Acoustic Tones

UST-Full+Strum Support.l6t

This is a 'Dual Tone'
Here's a great patch for full strumming acoustic rhythm playing. It was created on a Taylor 314CE w/a stock Fishman UST pickup. The onboard EQ was set flat, volume at 12 o'clock. The concept was to take a full-bodied bodied brighter patch with lots of nuance, and blend it with a more ambiant patch. Tone 2 (aptly named "Strum Support") does not sound all that great by itself. It was designed to offset Tone 1, to help give some body and some of that sensation of the strings being strummed, almost as if it were mic'd and you were picking up the thin-ish attack of a pick as it rustles through the strings. Really gives you that "cha-chaaing-cha-chaaing" feel. Sounds good on light strumming too. Neither one (tone 1 or tone 2) sounds as good as the combination of them together in DUAL mode.



MAG-Full+Strum Support.l6t

This is a 'Dual Tone'
This file serves the same exact purposes as the "UST-Full+Strum Support" does, just for acoustic guitars with magnetic pickups. As you'll see, the amping, EQ-ing, micing, room, and AIR compensation are all completely different for this type of pickup.




UST FX Heavy.l6t

This is NOT a 'Dual Tone'
This file contains a patch for UST-equipped acoustic guitars that is somewhat based ont he Full+Strum Support amp. But taylored for effects. Great for arpeggio-laiden ballads. Chorus, delay, compression, & reverb abound.




MAG FX Heavy.l6t

This is NOT a 'Dual Tone'
Much like the "UST FX Heavy", this patch accomplishes the same thing but for magnetic pickup-eqipped acoustic guitars.




UST-Full+Backgrnd Ovrdrv.l6t

This is a 'Dual Tone'
The goal of this tone was to take a decent, rich, full, sonically appealing acoustic tone in the forefront and blend it with a muffled, background overdriven augmentation. Almost giving the sensation of an electric guitar player on stage with you. Acoustic plus overdrive equals nails on chalkboard for some. It can be peanutbutter & chocolate with the right mix though.




MAG Fingrs DropD.l6t

This is NOT a 'Dual Tone
Tone created with/for a magnetic pickup-equipped acoustic, medium gauge strings, no EQ onboard. Preset was designed for fingerpicking in a "Drop D" tuning. Fair warning: it doesn't sound right with a pick.

Acronyms & Abbreviations

We use some terms and acronyms alot on this site. Here's a few:

UST:
Under-Saddle Transducer. It's a type of pickup very common in acoustic guitars. It is mounted to the under side of bridge. Usually they're active. Quality ranges from OK to stellar.

MAG:
I use this term in the patch titles. It's short for "magnetic", which is a reference to another type of acoustic pickup. Usually located across the soundhole, of an acoustic guitar, magnetic pickups can be permanently mounted and wired to a tailpiece input jack, or modular with a wire hanging out (e.g. the Dean Markley's we've all seen).

X3 / X3L:
"X3" refers to to the Line 6 Pod X3. "X3L" refers to the Line 6 Pod X3 Live. I have, use, and create all my patches on the X3 Live.

XT / XTL:
The "XT" and "XT Live" are the predecessors to the X3 Line.

Introducing Me, My Gear, & My Why

I’m posting this blog to help others and to share my experiences and trials with the Line 6 Pod X3 Live unit, which I must say unequivocally, that I love. I play acoustic, electric, bass and sing and I’m highly technical (work on computers for a living) so I enjoy presets, configurations, settings and saving patches anyway.

My primary music outlet is I lead worship at my church regularly. So I have the luxury of the same PA every time I play and, with the exception of levels and rarely EQ-ing at the soundboard should the soundguy be feeling particularly ambitious that weekend...a preset of settings should sound pretty consistent from week to week. So this made a lot of sense for me. If you have a similar setup, this might also be helpful for you.

Guitars
I used two different guitars.
1. Taylor 314CE with a stock Fishman 3-band active Preamp/EQ. This is an UST pickup (under saddle transducer).
2. Yamaha from the mid-70's dreadnaught with a Sunrise S-1 picking. This is a passive magnetic soundhole pickup that's permanently installed (and surprisingly sounds GREAT!)