brian6string

I know that's what the adapter says on it, but the adapter has a giant transformer inline. Transformers do only one thing AC -> DC conversion, right? Seems sketchy to me....but I'm no EE

So, at this point I'm going to call this user error--the POD X3 Live power supply is rated at 2000mA, where the POD HD500X power supply is rated at 3000mA. So it makes sense that after a while, the 2000mA wouldn't be enough and it would lose power.

While playing my POD HD500x at church today, several times, it just rebooted (powered off and then immediately powered on) while I was playing. I suspected a bad extension cord, so I replaced that. Problem persists. I replaced the Line 6 power adapter with another (I have a spare from my old POD X3). Problem persists. I recently started using an external expression pedal (from NosePedal.com) and after removing that I didn't have the problem. I didn't play very long while it was removed so I can't say definitively. So here's the question, is there any way that the external expression pedal could cause this behavior? Seems unlikely to me. If not, I'm left with some problem with the POD itself. Any thoughts?

Did you do the pedal calibration thing? Check the manual...

It seems like this patch is designed to show case a bad sound. Two noise gates at the beginning of the chain and three EQs at the end? I mean if this were real physical gear, I don't think you'd ever see that. Have you tried eliminating any of your FX? Have you tried turning the "hum" setting on the amp down and getting rid of at least one of the gates? I'm not sure what you're trying to achieve with three EQs running one into another either. Are you a rep for Fractal or something? (Just kidding!)

Looked at your presets. Why on earth do you have two noise gates in your chain?

I actually run this way: guitar -> pedalboard -> HD500x I use some effects on the POD, some from my pedalboard, including a 1980s Crybaby. Some of this is a holdover from my previous rig in which I was using a POD X3--I felt the effects were a bit lacking, the HD500x are much improved, but I like the flexibility this gives me (if I want to add more crunch or some extra delay on the fly). My pedalboard is pretty modest (Rook overdrive, Rat, tc electronics delay and the crybaby). I've had no trouble with this at all. Best of both worlds.

I only listened to the song once, but some thoughts. What if you used a dual amp approach. Amp A would be the same as Amp B, but on the B channel, add a digital delay 100% wet and a very short time, maybe 24ms or so. The effect of that would be to slightly delay the sound getting there, so that it sound more like two guitarists and not one. Then on either A or B, use the Smart Harmony filter effect set to the key of your song and as suggested above, either to thirds above (as ginpoinmetal suggested) or fifths above. The smart harmony thingy is a DSP hog so if this doesn't work out, use the same idea, but put a single amp after the mixer and use the A & B just for effects. I noticed in the video that he doesn't have the harmony thru the whole solo so you might assign the Smart Harmony to a footswitch so up you can turn it on only at specific points.

I don't know what crossover distortion is, or what digital clipping is, but have you ever played a Plexi? It has a similar kind of character to what you posted, but it really sounds to me that your post is mostly just poorly recorded. My only point is this: the POD does not sound like your recording when I use it. I'm sure I could dial up something equally terrible if I tried, but I'm trying to make music. So I don't know what your point is. Many people use these things to make really excellent sounding music. Is it easier to screw the sound up on these--or as others have said, with my old tube amp I could just plug in and go? Sure. More options certainly make anything harder to use. If I wanted easy, that's the route I'd go. But I'm trying to make music. To me, and I'll grant you it's not everyone's cup of tea, the versatility afforded by these devices far outweigh the minuscule and I'll say "alleged" sacrifice in perfect tonal quality. I'd rather be able to switch between really good models of a Boogie and a JCM800 (in stereo) for a rock song, and go to an AC30 for something quieter, than have to choose one amp and try to make it sound close to all of the above. That to me is a true sacrifice...buying and lugging around a great tube amp for its tone, and then sticking a million pedals in front of it so it can sort of sound like AC/DC once in a while.

I don't know dude, I know I get really nice tone out of my POD. I agree the tone in your recording sucks, and when I went to SoundCloud the first thing I noticed was the audio "graph" (the visual they give you of the audio signal) was pegged all the way thru--it looked like a rectangle more than a wave form. In my experience, that happens when my input signal is too high for my recording device or software. Just a thought. So again, I agree what you posted sounds pretty terrible, but I know first hand that this device is capable of producing really good tone. So, no offense, but your recording is not "just how the POD performs."

To my ears, the amp model called Line 6 Epic is a pretty good substitute for a Peavey.

Isn't that what the Boost Comp effect is for? Just add that to your patch(es),assign it to a footswitch, done.

Look at this for some ideas (X3 ideas apply here too). One technique I like is to mix two models of the same amp, just mic them differently (on axis vs. off axis, condenser vs. ribbon). Pan both to the center. A lot of studio engineers do this with when recording real amps. Another technique is to find two amps that contrast. Dirty vs. clean, bassy vs. mid rangey. Pan these hard to the L & R. Also try putting a very short 100% wet delay on one side. This will make the sound get to one ear a little later than the other and gives you better stereo separation. Combos I like: AC30 & Plexi, AC30 & JCM800, Dual Rectifier & Peavey.

Yes, that's what my comments were based on. Again, it sounds thin because you EQ'd it that way.

Hey Jason. I'm using an X3 Live so I don't have an exact answer for you. But looking at your patches in HD Edit, it sounds thin because you EQd it that way. From what I see, the effects that have EQ (Screamer especially), you have the treb higher than the mid and bass. On your amps, same thing, treble is higher than the bass. Most surprising was the JCM-800 amps where you had the bass to 0% and the treble and presence to ~75%.Pretty much the opposite of what you'd do with a real Marshall amp--Jeff McErlain says, I think as exaggeration, that for Marshall's you should start with the treb on 0 and the bass and mid at 10. For Fenders he says bass at 2, treble at 3. I've found with my X3 Live that in addition to "normal" EQ setting for the amp models I'm using, adding a four band EQ like this (borrowed from Lincoln Brewster's settings): 9.0db @ 100Hz 4.0db @ 400Hz 3.0db @ 750Hz -1.8db @ 3000Hz This really improves the live sound. I don't know what EQs are available on the HD, but you should be able to dial in something close to that--essentially boosting the bass, scooping the low mids, boosting the high mids and really filtering out the highs.

There are a couple of ways that dual tones have worked well for me. One is to have a gainy amp on one of the tones and a clean on the other. A Marshall Plexi with an AC30 is a pretty sweet combo. Ben from Skillet used to use a Fender Twin with a Dual Rectifier, same idea. The other is to use two gainy amps side by side. Seth Morrison, Skillet's new guitar player uses a Peavey and a Dual Rectifier. It's a nice combo on the POD. If you're looking for more low end, try mixing the JCM800 with the "big bottom" amp model. It takes a little time to get something that sounds good, but it's worth it. I've uploaded a bunch of dual tones to customtone, search on my username.

I've done this. Use a digital delay on just one of the tones, and as silverhead said, set the mix to 100%. Set the delay time to something very short, 24ms seemed to be the sweet spot to me. Pan each of the tones hard to the left and right, I found adding just a touch of reverb to the non-delayed side improves the effect.