[thor von clemson]

I need all you low tuned 7 stringers' advice. I recently came across some really nice studio monitors that were too good to pass up. I plugged my POD XTL into them and gave them a test run with my baritone in drop A.. HOLY CRAP They sound amazing. Some of the warmest and purest metal tones I have ever heard and I did not have to change any of the settings on my XTL from my live/rehearsal rig. I had to go from amp to direct, but thats it. It is a perfect setup for home studio and writing applications.

My concern is how do I translate that into a live setting? I sold my powerblock recently so I am in need of a new poweramp. I have a pretty good 2x12 cab. I did not like the powerblock because when I turn myself up during rehearsal and gigs I lost a lot of warmth. It was just loud noise.
Without sparking any sort of SS vs. tube poweramp debate, would a tube poweramp help me out? I have heard some of them tend to warm up your tone very well and some of them color it horribly.

Would a 4x12 cab help? A few people have suggested the Behringer cabs because they are inexpensive and can handle a lot of power.

I do not know if there is a way to replicate the exact same sound I am getting in the studio, but that is my goal.

Help..TVC

[Mind Riot]

Running it through a guitar cab, whether it's powered by a tube or solid state power amp, will not get you the same sound. The cab will be adding a large amount of coloration to the tone regardless of the power amp used to drive it. It's what it's for, cabs and speakers are a huge part of guitar sound, and if you throw one into the mix with a PODxt, you'll have to redo your sounds taking that new factor into account.

I think the closest way you'll get that live is by running the POD through a PA cab. I've though about going this route myself, but I'm a studio rat. You can get self powered PA cabs from a number of makers, and you could just run the POD straight into it.

[thor von clemson]

The only live rig I have had any luck with is a Line 6 Flextone II HD head into my cab. I spent many hours tweaking the sound and eventually I found something I really liked. I can not afford to go out and buy a Mesa or ENGL or whatever, and since I like line 6 stuff anyways and I have had lots of luck with the flextone, I am thinking maybe I should just get another one of those and spend some time tweaking; using it for live and rehearsal and the XTL for recording.

Otherwise, I could buy a Carvin TS100 ( I think that is the model. It is the mirrored lookin thing and it is pretty new) for about the same price new. I have not heard much about them except carvin stuff in general is pretty good. I would like to start building a rack anyways.

Any ideas?

[darren]

If you like how it sounds through a set of studio monitors, you should get yourself a compact PA system. Guitar rigs reproduce guitar frequencies really well, but if you like the sound of a full-range studio monitor system, duplicating that on a larger scale might be a better way to go.

[thor von clemson]

Darren-

That is pretty much what I would like to do, except with guitar stuff if possible. I am wondering if the right combination of poweramp with some rack goodies would work? I know my cab responds well to various guitar heads but I have never tried different preamp/poweramp combinations.

I would like to use my XTL as a preamp so I am thinking a rack poweramp with some other things would be ideal....

Of course there will always have to be some tweaking when going from direct to amp. Maybe I should start a new thread called "build me a rack to replicate my studio tone" or something like that....