Ease of Use
The Line 6 multi effect pedal is a one of the most easy-to-use multi effect pedals on the market. However, it’s hard to achieve your desired tone out of it. It’s best to experiment with various amp/stomp box combinations and try out various EQ settings to get the tone you’re looking for. The patches are easy to edit; simply select the amp model, the cabinet, the microphone model and its distance from the amp. Then you select the stomp box model (overdrive or distortion), the modulation effect (phaser, chorus, flanger…), and the delay setting. You have 32 channels and each one has four channel memories (A B C D). So you have 128 total presets. Flipping between the channels is done with the bank buttons, and choosing a channel memory is done with it’s corresponding button, so it’s not complicated at all. Once you’re done, you just press the SAVE button to store a preset, and you’re good to go. I usually prefer editing my presets using the Line 6 Edit software available for free at www.line6.com. The manual explains how to work with this pedal, and describes the amps and effects in it. Although it’s clear, it wasn’t very useful since the pedal is very straightforward and doesn’t really require a manual.
-
Sound
The sounds are great, but the high-gain amp models like the Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier, and the Marshall JCM800 tend to get a bit noisy, but the noise-gate takes care of that problem. Most of the amp models in it are great, depending on the tone you’re looking for. The stomp box models are pretty good as well, and I really favored the Screamer (Based on the Ibanez Tubescreamer pedal). I normally use it as a boost for the solos. I play everything from death metal, black metal, progressive, shred, blues, even jazz and funk occasionally, and the PODxt Live is amazing for nearly every genre of music you want to play. Even the Wah models sound close to the real ones they’re based on. Some of the presets that came with it are useful in giving you an idea on how you want to shape your sound. One thing I also like to do is set the expression to modify the Flanger time which gives weird alien sounds, but that’s just for kicks. I also liked the Bender effect (Based on the the Digitech Whammy). I was able to dial in a decent Iron Maiden Setting, as well as John Petrucci lead setting, but unfortunately I wasn’t able to save the latter because my friend unplugged the pedal by accident.
-
Reliability
The pedal is built from metal so it could really take beating, but I haven’t dropped it so far because I try to take good care of my gear. The expression pedal is pretty sturdy and smooth and can handle quite a lot of weight, but I wouldn’t recommend putting all your weight on it. Although I haven’t used it live, my friend has done so and ended up getting his own one.
-
Overall Impression
As I mentioned before, I play a various styles and this thing is built for almost everything. When I got, I had been looking for one of these pedals for about a year. When I took it home I was shocked with how amazing the sounds in it were. If something happened to it, I’d buy another one instantly because it has everything a guitarist would want and more. I was not sure whether to get this or a Boss GT-6 but after comparing both pedals, it was clear that the XT Live is better. I like how it’s easy to use, and how you can update it via the Internet and download tones for it online. There’s nothing I dislike about this pedal, it’s simply amazing. I only wish it had 2 expression pedals so I could use one as a Wah/volume and the other as a Whammy pedal. But it’s no big deal. I would recommend it for guitarists that play any style, especially metal. It’s guaranteed to deliver.
