billlorentzen Posted October 25, 2015 Share Posted October 25, 2015 I've had my HD500 for years and use it several days a week on gigs. My main axe is a custom superstrat with EMG SA singles. I get really great quality and variety sounds with this guitar. On the other hand, I have struggled to get a wide variety of useable sounds, especially distorted ones, with my Ibanez AS120, basically a typical semi hollow with PAF-ish hums, like a 335. Occasionally I use my old original bean Pod with this guitar for practice. I like the general tone I get from that unit better than what I am able to get with the HD. I also got great tones from my next up modeler, a Vox. On both these units, with my Ibanez, I could get nice cleans and heavily distorteds, but the distortion tones on the HD don't cut it for me. I've tried a lot of different amp models, but no joy. I realize semi hollow guitars are not as versatile for distortion, but I think it's more than that limitation. Has anyone else had a similar issue and solved it? I wonder if it has something to do with input impedance? I've tried changing it, but didn't hear much difference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JTSC777 Posted October 28, 2015 Share Posted October 28, 2015 Lower the pickups slightly on the hollow body humbucker pickup guitar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sulkbooth Posted October 28, 2015 Share Posted October 28, 2015 @billorentzen Could it be related to the input impedance? Maybe your should try different settings? I usually have it on "Auto" when I'm not using my JTV. There is no reason your AS120 (which is a lovely guitar, btw - I've had a AS200 before which I miss terribly) should not sound great through the POD :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dutchguitarist Posted October 29, 2015 Share Posted October 29, 2015 Without an audio example it is difficult to give some advice. Don't know if this will help you, but I have an Ibanez AS93 and I am happy with the lead tones I have made. I took a look at some of the patches I made for this guitar and I noticed that with the treadplate I have 'presence' at 0%, 'treble' <20%, 'bass' <20% and 'drive'at 50%. I use the red comp to add some additional sustain. Another patch with the Soldano Overdrive has similar settings. Furthermore: On the Ibanez AS93 (Super 58 pickups) both tone controls at 5, volume controls at 10. The strings I use are Elixir Nanoweb Superlight .009 - .042 Hope this helps. ​ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
titchyblackcat Posted October 29, 2015 Share Posted October 29, 2015 I agree about the Pod HD and the older Pod sounding different. Even the Pod v2 with the original Line 6 logo and the later one sounded different. This is why i've ended up with a floor full of modelers, i have, Pod v2 ver 2.1 Pod v2 ver 2.3 Vox Tonelab Behringer V-Amp 3 Pod HD Bean. I'm still grappling with the Bean as there are so many parameters to change. Also if you turn your speakers or amplifier right up loud you can hear a difference in the AIR of each modeler. On my Les Paul Trad' the neck pick up is very low (almost inside the guitar body). +1 for the above suggestion the check the input impedance on the Pod and the dual input settings Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shredjsx Posted November 4, 2015 Share Posted November 4, 2015 Did you adjust the input gain switch to compensate for the heavier push from the high output EMG pickups? I had to on my Torero... Switch it back to low for your hollow body, I noticed that too on my ES339... That should take care of it. Also, if your ears are used to the easy breakup and scream of the emgs Passive pickups are not gonna sound right... Raise the pickups Raise the overdrive or gain Boost the presence and treble and it should fix your issue... Or, another idea would be to put a compressor in the chain right in front if the guitar.... That actually might fix all of your issues Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DunedinDragon Posted November 4, 2015 Share Posted November 4, 2015 I use an Epiphone Sheraton semi-hollow body guitar for developing all my presets. These presets are then used live with my Les Paul standard, my Gretsch 5420T, and my Strat and I rarely have any problems. On heavier distortion patches I follow the guidelines Peter Hanmer discusses in his second YouTube video on EQ'ing distorted patches to tighten them up. Basically it involves raising the low cut filter on the modeled amp to up around 100 hz, then putting a parametric eq filter in toward the end of the chain to remove some of the piercing high frequencies at roughly 3000 hz. This gives the distortion a tighter focus with less mud. The low cut filter on the amp would be particularly important for a semi-hollow body guitar as that's where some of the natural guitar resonance comes from that makes the sound muddy on distorted settings. This seems to fix most of the issues I would run into with my stage guitars. Of course all of this is guesswork since your description of "doesn't cut it for me" is a bit too broad to diagnose what's wrong with your tones. But you might try some of what I described above and see if it helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shredjsx Posted November 4, 2015 Share Posted November 4, 2015 Cool I'll try that too... I actually set up most of my patches with my hollow as well as I have a acoustic pickup in it too and I want it to ring with no squeal... Great idea... Then I switch to my main guitar, my ESPii ST-1 with Seymour Duncan's in it and it sound great... Great suggestion Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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