DaveLeeNC

pianoguy, thanks. That was not obvious from my (probably deficient) reading of the manual. FWIW, I don't 'need' the POD to stream to my speakers. But my speakers are connected to the POD and I was looking for a simple alternative to use them as audio streaming speakers as well (without having to switch the speaker inputs). I had been using the POD as my computer system sound device until I changed my interests a bit expanding to some alternative/newer audio formats like dsd and MQA. dave

I am the OP here, and for completeness I ended up with a pair of Sennheiser HD650's (considered relatively hard to drive, but not the toughest). They work fine off the HD500x, athough I ended up using a idi Nano idsd BL for access to a better DAC (MQA and DSD capabilities). dave

I have a POD HD500x that I use pretty casually. The outputs drive a pair of JBL LSR305 active speakers. I am a pretty light duty user of this device (low level of understanding of what is going on here).. I have a ifi Nano iDSD BL DAC/Headphone amp device with both low and hi impedance headphone outputs plus a Line Out. I would like to take the output of this DAC/Amp and send it to my speakers. The simplest path would seem to be to go from the Line Out to the AUX input of the HD500x. Then just use a preset with nothing in the path, mixer set to neutral, and input 1 set to AUX with input 2 set to SAME. Is there a better solution here? I do NOT need to be using the HD500x for anything in this case - just looking to get from the DAC/Amp output to my speakers (I would be streaming music off Tidal in this case). Thanks. dave

To what degree is the headphone output specified (POD HD500X) by Line 6. I am wondering if high end, known to be hard to drive headphones like Sennheiser 650's can be driven with good quality without a headphone amp. Thanks. dave

I guess that I will leave this here for future reference. But in the Windows Dialog of Speaker (rt. click) -> Recording Devices -> Recording Tab -> Digital Audio Interface Properties -> Custom Tab, you will find a handy dandy "Microphone Boost" option that seems to resolve this. dave

I am pretty new to all this stuff and am running a HD500X into a pair of monitor speakers (1/4" line connection to my guitar and to the speakers) and use the POD editor to control things. My laptop is a relatively recent Dell XPS running Windows 10. All updates that I am aware of have been applied either via the Line6 Monkey or Windows Update. I am using the Line6 drivers. I just installed Audacity to do some simple recording. The problem that I have is that Audacity sees EXTREMELY low input signals from my 500X. Where Audacity would suggest input levels (as they measure them) of around -6db, I cannot get anything higher than maybe -20db. And I only get that by maxing out channel volume and master (and turning down the volume controls mounted on my monitor speakers so that it is not unbearably loud). I have set the 'Levels' on my Windows 10 DIgital Audio Interface Properties to the max (100). I also set the recording input level on Audacity to the max. Something seems to be wrong here. I did notice that the time I recorded via my webcam (again through the Line6 sound card) things were quieter than I would wish. Is there some other path to "turning up the volume" on the HD500X -> laptop path? Thanks. dave

Space - THANKS! Sounds like it was user error, and the error was my choice of configuration (where the intended design was that XLR inputs would go to places where you would normally be plugging in a mic - obviously not a active speaker). dave

BB - an interesting possibility. I have not yet found those levels spec'ed anywhere, but I assume it is out there somewhere. I will say that, based on my limited knowledge and limited effort put in so far, I would judge the configuration that I am using to be unworkable (which is surprising, so I still suspect user error). Rock, I started out controlling things with my laptop through the PODHD software, but to take that variable out I ended up doing it directly from the controls on HD Pod device. So the Master (and other referenced controls) were done on the POD device (hence, the Master Level Control was on 10). Thanks. dave

I bought a HD500X a few months back and at the time it drove a single JBL LR305 (5 inch) monitor speaker connected via a single 1/4" TS cable. NOTE - the LR305 has balanced XLR and TRS inputs. It worked just fine for my guitar purposes (Gibson ES-175D), But primarily so I could stream stereo music through my laptop, I recently bought a second speaker and a pair of balanced XLR cables. And for whatever reason the volume that I get out of this configuration is dramatically lower than it is using one speaker with a TS cable. For example if I set up the simplest conceivable preset of just a Blackface amp with no effects or anything else, and set my neck pickup at max volume, amp Master at MAX, Channel Volume at MAX, amp Tone controls at 10, and the Drive at 50% you have to listen very carefully to be sure that what you are hearing is coming from the speakers and not the guitar (which is not as loud as a normal acoustic but louder than a Stratocaster). Just swap out the speaker cable to the TS driving one speaker (take other speaker out) and it is MUCH louder. And I notice the same phenomenon when streaming music, although it somehow seems less pronounced. I know darn little about this stuff but this is backwards from what I would expect. The TS input into the balanced TRS input of the JBL's should be half the total signal, so I would expect the volume to be lower in this case. But as I said I know very little about this stuff. Thoughts/comments on this? Thanks. dave

That is odd as I downloaded them and got what surely looks like the original set of presets to me. dave

PB - THANK YOU! For some reason I just wanted "all the originals", even though I haven't found one I like. dave

Got it - thanks. dave

Thanks for the additional info. FWIW, if you are connected to your HD (with the Vintage Model Pak, for example), and turn off your HD device while in the editor any amp models that 'used to be in the editor' are now gone. Interesting. dave ps. Duncann, you used the term 'vacate the HD' in your response. I'm curious as to why you used that terminology as I was not interested in getting something 'off' the HD, I was simply interested in the Editor treating the Vintage Pak amps/cabs in the same way it treats the default set. It never occurred to me that this process might involve removing something from my HD.

Thanks for the comments. On a related note, two additional questions regarding the 'Vintage Pak" (which I own). 1) If I do a reset will I be able to simply reinstall the Pak (via Monkey I would assume)? 2) The amps in the Vintage Pak only show up in the Windows Editor when the HD is connected. Is there a way to get those 'into' the Editor? Thanks. dave

I recently acquired a new HD500X and (before I knew what I was doing) I permanently changed a couple of the original presets that come on the HD500X. I assume that there is some kind of "factory reset" capability here where I could get those back. But is there a 'bundle' available with all the presets that come installed on the HD500X? Thanks. dave

FWIW, I ended up getting a 1/4" cable to replace the XLR that I was using. The configuration that I am using really is a problem. Assuming that there is no mono effect in the post path, I am just not getting one of the channels. While (as a newbie) I am unlikely to be doing anything truly stereo (in the near term), a really natural thing to do for a newbie is to load up existing pre-sets to see what they sound like - and possibly as a basis for building your own tones. And with my configuration they may well not sound like they were designed. I guess that my configuration was a bit unusual (although to me it is quite natural if you bought a 500X to use as the front end of a guitar amplifier). The design obviously was assuming a conventional 'DAW or other stereo' application when using XLR cables (which I chose simply because it is the only balanced speaker output available). But given this problem I am surprised that I have never seen it clearly stated in all the reading that I have done. dave

Per the incredibly useful stuff from Meambobbo, The 1/4" outputs will sum to mono if only one of the two outputs is being used. In contrast, the XLR outputs will never sum to mono. I am using an XLR cable right now and don't have a second 1/4" TR/TRS to try. But I did use the audio test on this website http://www.audiocheck.net/audiotests_stereo.php and verified that I am getting only one channel. dave

Pianoguy, those are valid points. OTOH, I do stream music through my laptop and now that I own a nice speaker(s) it would be nice to use it for that application. But if I do the thing that is physically the easiest to do (just stream to the speakers through the USB connected HD500X) I lose a channel. I haven't found a way to 'induce a mono signal' into my active sound card, but maybe there is a way. Or some other/additional physical connection from my laptop to my speaker. dave

Or I could use this as an excuse to buy a second speaker RIGHT NOW :D dave

Thanks for the very useful information. FWIW, the ER knob in the editor is Early Reflections. FWIW, this knob is only referenced in the 'native' HELP file accessed from the POD, and (AFAIK) is not referenced anywhere in the online help resources. That is probably true for a lot of stuff, BTW. I think the foobazaar website is going to be a game changer regarding my learning curve (although I have only had time to scan it thus far). But a big thanks to both you for pointing this out and Meambobbo for putting it together. I did notice a statement that when using a single (balanced) TSR output the stereo paths are summed to mono. When using (balanced) XLR outputs they are not. Since I am using XLR to my FRFR speaker, I am guessing that this probably presents a more serious problem than you might guess. I am also wondering how this affects the case where my POD/speaker is connected and turned on and I stream music through it from my laptop (where the POD is now acting as my sound card). My guess is that I am only hearing the right (or left - don't recall what I did here) channel. I'd be interested in comments on that. dave

I am just returning to guitar and am the 'ultimate newbie' in that I haven't played since the early 80's until the past month. And even back then it was purely acoustic guitar. E.G., I have never intentionally over-driven an amp, never used a foot-pedal, until last week I had no idea what a 'Chorus' is, etc. I just bought a HD500X as my 'first amplifier' played through a FRFR monitor speaker in my (small) bedroom. Much of my confusion is probably related to my complete lack of experience with any guitar amplifiers. Here are my questions. 1) I have one signal going into my POD (ignoring for now anything coming from my laptop hosting the Editor) and one output (single speaker). But I often see a single amp with two outputs (in the typical preset these outputs just go to a Mixer). What is going on here? Is there some implied stereo path (left input/right input) implied by the signal path to the left of the amp and right of the Mixer? Or ?? 2) I have been told a number of times that many of the HD500X effects 'are best in stereo' - referencing my choice of a single speaker (which will be changing down the road when/if I get serious about recording or maybe depending on the answer to this question). So for the case of a single input (just a guitar, no accompaniment) what exactly does this mean? I can imagine a number of ways of splitting up a signal into two different signals (where the sum = the original signal), but what exactly am I missing here in my single speaker setup? 3) Is the cabinet not shown and at the end of the chain? I often see effects 'after' the amplifier and this just seems odd (since to me amplifier implies the existence of a cabinet). Is it simply something that can easily be done in modeling so why not (where in a real/physical situation you would not run a 100W signal through an Effects Pedal - I assume??). 4) I often see a "E.R." knob in the editor. What is this? Thanks for the help. dave

Since I think that I have figured this out, I'll post it here. Take the Delay/Treble pot as an example. Set the Delay (no ALT required) to max. Then hold down ALT (Save) and turn that same pot to get a Minimum Treble setting. The delay will stay at the original MAX setting. But if you then just touch that Delay pot (no ALT), since the pot position is physically at the Minimum position, Delay will instantly become the Minimum value. So you can set those two parameters independently, but (assuming that the pot changed from the last time Delay or Treble was changed) it will change instantly if that pot (with the matching ALT or not button down) is moved any amount. It is somewhat counter-intuitive, but if you are going to maintain a correlation between the physical rotation of the pot and its setting, I'm not sure what else you could do here. dave

I am a brand new Pocket Pod user (and very new to electronic music stuff). When I (for example) set the 'DRIVE' pot to maximum, then when I hold down Save/ALT and turn that same POT the BASS will have been set to max. So assume that I want Max DRIVE and middle BASS, if I then set BASS (hold down SAVE and turn the DRIVE/BASS pot) to the middle, the DRIVE will also have been changed to the middle setting. All the POTS seem to work this way and this just seems wrong to me. How do I independently set DRIVE vs. BASS, EFFECTS vs MID, etc? Or is the "other" setting unchanged until you tweak the pot? Thank you. dave