HD300 taken in trade! ??s.

[tygr1]

Hi folks. I just took an HD300 in as part of an amp trade. I love fooling around with these things. Never got serious. Now however, in my old age...

 

Anyway, mine seems to have no 'toe switch' under the front of the expression pedal. Is it a physical switch that's supposed to be there or just a contact switch. Can't seem to calibrate the pedal.

 

Next question is: where would I enjoy the sounds of this thing the most...in front of my tube amps? Through my nice headphones? Through a powered speaker?

 

Any help, opinions, arguments, advice, criticisms are most welcome! Thanks!!

[joel_brown]

For the best sound - it depends on the tube amp and what type of sound you're looking for.  Give us a little more of a description of what you have and what type of sound you're looking for.

[hurghanico]

1 hour ago, tygr1 said:

mine seems to have no 'toe switch' under the front of the expression pedal. Is it a physical switch that's supposed to be there or just a contact switch. Can't seem to calibrate the pedal.

 

It is a physical switch and usually is quite hard to press

 

1 hour ago, tygr1 said:

where would I enjoy the sounds of this thing the most...in front of my tube amps? Through my nice headphones? Through a powered speaker?

 

It really depends on your taste and needs. Only you can know the answer.

 

However generally speaking it could be useful to know that to get the full representation of the miced amps modeled ready to be recorded you should use a sort of flat response monitoring system, like headphones, PA monitors, keyboard amps, or other similar devices..

 

To get instead the amp in the room familiar feel (ie not the miced sound) behind you, you need to connect the POD to the RETURN input of a guitar amp you like, or to a power amp connected to a physical cab you like, this is a far less versatile solution compared to the other one, but the amp in the room feel is assured.

 

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All about POD HD500/X

help and useful tips

[tygr1]

I only play at home. Blues, blues rock, some more modern rock so a bit of a metal feel at times.

 

Won't be recording with it. Thought of trying in front of a CLEAN set amp? Guess I'll just have to try it and see. Perhaps I'll look for a cheap powered monitor of some kind. Also, I'll try the efx loop returns?

 

 

[hurghanico]

30 minutes ago, tygr1 said:

Thought of trying in front of a CLEAN set amp

 

IMO the POD connected in front of a clean set amp is good if you use it only for effects (no amp models)..

 

If you want instead to use also the amp models (especially the pre-amp versions) the best connection is by the RETURN input, thus bypassing the real pre-amp of your amp and replacing it with one of the modeled ones, this is a proven very good method.

 

In case you want to enable also the cab model in your patches you should experiment with the various POD output modes to see which one sound better for the combination of the modeled cab with the real one.

 

If you go instead for the flat response monitor solution the only good output mode is studio/direct

 

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

All about POD HD500/X

help and useful tips

[pianoguyy]

2 hours ago, tygr1 said:

Any help, opinions, arguments, advice, criticisms are most welcome! Thanks!!

 

Criticism - I hope it was a small amp. The 300/400 are nothing like the 500. 

 

 

2 hours ago, tygr1 said:

of the expression pedal

I don't own the 300, but if I remember correctly, this isn't an expression pedal. It is a dedicated volume/wah pedal. Whereas, the 500 had the expression pedal - it could control anything assigned to it. 

 

 

Beyond that - 

The ultimate answer is; do what you gotta do to get the sound you need to get. For example, my old rig lasted me 20+ years. I ran no loops, everything ran in a straight line, and went into the front of the amp. People tried telling me my wah needed to go here and my distortion needed to go here and put this cord here so that it bypasses this and that... to which I say "I hope you have your diaper on. You may want to take a step back, because I am about to make you lollipop your pants. And when I am done, I'm going to take your girlfriend for a test drive."

 

However, amp modelers are designed to replace amps. That is their purpose. You will never get a Fender tone from a modeler when using a Marshall amp. It doesn't mean you can't make it sound good, it just means that X going into Y isn't the same as X by itself. 

So, yes, headphones (not $20 earbuds, not $200 Beats, we mean monitoring headphones) or a powered speaker will allow you to hear the device as intended. 

 

I have a multitude of resources available to me. So, at home (or on the bus, hotel room, etc) I am a little less concerned with being perfect. But I run a pair of JBL Eons. I also have Peavey KB/A amps. All very good options. Not as good of an option, but totally doable - those cheap $20 computer speakers you buy at the dollar store. 

Basically, anything that you can plug in your record player and get good clear tone at decent volumes is what you want. Some headphones and speakers add "bass reflex". You don't want that. If you want bass in your tone, you add it in your EQ. 

 

 

But, here's the kicker - 

Whatever way you decide to go, that is the way you have to go. You can't design a hundred patches using "Method 1", and then think that you switch to "Method 2". Tone won't transfer from one to the other. And there is no "rule of thumb" that you could, let's say, add "EQ Setting A" on all of your patches while using "Method 2". Each patch would need redesigned from scratch if you need the same tone. 

 

 

[hurghanico]

10 minutes ago, pianoguyy said:

I hope you have your diaper on. You may want to take a step back, because I am about to make you lollipop your pants. And when I am done, I'm going to take your girlfriend for a test drive

 

LOL!!

 

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

All about POD HD500/X

help and useful tips

[joel_brown]

I liked mine the best for heavier tones when I plugged the POD into the FX returns of an amp and used the PreAmp version of the amp models.  But it's made to be connected a lot of different ways so experimentation is required.  I play in a Black Sabbath tribute band which is heavy metal but somewhat blues based.

 

You may find a tone you like with headphones or even straight into a monitor or mixing board.  I haven't heard of too many people using it in front of a clean amp unless it's for the built in POD effects only, such as distortion effects or wah.  Otherwise you're basically plugging in an amp tone into another amp tone.  That usually doesn't work well.

[tygr1]

You guys are great! Now I have a very good idea re: this thing's capabilities for use. All 3 of my current amps have loops and I have a pair of Hifiman HE400i phones.

 

Plenty of options...when I get around to THAT part of the hobby, lol. JK. I will start watching for pa speakers as well.

 

Thanks again everyone. I have to say, I wouldn't have bought one of these, but it sure sounds great now that I have another one and am really listening to it!

[aerosol_d7]

there is also the 4 cable method, check it out!

[pianoguyy]

for the 300?