HD500X to power amp/cabinet

[Nick_1973]

I'm still a big fan of my 500X despite the 'older' tech, maybe because I'm older (50+). At home its great to setup all my tones and listen via headphones. But as I'm sure you are all aware, that doesn't equate to a good live sound.

I play in a covers band, so I need a real mix of tones with various amp and cab combinations with various effects to recreate the sound of a mix of styles. I've got a great set of patches that I've created and I'm happy how they sound at home through headphones.

When we play a larger gig, then its easy to just go into the desk/FOH to sue the PA and I monitor through in-ears.

I need to find a better solution for my live set up when in the practice studio, or smaller gigs without the PA. At the moment I'm sacrificing a lot of my tone by just going from the pod to the front of the amp. Its ok for practice but its not the sound that I want. I could go down the 4cm, but that will take some work to edit all the patches to put in an effects loop block and tweak the mixer settings etc....

 

And this is where I'd really appreciate your input/thought/opinions/advice/do's/don'ts.

 

I had an idea that I could run the pod out to a power amp and then a cab, as this would be a better option that isn't going to colour the tone the same ways as running into the front of an amp would. I appreciate that the cab will have its own 'tonal character' but if a choose an FRFR (or maybe a PA speaker) that should limit the issue.

 

As another idea, I've got a Fender Frontman 212r knocking about that has a PRE in and PWR out (send/return fx loop?). Could I plug the pod into the PWR out, effectively bypassing the preamp of the Fender, so I just use it as a 'powered cab'?

 

As you can probably guess, I'm not very techno savvy!!!!

 

Any help would be very much appreciated, and bare in mind that I'm looking for a low budget solution, not some high end £££££ setup

 

Cheers,

 

NIck

[hurghanico]

I suggest connecting the POD output to the RETURN (PWR IN on your amp) jack on your amp.
By doing this you completely bypass the preamp (and all its controls) of your amp and use only the power amp and cabinet of your amp.

Make sure the POD's 1/4" OUT switch near the pedal is set to LINE (since RETURN inputs typically expect LINE type signals).

As regards the setting of the POD output mode for the above configuration, in theory the most appropriate one to choose would be COMBO POWER AMP but if you are thinking of enabling cabinet emulation (if you really need it since you already use a real cabinet) in your patches perhaps you might prefer STUDIO/DIRECT.

 

Note that patches created for a certain configuration will never sound the same when any element of the configuration changes.

 

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All about POD HD500/X

help and useful tips

[pianoguyy]

Everything you are saying is correct... other than plugging into the out. It is an out not an in. Unless I am having a brain fart and the out is an in and in an out. 

 

For the most part, 4cm is for when you want to use you amp's tone, not just the amp's power. You sound like you don't want to use the amp's tone, just the power. Stay away from the four cable method. 

 

 

The one thing you may be overlooking.... 

When you are using [not a pa], how good is your tone going to be anyhow. So, to me, you can skimp a little with how precise you need to be. But, at the same time, there are options that can be used in both situations - such as turning your chosen sound source for small gigs into your own monitor for larger gigs. In which case, you wouldn't want to skimp. 

For example, I use the JBL EON. It can go on the floor facing away from the crowd. It can go on a stick and face the crowd. Sometimes it is my monitor at the front of the stage, sometimes it is my monitor at the front of the stage near the microphone, sometimes it is my monitor back by the keyboards where I might not hear the front monitors but don't need yet another PA monitor because I am only playing a couple songs back in the corner. Hell, for that matter, sometimes it is just my keyboard amp, lol. 

 

I think sometimes people put too much thought into it. Or they think they need [specialty item] when they just need [item]. 

 

 

 

 

I don't know where you live. But Craigslist has plenty of used gear. Plenty of options are available without breaking the bank.  

[pianoguyy]

On 11/2/2023 at 4:04 PM, pianoguyy said:

I think sometimes people put too much thought into it. Or they think they need [specialty item] when they just need [item]. 

 

Not to hijack the thread.... 

I recently bought out a... I won't call it a shop. It was more like an amateur/hobbyist garage.  

I am going through all of these tools. He's got this specialty item and that specialty item. StewMac this, JB Tools that, and so much other. 

 

But I am sitting looking at this 1/4 ounce jar of graphite that sells for $20 and wondering why he needs that instead of 4 ounce jar that sells for $10 but doesn't have the "designed for guitar" label on it. And any of those lemon oils selling for for $10 an ounce when you get a 10 ounce bottle of Howards for $10. 

 

 

The point is - 

You don't need to go buy something specific like an FRFR when you have options. 

[Nick_1973]

Thanks for all of your advice :-)

 

The no cost option will be to run in to the power amp of my 212, so i'll give that a go and see how it sounds at the next practice session. Its not ideal as i'll have to transport a heavy amp every time. There are cabs available to use at the studio where we practice, so if the 212 doesn't work out, then maybe I should try a stand alone 'amp pedal' to provide power to a cab (something simple like an orange terror stamp or such like?)

[DolurumMafikala]

On 11/3/2023 at 10:31 AM, Nick_1973 said:

Thanks for all of your advice :-)

 

The no cost option will be to run in to the power amp of my 212, so i'll give that a go and see how it sounds at the next practice session. Its not ideal as i'll have to transport a heavy amp every time. There are cabs available to use at the studio where we practice, so if the 212 doesn't work out, then maybe I should try a stand alone 'amp pedal' to provide power to a cab (something simple like an orange terror stamp or such like?)

 

I'd say if you were thinking of buying an amp pedal to use the studio cabs, and therefore spending some money, you should also audition a powered speaker such as the JBL EON @pianoguyy mentioned. You see them used and there are lots of different speakers that do the same thing.

 

The point of that approach is that you use the amp and cab modelling in the Pod and then the powered speaker tries to then faithfully reproduce that sound, like a PA would. When you use a power amp to a guitar cab you will be getting the guitar cab sound in there.

 

I just mention this as you said you were trying to match up your live PA tone with your studio practice tone. You would have to carry the speaker to practice though!