How do you hook up a DT50 Amp to a POD HD500 with an XLR cable

[Monkjunk]

 I've downloaded all the manuals, and I've watched the tutorials till I'm blue in the face, and I'm not getting any sound. I connected an XLR cable to the Line 6 POD HD500 and plugged the other end into the back of the DT50 amp head. Now before I go any further, the Quick Start manual said to do that, and then wants you to dial up Amp style A and adjust the other settings in the POD window. The thing is, they don't tell you how to do that, they send you to another Advanced manual, and then go on to show you how to hook it up to more amp heads. I'm sorry, I'm not the rich, and I'm not buying more amp heads till I can get this thing to do what you people say it will. What is the step I'm missing at the little POD window. Can somebody tell me what to do here? I am lost. 

 I ended up unplugging it from the back of the amp and unplugged the guitar from the amp and then plugged the POD into the front guitar input on the amp and plugged my guitar into the POD. It does work that way, but then why are they insisting we do it this other way, that I can get to work at all. Plugged into the front of the amp, it will work. So what gives here? What am I doing wrong. If I can't get it to work, I'm going to YouTube me beating both these pieces of equipment with a sledgehammer because I'm really that frustrated. I'm really not liking Line 6 right now, so I'm hoping it's just something I'm missing in the manual. If this is the case, can you guys at Line 6 learn to write one manual for dummies, because I'm really about done with this and I'm really pissed. I am dissing Line 6 and will continue to do so on FB if I can't get this thing to work.

 

Monk

[TheRealZap]

calm down. first of all there is more than 1 xlr output input on each device.... second of all you should be using an AES/EBU cable for best results... (looks the same as an xlr, same connectors etc better cabling for handling digital)

make sure you are going from L6LINK out to L6LINK in.

restart amp and pod for good measure... (not entirely needed... just may help sync issues)

just to get you going put all the channel A settings to noon....  (adjust to taste after you get sound)

i'd probably suggest that the master be closer to 9 oclock  (about 1/4 of the way up)

also try pulling the master knob out (engages low volume mode)

if for some reason you still get no sound... try other presets... 

still not working... make sure that the amp and the pod are flashed to the latest update and try again...

other things you can try etc...

but don't forget you have line6 support you can call or open a support ticket to walk you through things.

http://line6.com/company/contact/

[Brazzy]

This kind of rig is not your ordinary amplifier. Before I ordered my DT50 I ordered the HD500 and used it for months. This prepared me for the uniting of the two and maaaaan I'm glad I did. It would've been too much to chew at once, at least for me.

I would recommend you learn how to update both of them first. Get them updated and learn what's in the updates for both devices. After that your on your way to being able to dive in deeper. Also look into getting another matched set of power tubes and learn how to bias them or set-up the task with someone who knows how. I do a lot of reading (manuals and forums, not just this one) which has helped me become much more fluent with all the controls and configurations. By the time I was getting the hang of it, keep in mind I'm learning how to play guitar at the same time, the tubes failed. I must've put a lot of hours on them and didn't even realize it 'cause I was so into it.

TheRealZap has good info there too. The normal xlr cable will work but its recommended to use the AES/EBU 'cause it has better protection from outside RF. I used a 20 foot std xlr for quite some time with success before getting 5 ft AES/EBU xlr.

Read on, Be patient, Rock On and Welcome to the forum. Oh and don't stop asking questions when you have one.

[radatats]

What am I doing wrong. If I can't get it to work, I'm going to YouTube me beating both these pieces of equipment with a sledgehammer because I'm really that frustrated. I'm really not liking Line 6 right now, so I'm hoping it's just something I'm missing in the manual. If this is the case, can you guys at Line 6 learn to write one manual for dummies, because I'm really about done with this and I'm really pissed. I am dissing Line 6 and will continue to do so on FB if I can't get this thing to work.

 

Monk

 

You do realize this is a users forum right?  This isn't a factory board, this is just other users like you trying to help each other out.  It's not helpful for you to rant and rave just because you didn't figure everything out on the first go round.  Personally I'd love to watch you smash all your stuff to pieces just for a good laugh but that's not what we are here for.  Anyways, do what TheRealZap said for hook up but an XLR cable will work for L6 to L6.  Once you are hooked up this way the POD will control everything in your amp. 

 

These are essentially 2 computers that need to talk to each other so you need to take your time with set up.  I ALWAYS turn the POD on first and let it stabilize.  Next turn the DT Power ON and WAIT.  about 15 -20 seconds you will hear a few clicks and the lights around the topology/class switches will flick on and off and on and then another click and they will stabilize.  Turn POD Master to 12 oclock and DT Master OFF.  Now turn the DT from STBY to ON and bring the amp Master to about 9 oclock.  Turn up your guitar volume and you should have sound!

 

If there is still no sound, change patches in the POD and try again.  Still no sound, check the input settings in the POD: hold down the View button, go to page 3 of the setup menu and verify that input 1 source is set for guitar or variax, whichever you are using, and set input 2 source to same for now.  You can change that later if you want once you know everything is working right. 

 

If there is still no sound and everything you said earlier about other setups remains true, turn everything off, try a different XLR cable for your L6 link and go through it all again, following my startup instructions.  If you do it this way every time you will have no issues.

 

If, God forbid, there is still no sound, come back to us with details of what you have done and we will help you troubleshoot further.

 

If you decide to go the sledgehammer route, please post the video here first as we get first dibs on the wreckage... lol...

[Monkjunk]

 For starters, I know this is a user group and I happen to be a very frustrated user, because I've trying to figure out what's going wrong for a month and have nobody to help me but me. Meantime, all I got is a Quick Start menu that doesn't get me started, and wants to look at other manuals. I'm beginning to find out that I'm not the only one. I will try again these steps you provided, keeping in mind it looks like what I've tried repeatedly already. Are there any dummies books for this? I have three people here right now scratching their heads and they aren't stupid either.

   Ok so I tried it your way three times with two different XLR chords and still no sound. So I tried going to the Line 6 connectivity section. Keep in mind, I'm just trying to hook up to the one amp. This time I tried it the POD manual way. Now I should mention, my instrument is plugged directly into the amp. Should it be plugged into the POD. I may try that next to see what happens.

  Now I'm trying the POD HD 500 manual. Now it tells me to go to the Home View knob and press it. It says I should be able to get three different screens by pressing it. At least that is my take on what they are telling me to do. I only get two screens. Nothing that displays a big Line 6 Link on it at any rate. If I have to go about getting there another way, they sure didn't bother to write it down in the manual. This would have been the ideal place to put that information and maybe highlight it for us dummies who are still trying to figure this out. This is why I'm ranting. So from here, I am reaching a dead end. Now I will look more through this one, and then I will go to the DT50 manual, and I'm not expecting to find my answer there either, because I've already read it twice. I'm still going to mess with this, but please tell me your take on this situation.

 Here is another area where I'm lost. It keeps showing how you get all these different screens coming up on the POD HD 500. All I can get is two. I press that View button and I can get two screens. Thats it. Where are these other screens coming from that they are showing? How do I make that happen. 

 So now being frustrated even further, I venture back to the POD HD 500 Quick Start manual yet again. Now here they were nice to draw a little red circle around "1 Brit P75 Bat Pre", they also say that if Amp B is on, to toggle it to the off position. Unfortunately, they don't tell you anywhere around here how to go about doing that. So I don't know. What do I do here?

 Now I really love this next part because it gets right to another head ache.

  It says: "Go to the Set Up L6 Link Audio screen. Okay. How do I do that. Nothing here tells you even remotely how to do that. That would have been a good place to put that information if you really want me to start using this stuff quickly. After all this is the Quick Start manual. I can't wait to hear this thing. I bet it sounds wonderful.

 I'm not buying an AES chord till I get a sound with XLR first.

 As for the tutorials on YouTube, they need one that shows this sort of info. I shouldn't have to go through one manual to the next just to fire the thing up. I don't know how to get updates or anything because I don't know which of these 10 manuals I have now is the one that might tell me how to do it.

[Brazzy]

Ok, I connect L6 "out" of the pod into the L6 "in" on the back of the head and turn on pod first with Master at 0 so I don't accidentally blast myself. After the Pod starts completely I turn on the Amp and wait a few minutes for the tubes to heat up then I take it off standby and turn the Master to about 9-10 oclock. When using L6 link I control everything with the Pod. You're going to plug your guitar into the Guitar in on the pod.

 

 

When I use the L6 link I leave both channel knobs (drive to vol) on the amp at zero, I simply don't need them. In fact whenever I start these things up and shut down I turn all the knobs to zero. I only use the master on the Amp and the Pods master will be used to control overall volume. When you set up a patch your going to need to set volumes appropriately so they're even across the board. I don't use channel B when using the pod but I suppose you could figure out how to.

 

Press and hold the veiw button for settings, scroll thru the pages with the Navigation button left and right, that round knob with faint arrows pointing up, down and all around. The little buttons below the screen correspond with the settings accordingly.

 

As for the channel switching you can manually switch channels with the switch on the front of the amp, till you learn about making a dual amp patch.

 

When using the L6 link the pod should default to  Stack Power Amp, although you can try Studio Direct or whatever else in there. I use both.

 

It took me a long time to get used to this interface so when I got frustrated I would revert back to just plugging into the front so I could play the guitar with some power, lol. Meaning take a break and come back to it. If I'm frusterated I won't learn anything worthwhile. I always step back and do something else and then come back. Every time I come back It got easier and easier.

 

When shutting down the amp I turn the master to 0 wait 30 seconds, put it standby wait a minute, then power down. This prevents a pop from happening which I think may not be good for the tubes, not sure about this. If anything it lets things drain a bit.

 

What cabinet are you using? are you sure it's connected with a "Speaker Cable"? and is it in the correct output jack?

 

P.S. Make sure you check back to my post as I'm updating it so I don't make tracks all over this thread, lol.

Edited February 23, 2015 by Brazzy

[radatats]

OK so the first big issue is the guitar plugs into the POD, not the DT when connected with L6 link.  Everything is done in the POD, the DT just provides the tubes and the power amp/speakers. Other than turning it on and setting the Master, you won't touch the DT again.  All communication between the POD and the DT is through the L6 Link (XLR cable).

 

The 3 screens you can see by pressing the View button are the chain of effects, the setup screen and a big block screen showing bank and patch number.  When you are on the setup screen, use the round Nav button to the right of the screen to scroll left and right through the other setup pages.

 

I know it's a pain but you do need to read the Advanced Guide and the L6 Connectivity Guide to get all this.  If you don't have them, you can get them from the Manuals link on the Support page.

 

It is worth a go to connect the POD by USB and use HD Edit for as much as possible.  I hate that little screen on the POD.

[Line6Tony]

We're sorry to see you have a tough time getting your DT/POD going. The community has given you some very good advice, thus far. Here's a video that might help: Line 6 Dream Rig: Basic Setup and Connections.

 

Also, you may want to check the POD HD section of our videos: http://line6.com/support/page/kb/_/general-faq/line-6-video-tutorials-complete-list-r202

 

As mentioned, you are welcome to reach us with sspecific questions via a support ticket at http://line6.com/company/contact/

[Monkjunk]

 Thank you guys, I will try all this. My friend came over. He used to sell this stuff at both of the big box shops so he has knowledge about these things. I also had another geeky friend of mine trying to help me and we all were reading the manuals and watching the videos. The first thing I would put right at the top of the Quick Start menu in big letters is to update the drivers. It took me a bunch of tries, but it finally worked right. I couldn't get the L6 screen till I did that.  I did get some info from Line 6 on FB this morning that showed me these other ways I saw. I will try those later today (Maybe). When we finally did get the L6 screen on the POD to show up, I just got tired of hearing nothing and pulled the guitar plug out of the front of the amp and into the POD itself. That got us something. Finally. So I can get it to work this way, and i will try this other way about instrument out the back of the POD to the (L) Mono side input in the back of the amp. There was another way they showed me too, and I'll try it. I think I'm only going to try doing anything new on this if I have somebody over here. I had these things just sitting for about six months before I even got enough nerve to mess with it. 

 I'm just a guitar guy, I tried doing the electronic music thing with Reason. I couldn't figure out Reason, it was just too complicated for me to figure out. So I dumped all my Reason stuff in the trash. That sounds stupid, but I've also found I'm not the only one who has done that with Reason either. I hate spending money on stuff that isn't as easy to use as they make it sound. I know for a fact that if I can figure this thing out, I could help them write a manual that most guitar players could work with. I'm not geeky, and I don't speak geek.