smrybacki

Wouldn't it just have been SOOOO much easier had Line6 thought to include dry signal in the USB stream? And a friggin' power switch.

In a word, maybe. You'd have to shut everything off in that case as pfsmith0 suggests and see if that suits you. Unfortunately, the USB does not provide an option for dry signal. If that doesn't work, you'd need a seperate SPDIF capable interface I'm afraid.

Why not just set the SPDIF output to dry? Am I missing something here, or are you?

I'm stumped. I have no earthly idea what you're talking about here.

Well, computer software often has "bugs" in it which originates from the early days of room size computers that had physical bugs (cockroaches) living in them. So yeah, I'd say that too.

Look, what is your setup right now? Do you have another audio interface with a SPDIF input besides the POD HD Bean? I have the HD500 and when I want to record JUST the dry signal, I connect the SPDIF out of the HD500 which is set to output the dry signal via the system settings directly to my M-Audio Fast Track Pro's SPDIF input. Then in my DAW (Reason or Reaper if it matters) I set the input to be recorded to the M-Audio SPDIF input and Viola!, I am recording dry signal. I can also monitor the wet signal out through the POD which is connected to a pair of Tech21 Power Engines. Is this what you are asking here?

You could learn to appreciate the lint for the unique sound it adds to the tonal mix?

In short, I don't think you can send the dry signal to a DAW via USB streaming audio. You must connect the SPDIF output of the POD HD Desktop to the SPDIF input on your audio interface if it has one and then select the SPDIF input on your sound card to be the record source within your DAW. If your Audio interface doesn't have a SPDIF input, you can't get the dry signal into the DAW at all.

I have an OCD and a PlimSoul and a FullDrive2 plus a Fat Boost so you could say I am in the Fulltone camp. That disclaimer out of the way, distortion is such a personal preference thing and my choices kind of confirm that. But more telling is the sheer number of different takes on overdrive, distortion and fuzz out there in the pedal market. I was going to count them all up, but my head exploded after 50 or so and I tanked that idea. However, the distortions Line 6 chose to model are some of the CLASSIC models that many of these other current pedals are based off. The Tube SCreamer, Rat Distortion, Chandler Tube Driver, Boss Metal Zone, Arbiter Fuzz Face and EHX Big Muff Pi are the ones most everyone tries to cop a so-called "fresh" take on. The reason I have and use the OCD and PlimSoul on my "other" board are the fact that they are good and truly different animals altogether. So yeah, I see what you are saying here and I would agree that some entirely different styles of overdrive/distortion/fuzz do need to be added to the venrable staples I mentioned.

Great info, thanks.

I just spent WAY too much for a T-rex Twister 2, and I am not the biggest fan of chorus of flange! But this pedal in the slow, low flange songs especially is truly a wonderful sound. But I spent $279 for it and for $499 you can get a POD HD500x. In the context of this video where it is hard to tell which is which, if it's perfectly understandable to me why people buy and love PODS.

Apparently they are hiring DSP and Embedded Systems Engineers to do this sort of thing so I guess they are still in this business at Line6: http://ch.tbe.taleo.net/CH09/ats/careers/searchResults.jsp?org=LINE6&cws=1 Man, I could live in Calabasas, but my programming experience is in the Fed world.

+1 In the year 2010 when this was made, I can't seriously believe there wasn't a simple On/Off switch included. Mind boggling.

Yes, it would, and as I pointed out -- the same amp was used throughout so it was JUST effects being ascertained.

See, I was told by a friend who works in the music retail business that Line6 employed minimum advertised pricing (MAP), meaning blowout and/or other sales sales only came via Line6 permission and that dealers couldn't sell it at any lower price than Line6 specified. Has that changed?

I used headphones, to be fair.

For all those who crave a blind test, here is an interesting test here. This is JUST effects apparently as the same amp is used. I seriously got all of them right. How'd you do? http://oruworshipctr.com/pod-vs-pedals-shooutout-1/ Edited to add: If you found this intrigueingm the link below is the main section of that site and the different posts detail the amps and pedals this guy used. He also used an HD500 on the POD side of things. http://oruworshipctr.com/tag/pod-vs-pedals/

I hate to say this, but my next mobile phone/tablet/computer may well be iOS devices for this very reason. I LOVE Android for many reasons, but the fractured user base and device base and OS level base out there makes being a CONSUMER hard enough, let alone developing for it. I am a developer myself, albeit windows and mostly SQL Server but still -- I know a PITA when I see one. The thing I have a hard time with about iOS devices is their owners more often than not anyway. Not big on elitists *Disclaimer: This is MY opinion and YOU can't have it.

Good points here. The OP asked whether or not the POD HD500x would remain the "current product" which to me means uncertainty over the direction Line6 will take with this product line. Will they come out with a minor upgrade and obsolete (more on this term in a bit) the HD500x as that product did to the HD500. Obsolete is also relative as someone else pointed out, because the HD500 still does all the same things it did when you bought it, assuming it is not broken. Yet Line6 was able to entice at least some people who who had HD500s into springing for the 500x for what are fairly modest gains. So they at least thought their HD500 was obsolete to them. Some of us (like me) have stood pat on the 500HD because it isn't worth another $500 (minus whatever I could get for my HD500) PLUS the hassle of having to sell that. At my age, hassle avoidance has become a lot more important :) In any event, the biggest problem for me at this point is that I don't WANT to become embroiled in an endless cycle of upgrades for minimal gain. My HD500 and JTV59 combination played through a pair of Power Engine 60s is everything I need it to be and I'm done buying digital anything until I am convinced it is ACTUALLY an order of magnitude better. The 20% DSP gains when I never hit the limit to begin with does nothing for me. That the 500x has better footswitches actually pisses me off because I feel that my 500 ought to have had worthy switches to begin with. That same "cheap mechanical part" issue plagues my variax in the form of a sketchy 3 position switch and magnetic pickups that cut out at times as a result. I have worked on my own guitars and amps for a long time with nothing more than some basic hand tools, a soldering iron and a multimeter to replace pickups, bias power tubes and whatever else comes up. But every change I've implemented short of tube replacement on failure as been because I wanted something different, not because a mechanical part failed. Some of the knobs and switches on the gear I own are over 40 years old and still work like new. So will Line6 come out with a POD HD600x (or whatever) one day in the not so distant future? Most likely, unless the Amplifi line IS that replacement and they are herding us all that way which is possible. But therein lies the biggest problem I have with digital gear despite it's upside of sound choices and ease of carrying it around. It is unpredictable as hell and if anyone thinks they are gonna stay at or ahead of that power curve, they are likely to be disappointed.

Quite simply, the magic in the bottle will never be outdone UNLESS people try to do just that. In other words, it IS the bar to be cleared. There is a reason that amps are still made with essentially 1920s technology to this very day my friend, and these are generally the very amplifiers designs that digital modelers seek to emulate. Coincidence? Nope. However, this is not to say that one day, a new bar will be raised and then it will be the goal others seek to surpass. This is the way of things in life really. Amplification and effects processing are not immune to this reality. You are of course correct in your assessment of the true lifecycle of digital gear such as a POD and your point concerning the weight to hassle ratio of tube amps and pedal boards are agreed with by me. But answer me this; If you had a team of roadies and unlimited finacial capacity -- would you play digital or say "set it all up over there boys"? Understand, I am not "slamming" digital or saying it isn't great in it's own ways. I love screwing around with my digital rig in stereo. But I've already asked myself the question I posed you, and I know how I answered it. "Set it all up over there boys." Edited to add: I hope one day someone does make vacuum tubes truly obsolete 'because that will certainly sound AWESOME.

Beggin' your pardon cap'n, but I am disinclined to concur with this sentiment. I fell under the spell of the sound emitted by the glowing glass bottles inside of Fender's amplifiers in the late 1960s and some things simply don't need to be innovated. It's like Heinz Ketchup -- it's so good everyone else should just give up. On the other hand, creating the next generation's glowing glass magic is certainly encouraged.

Except now they know ;)

Is all good man and no worries here. This debate will last a millennium after all and I guess I wasn't having the best day yesterday. Personally, I used to have a love - hate relationship with my digital rig. There are times when I am amazed at what it can do. Then there are other times I look for my 2 pound hammer. But when I realized the same thing had been happening with my tube amps and pedals I had to admit it was me. The thing about music and tone that rarely gets talked about is the listener. Sometimes (like when you are going to a great concert) everything sounds great - especially a beer or three down the line. Other times you work all day and come home kind of tired and maybe grumpy and your best efforts sound like crap. Turns out as well your hearing gets fatigued too, further complicating things. One I realized all of this, I've not really thought in terms of "better", but rather what can I get out of today's playing with whatever gear I sit down with and given my current mood and state of being.

His is the only decent explanation of EQs inside the POD I am aware of. The so called manual is useless there.