Running an Overdrive In Front of Pod HD500X?

[Indulger777]

Greetings my fellow Line 6ers. I currently own the Pod HD Pro, and am pleased with the overall sounds that I've been able to come up with. However, I'm strongly considering selling my HD Pro in order to get a HD500X and Scarlett interface. Anyways, I was thinking about buying an external boost pedal, like a Maxon OD808-type pedal and use it in place of the modeled "Skreamer" in the HD. I play mostly progressive medal, so I'd be using it for signal boosting/tone shaping. My big question is how well does the Pod HD series handle external boost pedals? And would there be any difference between the HD Pro and the HD500X in terms of how they respond to the pedal? I've heard very mixed things about this, and would appreciate whatever insight I can get on the matter. Some people say that the Pod HD's input is already calibrated to handle a Guitar's natural signal, and that running an OD pedal will cause nothing but problems. Then I've heard from other people that the Pod handles pedals well, even Tubescreamer-like pedals. Thoughts!!??

[stumblinman]

I've rotated several dirt pedals on and off my board in front of my Pod and they all work fine. Currently I use an EHX Soul Food and it works very well. I use it as a boost and a little dirt as well. It doesn't overdrive the front end of the Pod into digital clipping, and it complements the tones in the Pod very well.

 

Edit: Wow, I used the word "well" a lot in this post.

 

Greetings my fellow Line 6ers. I currently own the Pod HD Pro, and am pleased with the overall sounds that I've been able to come up with. However, I'm strongly considering selling my HD Pro in order to get a HD500X and Scarlett interface. Anyways, I was thinking about buying an external boost pedal, like a Maxon OD808-type pedal and use it in place of the modeled "Skreamer" in the HD. I play mostly progressive medal, so I'd be using it for signal boosting/tone shaping. My big question is how well does the Pod HD series handle external boost pedals? And would there be any difference between the HD Pro and the HD500X in terms of how they respond to the pedal?

 

I've heard very mixed things about this, and would appreciate whatever insight I can get on the matter. Some people say that the Pod HD's input is already calibrated to handle a Guitar's natural signal, and that running an OD pedal will cause nothing but problems. Then I've heard from other people that the Pod handles pedals well, even Tubescreamer-like pedals.

 

Thoughts!!??

[scottyo78]

You could also use it on the "FX Send" and place it anywhere in your effects chain. I use a 'BBE Sonic Stomp' and although it primarily sounds best at the end of my chain, on certain amp models (or using certain effects) it sometimes sounds best directly in front of the amp model... and of course, "sounds best" is a purely subjective thing. ;) ;)

[Indulger777]

I've rotated several dirt pedals on and off my board in front of my Pod and they all work fine. Currently I use an EHX Soul Food and it works very well. I use it as a boost and a little dirt as well. It doesn't overdrive the front end of the Pod into digital clipping, and it complements the tones in the Pod very well.

 

Edit: Wow, I used the word "well" a lot in this post.

 

 

 

You could also use it on the "FX Send" and place it anywhere in your effects chain. I use a 'BBE Sonic Stomp' and although it primarily sounds best at the end of my chain, on certain amp models (or using certain effects) it sometimes sounds best directly in front of the amp model... and of course, "sounds best" is a purely subjective thing. ;) ;)

 

Thanks for the feedback guys. Seems that the majority of people who own HD models say that it handles external boosts very well. Have either of you noticed any difference in sound quality when running it in the FX Send vs. the Guitar input?

[tomtheguitarguy]

I've run my whole pedal board into the front of my PODHD500 (bypassing all of the built in effects) at times.  My thinking was that it was supposed to act like a regular amp (or at least the amp it is modeling) and I put my pedalboard in front of those amps, so why not?  I got some great tones out of it with the ability to "change" amps at the touch of a footswitch, so when I switched over to acoustic and wanted "no model" I could or if I had one amp set for single coil and another set for humbucker...

 

Hope that helps.

 

Tom

[stumblinman]

I don't put it in my fx loop as I have an acoustic sim pedal there that I use in a different patch. In general the HD500 takes all pedals well.

[scottyo78]

To Indulger777:

Yes it sounds different... meaning it's better sounding (to me) via the 'FX send' vs. via in front or in back of the HD.

My guess is it's because every effect I use is shielded by the "Noise Gate"... which is always first in my chain and which is indispensable in my view. ;) The noise gate was also wonderful in the PODXT Live which I graduated from to my HD500.

 

And I've wondered...

Why couldn't you just plug one's whole humongous pedal board into the HD500 'FX send'?

I'm sure one could. :P

[stumblinman]

Do you play single coil guitars? Usually it's fairly silent with humbuckers. I may put a noise gate between dirt pedal and amp or if I'm using a high gain amp I have a hard gate set up after the amp model.

 

To Indulger777:

Yes it sounds different... meaning it's better sounding (to me) via the 'FX send' vs. via in front or in back of the HD.

My guess is it's because every effect I use is shielded by the "Noise Gate"... which is always first in my chain and which is indispensable in my view. ;) The noise gate was also wonderful in the PODXT Live which I graduated from to my HD500.

 

And I've wondered...

Why couldn't you just plug one's whole humongous pedal board into the HD500 'FX send'?

I'm sure one could. :P

[scottyo78]

Nope, I've never really cared for the sound of single coils. But some of the souped up ones in the last few years are nice. ;)

 

Yep, that's exactly why I use humbuckers on my 3 electrics... I prefer the sound and quietness is an added benifit. :D

Many times, I've been whisper quiet in the clubs, while the other guitarist was noisy.

 

I've played with 7 other guitarists in bands and 3 of them used Fender Strat's... of which at times were noisy because of the venue. :mellow:

[chrisrcarlson]

I'm still relatively new to my HD500x, and I've tried putting a boost/harmonic overdrive in front of the HD500x, and the first thing that stood out was the attenuation of signal vs. direct into pre-amp.  In this case I was playing through a Fender HotRod Deluxe. In terms of tone, there is noticeable compression, and loss of mids in this configuration, but it's tolerable and can be compensated for.  in terms of volume output, that could also be adjusted.

 

I can't say that I've tried the overdrives in the effects loop, but the overdrives/boost are best in direct line with the guitar pick-ups.

 

most-likely separating the gain elements from the delay/modulation elements using the amps effects loop will yield the most true-to-tone results.  but if you're playing through a blues-jr. or similar amp, you just don't have that option.  and your guitar rig becomes increasingly more complicated.

 

 

I've rotated several dirt pedals on and off my board in front of my Pod and they all work fine. Currently I use an EHX Soul Food and it works very well. I use it as a boost and a little dirt as well. It doesn't overdrive the front end of the Pod into digital clipping, and it complements the tones in the Pod very well.

Edit: Wow, I used the word "well" a lot in this post.