Pod Hd500 On Stage: External Eq Or Preamp?

[unperfectcircle]

Hi guys,

I'm an HD500 owner and I decided to use it also for rehearsals and gigs.

Right now I'm running it straight into my soundcard along with third party cab IRs and then into the PA. I really like this machine for all the routing options, effects, portability etc. plus the overall quality is pretty good. The problem is that the amp sims, even using external cab IRs, needs a lot of tweaking to get good tones especially at loud volumes and all that corrective process in order to achieve them (EQs, gain stages etc.) is very hard to tweak on the fly when you need to.

 

That's why I was thinking about a couple of possible solutions to make things simpler:

 

1 - add an external EQ like the MXR 10-band to my pedalboard so I can easily tweak the feed before it hits the soundcard

OR

2 - add an external preamp pedal (like the AMT stuff for example) to completely get rid of the POD sims and save DSP power for effects.

 

Which option would you suggest?

Adding an EQ would surely help but it's still a corrective measure rather than a real upgrade, while adding a good preamp pedal that already sounds good out of the box and it's easy to tweak on the fly maybe could really improve the overall tonal qualities of my setup, especially considering that the only thing I really need is a strong big rhythm tone.

 

What do you guys think about that?

 

 

 

[DeanDinosaur]

I think when you use external IRs at the current state of the POD HD, you're messing things up. I'm not against using IRs at all but based on my hearing and some logic it seems that when you disable the Speaker simulation in the POD, you're also disabling other things besides the IR. In other words the speaker or cabinet, in the POD is not Just an IR. If it was only an IR you would see a label stating ON AXIS, Off AXIS etc. The reason is obvious, line 6 for whatever reason don't want you to have that ability yet. I recommend working with the internal POD Cabinets as I think they are great and with the additional parameters in the cab block, you can control the bass and other things. When a unit doesn't officially support external IRs, you're taking chances on degrading the whole sound by misuse. If someone from Line 6 is reading this they can confirm or reject this but considering that the speaker simulation contributes to almost 80-90 percent of the actual tone (according to most sound engineers), I wouldn't  replace with an external IR a "cabinet" that might include simulations of other parts of the amp and not just the IR.

[unperfectcircle]

I think when you use external IRs at the current state of the POD HD, you're messing things up. I'm not against using IRs at all but based on my hearing and some logic it seems that when you disable the Speaker simulation in the POD, you're also disabling other things besides the IR. In other words the speaker or cabinet, in the POD is not Just an IR. If it was only an IR you would see a label stating ON AXIS, Off AXIS etc. The reason is obvious, line 6 for whatever reason don't want you to have that ability yet. I recommend working with the internal POD Cabinets as I think they are great and with the additional parameters in the cab block, you can control the bass and other things. When a unit doesn't officially support external IRs, you're taking chances on degrading the whole sound by misuse. If someone from Line 6 is reading this they can confirm or reject this but considering that the speaker simulation contributes to almost 80-90 percent of the actual tone (according to most sound engineers), I wouldn't  replace with an external IR a "cabinet" that might include simulations of other parts of the amp and not just the IR.

that's actually a very good point, but honestly I don't really like the stock cabs and EQs, especially at loud volumes. I tried and I wasn't satisfied with the results

Besides the "problems" I hear in the Line 6 sims (mainly in the upper range frequency spectrum) are always there in any configuration (full amps, pre versions, full with cab disabled). Just to be clear here, I'm not saying you can't get good amp tones out of this machine, I'm just saying I'd like to have a simpler option at my feet for those situations when you don't have time to run through all the parameters that makes the sound of this unit.

[DeanDinosaur]

I hate to say this, but if you're considering spending more money, I would buy an Eleven Rack for around 300 bucks from Ebay. I just bought one and I love the modeling so much that I now use The HD500 as a controller/Effect in the loop of the ELeven. I still have some terrific patches from using the HD series for more than two years, but the modeling is much more realistic using the Eleven that my best patches I've done on the HD are not as good as those I get from the ELeven after only a month of use!.  I hope line 6 is not reading these boards :ph34r: I forgot to mention, Even though Eleven doesn't support external IRs, the IRs are listed as on axis and of axis and when you use it with a computer to use external IRS, I don't have the problem I have with the HD. Eleven with some external IRS is stunning when you hit the right IR.

[unperfectcircle]

I hate to say this, but if you're considering spending more money, I would buy an Eleven Rack for around 300 bucks from Ebay. I just bought one and I love the modeling so much that I now use The HD500 as a controller/Effect in the loop of the ELeven. I still have some terrific patches from using the HD series for more than two years, but the modeling is much more realistic using the Eleven that my best patches I've done on the HD are not as good as those I get from the ELeven after only a month of use!. I hope line 6 is not reading these boards :ph34r: I forgot to mention, Even though Eleven doesn't support external IRs, the IRs are listed as on axis and of axis and when you use it with a computer to use external IRS, I don't have the problem I have with the HD. Eleven with some external IRS is stunning when you hit the right IR.

heard good things about Eleven Rack, but for now I'd like to keep things a bit "lighter" you know. As soon as I can I'm gonna get a Kemper, in the meantime I'd like a less expensive/more practical solution.

[unperfectcircle]

try to put the free MID FOCUS EQ fx after the amp model

 

settings:

 

HP FREQ=10 to 20

HP Q=50

LP FREQ=55 to 60

LP Q= 50 to 55

GAIN=10 to 20

 

maybe you'll like the results

 

Thanks a lot for the suggestion. I already tried the mid-focus eq but I don't really like it (along with the other stock EQs).

Anyway tomorrow is our rehearsal day...I'll try to use POD only patches again (without external IRs), tweaking frequencies balancing a couple of cabs (rather than using stock EQs) and see how it sounds. Since we already use Ableton Live to run our backing tracks, I guess I'll take advantage of it adding an EQ before going into the PA to make overall adjustments and maybe a touch of compression to sit better in the mix.

We'll see :)

[unperfectcircle]

Rehearsal went good tonight...I put the external IRs aside this time, dialed some "dual cabs" patches and tweaked the sound balancing them through the internal mixer rather than adding EQs, comps etc.

Since we already run our backing tracks via Ableton Live, I plugged the POD to the soundcard so I could handle it through the software, added an EQ to sculpt the overall tone a little bit (just a simple hi-pass and a slight mid-cut to have more space for the vocals) and a touch of compression at the end of the chain before hitting the desk.

 

It worked pretty good actually...I'm still not yet completely satisfied with the tone itself, but it worked fine in the mix and that's what really matters at the end of the day ;)

[unperfectcircle]

hi guys,

what d'you think about these pedals in the HD500 fx loop as preamps instead of the stock amp sims?

 

Blackstar HT-Dual:

Blackstar HT-Metal:

Blackstar HT-Blackfire: