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Thanks again for the reply hurghanico

I have tried connecting the POD the way you just described above and every other imaginable configuration countless times and it never sounded right.

If it sounds good for you then that's all that matters. Maybe your brand/model of mixer is higher quality than the one's I've tried?

I'm not trying to prove anyone wrong, only share what I discovered.

And again, after trying every type of connection+setting+configuration just short of selling my soul, it never sounded right.

When I made the connections I mentioned above, it just sounded right. And wow does it sound good. That's the whole point, for it to sound good.

Also, to clarify something for my initial post, I now like that I can use the EQ on my mixer channel to give the mid's a final boost. Cuts right through and I can keep my signal chain to a minimum. When my connections were wrong I thought it was the EQ on the mixer over loading the signal, nope just the wrong connections for my gear.

Thanks again, and Happy Shredding!

BTW,

piano guy

Tell us the "Grammy" you won big shot.

I, Personally Don't think anyone talented enough to win a Grammy would be BS replying to someone looking to help fellow Line6 user's.

Again tell us.

Are you a Mumble Rap Grammy Winner? Doja Cat? Luke Bryan? Florida Georgia Line?

Oh I Know....Taylor Swift?

hurghanico

Then why are there stereo channels on mixers? Why not just make them all mono channel's?

piano guy

tell us how you got your grammy with the pod? care to share?

how do your run your sound? amps? Powered speakers? Mixer's? DAW'S?

What's your gear?

hurghanico, Thanks for the reply!

pianoguy responded to my issue above saying "so, basically... you had a phase issue". I never claimed that. My whole goal was to get this thing to sound proper through a mixer out through powered speakers. A seemingly simple task but not.

As far as panning left and right with mono channels on a PA mixer or any other mixer (I have tried 3, Yamaha powered PA through passive speakers, Fostex V160 through EV powered speakers, and a Tascam model 24 through the same EV powered speakers) I could not get it to sound good with high gain amp models. Clean models were OK at best but again high gain was awful.

They make Stereo Channels on mixers for a reason, they are obviously different than regular standard mono channels (Not Saying That You Don't Know This!) and your lucky if you get more than 1 or 2 on a lot of affordable mixer's.

I believe why this works and to my initial point, this makes my head spin, it shouldn't this much of a pain is....Path A on the POD is Mono A + Mono B. That's a "Stereo" (But not TRUE stereo I gather from reading some of yours and others Previous Posts) signal out of the L XLR on the POD. Then, Path B is the same  - Mono A + Mono B coming out of the R XLR on the POD.

Also make sure your AMP Model is not after the A/B split or your will lose 6bd (As I've also read in a previous post where you hashed it out with someone else).

Running POD LEFT XLR into a STEREO channel on a mixer Panned CENTER allows Path A (BOTH Mono A and Mono B )from the POD to not be "SUMMED", hence the "FIZZY" "THIN" TINNY" sound. Same goes for the Right XLR out of the POD BUT Into the XLR of A Different Stereo Channel (Panned center) on the Mixer.

I'm Telling You, WOW! the 500x really shines now. I bought the HD Bean in 2014 thinking it would be a huge upgrade from my 2.0 that I bought in 2001. I could never get the HD bean to sound good through amplification. So I bought a PROx, still sounded bad. Then I bought a 500x for $100 of Craigslist, still sounded bad. Point is I wasted over 6 YEARS of good guitar sound and countless hours trying to figure this thing out, purely because of my faith in the POD 2.0 (ran through a Pioneer stereo amp and Bose 301's, sounded amazing) that I had for years and never let me down.

hurghanico, Do You use high gain amp Models, e.g...Bogner, Plexi's J800...? Will you try the method I described using a Bogner, Plexi, or other high gain model and see if it makes a difference?

Trust me I've been playing for years and I know how a high gain amp sounds! It's not rocket science - it either sounds good or bad. I know mixer's may differ by manufacturer but I just can't see striking out 3 in a row.

There are countless people who have this same issue. If this helps someone please comment and share how it helped you and hopefully others.

P.S.

I did not spend all this time posting this to be a Line6 "Forum Dude", responding with BULLS** to every single post to the forum. I truly hope this helps people looking for AWESOME high gain tone!  $100 - 200 used all day long, Yes, (after 6 f**ing years :) the 500x finally has my endorsement!

So piano guy...1. All one has to do is a quick Google search on worst POD series ever and the HD500x wins hands down.

2.  The unit does sound good when connected properly but is SO counter intuitive to figure out. 

3. Who would have ever thought connecting the L and R out of the POD in to the L/R in on a stereo channel of a mixer would be out of phase? No. You need TWO STEREO channels. The 500x was a disaster to figure out and nowhere did Line6 bother to assist in helping out its loyal user's.

4. The whole purpose of me following up on my own post is to help the many people who are trying to figure out this monstrosity of an effects processor, to which for 100-200 bucks one can buy and is a pretty legit deal compared to 1800 for a helix - If only someone can connect it some form of amplification and it not sound like garbage.

Again, it should not be such a pain to get a good sound from this unit. I hope this helps someone.

OK...OK ...Okay!

To all those looking for high gain, that have been Cursed by owning a HD500-x. I have finally after 6 F**king years found the solution.

1. On a mixer, run the left XLR (from the hd500x) into a Stereo channel XLR (stereo channels typically have one XLR and 2 TRS L/R inputs).

2. Run the right XLR to an adjacent XLR stereo channel. 

This is all due to how the HD500x signal is split. Channel A is Stereo (mono + Mono B) and Channel B is Stereo (mono A + mono B).

You have to use an extra stereo channel for L/R but it actually sounds correct!

Keep each channel panned center (L/R) on the mixer due to the way the signal chain in the 500x is configured.

So, XLR L into one stereo channel and XLR R into another stereo channel, both panned center on the mixer. it will be panned L/R in the HD500x mixer settings, this is correct!

I Hope this helps!

I found a fix for my problem and wanted to share it for anyone who runs into this extremely frustrating issue.

I got an XLR to TRS cable (2 of them for L and R, but you could also just use 1). I plugged the end with the XLR into the pod and the TRS end into my mixer (stereo channel on my mixer that has L R inputs into one channel). That cleaned it up really good, although I'm not quite the the output to input levels are spot on where they should be, but it sounds a 1000x better than XLR from the POD to the XLR in to the mixer. Some how that lowered the signal level, although it dose not make sense.

I don't understand how having a POD with XLR out...to XLR in to mixer....to XLR out from MIXER...to XLR in to FRFR Powered speaker could sound so bad?

It was always a level issue(WAY TO HOT). I'm probably just not understanding signal levels but again it doesn't make sense.

 So again, XLR to TRS did the trick! Hope it helps someone!

Thanks for the replies,

Yes, I'm getting MONSTER high gain crystal clear tone going POD to powered speaker. Btw pianoguyy, the rattling of the tweeters was when I hit a low B note, just that note. Strange, but I fixed it.

I just bought a Tascam Model 24 mixer to interface with the Reaper DAW and have my edrums, bass, vocals, mp3's, etc..., all controlled by the mixer. I'm still researching, but if I could bypass the channel EQ on the mixer or figure out a way to get an "UN-effected" input channel, that should solve the problem. I don't think that's possible on the Tascam Model 24, but I'm still learning the unit (a very simple mixer to operate BTW).

I'm looking in to maybe trying Helix Native with Reaper, (although that has major drawbacks, i.e...no wah, vol, or stomp on off) or just going POD to Powered Speaker and mic'ing the guitar tone to the mixer.?????

Wish I could just plug the POD into the mixer without needing to be an aduio scientist to get it to sound good, should not be that complicated.

Thanks again pianoguyy and hurghanico for your concern!

I am looking for some clarity in the Helix Owner's Manual,

1. What is a "mono play-back system" ?

2. Why "connect only the left/mono XLR jack?

Below is a link to the Helix user manual regarding this topic.

  25. XLR OUTUse balanced XLR cables to connect to your studio gear or the house mixer, PA or FRFR speaker(s) when playing live. When using a mono play-back system, connect only the LEFT/MONO XLR jack.

This should be an informative post for, (i would guess 1,000's of people? If not more), and expect to expand on the topic.

Thanks for the reply!

I agree, the MFEQ is an awesome EQ.

I bought the pod 2.0 in 2001, I connected it to a run of the mill pioneer stereo amplifier I bought in the mid 90's (not a surround sound amp, there's a difference), then out through Bose 301 speakers. SOUNDED AMAZING, at any volume! The bose 301's had 6" drivers and a few tweets, so I don't the speakers size should matter. That being said, that was a whole different POD unit. The HD series is way more advanced, and a lot more tweaking is involved. I love the high gain tones also, and after years of tweaking (and cursing the HD series, I found that I could lower the treble and bass setting on my powered speaker (a EV ZLX) and lower the 120 Hz db in the Global EQ of the HD 500x to prevent rattling. Its still hard to get a good high gain sound at low volume with the HD. Short answer, speaker size should not matter all that much, but larger drivers are nice.

Hi Everyone,

I Have a music room that consists of a HD500x, roland edrums, and a Tascam Model 24 analog mixer that has 2 EV xlz 12" powered speakers for outputting the sound.

My problem is that I cannot get a good guitar sound through the mixer (or my old Fostex digital mixer, which is why I got the new Tascam). I can XLR mono from the HD 500x to the EV Powered Speaker and get an amazing sound, but if I use the same 500x patch to the a mixer it sounds horrible (squished, harsh,thin, terrible...). I like high gain tones like the Bogner and Slo amoung others. There was a time when I could get an amazing tone just through 500x and powered speaker but when I hit a low B (especially with the neck pick up) my tweeters would rattle. After many years of cursing the HD series (my POD 2.0 always sounded great for what it was), I found that if I decreased the bass and treble setting on the powered speaker and lowered the 120hz db (I think) in the global EQ setting on the 500x, the rattle went away. I am concerned that if my speakers are eq'ed  for my guitar, that the drums, bass, vocal, mp3's... will not sound right. My first and foremost goal is great sounding guitar, then I can hone in on getting the other things to sound good and all blend in. I guess my question is, is there a way to make everything sound good? Bands do it every day, I know I'm missing something. Thanks in advance of any advice!

Update - I can use the MKII and Mission pedal without any issues connected to my POD HD bean. The Flash Firmware for the Bean is 2.62, USB FW is 1.04.

I reset my PRO X by holding down the left Nav. arrow while powering on, I have Input 1/Channel A panned center and Input source 2 mic. I recalibrated the MKII and the mission pedal still disconnects.

Do I need to assign the mission pedal settings in the MIDI assign section under controllers in HD Edit? Is the Issue with the PRO X being defective? 

Again, any help would be much appreciated

Hello all,

I have an MKII shortboard that I'm trying to use the expression pedal for wah. Also, I have a Mission Engineering EP1-L6 expression pedal I want to use for volume.

In HD Edit the shortboard wah pedal has an FS ASSIGN of EXP TOE SWITCH and the controller is EXP-1. The Mission pedal has an FS ASSIGN of NONE and the controller is EXP-2.

The Mission pedal keeps randomly disconnecting from the MKII (and HD Edit). I can plug it into the MKII and both the red wah and green volume led lights are lit indicating the mission pedal is connected, but as soon as I step on the wah the Mission pedal disconnects. It has disconnected from just rocking the wah.

I made sure I saved the preset. I don't know what else it could be, I'm hoping I just have the settings wrong. 

Going bonkers here, any help will be greatly appreciated.

Edit: I'm connecting to a POD HD PRO X. (Flash Firmware 2.62, USB FW 1.04)