bvaladez74

@ k-town. Thanks for the response. The sag and bias settings don't really address what this thread was about over a year ago. We're all good. Certain pieces of gear are better than others for certain scenarios. All good. Thanks.

I dime the sag. To me with a higher gain amp...it really makes a difference. Real tube-ee, brown sound tone. Nobody's been able to believe my tone compared to any straight real amp rig. That sag setting is awesome.

For me the POD HD's in general are all about using the EQ shaping tools to get a real amp, warm tone. Stack Front, for me...is what I use. You can really dial out nasely mids and shrill highs. It takes away some output...but if your amp, or power amp pushes enough output...then it doesn't matter.

I agree. Honestly....Uncle Ted said it the best: "I can plug into a squirrel's lollipop and get great tone". I get the same basic tone...whether I'm plugged into a PRS head, a Bogner, anything Line 6, Fractal, an $850 amp or a $3500 amp, etc. It doesn't matter. It all depends if the user has the trained ear enough and the expertise to EQ a great tone. Typically at a gig....musicians in the crowd assume I'm runnng a soldano or a bogner or a fractal....when I'm running my HD500x into whichever power source. Love it. Love that I can get the same tone and feel for $500 and it's easily replaceable if/when it goes down.

Dude, just research POD videos and how to's. You can't possibly ask someone else to build you a complicated patch based on a loaded analog pedalboard. Just dig in to the machine...put some time in. Learn the ins and outs. It's not that difficult. Tweak until you hear what you like. You won't get that full pedal board in one patch anyway. Start with a blank patch and build from there. It's really simple.

Rule of thumb....don't run your OD's or distortion boxes in the loop. Place them in front. Start there.

If you use the pedaltrain velcro vertically or any 2" industrial velcro....it'll stay secure. You can hold your pedalboard upside down and it won't come off. You're fine.

Revert back to the prior version. You don't have to move up...especially if the bug fixes don't apply to you.

It's possible...it works well. Does your amp have midi built in or do you have any of the devices out there that makes your amp midi capable?

Ah...saw your last message. Glad you got it. Sweet.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding what you're trying to acheive. ARe you attempting to have one preset using an amp model in the pod turned on...and another using the preamp of your amp? Or are you trying to toggle on and off an amp sim to real amp within the same preset? The 2nd one...you wouldn't wanna do. The first one...is 4CM, you'd turn the amp models off....add an FX loop block in the POD preset and raise the rtn level up in volume til you hear what you like, volume-wise.

You have to add the FX loop block to your chain in the POD preset. That's what turns the FX send jack on...to be able to hear your actual amp via the 4 cable method.

I'm in the bay too and have been gigging with the HD500 and then HD500x since about 2010. I've used it with a few different power sources. One is my full digital, non-tube rig...used with a matrix power amp. My other currently is the 4 cable method with a PRS Archon 100 watt head. Currently playing through two 1x12 orange cabs. Cover band stuff....so a ton of different tones are needed. Everyone, musician-wise...who's heard my tone in the crowd loves what they hear and can't believe the "brain" of my rig is a POD. They've all been fooled until they actually look at the rig. Couple suggestions, which you already may know: - When you dial in your clean tones, in terms of leveling volumes. When you're dialing things in at home...make sure the clean patch volumes are bumped a little more than your ear is telling you to. You'll notice, live...that you may feel the cleans aren't projecting as much (depending on your power amp source) - When you're dialing in tones NOT at gig levels...and your over driven/dirty patches sound like they need more highs....or sound muffled, chances are at real life gig volumes...they have plenty of highs. - Bottom end: If it feels a little too bottom heavy on stage....that's probably just enough to fill the room. - High gain: You'll notice at a gig...what you thought was a great amount of gain at rehearsal and home....may be too much on stage. Less is more with gain I've noticed. - Amp models: For high gain...the Engl clone is my favorite. Seems to have the smoothest, most even EQ in tone. I've spent years tweaking Line 6 POD's....and it's paid off huge in my tone and what I'm able to deliver in a cover band gig that requires a wide range. Good luck tonight.

Matrix GT1000FX power amp. It's replaced all of my tube rigs.

Is this really a topic on arts and crafts labeling? Come on guys....it's like comparing what color socks we're wearing?! LOL. My god.

I'm in a couple cover bands. Auto Replay (based in Sacramento) and Guilty Pleasure (based in the south bay). Just party cover bands....rock, pop, some dance stuff...all of the above. My next local gig isn't til August 15th...cuz my more local cover band...we need a few weeks to work in a new drummer...so I had to put us on break for 2 months. Aug 15th @ Maggie McGarry's in SF, then Aug 23rd @ Troy's Bocce Room in Morgan Hill and so on. The Sacramento band dates are: June 28th @ Swabbies in Sac, July 12th @ Halftime in Rocklin, July 25/26 @ Cabo Wabo in Tahoe and so on. I love the matrix. I come from the large rig, tube head...4x12 cab school. Lately it's just been two 1x12 orange cabs, matrix, pod hd 500x and a few pedals...and it sounds just as big and tube like as my traditional rigs....but with more definition.

The only person in existence that wants factory presets. LOL.

If you're asking if there's a "global" boost that spans all presets, then no. Otherwise...I'd agree that jandrio's idea is the best solution. It's what I use and it works perfectly...but yes you have to set this up on each preset...as do you with every effect.

I use the L 1/4 out into a Matrix power amp. AMAZING TONE. To get the most output out of your rig....I'd say use the L 1/4 out, in mono, with the 1/4 output switch set to "line". The POD runs at almost half the output volume when running XLR out to a power amp...cuz it's at MIC level I believe...so you definitely won't be loud enough or enough headroom to keep up with a loud drummer and/or bass player...running XLR to your power amp. 1/4 out and you're golden.

I have the same rig and it was fairly easy, with the 4cm to get a great tone. I guess you'd have to detail out your signal chain in the pod. Also, I'd say play that 5150 by itself before saying "I need to get this figured out or the 5150 iii goes back". If you get great tone with that amp by itself...then obviously it's not the amp. It's just a learning curve issue and time invested. There are many many ways to configure great tone in the POD with an external amp. Input settings, output settings, mixer levels at unity or not unity, line/amp setting, fx block return levels at unity or not unity, not using cab models if you have a great external amp and cab. One thing to keep in mind is...even when using a gate in front and behind the mixer in the POD...on channel 3 on the EVH, it's still not silent. That's a shared opinion of more than a few I've spoken to. The POD's gates aren't enough for the noise the the EVH puts out in a realistic pro/stage scenario when you require silence. That's a really loud channel POD or no POD. I use a Decimator in between the fx send of the POD and the input of the EVH and a gate in back of the mixer in the POD. It's 100% silent with no "clamping" of the sustain or tone. For cleans I use straight POD/modeling....for all dirties I use channel 2 and 3 of the EVH. Also because of the known output different between channel 1 and 2 on the EVH...."WHEN"...wanting a pristine clean on channel 1 and a half dirty tone on channel 2. So the fix when using 4CM is shaping a perfect fender clean tone using the fender models in he POD. I find that even with levels backed off....the EVH runs a hotter signal through the 4cm on dirtier tones....so I'm able to back off the gain on the EVH channels a lot to quiet things down as well. ​You'll figure it out...and remember there is NO CORRECT way to run these 2 pieces of gear together....other than the physical way in which you have to hook the 4CM up and having to turn on the fx loop in the POD to trigger the FX send jack to the EVH input "on". Other than that...one way works for someone and another way works for someone else. Depends on your external cabs, speakers, cables, pickup output, guitar wood, etc etc. I have 2 musicman axis guitars which knowingly have spikey, bright, high mid tones on the neck pickup when trying to achieve a fender-ee strat-ee type of clean. LOTS of mids...so I have to correct that using the eq blocks in the POD. I also use two 1/12 orange cabs with v30's...so my rig already pushes a lot of "mids" naturally...so the way I have to EQ the EVH and EQ's in the POD....I have to back off the mids more than others might....to flatten things out. Also the EVH has a LOT of low end naturally...so I EQ that out in the POD signal chain. The result in my rig is an amazing best of both worlds. I have a huge sounding rig, very balanced, lots of definition and punch. Anyway...hit me up if you have any questions as well.

The HD500 life cycle was pretty long considering. It was released in 2010. I got mine in 2011. Pretty long life cycle for gear such as this.

There were a number of 500x's that came shipped with USB hiccups. Guitar Center reported some and so did the support forums. I also had one that of course,worked great....but nothing but "not connected" issues...and weird USB issues where one thing would work and one wouldn't. Or it would say connected...but firmware updates would error out. I exchanged it and all was good with the replacement. I'd say if you're within the exchange period...don't put too many hours into it unnecessarily and exchange it. Save yourself the headache. It either works or it doesn't.

In the settings screen....3rd screen down called "inputs" make sure "line L" is selected or "guitar+line L" and make sure it's set to "global" and not "preset". Sounds like the dirty tones are on the correct input setting to match the line L jack you're using but the clean presets aren't...and it's probably set to "preset" and not "global".

You can achieve amazing real amp over top, high gain...if you put the time into it. Paul's, as an example though, is horrible. His gain tones are really thin and get lost in the mix.

My friend. Read his original post. I'm responding to this quote of him not hearing anything in his 4CM attempt. "I have tried the "4 cable method," and all I ended up with was a barely audible guitar sound." Thanks though. LOL.