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Thread: So Happy with the Pod HD500X

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    Forum Member ch willie's Avatar
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    So Happy with the Pod HD500X

    Today I a/b’d my really great Rat with the Pod’s version. Have to say the Pod sounds a little better.
    If we'd known we were going to be the Beatles, we'd have tried harder.--George Harrison

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    Forum Member Offshore Angler's Avatar
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    Re: So Happy with the Pod HD500X

    Willie, I got got to play the new rack with the HD500 PRO X over the weekend and other than a moment of terror when I accidentally entered the looper mode during Brain Stew ( switch is now disabled!) it performed beyond my expectations.

    I posted this over in the amps section but I'll repost here. These patches literally took me about 10 minutes to draw up and assign switches. All but the chewy lead tone are multi-amp signal paths. You can hear how I can go cleaner or dirtier by altering how I'm playing. These sounds ended up being very usesful. I sent these to the board via the XLRs and hard panned the channels for the live setup.

    Are you using the Line6 Edit software to create patches? It vastly simplifies the process.


    Sorry, I went long a couple but I was having fun!

    All of these are just my Les Paul and I toggled it here and there. For iso on the guitar I think it sounds pretty good.

    https://soundcloud.com/chuck-smith-3/rack-samples

    0:00 High energy Rock and Roll - you can hear how it it responds to changes in picking attack. Sort of an 80's Cars sound.
    1:20 12 string emulation testing the tracking as hard as i could push it. I can clean it up more with some tweaking.
    2:14 Overdriven Rock tone. I love this sound for live.
    3:34 Chewy lead tone. Again you can hear how tactile this preamp responds.
    3:56 Clean Marshall "Jimi" tone.

    I'll see if I can get some leads recorded soon.

    Chuck
    "No harmonic knowledge, no sense of time, a ghastly tone, unskilled vibrato, and so on. Chuck is one of the worst guitar players I know" -Gravity Jim

  3. #3
    Forum Member ch willie's Avatar
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    Re: So Happy with the Pod HD500X

    Chuck, that sounds f'in' great. I especially like the Jimi tone you've got there.

    Yeah, man, that Line 6 edit program is the tits. I love it. But I've only made three presets at the moment--a Dave Gilmour HiWatt, a Twin, and a Vox AC-30. I'm not to happy with the Vox tone, but I'll figure out how to make it louder.

    I also bought the bass pack, and my basses sound amazing through it.
    '
    BTW, I'm getting ready to post my new song in the recording forum here. Hope you like it. I used the Twin setting for the guitars.
    If we'd known we were going to be the Beatles, we'd have tried harder.--George Harrison

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    Forum Member Offshore Angler's Avatar
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    Re: So Happy with the Pod HD500X

    Quote Originally Posted by ch willie View Post
    Chuck, that sounds f'in' great. I especially like the Jimi tone you've got there.

    Yeah, man, that Line 6 edit program is the tits. I love it. But I've only made three presets at the moment--a Dave Gilmour HiWatt, a Twin, and a Vox AC-30. I'm not to happy with the Vox tone, but I'll figure out how to make it louder.

    I also bought the bass pack, and my basses sound amazing through it.
    '
    BTW, I'm getting ready to post my new song in the recording forum here. Hope you like it. I used the Twin setting for the guitars.

    The Jimi sound is fun but essentially useless for playing live. For overall volume on a patch try going into the mixer function after the amp and boosting each side 4 or 5 db. That should do the trick.
    "No harmonic knowledge, no sense of time, a ghastly tone, unskilled vibrato, and so on. Chuck is one of the worst guitar players I know" -Gravity Jim

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    Forum Member chuckocaster's Avatar
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    Re: So Happy with the Pod HD500X

    I’m so impressed with the new modeling, it’s starting to actually sound AND feel real. They were pretty lame and flat sounding in the late 90’s, but you figure 20 years of development and we’re finally there. Heck, plugging my guitar into my iPhone or iPad and using modelers gets me a really good sound.

    Glad it’s working for you buddy!
    "don't worry, i'm a professional!"

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    Forum Member ch willie's Avatar
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    Re: So Happy with the Pod HD500X

    Quote Originally Posted by chuckocaster View Post
    I’m so impressed with the new modeling, it’s starting to actually sound AND feel real. They were pretty lame and flat sounding in the late 90’s, but you figure 20 years of development and we’re finally there. Heck, plugging my guitar into my iPhone or iPad and using modelers gets me a really good sound.

    Glad it’s working for you buddy!
    Hey, Chucko!

    Glad to hear from you. Yeah, this thing is really good. Scary good!
    If we'd known we were going to be the Beatles, we'd have tried harder.--George Harrison

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    Re: So Happy with the Pod HD500X

    How would you rate it against the AXEFX? After the Anglers kudos I am feeling the need to pick one up in the next few whatevers. I have been simulating speakers for some time and been impressed, I guess I should not short this side if it is so great.

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    Forum Member Offshore Angler's Avatar
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    Re: So Happy with the Pod HD500X

    Quote Originally Posted by renderit View Post
    How would you rate it against the AXEFX? After the Anglers kudos I am feeling the need to pick one up in the next few whatevers. I have been simulating speakers for some time and been impressed, I guess I should not short this side if it is so great.
    I'm using the POD HD PRO X rackmount with a FB3 controller. It has more processor than the stompbox version but with the controller it costs about twice as much.

    Maybe the Fractal has slightly better amp modeling, but the Line 6 has better effects (?).

    I like the HD PRO X for the following reasons:

    Sound is probably as good for live. At some point you reach a situation where both are so good there's no clear winner and I guess we're there.
    The software interface is OUTSTANDING and easy to use.
    I like the FB3 better than any other controller I've used.
    More options for sounds.
    Love the stereo, it's sooo lush.
    FEELS like a "real" amp.


    I've been playing it live regularly now and I'm totally happy with it. Between the two there's no question which is the better value. I only have about $1200 into my HD PRO X rack compared to about 6 or 7 times that for the high bucks rack. For the price of a single amp I have all the bases covered I would ever need and in most live situations it sounds better than the "real" amp because I'm direct in and not subject to the foibles of mic'ing the amp.

    What's really fun with it is I can move to the mains and coax feedback where appropriate.

    Best part is like a couple Friday's ago. We have a regular fan who's a guitar aficionado/wannabe player who came up and asked me why guitar sounded so good that night. He was EXTREMELY disappointed to see me not playing through tubes or a mega-bucks rack. At most shows there's always a few middle-aged guys who come up to the stage to check out gear and I love to see the looks on there faces when they realize my sound is from a rack.
    "No harmonic knowledge, no sense of time, a ghastly tone, unskilled vibrato, and so on. Chuck is one of the worst guitar players I know" -Gravity Jim

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