And the winner is… PODxt Live!

So here’s what I just spent $$$ on:

• 36 amp models (vintage & modern, Fenders, Marshalls, Vox, etc.)
• 24 cabinet models with 4 mic models
• 80+ stompbox and studio effects, including everything from my DL-4 Delay Modeler (we’re talking distortion pedals, fuzz, chorus, synth, flangers, phasers, compressors, reverbs, and stuff I can’t even describe)
• Built-in tuner
• Built-in expression pedal, plus a jack for a second expression pedal
• Way too many options and combinations. If you do the math, you’ll find that there isn’t enough time in a person’s life to play with every single possible combination of models in the PODxt. That’s a little depressing.

Already I’ve configured custom presets for my Yamaha AEX500, including a schweet sounding acoustic patch using the piezo pickup. I’ve also slowly begun the work of finding distortions that fit my tastes using the Gibson Les Paul. I made a couple patches based on the guitar sounds from Polaris by Jimmy Eat World, and that wasn’t too hard. It was pretty cool actually.

I’m just glad I don’t have a Variax Guitar (yet), otherwise I would be having to set a guitar model for each preset, and not just gate, compression, stompbox model, delay model, modulation model, amp model, cab model, mic model, EQ model and reverb model. If I did eventually get a Variax, I could choose a preset on the PODxt Live, and I could suddenly be playing a ’72 Fender Tele through a ’58 tweed Fender Bassman (which was a combo with a 4×10 cab), mic’d up with an off-axis Shure 57, and on the floor would be a Boss CE-1 Chorus Ensemble pedal, a Big Muff Pi, and a Deluxe Memory Man delay pedal. The very next second, I could be using a ’52 Gibson Les Paul through a ’66 Marshall JTM-45 (you know, before the Marshall scroll logo), a ’67 Marshall 4×12 Basketweave cab mic’d up with a Neumann U-67, and on the floor would be a ProCo Rat, a Vox Wah pedal, and a Uni-Vibe.

Even without the guitar model change, that’s just sick. Speaking of, I’m gonna go play with that Rat.