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POD HD Pro X: Setup guitar input impedance?


pfairlie
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In Setup: Input Options in the POD HD Pro X Advanced Guide, they talk about a "control which adjusts the Guitar input impedance." In more detail..."Guitar In-Z - Select the input impedance of the Guitar input. This feature affects tone and feel because your guitar pickups are being loaded as they would be by an effect pedal or a tube amplifier." Then they refer to a later chart of 'input' impedances of various models on the unit.

 

What I need to know is, should I be changing Guitar Z values based on the 'output' impedance or DC resistance of guitars I use? This would be a royal pain in the lollipop, given the number of guitars I use. They appear to be talking more about impedance of things the guitar is connected to (input Z, not output Z).

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Effect blocks in HD have various impedances. 

The one that counts is the impedance of a first block in your chain. 

 

In global settings, Guitar Z on Auto will use whatever impedance the first FX block in your patch has. 

 

But if you want, set it for example to 1m, and it will be the same for all patches, no matter what blocks they have first in a chain. 

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I am old (both school and age). When I started playing, we didn't know all this crap. No one wrote about all this crap. All we knew was - 

1. Don't play bass through guitar gear. 

2. Don't plug powered signals (like amps) into anything other than speakers. 

 

So, my approach here is - globally set it to 3.5m 

Twist the knobs until your patch sounds good. 

I knew nothing of it for 30+ years, why should it bother me now. One setting, make it work. 

 

This plays into my all-around* approach: 

I create all my patches with 1 guitar, the same guitar. Because I know that each guitar sounds differently, which is why we use different guitars. One patch sounds different when using different guitars, so when you want a little boost you play a hot guitar when you want a little twang you use a single coil. 

 

*this applies to general patches. if something specific is being created, then I will specifically create something. 

 

 

Of course, there are other people who want to sound the same all the time. So they create one patch and then save multiple versions based on - sometimes I play a Strat and sometimes I play with active pickups and sometimes I use an amp and sometimes I run direct. 

That way, no matter what the situation is, they sound the same.

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but to (repeat) answer the question - if, as example, you use 'auto', it gets determined by the first fx block 

this could cause some major changes in tone if, as example, after you designed a patch, you decided to add a block. Such as I often do - which is, when sitting around playing different songs at home, I add a pitch shift so that I can play along with a certain song that is in a different tuning. Or I plan to use a patch as a template for another patch and add an EQ - even without activating or adjusting the settings, my tone changes. 

 

and to repeat my statement - Since 1983, I knew nothing of all this impedance stuff. Why should I be making changes now. 

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16 hours ago, pfairlie said:

What I need to know is, should I be changing Guitar Z values based on the 'output' impedance or DC resistance of guitars I use? This would be a royal pain in the lollipop, given the number of guitars I use. They appear to be talking more about impedance of things the guitar is connected to (input Z, not output Z).

 

No, you shouldn't. It's much simpler

The purpose of that setting which in particular has to do with physical components (therefore not digital) of the Guitar Input circuit serves to have an even more realistic response from the first model in the chain that is reached by the guitar signal.

 

It is a part of the final emulation that cannot be modeled but can be reproduced with real components.

 

If you connected your guitar to a real amp its input would have 1 megohms of impedance and this factor affects the resulting sound, if you connected your guitar to a Fuzz Face its input would have a much lower impedance and also in this case this factor affects the resulting sound ..

 

What happens with the POD is that if you set the impedance parameter to AUTO the device will automatically configure the Guitar Input each time depending on which is the first model (on or off) to the left in the chain.

 

If you set the impedance parameter to a fixed value it will no longer change depending on which model is the first in the chain, so if for example you set it to 1 megaohm and the first model in the chain was an amp you would get a faithful response because all the amps have the input with 1 megohm of impedance, but if the first model in the chain was instead a Fuzz Face the response would be less faithful since the impedance of a Fuzz Face is certainly not 1 megaohm but much less.

 

So in conclusion the impedance parameter is not designed in origin as a function of the particular guitar, but as a complement for a more complete/faithful emulation of the amps and effects modeled.

 

An example of reasoning could be:

I know my guitar connected to a Fuzz Face would sound a certain way.

How can i achieve the same result in the world of modeling?

If the modeler is provided with a real impedance input circuit and it can be set to the value corresponding to the Fuzz Face the result of that combi guitar-fuzz will certainly be more realistic/credible..

 

But, if you want, the impedance parameter can also be used in a different or creative way, that is to customize the general tone response of the connected guitar.

In this regard it is useful to know that at a value of 3.5 megohm the guitar original signal is completely unaltered, at 1 megohm it is still almost unchanged, then as the value is lowered the signal darkens more and more and its level is lowered as well.

 

In any case it would not be possible to obtain the same impedance-dependent tone variations/results by simply equalizing the signal instead of having an input circuit with real variable impedance.

That's why they implemented it.

 

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

All about POD HD500/X

help and useful tips

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2 hours ago, pfairlie said:

Thanks everyone. I'm still at the stage with this thing where I want to make music, but have to learn technology. The bane of my existence.

 

We've all been there. 

Some more than others, because some of us built a rig (to perfection) and then used the rig for 2 decades, letting all of the newest changes pass them by. While others buy every new unit that comes out - most of them aren't on the HD forum section anymore because they have gone on the the "latest and greatest". ----- yeah, we have people who had the 500 and then bought the 500X because "it has an X in its name, it's the most fantastic thing ever". 

(and then those same people bought the Firehawk)

 

 

 

So, anyhow, here is the one thing that I wish someone said to me when I was new - 

 

Make your selections as if all of this virtual stuff was physical stuff. 

 

Meaning; particularly at the beginning, if you never used a "tron up" - there is no reason to use one now. If you have never used a Fender Bluesman amp, there is no reason to use one now. 

Every piece of virtual gear in this box represents a real world piece of physical gear. If you treat the digital settings the same as you would the physical settings, you will be far less overwhelmed. You used a 1964 Marshall, use the 1964 Marshall. You turned the drive to 4, turn the drive to 4. You liked your drive before the wah, put your drive before the wah. 

 

Yes, you have a world of possibilities in this box. But... Christopher Columbus wasn't a farmer that said - let's set off to sea on a 3 month journey. 

Start simple, so that you can learn the device. THEN try all the weird lollipop lollipop. 

 

 

 

 

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4 hours ago, pianoguyy said:

Meaning; particularly at the beginning, if you never used a "tron up" - there is no reason to use one now. If you have never used a Fender Bluesman amp, there is no reason to use one now. 

Every piece of virtual gear in this box represents a real world piece of physical gear. If you treat the digital settings the same as you would the physical settings, you will be far less overwhelmed. You used a 1964 Marshall, use the 1964 Marshall. You turned the drive to 4, turn the drive to 4. You liked your drive before the wah, put your drive before the wah. 

 

Agreed, I think adopting this approach will result in much more enjoyment from modelers.

Nobody in real world tries to tweak 20 amps in the span of a week. Sometimes people are learning their one amp for years...

 

I really liked this video, where a guy buys HX Stomp as a present for his father:

 

 

His father knew exactly what effects he wanted. He knew what kind of sounds he needed.

They set it up.

And that's it.

Let's play.

 

I doubt his father is depressed because he's not using 100% of what HX offers to him.

 

On the other hand, if he wants to try out some new effect type, it's always right there waiting for him to experiment.

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I'm watching this video, and in my mind, I'm hearing my parents in their 80's (now) saying "We never liked music." True. There was only talk radio in our house from 1964 until I left for university in 1983. Why couldn't I have had this Dad? I took a transistor radio at age 7 to discover music. Let that sink in. I didn't hear pop or rock until age 7. When I stuck the earbug in my ear, the first thing I heard was Crocodile Rock. I still remember almost pissing myself.

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On 12/4/2020 at 2:41 AM, pfairlie said:

I'm watching this video, and in my mind, I'm hearing my parents in their 80's (now) saying "We never liked music." True. There was only talk radio in our house from 1964 until I left for university in 1983. Why couldn't I have had this Dad? I took a transistor radio at age 7 to discover music. Let that sink in. I didn't hear pop or rock until age 7. When I stuck the earbug in my ear, the first thing I heard was Crocodile Rock. I still remember almost pissing myself.

 

I was fortunate, in my family nearly every person can play or has played some instrument. My mother, sister and cousins all finished music schools. 

 

Actually I'm the black sheep, because as a kid I didn't want to go to music school. Now I regret it a lot :(

 

I don't think I will ever have as much technical skill on guitar as my sister ;) 

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