POD Programming

(might turn this into a post at some point…)

Overview of How to get some Edginess out of your POD

First thing I have to say about the POD is that the default sounds that come with it don’t work well for me cranked up through an amp. They probably better suited to sound wow in a music shop but I find the effects mixed too wet to use with a live band.

Seeing as U2 have already recorded the songs, I am mostly trying to get live tones out of my sounds for our shows. The original sounds are not as distorted or big/loud as what I do, but I am intentionally trying to fill up many layers of guitars and keyboard with only one played part on each song.

The Footswitch (SBV Shortboard)

I am sure most people use the footswitch to jump between patches and the POD is very responsive without any delays doing this. My technique is to try and build a patch that has everything within it for an entire song so that I can just turn things on and off rather than jump patches. We have sequencers which the drummer controls at shows and my POD is hooked up via MIDI, but I can tap dance if I have to.

Comp – On most of my patches I use this setting with zero threshold and +4db gain as a boost switch for solos.

Stomp – Distortion on/off. Depending on the song, the underlying amp setting is either clean or slightly crunchy. Some songs have the stomp on the whole time. I also sometimes use this to have two different distortion tones on one patch.

Mod – Used for select special sounds. The Leslie Cabinet sound is my favorite so that’s what’s in there unless a song requires something else.

Delay – This is researched and programmed for each song as close as I can get to either the original recording or the live version we are referring to with our arrangement. Where possible I time the delays to our click track to keep them in synch, although its nice sometimes to be intentionally off with the delay to give extra depth to the sound (don’t tell the rest of the band!).

Reverb – I have it on or off, but rarely remember what it should be set at as I can’t hear it over the natural reverb of a room, plus monitors, plus PA. I have a basic warm reverb not too much programmed into most patches, and use it to fill out certain songs that call for lots of delay. I recommend mix the reverb low to give your tones space. The one exception to this relatively dry setup is that I use the Cavernous reverb effect to somewhat model the “shimmer” effect the real Edge uses, but this is a fudge and not too authentic in my opinion.  Update 8/11/08: Just bought the POD Verbzilla that is specifically designed to replace what I was copying with the Cavernous effect so my patches are about to change again.

Wah/Volume – I use the volume as an on off switch. Its either full up or full down, or broken when I have wah’d too much and wobbled the bolts off underneath (easy to fix). The wah I use like a regular wah and you have to get used to leaving it fully up when you turn it off. When I first started using the POD I kept turning the sound off each time I used the wah cause I would instinctively pull back the pedal when releasing it…

I have noticed that the pedal does not like getting wet. Rain, beer and water all turn it into a piece of mush as useful as Metal Mickey until you dry it out. I have watched the crowd smash beer glasses on it and had our Bono jump on it from a great height with his bloody big boots so its pretty sturdy as long as you keep it dry.

Amp Settings and Delay “Quick Start”

Here is how to get started playing U2 really quickly from scratch with a POD:

1. Plug your guitar directly into your amp and get a nice clean tone going at a volume you prefer.

2. Plug in the POD and setup an empty “all effects off” patch and balance it to the clean tone in from the amp. This will give you a reference for all your effects so you don’t scare the crowd with your +20db increase in volume when you change patches.

3. Turn the amp model to AC30 and program in a sweet warm distortion, not too much breakup, but enough to crunch when you hit the strings hard, and clean when you hit them light. Balance this volume to the clean sound.

4. Set compression to 0 threshold and +4db gain. Then turn it off, this is your boost for solos.

5. Ignore the MOD switch, we are in quick start mode. If you are interested, go through each MOD effect and think how cool each one is. Then turn it back off.

6. Setup the stereo delay with about 30-40% mixed to the dry sound. The louder your amp is the less delay you need. Keep the feedback down to about 1-1/2 to 2 repeats. Copy the patch you have just created three times, then set up the delays into 220ms, 330ms and 440ms. I probably mix less delay than the real Edge on most songs, because I want to hint at it, without needing to be mechanically tied to the repeats.

Now, get the CD’s out and start learning the songs. You can fake most of them with the above settings. The oldest songs, use the 220ms and then choose between 330ms and 440ms for the audible best fit. To be honest, I could play about 50% of our show with the 440ms patch (included in my POD patches section). The other patches are for signature tones that color the effect and make it sound like I am doing lots of POD programming in my spare time…

Once you have learned how to play the songs start customizing the tones (or download some of mine).  I keep coming back to the originals and re-tweaking these patches, so this is an ongoing works in progress.