by way of an experiment, I used a stereo jack plug adapter to change from 0.25" jack to 3.5mm minijack stereo - then cable to the input of my MacBook Pro, then used Garageband to add effects to each input separately - using the bass and treble amps separately, and EQ, reverb etc.

Worked really quite well.

I might try it with my Edirol FA101 next, as the input volume is very low into the Line-In port..

I was considering a Pod HD500, but this experiment makes me think I may go Virtual..

from a strict recording point the Pod HD500 wont add any quality to the direct input. if you want to increase quality the preamp on the stick web site will do.
the pod may be handy for effects, but at this point i think it is much better have the chance to edit these effects after the recording more then have the effects recorded in the track. you may also consider a different SW than GB as it is quite limited and heavy on your CPU

I was only really using GB as a "proof of concept"..

Looking at the net it seems that two prominent software processors are Pod Farm, and Guitar Rig- are there any others I should look at?

The Pre-amp question is a different one- does is make a different depending on the type of pickup? My stick has the ACTV pickup.

guitar rig is really nice because it's fully stereo. you can set
up your bass and melody sides with completely (or partially) different effect
chains.

I highly recommend GUITAR RIG 4. The interface is cool and it sounds very good. You just need a pretty fast processor if you want glitch free audio. The Rigcontrol, it's hardware remote control unit, doubles as a A/D input to the computer. I would never use it though because it is very hissy. Perhaps they have fixed the issue. Mine is from a few years ago

If you have GarageBAnd you may not need need Guitar Rig since GB offers lots of effects and you can set up two inputs for separate processing of the both sides. I think a better use of money would be to get a good audio interface. Over here I us Mainstage a lot - a live effect rack app that comes with Logic Studio Pro - and to my ears it sounds lovely with no amp or cab simulation, just a D-I with some compression and reverb. Here is an example of my SG-12 plugged right into Mainstage (through a RME Fireface400 auidio interface, highly recommended):

I'm actually on holiday in Cornwall at the moment,

When I get home I'll try my Edirol FA-101 which should be a better interface.

I'm only just getting confident enough to gig, and will probable then go "naked" into either my AER compact 60, or Mark Bassmarkacoustic AC 101, which I think will be best.

To improve that I might be going the way of a preamp, but would that make a difference to the ACTV pickup?

John

Hi John,

The ACTV-2 already has a preamp built into it, so you won't "gain" anything (pun intended).
With an active pickup, the best reason to use a preamp is to have eq/tone-shaping prior to any effects you might use. If you will be using multi-effects, make sure they have the ability to put eq before and after distortion processing.

(5 posts in a row, I'm on a roll this morning...)

i apologize if I misunderstood in first place, my suggestion was to get a more pro SW that would cover all the needs. I run Logic Studio 9.2 and it has all the plug in i need in studio and live.
If you do not have Logic or similar solutions
then guitar rig will do