Fluffyone Posted June 29, 2015 Share Posted June 29, 2015 I just purchased the POD HD500X last week......it appears to be an impressive piece of gear & much more advanced than my current Korg Toneworks AX1500G. My intended use is for live gigs, as i play in a covers\function band covering music from the 1960's to present day. My amp is an old Marshall VS 100r combo with an added matching extension cab. As there are a lot of possibilities & programming options on the POD, i intend to start of with just some basic FX for the time being. I have read about the 4 cable method (which looks interesting) but would like to keep things simple & basic for the time being. Main question is......if i am plugging my strat into the front of the Marshall amp is it best to disable the amp sims on the pod? I have searched the net about this & have not found a definite answer so far. Any comments appreciated! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ts020572 Posted June 29, 2015 Share Posted June 29, 2015 Their are thousands of ways with the pod.... I would try to plug into the FX Return of your Marshall, and use the Marshall just as poweramp. I had a Valvestat 8080 years ago, and I think the ampsimulations in the POD are as good as the preamp in your VS100. The 4CM is a tonesucker, I would not recommend it. Statr with the Blackface, the Soldanos and the new Marshall, I like them most in the POD. It takes time to handle the POD :-) And read this guide, lot of really helpful information http://foobazaar.com/podhd/toneGuide/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pianoguyy Posted June 29, 2015 Share Posted June 29, 2015 I agree, there are a myriad of possibilities. And everyone is in a different situation, so there is no one single definite answer. My suggestion is always (particularly if you are playing some of these black tie events) to start using the pod without an amp. Plug it straight in to the PA. This does a couple things. Mainly, it lessens the hassle (loading gear/setup/sound check) of a live performance, and opens up possibilities of sound design. As to your specific question of should you turn modeling off: The easy answer is yes. Because no matter how good of a Fender model is available in the machine, you will never sound like a Fender when using a Marshall. This is because your amp will add its own colour to the mix. But, that doesn't mean that you can't use models. Each model will add some flavor. Don't use models if you want to sound like that amp (because it won't). You can use models like an effect, adding some tonal changes. No one said that playing a Fender model though a Marshall will sound bad, I just said that it won't sound like a Fender. So if you get a fantastic tone using a model through your amp, there is no reason not to use it. ****************** I will just throw this out there, though: Your amp is going to change the final sound. If you ever change your amp, or plug the pod in direct, or even if you change the way you plug in your unit, every patch you made will be useless to you. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillBee Posted June 29, 2015 Share Posted June 29, 2015 I actually have the same amp still and when I have used it I went direct into the FX return. The 4CM sounds great depending on how you set it up (fx loop placement, level adjustment, blah blah blah a google search will net you more info then you care for) but it negates using the mighty fine modeling of the HD. -B Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterJH Posted June 29, 2015 Share Posted June 29, 2015 Go and have a look at PART 5 of my video series on the HD500X. It covers the exact questions that you're asking. I decided to keep things as simple as possible too and in the video I plug into the front end of a Marshall combo. Hope it helps, Cheers, Peter. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZnRDj4GceM 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fluffyone Posted July 2, 2015 Author Share Posted July 2, 2015 Thank all you for the replies & suggestions , much appreciated.........Peter, thank you for the video link, very informative & straight to the point. This is still a work in progress as there are so many options,etc. As I mentioned in my first post, I intend to keep things simple for the time being.......the fact that I also play keyboards with the band doesn't help matters much,as I cannot give the guitar side of things my full attention. We are having a 2 week holiday break after this week, so I will have more time to knuckle down to do some more involved programming. Many thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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