ok so i went to sound control and tried:
tonelab
GT-8
Pod xt live
all through headphones this time to get an idea of their full modelling capabilities- not through an amp.
firstly, the tonelab....
peoples recommendations of the tonelab for crunchy lower-gain settings were immediately apparent... nice stuff... pretty good but the higher gain settings were limited and not great.... im not saying they were cr@p though cause they definately werent... just lacked that 'something'...
cleans were good as you may expect although the operation (although meant to be really simple) was actually a bit awekward- buttons were flashing not staying on/off and the channel (clean/distortion) kept changing when i didnt want it to....
also, i managed to knock one of the 'chicken-head' style knobs off within about 30 seconds of using the machine....
next the POD..... sounds were much more full.... operation= super easy because there are no channels like the vox (and boss actually) there are just patches which are either clean/distortion so theres no confusion with switchin or selecting a certain amp type with knobs or dials.... you just use your feet to select everything which is cool...
distortion sounds (particularly higher gain) were better... more realistic, although the vox's crunch was still more valve-like and than the POD's and probably won on that point.... cleans were good and were never too harsh or muddy... everything crisp and clear for the most part...
that may have been a bit one sided but i didnt give the vox as much of a try as i would have liked.... maybe because i just wasnt into it that much i dunno... i may give it another test soon...
so i dont think theres as much of a tone difference in terms of quality, as i may have made out above...
next- GT-8.... at first.... sounds a bit muddy... but a fair bit fuller than the POD- fatter.... some sounds were harsh and some unclear... so began to tweak the EQ and amp models a little.... this made MASSIVE differences and things were improved easily... within a couple of mins of playing with an effect i got a nice metalish tone... just with my basic knowledge that metal requires less mids and more treble... so someone with more mixing skill could do a lot better.... cleans were nice too.... i think in general the POD's sounds were actually more 'life-like' than the GT-8's but the difference is the tweaking..... there really is a HUGE difference....
like i said, the editing on the boss changed things A LOT whereas even drastic EQ adjustments on the POD didnt do a great deal.....
this is where the dilemna is- get the boss hoping that with its editing capabilities ill be able to get LOADS of great sounds.... or go with the POD and hope that its relatively few (i know theres a lot but compared to the GT-8 its nothing) sounds will keep me satisfied....
at the moment my hearts with the POD but im gonna give them another test....
dont really know why i posted this lol
