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=== 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 [[#Internal Signal Routing|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 [[Line_6_Pod_HD_Amp/Distortion_Tone#The_Elusive_Pure_Clean_Tone|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.
=== Impedance===
With firmware v1.4 the PodHD got variable input impedance. Line6 says before this the impedance was always set to 1M, but I feel like something changed...for the better. The unit seems more responsive to me. Anyway, I like this setting at 1M or 3.5M. This allows the loudest, tightest, and brightest tone to pass from guitar to Pod, which helps dial in the high gain tones I like. If you prefer a muddier or fuzzier distortion or looser feel, you may want a lower value.