Guitar Amp Modelling - POD HD

Thomas from Presence

Just spent an enjoyable two weeks with Line 6's new POD HD500 and am about to gig with it next week. They have truly nailed it this time. This thing is a tone monster. Dynamics on the sims are top notch and the options for routing etc. are great.

Worth a look for anyone gigging that was holding on to that Marshall stack until the game was upped further.

So basically my rig is the POD HD 500 and my guitar. Sweet.

eoin5

Hi Tom, do you think its a good step up from the X3?

Thomas from Presence

Hey Eoin. It is totally a step and a half. There's just more out of it. More richness. I'm glad I didn't hawk my X3 yet as it's a different beast and patches have to be re-crafted which is no bad thing. There's less need for dual toning to beef up tones now and the sustain of these amps out of bloody headphones even is juicy.

The effects feel more like separates now too so all in all a great little package.

Nice work.

**Vai**

Glad someone posted with hands on experience of the new pod. Have to ask, is it worth using with a good tube amp like a valve king or a legacy? Its just so much cheaper than buying a load of pedals.

Thomas from Presence

Not really. It's pretty much all-in itself though you could do it that way.

A better option might be to look at the M9 and M13 multi-FX. Its Pod HD without the amp sims.

Strings.ie

Thomas from Presence wrote: »

Just spent an enjoyable two weeks with Line 6's new POD HD500 and am about to gig with it next week. They have truly nailed it this time. This thing is a tone monster. Dynamics on the sims are top notch and the options for routing etc. are great.

Worth a look for anyone gigging that was holding on to that Marshall stack until the game was upped further.

So basically my rig is the POD HD 500 and my guitar. Sweet.

How do these compare with the software options such as NI Guitar rig?

We had a couple of the entry level pods here and I wasn't very impressed with the sounds. But having played with Guitar rig recently I've decided I'll be using it for a recording project instead of investing in a valve amp. Shame NI don't do hardware version of Guitar rig.

Thomas from Presence

I'd say superior to anything I've heard though I haven't tried the much vaunted Axe FX in real life (nor do I care for it due to its mega price tag).

NI does rock but even with the foot controller you'd want to be playing creches to get away with bringing a laptop to a gig!

Demeyes

How do you run the Pod? Are you going to be running it direct out to the PA without any amp? I've been using a Digitech Gsp modeller and I'm very happy with it, I prefer to run it into a poweramp and cab setup instead of direct though.

NI does rock but even with the foot controller you'd want to be playing creches to get away with bringing a laptop to a gig!

What do you mean by that? I've seen guys get great tone running through computers at gigs. Also it's the norm for synth players to use a laptop for sounds so it's not that crazy. It's as reliable as an amp really, people blow those all the time on stage.

population

Just listened to some soundclips on youtube. All I can say is:eek: