• Registered: 2010-08-16
  • Posts: 8

Topic: POD X3 Live - Joe Bonamassa Tone

Hey Everyone,

i own a pod x3 live and it has all of the amp tones necessary to recreate Bonamassa's tone:

Marshall 1987 Jubilee (w/optional analog delay)
Marshall 1968 Super lead/Bogner Ecstasy (w/fuzz face)
Dumble OD Special (w/slap back)
Fender Twin (Set bright with chorus to emulate Carol-Ann)

Remember: the POD X3 live has the ability to emulate the sound of two amps being played at once. This technique will be necessary to achieve this tone.

Garrett

Guitar: Gibson Les Paul Studio (Faded cherry)
Pedal(s): Pod X3 Live (amp modeling); Boss DS-1 (self mod); Voodoo Lab Sparkle Drive
Amp: All-tube (4 EL84) Crate Vintage Club 30 (made in St. Louis, MO)
Picks: Dunlop Jazz IIIs; Dunlop Tortex
  • From: Florida, USA
  • Registered: 2008-06-04
  • Posts: 1,420

Re: POD X3 Live - Joe Bonamassa Tone

I'd be very interested to hear your take on Joe's sounds with the POD if you don't mind sharing them.

'67 and '74 Fender Twin Reverbs, '74 Marshall 1987 lead mkII, Metro Superlead 100. Pedals from TC Electronic, Ibanez, Dunlop, BK Butler, Electro-Harmonix, Fulltone, Maestro/Gibson, Loopmaster switching, VoodooLab, Boss. Gibson and Fender guitars, Dimarzio pickups.
  • From: N.Wales, UK
  • Registered: 2009-03-06
  • Posts: 2,183

Re: POD X3 Live - Joe Bonamassa Tone

Can I just throw this mildly related video I saw the other day...he seems to be using a $100 Korg handheld M.FX with an Xotic BB pre-amp and the much hailed Palmer S.S...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xN1-gQsHrMo&fmt=18

...he's a great player and that is not a half bad tone! Doesn't quite have the clear, clean cut of an amp and does smooth out mistakes slightly - but I'm surprised.

I know some of these fx units can get to great pro-sounds, especially something like the Axe-FX...but I just couldn't sit down with one - I won't have an amp near me that has more than half a dozen controls - 3eqs, preamp, vol...that'll do.

I'd also like to hear these clips.

4 Reply by Garrett1234 (edited by Garrett1234 2010-08-18 13:32:32)

  • Registered: 2010-08-16
  • Posts: 8

Re: POD X3 Live - Joe Bonamassa Tone

Sure,

I have 3 presets:

1. Jubilee+Marshall Super lead (or) Bogner Ecstasy:
The Bogner sound is similar to the Bogner he used to have in his rig. If I use the Super Lead, I'll put a tube screamer in front of it to emulate the gain/mid boost on his Cat 5 JB-100 (the Bogner has enough gain as is). I put a bypassed tube screamer in front of the Jubilee to give me that option with that amp, as well.

2. Jubilee+Dumble:
Dumble has a slap back (200ms) analog-sounding delay that is always on. Along with a tube screamer to give it a little more gain and bring the mids forward. It runs into Celestion Vintage 30s (4X12). I added a bypassed MXR type phaser, as well.

3. Jubilee+Carol-Ann:
The amp i use for the Carol-Ann sound is the Twin Reverb running through Vintage 30s (4X12). Set with alot of presense and treble. And the overdrive comes from a Pro Co Rat Pedal with drive and gain set at 1:00 and tone set at 0. Chorus is the Dimension chorus with mix set at 12:00.

The Jubilee sound is the same throughout all presets:
Bypassed Tube screamer, and tremolo.
I also put bypassed delays in front of both amps.
For Jubilee: Analog Boss type delay is set at a tap tempo dotted eighth note with all other knobs at 12:00, except for mix (put that at around 11:00).
And for all other amps use that same delay just set at a slight slap back with minimal feedback. Again, these are all bypassed except for the Dumble delay.

For reverbs, i use the cavernous setting and also the spring reverb in the POD.

I run my pod into a Crate Vintage Club 30.

Overall, it sounds pretty good. Definitely not as good as the real thing, but a good sounding setup nonetheless.

Garrett

Guitar: Gibson Les Paul Studio (Faded cherry)
Pedal(s): Pod X3 Live (amp modeling); Boss DS-1 (self mod); Voodoo Lab Sparkle Drive
Amp: All-tube (4 EL84) Crate Vintage Club 30 (made in St. Louis, MO)
Picks: Dunlop Jazz IIIs; Dunlop Tortex

5 Reply by Fuzzblues (edited by Fuzzblues 2010-08-21 03:08:29)

  • From: Scotland
  • Registered: 2009-02-11
  • Posts: 453

Re: POD X3 Live - Joe Bonamassa Tone

I used to be a POD man through and through but found I would tweak and tweak and tweak and then tweak some more. I loved how versatile the setup was but like I said i couldn't resist tinkering. The options are great but there are just too many. I have thought about going down the POD route again a few times but I'm scared i get sucked into tinkering too much again. I sit somewhere in the middle now, my go to amp is a Fender super champ xd. My guitar brain tells me that my blues junior or marshall class 5 should be better but I get along with the XD so well. Turn the voice nob and you have (or at least I do) a tone in the right ballpark for different styles.

Please don't post demos of your bonamassa tones, I'll just end up wanting to change gear again.

  • Registered: 2010-08-16
  • Posts: 8

Re: POD X3 Live - Joe Bonamassa Tone

Haha!

I play in a church band, so i don't really use my JB tone live.  When i play live i usually just use an amp model, reverb, and delay in the POD. I can relate to the tweaking problem.  I used to tweak my tones so much that by the time i stopped tweaking, I had totally ruined my tone. HAHA!

Garrett

Guitar: Gibson Les Paul Studio (Faded cherry)
Pedal(s): Pod X3 Live (amp modeling); Boss DS-1 (self mod); Voodoo Lab Sparkle Drive
Amp: All-tube (4 EL84) Crate Vintage Club 30 (made in St. Louis, MO)
Picks: Dunlop Jazz IIIs; Dunlop Tortex