GT8 vs podXTlive

Would love to hear any views out there on the following:-

GT8 vs PODxt live

There are plenty of forum discussion on both the machines. Understandably they are the 2 hottest effects pedals right now. Both earning great approvals from guitarist worldwide. However, despite the many post on the topic, I didn't find many that were particularly helpful. There are a few that was good but most were very hyped up. Near Godlike worship on either machines. Then, there were the other reviews that swinged to the other extreme.

By the way, the frequent visit on all these forums really make me 'gian' for more gadgets. It's that call that every guitarist hears:- the ultimate tone quest.

I asked a couple of friends what they think of the machines

Johann - I got my GT3 about 5 years ago when they first came out... and I am still using it for gigs now. It doesn't sound as good as analog pedals, and probably doesn't sound as good as the newer digital modelling units. The delay and reverb are more than good enough for me, and I use pedals for my overdrive and wah sounds.

It's a great little "gigkit in a suitcase", and by all acounts the GT6 is an incremental improvement, and the GT8 an improvement on that. The GT8's dual-amp modelling sounds like a fantastic idea.

I've never gotten a good feel from the PODs, although the POD XT does sound pretty good recorded. I still prefer to have some tubes in my signal chain if possible though


Dennis- He says he won't be going for the XTL at all. However, after a long time of chatting, I feel that this dude is more inclined on the GT8.


Timmy- A season rock player, who's into fusion now. I find his playing hard rocking still. He's got an awesome 'rock' tone and currently uses a LesPaul custom with the XT and the Long FBV. This boy is really enjoying his toys. Was playing in church with me last week and he totally cut through the mix.


Matt- Matthew's just happy with his GT6 now.


When Matt lent me his GT6 for a couple of weeks last year I was really impressed with it. The only problem I had with it was that it still sounded digital to me. It has that 'digital' fuzz no matter how I tweak it. When I hear Matt using it, same thing. Here, there's no substitute for anolog stompboxes i feel. Not yet at least, there will come a time when digital tech would beat it but now's not the time.

Then came line6 and POD. My church just brought in the Flextone 3 a couple months back, and I think I'm the only one using all the on board cabs and amps. I am really happy about the tone and sound that I'm getting out from it, from hard to warm, flex3 just works. I'm using a Godin LGX with 3 mini buckers by the way. When I heard timmy with his PODxt, I was quite sure the XTL is for me. The different tone one gets from that tiny box is unbelievable.

Then came the GT8. (Decisions decisions.....) hehehe...

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I had the pleasure of testing out the GT8 last saturday. It was a raining afternoon so the music shop was deserted. There isn't a better time to test out a hot gadget! I had 1 hour of uninterrupted time with it. I tested it with a Yamaha Pacifica (didn't see the model, 2nd hand about rm400) and a Marshall MG50FX (I think). I plugged it in thru the input of the amp and set everything to 12 o clock...

I had a great time just playing there in the shop. The hour felt like only 5 minutes :) The GT8 is not only well build - it's a tank! it's easy to use and sounded great. I was going through the preset effects without tweaking and they already sounded great. Lots of usable sound. The dual settings are cool to have and the solo button is useful. Most importantly to me was that it is a marked improvement from GT6 in terms of sound (very important to me) . It even had a 'PAD' effect that I found interesting. Not sure if it was there in GT6 but I bet it'll give the keyboardist a run if i started padding FOR them. To me, the preset distortions are much 'clearer' now and I feel i could use them straight out from the box for gigs. With more time to tweak, I'm sure I'd be able to get more juice out from the box.

Overall, I found the GT8 really really nice. I haven't try out the XTL yet but I'm sure it would be difficult to beat the GT8. At the price of rm1899, I suppose you can say it's 'reasonably' but I'm sure many ladies out there will differ with me. It's all about perspective I say, if you compare that to some boutique setups, rm1899 is really cheap!

Once again, I believe BOSS has set the standard for the guitar multi-effects market.

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Finally, months after my gt8 test, I got to test out the POD xtl. I've decided to appendit to this entry because it simply made more sense to read both reviews together.

I tested out xtl at CK music. It was plugged directly into the mixer into speakers (i dunno what brand). The mixers eq are all at 12-o clock so no eq is done at all. Sounds are directly from the xtl to the speakers. guitar used is a jackson- JJCST.

The XTL was slightly bigger than i thought it was as compared in the pictures. It also seem to have less 'dials' and buttons to tweak as compared to the GT8. Things are neatly arranged on the XTL. Though the unit looks tough, the buttons looks a little more fragile compared to the 'tank feel' of the GT8.

The XTL sounds good. I mean really good. If GT8 sounds better as many forums has reported, I don't feel that that XTL is very far behind. I played the famous starting riff to 'for the love of God' (along with the minus 1, I'll explain later) and it sounded amazing close to the real thing. For the couple of seconds, I felt like I was vai. So really, in my opinion, the XTL isn't far behind in terms of sound quality wise.

However the GT8 does have more effects and other edgier stuff compared to the XTL. No solo button, no dual channels, no synth, no many things that the GT8 has. What it does have however are the line6 cabs and amps and a lot of useful and good effects. Nothing fancy, but enough, in my opinion.

On the other hand, for ease of use and a more 'plug and play' convenience, the XTL emerge as a clear winner between the two. I know i said that GT8 is easy to use, but the XTL is even more so. Like plain white paper , anyone with 2 hands and 1/2 a brain can do it. XTL also comes with this pc software and you can do your tweaking from the pc and saves it. Which makes things not only cool (im holding back) and really easy to use. I was adjusting most of the sound from the software during testing instead of doing it from the board.

The pc software also allows you to play a track from your pc so that yuo can play along with it. Kinda like a guitar-karaoke. Which is really cool for practice.

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So my final choice of an effect would be inclined to XTL because it's

1) easy to use. I decided that I'm not such a good tweaker and I also don't have the time to learn about it nor read the manual. The pc

2) cheaper. I can't tell you how much I can get the XTL for, but quite a bit cheaper than the GT8.

3) Sound wise it's really good in my opinion. Though GT8 has a lot more effects, I feel that I really don't need them in my gigs. Just good basics will do.