POD Patches – Guitar World (February 2008)

Every month I try to write some cool POD patches to go along with my subscription to Guitar World. This month I was a bit busy with the holidays so I only did one tone, but I think it is killer! A few of the transcriptions are for songs that aren’t very extrodinary tonally or are played acoustically. I just was not inspired to play through those songs and/or write patches for them this month. Maybe I’ll make up for it next month. These are billed as POD patches but will work on any Line 6 that has the appropriate amp models. I have also uploaded a bundle you can use to load the tones into your X3 using version 1.21 of Line 6 Monkey. I did some sound samples so you can hear the patch in action.

Metallica – Ride the Lightning

Song Sample

Ride the Lightning – POD X3 sound clip – without backing track

• Output Mode: Match Studio/Direct
• Amp 1 panned 9 o’clock, Amp 2 panned 3 o’clock

• Amp 1 Gate: Thresh -55dB, Decay0%
• Amp 1 : 1985 Cali Crunch (Mesa Boogie Mark II-C+), Room 61%, Cab 4×12 Celestion V30, Mic 57 off axis
• Amp 1 Controls: Bass 25%, Mid 18%, Treble 82%, Pres 87%, Drive 74%, Vol 71%
• Amp 1 Stomp: Screamer (Ibanez Tube Screamer), Drive 30%, Gain 59%, Tone 58%
• Amp 1 EQ: Lo -4.0dB at 50Hz, Lo Mid -2.2dB at 330Hz, Hi Mid +2.2dB at 2.1kHz, Hi FLAT
• Amp 1 Reverb: Small Room, Predelay 63%, Decay 37%, Tone 69%, Mix 34%, Config Post

• Amp 2 Gate: Thresh -55dB, Decay0%
• Amp 2 : 1985 Cali Crunch (Mesa Boogie Mark II-C+), Room 61%, Cab 4×12 Celestion V30, Mic 57 on axis
• Amp 2 Controls: Bass 21%, Mid 22%, Treble 79%, Pres 83%, Drive 74%, Vol 71%
• Amp 2 Stomp: Screamer (Ibanez Tube Screamer), Drive 30%, Gain 59%, Tone 51%
• Amp 2 EQ: Lo -4.0dB at 50Hz, Lo Mid -3.0dB at 260Hz, Hi Mid +1.4dB at 1.9kHz, Hi FLAT
• Amp 2 Reverb: Small Room, Predelay 63%, Decay 37%, Tone 69%, Mix 37%, Config Post

Notes: I had a lot of fun tweaking this sound. Metallica continue to be one of my favorite metal bands of all time. I tried to really capture the low budget sound of their early recordings with the patch. At this time James Hetfield was still using a stompbox in front of his amp and I’ve duplicated that signal chain here. I once read an interview where he said, “Ride was the last time I used a stompbox in front of my amp and I will never do it again.” I’m not sure if he has lived up to that but it is a memorable quote. This preset is a dual tone setup but you will notice both amps are set up with only subtle differences. The idea was to capture the sound of a cranked stack where the top and bottom cabs were miked a bit different, or to capture that double tracked vibe where each track was miked a bit different. Pick your own interpretation but either way I think you can listen to my sound samples and agree it worked out for the better!

Ibanez UV777 price check I used my ’98 Ibanez Universe for tweaking the Ride the Lightning patch. I broke a string right when I went to record the clips. Rather than slow down to put on a new string, I grabbed my ’90 Ibanez Universe (the white model) to do the recording. Even though I favor the ’98 and its super jumbo frets, the ’90 was like going home again. Everything was instantly familiar. The frets have been practically played right off the guitar so it is a good thing this riff stays pretty low on the neck to avoid the massive intonation problems!

DiMarzio Blaze price check Both my ’98 and ’90 Universe guitars have the stock Dimarzio Blaze pickups in them. In spite of this they sound ever so slightly different. The ’90 is just a bit more tame. I attribute this to aging but who knows. In blind A-B tests I can not tell the two guitars apart but the difference is astounding in their response while playing them. This is much like not being able to tell the difference between tubes and digital models on a recording but you can tell the difference instantly while playing.

Line 6 Monkey bundle for POD X3

X3 Bundle
The patch is in location 26A

Line 6 POD X3 price check	Line 6 POD X3 LIVE price check
Line 6 POD X3 Pro price check