Community: Message List - Best Line6 Product For Home Recording ONLY

Re: Best Line6 Product For Home Recording ONLY

support@line6.com — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 23:10:48 GMT

Thanks, those links will probably help a lot. They are so long I haven't had a chance to read them yet, but I'm sure they'll have the answers I'm looking for.

Right now I just suck at creating tones - all I've ever used before was a BOSS GT-6 effects pedal, which had about 100 presets, and I just used the presets. I have literally no experience creating tones, so it will probably be a long learning process, but worth it in the end I'm sure.

Thanks again.

Re: Best Line6 Product For Home Recording ONLY

support@line6.com — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:04:05 GMT

Here are a couple of good resources, both form Line 6 forum users: MerlinFL and meambobbo:

http://line6.com/support/thread/77774

http://line6.com/support/thread/71651?tstart=0 and http://foobazaar.com/podhd/toneGuide/index.html

Mlynch74d3 wrote:

.... There is a certain appeal in downloading real good patches that nail the tone I'm looking for with no work involved,...

Yes, that's a nice dream - but the reality is that there are so many other factors that affect the final tone. Each patch loaded up to Cutomtone was created in a specific environment: a certain guitar with specific pickups and tone/volume settings, a certain amp or pair of speakers, or headphones, etc...... All of these things contribute to the final sound. And what may have sounded great in the environment where it was created will not sound anything like that in the environment of the preson who downloads the tone and uses it with different equipment. There is almost always a need to tweak the tone substantially in your own environment. And the best way to understand how they should be tweaked is to become familiar with creating your own tones. That really is the best way to start. Customtone will become more valuable to you after you understand how your own equipment works best with the Pod HD.

EDIT: Here's another useful resource:

http://line6.com/support/docs/DOC-2525

Re: Best Line6 Product For Home Recording ONLY

support@line6.com — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 20:12:27 GMT

Ok, thanks for the responses so far. I guess what I'm hearing is that the HD500 really is capable of better tones than the earlier PODs, so what I should really be doing is learning how to create my own tones with that rather than being overly concerned about the custom tone patches, which I inherently knew to be true on some level. There is a certain appeal in downloading real good patches that nail the tone I'm looking for with no work involved, but it's also very limiting to have to rely on others.

I just wasn't sure if the POD HD500 was more of a live pedal, whereas there was another flagship POD for the home recorder only. From what I've gathered, the HD500 would be the best for home recording as well.

Learning how to create awesome tones will be a *****, but I'll give it a shot. I'm most interested in creating nice lead guitar tones for rock-type soloing since I've already found some decent rythym tones.

Is there a resource you'd recommend I read to learn more about the patch-creating process? Would the POD HD500 advanced manual be good enough?

Re: Best Line6 Product For Home Recording ONLY

support@line6.com — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:11:12 GMT

the bean also has the SPDIF out

Re: Best Line6 Product For Home Recording ONLY

support@line6.com — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:00:12 GMT

Time to buy an oil-filled radiator for the Studio and save a few quid by turning the CH off

Re: Best Line6 Product For Home Recording ONLY

support@line6.com — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 14:37:31 GMT

Silverhead - was definitely *not* aware of this! Now if only my computer didn't lose S/PDIF sync every time my central heating turned on/off.

Re: Best Line6 Product For Home Recording ONLY

support@line6.com — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 14:17:35 GMT

chimp_spanner wrote:

.....your best bet for a good re-amping solution is the HD Pro, as it has a dry guitar output. The HD500 doesn't have this, ...

Yes - the HD Pro is the only Pod HD device that provides a dry analog output. However, the HD500 sends a dry digital output over s/pdif.

Re: Best Line6 Product For Home Recording ONLY

support@line6.com — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 12:58:14 GMT

Yeah Jim makes a good point about routing. At the moment, your best bet for a good re-amping solution is the HD Pro, as it has a dry guitar output. The HD500 doesn't have this, nor does it have the ability to split dry and wet signal across the USB output. There is a workaround involving using path A for dry and path B for wet, then panning them hard left and right but tbh, I'm not too keen on that idea. It means you have to record everything mono.

Will the HD500 get dry/wet capabilities through a software update? Who knows. It must be possible!

Re: Best Line6 Product For Home Recording ONLY

support@line6.com — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 12:18:29 GMT

+1 on all of Chimp_spanner. The only reasons I can see for trading away from the HD500 is

HD Bean has a smaller form factor if desk space is at a premium but has less inputs and outputs which can certainly be an issue.
Pro is rackable and a few more inputs and outputs but has no additional tone processing or functionality.

Neither has the expression pedal.

With the XT it is a question of quantity over quality. The HD nails the amp modelling significantly better than the XT but the XT has more amps to play with ... today. If diversity is essential to what you do (or there is a very specific tone that the XT does that you want) then maybe there is benefit in the XT but IMHO you are better off with the higher quality tones on the HD.

A final point: based on what I read, the XT has some routing tricks that the HD does not and vice versa in terms of getting wet and dry tones recorded. That may be relevant

Re: Best Line6 Product For Home Recording ONLY

support@line6.com — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 10:30:04 GMT

To be totally honest, seeing how the HD500 is currently their flagship processor (in terms of DSP power alongside the HD and HD Pro) I would stick with it. For home recording, flexibility in your FX chain is going to be really important. I also wouldn't change products purely on the basis of what's available on Custom Tone! While I'm sure it's a great resource for some, there's no substitute for just doing it yourself.

Plus, just because you don't need it for live purposes (yet!) doesn't mean you won't need foot control. You could buy an X3 but then still need to buy an FBV if you want to record things like Wah, Whammy FX, or other things. I went through a crazy sequence of products and wasted a lot of money buying/selling various POD Lives, beans, FBV's etc. before I finally came to realise that it's best to have all my options in one package just in case.

Also I'm really indecisive haha.

Anyway just my opinion. But with the 2.0 firmware coming out soon (including an Ampeg bass model and a mic pre-amp modeller) the HD is going to become a way more capable piece of kit for people looking for all in one recording solutions.

I don't doubt that there will be a POD Farm HD in the future. But even if not, going back to the X series of modelling would feel like a step backwards for you once you've played the HD.