G. Wet/Dry/Wet Output

Similar to above, you can place an FX Loop effect with Mix set to 0% to output a "dry" signal before the signal hits "wet" effects and sends the "wet" signal to the main outputs. By using Mix at 0%, the signal is basically split at the FX Loop, being sent out the FX Loop Send but also passing straight on down the chain, regardless of whatever (if any) signal is returning into the loop.

So for instance, you may want this "dry" signal:

Screamer > Amp

and this "wet" signal:

Screamer > Amp > Reverb > Delay

Your chain would be:

Screamer > Amp > FX Loop > Reverb > Delay

The output from your FX Loop Send is the "dry" signal (which you can send to your monitors), and the main outputs carry the "wet" signal, (which you send to your PA).

If you cannot use the FX Loop as such, you won't be able to get stereo output; but you can get a mono wet and mono dry output by placing all your wet effects in Channel A and not in Channel B, then panning each Channel hard left/right in the mixer. Then your Channel A (left) output is wet, and the Channel B (right) output is dry. Just remember that if you are using the 1/4" analog outputs and aren't using both of them, you need to put a dummy cable in one of them to prevent the unit from summing them to mono (which would give you a 50% wet mix).

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H. Multiple Instruments/Independent Paths

The Pod provides two independent signal paths. This path independence can also be used to handle multiple instruments, for example setting Input 1 to guitar and Input 2 to mic. Input 1 will go to Channel A, the top side of the path, and Input 2 to Channel B, the bottom. Just make sure you don't have any mono FX before the path/channel split. See the input/output routing section to understand how the Pod routes audio, mixing down stereo signals when they hit a mono effect. Follow the instructions from the previous section to route the audio to different outputs.

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I. Input Settings Global/Patch

First of all note that just because the input settings exists in the system menu, it is not necessarily a global setting. There's a specific setting on this menu page to change whether it applies globally or per patch.

Multiple Sources = Noise

The default setting is input 1: guitar + aux + variax, input 2: same. This is not ideal - if any of the non-guitar inputs are generating any noise, it is being thrown into your signal. So change input 1 to guitar only, unless you need to use those additional inputs.

Input 2

Some people have noticed that changing input 2 to variax (a digital input, which ensures silence when not connected) (or an unconnected Mic or Aux) gives them a more desirable tone. Input 2: Same/Guitar does seem to be buggy. You don't just get equal Input 1/2 signals - one of them sounds partially delayed, causing some comb filtering (less bright highs) and making the tone sound looser and slightly out-of-phase. The difference can be very subtle - I had denied a tonal difference for over a year before only recently beginning to clearly see the difference.

For single-amp patches, Input 2: Variax is simple to use. If you were previously not using this setting, you just need to add more compression/gain.

For dual-amp patches, there is more work to do. You will NEED a mono-summing effect in front of the channel split, or no signal will be sent to Channel B. If you already have a Dynamic or Distortion effect, that will sum to mono. If I don't have one of those already in my patch, I like to use one of the following, listed in order of the DSP they consume: Hard Gate, Noise Gate, FX Loop. Luckily the FX Loop takes up very little DSP; however, it does add noise to the signal; so I save it as a last resort.

If you want to know exactly how the Pod is routing the inputs and audio streams, please check out the signal routing section.

You will find your patches initially have less gain when using this. I like to try to make up the difference on the earliest effect(s) in my signal chain. For instance, if my first effect is a Screamer, I increase the Drive a bit and also the Output. Or if I have a Mid-Focus EQ, I boost Gain. If I don't have any effects, I increase Drive on my amp blocks.

The lower gain can also be a positive if you are getting breakup on your clean tones, although I cover other ways to dial in pristine cleans here.

I have heard of splitting your guitar signal before the Pod and sending it to both the Guitar and Aux inputs, then setting Input 1: Guitar, Input 2: Aux (thanks to Line 6 forum member anglepod). This would eliminate the need for a mono-summing effect, and reduce problems trying to dial in heavy amounts of gain in some cases. It requires a little extra hardware but seems to be a better solution than using up effects blocks and DSP to try to force the signal into Channel B.