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Pod HD500x vs or and Positive Grid BIAS


leff321
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Hi. Just tried the BIAS desktop on osx. Wow, I was blown away... Never ever felt this about any software amp before. Starting to doubth if I am really hearing and feeling right... (used the demo with Ableton live, and a Fireface UC)

 

I do know it's not as portable as hd500, and is ment for studio. But... (if I dare) Pod Hd500 first, for effects, and then Bias as the guitar amp...

Maybe Bias in the effect loop so I can get effects before and after the amp. What do you think? Maybe scary to take my laptop on stage... Last gig I had I just used the Hd500 and two dB 8" Twin monitors. Sounded good, but I was not able to get any good crunch (should have tweaked moore I guess).

 

Will the BIAS in the effect loope play good? If I do that I also have a failsafe "button" if the macbook should fail. Just to choose a different program with similare setup and no bias :-)

 

Have you tried BIAS? What do you think about the sound compare to Pod hd500x? Is the (bias) sound quallity the same on IOS and OSX?

 

 

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It is an interesting idea indeed.

 

I also tried other amp modellers such as Overloud TH2 and I believe they sound much better than the HD500X models (for a detailed explanation, see here http://line6.com/support/topic/8576-is-my-hd500x-broken-low-volume-distortion-fizz/?p=82665 )

 

I think it should work out, and you should be able to change presets through the midi CC commands sent by the POD through its MIDI out.

 

About using a laptop live, maybe there is a software to re-initialize the sound card if it stops working properly? I know low-latency modes can be tricky.

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I just went through this a few months ago.  Said the same things as you.  After a month the newness wore off and the PODHD was still better.  Good luck...

 

For me it's been more than 6 months, and not ok at all  :S

Each time I get back to the POD sound I miss the control, sound and dynamics I get with TH2.

 

I think for heavy metal or rock rhythm parts the POD does actually amazingly well though. Maybe it's just personal preference, but I wish I had an Axe FX II to be able to compare both on all these aspects.

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I got an HD500X for convenience, and because I have a Variax 700 Acoustic and a Variax 300 with a Fishman TriplePlay added. I use MainStage with S-Gear to manage the tones, S-Gear is the digital amp, and other MainStage tracks contain the VIs for the TriplePlay. I like technology I guess.

 

When I first got the HD500X, I spent some time trying to reproduce the wonderful tones I can get from S-Gear. This proved to be quite difficult. S-Gear does not model amps, it is a small collection of boutique amps that just happen to be implemented in the digital domain. Mike Scuffham has made an outstanding product that seems to be way ahead of the typical amp modelers. So my setup is to use the HD500X as an audio interface and MIDI controller for MainStage and S-Gear, using some of the front of the amp effects from the HD700X into S-Gear, and using S-Gear's modulation, delay and reverb after the amp effects. This is a fantastic sounding setup, and is quite easy to use. I'm planning on a blog post on this as soon as I can get to it. The setup was somewhat complicated (but I actually like that).

 

But, the HD500X is certainly convenient by itself too. So I studied what Mike has done in S-Gear to make those wonderful tones. What I found was there's a lot of tone voicing in the drive, channel, bass, mid and treble shift switches. Typically S-Gear amps roll off more bass and treble the more distorted the amp becomes. This avoids mud in the bass and fizz/ice pick in the high end, and keeps the distortion musical and responsive.

 

I found by using the vintage pre directly in front of the blackface or other amps, and using the low and high-pass filters plus the gain controls helped create similar voicings in the HD500X. Removing the cabinet resonance and using the vintage pre for voicings seemed to result in very nice tones from the HD500X. They're not as good as S-Gear, but they're certainly useful. 

 

This setup seems pretty flexible and provides a lot of setup options to deal with different situations and needs. Overall I'm very happy with the results from the HD500X.

 

I did a similar study a while back on Bias. See: S-Gear and Bias/JamUp. This was before Bias desktop, but I think some of the points still apply since whatever you create in Bias desktop can be loaded into JamUp on an iOS device.

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I will try out, maybe today, BIAS in the effect loop. Routing will be effect send stereo to input 3 and 4 (instrument/line input) on Fireface, and return from 3 and 4 on Fireface. Just that everything on the Fireface is balanced ins and out... on the pod hd500 its unbalanced? Will be interesting regarding noise. The phones output (fireface) is unbalanced so maybe I will try that.

 

Some years ago I used the MacBook with Ableton Live (as an reverb/delay unit) with 2 Fender Hotrod deluxe amps. Also a lot of stomp boxes :-) This was in a rough enviroment with a lot of drunk people... Had no problems at all and it's very seldom that the MacBook stop working, if ever. Maybe buy a Mac Mini and a rack with a lcd screen and mount the sound card... Or just the Pod hd500x or just the Blackstar Artisan with pedals... Hm... To much fun! :-)

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A little soundtrack for you! Pod Hd500x, BIAS, Amplitube, OSX, Fireface UC, Fender Strat Deluxe HSS, Epiphone Zephyr (1999 made in the peerless factory) and Band In A Box as drummer and keyboard man :-) All guitars are played once and there is just some eq editing. The bass is Amplitube guitar to bass, with some compression and eq and played by me, the first take, on my Fender Strat. So fun to do that.

 

Tell me what you thought about this short jam-based music.

 

https://soundcloud.com/leiv-inge-kvilhaug/smoothhtooms

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A little soundtrack for you! Pod Hd500x, BIAS, Amplitube, OSX, Fireface UC, Fender Strat Deluxe HSS, Epiphone Zephyr (1999 made in the peerless factory) and Band In A Box as drummer and keyboard man :-) All guitars are played once and there is just some eq editing. The bass is Amplitube guitar to bass, with some compression and eq and played by me, the first take, on my Fender Strat. So fun to do that.

 

Tell me what you thought about this short jam-based music.

 

https://soundcloud.com/leiv-inge-kvilhaug/smoothhtooms

 

That was cool! Really liked it.

 

I didn't hear anything particularly wrong with any of the six-string guitar tones; they sounded really good. Nice and clear, great definition. Great playing too.

 

The bass sounded not bad, but a little weak and somewhat over-processed. Maybe that's what you were after though?

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This was made in a... what can I say... Had a hard time with Rme Totalmix. Made me almost crazy... :-) Well, crazy I am, but the routing thing was hard and therefore it made me do only one "try" at each track! I did overdo the compression (don't remember, but something like Red Comp...) on the lead guitar. The backing guitar had a lot of noise gate... I just forgot to turn it of.

 

The bass sound is just right in my head phones and on my hifi. I am not an sound engineer. I am aware that things will sound different on other hardware. You must also remember that the bass is my Fender Stratocaster Deluxe through Amplitube (guitar to bass). I am really impressed on what they managed to do with that preset. For me it sounds like upright bass with some... hm... strange things. It was the first thing I recorded and I did not change a thing, even though the timing was a bit off sometimes.

I was about to record a high-gain guitar to, but it felt wrong with this track. Maybe next time :-)

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I missed that part about it being a simulated bass from guitar, must have spaced out while reading. I guess that would explain why something sounds a little off about it. But it does sound good for how it was accomplished. I also listened to it through sony mdr-7506 headphones.

 

Did you use the cabs on the pod or something else?

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Just recently, I had alotta fun with Amplitube 3 loaded in a DAW, the amps are amazing but the cabs are a bit eh, so I bypassed them on Amplitube and

patched it into LeCab2, with RedWirez Impulse's, and damn I was impressed ! I tried Bias once but didn't like it, I shall try it again after reading this.

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The Pod Hd500x was only used as effect gear. I used the cabs and amps from BIAS. Maybe they (line6 and positive grid) sound the same, but the "feel" when playing is very different. I briefly tweaked the gear, so don't blame the pod or the bias (or amplitube) for bad quality. I will make something else when I got the urge and time :-)

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  • 1 year later...

Hi,

 

I just bought the Bias rack and it sounds really awesome simply in full range studio monitors... I got great tones with minor adjustments... Those tones have nothing to do with the pod HD500 amps... I know it is not the same technology nor the same price, but I worked for two years to find a real good tone with the Line 6. I even bought the Metal pack, hoping that I would find something decent... I tried everything, using the pod'EQs, esxternal EQ (31 bands), but never got a real great simulated tone; in addition, the memory is quickly overleaded... However, I appreciate the HD500 for the effects combined with the BIAS. I got best of both worlds.

 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi,

 

I just bought the Bias rack and it sounds really awesome simply in full range studio monitors... I got great tones with minor adjustments... Those tones have nothing to do with the pod HD500 amps... I know it is not the same technology nor the same price, but I worked for two years to find a real good tone with the Line 6. I even bought the Metal pack, hoping that I would find something decent... I tried everything, using the pod'EQs, esxternal EQ (31 bands), but never got a real great simulated tone; in addition, the memory is quickly overleaded... However, I appreciate the HD500 for the effects combined with the BIAS. I got best of both worlds.

 

Hi! I plan to order the bias head at the end of the month, and I wonder if you've tried using your HD500 as a midi controller for the rack. I asked a guy on youtube who said he had some issues and that it was because of the POD. I've seen people using it successfully together with a Kemper, so I can't see why it shouldn't work with the bias... I have a 500X that I plan to use for control and effects. I've also spent countless hours of tweaking POD presets, but I just can't get the "bite" that I look for in high gain metal tones :P

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