pickerman2

Ok, I know this is an old HD500 thread, but the post by Tboneus in 2016 posits a similar question I have about my HD400: How do I use the HD400 live? It is a wonderful piece of electronics, but it seems more suited for studio use. I can't afford another one, so let's use it as-is. When I bought it, I was overwhelmed by the possibilities, but also very excited about it, even in my old age (playing since the mid-60's !). In the recent past I have used about 10 patches in the 1 through 3 banks to play mostly, and have adapted those patches to my songs. I have recently created 29 patches, based on the available amp models. I have arranged them in Banks 22 through 29 by amp brand names: Marshall, Fender, VOX, etc.., so I can remember them. I put the most usable amps in banks 29 and down. I reserved bank 30 for my friend's fantastic classic rock tones, bank 31 for stock ones I like, and 32 for bass guitar tones (great ones!). I put the Pawn Shop and Boutique amps in banks 22 and 23, as I rarely use them, but hope to later. This way, if I am in Bank 1, I can back down to 32 and lower, and get good tones I can use. I wrote over all of the weird (in my old opinion) patches. I took the default setting for all amp models and only changed the Reverb to my liking, so far. I will carefully pick the FX1, FX2, and FX3 for each. I will use my old Stomp-Box Velcro board in the effects loop to increase the number of effects that I can use simultaneously (My oldest effect is a 40-year-old Boss Chorus of my brother's - Chuckle!) It gets in your blood! They will probably bury me with my Strat and my Les Paul, if they can wedge them both in the casket! Please note that I can be serious when required. I welcome any comments from the forum group. P.S. Oh, one more thing: I made a voltage divider using two resistors, one HF bypass capacitor, and a bypass switch in a plastic project box. This drops the pickup voltage of a Les Paul from about 200mv to 50mv like a Strat single coil, so that all patches I set up using the Strat will not be overdriven by the LP. This keeps the distortion level and the volume the same when using either guitar without adjusting the drive. When using the Strat I turn on the bypass switch. The bypass capacitor across the first resistor keeps the high frequencies from rolling off when the Voltage divider is on with the LP. This is a feature I wish they had put in the HD400.

I have seen many blogs with people trying to get Eric Clapton's "Beano" tone used on his Bluesbreakers album with John Mayall in 1966. I am sure that many people have found a gear combination that will get close to this sound. With the POD HD400, I made this combination of gear and settings: Marshall J45 amp model with default settings. I changed the Reverb to Chamber with Pre-delay 0%, Decay 50%, Tone 50%, Mix 20%. It is thought that Eric used a Dallas Rangemaster box which has an input mid-hi boost shelf and an output mid-hi boost shelf, both at around 400 Hz, so I used the Parametric Equalizer on FX1 set to Lows 32%, Highs 65%, Frequency at 44%, parametric band Q at 50% (12:00 position), Gain at 60% (1:00 position). I played a 1980 Les Paul Standard, Bridge pickup, through the clean channel of a 50W Music Man amp with two ElectroVoice 12M speakers, one open, one closed back, Volume on 6. I also had a clean 120W super-clean transistor amp fed off the output transformer of the Music Man into the power amp, not preamp, with a 4x10" closed-back cabinet. The rig sounds pretty much like a Marshall stack. Any clean amp and stack would probably do. The sound is pretty close to "Beano", and it is also useful on "Crossroads" by Cream, at least to my old ears, as I played that song in 1968. Just my two bits worth.

My POD HD400 came with the original operating system, 1.1 I think. It allowed immediate switching to LOOP Mode (Red). In the next version, 1.3 i think, Line6 put in a delay, requiring the user to hold down the Mode foot switch for 4 seconds before entering LOOP mode. This prevented accidentally starting the Looper. When I had to do a Factory Restore yesterday, I lost this delay time, and can't seem to find a download to recover it. I am now on the latest operating system in the POD, 2.01, I think. Does anyone know how to add this delay back in? Thanks.

BillBee, thanks for your idea. I didn't want to lose my settings, so I took the HD400 to the authorized service dealer in my area and paid a diagnostic fee. The repair price they came back with was more than I paid for the unit new!! The Main PC Board and a Control PC Board (I assume the one for the lower row of buttons) were both bad. Now I am looking at other options, like buying a used one online, buying a new one from a discount website, or getting a refurbished unit, if that is possible. Maybe I can buy the boards, as I do repair some of my own analog stuff. In the meantime, I revived my old analog stomp pedals and velcro mounting board to get me by until I figure out something better. I really love the HD400 for its sounds, but it is very disheartening to have two of these units fail on me, with only some home use, and a few times away from home. I hope they have improved their Quality Control on the new ones. The dealer did not flash the memory, so I plan to pull up my last backup copy of the patch bundle and then read the info off the LCD screen and edit the old bundle on my computer, so I will have my most recent changes. It will be a long process. I will post again if and when I find a solution.

Today, i was playing my POD HD400 and shut it off for 5 minutes. When I came back and powered it up it defaulted to Bank 00D "User". There is no sound. The Mode switch light is off and none of the FX switches or AMP switch and lights will work. The Up/Down switches, the Preset Switch, Navigation button, Amp rotary selector, and all Pots work. The TAP switch and the Tuner do work. The problem seems to be with the lower row of stomp buttons, except TAP. All the other banks say "User" and there are no FX settings stored. I have tried turning off the power for 30 minutes and re-starting several times. I have not used a computer with this POD for over a year, since I left my company and had to turn that computer in. I have not installed the Line 6 software on any of my other computers. This unit was only used and stored in my house for over 3 years, and has only been taken away to practice about 8 times, all in this year. It has had no rough treatment whatsoever. The first one I bought failed within 2 months, and I took it back and exchanged it on a 2 year in-store warranty. I have had no previous trouble with this replacement unit. I would appreciate any advice from forum members. Thank you. .