I got back from lunch and shut the rig down. It still sounded tight, smooth lows and VERY punchy mids, and a nice high end that had a tendency towards brittleness. No shakes, rattles and rolls. Next step was to plug in the Pod. I installed and hooked up all my rack gear. Instead of rack rails I used 1x1 red oak strips in the rack portion to hold the rack screws, mainly because I'm cheap. I pre-drilled them and used 1 inch wood screws to mount the gear.
I powered everything up and started tweaking. For the maiden flight I used my number one guitar. A highly modified Bill Lawrence Swampkaster Tele. It's set up with a RioGrande Muy Grande Tele bridge pickup and a set of DiMarzio Class of '55 Strat pickups in the middle and neck positions. I also modded the wiring on this guitar for a 5-way switch and separate bass and treble controls and a chicken head volume knob.
After a quick tuning and a couple of strums I knew right away I need to start scooping out the mids using the mid control on the Pod. Alternately strumming and tweaking I started dialing in a decent sound. Having played open back or semi open back amps and cabinets for years I was apprehensive about the tone of the sealed and ported PA style cabinet. I did actually like the sound of the tight bottom end of the PA style cab. Using the Fender Bassman amp model I added the 2x12 cabinet model and guess what? I actually heard the tone of a 2x12 cabinet! Sweet. For the next hour I played with the Bassman, the Fender Twin reverb and the Class A-30 watt amp models. Awesome! Then for another hour I started dialing in the other parameters, mic'ing options, mic types, etc.
Bottom line... after a couple hours of playing and tweaking, I am VERY happy with the tone I am getting from this rig. To make the new cab start to resonate, adding it's on personality to the mix and representative of sealed back cabs you have to drive it harder than open back cabs, much to the chagrin of my neighbors. But overall I like the way the project turned out. The clean high fidelity reproduction of the actual tone the Pod outputs is definitely a goal worth pursuing! Since it was built from scrap material and leftover paint I only have about $22 in the whole project for the MDF and the casters. The 70/80 speaker turned out to sound pretty decent after all. It's not perfect but it's nothing the amp tone controls on the Pod can't handle. And never once did I have to touch the Pod's graphic eq.
I like it. I like the way it turned out. The tone, as always, is a work in progress but I am definitely happy with the results so far. They are very promising. If you want to get the optimum tone from your Digital Guitar Rig try this route. I think you'll be happy with the end product... TONE!
BTW, UPS just delivered the Eminence Delta-Lite II! I may have to write one more sound critter installment...
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