southpawpete Posted March 3, 2016 Share Posted March 3, 2016 So I've had my HD500 for a week and, after the expected learning curve, I'm really enjoying it. I swapped from a Fender Mustang 3 V2 and whilst I don't think the POD quite beats it on feel, the range of sounds offered and the really low 'unwanted noise' levels win hands down. But that's by the by. So far, I've been running a regular guitar lead from left unbalanced out of the POD into a powered cab. All sounds good (I only run mono patches so no worries about left/right). Last night I thought I'd try an XLR lead to see if there was any difference in sound quality. I ran it from the left/mono balanced out and the volume was way lower. Now, I can see a switch that sets the unbalanced outs from line to amp, but I can't see anything that lets me 'boost' the XLR output volume. Given that I'm still finding my way around the unit, am I missing something really obvious??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterHamm Posted March 3, 2016 Share Posted March 3, 2016 And... on top of that, running out the 1/4" to a DI box gives you XLR to whatever you have to connect to, sums the signal to mono, and, frankly, sounds better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DunedinDragon Posted March 3, 2016 Share Posted March 3, 2016 The XLR output is roughly comparable to that of a microphone which is low impedence as compared to the line level signal on the 1/4" output. Ideally XLR outputs because of their low impedence signals allow for higher current and therefore better signal to noise ratio, and are designed to be sent over longer distances to a mixing board which have pre-amps and can gain stage the signal level appropriately. But going XLR into a powered monitor or speaker which doesn't have a built-in pre-amp will drop the volume considerably due to the lower impedence. Using the 1/4" line out on the POD isn't typically a problem since the distance when going direct to a powered monitor are very short. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southpawpete Posted March 4, 2016 Author Share Posted March 4, 2016 Brilliant answers - thanks guys Back to making tones! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PDKTDK Posted March 9, 2016 Share Posted March 9, 2016 If I'm running a mono chain to FOH, using just left XLR should be fine right?I confirmed in my Bose LI Model II mixer that they channels are identical. I don't think they would have to overpush their board/ampliofication to get acceptable levels. There was no sound quality difference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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