Martin McDowell's Blog

I had the opportunity to sample a great studio-grade professional foot pedal from a company called Line6. The machine is called a POD XT Live and was lent to me for a few days by a friend. On the website the POD XT Live is described as an »uncomplicated, gig-ready tone machine that’s portable and adaptable to different real world stage and recording environments«.

Well, it is truly impressive and quite complicated to a novice like myself. My first task given to me was to read through the manual which, I must say, is not exactly a pocket edition. OK, it’s not War and peace but it DOES have about 190 pages!! Luckily there is a Quick start guide for those who »don’t need no stinking manual«

It has loads of different connections which I won’t even try to describe in fear of sounding stupid – you pros will know them anyway and if you don’t, see the Line 6 website. It does have standard output/input sockets, Variax socket and even a USB socket to connect the whole thing to a PC. Sorry all Linux users as the software is for Windows and Mac users only. Shame on Line 6, I just hope the Wine will be able to run it successfuly.

Confirming the pro-esness of this machine are the artists that use it. There are: Garbage, U2′s The Edge, Radiohead, Nine inch nails, Keane, Green day, Jamiroquai, Muse, Slipknot, Kaiser chiefs and many more.

Image courtesy of Line6.com