Community: Message List

Re: Should I upgrade to HD Pro from XT Pro?

support@line6.com — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 05:43:13 GMT

Well it really comes down to what you want the unit to do. I already have some amazing tube amps for playing live and there is no way the Pod HD is going to replace those. I don't care how much gear I have to lug and transport, they sound amazing and its all part of playing live. Studios are expensive and I like to record all my ideas, scratch tracks and completed songe before I would go into a studio to record. I require a modeller for playing session work, and home studio work. For me the HD just doesn't do it. I find the weakest part of the Pod is its lack of features and use in the studio.

I couldnt never shell out 2600 for the Axe Fx, I would rather have a great tube amp for that price any day, so I turned to the Eleven Rack. It is fully equipped for the studio. It sounds great, I think the models are better because there is no weak ones. Where with the Pod some are great some aren't. It has re amping, parametric eq's, speaker breakup, true-z input matching for different pickup ect. Here is a list of what it does:http://www.avid.com/US/products/eleven-rack_2/features#Amps

It comes with a full version of Pro tools 10 which is awesome. Every studio around is going to be running Pro tools or have a copy on hand to work with anyways so there is a major integration benefit there. Plus your getting the whole thing for the price of just the software alone. This is the Pod forums though, I dont want to go on for ever about someone elses product, they are both great pieces of kit, I have both. I know youtube videos sound like $%^ but its a good resource to see what each is capable of, I would check out some videos and see what works for you!

Re: Should I upgrade to HD Pro from XT Pro?

support@line6.com — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 03:17:00 GMT

The HD series is a big improvement over the xt series in all areas outside of the studio. Obviously the Amp modelling has improved and I wouldnt let the smaller amount of amps scare you away. The ones it does offer will definetely cover the Tone spectrum. For myself the coolest thing about the HD series isnt even the amp modelling at all though. It is the M-Class effects that are loaded into the unit. They have done an excellent job with (most) of the fx and they are a huge leap ahead of whats in your XT. The extra horsepower under the hood of the HD series allows for more flexible use of FX and has certain FX the XT cant handle at all.

Here's another thought. There is also the option of the Eleven rack: www.Sweetwater.com has it on for 699 and it comes with a full version on Pro tools 10. You can also find it on ebay for cheaper. I have both the Pod HD500 and the Eleven rack and the pod doesnt get nearly as much use in my home studio. IMO: Both are excellent units, but if i had to choose the Eleven rack wins out for me.

No matter how you decide you cant go wrong. Just don't sell your XT untill you are completely happy with the decision you have made, or if money allows keep both, they both do different things better.

Re: POD HD PRO Converters vs Apogee

support@line6.com — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 00:28:09 GMT

Just talking about converter vs converter, this is no comparison. The apogee is in a different league, well above what you can get with your pod. I wouldnt even coinsider the pod for micing an acoustic. If money is not a problem then go for the Apogee. The poster mdmayfield is right though too. There is more to getting a great sound then just buying a better interface. There is also ways around that problem too. A good set up plugins for vocals can make a huge difference as long as you have a good clear signal coming in.

Re: next firmware hopes!?!

support@line6.com — Sun, 02 Dec 2012 00:24:10 GMT

Operation:

I want Amp models to represent the amps in a way that amps work. I would like them to model an amp completely not just one part. If I select a Mesa Boogie dual rec I want to that the ability to play with all 3 the channels. I want access to each of the v3 voicings for each channel. Access to the reverb on the amp. etc etc. Dont break the amp into parts and call it 3 new models. This isnt a pissing contest. I want line 6 to model the amps right down to the way the knobs respond for that amp as close as they can get. I own a Dual Rec and anyone else who has one knows they dial in much different then most amps. If I dial my pod in like my Mesa it isnt even close.

They brag about how close the amp sims are too the real deal on one channel but they have left out the other 90% of the amps functions and features.

Cabs:

- Load your own cab/impulses: Its no secret that the cab emulations for the Pod aren't great and many home studio users are getting better results, and making their impulses available to the public. For some reason Line 6 thinks this is terrible and will not allow its users to take advantage of better cab options. Instead they released this Cab DEP thing, which is a cool idea and more flexibility is always welcome but I cant help but think it feels like a bandaid solution that has come out of their stubborness to admit they havent done a good job with cabs. Let us use whatever cabs we want!

-MICS! Add the ability to have multiple mics on one cab and multiple cabs for one cab.

-Mic ROBOT! Add the ability to position Mics around your cabs however you want too. Like the mic robot Ramsteins guitarist uses in studio.

In Studio / Live:

- Re-amping (duh)!

- Real Eq's, once again Line 6's stubborness to fix this issue baffles me. No I dont want to learn to convert your %'s into Frequencys just so I can make minor tweaks to my amp. NO ONE DOES THIS, BECAUSE ITS A BAD IDEA!

- Speaker Breakup - Add this feature to emulate the way a real amp responds when is it pushed hard at high and low gain situations.

- Overdrive/ Distortion pedals mulligan: Re work the models for these, They are terrible. I actually went out and bought a Ibanez TS9 Overdrive pedal because of how bad the model is for it and others.

Construction:

- On/Off switch: Holy #$% words cannot describe how stupid this move was!

- Longer Power Chord(sic): This is almost as stupid as the on/off switch. It is impossible to play this thing live with a 6' cord. The X3 Live had a cord that was around 20' long, Hint: Line 6 you had it right the first time.

- Bigger LCD: And use some colors! Even if it is just 8-16 colors, it would make a world of difference in the way you manage all the stuff going on when no computer is handy.

- Bring back X3 Live Handles: It seems kinda wierd but I really miss those! They were big and awesome. Kept you from damaging your unit live with your foot, and I used to carry my X3 Live around everywhere with it. Transporting the HD is just akward, I had to find an old duffle bag to put it in when going anywhere. Yuck!

- Rework the USB Port: For whatever reason it sucks on the HD, there is tons of threads about it breaking on users without any abuse or damage. This includes myself, I had to glue the center piece back in and now Im afraid to even plug it in unless there is new Firmware available that I must have. This should be covered un warrentee as a defect like the audio drop out issues with the X3 Live.

Thats it!

Re: pod hd500 via usb pro tool 10

support@line6.com — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 03:24:22 GMT

That is because you are hearing 2 signals. The direct one from your guitar and the monitoring signal. These are used in recording studios when there is a recording room and a control room. One signal will go to the guitar player and one to the engineer in the control room. If you are playing and recording yourself, there is no reason to have both on. In your mixer window in Pro tools, look at your guitar tracks you have armed. There is 3 buttons with letters on them. R - Record, S - Solo, M - Mute. You want to hit the mute button on both tracks to turn the input monitoring off that would normally go to the control room. Now you should just be getting the signal from your playing.

I would suggest that you read some of the users manuals and documentation for your software, other wise you will have a million other questions just like this one. Pro Tools can take a long time to learn but once you got the hang of it, its awesome!

Re: pod hd500 via usb pro tool 10

support@line6.com — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 01:52:03 GMT

Ok first things first, if you want to use your HD as your audio interface. Turn off all other audio interfaces you have, Pro tools will only work with one at a time. Make sure you have downloaded all the drivers you need for the Pod HD to work through monkey. Connect and power up your Pod Before you open Pro tools. Make sure you dont have the Tuner on in the lcd screen. Go to your system settings and make sure you have your Pod set up as your default sound device, in the control panel.

When the loading screen for Pro tools gets about half way is should have a pop up window that says you have no audio interface selected. then it will give you the option to select one. There is a drop down menu, click it and select the Pod HD as your audio interface. It will also have other options you can set like latency etc.

Once in Pro tools go to your audio playback settings in options and check that the pod is selected, it should be by default as this point.

You are now set up, however you will still have no sound when you play. Pro tools will only output the sound for the Pod HD when you have tracks armed for recording. You can set them up however you want, but input and output 1 and 2 will be your pod.

Example: make 2 new mono tracks, input 1 to first, input 2 to second and same with outputs. Arm the tracks for recording, play your guitar and you will hear sound. If you dont, check the mixer on the pod HD edit software. Set for studio/direct, make sure you guitar is selected and you have the tracks panned too center or far left and far right, and the levels are set somewhere between -5 and 0 DB.

That should get you started. There are many ways too record the HD through Pro tools so dont be afraid too experiment.

Re: POD HD500-Might have myself in a little trouble....

support@line6.com — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 07:20:00 GMT

The usb on the Pod HD's are an absolute piece of crap. There is so many people with these issues Line 6 should acknowledge this and cover it under warentee. Much like they had to with the X3 and the Audio dropout issues. I have a x3 with the dropout issue, and now also a pod hd with a broken usb as well. I never abuse my electronics either. Like yourself one day I disconnected my usb and the middle piece came out too.

Its pointless to try and get it fixed if you cant do it yourself, your better off buying a new unit and sell your old one for cheap to someone who doesnt care about usb connectivity.

One thing you can try is to superglue the middle piece back into the unit. Thats what I did and got it to work. Now I just leave the usb connected all the time and dont mess with it. Hope that helps you out and I hope one day Line 6 with finally make a product that dosnt have some stupid hardware quirk. I swear every generation its something...

Re: Why does POD HD500 record metronome via USB...?

support@line6.com — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 04:10:44 GMT

No way buddy... There would have to be a metronome in the signal chain or in the pod for that to happen. Like the other guy said solo the track and you wont hear the metronome unless you have left it on during playback. The only other way is you have a mic armed for recording while you recorded your pod and the mic is picking up the sound of the metronome and putting it on a track, that would explain why it sounds so quiet.

My guess is you have just left the click track running while you started playback. You'll need to mute it when your not tracking. Make sure you only have your guitar track your trying to record armed when you are tracking so your not picking up unwanted s**t and with other instruments on your interface, lastely make sure you dont have any tracks hidden in your DAW that were left armed. I have done this numerous times.

Re: adding a Art MP tube preamp to warm and fatten up the sound?

support@line6.com — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 02:34:07 GMT

Yeah I dont know how it will work with the pod hd i still havent got around to testing it, I dont like the idea of stacking the pre am ps on eachother and possibly damaging the device..

Im surprised with your comment about the tube not helping though. It definetely helps a huge amount, I would even go as far to say if you couldn't change the tube the device is not worth it. What are you using the MP on and how are you hooked up? Also what interface are you using. If your just using the converters on the pod or something cheap like a tascam or budget interface then I can see why you wouldnt see the benefit. Your tone will only be as good as your weakest link in your entire chain, a lot of typical mixers with build in preamps are pretty weak.

There is a video on youtube about the MP with 5 different pre amps tubes and a tonal comparison, there is definetely sonic differences in each one.

Just playing guitar live, your wasting your time with it like you said. You would benefit much more from a Good Poweramp, and 5-7 band eq. Tube mp is more of a studio device for guitar but is good for vocals live pre mixer.

Re: adding a Art MP tube preamp to warm and fatten up the sound?

support@line6.com — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 21:19:01 GMT

That is a interesting idea you got there. I have an ART MP tube Pre amp and I mostly use it to boost and DI bass guitar into my audio interface. Sounds awesome! I also think it really breaths life into vocal takes. Once I read your post I thought about driving it with my pod but doesn't that mean your stacking 2 pre amps on top of eachother? How would you hook it up?

Guitar > Art > pod 1/4' line out > Interface?
Guitar > Pod 1/4' line out > Art > interface?

Some other way?

I have used the Art MP with software modelling and it does help for sure. Something to do with the way the pickups in your guitar interact with the tube really helps. I have A/B'd with and without the MP and it sounds better with the tube pre, enough that I dont record software modelling without it. You have to be carefull though because you can clip your pre amps very easily and it will sound horrid. Also sometimes its a bit too noisey if your running super high gain settings, a bit of a balancing act getting the noise down with a Gate and drive setting but not too much that you kill your tone.

I run it like this:

Guitar > Art MP (input/output 12 o clock) > Audio Interface > Daw amp sim plugin (Guitar Rig 4) I get some really great tones out of it like this.

One thing to keep in mind though, The Art MP is so cheap you really cant go wrong with it. Its not going to blow your socks off like a UA 610 or anything but for under $100 its unreal and can make your recordings sound great. If you do get it, CHANGE THE TUBE OUT IMMEDIATELY. It ships with a s**t chinese tube that I would only use as a backup if I had no other choice. The type of tube in the Preamp is just your average 12ax7 you see in any Tube Amp. Swap it out for your tube of choice or if you dont know what to get.

Tung Sol 12ax7 <--- (Great tube)

Groove Tube 12ax7 <--- (What I use)

A Pre amp tube is cheap around $12-20 and can make a huge different in the quality for the device.