- •I. Introduction
- •II. Quick Guide
- •III. Guitar Setup
- •IV. Pod Setup
- •V. Amp/Distortion Tone
- •VI. Cabs and Mics
- •I. Introduction
- •VIII. Tips and Pitfalls
- •IX. Troubleshooting Guide
- •X. Faq and Links
- •XI. Wish List
- •XII. Effects
- •XIII. Glossary
- •I. Frequency Response
- •XIII. Change Log Appendix a – Line 6 Effect Processing Diagrams Appendix b - Line 6 Effect Processing Table
- •I. Introduction
- •Section Overview
- •II. Quick Guide
- •I. Top Ten Tweaks
- •A. Quirks
- •Input Settings Global/Patch Option
- •Volume Knob/Ch. Vol. Functionality
- •Input 2
- •B. Patch-building Tips
- •C. High-Gain Amp Roundup
- •D. Cabs/Mics Roundup
- •F. Distortion Effects Roundup
- •G. Gain Staging
- •H. Eq Effects Roundup
- •I. Top Ten Tweaks
- •J. Killing Fizz
- •K. Mids for Metal
- •L. Dual Cab
- •M. Noise Gate Usage
- •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
- •I. Body/Fret board/Tuners/Neck-through/etc.
- •IV. Pod Setup
- •I. Simple Guide for Settings
- •II. Where Confusion Sets In
- •III. Global eq
- •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 Output
- •G. Wet/Dry/Wet Output
- •H. Multiple Instruments/Independent Paths
- •I. Input Settings Global/Patch
- •Input 2
- •Impedance
- •J. The Effects (fx) Loop
- •K. The Mixer Block
- •L. Effects Order/Position
- •Noise Suppressors/Gates
- •Chorus/Phaser/Flanger
- •Delay/Reverb
- •Pitch Shifters
- •M. Gain Staging
- •I. Principles
- •II. Practice
- •V. Amp/Distortion Tone
- •A. Distortion Types/Overview
- •I. Frequency Chart
- •C. Gain Staging/Layering Distortions
- •D. High-Gain Amps
- •I. Park 75
- •II. Plexi Bright
- •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 d.E.P.'s
- •G. Dual Amps
- •H. "Full" vs. "Pre"
- •I. The Elusive Pure Clean Tone
- •J. Noise Gates
- •VI. Cabs and Mics
- •I. Introduction
- •A. Cab/Mic Overview
- •Ignore General Frequency Response...
- •...Unless Frequencies are Missing
- •Response or Noise?
- •Using Res. Level to improve snr
- •Taming the Low End
- •Tonal Nuances
- •Dual Cabs
- •Using Cab/Mic Choices for eq Purposes
- •B. Cab Selection for Direct Tones
- •I. My Favorites
- •II. General Tips
- •III. Hiway 4x12
- •IV. Tread V-30 4x12
- •VI. Greenbacks 4x12
- •VII. Uber 4x12
- •VIII. Brit-t75 4x12
- •IX. Other cabs
- •C. Cab Selection for Live Tones
- •D. Mic Selection
- •I. Sm57 On/Off Axis
- •II. Dynamic Mics
- •III. Condenser Mics
- •IV. Ribbon Mics
- •E. Dual Cabs
- •I. Introduction
- •II. Getting the Patch Ready
- •III. Phase Correction
- •Cab/Mic Delay Times Matrix/alternate Google Cloud version/pdf version
- •IV. Eq'ing the tone
- •V. Other Amp Settings
- •VI. E.R. Settings
- •VII. Dsp Management
- •VIII. My Favorite Combinations
- •Res. Level
- •A. Classifying the Frequency Spectrum
- •B. How to eq a Hard Rock Tone
- •C. The Pod hd's eq Effects
- •I. Graphic eq
- •II. Parametric eq
- •III. Studio eq
- •IV. 4 Band Shift eq
- •VI. Q Filter
- •D. Eq'ing your Patch
- •E. Fizzy Spots
- •VIII. Tips and Pitfalls
- •A. Tone Matching
- •B. Branching/Evolving Patches
- •C. Setlist Tips
- •D. Effect Switching/Tips
- •E. Recording Tips
- •F. Monitoring
- •G. Dsp Allocation/Advice
- •H. Mesa Boogie Mark II/IV tone
- •I. Clean Boost
- •J. Leveling Patches
- •K. Clarifying Confusing Volume Controls
- •I. The Pad Switch
- •II. The master Knob
- •III. Amp/Channel Volume aka volume Knob
- •IV. Mixer Levels
- •V. Master d.E.P.
- •L. Clipping
- •I. Input Clipping
- •II. Signal Clipping
- •III. Effects Clipping
- •IV. Clipping external devices
- •V. "Digital Clipping" (Crossover Distortion) on "Full" Amp Models
- •M. Bad Monitoring
- •I. Acoustic Tone
- •II. Bad Monitors
- •III. Bad Room
- •IV. Low Volume
- •N. Wrong Output Mode
- •O. Gain Staging
- •P. Outside vs. Inside Mix
- •Q. Relying on Others' Patches
- •IX. TroubleShooting
- •A. Too much noise
- •B. Tone is fizzy/noisy
- •C. Tone is harsh
- •D. Tone has digital clipping
- •E. Tone is muffled
- •F. Distortion is muddy/fuzzy/farty
- •G. Distortion is dirty/gritty
- •H. Tone is thin
- •I. Software Knobs move on their own
- •J. I'm Getting dsp Limit Reached Errors
- •X. Faq and Links
- •A. Frequently Asked Questions
- •I. Tone
- •Is the tone better when using Input 2: Variax (or another unused input)?
- •Should I use "full" or "pre" amp models?
- •Where should I set the master knob?
- •What does the Master dep do for amps models where there was no master volume on the original?
- •II. Output/Routing Can I output dual output modes with the hd-500 or Pro?
- •Can I output w/d/w (wet/dry/wet)?
- •Can I reamp over usb?
- •Why can't I get any output from Channel b?
- •Why don't I have stereo output?
- •III. Usage How Should I Level my Patches?
- •Why can't I get a natural volume swell with the Exp. Pedal?
- •How do I use the Pitch Glide?
- •IV. Compatibility/Hardware Does the Pod hd work with Gearbox?
- •Can I use hd-XXX patches on hd-yyy?
- •What is the differences between the Pod hd models?
- •Can I use a different power adapter?
- •Can I modify my Pod hd to gain more dsp power?
- •Do you take tone requests?
- •B. Links
- •I. General
- •II. Forums
- •III. Pod hd References
- •B. Amps
- •C. Utilities
- •D. Routing
- •F. Footswitches/controls/Midi
- •G. Effects
- •H. Dsp Saving Features
- •I. Devkit
- •XII. Effects
- •A. Preferred Effects
- •I. Chorus
- •II. Flanger
- •III. Compressors
- •IV. Reverb
- •V. Delay
- •B. Dialing in the Flangers
- •C. Substitutes
- •D. Ordering
- •XIII. Glossary
- •I. Frequency Response
- •A. Signal-Based Terms
- •I. Clipping
- •II. Distortion
- •III. Signal
- •IV. Noise
- •V. Signal-to-Noise Ratio (snr)
- •VI. Impedance
- •VII. Signal Chain
- •VIII. Mono
- •IX. Stereo
- •X. Field
- •XI. Balance
- •I. Frequency Response
- •VII. Shelf
- •VIII. Peak/Valley
- •II. Fizz
- •III. Buzz
- •IV. Grinding
- •V. Crunchy
- •VI. Chunky/Punchy
- •VII. Fuzzy
- •VIII. Cold
- •IX. Warm
- •XIV. Change Log
- •Appendix a – Line 6 Effect Processing Diagrams
- •Appendix b - Line 6 Effect Processing Table
- •Appendix c – Cabinet/Mic Phase Correction Timing Data
- •Appendix d – dsp Usage of Effects
Why can't I get a natural volume swell with the Exp. Pedal?
Normal volume pedals use an audio taper to create a logarithmic output level given a linear input. In other words, as you move smoothly from heel to toe position, the actual output increases at a higher rate during the beginning of the movement than the end. This corresponds to how humans perceive volume differences.
In contrast, the Pod's expression pedal follows a linear path, which makes it appear to exponentially increase in volume as the pedal is moved smoothly from heel to toe. For a smoother volume swell, bug Line 6 to offer alternative curves for the expression pedal to follow or for the volume pedal effect to behave like a normal volume pedal via the feature request form.
Top of FAQ and Links
How do I use the Pitch Glide?
This is designed to simulate the DigiTech Whammy pedal. It can go from -2 octaves to +2 octaves, and you can set the mix of the pitch shifted tone with the bypass tone. The pitch shift parameter is measured in half steps. 12 half steps = 1 octave. 7 half steps = 1 perfect fifth.
I believe the default settings do not use the exp pedal. You have to go to the controllers tab/page, and assign EXP-1 or EXP-2 to control the Pitch Glide's Pitch parameter. This is where things get confusing. You want the minimum and maximum to control the amount of pitch shift you get when going from heel to toe position. If you set min to 25% and max to 50%, this means it will go from -1 octave to unison. So 0% is -2 octaves, 75% is +1 octave, and 100% is +2 octaves. You can set min and max to go the other way, for instance setting min to 50% and max to 25%, so that as you move from heel to toe, the pitch shifts downward an octave.
Unfortunately, percentages do not match perfectly to half steps. There are 101 percentage values available but 481 pitch values available. Since these numbers do not divide evenly into each other, it is impossible to set the percentages to be perfect intervals, other than the octaves just mentioned. For example, to get a perfect fifth up, you would have to set the percent to 64.58333%, which is not available.
If you want this functionality, please bug Line 6 via their product feedback form.
Top of FAQ and Links
IV. Compatibility/Hardware Does the Pod hd work with Gearbox?
No, the Pod HD will only interface with the appropriate HD Edit software, given your HD model.
Top of FAQ and Links
Can I use hd-XXX patches on hd-yyy?
There are 5 different models of the Pod HD (300/400/500/Desktop/Pro). Each model uses a different patch format (.h3e, .h4e, .h5e, .hbe, .hre). From my limited testing, the more recent versions of the HD Edit software will sometimes convert these patches automatically where there is no potential conflict. For example, I can drag a .hbe file into HD 500 Edit, and it will usually load without a problem.
However, in many cases, the HD Edit software will give an error message about invalid patch data and set the entire patch to a blank patch. The different products have different feature sets that may not 100% translate between units. For instance, the 300 and Desktop do not have an effects loop. The 300/400 use a different signal chain layout than the other units. The 300 does not have effects that are available in the other units. Even where feature sets (related to the patch) are identical, HD Edit may not automatically convert them. For instance, I can't load .hre (Pro) patches into HD 500 Edit.
Ideally, the software should translate what it can, and drop the rest from the patch, and where features are dropped or compromised, the user gets a warning that the patch had to be altered during translation (possibly even saying what was dropped). Bug Line 6 to incorporate such features via the feature request form.
Jzab has made a nice conversion program to translate patches from the 500/Pro/Desktop formats to 300/400. I'm sure this involves dropping some features from the source patches, as the 300/400 architecture is much more limited than the others, but it's better than nothing. Check it out here: http://www.jzab.de/content/pod-hd.
Top of FAQ and Links