500X, can it be re-formatted with a different "personality?

[xtrips]

Hello,

 

I just got my 500X. It was recommended to me because of the quality of the hardware, the components, the sturdiness, etc.....

I don't know if half of it is true but anyway, I purchased it and now it's mine.

I immediately found out that I will have to read the bloody manual since I don't find it very intuitive.

But mostly, after I toyed with the pre-installed presets, I found out that I don't like or haven't got any use for like 90% of those presets.

Maybe I am too old, I don't know...

The thing is I don't listen or play any metal or similar stuff.

So I was wondering... will I have to reprogram the whole damn thing to suit my taste?

I mean I know I will do that for a few presets but not for the whole capacity of the POD.

Or maybe there is someone out there that felt the same and could share his presets?

I guess I can load them in right? Overwriting the originals maybe?

 

I am looking for the kind of sounds used in Steely Dan, King Crimson, Genesis, The Beach Boys, Queen, to name a few....

 

Thanks

[DunedinDragon]

You're not alone in this, but apparently people like us tend to be in the minority.

 

There's a lot of metal guys using this gear, but if you have the patience you'll find you can get exactly the tones you want.  But you'll probably end up building them yourself..that's what I had to do.

 

This isn't unusual in the modeling world.  Prior to getting the HD500x I was using a Mustang IV which has many of the same type of features as the POD.  It came with all sorts of presets that were totally useless to me.  So I'm already used to dumping the presets that come with it and building my own.  You can get a jumpstart in some ways if you want to download other user's tones from CustomTone, but in all likelihood you'll end up having to modify those as well because they were built with different guitars/pickups and used on different amp or FRFR speaker setups.

 

How many of these presets you choose to build for yourself is really up to you and your needs.  Some people are happy with 4 or 5 different presets that cover the range of clean to overdriven and everything in between.  As for myself, I enjoy building my own presets and because I use several different guitars depending on the song, I just build a preset for every song in the band's repertoire.  Many are very similar, but have some minor tweaks.  But it makes it easy for me to build a setlist because I have one set I names "Performance" and I copy the presets from the set I named "Base" into the appropriate slots in the Performance set when we perform.  I also know that each song will sound closer to the sound I'm going for whether that be Eric Clapton, Queen, Chet Atkins, The Beatles...whatever.

 

It's taken some time to get this all done, but it wasn't that bad...and it was a really good way of quickly learning the ins and outs of the POD.  Right now I have roughly 58 of my own custom presets I've built over the last 5 months.  And that was starting from scratch not knowing anything about the POD.

 

And believe me, you're not too old.  I'm 63 and I've had a blast learning this stuff and building presets.  It's better than spending my time on a coin collection...   B)

 

As far as the presets that came loaded with it, I just saved them off to the PC's hard drive using the Edit program.  They're there if I want them.  And then I just write over whatever preset I want to use.  Personally I just used the last two setlists on the POD for my purposes as that's what they're kind of meant for.

[pianoguyy]

I believe that the presets are not made to "work". They are designed to show off. 

I mean, when you buy an iPhone, do they show you how to dial? Or do they show how you can use GPS to locate sex right now within 100 yards of where you are right now. 

 

Face it, I would never even think to design some of those presets, and even if I did I wouldn't have a clue as to where to begin.

BUT, because I saw that it can be done, I now know that it can be done if I want it done. 

 

 

 

Yes, you can totally overwrite every preset. 

I do not have a single original on my machine. 

[joel_brown]

Hey even us Metal guys didn't like the factory presets either.  It's not intuitive, some of the settings are strange, some weird quirks and defaults, but even with all these problems it's well worth it.

[xtrips]

Woke up this morning and found all your answers.

Feel better already!

Thanks

[Smashcraaft]

Yeah, start from the scratch using all those vintage, boutique and low-gain stuff like the Gibtone etc.

 

How do you monitor your tone when dialing in? What guitar (type, PU) and exact setup do you use?

All this stuff can help us to help you the best way. And be sure we will get it done  :)

[pianoguyy]

Here's a new advertising slogan for the new 'boring' patches that will be included in new products since nobody likes the far out creations: 

 

 

Tired of being wet? Are you all washed up?

Buy the Pod HD666. You've never heard a dry signal sound so dry before. We pride ourselves in how dry we can make our dryness. 

No effects. No tone coloring whatsoever. Just plain ordinary dry guitar sounds. 

 

 

And the commercial can have people getting splashed as a car drives by. Cut to a 50 year old 80's hair metal burnout in spandex and a spiked wig with his six foot tall electronics rack between his two stacks while making 'rock' poses. 

Fast forward to an HD666 sitting in the desert on a hot sunny day. Someone walk up to it, plugs in their guitar and starts to play. 

And the joke can be that there is no electricity out in the dunes, so what you would normally hear while playing without an amp is exactly what you hear coming out of the Pod since it isn't plugged in - a completely untouched sound.  

[AlexKenivel]

[xtrips]

Quote

Yeah, start from the scratch using all those vintage, boutique and low-gain stuff like the Gibtone etc.

 

How do you monitor your tone when dialing in? What guitar (type, PU) and exact setup do you use?

All this stuff can help us to help you the best way. And be sure we will get it done  :)

 

I have a Fender Strat Custom Shop with 2 bridge pickups that can be set as 1 hambucking. I also have a Patrick Eagle  with 2 hambuckings. And a Taylor electro-acoustic. I use a Marshall EL34 head and a 4x12" Marshall speaker.

 

End quote.

 

 

I am simply plugin the guitar in and toying with the dials if that's what you mean but since I am more of a computer tech I was wondering if I could use the POD while connected to a PC running some Line6 app and therefore monitoring the sound on screen. That way I could tweak and save sounds very easily.

Is that possible? I could check but if you already can provide infos that would be nice.

[silverhead]

There is a program called POD HD500X Edit that you can download from here:

 

http://line6.com/software/

 

You will find the program listed in the Software field.

 

You will still need to connect your monitors/speakers to the Pod outputs; it becomes your computer's soundcard when connected via usb.

[pianoguyy]

 

 

I am simply plugin the guitar in and toying with the dials if that's what you mean but since I am more of a computer tech I was wondering if I could use the POD while connected to a PC running some Line6 app and therefore monitoring the sound on screen. That way I could tweak and save sounds very easily.

Is that possible? I could check but if you already can provide infos that would be nice.

 

 

That can be done.

 

 

What he meant was....

The way that you hear your tone (such as going through a guitar amp, monitor, or computer) will make a difference in what you hear as a final product.

Plugging into your computer to create sounds, and then plugging into a Marshall for gigs will result in a different tone. You'll never be transparent when going through a Marshall. Your Fender model will never sound like a Fender when going through a Marshall. ETC.

 

 

There are also global settings that can be used to for each type of listening device. They will help minimize some of the 'bad' sounds. But, again, will change the overall tone of the device. It will not sound the same if you switch them.

 

 

 

However, do not run your Pod while running EDIT.

It will slow down the Pod and depending on your usage, could cause crashes.

 

***********************

Wait, no, not what I meant. It IS what I meant, but I didn't do a good job of it. 

If you were, let's say, recording into a DAW, or playing live on stage ----- THEN, you would not want to have EDIT running. Obviously you need EDIT running with the Pod connected, lol. But it is an editor, not performance software.