cbro76 Posted June 18, 2014 Share Posted June 18, 2014 HI guys, I got really excited about getting a pod 500 hd, and I finally got one from the us. I watched it on the tracking come half-way around the world and now it's here! Just pumped :) . I want to use it to play live. I have a little Strauss 15 watt valve amp with no effect loop, so I just plug into the amp. I have to say, the sound is okay, but maybe I was expecting too much? Or not doing it right? Are these beasts designed to be best played through pas? My band has a pa, should I plug into that via my 1/4 cable or should I buy the xlr cables, or should I just turn my amp up and tweak until I get things that sound half decent? I'm kind of lazy and casual, I don't want to spend forever tweaking, which is the best way to go? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jandrio Posted June 18, 2014 Share Posted June 18, 2014 RTFM (Read The Following Manuals):http://foobazaar.com/podhd/toneGuide/http://line6.com/sup...ing-schematics/ http://line6.com/data/6/0a06434d86d0507ef815d3fac/application/pdf/POD%20HD500%20Quick%20Start%20Guide%20-%20English%20(%20Rev%20D%20).pdf http://line6.com/data/6/0a06434dff414f7b806e5ac6b/application/pdf/POD%20HD500%20Edit%20Pilot%27s%20Guide%20v2.0%20-%20English%20(%20Rev%20A%20).pdf http://line6.com/data/6/0a06434dfb244f7b7f489af64/application/pdf/POD%20HD500%20Advanced%20Guide%20v2.0%20-%20English%20(%20Rev%20A%20).pdf 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alienux Posted June 18, 2014 Share Posted June 18, 2014 Since the POD has amp and cabinet emulators, when you plug directly into another amp, you're feeding the amp a signal that has amp emulation. There are a couple of things to do when going direct into an amp. First, you should disable the amp in the effects chain of the POD. This will allow you to put the POD's effects that you choose into the signal chain and send them into your amp without the amp/cab emulation. If you are using the 1/4" out from the POD into the amp, try setting the 1/4" switch (near the expression pedal) to "amp" rather than line if you haven't already done that. And to answer your question about PAs, yes, these are great at playing through PAs. If you do that, keep the amp and cab emulations on and make sure in global settings that you are using "studio direct" as your output mode. This is how I use mine live, along with a powered monitor on stage, and it works and sounds really great. If you don't have a long distance to run cables from your POD, the 1/4" outs are fine, but if you need to run cabling a long way, you'll need the XLR cables. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zaphodboy Posted June 18, 2014 Share Posted June 18, 2014 Make sure your output mode is set to combo front and not studio direct. This is changed by holding down the 'view' button then scrolling through the various screens until you get to the relevant one. Also make sure the physical switch is set to amp, not line. I am using an FRFR system (basically a PA) now, using Stagesource speakers but to be honest I got some pretty decent tones with the above settings using full amp and cab emulations going into the front of my old tube amp. I often got positive feedback from musos in the crowd with this set up anyway! I just made sure my basic amp sound was as clean as I could achieve and worked from there. Don't get me wrong if you compared, say, my Fender Twin tone with a real Fender Twin they wouldn't sound all that similar, but it was still a great tone. Once you've got used to the HD500 you'll love it but I think you'll end up tweaking more than you would want....somehow you just get drawn into it!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbro76 Posted June 19, 2014 Author Share Posted June 19, 2014 Thanks for the detailed response guys. I really value the input. I will take the time to digest those manuals over the next few weeks. I tried the settings you suggested and yeah, much better with it set to combo front and amps disabled. To summarise - if you play straight through an amp without an effects loop disable amps. Sounded very nice, I got the heavy distortion really grainy like my Boss Metal Zone. So basically, using the pod like this it is basically just an awesome effects board, with a looper and a tuner not an amp modeller per se. I have to say, I no longer feel like a guitarist but some sort of dj; feels weird to have all these sounds at my disposal. I get the point about things not sounding exactly the same as the written device too, but there are so many colours to paint with, that the point is really moot. The other thing is I just burnt all my practice time for the last two nights fiddling with this thing. Tomorrow, I'm going to get back to practice and not just tweaking knobs!!! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alienux Posted June 19, 2014 Share Posted June 19, 2014 It is easy to get caught up in tweaking, (I have done that with both my HD500X and my Peavey Vypyr VIP 2), but even with a traditional amp, tone chasing can always nag at you. Like you said, sometimes you just need to be OK with where you are and get playing :P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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