sco01

@bignath You are spot on. I guess I will have to deal with it ;) ...and yes. The cat is awesome. Thank you all for your input.

That is correct GTLazer. I'm not trying to reamp any recordings here. I'm simply trying to use the POD for two different purposes while trying to minimize the hassle of switching between these setups. Thank you both for your answers.

I use my HD500 for two purposes: 1. I use it to record directly into Reaper 2. As a pre-amp and effects processor into my Randall Stack (I hate the pre-amp in this one but I'm too cheap to buy a new one) In scenario 1, I use the output mode "Studio/Direct", amp/cab and effects modelling in my patches. The recording is done via USB. This is what works best for me and I really like the sound. When I like to jam with the cat, I switch to scenario 2. The Unbalanced Output (left) is connected to the effect loop return on the amp at all times so I simply fire up the amp (now bypassing the pre-amp) and load a patch with a pre-amp (no cab selected) and any number of effect simulations. The problem is that it sounds pretty bad unless I go to settings and switch to output mode: "Stack Power Amp". My problem is that the Output Mode setting is: A: A global setting. This is not something I can set in a patch so I have to set it manually every time I switch back and forth. The sound is really crappy in scenario 1 if I forget to switch back to "Studio/Direct" B: It doesn't seem to be possible to set it via HD Edit so I have to use the tiny LCD like some kind of caveman to configure the output mode ;) Is there an easier way to do this or do you have any suggestion to improve my setup to make switching back and forth simple? Thanks in advance TLDR: Too lazy to change output mode back and forth all the time.