ERVersa-JCM - a POD preset with some kick ;-)

Ok. Well I've done a lot of twiddling with the POD over the last year, but this time I decided to actually make something out of it instead of just enjoying the ear-candy all by myself. I started playing around with the POD JCM800 amp model along with the Marshall 4x12 slant cab. The JCM is really a nice amp... hey Lenny Kravitz uses it (or used to use it before he got the Line6 Amp Farm version), right? Seriously, it really sounds great with little effort, as opposed to some of the other amp models like the Vox, the Dumble, etc., which need a great deal of tweaking to make them sing. I find two hurdles with the JCM for my guitar playing and style:

• The JCM has a LOT of gain compared to amps I'm used to
• The JCM is very responsive to playing style - a good thing - but can be a liability for a "dig the strings and go for it" approach (my normal one)

The one thing that I don't like about the POD JCM800 model (and probably a real JCM800) is that sometimes I find it sounding a little too harsh, or lacking warmth. Possibly, it's because I'm playing too hard, but nonetheless, the feeling creeps in now and again. This is all a matter of personal taste and opinion. The POD JCM800 seriously rocks tho', and when I want to just sit and jam with the POD, there's no quicker or eaiser model in the POD to do it with.

Ok, enough about the pseudo-bad stuff and on to the good-stuff.

People on the POD-Users mailing list have noted just how responsive the amp is to picking and how you can lay off a get a cleaned-up sound or you can dig in and get more crunch. Well, this is the plain truth. You can really take advantage of it. With a heavy pick attack, the JCM overdrive almost acts like a compressor, but in a "good" way. You can get so much variation in tone by this amp model's responsiveness to pick attack that you'll be in heaven! Geeeez, the reason I dig so much is because my old Peavey Classic 50 needed every bit of pick-ooomph you could muster to get even close to the pick dynamics you can get without even trying on the JCM model.

Now for the ER Versa-JCM preset itself. Grab it on the main page, open it in Sound Diver and take a look.

Here's a description of ER Versa-JCM settings... you can just dial them in if you like:

• JCM800 amp model
• Marshall 4x12 slant cab
• Drive Boost ON
• Distortion OFF (by default but enable it for solos if desired)
• Presence Boost ON
• Bass: around 9 o'clock
• Middle: around 12 o'clock
• Treble: around 9 o'clock
• Reverb: a lasting reverb but not very deep (POD's reverb could use help)
• Effects Config: Delay
• Effect tweak (delay depth): around 2-3 o'clock
• AIR: about 65% or to taste (make sure the AIR switch is set to "Direct")

Okay back to Earth... how do you get it to sound better? Well, there's a few places that you can twiddle to make a nice difference. One of the most dramatic is the Delay settings. Leave the Coarse at 0, the Fine is at 30 but you can vary it from 10 to 50 and each different number changes the sound of the big stereo image. I varied it throughout the samples below (unfortunately I didn't write the numbers down... grrrrr). Also, the Delay Level (which is around 45 in the preset) can be varied to 50 or even 55 to really make it WIDE (careful, it might clip)! Or you can reduce it to get a less dramatic effect (less? why? less is more? ;-). The second place for tweaking is the Drive knob. Turn it down to 10 o'clock to get more of a nice overdriven Plexi sound, and turn it up to 1 or 2 o'clock for more hot-wired distortion. Also, use the Distortion Boost to place your "solo" tone relative to your "rhythm" tone. The third place to tweak is the tone knobs, mainly Middle for my Strat. It has a very positive effect with minimal searching needed.

Here's some samples I made, which Strat pickup I used (all knobs on the Strat were wide open), and what I tweaked:

Sample	Pickup	Tweak
Back In Black 1	Bridge pickup	Slightly reduced Middle A little extra Bass As many POD settings as I've tried to cop this tone, this is the closest thing I've found yet. It's not bad!
Back In Black 2	Bridge pickup	Slightly reduced Middle A little extra Bass
I Know A Little	Middle pickup	Slightly boosted Middle Slightly boosted Treble Drive set around 10 o'clock Who would have thought that this setup could produce a decent Skynyrd tone?
Rock and Roll is Dead	Bridge pickup	Slightly reduced Drive Slightly reduced Middle Go Lenny!
Whole Lotta Rosie	Bridge pickup	Slightly reduced Middle Drive set around 10-11 o'clock
Slow Ride	Bridge pickup	Delay depth increased to around 53 Picked a pleasing value for Fine delay somewhere around 37 (play with it)
Testify	Middle pickup	Delay depth reduced a little Go Stevie!
Tunnel Vision	Middle pickup	Delay Fine adjusted Delay Level reduced a little
Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)	Middle pickup (I think ;-)	Drive reduced a little Distortion Boost ON A little extra Middle Get nasty!

The main thing: HAVE FUN!!! The POD JCM800 model just might be the thing to do the trick for you!

Well, that's all for this edition of EddieRay Goes Off... Please let me know if this was useful in any way!