How can I connect my POD unit to an amplifier?

Q: Can I connect my POD/2.0/XT/X3/Live to the front of my amplifier?

A: Yes.You will want to create as clean a sound as possible on your amplifier (You will want to make the combo amplifier's EQ as "flat" as possible by turning the treble and bass controls to zero and maxing out the mid control. You should also set POD's output to 9 or 10 o'clock to avoid overdriving the instrument input of the amplifier and have no effects active).  You will want to experiment with the output level on the POD to create a sound that works for your situation.

Routing

1)Guitar-> POD unit > Amplifier instrument input. This works but you will be stacking two pre amps in series (the POD unit acts as a preamp). Make sure you also adjust the OUTPUT Mode on the POD unit for optimal tone: Combo/Stack FRONT

Q: Can I bypass the preamp section of my amp to avoid stacking two preamps?

A: Yes, There are two ways this can be accomplished.

1) If your amplifier has a CD/MP3 input you can go directly in the this jack from the POD output (This is a common method with the Line 6 Spider Series amplifiers).  Be aware you may need to "trick" your amplifier input by using a dummy plug in the instrument input to allow signal to pass to the speaker (headphone adaptors often work well for this purpose).

2) If your amplifier has an effects loop (i.e. the Line 6 Spider Valve or Flextone) you can use your POD unit as the main Pre amp and distortion generator, using only the power amp section of your amplifier by plugging into the "effects return" or "power amp input".  If the amplifier has a "power amp in", the POD output will most likely control the output volume.  If the amplifier has "effect loop return" the amplifier master volume will most likely control the output volume.

Routing

2) Guitar-> POD In - POD Out -> Amp FX Return. Make sure you also adjust the OUTPUT Mode on the POD unit for optimal tone Combo or Stack PWRAMP when applicable.

Q: Can I run my POD/X3/xt/Pro/Live/Floor in an effect loop of an amplifier to use just the effects rather than the amp modeling?

Routing

3) Guitar -> Amp In / Amp FX Send-> POD IN - POD Out -> Amp FX Return.  With this routing, you would have to bypass the amp modeling on the POD unit and use it for FX only, using your amp's own preamp section.

For POD units with effect loops (i.e. POD X3)

Q: What is the Four cable method?

A: The “Four Cable” method (4C) can be used for any effect unit that has an effects loop when connecting to an amplifier that has an effects loop (i.e. the POD X3 Live).  This cabling method allows the end-user to place filters and overdrive units before the preamp section of the amplifier, and modulation and delay effects after the effect loop in the effect unit.  This way the amplifier will provide the tones and the Line 6 device will provide the effects (pre and post).  Be sure to enable the effects loop, and experiment with Pre-post effect to decide which method works best for you.

Instrument > X3Live guitar in

X3Live effect loop send > instrument input of amplifier

Amplifier effect loop send > X3Live effect loop return

X3 line output > Amplifier effect loop return.

Q: Can I run the two tones separately, such as one tone for "pre" amp sounds and the other for "post" (i.e. effect loop) sounds?

A: An “alternate” method of the Four Cable method is to completely separate the front of the amp effects (i.e. filters and overdrives) into Tone 1, and the time based effects (chorus, delay, reverb) in Tone 2.  The tones will need to be panned hard left (1) and hard right (2) in the outputs section (any blending of the tones may result in feedback). Be aware that you will need to have both tones active to get sound, and you need to set up the inputs as follows: Tone 1: Guitar, Tone 2: Aux. Feel free to experiment with the "amp settings" to determine which setting works best for your setup.The connection wiring is:

Instrument > X3Live guitar in

X3Live Live (left) output > amplifier input

Amplifier FX loop send > X3Live Aux input

X3Live (right) output > Amplifier FX loop return

Video is listed alphabetically under Multi-Effects

PODXT LIVE as a MIDI controller

Q: Can I use the PODXT LIVE as a MIDI controller for other devices?

A: Yes and No: While it is not specifically designed as a MIDI controller, the XTLIVE does send out MIDI information when buttons are pressed. You may be able to control external devices in this manner, however you are not able to program the MIDI control messages that the XTLIVE sends out, so it may not be useful for anything but sending program changes. The POD XT LIVE's MIDI implimentation is fixed and cannot be changed.

Tone transfer between POD models

Q: Can I transfer my POD 2.0, POD Pro or PODXT patches to PODXT Pro? What about POD 2.0 to POD XT?

A: Yes. Please use LINE 6 EDIT to back up your tones and then load these tones into your other device. You can also search for compatable custom tones for your specific device at www.customtone.com. POD 2.0 tone translation to Pod XT is available through our new and improved Tonetransfer. Go here to check it out. http://www.customtone.com Note: This does not apply to Bass POD models.

Reducing POD/amp feedback

Q: I have a Marshall 9200 monobloc power amp and I am using the pod pro as a preamp/effects processor . What is the best way to set this up as I am getting some bad feedback.

A: One way to connect the POD Pro to an external amp is to use the 1/4" left/mono output from the POD Pro to the amp input(MONO), use Left and right output for a stereo amp. Be careful to set up the gain structure correctly. I would suggest turning both units all the way down. Then set the level on the amp to about one half. Then slowly bring up the volume on the POD Pro. Be careful while doing this and if you find that just the smallest turn of the POD Pro output makes it too loud, turn the volume down on the amp. If you turn up the POD Pro all the way and it is not loud enough (do this slowly!!) turn up the volume on the amp. You may find that this also helps to eliminate some of the feed back as well.

To further reduce feedback and noise, reduce the level of the Compressor by rotating the effect/tweak knob counter clockwise and/or by reducing the drive knob which will reduce the amount of distortion in the patch a little.

Pod xt tone transfer to computer

Q: I installed Line 6 Edit to transfer patches to and from my XT. I can send patches to the XT but not out of the XT.

A: Check to see if the podxt is in thru mode, it's located in "MIDI" under the tuner button then turn the "SELECT" knob. Set midi to out not thru.

Regular Cable with Variax?

Q: Can I use a standard Cat 5 Ethernet cable to connect my Variax to my Vetta II and PODxt Live? 

A: No, standard Ethernet cables are designed to be plugged in the back of a computer and left alone so they have larger tolerances on the plugs sizes. We conducted tests with standard cables and concluded that the chances they will damage your jack (sooner or later) is of nearly 100%.

Since the guitar will be moved around, we created the Variax cable, which IS a RJ45 ethernet cable, but with absolutely no tolerances on the plug size and a protective shield around the plug. Buy one of them, it is a good investment to protect your gear.

OS X aggregrate device static

Q: I created an aggregate device with my built-in audio and the UX1/UX2 and I'm getting all sorts of static in my audio. Is something broken?

A: It's time to check the digital clock - audio clock, that is. Any digital audio system with multiple audio sources needs to have a master clock, since even though two devices might both claim to be running at 44.1kHz, in real life, one might be 44.101 and the other might be 44.099 or, in the rare case when the clock rates match exactly, the leading edge of the clock signals is very unlikely to be at the exact same place. Designating one of the devices to be the master clock and telling the other device(s) to ignore their internal clocks and sync to the master clock will make for a much cleaner signal, and no clicks, pops, or static. Luckily, the Aggregrate Device Editor in OS X's Audio MIDI Setup application allows you to set one of the devices as the master and the other to resample it's audio at the master clock rate. Which device should be the master is not a hard and fast rule, so you may have to do a little experimentation to discover which works best (on some systems, making the TonePort device the master and resampling the built-in audio works best, on other systems, you need to do the opposite). For complete details on using the Aggregate Device Editor with TonePort.

Multiple guitars through Line 6 devices

Q: Can I play more than one guitar through my LINE 6 device at the same time? 

A: Line 6 devices are really designed to have only one guitar plugged in at a time. You may be able to get fair results plugging multiple guitars into a mixer and then into the amp, but due to impedance differences, it probably will not sound quite right.

Exception is given to units that have a Variax Digital Input. This input will stay 'live' when another guitar is plugged into the 1/4 inch input- so you can have both connected at the same time.