maxnew40

I have found that if the Drive and or distortion tones sound really buzzy and just bad, that is probably the POD set for the wrong output mode. Anytime my POD is not set for Studio/Direct and I play anything with distortion through my L2m it sounds really bad (sort of like what you are describing). -Max

I have found that to me it sounds best with the POD set to Studio/Direct (so that the power amp, cab, and mic modeling come into play) and P.A./Reference on the speaker. I have not found any other settings that sounds better and it has the advantage of being able to tweak the power amp, cab, and mic settings. -Max

I can't imagine going on a tour without backup gear and you had backup gear and it saved you. Anything can break and more complicated the device the more possible points of failure. My experience has been that if the device in question works for more than a week out of the box it will probably be fine. I am not sure if it is a question of burn in time or not performing any burn in on these devices. Also gear such as this is much more sensitive to bad voltage or current, and spikes can damage or destroy this type of gear. Low voltage can cause reboots and all sorts of crazy stuff. My experiences with a POD 500 and L2m have been great with no breakdowns. -Max

I myself have found that running any POD into into any guitar amp either the front end or into the power section doesn't produce the best results for these devices. I spent a lot of time running it through various amps (the best result I got was into the tube power amp in on a line6 spyder valve). However when I put the thing in Studio/Direct mode and connected it to a Line 6 L2m speaker I finally got the full sound that this thing can create and I have to tell you, for me it is flat out awesome! -Max

I had thought that the output mode setting would be saved, but I notice that when I power up my HD500 the output mode gets set to Stack, which sounds really bad into a L2m. I do have the HD500 connected to the L2m via the L6 link, could that connection be causing my POD500 output mode to change? I know that the connection will cause the speaker to change to electric guitar until you save the preset with the proper speaker mode selected. -Max

The problem ended up being that the POD HD500 had not saved my setting of studio/Direct and had reverted back to a different setting. I set it back and turned the unit off and back on and still had to set it again. I don't think I was saving the setting right as now it seems to be saving that setting. It sounds great with the Line 6 L2m speaker when set to the proper mode! -Max

I am moving from using my POD HD500 in front of a tuber amp power section and speaker cab to using a Line 6 L2m speaker. So far my clean and slightly driven clean tones are sounding great. However my attempts at making a good classic rock crunch sounds like 70s AC/DC, Aerosmith and so on end up sounding buzzy or like a bad transistor distortion pedal. I am using the direct mode on HD500 and the P.A. reference mode on the speaker and I am using the L6 connect between POD and speaker. I have been mostly trying to get this type od sound with the Marshall type amps and a tube screamer in front but it just isn't working for me. Anyone have some tips or a pointer to a good file that I can use a s a starting point? This is the last type of tone I need to get right for me to be happy with this set up. -Max