Newbie here, to guitar and pod 500. Quick question!

[Girn26]

So I got a pod hd 500, some of these tones I downloaded sound muffled when playing on neck pickup and I have to resort to the bridge pick up. (I downloaded all top rated tones so it shouldn't be the tones fault) is that normal? That's also on both my electrics.

 

Also some of the maps I downloaded I can't even use like a Steve vai tone, I'll hit a note or scale and rings out forever so everything else sounds like crap after that lol. Damn I'm a newb, but we start somewhere.

[Atrain_dlp]

Welcome! People create tones using a variety of guitars, pickups, amps, and speakers. What might sound good through their setup might sound terrible through yours. Sometimes you can get lucky and find one that is in the ball park but it's really best to learn the pod and create your tones from scratch. There is a ton of great info in this forum. I've found countless answers and solid advice using the search feature so I would start there. Some good tutorials on YouTube as well.

[pianoguyy]

Customtone is user supported.
That means everyone and anyone can upload tones.

You know that nerd that drools on his gear - he can post tones.
You know that grammy winning, platinum album selling, limousine riding, WOOOO - he can post tones.
You, a brand new guy - you can post tones.

**Also, the tone of some patches will change based on which firmware version someone is using.
It is possible that a great tone on FW1.0 will sound like dogcrap on FW2.62

[cruisinon2]

So I got a pod hd 500, some of these tones I downloaded sound muffled when playing on neck pickup and I have to resort to the bridge pick up. (I downloaded all top rated tones so it shouldn't be the tones fault) is that normal? That's also on both my electrics.

 

Also some of the maps I downloaded I can't even use like a Steve vai tone, I'll hit a note or scale and rings out forever so everything else sounds like crap after that lol. Damn I'm a newb, but we start somewhere.

Customtone is not "one size fits all". "Top rated" is meaningless. There are numerous variables that affect tone...you can't swing a dead cat around here without hitting a thread that discusses said variables at length. One could read on this topic for months on end.

 

Bottom line is, don't expect something to sound wonderful just because it came from Customtone...in fact, most of the time it'll be useless. Everything from the guitar and pickups used to create the patch, to the speakers/amp/ headphones he monitored through to dial it in, to the player himself, and the acoustics of the room he was sitting in...it all affects tone. What you're hearing ain't what the he heard on his end.