POD HD500X cuts out in live performance situations

[malcolmtent]

My HD500X is totally reliable if I'm using it in my studio, or playing solo shows. But when I get a full band behind me in a live setting, it has cut out on a number of occasions.

 

(Edit: after reading some posts here, I can't be sure it's not the volume going down to zero, The unit stays powered on, but I'm not getting any output from it. My goal is always to get my guitar back in the mix as quickly as possible, so I haven't done anything onstage other than plugging in to an amp directly. Next time, I'll look at the settings before going direct.)

Because it's so reliable elsewhere, I'm thinking it's a power supply issue. The kind of clubs I've been playing with it are the ones that might have one circuit powering the entire stage, so I can see that when we all get thrashing away up there, the load on the circuit might be causing a voltage drop causing the HD500X to shut down.

Has anyone else experienced this? Am I barking up the wrong tree and perhaps the unit is defective? (I don't think it is, though, because I leave it on in my studio for days at a time without problems.)

What should I try as a solution? Variac? UPS?

Any help appreciated.

[bobcoss]

Hi.

 

I used mine live for 6 years and only had problems because of bad cables to FOH or folks screwing up the mix.   I've never had problems with power before.   I doubt the unit would just cut out sound, I would think it would have more catastrophic effects like seeing it reboot.  But that is hard to say.   There is no doubt that power problems will affect things on the stage, but in reality, the HD500(x) isn't using that much power.

 

What are you using for output when you are playing with a full band?    Direct to FOH using XLR, 1/4 out to a Direct box?,   To an amp etc?    I've had faulty Direct boxes, etc.

[malcolmtent]

1 hour ago, bobcoss said:

What are you using for output when you are playing with a full band?    Direct to FOH using XLR, 1/4 out to a Direct box?,   To an amp etc?   

1/4 out to amp

 

1 hour ago, bobcoss said:

There is no doubt that power problems will affect things on the stage, but in reality, the HD500(x) isn't using that much power.

I agree that it isn't using much power itself, but I could see that a significant voltage drop might mess with the electronics inside the HD500X. But if others aren't experiencing the same problem, then I'm not so sure. Certainly, there will be plenty of people using theirs in the same way and on suspect electric circuits.

 

[bobcoss]

hmmm.  1/4 out direct to amp should be as stable a connection as possible assuming the cable is good.    It wouldn't hurt to try a small "office" type UPS maintain power if you have one available.  You might want to clip off the buzzer so it doesn't make nasty sounds when the power flickers.....

 

I guess I don't have any other ideas.  Good luck with troubleshooting.

 

 

[pianoguyy]

I have no input on the issue

 

BUT

 

since we are talking about random cut outs - 

I am wondering why I didn't see this post this weekend when it was posted. it didn't appear (to me) until today, after someone responded to it. 

[malcolmtent]

37 minutes ago, pianoguyy said:

I am wondering why I didn't see this post this weekend when it was posted. it didn't appear (to me) until today, after someone responded to it. 

As a first-time poster, the post didn't go up until it had been approved by a moderator

[spaceatl]

I use a Tripp Lite AVR (LC1200) to prevent resets. I have seen it happen many many times. An AVR can prevent digital units like the HD from reseting when the voltage drops too low. Simple conditioners don't help with brown conditions. With the advent of class d power amps and LED lighting, this doesn't happen as much as it used too. But there are still some venues around with older gear and crummy power that will reset a POD on every kick drum hit.

[malcolmtent]

thanks for the tip, spaceatl. I'll look into grabbing an AVR. Another 9 lbs of gear to lug. Oh well.

 

[joel_brown]

Maybe it's the amp or a cable and not the PODHD.  I would keep a set of headphones around and plug them into the PODHD next time it goes out to make sure it's the PODHD and not something else.  I know you're in the middle of a gig but you have to diagnosis exactly where the problem is before trying to fix it.

[spaceatl]

51 minutes ago, malcolmtent said:

thanks for the tip, spaceatl. I'll look into grabbing an AVR. Another 9 lbs of gear to lug. Oh well.

 

If you gig a lot, it's great protection to have...I am only guessing that you might be getting a reset...However, it could be almost anything in your signal chain. This is very common for digital signal processors on iffy venue power...If you plug all of your gear into a transformer based AVR (at least 2:1 rating) you can be sure voltage is stable and you will NEVER have a ground loop. One little phenom of a transformer based AVR is ground isolation. 2:1 rating just means if you have 500 watts worth of gear, use an AVR rated at least 1000 watts...Higher rating is always better.

[malcolmtent]

26 minutes ago, joel_brown said:

Maybe it's the amp or a cable and not the PODHD.  I would keep a set of headphones around and plug them into the PODHD next time it goes out to make sure it's the PODHD and not something else.  I know you're in the middle of a gig but you have to diagnosis exactly where the problem is before trying to fix it.

I unplug the POD guitar cable and go straight into the amp - always different amps at different locations - and am back up and running every time. So it's not the amps. And I have a rotating cast of cables, so it's not the cables, either.

Plugging in headphones in the middle of a song isn't going to happen.  I will quickly turn the volume knob next time this happens, as this has been suggested to be a possible problem. Perhaps re-power the unit itself.

[spaceatl]

So if this is actually POT JITTER, there are a couple of things to prevent it...One is the AVR as discussed. The other is park all of the programable pots at zero or max during performance. Jitter refers to the voltage variance going thru the pot...enough of a deviation from the stored value and the pot starts changing the value. pots are not the greatest AD converters and the voltage can dance around a little bit depending on the position, wear, dirt etc...couple in house voltage variations with a drive or channel volume sending bad position data periodically, and it can totally feel like a dropout...recalling the patch is the best recourse...parking the knobs generally alleviates it. 

[malcolmtent]

good tips, again, spaceatl.

I've already purchased the same AVR you have, and it should be arriving in a few days. I'm going to use it just for the PODhd and possibly my laptop if I'm using it.

I'll try recalling the patch next time this happens. Unfortunately (or not), most of my shows are solo with me playing to Ableton backing tracks, so no drums to shake the stage. Or bass. (Actually, I'm the bass player when this happens; at all other times I'm playing guitar). If changing the patch doesn't do it, then a quick reboot is the next thing to try. I need to get to the bottom of this so I can put a fix in place. It's not much fun performing with a piece of equipment that is know to let me down, obviously.