s off, you of course won’t
hear any changes as you adjust these knobs.) The DRIVE knob controls how hard you’re
driving the input of the chosen Amp Model. Like the input volume control on a non-
master volume guitar amp, higher settings give you more “dirt.” The exact response and
interactivity of this and the rest of the Amp Tone Controls will vary from Amp Model
to Amp Model, to mimic the tone controls of the original amp that inspired the Amp
Model you’ve selected. See CHAPTER 5 for details on specific Amp Models.

14 Chan Vol - This knob controls the relative volume level of the “channel” you
are playing through — thus, CHANNEL VOLUME. Use this to balance levels between
the sounds you store in two different PODXT Live Channel Memories (say between
your rhythm and lead tones). In general, you want to set the CHAN VOL as high as
possible to ensure you’re getting the best signal-to-noise ratio performance — but back
 Controls & Connections

off on this control if you’re seeing CLIP in PODXT Live’s display. Here’s a handy tip to
help you get the best experience with your Channel Volume settings:

2• 6 You probably want to have all of your favorite sounds as loud as possible, while also
having the right difference in volume between your lead and rhythm sounds, clean and
dirty sounds, etc. Right? OK, then, to get this happy balance, start with your favorite
‘clean’ sounds. Turn up their Chan Vol as high as you can without getting the CLIP
indicator in PODXT’s display when you strum hard. and save them that way. Then
switch amongst them to see if some are too loud, and turn them down a bit to match
well with the others. Next, move on to select your ‘dirtier’ crunch and lead tones,
comparing them to the clean sounds and saving them with lower Chan Vol settings to
match well with those clean sounds. Now, each time you use your PODxt, you just have
to set an Output volume level you like, and you can switch amongst your various
sounds without unhappy volume differences.

Another little Channel Volume detail: unlike the AMP TONE CONTROLS 13 , this
knob works whether your Amp Model is on or off. PODXT Live actually stores two
separate Channel Volume settings — one for the Amp-on state 19 , and one for Amp-
off. So you can balance the volume difference between these two if needed, as well as
balance the volumes between any two Channel Memories regardless of whether they
happen to use Amp Modeling or not.

15 Save - When you want to store your own tweaked-up sounds in your POD XT
Live, this button is the key. Exactly how it works is detailed in Chapter 4, Creating
& Storing Sounds. But you’re probably impatient, so here are the basics:

When using a pre-programmed sound, PODXT Live will display the bank number and
channel letter in its left display 11 , and the channel name at the top of the right
display. If you turn one of the knobs or change a parameter in the EDIT mode pages,
you’ll notice an asterisk appears next to the channel name. This is a reminder to you
that you have tweaked the memorized channel, and that you should save it if you want
your PODXT Live to remember the tweak.

To save the changes you’ve made to a Channel Memory, press the SAVE button. The
button will start to flash. Just press SAVE again if you want to overwrite the currently
loaded Channel, using the same name. Or, if you’d like to change the name first, use
the middle two Soft Buttons to select a character, then press the right soft button and
turn the EFFECT TWEAK knob to change the character. Press the soft button under
 Controls & Connections

DEST, turn the EFFECT TWEAK knob, and you will see that you are switching
through memory locations A, B, C, and D in each of the sixteen numbered banks.
Pick one to store your sound in, and press that SAVE button a second time. The
button’s light will stop flashing, a progress bar will appear on the display, and the
2• 7
sound will be stored at the location you chose, replacing the sound that was there
before.

After the sound is stored, you can bring it back any old time by simply turning the
SELECT knob to call up the location where you stored it, or by dancing around on
PODXT Live’s foots witches to select the appropriate bank and channel.

If you aren’t using one of PODXT Live’s Channel Memories — you’ve activated
Manual mode, and you’re just getting the sound of where the knobs are set — you can
store that state into a memory location the same way. Press SAVE, then DEST, then use
EFFECT TWEAK to choose a place to save to, and press SAVE again.

If you decide you don’t want to store the sound after you’ve started saving, press any
other button to cancel the save. (The save will also be canceled if you don’t touch
anything for 15 seconds after pressing SAVE.) If you accidentally save over a factory
sound you liked, the SAVE button’s additional pages let you recall the factory preset
version of a Channel Memory any time. See Chapter 4 for details on this feature.

The SAVE button also lets you customize any of the Amp Models to your own taste so
your favorite settings for that amp comes up instantly when you load the AMP MODEL.
See page 4•13 for the details on that.

16 Edit - A deep-dive into tone central is available at the press of the EDIT button.
While EDIT is lit, the SELECT knob selects pages of everything that makes up a
Channel Memory. From here, you set all the effect parameters, select cabinets and
microphones, and assign a parameter to the EFFECT TWEAK knob. To learn more
about deep editing, please see Chapter 4.
 Controls & Connections

17 Soft Buttons - These four buttons operate differently depending on what

you’re doing. Since their function changes to control different software functions at
different times, we call them the “Soft” Buttons.
2• 8
If the EDIT button is NOT lit, PODXT Live’s display will look about like this:

Press any one of the Soft Buttons below the display to turn the item above that button
on or off. In the example above, the Comp, Amp, and Gate processing are off, and
the EQ is on. Double-press any of these Soft Buttons to show the settings for that item,
then press the lit EDIT button to exit that display when you’re done tweaking details.

If the EDIT button IS lit, the Soft Buttons will let you select which displayed setting
you’d like to tweak. See Chapter 4 for the detail on that.

18 Output Mode/System - This button takes you to a page where you tell
PODXT Live what you’re connecting to so that everything will sound and work
properly. There are also other pages here (selectable with the SELECT 10 knob) for
adjusting the operation of your PODXT Live. The settings made in these pages are
NOT saved in individual Channel Memories. They affect the overall, general
operation of the PODXT Live.

19 Amp, Stomp, Mod, Delay - These foots witches show you which of
these “blocks” of sound processing is currently running. Light on means that item is
active. Light off means it’s bypassed. Step on a switch to switch it on/off. Chapter 4
tells you about editing the details of the Amp, Stomp, Mod and Delay. Chapter 5
tells you about the individual Amp Models that PODXT Live gives you., while
Chapter 6 tells you all about the individual Stomp, Mod and Delay Models.

20 Bank Up/Down - These foots witches choose amongst the PODXT Live’s
36 banks of Channel Memories, similar to the SELECT 10 knob. Once you’ve foots
witched your way to a new bank, you’ll then also need to step on the A, B, C or D
 Controls & Connections

foots witch to actually load one of the channels from that bank. (We set things up this
way so your audience won’t hear you switching through channels as you make your
way to your next bank of sounds.)
2• 9
21 A, B, C, D - The lights on these foots witches show you which of the
Channels in the current Bank is running. You can step on any of them to choose a
different channel — basically the same thing you can do with the SELECT 10 knob.
You can also step on one of these switches and hold it for two seconds to activate a
Manual Mode. In this mode, PODXT Live’s display will show “Manual Mode” in
place of the Channel Memory name, and the physical positions of the AMP TONE
CONTROLS 13 and CHANNEL VOLUME 14 knobs will determine your sound.

22 Tap (Hold/Tuner) - PODXT Live lets you control the time and speed of
your effects by simply tapping on this button. To use the TAP control, just tap the
button at the tempo you want and the effects that are set to “lock” to that tempo will
change to match what you tapped. There’s also a Tempo parameter near the end of the
EDIT pages, so you can see exactly what Tempo you’ve tapped. This is especially useful
if you are trying to nudge your TAP setting to just the right value. See Chapter 4 to
learn how to set up effects to follow the tempo that you’ve tapped.

But wait, that’s not all. You can instead hold the switch for about 2 seconds and —
Shazam! Instant digital chromatic tuner. Play a note on your guitar and POD XT Live
will show you what it is on that handy display; all notes are displayed as flats, so you’ll
see A instead of G . Play that string you’re trying to tune again, spin its tuning key so
it goes sharp and flat, and the little ball will move to the right if it’s sharp and back
down to the left when the note’s flat. The little ball will sit right in the middle when
you’ve got it just right. Give PODXT’s TUNE/SYSTEM button a push and the tuner
disappears just as swiftly as it came, taking you right back to normal operation.

Tuner Bypass/Volume - Normally, the audio will be muted while you’re tuning, but
if you prefer to hear yourself tune, press the button labeled Mute, and turn EFFECT
TWEAK counter-clockwise to select Bypass.

Tuner Reference - Want a different reference than A=440Hz? When you’re in the
tuner mode, press the button labeled 440 Hz and turn the EFFECT TWEAK knob on
PODXT Live while watching the display. This control lets you set the reference
frequency anywhere from 430-450 Hz. This setting is stored so you don’t have to reset
 Controls & Connections

it every time you turn on PODXT Live if you decide you want to be different (or if that
piano in your rehearsal room has decided to be different).

2• 10
23 Onboard Pedal - The lights to the left of this pedal show whether it will
operate the Wah effect, Volume Pedal, or (when both lights are lit) Tweak, which is
the same thing controlled by the EFFECT TWEAK 12 knob. When operating the
Wah, you can press hard with your toe at the top of the pedal, and the wah — as well
as the wah light to the left of the pedal — will turn on and off. To learn how to change
what the pedal controls, see page 4•9.
 GETTING SET UP • All Purpose Basics

GETTING SET UP
The numbers in black boxes below and throughout the chapter refer to the back cover
foldout’s illustrations
3•1

PODXT Live is ready to give you world-class tone, no matter what you’re plugging
into. It’s as happy to live on stage, plugged into the house sound system or your ol’
standby amp, as it is working alongside the most elite of world-class recording
systems. (And who wouldn’t be?) To tell you what you need for where you’re going,
this chapter’s got two sections, On Stage and In the Studio. But first, it’s time
for the...

All Purpose Basics

1. Plug the power supply or cable into the wall, and connect it to the power connector
on your PODXT Live.

2. Connect your guitar to PODXT Live’s INPUT 8 .

3. Connect PODXT Live to whatever you’re going to be playing it into.

 GETTING SET UP • Variax

Variax
The Variax line of guitars is unique, thanks to Line 6 modeling technology that gives
you a whole collection of guitars in one single instrument. (You can learn more about
them at the Line 6 web site.)

3•2 If you’re a lucky Variax owner, you’ll want to take advantage of POD XT Live’s rear
panel VARIAX 3 jack. Connect your Variax to this jack using only Line 6-supplied
Variax cables. Once you’ve done that, press the OUTPUT MODE/SYSTEM button 18
and give the Effect Tweak knob a spin until you see this page:

Press the Soft Button under the word VARIAX and turn the Effect Tweak knob to
choose ON or OFF to tell PODXT Live whether you’d like it control the Variax. When
control is enabled, PODXT Live can change Variax models as you change PODXT Live
channels, as described on page 4•10.

Note also that you can have a standard guitar and your Variax plugged into POD XT
Live at the same time, and both will work. Just be sure to roll the volume knob back all
the way on the one you’re not using.
 GETTING SET UP • On Stage

On Stage

Keeping Your Options Open

When you’re playing live with PODXT Live, you’ve got a choice of setups. You can plug
your PODXT Live in between your guitar and a guitar amplifier so PODXT Live acts as a
tone shaping front end for the amp. You can plug straight out of POD XT Live’s outputs 3•3
into the house system for awesome amp and effect tone without the hassle of mics and
cabinets and all that other stage setup. Or you can choose to run POD XT Live into a
power amp and speaker cabinets, using it as the ultimate preamp. Whichever setup you
choose, you’re gonna have to tell your PODXT Live about it first. Read along and we’ll
get’cha dialed in like a pro.

What are you connecting to?

You can supply your PODXT Live with one of three answers to this question, and
thereby ensure that your friend on the floor gives you the best possible tones in any
setup. To start the dialogue, press the OUTPUT MODE/SYSTEM 18 button to light it
up and you’ll see:

STUDIO DIRECT—When plugging PODXT Live straight into a P.A., or using in-ear
monitoring systems, press the Soft Button below DEST and turn the EFFECT TWEAK
knob 12 to select STUDIO DIRECT for amazing amp and effect tone, night after
night. Line 6 exclusive A.I.R. processing serves up a virtual speaker-cabinet-air-
microphone experience so good you may never use a regular guitar amplifier and
microphone on stage again. You’re as powerful as the entire P.A.—and guaranteed to
be in the mix!

2X12 FRONT, 2X12 PWRAMP, 4X12 FRONT & 4X12 PWRAMP—Choose one of these
modes when you’re plugging your PODXT Live into another guitar amp, or a power
amp and guitar speakers. When you’re running Amp Modeling in your POD XT Live
with one of these modes activated, the Mic and Room components of A.I.R. are
turned off, and the Cabinet Models are revoiced to sound their best coming through
the kind of speaker you choose. The “Pwramp” variations should be used when you’re
 GETTING SET UP • On Stage

running straight into a poweramp driving speakers, or running into the effect return
of an amp so that its own preamp is bypassed and you’re getting your POD XT Live’s
signal right to the power amp section. Choose a “Front” variation when you’re
plugging right into the front of a combo amp or head, which will also run you through
that amp’s preamp section. The two “Front” modes also give you some Tone
Correction controls, as shown here:
3•4

The idea of these Tone Correction controls is to adjust PODXT Live’s overall sound
to compensate for the tonal response of the preamp section of the amp that you’re
plugging into. We’ve found that it is often necessary to reduce the low frequency or
high frequency parts of the PODXT Live to get decent results in this sort of a
configuration, or shift the focus of the mid frequencies, so that’s what these controls
are set to do. Press the Soft Button 17 below LOWS or HIGHS and twiddle the
EFFECT TWEAK 12 knob to reduce the amount of low or high frequencies that the
PODXT Live will send out. Use FOCUS to choose which mid frequencies to
emphasize.

Note: When running PODxt Live into a guitar amp (as opposed to studio
monitors or headphones) remember that different speaker/amp
combinations sound wildly different. Consider the name of each DEST
choice as a recommendation only, and experiment with all the options to
see which sounds best for your particular setup.

And last but not least on our lineup of available DEST choices is...

BOSE PS1—Choose this when plugging into a Bose PS1 Cylindrical Radiator™
loudspeaker system. We specially tuned this mode for great sound from the
innovative new sound system that you can learn more about from www.bose.com.

PODXT Live remembers the “What are you connected to?” settings you choose, so you
don’t have to re-set them every time you power up. If you change to a different setting
when using a different setup, don’t forget to change back to your standard setting once
you get back to your regular setup.
 GETTING SET UP • On Stage

Getting The Right Tone With An Amp

The first thing to consider when running PODXT Live in front of an amp is what you
want to achieve. If you want to use your amp for its tone, with PODxt Live supplying
effects and some extra distortion when needed, then you’ll generally get the best results
turning the AMP 19 off on PODXT Live, and using STOMP 19 when you want to
add distortion. The sounds that are pre-programmed in Banks 9-16 are set up this way,
to complement the tone provided by your amp. For this setup, you’ll want to plug right
3•5
into your amp’s front panel guitar input, and be sure you’ve made the proper choice of
2X12 FRONT or 4X12 FRONT on the “What are you connecting to?” system page (see
page 3•3).

On the other hand, if you want to use PODXT Live’s Amp Modeling ability to
transform the basic tone of your amp to make it sound more like another amp, you’ll
probably want the AMP 19 processing on, as you’ll find it in the pre-programmed
sounds in Banks 1-8. If you’ve got an amp with effect send/return jacks, or a power amp
input, we recommend you first try feeding your PODXT Live’s input into them,
bypassing your guitar amp’s own preamp and its tone contribution. Then be sure you’ve
made the proper choice of 2X12 PWRAMP or 4X12 PWRAMP on the “What are you
connecting to?” system page (see page 3•3). If, instead, you’re plugging right into the
guitar input on the front of your amp, try 2X12 FRONT or 4X12 FRONT mode on the
“What are you connecting to?” system page.

It’s also important to be realistic about what you’re going to achieve here — as good as
it is, PODXT Live won’t be able to make a $100 combo amp with a cheap speaker sound
exactly like the vintage amp of your dreams. When you you’re plugging into the front of
an amp, it’s a good idea to start off with that amp in neutral. What is “neutral,” you ask?
Well, if you only have one volume control on your amp, set it low enough to get a
“clean” tone; that ensures PODXT Live’s sounds come through as purely as possible. If
you have a master volume in addition to a volume control on the input, set them both
so that the first volume doesn’t overdrive the master volume (so you’re getting a clean
tone). This will vary from amp to amp, but usually the input volume is going to be less
than the master volume to get a clean, non-distorted sound. If you have passive tone
controls, try setting your mid control at max, and your treble and bass controls at zero
(this is actually “flat” equalization-wise on most amps). Active tone controls may vary,
but just be sure you’re not overdriving the amp so the PODXT Live tone comes through
without extra coloration. Once you get going, you can tweak the amplifier settings to
suit your tastes. Try to set PODXT Live’s OUTPUT so you’re not overdriving the input
of the amp.
 GETTING SET UP • On Stage

External Stomp Boxes and PODXT LIVE

If you’ve been playing guitar for awhile, you probably have some favorite pedals that
you dig. And even though PODXT Live has now graced your life with some pretty hip
stomp box and rack effects models, you probably still want to have the option of
keeping those old pedals in your arsenal. No problem! Just remember that if you’re
going to use PODXT Live with those other effects boxes in front, they’re going to act
3•6 differently based on the Amp Model you’ve selected on your POD XT Live. It’s just like
you’d expect — different combinations will produce a veritable feast of tone! Some
distortion boxes may sound overly harsh if you max their output volume into your
PODXT Live. Try lowering the distortion box’s volume, and you can always add more
gain with PODXT Live’s DRIVE knob or its own STOMP effects. You can also try setting
the rear panel INPUT switch 6 to the “pad” position to contend with particularly hot
output pedals.
 GETTING SET UP • In The Studio

In The Studio

To use the USB connector, visit www.line6.com to download PODxt Family USB Driver
software, plus Line 6 Edit Mac/Windows software or GuitarPort (Windows only) software.

3•7
What are you connecting to?
Your PODXT Live needs to adjust itself to deliver the best possible sound depending on
what you’re connecting to. Press the OUTPUT MODE/SYSTEM 18 button so the
display asks, “What are you connecting to?”

Press the Soft Button below DEST and turn the EFFECT TWEAK knob 12 to select
STUDIO: DIRECT mode. In this mode, Line 6’s exclusive A.I.R. II DSP is active, and
you are treated to a virtual speaker-cabinet-air-microphone experience that’s so good
you may never use a regular guitar amplifier and microphone setup again.

The DEST setting you select will be remembered by your PODXT Live, so you don’t
have to re-set it every time you power up. If you change it to a different setting for a
special situation you come across, don’t forget to change it back again to the setting you
normally use once you get back to your standard setup. When you plug your
headphones into PODXT Live, DEST will be automatically set to STUDIO: DIRECT,
giving you the best tone for private jamming.

The Ins and Outs of Great Tone

If you’re hooking your PODXT Live up to a recorder, mixer, or other equipment, be sure
you are plugging its outputs into line level inputs on your other gear, as opposed to
microphone level or guitar level inputs. This will ensure that you get the best signal-to-
noise ratio (lots of juicy guitar tone, not too much hiss) with POD XT Live. Some
equipment only gives you a single input for both mic & line level sources, allowing you
to trim low level signals (like mics) up to a high level at the inputs. If you are plugging
your PODXT Live into one of these inputs, try setting the trim to minimum, and
twisting PODXT Live’s OUTPUT 6 and CHANNEL VOLUME 14 knobs up to
 GETTING SET UP • In The Studio

maximum. If your equipment has a couple of open line-level only inputs, you’ll
probably get better performance by plugging into these, rather than the wide-ranging
mic-to-line level trimmed inputs.

Setting Levels
3•8 Start by setting PODXT Live to the sound you intend to use, strum hard, and set
CHANNEL VOLUME 14 as close to max as you can without getting the CLIP indicator
in PODXT Live’s display. Now play with PODXT Live’s OUTPUT knob and any input
volume control on your system so you can get the maximum sound level out of your
PODXT Live without going so far that you overdrive the input on your system and
cause unwanted distortion.

Here’s a handy tip: You probably want to have all of your favorite sounds as loud as
possible, while also having the right difference in volume between your lead and
rhythm sounds, clean and dirty sounds, etc. Right? OK, then, to get this happy balance,
start with your favorite ‘clean’ sounds. Turn up their Chan Vol as high as you can
without getting the CLIP indicator in PODXT Live’s display when you strum hard. and
save them that way. Then switch amongst them to see if some are too loud, and turn
them down a bit to match well with the others. Next, move on to select your ‘dirtier’
crunch and lead tones, comparing them to the clean sounds and saving them with
lower Chan Vol settings to match well with those clean sounds. Now, each time you use
your PODXT Live, you just have to set an Output volume level you like, and you can
switch amongst your various sounds without unhappy volume differences.

Radiation Alert
You’re also likely to find, especially if you are using a guitar with single coil pickups,
that it is quite easy to pick up some serious noise from any computer CRT (which
stands for cathode ray tube) display you might have in your studio. CRT displays are,
after all, just special purpose ray guns that shoot photons at you all day long. Your guitar
pickups receive and amplify the electro-magnetic fields that your display radiates, and
you hear this in your audio signal as buzz and hum. Moving farther from the CRT, and
turning your guitar so it does not directly face the computer’s display, will minimize this
problem. But if you find yourself in a tight studio setup, needing to lay down some quick
tracks, and being pestered by CRT-induced buzz, you may find it helpful to do as we
have sometimes done: set up your track to record and start your pre-roll; reach up and
flick your computer monitor’s power switch off; record your guitar part; stop your
recording, flick the monitor back on, and check out the buzz-free playback. Flatscreen
 GETTING SET UP • In The Studio

LCD monitors generally don’t cause hum and buzz. And just in case you’re looking for
an excuse to buy one... Line 6 Variax guitars are immune to this sort of radiation-
induced hum also, since it does not use traditional magnetic pickups.

MIDI Mania
Those of you with MIDI-capable studios will find that your POD XT Live lets you
3•9
control everything via MIDI. Using MIDI, you can select any PODXT Live Channel and
automate any PODXT Live parameter. You are truly lord of your domain. Pretty neat,
huh? Read the Deep Editing & MIDI Control chapter if you plan to venture into
this realm.
 Creating & Storing Sounds • Recalling Channel Memories

CREATING & STORING SOUNDS

This chapter gives you the inside scoop on editing your new POD XT Live. Here, we’ll
take you through everything from loading and changing sounds to full customization of
PODXT Live’s Amp and Effect Models. Even you power users will want to read on and
learn the tips and tricks to the quickest way around for instant tonal satisfaction. You
can also use Line 6 Edit software, downloadable from www.line6.com, to edit your
PODXT Live, backup your memory, and save a library of sounds on your computer.
4•1

Recalling Channel Memories

When you first turn your PODXT Live on, the display will look something like this:

Use the SELECT knob to spin through the channels, which are organized into 32
Banks, where each Bank has four Channel Memories: A, B, C, D. Or step on the BANK
UP/DOWN 20 and A, B, C and D 21 footswitches to let your feet do the driving.

Try spinning that SELECT 10 knob to find something you like. Need a bit more bass,
or perhaps lots more drive? No problem! Simply reach up, grab a knob and twiddle
away, my friend. In addition to the AMP TONE CONTROLS 13 and CHANNEL
VOLUME 14 knobs, you’ve got those handy on/off buttons for the effects 19 , plus
the smart EFFECT TWEAK knob 12 that is always ready to change the most
important effects parameter.

Editing Basics
In this section we’ll take a trip into tweak — a deep dive into the way your POD XT
Live works, and how to make it best work for you. PODXT Live’s knobs, buttons and
display give you direct access to absolutely every detail. No need to connect to a
computer for detailed editing as is required for the original POD.
Creating & Storing Sounds • Inside the Edit Menu

To begin your editing adventure, all you have to do is press the EDIT button to light it
up. Now turn the SELECT knob. Well lookey here, everything you’d ever want to tweak
on your PODXT Live is right there in front of you. To change something shown on the
display, simply press the Soft Button 17 directly below it and spin EFFECT TWEAK.
Everything you tweak here, by the way, is remembered when you press SAVE and
choose a Channel Memory to save to.

4•2 Inside the Edit Menu

When the EDIT button is lit, you’ll see that there is a graphic representation of the
EDIT “menu” on the left side of PODXT Live’s display. Turn the select knob, and notice
that the box in the graphic slides up and down the menu, with each dot in the graphic
representing one of the available EDIT pages. This “scroll bar” is there to help you keep
your place in the great circle of life, er, EDIT pages.

Amp Model settings

With the EDIT button NOT lit, double-press the Soft Button labeled AMP to see the
Amp Model settings. You can also get here when the EDIT button IS lit, if you spin the
SELECT knob counterclockwise to select the first page from the EDIT menu. If you’ve
got the the AMP 19 on, the display will look like this:

At the top of the display you’ll also see the Amp Model name. You can spin the
EFFECT TWEAK knob to select from the available Amp Models. (If the AMP 19 is
currently off, you’ll first need to turn it on before selecting a different Amp Model.) As
you change Amp Models, you’ll see the tone control settings change as each amp loads.
This shows you the settings that the helpful elves at Line 6 have programmed to make
each Amp Model come up with a ready-to-use tone. See page 4•13 to find out how to
customize these settings for your taste.
 Creating & Storing Sounds • Inside the Edit Menu

Look carefully now... do you see the little ‘dots’ by the knobs? These tell you where the
knobs were last saved. Reach up and spin the Drive knob. Notice that the knob moves
on the display. Cool, huh? And notice that the little dots are still where they were. This
allows you to compare your edit with the saved settings for this Channel Memory.
Now, that’s handy!

Amp Bypass Channel Volume

If you’ve got the the AMP 19 off, the display will instead look like this:
4•3

This is the volume that this channel will be set to when AMP 19 is bypassed. It does
not affect the volume that you’ll hear when AMP is not bypassed.

Cabinet and Mic settings (There’s magic in the A.I.R.!)

From the Amp Bypass Channel Volume display, turn Select one click to the right.
You’re now looking at something like this:

These are the advanced A.I.R. settings where you can mix and match any cabinet
model with any amp, as well as dial in the perfect microphone setup.

Press the button under the displayed word CAB, then use the EFFECT TWEAK knob to
spin through the available Cabinet models.

You can change the microphone selection or amount of room ambience the same way.
Press the button under the displayed word MIC, then use EFFECT TWEAK to spin
through the Mic options, or press the button under ROOM and dial in more or less
room.
Creating & Storing Sounds • Inside the Edit Menu

These settings allow you to completely customize the sound of the virtual recording
environment we call A.I.R. — all without leaving the privacy of your own mind!

Comp/Gate settings
From the A.I.R. settings display, turn SELECT one click to the right (you can also get
here directly by double-pressing the Soft Button 17 under the word COMP or GATE
when the EDIT button is not already lit). You’re now looking at something like this:

4•4

Just like any other edit page, you can press a Soft Button, then turn the Effect Tweak
knob to adjust the settings shown here. Chapter 6 tells you more about getting the
most out of the Comp and Gate effects.

EQ settings
From the Comp/Gate settings display, turn Select one click to the right (you can also
get here directly by double-pressing the Soft Button 17 under the word EQ when the
EDIT button is not already lit). Welcome to the EQ edit display:

The 4 graphic sliders on the left side of the page show you the gain settings of the four
bands of PODXT Live’s 4 Band Semi-Parametric EQ. The bands toward the left are for
lower frequencies, the bands toward the right are for higher frequencies, and you can
adjust the gain and frequency of each of them. The far left band is a low shelf, affecting
all the sound at and below the frequency you select for it, and the far right is a high
shelf, affecting the sound at and above its frequency. The middle two are band pass
filters, affecting the sound centered on their frequency. The currently selected band is
shown with heavier graphics, like the fourth band in the illustration. Press one of the
two Soft Buttons on the left to SELECT one of the four bands for adjusting.
 Creating & Storing Sounds • Inside the Edit Menu

Pressing the two left Soft Buttons 17 simultaneously will set the EQ “flat,” so all
bands have a gain setting of 0 and a default setting for frequency. Press the third Soft
Button from the left and turn the EFFECT TWEAK knob to adjust GAIN for the
correctly selected band. Press the far right Soft Button and turn the EFFECT TWEAK
knob to adjust FREQ for the correctly selected band. As you do all this, you can press
two right Soft Buttons simultaneously any time to turn the EQ off (“EQ Bypassed” will
show at the top of the display) and on to see what difference the EQ is making, and
ensure that the changes you’re making are improving your sound.

4•5
Stomp settings
From the EQ settings display, turn Select one click to the right. You’ll be looking at
the Stompbox EDIT page that looks something like this:

As with all of the effects, the first button from the left below the display allows you to
choose the effect model. You can also see that the model selected here, Vetta Comp,
has ‘knobs’ for Sensitivity and Level. Pressing the button under SENS selects it for
tweaking via the EFFECT TWEAK knob.

Some Stomp effects will have a second page, which you’ll see if you turn the Select
knob. See Chapter 6 to learn the details of the many Stomp models, and how to get
the most out of each one of them.
Creating & Storing Sounds • Inside the Edit Menu

Mod and Delay settings

Turn the SELECT knob one click clockwise from the STOMP page(s) to see the Mod
settings pages. Turn SELECT another couple clicks clockwise to see the Delay pages.
For the most part, things here work like the other edit pages already described (and
Chapter 6 will tell you about all the Mod and Delay models in detail). The pages look
something like this:

Delay Edit Page 1

4•6

Delay Edit Page 2

Config
The CONFIG parameter on the second Mod and Delay pages determines whether those
effects will come before (PRE) the amp or after it (POST) in the signal flow.

Here’s a typical routing with a MOD

effect PRE and a DELAY running POST:

MODULATION AMP/CAB – A.I.R. II DELAY

Here’s another routing with both MOD and

DELAY effects in the PRE position:

MODULATION DELAY AMP/CAB

 Creating & Storing Sounds • Inside the Edit Menu

And this is what the full signal flow looks like inside your PODXT Live, including the
pre and post options for Mod, Delay and the Volume pedal:

GATE

4•7
VOLUME WAH STOMP MODULATION DELAY AMP/CAB + A.I.R. II

EQ COMP VOLUME MODULATION DELAY REVERB

Setting your Tone to Tempo

Mod Speed or Delay Time can optionally be set using note values and tempo:

1. Select the Delay TIME or Mod SPEED by pressing the button below it.
2. Spin EFFECT TWEAK counter-clockwise until you start seeing little notes in the
place where milliseconds or Hertz used to be. Pick the note value you’d like your
TIME or SPEED to match.

3. Tap twice on the TAP button to set your tempo, and your Delay and/or Mod now
match the tempo you tapped.
When you set your Delay time to match dotted-eighth notes, for instance, the TIME
control will look like this:
Creating & Storing Sounds • Inside the Edit Menu

Reverb Settings
Our next stop on our little trip through the EDIT wonderland are the Reverb pages. To
get to the first Reverb page, turn the Select knob one click clockwise from DELAY’s last
EDIT page:

4•8 Here you’ve got a couple of pages that let you pick a reverb model (POD XT Live’s got
plenty of them), and get it dialed in just the way you like it.

Wah and Volume Settings

From the last Reverb edit page, spin the SELECT knob one click clockwise and you’ll
find the wah and volume pedal parameters. The display now looks something like this:

Let’s check out the wah first. You can save the on/off state of the wah with a Channel
Memory. That way when you recall that channel, the wah comes on automatically. In
fact, you can even save the position you want the wah to be set at when it comes on —
by pressing the button below POSI and twiddling that EFFECT TWEAK knob.

Moving on to the right side of the wah/volume page.... Here you can choose the
position of the volume pedal in your signal flow: PRE (before the amp model), or POST.
The MIN setting determines how much volume you’ll hear when the volume pedal is at
its minimum (heel down) setting. Set it to 0% to have silence in the heel down
position.
 Creating & Storing Sounds • Inside the Edit Menu

Assigning the Pedal and Tweak Knob and Dialing in Tempo

Light up the Edit button and spin the Select knob clockwise to the last page and you’ll
get this page:

Press the Soft Button 18 under ASSIGN, and you can pick what will be controlled by 4•9
the built-in pedal as well as the optional Pedal 2. Here are your choices:

Setting Internal Pedal Pedal 2

1-W/V
Wah/Volume Tweak
2-TWEAK
1-TWEAK
Tweak Volume
2-VOL
1-W/OFF
Wah/Off Volume
2-VOL

Press the Soft Button under TWEAK, and you can choose which parameter the EFFECT
TWEAK knob (and any pedal assigned to Tweak) will adjust when you are not in the
EDIT pages.

The right side of this display shows you the tempo for this Channel Memory. This
tempo is used to calculate the time/speed of any delay and modulation effects that you
set to follow tempo. You set the tempo by tapping the TAP button a couple of times. Or
you can press the button beneath TEMPO and spin the EFFECT TWEAK knob until you
get exactly the tempo that will make your heart beat with passion and joy!
 Creating & Storing Sounds • Inside the Edit Menu

Variax
The Variax line of guitars is unique, thanks to Line 6 modeling technology that gives
you a whole collection of guitars in one single instrument. (You can learn more about
them at the Line 6 web site.) Connect one to your PODXT Live as described on
page 3•2, and you can take charge of your entire guitar-amp-effects sound with your
feet.

The lasst Edit page gives you the ability to decide, for each Channel Memory, how the
Variax will respond when you select the channel on the PODXT Live. Light up the
4 • 10 EDIT button and spin the EFFECT TWEAK until you get to this last page:

Press the Soft Button 18 under MODEL, and you can choose DON’T CHANGE
(PODXT Live will not force Variax to change sounds when this PODXT Live channel is
selected) or any of the available models in the Variax — in which case POD XT Live
will force the Variax to this model when you load up this POD XT Live channel,
allowing you to change your entire guitar-amp-effects sound with via footswitch!

The other Soft Buttons give you access to the other settings that your Variax lets you
save with your PODXT Live Channel Memory to give you a dialed-in guitar sound
when you select this PODXT Live channel.

If you select Variax Models by pressing the left Soft Button here and twiddling the
EFFECT TWEAK knob, you’ll see that in addition to the Variax’s Custom models, there
are versions of the rest of the Models whose names are preceeded by “F-” and a set
preceeded by “U-”. The “U-” Models are the same ones that you get when you operate
the Variax’s own hardware controls for Model selection. These are the same Models
that you can customize using the Variax Workbench hardware/software package
(details at the Line 6 website). The “F-” Models are a “Factory” copy of these same
models that are never edited. The reason they’re there is so that POD XT Live sound
programmers can always have a known set of Models available in a connected Variax
— even one that’s been fully customized with Variax Workbench. All Line 6 provided
sounds will be programmed to use these Factory versions of your Variax Models. You
should also restrict yourself to these Models if you want to be able to share your POD XT
 Creating & Storing Sounds • Inside the Edit Menu

Live + Variax settings with other Variax owners, and get predictable results even if
they’ve customized their Variax. If you’d prefer to use some other Model instead, you
can choose a new one from your Variax while you’re on this Edit page, and you’ll see
that PODXT Live updates to show this Model’s name. If you then save that POD XT
Live channel, it will select that Variax Model for you each time.

One other detail: each PODXT Live channel actually stores a separate set of parameters
for different types of Variax guitars. This way, a programmed sound can be ready to call
up one Model on one type of Variax, while selecting a different Model (or none at all)
if a different type of Variax happens to be connected. For instance, a classic rock lead 4 • 11
sound might be set to pull up a LESTER Model on a Variax electric, while leaving the
Model selection of a Variax Acoustic alone. We did it this way so that Line 6
programmed preset sounds for PODXT Live would be able to “do the right thing”
regardless of which kind of Variax might be connected. As of this writing, there are two
families of Variax available: the Variax 500/700 electric family (all guitars in this family
use the same Model set), and the Variax Acoustic.
 Creating & Storing Sounds • Saving Yourself

Saving Yourself
PODXT Live lets you save as many as 128 tones that you create as described earlier in
this chapter. And even though we ship it to you chock full of some of our favorites, go
ahead and save over whatever you want. We recommend spending some time with
each of the factory sounds so you’ll know which you want to keep, and which you’ll
want to save over. And don’t worry, because we’ll soon show you how to recall that
favorite factory sound you just saved over and simply have to get back. You can also
visit www.customtone.com to check out the vast online library of tones, surf
4 • 12 around, pull a few down, and even add your own masterpieces to the lot.

Saving a Channel Memory

One of the simplest things to do with PODXT Live is call up a Channel Memory, make
a few tweaks, and save that Channel without changing its name. To simply save a
Channel you’ve changed, press SAVE, then SAVE again. That’s it.

Of course, you might want to stick your sound somewhere else, or at least change the
name so you know which one it is. PODXT Live lets you do that just as easily.

To save your edit to a new location - Make your edits, then press SAVE. This
calls up a screen that looks something like this:

Now, press the button under the display that reads DEST (short for destination) and
then use the EFFECT TWEAK knob to pick a different Channel Memory. Pressing
SAVE again will confirm your decision, and save your sound to that Channel
Memory, replacing what was there before.

Give your tone a name - Make your edits, then press SAVE. Again, you’ll see a
display like the one above. Now, use the CURSOR < and > buttons to move the cursor
under the letters you want to change. Press the button under CHAR (short for
character) and then use EFFECT TWEAK to change the selected character. When
you’re done, press SAVE again to complete the job. See, that wasn’t so bad.
 Creating & Storing Sounds • Saving Yourself

Custom Saving Amp Models

Using this powerful feature, you can pack your PODXT Live with all the special
amp-tweaking genius that only you possess. This brilliance will then be available
instantly whenever you select a new Amp Model, loading your customized settings
of the amp controls, including your chosen Cab Model, Mic selection, EQ settting
and your personal tweak of the ‘room.’ This way, when you load the Plexi-45
model, you’ll get your personal Plexi-45, with all the controls set for your very own
version. Here’s how it works:

Choose an Amp Model, change the cab, tweak the room, and even use a different 4 • 13
microphone. Press the SAVE button, then turn the SELECT knob one click to the
right. The display will looks like this:

You have entered the land of Custom Save. Now, if you want your current settings
to be recalled with this Amp Model, simply press SAVE again.

PODXT Live saves the following controls with an Amp Model, and loads them when
you turn the AMP MODELS knob:

Controls you can customize

Amp Model
Cabinet Model
Microphone Model and Room amount
Drive, Bass, Middle, Treble and Presence controls
Channel Volume
EQ settings
 Creating & Storing Sounds • Saving Yourself

MIDI Dumps
If you want to transfer one or more tones directly from one POD XT Live to
another PODXT Live, or between PODXT Live and a MIDI data recorder,
workstation, computer or sequencer, read on. For communication to MIDI
hardware, you’ll need to use a standard MIDI cable to connect the MIDI Out of
your PODXT Live to the MIDI In of the receiving device. If you’re exchanging
MIDI with a computer, you also have the option of installing the POD XT Family
USB Driver software (a free download from www.line6.com) and have your
PODXT Live exchange MIDI messages with your computer over a USB cable.
4 • 14 You can then transfer:
• All Channels
• The Current Channel
• The Effect Setups
• The Amp Setups (including your customizations)

Transferring All Channel Memories - This feature will let you send all of your
PODXT Live’s Channel Memories out via MIDI for a complete back-up of the 128
Channel Memories:
Press SAVE once, and use the SELECT knob to scroll down to this page:

Press the button under SELECT. Turn the EFFECT TWEAK knob to the left
(counterclockwise) until the display reads:

Now, if you press SAVE again, the entire set of 128 Channel Memories of your
PODXT Live will be dumped out of its MIDI jack. If another PODXT Live is
connected, its brain will be taken over by this data, making it a virtual clone of your
own PODXT Live channels! Who knew cloning was so easy?
 Creating & Storing Sounds • Saving Yourself

Transferring Only Some Channels - To transfer only one or more individual

Channel Memories, Effects Setups or Amp Models from one POD XT Live to
another, do this:
Press SAVE once, and turn the SELECT knob to show the page that looks like this:

4 • 15
Turn the EFFECT TWEAK knob to tell PODXT Live what to transfer:

Any Channel Memory:

All Channel Memories:

All Amp Models:

All Effects Setups:

Now, if you press SAVE again, the MIDI dump you’ve selected will be transmitted out
the MIDI jack, into the brain of a receiving PODXT Live, or into your computer or
other MIDI device for backup.
 Modeled Amps & Cabs • Which Amps and Cabs Are Modeled?

MODELED AMPS & CABS

There are 36 Amp Models living within a PODXT, PODXT Pro or PODXT Live, plus 24
Cabinet Model selections. When you turn the EFFECT TWEAK knob with on the Amp
knob edit page (page 4•2), you select an Amp/Cab combination. You can then mix’n’
match different cabs with the amp (page 4•3). Chapter 4 also tells you how you can
customize PODXT Live to call up your favorite Amp/Cab combinations (page 4•13).
Want to know more about these Amp Models of the PODXT world? Here ya go...

5•1

Which Amps and Cabs Are Modeled?

General Notes About the Models

As you may have guessed, we’re tone fanatics here at Line 6. Once we’ve set our sights
on creating a software emulation of a particular kind of amp, we will scour the globe in
search of just the right specimen—that one, very particular amplifier that has the
magic. We are also intensely mindful of the fact that, although amp model names may
stay the same over the years, the circuit designs sometimes change radically. Amps from
’57, ’62, ’65, ’67, ’75, and 2001 may all bear the same model name, yet sometimes have
totally different sound and response, and quite often a different look as well. And as we
all know, even two amps with the same circuit design, from the same era, can sound
radically different, just on the basis of variance in component tolerances, among other
things. Plus, there’s the fact that every amp has its own special way of settling in over
the years. And, just like people, some of them only get better with age. That’s exactly
why we went to so much trouble to find the very best examples we could of every amp
that we wanted to model for out PODXT family of products. And it’s why, when
describing the software amp models that are emulations of other amplifiers, we’ve
included photos here of the actual, individual amps that we lovingly selected, studied
and measured — so that you’ll know exactly which amp we’re talking about.

So, now that you know what’s in store, let’s take a tour of the amp models that live
inside all PODXT’s, and the original equipment that helped to make them possible.
 Modeled Amps & Cabs • Which Amps and Cabs Are Modeled?

Line 6’s Originals

We’ll start the introductions with the original Amp Models that Line 6 created to give
you even more tonal options than you could get from vintage gear alone:

Line 6 Clean
To create this Amp Model, we essentially grafted the preamp and tone stack of a JC-
120 (Roland’s popular “Jazz Chorus” solid state combo) onto the poweramp and
transformer of a classic Marshall JTM-45 tube head, thereby giving you the crisp and
clear front end typical of a solid state amp, but with a rich, satisfying tube amp-style
bite as you turn it up.
5•2
Line 6 JTS-45
Since the design of early Marshalls was based on the Fender Tweed Bassman circuitry,
we wondered what it would be like if we took the preamp and tone stack of our JTM 45
and ran it into the poweramp and transformer of our ‘58 Tweed Bassman. What we got
was way happening, as JTS-45 will attest. Great grind and nice punch. A tone the
whole family can enjoy.

Line 6 Class A
One of the most satisfying tonal experiences as a guitarist is to play through an amp
that’s driven to the point where the poweramp is just starting to distort, but before
it achieves full clipping. For many players, this is the coveted ‘sweet spot’ they look
for on an amp. Because we’re not limited to physical reality when we’re creating
amps in the digital world, our goal for this one was to make an amp model that was
nothing but sweet spot. One of the great side effects is the ease of coaxing feedback
out of this one.

Line 6 Mood
And here we give you a fantasia tone, based on our memories of grunge guitar tones we
have known and loved.

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way
associated or affiliated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images
are provided for the sole purpose of identifying the specific products that were
studied during Line 6’s sound model development.
 Modeled Amps & Cabs • Which Amps and Cabs Are Modeled?

Line 6 Spinal Puppet

You know how, when you’re playing head-bangin’ music, you look out into the
audience and see all those heads bobbing up and down? Those are Spinal Puppets.
Need we say more?

Line 6 Chemical X
Just like those secret ingredients that detergent companies used to crow about
(Now with Ingredient X-27!), the Line 6 sound design guys wouldn’t tell us
anything about the inspiration for this one or who it might have belonged to (no
matter what type of bribery we attempted). Suffice to say that it’s a very punchy hi-
gain sound that also cleans up quite nicely when you roll your volume back.

Line 6 Insane 5•3

Our goal here was to provide you with as much input gain distortion as possible
short of complete meltdown. You get ridiculous, rich tube drive to shame the
distortion of pretty much any amp on the planet (sort of like a Dual Rectifier on 10
being used as a preamp for a Soldano), while still retaining tonal definition and
character. As a result, you’ll enjoy lots of bottom end and cabinet character with
tons of wide-ranging tone shaping. Crank up the Drive and take no prisoners!

Line 6 Piezacoustic 2
This one is designed to work with the piezo output of solidbody electrics that have one
of those newfangled bridges with the ‘acoustic’ pickup built in. Since you don’t have to
worry about the body shaking itself to pieces with feedback on that type of guitar, we’ve
cooked up this model with more low-mids and low frequencies.

Line 6 Agro
An aggressive high gain amp with a unique Mid control that will take you though the
entire gamut of tone on one knob. How did we do it? The mid knob for this model
changes the character of the distortion. When set to minimum the distortion exhibits
Fuzz pedal characteristics. When the Mid is set to noon it creates creamy modern high
gain amp tones a la Soldano. And when the Mid knob is turned up to Max it’s very
much reminiscent of that Class A Vox sound. Of course, then there are all the places in
between...

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way
associated or affiliated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images
are provided for the sole purpose of identifying the specific products that were
studied during Line 6’s sound model development.
 Modeled Amps & Cabs • Which Amps and Cabs Are Modeled?

Line 6 Lunatic
High gain with lots of high mids and no mud. Great for layering with other amps to cut
through on the high end. A wide range of top is available with the Treble and Presence
controls (maybe to the edge of lunacy).

Line 6 Treadplate
The original POD and POD 2.0 had a popular amp model that was our best attempt at
the time to pay homage to the Mesa Boogie Rectifier series of amplifiers. In addition to
the Boogie vibe, that model had some unique qualities that were all its own, and people
it liked so much, they asked us to let them get that same sound with the newest
generation PODXT. So here it is. In a way, Treadplate marks the first time we’ve
5•4 actually modeled another Line 6 product! Here is an excerpt from the old POD manual
to describe it: “...modeled after a 1994 Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier Tremoverb. You can use
this Amp Model to get that tight, high gain sound used by bands like Dream Theater or
Metallica.”

Line 6 Variax Acoustic

One of the great features of the Variax Digital Modeling Guitars from Line 6 are
their models of acoustic instruments. These sounds are best appreciated through a
full range monitor or P.A., due to their high frequency content. This Amp Model
was created in order to allow the Variax’s acoustic models to sound as full-range as
possible through the speakers of typical guitar amps. This can come in handy when
you’re using an acoustic model from a Variax, and listening to it through a guitar
amp’s speakers. Keep in mind that since this model provides a large amount of high
frequency boost (to compensate for the natural roll-off of typical guitar speakers)
and overdriving a model playing an acoustic guitar is not usually a desired thing,
this model will likely appear softer than most of its compatriots. If you need more
gain, the Drive knob can be used to add some tube preamplification.

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way
associated or affiliated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images
are provided for the sole purpose of identifying the specific products that were
studied during Line 6’s sound model development.
 Modeled Amps & Cabs • Zen Master

Zen Master

5•5

This model is based on a Budda Twinmaster 2x12 combo. The Budda has a great, warm,
Class A/B, sound. The Budda philosophy is all about power tube distortion. Simplicity
is the key. With relatively low front end gain, highly interactive tone controls, and
tube rectifier “sag,” it’s great at getting a classic cranked sound for small gigs and
recording (it’s all of 18 watts). Since the original Twinmaster has no mid control, we’ve
added a little bonus to our model in the form of some post-Amp Model mid contouring
available via a PODXT’s MIDDLE control. As is true for all such “bonus” tone controls
on PODXT’s models, you should set this control to 12 o’clock to get groovy with the
unadorned Budda-style vibe.

We used the Twinmaster’s Input 2, which is lower gain, when creating this model.

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way
associated or affiliated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images
are provided for the sole purpose of identifying the specific products that were
studied during Line 6’s sound model development.
 Modeled Amps & Cabs • Small Tweed

Small Tweed

5•6

Modeled after a 1953 “wide panel” Fender Tweed Deluxe, this Amp Model will snarl
with the best of them. The original amp had only a single tone control, essentially a
treble roll off. We set up the TREBLE knob to give you this treble roll off when using
this Amp Model. Which left us with the BASS and MIDDLE knobs just sitting there, so
we set up the BASS and MIDDLE as post-Amp Model controls, which essentially lets
you EQ up your tone as you would do on a mixing console after recording your amp. Set
the BASS and MIDDLE knobs at halfway to put them in ‘neutral’, turn the PRESENCE
to 0, and try the TREBLE knob somewhere above halfway for a classic Tweed sound.

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way
associated or affiliated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images
are provided for the sole purpose of identifying the specific products that were
studied during Line 6’s sound model development.
 Modeled Amps & Cabs • Tweed B-Man

Tweed B-Man

5•7

The classic ’58 Fender Bassman 4x10 combo was the amp that started it all—instant
rock and roll tone. Originally a bass guitar amp, the Bassman became a Blues staple for
6-string guitarists. It has the fat bottom end you’d expect from a bass amp, but also has
the Fender twang on the top. Incidentally, when Jim Marshall built his first amps with
Ken Bran they were heavily influenced by the early Bassman. One of the interesting
things about the Bassman is just how interactive the MIDDLE and TREBLE controls are.
The MIDDLE control isn’t a bandpass, as in most tone control setups. Instead, it’s
almost like a second treble control. The two are additive, so if you’re running POD XT’s
MIDDLE knob higher than halfway up with this model, you’ll find that the TREBLE
control might give you more bright than you really want. On the other hand, when you
turn the MIDDLE knob down, you’ll probably want to boost the TREBLE. The Bassman,
like many of the amps modeled for PODXT, didn’t have a master volume. So to get the
kind of tone that the Bassman can deliver at higher gain settings, you had to crank it up
loud enough to do some serious damage to anyone who might be standing close by.
With PODXT, you can get that kind of tone at a bedroom or studio level — or even
through your headphones! Try a Drive setting of about 4 or 5—it’s guaranteed to
dredge up the best R&B licks you know.

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way
associated or affiliated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images
are provided for the sole purpose of identifying the specific products that were
studied during Line 6’s sound model development.
 Modeled Amps & Cabs • Tiny Tweed

Tiny Tweed

5•8

Modeled after a 1961 Tweed Champ, this model has a great sound when the Drive is
cranked (not bad clean, either). These amps were originally designed to be sold to
beginners, but rock and rollers quickly discovered that you could get a great distorted
sound at fairly low volume levels. Many of the classic guitar solos of the 50’s were
recorded through a Champ. The Champ had no tone control, only volume. With your
PODXT, it’s easy to get a classic Champ tone. Just leave the BASS, MIDDLE and
TREBLE controls parked at 12 o’clock, which means they are “flat,” making no
contribution to the tone. Set PRESENCE to 0, and it will also be letting the unadorned
classic Champ tone through. When you’re ready to explore further sonic territory, spin
those and work your magic.

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way
associated or affiliated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images
are provided for the sole purpose of identifying the specific products that were
studied during Line 6’s sound model development.
 Modeled Amps & Cabs • Blackface Lux

Blackface Lux

5•9

The Holy Grail for many blues, country, and “roots” players has been a blackface
Fender Deluxe Reverb. After listening to quite a few candidates back when we were
seeking the ultimate Deluxe Reverb to model during our development of Flextone and
POD, we stumbled upon an extremely cool ’64 Deluxe. We still haven’t found one
better.

Most players love a Deluxe when it’s turned up to about 7 for a nice gritty sound that
cleans up when you back off your guitar’s volume knob just a little. Notice how the
tone control response changes as this Amp Model’s Drive is changed: clean settings are
crisp and present, while more driven settings will mellow the high end. This is typical
of what you get from a Deluxe and is nicely captured here. The Deluxe itself has only
BASS and TREBLE controls, leaving us, once again, with the prospect of a couple knobs
with nothing to say for themselves. But fear not; in this case, we’ve set up POD XT’s
MIDDLE knob so you can add some post-Amp Model Midrange contouring for a little
more flexibility, while PRESENCE adds, well, Presence. Once again, set the MIDDLE
knob to its “neutral” 12 o’clock position and the PRESENCE knob to 0 for the classic
Deluxe sound. Tweaked up right, this tone will cut through and sing. We jacked into
Input 1 of the Vibrato Channel to get this model cooked up for POD XT.

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way
associated or affiliated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images
are provided for the sole purpose of identifying the specific products that were
studied during Line 6’s sound model development.
 Modeled Amps & Cabs • Double Verb

Double Verb

5 • 10

The classic blackface Fender Twin (in this case, a 1965 Twin) was a real workhorse.
Everybody used it, from jazz and country players to serious rockers. I myself remember
seeing Johnny Winter at a concert where both he and Rick Derringer—am I dating
myself or what?—were using six Twins stacked in a pyramid. Each. We were in the
second balcony and it was REALLY loud even all the way back there. The Twin has a
lot of tonal flexibility and is at home in a great many different situations. It never gets
extremely overdriven and dirty, mostly just louder—a lot louder. This is the amp for the
classic surf sound. Dial up the spring reverb, switch on the tremolo, crank up the
volume, and look out for bikinis.

Like most everyone who owns one, we plugged into Input 1 of the Normal Channel for
modeling purposes.

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way
associated or affiliated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images
are provided for the sole purpose of identifying the specific products that were
studied during Line 6’s sound model development.
 Modeled Amps & Cabs • Two-Tone

Two-Tone

5 • 11

Another amp made by Valco/Supro, this is the Gretsch 6156. One of its curiosities is
that the output transformer is actually mounted on its single 10-inch speaker, rather
than on the amp chassis. It also has a lovely wraparound grill cloth, for a real futuristic
look (or what passed for it in the ’50s).

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way
associated or affiliated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images
are provided for the sole purpose of identifying the specific products that were
studied during Line 6’s sound model development.
 Modeled Amps & Cabs • Hiway 100

Hiway 100

5 • 12

Based on a Hiwatt DR-103, this model gives a great, punchy sound that will cut
through almost anything and retains great definition even when cranked. That’s
exactly what designer Dave Reeves was looking for when he left the Sound City
division of Dallas Arbiter in 1966 to form HyLight Electronics. Though his first designs
were more reminiscent of the Vox and Selmer amps of the day, it wasn’t long before
Reeves had started producing the amps that ’60s Brit-Rock fans have become familiar
with. Renowned for their ‘tank-like’ construction (due in part to Reeves’ hiring of ‘mil-
spec’ wiring specialist Harry Joyce), it was no small wonder this amp was the choice of
Pete Townshend for so many years. It wasn’t just Townshend using Hiwatt, either.
Many of the then-current crop of British rockers like Pink Floyd, The Moody Blues,
Manfred Mann, and Jethro Tull were also Hiwatt endorsees. Crank this one up and you
can see for miles.

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way
associated or affiliated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images
are provided for the sole purpose of identifying the specific products that were
studied during Line 6’s sound model development.
 Modeled Amps & Cabs • Plexi 45

Plexi 45

5 • 13

This Amp Model is based on a ’65 ‘block logo’ (predates the “scrolled” Marshall logo)
JTM-45 head, complete with a gold Plexiglas front panel. When the royal agents we
had dispatched to the U.K. found this particular amp, we instantly fell in love. The
amp even has the original KT-66s in it, still in great shape! It’s one of the finest
examples of a JTM-45 we’ve ever heard, and it’s a constant battle at Line 6 to see who
gets to take it home for the weekend.

Those interested in the genealogy of tone will be interested to note that the JTM-45
marked the beginning of Marshall’s transition from a mellower Fender-like tone to the
distinctive, bright “crunchy” sound of the later Marshalls.

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way
associated or affiliated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images
are provided for the sole purpose of identifying the specific products that were
studied during Line 6’s sound model development.
 Modeled Amps & Cabs • Plexi Lead 100

Plexi Lead 100

5 • 14

Modeled after the infamous ‘68 Marshall ‘Plexi’ Super Lead—coveted by tone
connoisseurs the world over. We literally scoured the world for this particular amp,
finally finding a great example of a Super Lead languishing (we like to think fate
preserved it for us) in Holland. By the time this amp was built (ca. 1968), Marshall had
completely changed the circuitry away from the Fender 6L6 power tube heritage and
moved to an EL34 tube. Another major tone difference was due to the necessary output
& power supply transformer changes. All this mucking about added up to create a tone
forever linked with Rock Guitar. Amps of this era didn’t have any sort of master
volume control, so to get the sound you’d have to crank your Super Lead to max—just
the thing to help you really make friends with the neighbors. Hendrix used Marshalls of
this era; a decade later Van Halen’s first two records owed their “brown sound” to a
100-watt Plexi (Our Super Lead, in fact, has the ‘lay down’ transformer that was unique
to ’68 models, the same as Hendrix and Van Halen’s Marshalls.). To get a crunch sound
out of a Plexi, you would likely crank the input volume and tone controls (to 10!).
You’ll find that, in keeping with our “make-it-sound-a-whole-lot-like-the-original”
concept, PODXT’s model is set up to do pretty darned near the same thing.

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way
associated or affiliated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images
are provided for the sole purpose of identifying the specific products that were
studied during Line 6’s sound model development.
 Modeled Amps & Cabs • Plexi Jump Lead

Plexi Jump Lead

5 • 15
Guitar playing is all about experimentation, isn’t it? That, and finding all the possible
ways to get more distortion out of whatever gear you have at hand.

One of the fun things you can do with a Plexi is take a short guitar cable and jumper
channel I and channel II (as they’re frequently numbered) together for a little extra
saturation. Some guys loved this sound so much that they pulled the chassis and
permanently wired a jumper into the amp.

Being the obsessive/compulsive tone freaks we are, we just had to give you a model
of this setup, too.

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way
associated or affiliated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images
are provided for the sole purpose of identifying the specific products that were
studied during Line 6’s sound model development.
 Modeled Amps & Cabs • Plexi Variac

Plexi Variac

5 • 16

Ahhh, the stuff of legend. According to the stories, part of the magic behind Edward
Van Halen’s ‘Brown Sound’ was a Marshall 100 watt Super Lead being purposely run at
higher voltage through the auspices of a Variable AC Transformer (aka a ‘Variac’).

While we don’t generally recommend experiments with high voltage sources, especially
ones that might blow up precious gear, we felt it was our duty to see if the stories were
true. So we cranked the Variac up to 140v AC and gave the ’68 Super Lead a power
workout. (Don’t worry, it survived to rock again.) We’re thinking those stories must
not be too far from wrong.

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way
associated or affiliated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images
are provided for the sole purpose of identifying the specific products that were
studied during Line 6’s sound model development.
 Modeled Amps & Cabs • Brit J-800

Brit J-800

5 • 17

Turn to this Amp Model to conjure up tones of the coveted JCM 800, one of Marshall’s
most universally-acclaimed modern amps. This updated version of the Plexi continued
Marshall’s heritage with added gain and edge for a new generation of rock guitarists.
One of the biggest differences here is that the tone controls are located after the
preamp tubes.

Incidentally, some versions of JCM 800’s get their distortion by clipping a diode. The
amp we modeled uses a tube for distortion.

The JCM 800 is, of course, the metal sound Marshall made famous. And although not
many people play Marshalls clean, it is a great tone, so you should also be sure to check
out this model with a low Drive setting. Of course, you can always pump up the drive
and rage...

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way
associated or affiliated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images
are provided for the sole purpose of identifying the specific products that were
studied during Line 6’s sound model development.
 Modeled Amps & Cabs • Brit JM Pre

Brit JM Pre

Marshall’s entry into the rackmount preamp world, the JMP-1, has been a favorite of
5 • 18 ‘big-hair’ metal guitarists as well as many others looking for a tight, highly saturated
tone without the compression of poweramp ‘sag.’ It was also one of the first MIDI-
controllable preamps.

The overdrive flavor of the JMP is somewhat “Boogie-esque” and many people saw the
JMP as Marshall’s answer to the ADA MP-1 and Mesa Boogie preamps. First
introduced in the early nineties, the JMP has enjoyed a recent surge of popularity with
new metal bands looking for a really tight, aggressive, well focused tone without being
overly scooped. Your seven string is gonna love our model developed from our careful
study of the JMP-1.

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way
associated or affiliated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images
are provided for the sole purpose of identifying the specific products that were
studied during Line 6’s sound model development.
 Modeled Amps & Cabs • Match Chief

Match Chief

5 • 19

We crafted this model from our studies of the Matchless Chieftain. The Matchless has
an EL34-powered “modern class A” design — hence this model’s name — and a
unique tone (largely due to the complicated EQ scheme).

The Chieftain was designed by Mark Sampson at Matchless to blend a Fender/Marshall

type front end with a classic ‘spongy’ and very reactive Class A power section.

With higher gain than the DC-30 (which is next in our hit parade), the Chieftain is a
great roots-music amp. It also features the incredibly sexy feature of a light up front logo
name plate, which may not affect tone, but it sure does look cool.

When, sad to say, Matchless went out of business, both the Chieftain and the DC-30
became highly collectable pieces of gear, with used ones often fetching up to a
thousand dollars more than their original price. We’re happy to do our part to keep the
Matchless legacy alive with the Matchless models in your POD XT.

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way
associated or affiliated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images
are provided for the sole purpose of identifying the specific products that were
studied during Line 6’s sound model development.
 Modeled Amps & Cabs • Match D-30

Match D-30

5 • 20

This model is based on a Matchless DC-30.

The DC-30 was the amp that really put Matchless on the map. Mark Sampson, the
amp’s designer, who was generous enough to tell us the story of this amp’s creation, set
out to create a road-worthy Class A amp that could cover a wide range of tones.

Built like a tank (and weighing nearly as much), the DC-30 paid tribute to early Vox
amps. So if you like a Vox AC-30 (or POD XT’s model based on one), you’ll also want to
check out PODXT’s model of the DC-30.

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way
associated or affiliated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images
are provided for the sole purpose of identifying the specific products that were
studied during Line 6’s sound model development.
 Modeled Amps & Cabs • Treadplate Dual

Treadplate Dual

5 • 21

This Amp Model is based on a 2001 3-Channel Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier Solo Head.

The Dual Rectifier was part of Boogie’s more modern, high gain approach for that “big
hair” sound. In contrast to the earlier Boogies, the Dual Rectifier’s tone controls have
more influence at high gain settings, so you can scoop the mids and increase the bottom
end.

We used Channel 3 on the Modern setting for this one with the rear switches set to
Bold and Tube Rectifier, respectively.

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way
associated or affiliated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images
are provided for the sole purpose of identifying the specific products that were
studied during Line 6’s sound model development.
 Modeled Amps & Cabs • Cali Crunch

Cali Crunch

5 • 22

We modeled this from our studies of a Mesa Boogie Mark IIc+.

Mesa Engineering started out with Randall Smith souping up old Fender Princeton
amps for SF Bay area musicians. Over the years, the amps evolved, adding effects loops,
switchable channels, and Randall’s Simul-Class design, in which one pair of output
tubes is run Class AB and the second pair run Class A. Boogies were really the first
modern guitar amplifiers and were quickly adopted by many players looking for more
‘oomph’ in a smaller package.We used the Drive channel to do our modeling.

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way
associated or affiliated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images
are provided for the sole purpose of identifying the specific products that were
studied during Line 6’s sound model development.
 Modeled Amps & Cabs • Jazz Clean

Jazz Clean

5 • 23

This Amp Model is modeled after the classic Roland JC-120.

This transistor amp was known for a strident clean sound and built-in stereo chorus.
When using the JC-120 model, try cranking up the TREBLE for a shimmering clean
sound that’ll cut through just about any mix. It’s also perfect for that 80’s “new wave”
sound (after all, it was Andy Summers’ favorite amp with The Police).

You should also try setting all the tone controls at 12 o’clock for a darker jazz tone. It’ll
give you an essentially flat response, providing a balanced tone across the fret board for
jazz chord melodies or single-line phrasing.

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way
associated or affiliated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images
are provided for the sole purpose of identifying the specific products that were
studied during Line 6’s sound model development.
 Modeled Amps & Cabs • Solo 100

Solo 100

5 • 24

This model is based on a Soldano SLO-100 head.

Mike Soldano first came to fame as the guy who could do all the really cool mods to
your Marshall. It wasn’t long before he started building his own ‘hot-rod’ amps—
sporting chromed transformers and chassis, no less. Mike’s amps are also famous for
their bullet-proof construction and military spec wiring and components.

While primarily known for its high gain personality, the SLO-100 has a great clean
tone as well. Eric Clapton put Soldano on the map when he played “Saturday Night
Live” with his Soldano SLO-100.

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way
associated or affiliated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images
are provided for the sole purpose of identifying the specific products that were
studied during Line 6’s sound model development.
 Modeled Amps & Cabs • Super O

Super O

5 • 25

Yet more of the stuff of legend. Jimmy Page has admitted to using his ’58 Tele and a
Supro amp to record most of the first two Led Zeppelin albums. The only problem is,
he’s never really copped to which Supro model he used, since his simply saying the word
‘Supro’ caused a run on pawnshops and music stores everywhere, making it virtually
impossible to find another one of whichever model it was that he used.

We went so far as to impose on our friendship with people we know who were actually
present during the recording of “Led Zeppelin II” to see if they remembered anything
about that particular amp. They didn’t recall the specific model number, only that it
was “a grey and silver tiny little bastard.” Other sources have claimed that it was the
1x12-inch version. So, until Pagey speaks, the mystery remains, but, whatever the truth
of those Zep sessions may be, we’re confident that this Supro S6616 model can be a fine
entrance ticket to the Houses of the Holy.

By the way, that’s a 6x9-inch speaker in this amp, just like in your car stereo. Go figure.

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way
associated or affiliated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images
are provided for the sole purpose of identifying the specific products that were
studied during Line 6’s sound model development.
 Modeled Amps & Cabs • Class A-15

Class A-15

5 • 26

Here’s another Vox-inspired Amp Model. This model is based on Channel 1 of a

wonderful 1960 AC 15. The sound is similar to the more famous Vox AC 30, but this is
a smaller amp (one, instead of two, 12-inch speakers) with a warmer, more “woody”
sound.

Once again, the original amp had only a single tone control—a treble cut. We
faithfully modeled that and then slipped in some post-Amp Model Bass and Mid
contouring. Set the BASS and MIDDLE in neutral (12 o’clock, or halfway up),
PRESENCE to 0, and play with the TREBLE control to get yourself some of those classic
British invasion sounds.

To model this, we plugged into Input 2, which is slightly darker than Input 1, and gives
you more of that classic warm sound that the AC 15 is famous for.

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way
associated or affiliated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images
are provided for the sole purpose of identifying the specific products that were
studied during Line 6’s sound model development.
 Modeled Amps & Cabs • Class A-30 TB

Class A-30 TB

5 • 27

Music was changing in the early ’60s and guitarists were asking for more brilliance &
twang. So the Jennings Company, makers of Vox amps, decided to add Treble and Bass
controls (and an extra 12AX7 gain stage, incidentally) in addition to the Treble Cut
knob it already had (which in actuality was a sliding bandpass filter that always seemed
like it was working backwards); this additional circuit became known as Top Boost.

The AC 30 with Top Boost was the amp made famous by many British invasion bands.
Much of the unique character of the Vox sound can be attributed to the fact that Class
A amps overdrive in a very different way than Class AB. Brian May of Queen, Mike
Campbell of Tom Petty’s Heartbreakers, and The Edge of U2 have all used classic AC
30s to make their music. Although usually played fairly clean, a cranked AC 30 has a
great saturated lead tone, a la Brian May on the early Queen albums.

On this Amp Model, PODXT’s MIDDLE control acts like the original Cut knob on the
AC 30.

For this model, we used the Hi gain input of the Brilliant channel. We also turned the
tone controls around, since original Top Boost amps had the bass and treble turned all
the way down when the knob was all the way up. Go figure.

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way
associated or affiliated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images
are provided for the sole purpose of identifying the specific products that were
studied during Line 6’s sound model development.
 Modeled Amps & Cabs • Class A-30 TB

Tube Preamp
Not even close to being a guitar amp, but once we got started, we just couldn’t stop
ourselves. The thinking went like this: ‘Once people get this POD XT, they’re gonna
wish they could use it for everything — warming up keyboards, crunching up drums,
fuzzing up vocals. We’ve gotta give ’em something to do that!’ So we did. The Tube
Preamp Model lets you warm up any sound source the way producers and engineers
often do in the studio with vintage tube gear. For more “edge” on vocals, try running
your vocal tracks through PODXT. Or punch up (or munch up) a synth bass track by
sending it through PODXT and cranking up the Drive and EQ controls to suit your
taste. Although this is not actually a guitar amp model, you can even get some great
guitar tones out of it. Also try using it as a direct box for bass. When you do this stuff,
you want to use the Drive control like a mix knob on a reverb to control how much
5 • 28 processing you want to hear. You generally don’t want to mix the pre-POD XT sound
with the post-PODXT sound because of the comb filtering that results. Instead, jack the
sound source right into PODXT and then only monitor it through PODXT. With the
tone controls at 12 o’clock, the EQ is “flat.”
 Modeled Amps & Cabs • Class A-30 TB

Cabinet Models
The following Cabinet Models are available on PODXT, and are accessed by pressing
the CAB/A.I.R. button, then turning the EFFECT TWEAK knob:

Cabinet Model Based On...

1x6 Super O 6x9 Supro S6616
1x8 Tweed 1961 Fender Tweed Champ
1x10 Gibtone 1x10 Gibson
1x10 G-Brand Gretsch 6156
1x12 Line 6 Line 6 1x12
1x12 Tweed 1953 Fender Tweed Deluxe
1x12 Blackface 1964 Fender Blackface Deluxe
1x12 Class A 1960 Vox AC-15 5 • 29
2x2 Mini T 2x2” Fender Mini Twin
2x12 Line 6 Line 6 2x12
2x12 Blackface 1965 Fender Blackface Twin
2x12 Match 1995 Matchless Chieftain
2x12 Jazz Roland JC-120
2x12 Class A 1967 Vox AC-30
4x10 Line 6 Line 6 4x10
4x10 Tweed 1959 Fender Bassman
4x12 Line 6 Line 6 4x12
4x12 Green 20’s 1967 Marshall Basketweave with Greenbacks
4x12 Green 25’s 1968 Marshall Basketweave with Greenbacks
4x12 Celest T-75 1978 Marshall with stock 70s
4x12 Celest V-30 1996 Marshall with Vintage 30s
4x12 Treadplate 4x12 Mesa Boogie
1x15 Thunder 1x15 Supro '62 Thunderbolt
2x12 Wishbook 2x12 Silvertone '67 Twin Twelve
No Cab You will probably want to use this Cabinet model with the Tube
Preamp model for non-guitar sources. It is selected by default
when you pull up the Tube Preamp Amp Model.

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way
associated or affiliated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images
are provided for the sole purpose of identifying the specific products that were
studied during Line 6’s sound model development.
 Effect Model Details • Comp

EFFECT MODEL DETAILS

This symbol indicates Models from the FX Junkie Pack, included free with POD XT Live.
Visit www.line6.com/modelpacks to learn about other available Model Packs.

What guitarist doesn’t like stomp boxes and effects? PODXT Live’s got a bunch of great
stomp box and effect models adapted from Line 6’s DM4 Distortion Modeler, MM4
Modulation Modeler, and DL4 Delay Modeler pedals, and some brand spankin’ new
models that come straight from our flagship combo, Vetta. You’ll also find the ol’
standby’s like Ping Pong and Stereo Delay, as well as important tone shapers like Comp
and Gate. Who says you can get too much of a good thing? 6•1
In this chapter, we’ll have a look at just which stomp boxes and effects are modeled,
and talk about the special possibilities each one holds. So hold onto your hats and
glasses, and please keep your hands and feet inside the car at all times...

Comp
The Compressor effect available from the COMP button is modeled after the classic,
studio-standard LA-2A tube compressor. It’s just the thing when you want to smooth
out your levels the way that you would typically do in a recording studio. The THRES
(Threshold) knob determines how aggressive you want the Compressor to be in
smoothing things out. More negative numbers make the Compressor more active in
taming your levels, so -32dB is a more aggressive setting than -16dB, say. The
compressor includes automatic gain compensation, so that even when you’re really

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way
associated or affiliated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images
are provided for the sole purpose of identifying the specific products that were
studied during Line 6’s sound model development.
Effect Model Details • Gate

squashing your signal with an aggressive threshold setting, you’ll be able to get good
volume levels out of your PODXT Live.

Gate
The Gate effect helps eliminate unwanted noise when you’re not playing, and can be
especially valuable when using high gain sounds. Like a security gate, it’s supposed to
quickly open to pass the things that you want, and then swing closed to keep out the
things that you don’t want. Turn the THRESH all the way down to minimum to disable
6•2 the Gate (THRESH’s value will then be OFF, as shown above). The THRESH knob
determines how loud your playing has to be to open the gate. More negative numbers
(where the knob is near its fully-counterclockwise setting) mean that the gate will
open and allow sound through even when you are playing quietly, and less negative
numbers (where the knob is near its fully-clockwise setting) mean that the gate will
only allow sound to pass when you are playing pretty hard. The DECAY knob
determines how fast the gate will swing closed. Like a gate in the real world, a fast
decay means the gate might catch your trailing foot as you pass through—in this case,
that means the gate will chop off the decay of your notes. And a slow decay means
that as the gate swings slowly closed behind you, someone might have time to slip
through behind you—in this case, that would be the unwanted noise that you hear as
your notes decay. You’ll have to experiment with the DECAY to get just the right
happy medium for your particular guitar, playing style, and sound settings.
 Effect Model Details • The Stomp Effects: Fuzz, Distortion, Overdrive

The Stomp Effects: Fuzz, Distortion, Overdrive

Back before fuzzes, distortions, and overdrives, guitar players used to do stuff like slice
speakers with a razor blade to get that raunchy, distorted, lovely sound (check out Link
Wray’s ‘Rumble’ for an example). While it sounded great, it did make it impractical to
turn around and play a nice smooth ballad on the same amp. Enter the ‘fuzz’ box...

Facial Fuzz

6•3

Sometime in late 1966, an infamous circular stompbox hit the London music scene.
Designed and built by Arbiter Music, the Fuzz Face would soon begin its famous
association with guitar legend Jimi Hendrix.

Like all stompboxes from the early era, the Fuzz Face would see many design changes, as
well as re-issues. Our model is based on the germanium diode-powered treasure pictured
here: an original, very early “gray with black screening” Arbiter Fuzz Face. Call the
PODXT Live Facial Fuzz model up, and treat yourself to our faithful re-creation of the
original’s fuzz and glory. Crank up the drive, and you’ll be seeing Purple Haze right
before your eyes.

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way
associated or affiliated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images
are provided for the sole purpose of identifying the specific products that were
studied during Line 6’s sound model development.
Effect Model Details • Fuzz Pi

Fuzz Pi

6•4 Not to be outdone by the Brits, the colonies came up with their own twist on the fuzz
rage. Mike Mathews and his band of merry men at Electro-Harmonix had been cooking
up all sorts of nifty effects when their attention turned to the distortion/fuzz pedal.
Their most popular offering was the Electro-Harmonix Big Muff Pi, known more for its
sweet sustain than for its buzz.

Electro-Harmonix was famous for their use of surplus parts, and the results of this
practice were ever-changing circuit designs and parts specs. As you can see in the
picture of our collection of Big Muffs, these pedals had several looks determined by the
parts that Mike and the gang found at hand. Our sweetheart of the bunch is the one in
the middle, known as the “triangle knob pattern” model. We know you’ll agree, there’s
nothing like a slice of Pi.

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way
associated or affiliated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images
are provided for the sole purpose of identifying the specific products that were
studied during Line 6’s sound model development.
 Effect Model Details • Screamer

Screamer

6•5

From Stevie Ray Vaughan to Michael Landau, the simple Ibanez Tube Screamer is the
overdrive heard round the world. This medium-gain pedal was introduced in the early
’80s, and in many blues circles, you’re not allowed to solo without one.

Over the years, Ibanez issued several variations of the venerable Tube Screamer, but
none have reached the fabled status of the TS-808. Of course, we obsessed over which
of our vintage 808s to model, and in the end we think you’ll agree that our model of
this green jewel makes a precious addition to PODXT Live.

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way
associated or affiliated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images
are provided for the sole purpose of identifying the specific products that were
studied during Line 6’s sound model development.
Effect Model Details • Classic Distortion

Classic Distortion

Born and bred in the late ’70s, the ProCo Rat was the beginning of a new generation of
distortion boxes. With a sound that was angrier and more aggressive than a fuzz, the
6•6 Rat put teeth into a new breed of metal that was beginning to crawl to the surface of
the music scene.

Through its life span, the Rat has seen several changes, and the unanimous choices for
tone are the originals pictured here. Inside, these two Rats use the same board, and
their circuits are identical. (For those that need to know, we modeled the smaller one.)

The TONE knob on PODXT Live’s Rat model functions like the original Rat’s “filter”
control, which gives you brighter tone at lower settings, and darker tone at higher
settings. Once bitten, you’ll know why we call this one tone with teeth!

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way
associated or affiliated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images
are provided for the sole purpose of identifying the specific products that were
studied during Line 6’s sound model development.
 Effect Model Details • Octave Fuzz

Octave Fuzz

6•7
What was that? If it sounded like a phantom guitar possessed by The Ghost of Great
Guitarists Past, then it probably was a Tycobrahe Octavia.

The Octavia is an example of a fuzz+octave effect. One pioneering user of this type of
effect was Jimi Hendrix. The Tycobrahe Octavia in particular was used by Jeff Beck,
and continues to be an essential part of Michael Landau’s tone making tool kit.

The Octavia uses an audio output transformer and two germanium diodes to rectify (a
fancy word for whack) the guitar signal, thus creating the high octave type sound. For
our model, we studied the sweet-sounding original pictured here. We knew we had a
keeper when every guitarist in the building wanted to take it home for a little of their
own after hours “research.”

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way
associated or affiliated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images
are provided for the sole purpose of identifying the specific products that were
studied during Line 6’s sound model development.
Effect Model Details • The Stomp Effects: Compressors

The Stomp Effects: Compressors

A compressor takes quiet sounds and loud sounds coming into it, and makes them have
a more similar volume, so the loudest sounds aren’t so loud versus the quiet sounds, and
the quiet sounds are closer to the level of the loudest sounds. The result is that a
compressor can be set to keep boosting the level of your guitar signal as a note dies
away, giving your guitar a longer note decay. In other words, plop a stomp box
compressor down in front of an amp and you’ve got an instant sustain enhancer! As a
side benefit, the compressor evens out your attacks and enables you to make up some
gain (so you can hit the front end of your amp a bit hotter, but without extra before-
the-amp distortion that a distortion box would create when boosting input level to your
amp). We’ve provided you with a number of stompbox compression options in POD XT
Live, so you can squash your signal ’til the cows come home.

6•8 Blue Comp

Roland/Boss jumped on the compressor stompbox bandwagon with the CS-1

Compression Sustainer. It has a fixed ratio, so the PODXT Live model based on it has
the SUSTAIN control varying the threshold of the compressor circuitry. LEVEL does
what you’d expect.

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way
associated or affiliated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images
are provided for the sole purpose of identifying the specific products that were
studied during Line 6’s sound model development.
 Effect Model Details • Red Comp

Red Comp

6•9
Probably the most widely used stompbox compressor, and pretty much the standard
against which others are judged, the MXR Dynacomp has a fixed compression ratio
with variable threshold and gain, which is what you get in the POD XT Live model.

The SUSTAIN knob varies your compression threshold, and LEVEL varies your (wait for
it) level.

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way
associated or affiliated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images
are provided for the sole purpose of identifying the specific products that were
studied during Line 6’s sound model development.
 Effect Model Details • Vetta Comp

Vetta Comp
A Line 6 original, Vetta Comp has a fixed ratio (2.35:1, in case you’re asking) with the
threshold (that would be your SENS knob) adjustable from -9dB to -56dB and up to
12dB of gain available at the LEVEL knob. In other words, turn the Sens knob til you
like the way your signal’s compressed, then set the volume with Level.

Auto Swell
This effect is an envelope generator, similar to the Boss SG-1 Slow Gear and other
pedals. Each note or chord that you play ramps up. You can dial in the ramp time here
to give you the kind of ‘bowed’ attacks that might otherwise require you to have your
pinky rolling the volume knob on your guitar with every pick attack. Longer ramp
times in combination with delay and reverb can keep you occupied for a pleasant hour
6 • 10 or two, seeing what kind of chords you can come up with to blend into each other.
You’ve got RAMP time to set over how long the swell takes to happen, plus DEPTH to
determine how much the volume of your attacks is reduced.
 Effect Model Details • Auto Wah

Auto Wah

6 • 11
What self-respecting filter-junkie would be without a Mu-Tron III envelope follower?
Part auto-wah, part triggered filter, it’s all about wacky, and this model based on the
Mu-Tron III gives it to you both coming and going. Go ahead – unbutton that shirt,
put on the flares, and get down with your bad self!

The SENS knob varies the filter’s response to your playing, and Q adjusts the filter’s
width.

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way
associated or affiliated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images
are provided for the sole purpose of identifying the specific products that were
studied during Line 6’s sound model development.
 Effect Model Details • Killer Z

Killer Z
Since about 1989 the BOSS Metal Zone MT-2 has been the industry standard
distortion pedal for metal players. Equipped with a dual gain circuit, the MT-2 provides
amazing sustain plus heavy mids and lows similar to a stack of overdriven amps. We’ve
simplified the EQ controls a bit to make the Killer Z model for your POD XT Live, but
you’ll still find the sought after flavor of the MT-2 style sound.

Tube Drive
Designed by keyboardist Brent Butler, the first Chandler
Tube Driver was born to add grind and girth to his Farfisa.
Brent was also the father of one of the rarest overdrive
6 • 12 boxes—the Mini Matrix (aka Mini Boogie). But it’s his Tube
Driver that drives us crazy.

Utilizing a single 12AX7 preamp tube, the original Chandler

Tube Driver delivers the sweet singing sustain craved by
guitarists worldwide, and has been a staple of Eric Johnson’s rig since the mid ’80s.

Our model of this classic offers sweet tone, with our BASS and TREBLE emulating the
Hi and Lo EQ controls of the original. To further enhance your tone shaping options,
we added an optional MID control that allows you to boost or cut the mids to tailor the
tone for you and your guitar. MID in the 12 o’clock position has no effect.

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way
associated or affiliated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images
are provided for the sole purpose of identifying the specific products that were
studied during Line 6’s sound model development.
 Effect Model Details • Vetta Juice

Vetta Juice
A Line 6 original originally created for our flagship Vetta II guitar amplifier, the ‘Juice’
in Vetta Juice comes from the 30dB of available gain in the LEVEL knob. Holy smokes,
this thing’s packin’ some heat! It’s got a fixed threshold of -40dB with the SENS knob
varying compression ratio from 1.5: 1 all the way up to 20:1 (which is a whole heck of a
lot). This combination of design features gives you the option of cranking the level
enough to get some serious gain boost, or setting the gain lower and dialing up a
smooth, clean sustain. Take your pick, and dial away.

Boost+EQ
The name pretty much says it all. This is a stompbox compressor that also provides you
with some EQ controls so you can further shape the tone. Since this EQ is applied 6 • 13
before the amp processing, it has a different tonal effect — especially if you’re using a
strongly overdriven Amp Model —than it would if applied with the dedicated EQ
block of PODXT Live processing. Many players, in fact, rely on stompbox EQ like this
to get their specially tailored sound from their amp.

Blue Comp: Based on the Boss CS-1 Compression Sustainer

Roland/Boss jumped on the compressor stompbox bandwagon with
this one. It has a fixed ratio, so the PODXT Live model based on it has
the SUSTAIN control varying the threshold of the compressor
circuitry. LEVEL does what you’d expect. If you look close, you’ll also
see from the picture that the original Boss pedal included a treble
boost switch. We flipped the little sucker on, set the modeling
machines for compression capture, and here you are!
 Effect Model Details • The Stomp Effects: Synths and Filters

The Stomp Effects: Synths and Filters

The rest of the Stomp effects are synths and filters. All of these effects that have a
WAVE parameter allow you to choose between 8 different waves. These are basically 8
different presets from the style of synth the name infers. The MIX control is the same as
all other effects, a wet to dry ratio.

The FILTER available on some of these effects is a “low pass” filter. Meaning that
frequencies above the low pass filter frequency are cut. The FILTER control changes the
frequency of the low pass filter. Turning the control to the left lowers the frequency of
the filter meaning less high frequencies get through. Turning the control to the right
raises the frequency of the filter meaning more high frequencies get through.

The ATTACK has a minimum setting of 10ms and a maximum setting of 300ms. A
lower setting makes for a faster attack, while a higher setting makes for a slower attack.
6 • 14 The higher the setting, the more substantial the affect. For more staccato style scales,
try setting the attack to the minimum value.

Dingo-Tron
This is similar to the sound made by a Mutron III (modeled for POD XT Live’s Auto
Wah model) when you flip the “down” switch. It’s kind of like a reverse auto wah. Pick
hard to get the most out of this effect.

Clean Sweep
This is a wide range sweeping filter with a slow decay. It’s similar to Auto Wah, but
with a band pass filter shape. Try setting the DECAY all the way up, the SENSITIVITY
half way up and the Q all the way down.

Seismik Synth
This effect has an oscillator that tracks the pitch of your guitar. You can choose
between 8 different wave shapes which give you different “flavors” – all of them one or
two octaves down from the original pitch. DEATH TO ALL SUBWOOFERS!!
 Effect Model Details • Double Bass

Double Bass
This effect has two oscillators that track the pitch of your guitar. One square wave
tuned one octave down, and one saw tooth wave two octaves down. The parameters on
page 2 are gain controls for each oscillator.

Buzz Wave
These are cool combinations of saw and square waves with fast vibrato. The 8 different
WAVE parameters offer different vibrato speeds and different pitches.

Rez Synth
These are all sweeping low pass filter effects with the resonance set high. Resonance is 6 • 15
a peak at the frequency of the low pass filter.

Saturn 5 Ring M
Ring modulators take two signals (one supplied by your guitar, the other supplied by the
effect) then adds and subtracts similar frequencies. Electro Harmonix makes a ring
modulator pedal called the Frequency Analyzer that is a popular guitar effect. The only
limiting factor is that the pitch of the signal provided by the effect is constant. Meaning
you have to play only in the key of that pitch to be musical. The Saturn 5 RM “tracks”
the pitch of your guitar signal. This allows you to use the effect in ANY key. This is a
GIANT leap forward for ring modulator effects! The RM/AM parameter on page 2
controls the amount of ring modulation.

Synth Analog
These are great for funky synth guitar (or bass) lines! These sounds were made popular
by Moog and ARP.
 Effect Model Details • Synth FX

Synth FX
These sounds aren’t really designed to be musical. These are more “special effects”
sounds. You’ll hear a lot of these kinds of sounds in movie sound tracks.

Synth Harmony
If you loved those big synth leads from 70’s era prog bands then you’ll love this effect.
There are two synth waves at work here. Your first two parameters allow you to choose
a pitch interval of your original note played. Your WAVE parameter works differently
from what you’d expect with the other synth models. Here the WAVE parameter
controls the gain of the saw wave, while the square wave gain remains constant.

6 • 16

Synth Lead
These are styled after popular analog monophonic synth lead sounds from Moog, ARP
and Sequential Circuits.

Synth String
This emulates classic synth string sounds like those found in the ARP Solina String
Ensemble and the Elka Synthex. The harder you pick, the brighter the sound.
 Effect Model Details • The Modulation Effects

The Modulation Effects

Modulation effects are things that swoosh, pulse and warble—from phase shifters to
flangers to choruses. Why are they called modulation effects? Well, if we consult a
dictionary, we discover that ‘modulate,’ in the electronic world means to “alter the
amplitude or frequency of (a wave) by (using) a wave of a lower frequency to carry a
signal” (definition courtesy of The Oxford Encyclopedic English Dictionary, Third Edition,
thank you very much). That modulating wave is what causes all that swooshing,
pulsing, and warbling.

For Modulation effects, there are controls for SPEED and DEPTH. SPEED controls how
fast (or slow) the modulating waveform sweeps. DEPTH controls the overall amplitude
of the modulating wave, which usually determines just how intense the effect will be.
There’s always a MIX control, and sometimes there are also other controls, as you’re
about to learn...
6 • 17

Sine Chorus
Your basic digital chorus (as opposed to the analog type vibe of the CE-1 chorus
model), with a sine wave as the modulator. Smooth going down, with BASS and
TREBLE controls for bassing and trebling.

Line 6 Flanger
Cooked up in the Line 6 labs, this creation really shines when you set CONFIG to
POST, letting its stereo sweep offset serve up luscious harmonic shimmer.
 Effect Model Details • The Modulation Effects

Opto Trem
This one is based on the optical tremolo circuit that was used in the blackface Fender
amps, like the ’64 Deluxe and ’65 Twin Reverb. Basically a light bulb and a photo-
resistor, when the light got brighter, the tremolo got louder. It’s a very smooth, even
tremolo, and the obvious choice for use with the amp models that are based on Fender
originals.

Bias Trem
One of our long time favorite pieces of ‘Rube Goldberg’ engineering, the old Vox
tremolo (and a similar circuit in some blonde and brown Fender amps) got its pulse by
literally varying the bias of the power amp tubes. While this tended to reduce the life
span of the output tubes in these amps, it gave a beautifully liquid, uneven, and rather
‘lumpy’ sound that bears a distinct resemblance to a Uni-Vibe or other phase shifter
6 • 18 (mainly because treating the tube bias in such a cavalier manner actually caused some
phase shift to occur).

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way
associated or affiliated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images
are provided for the sole purpose of identifying the specific products that were
studied during Line 6’s sound model development.
 Effect Model Details • Analog Chorus

Analog Chorus

The PODXT Live wouldn’t be complete without paying homage to the original
stompbox chorus, the Boss CE-1 Chorus Ensemble. The CE-1 came onto the music 6 • 19
scene in 1977 and made waves with its big, warm and groovy chorus tones. It quickly
found its way onto Andy Summers’ pedal board and then into our homes via the classic
albums recorded by The Police. The CE-1’s controls included SPEED, DEPTH and a
switch to go from chorus to vibrato mode (see below). The CE-1 is spacious, and sounds
great feeding into a distorted amp.

The PODXT Live CE-1 model is every bit as warm and gooey as its inspiration. Dial up
some lush landscape and enter into chorus heaven.

“Hey, wait a second!” you say, “The original CE-1 had a cool pitch vibrato mode, too.
Whatcha gonna do about that?” Well, no worries, mate, we’ve got you covered. Since a
chorus is, when you come right down to it, a pitch vibrato mixed with a dry signal, what
the vibrato mode switch on a CE-1 did was simply turn off the dry signal. To get that
effect here, just set the MIX knob to 100% wet (in other words, crank it all the way up),
and, presto change-o, you’ve got vibrato. You can use the DEPTH knob to get as seasick
as you want, too.

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way
associated or affiliated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images
are provided for the sole purpose of identifying the specific products that were
studied during Line 6’s sound model development.
 Effect Model Details • Jet Flanger

Jet Flanger

This is our model of the A/DA “studio quiet” Flanger. Introduced in 1977, this
6 • 20 stompbox has a sweep range of 35-to-1 and a built-in compressor that work together
with the tone circuitry to give the A/DA its signature jet-like sweep. It can be very
dramatic with its unique wave shape and ability to create almost ring modulator-like
effects at extreme settings.

When the model of the A/DA Flanger is selected for editing on POD XT Live, the knob
below DEPTH controls the sweep range. FDBK adjusts feedback (in other words, how
much of the effected signal is fed back to the input of the effect), and the MANUAL
knob controls the length of the very short delay that’s applied to the sweep to make the
flanging effect happen.

Plug in, spin up the depth and feedback, and get ready for take-off!

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way
associated or affiliated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images
are provided for the sole purpose of identifying the specific products that were
studied during Line 6’s sound model development.
 Effect Model Details • Phaser

Phaser

6 • 21
The unassuming metal box pictured above is the phaser that changed the world—the
MXR Phase 90. The Phase 90 is relatively subtle compared to other phasers, and when
you use it, it becomes part of the overall guitar tone rather than trying to grab the
spotlight all to itself. Its lush, organic, and groovy swirl can be heard all over the first
two Van Halen albums, as well as Jimmy Page’s work on Physical Graffiti.

The Phase 90 is a four stage phaser; its single knob controlled only speed. POD XT Live’s
Phaser model gives you additional flexibility with a MIX control and a FEEDBACK
control to adjust the intensity of the effect.

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way
associated or affiliated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images
are provided for the sole purpose of identifying the specific products that were
studied during Line 6’s sound model development.
 Effect Model Details • U-Vibe

U-Vibe

6 • 22
The now-legendary Uni-Vibe was put on the map in 1969 by Jimi Hendrix. Essentially
a four-stage phase shifter, the Uni-Vibe is best known for its watery texture and sultry
tones. One listen to “Machine Gun” and you’ll know what we mean.

As with the CE-1 model’s stealth vibrato mode, you can recreate the effect of the
original Uni-Vibe’s vibrato switch by turning the MIX control to 100% wet. (That’s
what the switch did on the original.) The DEPTH control acts like the Uni-Vibe’s
“Intensity” knob.

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way
associated or affiliated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images
are provided for the sole purpose of identifying the specific products that were
studied during Line 6’s sound model development.
 Effect Model Details • Rotary Drum+Horn

Rotary Drum+Horn

6 • 23

Fine furniture and cool tones—the Leslie 145 gave you both at once. This tube-driven
behemoth (you definitely don’t want to try picking one up on your own) features a belt-
drive rotating high frequency horn along with a downward-facing 15-inch speaker that
had a segmented drum spinning under it to disperse the sound. It was originally
designed to be used with electric organs like the Hammond B3, but once guitarists (and
even vocalists!) heard it, they just had to get in on the rotate-o-rama. Our model gives
you all that whirligig glory, without giving you a herniated disc.

The SPEED knob for our model based on the Leslie acts like the Fast/Slow switch that
came on the unit’s preamp, ramping between the two speeds. This effect also gives you
TONE and MIX settings. For the truly authentic kind of spin that a Leslie delivers, you’ll
want to set the MIX knob to max, since a Leslie had no ‘dry’ path.

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way
associated or affiliated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images
are provided for the sole purpose of identifying the specific products that were
studied during Line 6’s sound model development.
 Effect Model Details • Rotary Drum

Rotary Drum

6 • 24

When they noticed that guitar players had started using Leslies, Fender decided to
come out with its own, guitar-specific whirling dervish of a tone machine. Dubbed the
Vibratone, it used a styrofoam baffle spinning in front of a 12-inch speaker, kicking all
the sound out the sides of the box. One of the best known examples of a Vibratone tone
is Stevie Ray Vaughan’s classic ‘Cold Shot’.

The editing controls for the Vibratone are the same as for the Leslie 145. Take it for a
spin!

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way
associated or affiliated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images
are provided for the sole purpose of identifying the specific products that were
studied during Line 6’s sound model development.
 Effect Model Details • Auto Pan

Auto Pan
Also known as a panner, this effect makes your sound go back and forth between the
left and right channels. Sure to keep you up late at night.

Analog Square
A basic digital chorus, like the Sine Chorus, only in this case there’s a square wave
acting as the magical modulator. As you’ll hear, using a square wave gives you more
sudden changes in the chorusing, and is slightly less smooth than the sine wave. Try
’em both and see what suits you. The BASS and TREBLE controls make an appearance
here on page 2. This should be a good choice for country chicken pickin’ licks.

6 • 25

Square Chorus
This one’s a bit smoother than the Analog Square, but the basic vibe is similar, thanks
to the square wave modulator at the heart of the effect. You’ll find BASS and TREBLE
controls for a bit of extra tone tweaking when desired.

Expo Chorus
A Line 6 creation, the “Expo” in this flanger stands for exponential, which is a fancy
way of saying that the sweep of the flanging spends extra time in the ‘swooshy’ part of
the Flanger.

Random Chorus
This chorus uses three different modulating filters all running randomly. A very busy
chorus sound to be sure.
 Effect Model Details • Square Flange

Square Flange
This the same as the Line 6 Flanger, but using a square waveform instead of a sine wave.

Expo Flange
Here’s that exponential sweep we first found in the Expo Chorus, this time applied to a
flange effect. The FEEDBACK and PRE-DELAY knobs on Page 2 can help you keep it in
check or make it as strange as you want. We think you know which way we’re leaning
on that one.

6 • 26 Lumpy Phase
A Line 6 original, Lumpy Phase is exactly that—‘lumpy.’ Kinda like a Uni-Vibe, but
more radical. It also has some built in overdrive and more of a ‘flange-y’ type of sound
due to our clever blending of a short delay into the swept signal. BASS and TREBLE
knobs on page 2 give you extra flexibility.

Hi Talk
The Line6 tone chefs managed to combine a moog-like filter and a rotary speaker in a
touch-sensitive, tap-tempo package. As a result, the Hi Talk can make heads spin with
its high-passed filtered frequencies. Try this one to dress up some mean distortion!

Sweeper
Imagine having 2 wah pedals on steroids separated in a stereo field that are pulsating in
opposite positions and you’re close to what you’ll hear here. Use the Q and FREQ to set
the character of the sweep and adjust your DEPTH to go from subtle to full on freak out.
Any resemblance to guitar tracks heard in a particular genre of B films is strictly
coincidental.
 Effect Model Details • POD Purple X

POD Purple X
This is definitely a “sound effect.” We wanted something crazy that had a “broken”
sound to it. If played properly you can emulate the sound of a Pod Racer from Star Wars
Episode I.

Random S H (Sample and Hold)

This has a similar effect as the old Oberheim Voltage Controlled Filter. It creates
changes in tone by randomly emphasizing certain frequencies. Try locking this effect to
the tap tempo and playing single chords to that tempo. This effect is so inspiring, you’ll
probably write a few new tunes based around the effect.

6 • 27

Tape Eater
If you’ve ever had a cassette player eat a tape before you’ll know what we’re talking
about. After fixing the tape (if you’re lucky!) and reinserting it in to the player it always
had a warbled sound on that section of the tape. Now think of your guitar tone being
recorded on that section of the tape! That’s the crazy effect we were after. Try this with
a slow speed setting and a 100% wet mix.

Warble-Matic
This effect is reminiscent of the Sweeper model, but when used subtly it can produce a
nice mild phasey sound or with the DEPTH maxed you can simulate the sound of an
alien spacecraft landing in one of those old 50’s sci-fi movies!
 Effect Model Details • The Delay Effects — Analog Echo

The Delay Effects — Analog Echo

6 • 28

Analog echo units like the DM-2 were designed as improvements over the tape echoes
that came before them, using “bucket brigade” electronics to give guitarists echo units
that were more reliable than the tape-based delays, with the added advantage of a low-
power circuit that can be run on batteries.

Analog delays are treasured for the warm, distorted tones they produce, and POD XT
Live’s model based on the Boss DM-2 gets you the same sort of thing in a new digital
realm of existence.

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way
associated or affiliated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images
are provided for the sole purpose of identifying the specific products that were
studied during Line 6’s sound model development.
 Effect Model Details • Analog w/Mod

Analog w/Mod

Here’s a model based on the Electro-Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man which is a pedal 6 • 29
that uses the “bucket brigade” electronics of other analog echoes, and adds a chorus
circuit to boot. This adjustable chorus is applied to the echoes only, leaving the direct
sound unaffected.

The Memory Man, with its warm, distorted tone and swimming echoes, became an
important tool for many guitarists, and was an essential part of the guitar sounds for the
first U2 album.

Part of the Deluxe in Deluxe Memory Man was the increased delay time of 500
milliseconds. Your PODXT Live’s Analog w/Mod emulates that classic Memory Man
tone with the added advantage of 2 seconds of delay time.

On page 2, you’ll find the MOD SPEED and DEPTH control to set up the chorus on the
delays.

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way
associated or affiliated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images
are provided for the sole purpose of identifying the specific products that were
studied during Line 6’s sound model development.
 Effect Model Details • Tube Echo

Tube Echo

6 • 30

The classic 1963 Maestro EP-1 was the first of a series of “Echoplex” designs distributed
by the company, and made by Harris-Teller in Chicago. As touted in a Maestro
advertisement, the Echoplex’s “...special effects range all the way from a controlled
high speed reverberation to a full, throbbing echo”!

The main feature of the Echoplex design is a special cartridge of looped 1/4-inch audio
tape that wraps past separate record and playback heads. The position of the playback
head can be moved to adjust the delay time from 60 to 650 milliseconds. POD XT Live’s
EP-1 model emulates the classic Echoplex tone with the extra advantage of up to 2
seconds of delay time.

On page 2, you’ll find FLUT (wow and flutter) and DRIVE controls so that you can not
only dial up some tube warmth like the original, but add that unique sound of a
slipping, dirty capstan as well.

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way
associated or affiliated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images
are provided for the sole purpose of identifying the specific products that were
studied during Line 6’s sound model development.
 Effect Model Details • Multi-Head

Multi-Head

Long before Boss pedals, the RE-101 Space Echo was Roland’s first venture into the
world of effects processing. Instead of having one movable playback head (like the
Echoplex) this machine has multiple stationary heads. You change delay times by
switching amongst these heads, and then fine-tune delay time with a motor speed 6 • 31
control. The groovy part is that you can play back on multiple heads at the same time
to get multi-tap delay effects.

Page 2 controls includes a control for HEADS, which enables you to choose from the
available combinations of the Multi-Head model’s 4 virtual tape heads. There’s also a
FLUT (wow and flutter) control like the Echoplex EP-1 model.

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way
associated or affiliated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images
are provided for the sole purpose of identifying the specific products that were
studied during Line 6’s sound model development.
 Effect Model Details • Multi-Head

Sweep Echo
This model is a Line 6 original. It first appeared on our DL4 Delay Modeler and has
turned out to be a special favorite amongst the many DL4 users that we’ve spoken to.

The Page 2 knobs adjust the speed and depth of the sweeping filter part of the effect.
sweep SPEED sets how fast the filter sweeps, and sweep DEPTH sets the range of
frequencies that the filter affects, allowing you to create and explore your own shifting
landscape of tonal possibilities. There’s both subtle texture and serious weirdness to be
found in this one. Try assigning one of the FBV pedals to control the Mix, and use a
relatively short delay for some fun.

Digital Delay
This model is a straight up digital delay with BASS and TREBLE tone controls (located
on Page 2, of course). Nothing fancy here, just basic echo-cho-cho-cho. After all, it’s
6 • 32 good to cleanse the palate every once in a while.

Stereo Delay
Ever asked yourself, “How did The Edge (U2) get that groovy sound on Where the
Streets Have No Name”? Stereo delays, my friend. It’s the secret to many a U2 song, as
well as the “Big L.A. Solo” sound of the late ’80s. Set one side as a fast echo with many
repeats, and the other as a slow delay with just a few repeats. Voila, you’re famous!

Run this effect post in order to hear it in stereo, with one delay on the left, and another
on the right. The TIME parameter sets the left delay’s time, while OFFSET sets the right
delay time as a percentage of the left. So, if you set TIME to 500ms, and OFFSET to 50%,
your right delay time will be 50% of 500ms—in other words, 250ms. Ignoring the
particular value of the left delay time, 50% just means that your right delay happens in
half the time. So if you think of the left delay as a quarter note, the right delay is an
eighth note. The second page of parameters for this model gives you independent left
and right FEEDBACK controls, so for instance you can have your left delay feedback set
low for a small number of repeats, while the right feedback is set high to give you a large
number of repeats.
 Effect Model Details • Ping Pong Delay

Ping Pong Delay

6 • 33
The Ping Pong Delay is the one delay that can be run as a Post Delay Effect, but not as
a stompbox (since this kind of delay requires a stereo output to do its stuff). It has two
separate channels of delay, with the output of each channel flowing into the other,
going back and forth like a game of ping pong.

The TIME knob on Page 1 sets the time for the left side delay line.

The OFFSET knob on Page 2 sets the time for the right side delay line, as a percentage
of the left delay’s TIME. And SPREAD sets the stereo spread of the delays from mono to
hard-panned left and right.

Sound too tricky? Just use the TIME knob (or Tap Tempo Button, if you want to set that
up) to set the longer delay time you hear, and then turn OFFSET to adjust the shorter
delay time. If you set Offset straight up at 12 o’clock, your left and right delays are
evenly spaced. Then, once you’ve got your delay times set, use the SPREAD knob to
adjust where the delay repeats appear in the stereo field.
 Effect Model Details • Reverse Delay

Reverse Delay
!seltaeB eht dna xirdneH imiJ ekil tsuJ — Take a step back in time with your cool new
reverse delay. Whatever you play in comes back out at you backwards, delayed by the
time you set (up to 2 seconds). To use this little wonder most effectively, try playing a
legato lick, ignoring the reverse playback as well as you can. Longer licks can translate
into very cool reverse phrases. We’ve seen Tom Petty guitarist Mike Campbell taking
advantage of the Reverse Delay in the Line 6 DM4 Delay Modeler stompbox to play a
backwards guitar solo live—on a worldwide TV broadcast, no less.

When using Reverse, try setting the MIX knob to full (100% wetness) so all you hear is
the reversed sound—instant backwards guitar solo fun.

6 • 34 Echo Platter
The Echo Platter model was inspired by the Binson EchoRec, a
magnetic platter echo used by psychedelli-clinicians like Pink
Floyd. These units had a spinning metal platter, a record head, and
multiple playback heads that floated on the platter. (Hey, it’s kinda
like a really primitive hard drive!) This delay is somewhere
between the tube and solid-state Echoplexes in tone, with a
different type of wow and flutter than tape delays have. Page 2
controls give you access to WOW/FLUTTER and configurations of the HEADS.

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way associated or
affiliated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images are provided for the sole purpose
of identifying the specific products that were studied during Line 6’s sound model development.
 Effect Model Details • Tape Echo

Tape Echo
After the tube-based EP-1 and EP-2, Maestro introduced the solid
state EP-3, with transistors instead of tubes for the sound
electronics. The EP-3 uses the same basic mechanical design as the
original Echoplex, including the looped 1/4-inch tape, but does
not have the tube distortion sound of the EP-1. EP-3s contributed
to many classic recordings of the ’70s, with a large list of avid users
including Eddie Van Halen and Jimmy Page.

Unlike our EP-1 model, which gives you control of wow, flutter and distortion, our
EP-3 emulation is designed to give you a less distorted tape emulation with adjustable
BASS and TREBLE controls on page 2.

6 • 35
Lo-Rez
The first digital delay units were introduced in the early ’80s. These pedals and rack
boxes took advantage of emerging digital technology to provide guitarists with longer
delay times. Unlike the 16 bit digital of today’s CDs, and the even higher resolution
provided by some audio gear (like the 32 Bit processing of your Vetta), these early
digital units generally had only 8 bit resolution. Low bit resolution can create a unique
sort of grunge and noise that is sometimes just the sound you’re looking for, and that’s
why these old delays are still used to give a particular shape to the sounds that are run
through them. Early model digital samplers are sometimes used in modern-day
industrial and electronica to achieve these effects as well. Try this model on a low
resolution setting to get that characteristic digital grunge.

The BITS knob, on Page 2, lets you adjust the delay anywhere from its normal sparklin’,
pristine 32 bit resolution down to as few as 6 truly nasty bits. Bear in mind that as you
turn the knob clockwise, you’re reducing the bit resolution, so maximum bit reduction is
achieved when the knob is all the way up (think of it as a more control for how many
less bits you want). Your direct sound, of course, stays full resolution. Tone control of
the delay is also provided, via the appropriately labeled TONE knob.

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way associated or
affiliated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images are provided for the sole purpose
of identifying the specific products that were studied during Line 6’s sound model development.
 Effect Model Details • Phaze Eko

Phaze Eko
This is a new-fangled delay dreamed up by the free thinking sound design crew here at
Line 6. Starting with the basic tone of our EP-1 tape delay emulation, they’ve added
something very much like a Uni-Vibe to the delay repeats. The result is an echo unit
that gives you unique new creative possibilities for adjusting the tone of your delays
with a beautiful, burbling texture. If we do say so ourselves. Page 2 gives you access to
MOD SPEED and MOD DEPTH.

Bubble Echo
Bubble Echo has a Sample and Hold filter on the repeats. A Sample and Hold filter, if
you haven’t run across one before, takes a filter sweep (like the one on Sweep Echo),
6 • 36 chops it up into little bits, and rearranges them semi-randomly, so that it sounds like
sudden little bits of wah pedal randomly sprinkled about. Crazy, huh? Page 2 lets you
get busy with the SWEEP SPEED and SWEEP DEPTH.

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way associated or
affiliated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images are provided for the sole purpose
of identifying the specific products that were studied during Line 6’s sound model development.
 Effect Model Details • Reverb

Reverb
When we set out to create PODXT Live, we devoted our fanatical modeling technology
and energy for innovation to developing no-compromise reverb effects. POD XT Live’s
collection of reverb models emulate physical environments (rooms and halls), plate
reverbs (which traditionally feature a big steel plate with some sort of speaker driving it,
and usually multiple pickups to pick up the vibrations of the plate), spring reverbs (the
kind guitar players know best), and even a couple of unique new models that you’ll
have to hear to appreciate.

Springs
Ahh, the ‘sproing’ of a good spring reverb tank. Ya say you wanna play surf music,
neighbor? Well sir, you’ve come to the head of the stream! The only thing missing is
the ugly crash when the bass player stumbles over your amp.

Lux Spring 6 • 37
The blackface Fender Deluxe amp had a two spring reverb tank, which we’ve
modeled here.

Standard Spring
One of the many things that people have loved about the blackface Fender Twin
Reverb over the years has been its rich, dense reverb sound. The three-spring tank
offered a more complex sound than Fender’s earlier spring reverbs. Go find yourself a
bevy of bikini-clad beauties, wax up your board, and dig in.

King Spring
A Line 6 original, inspired by the Sealy Posturepedic. If three springs are cool, how
about a whole mattress full of Slinkies? Richer, denser, wigglier. A good night sleep is
guaranteed, or we’ll give you your money back.

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way
associated or affiliated with Line 6. These product names, descriptions and images
are provided for the sole purpose of identifying the specific products that were
studied during Line 6’s sound model development.
 Effect Model Details • Reverb

Rooms
Over the years, inventive recording engineers have pressed all sorts of rooms into
service as reverb chambers. Stairwells, hallways, and basements have been some of the
popular choices. We’ve tried to present a good cross-section in your POD XT Live.

Small Room
As its name implies, this reverb model will give you the kind of sound you’d get when
recording an amp that’s mic’d up in a small room. Fortunately, unlike the small rooms
that you might have handy at home, say, this room has well-tuned acoustics, no
traffic noise coming from the nearby street, and you don’t have to worry about the
upstairs neighbors yelling, “Turn it down!”—don’t you hate it when people ruin a
good take like that?

Tiled Room
Think of this one as recording your guitar in the hall bathroom. All that porce-
lain has always made for great reverb, and lots of classic recordings were done by
6 • 38 making the saxophone player stand in the ‘necessary’ and wail. Or at least that’s
what they told them. Sax players can be so naive.

Brite Room
A live, bright room to add life to any guitar track.

Halls
We’re not talking about the passageway between your living room and bedroom. We’re
talking large, cavernous spaces here.

Dark Hall
A large concert hall with many reflections. This one is all about size and is great for
that huge backdrop of reverb that doesn’t get in the way even when turned all the
way up.

Medium Hall
A medium sized hall with heavy reflections, this one is meant to be heard.

Large Hall
A very large concert hall. It doesn’t get much bigger than this.
 Effect Model Details • Reverb

Chambers
Back in the day, there was no such thing as digital reverb. But people still wanted to be
able to add more ‘room’ to the sounds they were recording. Someone got the bright idea
of building a big empty room where sound bounced around nicely. They stuck a speaker
in there, fed the sounds that needed loving through said speaker, and arranged
microphones to pick up all the resulting ambience so it could be mixed back in with the
music. These early reverb chambers all had a different personality, and some studio’s
reputations were made based on their individual reverb sound.

Rich Chamber
A rich chamber great for making that crunch tone even fatter.

Chamber
Typical of a studio chamber, this reverb goes well with just about anything.

Cavernous
Okay, so it does get bigger than Large Hall. Fire this verb up and get set for a long 6 • 39
night of dandelion dreams.

Plates
Plate reverbs were the first type of ‘mechanical’ reverb. The basic design includes a big
steel plate or sheet of gold foil with some sort of speaker driving it, and usually multiple
pickups to capture the vibrations of the plate.

Slap Plate
This reverb dishes up the vibe of early rock and roll recordings, like Sam Phillips’
great work at Sun Studios. Thank you very much.

Vintage Plate
A classic plate reverb that you won’t forget.

Large Plate
Well with Large Hall and Cavernous lying around, we just had to dish up a big ol’
Plate of goodness. This one makes a great bed of reverb for playing over and washes
up real good with soap and water.
 MIDI • MIDI Basics

MIDI

This chapter focuses on MIDI communications over standard MIDI cables, using the MIDI in
and out connectors on the rear panel of your PODXT Live. If you’re exchanging MIDI with a
computer, you also have the option of installing the PODXT Family USB Driver software (a
free download from www.line6.com) and have your PODXT Live exchange these same MIDI
messages with your computer over a USB cable.

MIDI Basics

What’s MIDI?
MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a communications protocol designed to
let various music-making machines exchange information. It allows one device to 7• 1
control another, and several devices to all be used together in coordination.

In/Out
PODXT Live has two MIDI connections: IN & OUT. You connect PODXT Live to
other MIDI devices by connecting MIDI cables to these connectors. Each connection
is a one-way street: information flows from the OUT of one device to the IN of another
device. To allow information to flow back, you must connect a second cable, from IN to
OUT.

MIDI Channel
MIDI allows 16 different channels of information to be transmitted and received
through one MIDI cable. The MIDI channel is independent of, and has nothing to do
with, PODXT Live’s preset channels for storing individual sound programs.

You tune PODXT Live in to listen to a particular MIDI channel (like choosing a
channel on a TV or a station on a radio), and make sure the device that you want
PODXT Live to listen to is transmitting on that same MIDI Channel. To set POD XT
 MIDI • MIDI Basics

Live’s MIDI channel, press the OUTPUT MODE/SYSTEM button (which will light up).
Use the Select knob to find the MIDI page that looks like this:

Channel—Press the button under CHANL and start spinning the EFFECT TWEAK
knob to change the MIDI Channel. You can choose channels 1 thru 16, or OMNI—
this means PODXT Live will ‘listen’ on all MIDI channels, which is fine if it’s your
only connected MIDI device. PODXT Live always accepts SysEx data on any
channel, so if you are only working with Sysex data, this channel setting is only
important to determine what channel your PODXT Live will send on.

Program Change—PODXT Live allows you to process incoming MIDI Program

Change messages (PGM ON), ignore these messages (PGM OFF), or pass the received
program change regardless of the MIDI Output setting (PGM ECHO).
7• 2

Output—PODXT Live’s MIDI Out generally sends out the MIDI messages generated
by your PODXT Live when this parameter is set to OUT. You also have the option of
changing it to act as a MIDI Thru. When you choose THRU for the OUTPUT, PODXT
Live will not generate any outgoing MIDI messages. Instead, it will take whatever
comes in at its MIDI In and send it straight “thru” to the MIDI Out so you can get
this same info to some other MIDI device. Note that in Thru mode, the MIDI Out
simply passes on what’s received at its MIDI In; it does not combine POD XT Live
MIDI messages with this incoming MIDI data.

Variax—See page 3•2 to learn more about using your PODXT Live with Line 6’s
unique Variax line of Digital Modeling Guitars, each of which provides the sounds of
a whole collection of guitars in a single, quality instrument.
 MIDI • MIDI Basics

MIDI Messages
MIDI allows for several different kinds of messages, each with a different purpose:

MIDI Program Changes—Program change messages tell a device to switch from

one sound or setup to another. With PODXT Live, program changes change from one
Channel Memory to another. So, for instance, when PODXT Live receives program
change number 0, it will select Bank 1, Channel A. When it gets program change
number 1, it will select Bank 1, Channel B. And so on, as the chart in Appendix B
shows.

MIDI Continuous Controllers—MIDI continuous controller messages (CC for

short) allow you to control a device’s parameters in real time. So, for instance, you
can use a MIDI controller to vary the setting of PODXT Live’s DRIVE control, or the
REVERB level. Each of PODXT Live’s parameters are mapped to a MIDI controller, so
you can take full control of your PODXT Live. The chart in Appendix C lists each
PODXT Live parameter, the controller assigned to it, and how that controller affects
PODXT Live. Note that the wah and volume pedals of the FBV and FBV Shortboard 7• 3
also transmit MIDI controller messages via MIDI when used with your POD XT Live.

MIDI SysEx Commands—Sysex stands for “System Exclusive.” SysEx commands

are special commands that only a particular device understands—they are ‘exclusive’
to that device—as opposed to the more generic kind of program, controller, and
other messages that almost all MIDI devices understand. PODXT Live uses SysEx to
transmit its Channel Memories to another device, or to receive new Channels from
another device. This exchange of data is typically called a “dump.” Note that POD XT
Live always accepts SysEx data on any MIDI channel; your choice of MIDI channel
still determines what channel your PODXT Live will send Sysex data on.
 MIDI • Backing Up PODxt Live Programs to Other Devices

Backing Up PODXT Live Programs to Other Devices

While we recommend our free Line 6 Edit software (downloadable from www.line6.com)
for backing up your memory, you can also back up to any appropriate MIDI hardware or
software as described here.

It’s recommended that you back up the sounds programmed into your POD XT Live so
that you can restore them in case of some future disaster. If you want to transfer sounds
from PODXT Live to some other MIDI device for back up (like say a MIDI file player or
a hardware sequencer or keyboard workstation), things work pretty much the same way
as they do for PODXT Live-to-PODXT Live transfers. You’ll need a standard MIDI cable
to get everybody talking.

Connect the MIDI OUT of your PODXT Live to the MIDI IN of the receiving MIDI
device. Press OUTPUT MODE/SYSTEM so that it’s lit, and turn SELECT to reach the
MIDI page.

7• 4 Transferring All Channels - This feature will let you send all of your PODXT Live’s
presets out via MIDI for a complete back up of all your Channels:

Press SAVE once, and use the SELECT knob to scroll down to the page that looks like
this:

Now press the button under SELECT. Turn the EFFECT TWEAK knob to the left
(counterclockwise) until the display reads:

Now press SAVE again to make the transfer. PODXT Live’s display will say,
“SENDING SYSEX... STANDBY,” until the data transmission is complete.
 MIDI • Backing Up PODxt Live Programs to Other Devices

Transferring Some Data - If you’d like to send a particular Channel memory out via
MIDI, or just Effect Setups or Amp Models do this:

Press SAVE once, and use the SELECT knob to scroll down to the page that looks like
this:

Turn the EFFECT TWEAK knob to select a Channel Memory, Amp Models, or Effect
Setups that you’d like to transfer.

Any Channel Memory

7• 5

All Amp Models (including your customized ones)

All Effect Setups (including your customized ones)

Now press SAVE again to make the transfer.

Restoring Data - You don’t have to do anything special to restore data to your
PODXT Live. Just send the data to PODXT Live via MIDI, and it will recognize and
receive the data and show messages on its display to tell you what data it successfully
receives.
 MIDI • Other Things You Can Do with MIDI

Other Things You Can Do with MIDI

Changing sounds with MIDI Program Changes
The most basic thing to do with PODXT Live via MIDI is have it select sounds on
another MIDI device each time you select a PODXT Live channel. Hook PODXT Live’s
MIDI OUT to your other MIDI equipment’s MIDI IN, set the MIDI Channels of both
devices to be the same, and refer to the chart in Appendix B to see what MIDI
program number will be sent to the connected MIDI device by each POD XT Live
Channel. You can also set things up in reverse, having PODXT Live change channels
when sent MIDI messages from another device. To do this, connect the other device’s
MIDI OUT to PODXT Live’s MIDI IN, set them both to the same MIDI channels, as
you should be in business.

Tweaking PODXT Live Tones with MIDI Controllers

If you have a hardware MIDI “fader box,” assignable MIDI controllers on a keyboard, or
a stand-alone or computer software-based MIDI sequencer, you can take control of any
PODXT Live parameter via MIDI. The chart in Appendix C lists which PODXT Live
7• 6 parameter is controlled by which MIDI Controller. Remember to make sure that the
MIDI Channels have been set properly when first setting up your POD XT Live with the
gear that will control it. To minimize “zipper” noise when controlling parameter
changes via MIDI, try making gradual, rather than sudden changes to PODXT Live
settings.

Full MIDI Automation of PODXT Live

When you use PODXT Live with a MIDI sequencer, you can automate any PODXT Live
parameter using MIDI Controller messages. This allows PODXT Live to give you the
same kind of capabilities as Line 6’s acclaimed Amp Farm software plug-in software for
Pro Tools TDM systems, without the Pro Tools system!

The PODXT Live front panel knobs all send out appropriate MIDI controllers (as do
the wah and volume pedals of the optional Floor Board foot controller) that you can
record into a MIDI track as you play through your PODXT Live along with a MIDI
sequence.

Hook your PODXT Live’s MIDI OUT to a MIDI IN on your sequencing setup. Hook the
sequencer MIDI OUT to PODXT Live’s MIDI IN, and make sure PODXT Live’s and
 MIDI • Other Things You Can Do with MIDI

your sequencer are set to the same MIDI Channel. Be sure you set the MIDI OUTPUT
setting in the OUTPUT MODE/SYSTEM pages to OUT. Also, disable any MIDI “echo”
or “soft thru” function in your sequencer so it doesn’t send all MIDI coming from your
PODXT Live right back to it.

To allow MIDI-controlled automation, you need to set up a MIDI track in your

sequencer to record the data flowing from PODXT Live’s MIDI OUT. Record-enable
that track and start the sequencer recording. Slowly turn PODXT Live’s DRIVE knob all
the way up and then all the way down as your sequencer records, and then stop your
sequencer. Now, look at the data that’s been recorded into the POD XT Live MIDI track
on your sequencer. You’ll see that you’ve recorded MIDI controller #13 messages. This
is the controller that’s assigned to PODXT Live’s Drive parameter. Play back the
recorded MIDI track as you play through PODXT Live (or play back recorded direct
guitar audio through PODXT Live), and you’ll hear the Drive changes that you
recorded into your MIDI track. To minimize “zipper” noise when controlling
parameter changes via MIDI, try making gradual, rather than sudden changes to
PODXT Live settings.

7• 7
 MIDI • MIDI Setup Trouble-shooting

MIDI Setup Trouble-shooting

Here are some troubleshooting hints for computer MIDI setups, courtesy of Line 6’s own
product support gurus:

1. SoundBlaster type computer cards have more than one MIDI driver. The system
will usually default to the driver for the built-in synth on the card, rather than the
external MIDI port. This means that you must select the correct driver before the
software can see the PODXT Live.
2. MIDI cables must run from out to in and vice versa—connect PODXT Live’s MIDI
In to your computer’s MIDI Out. Think of it in terms of the direction that
information is flowing; out of PODXT Live in to the computer. Out of the computer
in to PODXT Live.
3. For non-SysEx communication, your PODXT Live and your MIDI software/
hardware must be set to use the same MIDI Channel. If you’ve got POD XT Live on
7• 8 channel 1, set your other device or software to channel 1 so they can communicate.
You can also set PODXT Live’s MIDI Channel to OMNI, and it will listen to all
channels.
 Appendix A: Amp Models

APPENDIX A: AMP MODELS

Amp Model Based On Cab Model
Tube Preamp Tube Instrument Preamp No Cab
Line 6 Clean Line 6 original 2x12 Line 6
Line 6 JTS-45 Line 6 original 4x12 Green 25’s
Line 6 Class A Line 6 original 1x12 Tweed
Line 6 Mood Line 6 original 4x12 Green 20’s
Spinal Puppet Line 6 original 4x12 Brit V30’s
Line 6 Chem X Line 6 original 4x12 Brit T75
Line 6 Insane Way too many hours of shredding 4x12 Brit T75
Line 6 ACO 2 Line 6 original (good for use with signals from No Cab
piezo-acoustic guitar pickups)
Zen Master Budda Twinmaster 2x12 Combo 2x12 Line 6
Small Tweed ’53 Fender Deluxe 1x12 Tweed
Tweed B-Man ’58 Fender Bassman 4x10 Tweed
Tiny Tweed ’60 Tweed Fender Champ 1x8 Tweed
Blackface Lux ’64 Fender Deluxe 1x12 Blackface
Double Verb ’65 Blackface Fender Twin 2x12 Blackface
Two-Tone Gretsch 6156 1x10 G-Brand
Hiway 100 Hiwatt DR-103 4x12 Green 25’s
Plexi 45 ’65 Marshall JTM-45 4x12 Green 20’s
Plexi Lead 100 ’68 Marshall ‘Plexi’ Super Lead 4x12 Green 20’s
Plexi Jump Lead ’68 Marshall Super Lead Jumped 4x12 Green 25’s
Plexi Variac ’68 Marshall Super Lead Variac’d 4x12 Green 25’s
Brit J-800 ’90 Marshall JCM-800 4x12 Brit T75
Brit JM Pre Marshall JMP-1 4x12 Brit T75
Match Chief ’96 Matchless Chieftain 2x12 Match
Match D-30 Matchless DC-30 2x12 Match 8• 1
Treadplate Dual ’01 Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier 4x12 Treadplate
Cali Crunch ’85 Mesa Boogie Mark IIc+ 1x12 Line 6
Jazz Clean ’87 Roland JC-120 2x12 Jazz
Solo 100 Soldano SLO-100 Head 4x12 Brit T75
Super O Supro S6616 1x6 Super O
Class A-15 ’60 Vox AC 15 1x12 Class A
Class A-30 TB ’63 Vox AC 30 with Top Boost 2x12 Class A
L6 Agro Line 6 original 4x12 Brit V30’s
L6 Lunatic Line 6 original 4x12 Line 6
L6 Treadplate Line 6 original 4x12 Treadplate
Variax Acoustic Line 6 original (for use with acoustic models of 2x12 Jazz
the Line 6 Variax modeling guitars)

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way associated or
affiliated with Line 6. These product names are provided for the sole purpose of identifying the
specific products that were studied during Line 6’s sound model development.
 Appendix B: MIDI Program Changes

APPENDIX B: MIDI PROGRAM CHANGES

POD XT channels can be selected via MIDI program changes. Some devices number
programs starting at zero. Some start at one. We start at zero (Channel 1A) and then work
our way along through the stored channels as shown in this table:

POD MIDI Program POD MIDI Program PODxt MIDI Program PODxt MIDI Program
Channel Changes Channel Changes Channel Changes Channel Changes
1A 0 9A 32 17A 64 25A 96
1B 1 9B 33 17B 65 25B 97
1C 2 9C 34 17C 66 25C 98
1D 3 9D 35 17D 67 25D 99
2A 4 10A 36 18A 68 26A 100
2B 5 10B 37 18B 69 26B 101
2C 6 10C 38 18C 70 26C 102
2D 7 10D 39 18D 71 26D 103
3A 8 11A 40 19A 72 27A 104
3B 9 11B 41 19B 73 27B 105
3C 10 11C 42 19C 74 27C 106
3D 11 11D 43 19D 75 27D 107
4A 12 12A 44 20A 76 28A 108
4B 13 12B 45 20B 77 28B 109
4C 14 12C 46 20C 78 28C 110
4D 15 12D 47 20D 79 28D 111
5A 16 13A 48 21A 80 29A 112
5B 17 13B 49 21B 81 29B 113
8• 2 5C 18 13C 50 21C 82 29C 114
5D 19 13D 51 21D 83 29D 115
6A 20 14A 52 22A 84 30A 116
6B 21 14B 53 22B 85 30B 117
6C 22 14C 54 22C 86 30C 118
6D 23 14D 55 22D 87 30D 119
7A 24 15A 56 23A 88 31A 120
7B 25 15B 57 23B 89 31B 121
7C 26 15C 58 23C 90 31C 122
7D 27 15D 59 23D 91 31D 123
8A 28 16A 60 24A 92 32A 124
8B 29 16B 61 24B 93 32B 125
8C 30 16C 62 24C 94 32C 126
8D 31 16D 63 24D 95 32D 127
 Appendix C: PODxt MIDI Controls

APPENDIX C: PODXT MIDI CONTROLS

Cntrl Transmitted Received
Parameter Notes
# MIDI Range MIDI Range
AMP Settings
Amp Model Setup Selects Amp Setup, loading all 11 0-36 0-36
related parameters (up to 0-72 if (up to 0-72 if
Amp Packs are Amp Packs are
installed) installed)
Amp Model Selects Amp Model without load- 12 No Transmit 0-36
ing Amp Setup (up to 0-72 if
Amp Packs are
installed)
Amp Enable On, Off 22 Off=0/On=127 0-63=Off
64-127=On
Drive 13 0-127 0-127
Bass 14 0-127 0-127
Mid 15 0-127 0-127
Treble 16 0-127 0-127
Presence 21 0-127 0-127
Chan Vol 17 0-127 0-127
Pan 0=Left, 64=Center, 127=Right 10 No Transmit 0-127
A.I.R. Settings
Cabinet Model See Cab Model Table 71 0-24 0-24
8• 3
Mic Selection 0=SM-57 On Axis, 1=SM-57 Off 70 0-3 0-3
Axis, 2=421 Dynamic,
3=67 Condenser
Room Level 0-100% 76 0-127 0-127
COMP Settings
Compression Threshold -63dB<>0dB 9 0-127 0-127
Comp Enable 0~63=On, 64~127=Off (MIDI/64) 26 Off=0/On=127 0-63=Off
64-127=On
GATE Settings
Gate Threshold 0 to -96dB 23 0-96 0-96
Gate Decay Time 0=.1 ms; 127= 3.0 sec 24 0-127 0-127
Noise Gate Enable On, Off 22 Off=0/On=127 0-63=Off
64-127=On
 Appendix C: PODxt MIDI Controls

Cntrl Transmitted Received

Parameter Notes
# MIDI Range MIDI Range
STOMP Settings (STOMP Parameters May Vary)
STOMP Model 0=Facial Fuzz, 1=Fuzz Pi, 75 0-9 0-9
2=Screamer, 3=Classic Dist, (0-26 if FX Junkie (0-26 if FX
4=Octave Fuzz, 5=Blue Comp, Pack is installed) Junkie Pack is
6=Red Comp, 7=Vetta Comp, installed)
8=Auto Swell, 9=Auto Wah.
If the FX Junkie Pack is installed,
these additional models will be
available: 10=FX-Killer Z, 11=FX-
Tube Drive, 12=FX-Vetta Juice,
13=L6 Boost+EQ, 14=FX-Blue
Comp Treb, 15=FX-Dingo-Tron,
16=FX-Clean Sweep, 17=FX-
Seismik Synth, 18=FX-Double
Bass, 19=FX-Buzz Wave, 20=FX-
Rez Synth, 21=FX-Saturn 5 Ring
M, 22=FX-Synth Analog, 23=FX-
Synth FX, 24=FX-Synth Har-
mony, 25=FX-Synth Lead, 26=FX-
Synth String
STOMP Time (Param 1) Not used on any current Stomp 27 0-127 0-127
models; reserved for possible future
time-related Stomp models
STOMP Param 1 Note value Not used on any current Stomp 78 See Note 1 See Note 1
models; reserved for possible future
8• 4 time-related Stomp models
STOMP Param 2 Model-dependent 79 0-127 0-127
STOMP Param 3 Model-dependent 80 0-127 0-127
STOMP Param 4 Model-dependent 81 0-127 0-127
STOMP Param 5 Model-dependent 82 0-127 0-127
STOMP Param 6 Model-dependent 83 0-127 0-127
Stomp Enable On, Off 25 Off=0/On=127 0-63=Off
64-127=On
 Appendix C: PODxt MIDI Controls

Cntrl Transmitted Received

Parameter Notes
# MIDI Range MIDI Range
MOD Settings (MOD Parameters May Vary)
Modulation Model 0=Sine Chorus, 1=Analog Cho- 58 0-10 0-10
rus, 2=Line 6 Flanger, 3=Jet (0-23 if FX Junkie (0-23 if FX
Flanger, 4=Phaser, 5=U-Vibe, Pack is installed) Junkie Pack is
6=Opto Trem, 7=Bias Trem, installed)
8=Rotary Drum+Horn, 9=Rotary
Drum, 10=Auto Pan. If the FX
Junkie Pack is installed, these addi-
tional models will be available:
11=FX-Analog Square, 12=FX-
Square Chorus, 13=FX-Expo
Chorus, 14=FX-Random Chorus,
15=FX-Square Flange, 16=FX-
Expo Flange, 17=FX-Lumpy
Phase, 18=FX-Hi-Talk, 19=FX-L6
Sweeper, 20=FX-POD Purple X,
21=FX-Random S H, 22=FX-Tape
Eater, 23=FX-Warble-Matic
Mod Param 1 Model-dependent 29 0-127 0-127
Mod Param 1 Double Preci- Model-dependent 61 0-127 0-127
sion
Mod Param 1 Note value Model-dependent 51 See Note 1 See Note 1
Mod Param 2 Model-dependent 52 0-127 0-127
Mod Param 3 Model-dependent 53 0-127 0-127
Mod Param 4 Model-dependent 54 0-127 0-127 8• 5
Mod Param 5 Model-dependent 55 0-127 0-127
Mod Volume/Mix 0<>100% 56 0-127 0-127
Mod Pre/Post Pre, Post 57 Pre=0/Post=127 0-63=Pre
64-127=Post
Mod Enable On, Off 50 Off=0/On=127 0-63=Off
64-127=On
 Appendix C: PODxt MIDI Controls

Cntrl Transmitted Received

Parameter Notes
# MIDI Range MIDI Range
DELAY Settings (Delay Parameters May Vary)
Delay Model 0=Analog Delay, 1=Analog w/ 88 0-8 0-8
Mod, 2=Tube Echo, 3=Multi- (0-13 if FX Junkie (0-13 if FX
Head, 4=Sweep Echo, 5=Digital Pack is installed) Junkie Pack is
Delay, 6=Stereo Delay, 7=Ping installed)
Pong, 8=Reverse. If the FX Junkie
Pack is installed, these additional
models will be available: 9=FX-
Echo Plater, 10=FX-Tape Echo,
11=FX-Low Rez, 12=FX-Phaze
Eko, 13=FX-Bubble Echo
Delay Param 1 30 0-127 0-127
Delay Param 1 DBL Precision 62 0-127 0-127
Delay Param 1 Note value 31 See Note 1 See Note 1
Delay Param 2 Model-dependent 33 0-127 0-127
Delay Param 3 Model-dependent 35 0-127 0-127
Delay Param 4 Model-dependent 85 0-127 0-127
Delay Param 5 Model-dependent 86 0-127 0-127
Delay Volume/Mix 0<>100% 34 0-127 0-127
Delay Pre/Post Pre, Post 87 Pre=0/Post=127 0-63=Pre
64-127=Post
Delay Enable On, Off 28 Off=0/On=127 0-63=Off
64-127=On
8• 6
 Appendix C: PODxt MIDI Controls

Cntrl Transmitted Received

Parameter Notes
# MIDI Range MIDI Range
REVERB Settings
Reverb Type 0=Lux Spring, 1=Std Spring, 37 0-14 0-14
2=King Spring, 3=Small Room,
4=Tiled Room, 5=Brite Room,
6=Dark Hall, 7=Medium Hall,
8=Large Hall, 9=Rich Chamber,
10=Chamber, 11=Cavernous,
12=Slap Plate, 13=Vintage Plate,
14=Large Plate
Reverb Decay 0.1<>9.0sec 38 0-127 0-127
Reverb Pre-Delay 0<>100ms 40 0-127 0-127
(not avail for Spring Reverbs
Reverb Tone 0<>100% 39 0-127 0-127
Reverb Mix (send) 0<>100% 18 0-127 0-127
Reverb Pre/Post Pre, Post 41 No Transmit 0-63=Pre
64-127=Post
Reverb Enable On, Off 36 Off=0/On=127 0-63=Off
(If Reverb is off, 64-127=On
and user adjusts
Reverb knob,
Reverb will be
turned on, and
value of 127 will
be sent)
EQ Settings 8• 7
EQ Enable On, Off 63 Off=0/On=127 0-63=Off
64-127=On
Band 1 Frequency Low Shelving, 50-690 Hz 14 0-127 0-127
Band 1 Frequency Semi-Parametric Mid Lo Mid, 42 0-127 0-127
50-6.0 Khz
Band 1 Frequency Semi-Parametric Mid Hi Mid, 60 0-127 0-127
100-11.3 Khz
Band 1 Frequency High Shelving, 500-9.3 KHz 77 0-127 0-127
Band 1 Gain -12.8 ~ +12.6 dB 114 0-127 0-127
Band 2Gain -12.8 ~ +12.6 dB 116 0-127 0-127
Band 3Gain -12.8 ~ +12.6 dB 117 0-127 0-127
Band 4Gain -12.8 ~ +12.6 dB 119 0-127 0-127
 Appendix C: PODxt MIDI Controls

Cntrl Transmitted Received

Parameter Notes
# MIDI Range MIDI Range
Wah Settings
Wah Position 0<>127 4 0-127 0-127
Wah Enable On, Off 43 Off=0/On=127 0-63=Off
64-127=On
Volume Pedal Settings
Vol Pedal Position Value Not Stored 7 0-127 0-127
Volume Pre/Post Pre, Post 47 Pre=0/Post=127 0-63=Pre
64-127=Post
Volume Pedal Minimum Sets audio level for heel down 46 0-127 0-127
position of volume pedal
Volume/Tweak Pedal Assign 65 Volume=0 0-41=Volume
Tweak-Volume=42 42~85= Tweak-
Wah/Vol-Twk=86 Volume
86~127=Wah/
Vol -Tweak
Tempo Settings
Tempo MSB 30.0-240.0 BPM 89 2-18 2-18
Tempo LSB 90 0-127 0-127
Tap Tap 64 Tap Button or 64-127=a Tap
FBV sends 127
Tweak Tweak Controller 1 0-127 0-127
Effects Setups
8• 8
Effects Setup EFFECTS knob, value not stored 19 0-63 0-63
Tweak Param Select Valid values vary depending on 108 0-13 0-13
loaded effects

Note 1: Note Value Controller Values

1 =Whole Note 8 =Dotted Eighth Note
2=Dotted Half Note 9 =Eighth Note
3 =Half Note 10 =Eighth Note Triplet
4=Half Note Triplet 11 =Dotted Sixteenth Note
5=Dotted Quarter Note 12=Sixteenth Note
6 =Quarter Note 13=Sixteenth Note Triplet
7 =Quarter Note Triplet
 Appendix D: Variax Data in PODxt Live

APPENDIX D: VARIAX DATA IN PODXT LIVE

Each PODXT Live Channel Memory stores some Variax-related data. This data cannot
be adjusted via MIDI continuous control messages, but can be extracted from the
PODXT Live “patch” data for use by editor/librarian software, etc. Since the rest of the
data within a PODXT Live patch is organized in the same order as the MIDI CC control
numbering for that data, the Variax data is fit into slots that correspond to MIDI CC
messages that the PODxt Live does not use.

Position in
PODXT Parameter Range
Patch Data
Variax Family 0 Model Select 120 0-127; 0=Don’t select model on Variax; 1-127=Select Model
(Variax 500/700) 0-126 on Variax
Variax Family 0 Paramater 1 121 0-127 (This won’t be sent to the Variax if Model Select is set
(Tone) to 0)
Variax Family 1 Model Select 96 0-127; 0=Don’t select model on Variax; 1-127=Select Model
(Variax Acoustic) 0-126 on Variax
Variax Family 1 Paramater 1 97 0-127 (This won’t be sent to the Variax if Model Select is set
(Mic Position) to 0)
Variax Family 1 Paramater 2 98 0-127 (This won’t be sent to the Variax if Model Select is set
(Compressor) to 0)
Family When Saved 101 0-127; 0=No Variax connected when saving; 1-126=Family
(To be used by editor/librar- Number of Variax that was connected when this Channel
ian software to know what Memory was saved from the PODXT Live hardware interface
Variax was connected when
the patch was saved, and 8• 9
therefore have some indica-
tion of whether the Variax
data was intended by the
sound programmer to be
used, or was “left over” when
editing from a starting patch
setting)
Reserved for use with future 99-100, 122-127 0-127
Variax products
 Appendix E: Line 6 Contact

APPENDIX E: LINE 6 CONTACT

Customer Service
Before contacting the Line 6 Customer Service team, please take the time to look
through the documentation that was included with your product to see if it can answer
your questions. Additional helpful information is on the Support page of the Line 6
web site (www.line6.com), including the searchable FAQTRAQ system which is often
the fastest and easiest way to get answers. If you need to talk to a member of the Line 6
Customer Service team by phone, take notes before calling to ensure that you
remember everything you want to ask about. In the USA or Canada, you can contact
Line 6 at (818) 575-3600, 8AM to 5PM Monday through Friday (Pacific Time).
Outside the USA and Canada, please contact your distributor directly to arrange
service. The list of Line 6 distributors is available on the Internet at www.line6.com.

To obtain factory service:

If you live in the United States, call 818-575-3600 (or you can log an incident in our
support FAQ system available at www.line6.com) and we will help you find the best
way to get your unit repaired, whether it be returning the unit to Line 6 or finding an
Authorized Service Center. If you live in Europe, contact Line 6 U.K. at: Line 6
Europe Rugby, Warwickshire United Kingdom Butlers House, Clifton Road 44 (0) 178
8• 10 882 1600 [email protected]. If you live outside of these areas contact your local
distributor. If you do not know whom your distributor is, either call us at 818-575-3600
or there is a distributor locator in the support area of www.line6.com.
 Appendix F: Warranty Info

APPENDIX F: WARRANTY INFO

LINE 6 LIMITED WARRANTY INFORMATION

Sending in your registration card allows us to register key information so that we may handle problems faster and inform you of advance
information, upgrades and other news. Thanks in advance for filling out your registration card and sending it to us. And good luck in your
music!

Line 6, Inc. (hereinafter “Line 6”) warrants that your new Line 6 product, when purchased at an authorized Line 6 dealer in the United
States of America (“USA”) or Canada, shall be free of defects in materials and workmanship for a period of one (1) year from the original
date of purchase. Please contact your dealer for information on warranty and service outside of the USA and Canada.

During the warranty period, Line 6 shall, at its sole option, either repair or replace any product that proves to be defective upon
inspection by Line 6.

Line 6 reserves the right to update any unit returned for repair and to change or improve the design of the product at any time without
notice. Line 6 reserves the right to use reconditioned parts and assemblies as warranty replacements for authorized repairs.

This warranty is extended to the original retail purchaser. This warranty can be transferred to anyone who may subsequently purchase this
product provided that such transfer is made within the applicable warranty period and Line 6 is provided with all of the following items:
(i) all warranty registration information (as set forth on the registration card) for the new owner, (ii) proof of the transfer within thirty
(30) days of the transfer purchase, and (iii) a photocopy of the original sales receipt. Warranty coverage shall be determined by Line 6 in
its sole discretion.

This is your sole warranty. Line 6 does not authorize any third party, including any dealer or sales representative, to assume any liability on
behalf of Line 6 or to make any warranty for Line 6.

Line 6 may, at it’s option, require proof of original purchase date in the form of a dated copy of original authorized dealer’s invoice or sales
receipt.

Service and repairs of Line 6 products are to be performed only at the Line 6 factory or a Line 6 authorized service center. Line 6 may
require advanced authorization of repairs to authorized service centers. Unauthorized service, repair or modification will void this
warranty.
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DISCLAIMER AND LIMITATION OF WARRANTY

THE FOREGOING WARRANTY IS THE ONLY WARRANTY GIVEN BY LINE 6 AND IS IN LIEU OF ALL OTHER
WARRANTIES. ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR
ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE, EXCEEDING THE SPECIFIC PROVISIONS OF THIS WARRANTY ARE HEREBY
DISCLAIMED AND EXCLUDED FROM THIS WARRANTY. UPON EXPIRATION OF THE APPLICABLE EXPRESS
WARRANTY PERIOD (1 YEAR), LINE 6 SHALL HAVE NO FURTHER WARRANTY OBLIGATION OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS
OR IMPLIED. LINE 6 SHALL IN NO EVENT BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL
DAMAGES SUFFERED BY THE PURCHASER OR ANY THIRD PARTY, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, DAMAGES
FOR LOSS OF PROFITS OR BUSINESS, OR DAMAGES RESULTING FROM USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THE PRODUCT,
WHETHER IN CONTRACT OR IN TORT. LINE 6 SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY EXPENSES, CLAIMS, OR SUITS
ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO ANY OF THE FOREGOING. Some states do not allow the exclusion or limitation of implied
warranties so some of the above limitations and exclusions may not apply to you. This warranty gives you specific legal rights, and you
may also have other rights, which vary, from state to state. This warranty only applies to products sold and used in the USA and Canada.
Line 6 shall not be liable for damages or loss resulting from the negligent or intentional acts of the shipper or its contracted affiliates. You
should contact the shipper for proper claims procedures in the event of damage or loss resulting from shipment.