POD X3 w/FBT Verve 8ma first impressions

[hippietim]

I recently picked up an X3 to use as a back to my Axe-FX rig as well as a handy grab 'n go gizmo with FRFR speaker.

I finally got around to messing with the X3 last night with the 8ma. It sounds very good. This is definitely going to work well for grab 'n go. The 8ma delivers plenty of punch and the X3 sounds pretty smooth with it.

One thing though, the X3 presets really suck. Hard. I don't recall my XT or Vetta having such bad presets. It doesn't matter anyhow, it's pretty easy to get up and running with the User patches to basically start from scratch. Once I familiarized myself with the X3 user interface it only took about 15 minutes to have 4 basic patches together (heavy, medium crunch, moderate crunch, and clean). I like the simple placement and usage of the compressor/boost - that's very convenient.

The stomp box compressors are not that great - I *really* hate how they initially blast the signal when you kick them on and then settle in - this is not at all how any stompbox compressor I've every used works.

After using the Axe-FX and a Boss GT-10 for a while now the X3 is really an interesting gizmo - on the one hand it's pretty simple to get your head around all that it can do (particularly if you have used other Line 6 gizmos) - on the other hand, it is really lacking some routing features that Fractal and Roland make available. More and more I am convinced that the single thing that makes the Axe-FX kill the competition is the cabinet modeling. Line 6 does this better than Roland but they still aren't "there" yet with the X3. One thing the X3 could benefit from is some more advanced EQ features - in particular the ability to place it where you want it as well as having more than one per patch.

The delays on the X3 are nice. I didn't have much luck getting good reverb settings for a patch with a lot of gain. The tube screamer could use some more headroom. The choruses are nice - the defaults are a bit too syrupy for my tastes but they were easy to dial back. The Vibe is barely usable IMO - no surprise since the Line 6 vibe has always been bad. The flangers and phaser were also pretty good (again the defaults are a bit much but easy to fix).

[heretic]

Thanks for that write-up, hippietim. I'm looking at getting a 12ma soon, when they become available again. I've been a Line 6 user for over 10 years now, and for all its shortcomings, the X3 platform has the best UI for me. Until I can buy an Axe-Fx-in-a-pedal, that is...

For me the problem always was, what's the ideal live rig that can cover every situation in a compact package, and at a reasonable price point? It seems that
[Insert your modeler of choice] + FBT Verve finally gets very close to that goal.

[hippietim]

I need to plug the X3 into the 12ma - at this point I'm pretty confident that it'll sound pretty good.

Other than the Vetta head I had with the Line 6 2x12, this is the best I've ever heard a Line 6 rig sound. I think the X3 is a pretty good leap over the XT and the FBT speaker really can deliver the sound faithfully.

[re-animator]

I also really dig it for what it is. The x3 is an excellent utility piece. Cabinet modeling could be better, but I find that if you spend enough time with the Parametric EQ you can definitely get some more than passable sounds out of it. Just wish it didn't need that much initial tweaking. All is good now.

that said, i'm not ditching the amp anytime soon ;)

[Rock Johnson]

I think the X3 is a pretty good leap over the XT

I thought the modeling was all the same on the two versions?

[heretic]

I thought the modeling was all the same on the two versions?

Essentially, yes. There have been some minor tweaks in the recent firmware update, but the main improvements over XT are in the specs: I read somewhere that X3 has about 4 times the CPU power, runs at a faster clock rate. The converters are 24-bit/192kHz, and the internal processing is 48kHz (the XT platform native sample rate was something less than 40kHz).

[hippietim]

I thought the modeling was all the same on the two versions?

The fundamental sound seems like it's the same algorithms but the X3 sounds better than my XT ever did.

[Jarrett]

Can you give me some pointers. I just plugged my X3Live into my 8ma and it sounds awful. What are some good basic presets for it?

[hippietim]

Can you give me some pointers. I just plugged my X3Live into my 8ma and it sounds awful. What are some good basic presets for it?

You must have missed this:

One thing though, the X3 presets really suck. Hard.

I gave up on the presets right away. Just go to the user banks and start creating patches from scratch.

It is not going to sound as great as the Axe-FX but with tweaking you should be able get it to sound very good. I've only spent one short session tweaking so I've got some more to work on.

[Eagle1]

The fundamental sound seems like it's the same algorithms but the X3 sounds better than my XT ever did.
The algorithms are the same so why is it better?
I've A/B ed an XT and an X3 bean ,identical tone on identical settings.

[hippietim]

The algorithms are the same so why is it better?
I've A/B ed an XT and an X3 bean ,identical tone on identical settings.

I can't tell you for sure - I don't know the technical differences. But there are a lot of reasons two things rendering the same content can be different: better A/D and D/A converters, assuming there is an FPU involved - simply using one with better floating point precision can help, a faster CPU can help by reducing latency, etc. Plus who says they haven't fine tuned the algorithms?

[stratzrus]

I recently picked up an X3 to use as a back to my Axe-FX rig as well as a handy grab 'n go gizmo with FRFR speaker.

I finally got around to messing with the X3 last night with the 8ma. It sounds very good. This is definitely going to work well for grab 'n go. The 8ma delivers plenty of punch and the X3 sounds pretty smooth with it.
I plan to pick up an 8ma and already have an XTL and like the idea of having it for a grab and go option. I never really liked the XTL so I haven't used it much.

I know you like the X3 better, but is the difference significant enough that you would sell the XTL and upgrading to the X3 if it's only going to be used very infrequently?

[hippietim]

I plan to pick up an 8ma and already have an XTL and like the idea of having it for a grab and go option. I never really liked the XTL so I haven't used it much.

I know you like the X3 better, but is the difference significant enough that you would sell the XTL and upgrading to the X3 if it's only going to be used very infrequently?

I don't know if the upgrade would be worth it or not. Have you loaded your XTL with all the model packs? If you have then the X3 advantage is probably not so great. If you have not gotten the model packs, then it becomes a more interesting question because I think those will cost you $100 - and IIRC there were some good models missing from the stock XT.

[stratzrus]

Have you loaded your XTL with all the model packs? No, none of them actually.

That's a good thought though and worth considering. I'll wait until I get the 8ma and try it out, but if it isn't something I'd feel comfortable using as a backup, which is how I feel about it now, I may consider the X3 or another alternative.

Right now my backup is a Powerblock and a Zendrive, but I'd like more tonal options in a worst case scenario.

[Eagle1]

The X3 can do more(twin signal path & bass a vocal stuff) and it has all the model packs in it from the start but it is sonicaly identical nothing new, just a consolidation of what was already available.