Mr_Arkadin

Well if all you're relying on is other people's patches and not creating your own then that's never a good basis for judging tone. All the presets and Customtone patches were made on different guitars to yours, with different pick-ups, different strings, monitored on different speakers to you.

Also if the patches were designed for direct monitoring and you ran them through an amp unchanged then yes they won't sound right. It's not just a case of switching from studio to amp output mode, you need to know how to program your tone.

Nobody's a 'sap' for preferring the HD. Equally neither are you for liking the XT. Saying the HD sounds flat however is just plain wrong regardless.

Use what you enjoy but there's no need to criticise those that enjoy what they prefer.

You can open the tones in Line 6 Edit without it being connected to anything if you are happy to just look at the knob positions.

What is your issue? I cannot see any pictures. Oh, and there's no need to SHOUT! (caps lock) ;)

You almost certainly have a cheap MIDI to USB cable. They are notorious for not working. You need a decent branded one like the recommended M-Audio MIDISport Uno or equivalent.

 

However having said that, you'll often find downloaded tones do not sound good because the person who made it will have had a different guitar, different strings, different pick-ups and different monitoring to what you have. The Pod 2.0 is so simple it would probably be quicker to dial in your own sounds than to use Customtone ones.

Woah, wall of text! Maybe try paragraphs next time and people might be able to read it. ;)

Not specifically about the Helix so moved to the Lounge.

No you cannot 'update' the POD. Your options might be:

 

1. Keep the POD and sell/return the FBV and try and find a second-hand Line 6 Floorboard (that's the compatible model for your POD)

 

or

 

2. Keep the FBV, sell the POD and buy a newer POD 2 or other FBV compatible POD (like the XT, X3 or HD models).

From the pictures I can find online it looks like there are two very big screws in the middle that are the obvious candidates.

 

Those early Pods could only be updated by physically swapping out the EPROM for and updated one.

 

I'm not even sure that the Bass Pods ever had an update to be honest.

I'm not sure what model that is but I can tell you even if it is on the HD500X it will sound nothing like what you have now (although you could tweak it close) and no, the patches are not compatible across these devices.

Are you using a cheap USB to MIDI cable by any chance? Those no-name units are notorious for not working. Also Pod 2.0s do not use GearBox to edit with. You will need Line 6 Edit.

To be brutally honest you're talking about a 15+ year old product, so there may not even be anyone around at Line 6 anymore who had anything to do with these. An old review I found mentions better AD/DA and says it sounds different to the bean, so maybe there are differences in sound (although I'd think they would be subtler than you say your difference is):

 

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/oct00/articles/line6.htm

I'm still awaiting response from the Line 6 support team on this. Maybe they have a viable explanation ...

Have you opened a support ticket? This is a user forum and Line 6 will probably not respond here.

 

http://uk.line6.com/support/tickets/

I know one user (who is an amazing guitarist and a pro so knows his stuff) and he has used a Pod 2 for years so bought another as a back-up. He always thought the newer one didn't sound as good. The older version has what is called the 'script' logo and the newer ones have the 'block' logo.

 

Maybe this could account for the difference - I don't know what the Pro is equivalent to in terms of those two Pod 2 versions.

The FBV pedals are designed for units that have no pedals, like the racks and bean format. They are not designed as extensions to floor models.

 

FBV Express MKII:

http://line6.com/foo...xpressmkii.html

Compatible With: Spider Valve, Spider Valve MKII, Spider II, Spider III, Spider Jam, Spider IV, Flextone III, Vetta, Vetta II, HD147, POD 2.0, POD XT, POD XT Pro, POD X3, POD X3 Pro, Bass POD XT, LowDown, POD HD

Just go here:

 

http://line6.com/software/

 

Select "Variax" in the first drop-down, "Variax Workbench" in the second drop-down and whatever your OS is in the third one.

 

Do you have a device with which to connect to your computer (e.g Pod X3 Live or Workbench USB dongle)?

The PX-2 is the correct one. I have never heard of the other make and not knowing the specs cannot say if it is compatible or not, but I would err on the side of caution and not use it. Can you list the specs of the MWA?

Don't blame the customer on this... It's Line 6 responsibility to make sure all software is up-to-date before a mayor release, like a new OS.

I'm not apportioning blame. Blame Line 6 all you want but it won't get you a working system for that gig tomorrow, which is what that particular user needed.

 

You can either sit back on a working system or update and get no sound but at least you're not to blame and can take the moral high ground. I know where I'd rather be. I'm just being practical.

the ironic thing is I've just switched over to Mac from Windows two weeks ago after being endlessly told how much better Macs were for music,

 

No doubt you were told that by Mac users ;) No computer is better than any other, they're tools. I've used both. If music is your main deal then never update to the latest and greatest. I bought a new PC this year and purposely chose Windows 7 as I knew it worked with all my other software - I don't care if it's not the latest bling OS, it does what I need and plenty powerful enough it is too.

Come on Line 6. I've got a gig tomorrow and supposed to use the KB37 for all my guitar & mic stuff, looks like this isn't going to happen and looking for a workaround now. Been checking this thread since updating (of course I didn't check El Capitan was compatible - just assumed it would be! How wrong was i!

Well you know the story behind 'assume'. The solution would be to revert to Yosemite and get your system working.

 

You've learned the hard way one shouldn't update any part (not just the OS) of a working system just before a major event like a gig or recording session. I'm surprised how many people still don't get this. Professionals do not do this. In fact they often have systems most would find archaic, but then they make money on those systems day in day out and time is money.

 

Anyway your solution is Yosemite, there are articles on how to do this on-line.

the support for line 6 stuff is a joke. I still havent had a reply about my pc not recognizing a line 6 pod xt live and what drivers to download to get it to recognize the pod when its plugged in and on.

Did you open a support ticket? I can try and chase it up if you did. Plus if you ask on the forum users with experience can probably guide you too.

Here's another radical thought. Perhaps Line 6 could have gotten involved with some of the pre-release developers versions of El Capitan, found the problem and had an update ready at or even before OS 10.11's official release?

 

Yes they could. But then how far into the beta do you wait before you can say this is near to what will be released? Should Line 6 (and everyone else for that matter) be writing drivers only to have them useless with the next beta version, wasting useful time and resources? Personally, if I was a software developer I would either have a dual boot or more likely a dedicated machine for work.

Radical thought: how about not updating your OS? That's the free option and works for sure.

I'm not sure the factory patches are available individually, I'll have a hunt round.

 

One way that you could do it would be this:

1. Back up your current patches as a bundle

2. Restore the factory patches

3. Save the factory patch you want individually

4. Restore the bundle you saved in step 1.

5. Load the individual patch you saved in step 3. into the Pod XT in your preferred location.

Sage advice zmeadows.

 

If you really have that 'big name' in the studio tomorrow (yeah, right) or the final sessions for your debut album do not change anything on a working system. Personally I chose Windows 7 for my new computer for this very reason and will stay on it till it drops.