Welcome

This guide is not designed to be read front to back, and it is not a light read. If you are new to this guide, I suggest looking at the introduction section before proceeding. If you are looking for quick tips or troubleshooting advice, I recommend you go to the quick guide or troubleshooting pages. Each section is relatively-independent of the others and are linked when there are cross-references. It is best used as an on-hand reference for any given task you are attempting to accomplish with the Pod.

For a more general FAQ, see this helpful link provided by Line 6.

Also available in the following printable formats:

.pdf/Acrobat

.docx/Word

Brief Contents

• I. Introduction

• II. Quick Guide

• III. Guitar Setup

• IV. Pod Setup

• V. Amp/Distortion Tone

• VI. Cab/Mic Tone

• VII. EQ

• VIII. Tips and Pitfalls

• IX. Troubleshooting Guide

• X. FAQ and Links

• XI. Wishlist

• XII. Effects

• XIII. Glossary

• XIV. Change Log

• Appendices

Full Contents

I. Introduction

• Section Overview

II. Quick Guide

• A. Quirks

• B. Patch Building Tips

• C. High Gain Amp Round-Up

• D. Cab/Mic Round-Up

• E. Pre-EQ'ing a Distortion Tone

• F. Distortion Effect Round-Up

• G. Gain Staging

• H. EQ Effect Round-Up

• I. Top Ten Tweaks

• J. Killing Fizz

• K. Mids for Metal

• L. Dual Cabs

• M. Noise Gate Usage

• N. Amp DEP's

• O. Cab DEP's

• P. Output Modes

• Q. Input Settings

III. Guitar Setup

• A. New Strings

• B. String Gauge

• C. Action

• D. Fret Buzz

• E. Intonation

• F. Pickups

  • i. Single-Coil vs. Humbuckers

  • ii. Pickup Position

  • iii. Signal-to-Noise Ratio

  • iv. Frequency Response

  • v. Actives vs. Passives

  • vi. All about Blackouts

  • vii. Pickup height on passives

  • viii. Pickup height on actives

  • ix. Pickup Suggestions

• G. Bridge

• H. Nut

• I. Body/Fretboard/Tuners/Neck-through/etc.

IV. Pod Setup

• A. Understanding Output Modes

  • i. Simple Guide for Settings

  • ii. Where Confusion Sets In

  • iii. Global EQ

  • iv. Live-Voiced Cabs

  • v. Cab/Mic Simulation

  • vi. Bass-Boost

  • vii. Output Mode Feature Chart

• B. Internal Signal Routing

• C. Running "direct" (PA/board/computer or DAW/monitors/headphones)

  • i. Simple method (no real amp)

  • ii. Using a real amp as a pre-amp

• D. Running to an amp ("live")

  • i. Amp without effects loop

  • ii. Pod as Effects Only after pre-amp

  • iii. Simple setup for amp with effects loop

  • iv. 4 Cable Method

• E. I Tried This and It Doesn't Sound Good

• F. Dual Outputs

• G. Wet/Dry/Wet Output

• H. Using Multiple Instruments

• I. Input Settings

• J. The FX Loop

• K. The Mixer Block

• L. Effects Order/Position

• M. Gain Staging

  • i. Principle

  • ii. Practice

V. Amp/Distortion Tone

• Distortion Types/Overview

• B. Pre-EQ'ing

  • i. Frequency Chart

• C. Gain Staging/Layering Distortions

• D. High-Gain Amps

  • i. Park 75

  • ii. Plexi Bright

  • iii. JCM-800

  • iv. Uberschall

  • v. Dual Rectifier

  • vi. Fireball

  • vii. Elektrik

  • viii. Dual Rectifier "Pre"

  • ix. SLO Overdrive

  • x. Doom

  • xi. Epic

• E. Distortion Effects

  • i. Tube Drive

  • ii. Screamer

  • iii. Classic Distortion

  • iv. Overdrive

  • v. Facial Fuzz

  • vi. Line 6 Distortion

  • vii. Line 6 Drive

  • viii. Others

• F. Power Amp DEP's

• G. Dual Amps

• H. "Full" vs. "Pre"

• I. The Elusive Pure Clean Tone

• J. Noise Gates

VI. Cabs and Mics