mattbarden

I think he was referring to the mixer setting on the pod instead of the digital mixer. But sidroe is right, that's where you want your input levels to be on your daw, so if your pod mixer's at +12 and your hitting -15 to -12 input in your daw you should be good to go.

Sweet, really appreciate that tip!

Well that's good to know for when I upgrade after my warranty expires.

Yeah I had the USB break plug break on my 500 and shorted it out. Made sure to get the 3 year warranty on the 500X I replaced it with. Hopefully I don't need it but better safe than sorry. A lot of people have had that little plug break and cause problems for them. I can't believe it looks to be the same crappy USB plug on the 500X, you think they would have upgraded that for the extra couple of cents it would have cost them.

Yeah the tone sucking thing was one of my concerns. What sort of tweaks did you have to do to overcome it?

Good to know, I wouldn't have thought of that. Thanks for the heads up!

Excellent, I was leaning towards a dual or tri rec so it's good to know it works well with Mesa stuff.

I guess I should say that I don't do too overly much for clean sounds but it does pose a factor into my setlist so this is also kind of needed but I'm not too picky about the cleans as long as they're decent enough. I'd be using my POD 500X as an FX only unit for live situations, but still using it to track ideas at home with the amp sims as that is decent enough. I just find that the digital is a bit lacking on stage/jam sessions with other musicians vs analog, at least for me anyways. I can tap dance around an amp's channel switcher and the POD to get my results so that isn't an issue.

Who has had good success with running an amp that has a good hi-gain channel in the 4CM method and what amp was it? I'm in the market for an amp to produce good stage volume and air movement. I know FRFR's are recommended but even with decent FRFR's it's just isn't cutting it for me. Back in the day I used to use a crappy Crate amp but even that moved more air behind me than the FRFR's do and I kind of need that to get into my groove. I'm interested in the DT's but I'm all about try before you buy and nobody ever has them in stock in my area. Looking for some alternative solutions based on real life experience if you could. Money isn't TOO big of an issue but 2-3k or less for the full package (amp and cab) would be sweet. For reference my Hi-gains are something akin to 90's Metallica and Alice in Chains type of sounds. Thanks in advance!

What are your peaks hitting on the recorded track in your DAW? It depends on the software your using but most seem to recommend -12db to -10db for the input level. As far as I know when recording direct through the POD's USB the master volume knob on the unit itself doesn't affect the input volume on the recorded track, that's your channel volume on the patch itself. The master volume on POD's direct USB recording is basically just the monitor level you hear through the headphones or speakers you have connected to it.

Milestone reached, congrats dude lol

I'm very interested in the ability to load external IR's. Finally!!! Sucks I'm gonna have to wait a while because of the price tag but it will have to be bought eventually. Tax season 2016 can't come soon enough for me now! I do want to hear a few more of the amp models first though. I saw Sweetwater's demo and I'm curious why some of them were greyed out on the display, demo model maybe?

I heard good things about all of them but results will vary, I bought the Metal one on a Friday and returned it the next day. I personally still like the Treadplate better than anything that was in that expansion but that's just me and my needs. Line 6 was super cool about the return and it was completed by the end of the week. They're worth a try anyways, maybe you'll like them, maybe you won't. You can always get your money back if you don't feel it was worth it. I have no regrets for trying it, at least I know now it wasn't for me and I'm not out anything. Still might try the Vintage one though just for the JC-120, I hear it's really good. I don't think they are overpriced though. I had the same question a while back and after trying one pack I can say you do get quite a few varied options, they just didn't work out for me in the end as far as the Metal pack goes. But say the Shiva or Panama became your new go-to model, I'd call that worth it. If the Treadplate wasn't a stock model and was part of the metal pack I would have totally kept it but thankfully for me it was a stock model. The Treadplate, Hiway 100, Blackface 'Lux and Solo 100 models are all I ever use really but I'd be cool with paying $50 for the JC alone if I though it sounded good with my setup. I want a good JVM model at some point though, all channels too. That amp is sick!

When I was using the XT I had loaned it to a buddy and he broke it somehow and I was able to load my metal and bass packs to the new one with no issues. Can't imagine it would be any different for the HD's since you can have 4 devices authorized like a few others mentioned. That's my personal experience with a similar situation anyway. Are you replacing yours because of the USB thing? I saw your other post about that too. That sucks man, I had that happen to my 500 too. Extended warranty got me an X upgrade so it turned out to be a happy accident for me lol Then a week later they started dropping info on the Helix...

I use the USB myself as my external interface is an old M-Audio Fastrack Pro I used when I was using Protools. I get better results with the POD's USB but that's just my gear. If I had a better external interface I would probably use that though with the XLR outputs. I should mention I'm basically just recording ideas to layout song structures and whatnot right now and will do the final recordings through a mic'd tube amp. My test results aren't bad with the 500X's USB though, better than anything I ever got out of the M-Audio with Protools (I'm using Reaper now).

There's a few different reasons this could be happening. What are your levels at for channel volume, recording input and the master volume on the POD itself? Are you dual tracking with hard pans? What is the frequency response of your headphones?

This title was poorly chosen, it won't make a lot of "friends" here like the OP so eloquently asked thoughts from.

I agree that Line 6 offers a great value for what they charge, it's the main reason I've stuck with them for a decade rather than defect to Axe-Fx or Kemper like many others have chosen to do. The DT's must be selling like hotcakes though, I haven't been able to get my hands on a 2x12 yet because they are always sold out!

Dude, just return the model pack and get your refund if you aren't happy with it. This is a poor way to approach it. I didn't like anything in the metal pack as much as I did the Treadplate so I got my money back, Line 6 was very cool about it and in no way cheated me.

You could try loading the "Song/Style" setlist instead of the "Best of HD" that loads by default. There's a few more straightforward patches in that setlist. It's really easy to load from the editing software but I can't remember how to do it from the board itself.

Agreed, some adjustments to the EQ on the speakers themselves will probably get you where you want to be. I tweaked the EQ on my PA speakers to match the POD and I found that everything I run through them now sounds a bit better than where I had the EQ before. Granted I don't run full bands through them, just MP3's and backing tracks for jamming.

Funny enough my EMG's were in a Schecter before with the 85/81 setup (didn't come that way but I swapped them). For that guitar it sounded way better with them swapped around. The Schecter suffered an unfortunate accident so they are now in an LTD Eclipse. I had to go with the traditional setup in the Eclipse though, it just didn't sound right with them swapped around but different body shapes probably has something to do with that. Digging around the internet today I discovered that the pickups in my LTD H-330FM (ALH-200 actives) are essentially the same concept as the Het Set. I always thought they were straight up modeled on the 81/85's. My opinion was always that they did sound a bit fuller than the EMG's did, so that guitar quickly became my go-to axe. They don't hit quite as hard as the EMG's but I actually rather like that about them. It's the only guitar I haven't had the ambition to change the stock pickups on since to me it sounds pretty good as is. I'm sure the Het Set has some different tonal qualities being tailor made for his sound though.

Like Pianoguyy said, the stock presets on products like this are always garbage. All the presets are very cluttered with different FX to the point that they just don't sound very good. When buying new gear, what I like to do is research the crap out of it on Youtube first to see what can be done with it. If I'm still interested after this point, I just go buy it from GC (or whoever), bring it home and see how it works with all my current gear. I figure if I'm cool with spending the money already then why not? If I really don't like it after a few days, I just bring it back for a refund. I've never been charged a restock fee so it's essentially a free rental. Yeah you might do a bit more running around but I find I need a good couple of days with any piece of gear to really decide if I like it or not. FWIW, Line 6's multi's have always made the cut for me. I could definitely tell you a few items to stay away from though lol. As for the speaker setup question. If you have an FX loop on your current amp you could run it through that and still take advantage of the tube poweramp section and have the best of both worlds. I have a friend who hooks up and gigs like this, I use FRFR PA speakers myself and both sound killer when dialed in correctly! Direct recording is also a godsend if you don't want to/can't crank up the tube amp. I feel the HD series does a much better job of replicating tube amps than the previous models have. With some time in service on the machine, I bet you could build some patches you are really happy with. The global EQ they added on the latest update does help dial in your current sounds to whatever type of room you're in without radically changing things in my experience.

Yeah I know what you mean about the 81/85 being sterile sounding, it was a bit too much for my personal tastes. Oddly enough most metal guys seem really happy with them though, I don't know maybe it's just that guitar. I'm pretty happy with my main guitar's sound though even with the stock pickups, I would be looking to put these in my 81/85 guitar to liven it up a bit.

Anybody using the EMG Het Set in their guitar? I'm considering swapping these into one of my axes but I haven't had the opportunity to try them first hand yet. I'm interested in the concept behind them, having all the benefits of both active and passive pickups rolled into one seems like a fantastic idea. I've tried the 81/85 combo as well as the blackouts and I found both of them to be awesome in some areas but lacking in others. I'm wondering if these would bridge those gaps.