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You can also use the [[Line 6 Pod HD Amp/Distortion Tone#Noise Gates|noise gate effects]] in the Pod. I recommend setting this as the first effect in your chain, and adjusting it so that it is just sensitive enough to get rid of the noise when your guitar is muted. Setting it too sensitive will cause it to kill sustaining notes unnaturally. Setting it even higher will make your tone sound thin (for the "Noise Gate", not "Hard Gate"). See the link for my favored method of dialing it in.

== Tone is fizzy/noisy ==

Also, you may be using a ton of gain. This can make the tone sound fizzy. Try dialing it back a bit. You don't need a ton of gain to sound heavy. See [[Line 6 Pod HD Tips and Pitfalls#Outside vs. Inside Mix|guitars in vs. outside a mix]].

== Tone is harsh ==

"Harsh" is a bit generic. Here I'm talking about a tone that's extremely bright/trebly or has some midrange to treble frequency range that's so loud it gets to the point of hurting your ears when turned up loud. If instead you are getting a really nasty distortion tone, see the [[#Distortion is dirty/gritty|"gritty/dirty distortion tone" section below]]. Or even try the [[#Tone has digital clipping|"digital clipping" section]].

I like the SM 57 on axis mic, but it can be a little harsh for certain cabs. The best way to dial it in is to use a [[Line 6 Pod HD EQ#Mid-Focus EQ|Mid-Focus EQ]]. You can also use the "highs" parameter on a parametric EQ effect, or by setting the appropriate "high freq" and "high gain" on a studio EQ effect. Note that 100% "freq" on a parametric EQ is only like 4.5-5kHZ and "highs" affects all frequencies at about 1.5kHZ and above, whereas the Studio EQ will let you select all the way up to 3, 5, or 8 kHZ to start your cut. For more details on how the EQ effects work, see [[Line 6 Pod HD EQ|here]].

Or use the SM 57 off axis (or another mic) instead.

Finally, see [[Line 6 Pod HD Setup#I Tried This and It Doesn't Sound Good|I tried all this and it doesn't sound good]]. You may have an unconventional rig or just different tastes, and you might want to try Studio/Direct output mode and cab+mic simulation.

== Tone has digital clipping ==

* Certain full amp models model crossover distortion in their power section such as the Blackface Dbl, AC15, and AC30 models - it sounds similar to digital clipping. I find the best way to dial this back without altering tone is to use the DEP (deep editing parameters). Turn Master down and Bias X up. Other methods to reduce the clipping is to reduce the amp Drive parameter, change Input 2 to Variax (or Mic or some other null input), or put a Studio EQ in front the amp model and turn down the Gain parameter. See [[Line 6 Pod HD Amp/Distortion Tone#The Elusive Pure Clean Tone|here]] for more details.

== Tone is muffled ==

I usually use the SM 57 off axis mic, as it sounds the most natural to me, with rich mids and highs. But you may want to try the SM 57 on axis mic; it has the cleanest and brightest high end.

My favorite cabs are the Hiway, Treadplate, Greenbacks, Uber, and XXL 4x12's. Of these, the Treadplate is very bright, the Uber, Hiway, and Greenbacks are relatively balanced, and the XXL is very boomy. I like to use parametric EQ's to neutralize the extreme parts of the cabs, and/or dial in the mids.

For a "live" setup, I like to use "no cab" as my cab. Even if you do not use "Studio/Direct" output mode, selecting a cab will use "live-voiced cabs" (see [[Line 6 Pod HD Setup#Understanding Output Modes|"output modes" section]]). These tend to reduce the high end. Also, the "pre" versions of the amps tend to have more mids and less high end, although I wouldn't consider them "muffled" - you just have to EQ them a bit differently. Just because you are using a real guitar power amp doesn't mean you're guaranteed to prefer using the pre-amp only model more than the full model (see Line 6 Pod HD Amp/Distortion Tone#"Full" vs. "Pre"|full vs. pre]]).

== Distortion is muddy/fuzzy/farty ==

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I have to wonder if Line 6 modeled these amps using a guitar with really bright pickups (or vintage pickups with low bass response). When you use what I consider "normal" or "full-range" pickups, the distortion tends to be a little dirtier and fuzzier than tight and djenty, even on the high gain amps. If you fall into this category, you can use a distortion effect as an overdrive or an EQ effect before the amp distortion to pre-eq the tone you send the amp, changing the way it distorts. See the [[Line 6 Pod HD Amp/Distortion Tone|Amp/Distortion Tone page]].

== Distortion is dirty/gritty ==

Finally, you may be getting input clipping and your distortion is making it sound like a nasty amp distortion rather than digital clipping. See if your tone has clipping when you turn off the amp model and other effects. (see the [[Line 6 Pod HD Tips and Pitfalls#Clipping|"clipping" section]])

== Tone is thin ==

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I find the "pre" versions of the amps are a little "thinner" sounding than the "full" versions, and tend to use the "full" versions, even if I'm running my setup "live" (through an amp and guitar cab). They tend to have more bass and just sound a bit richer. (see [[Line 6 Pod HD Amp/Distortion Tone#"Full" vs. "Pre"|"full vs. pre" section]])

If that doesn't help, see [[Line 6 Pod HD Setup#I Tried This and It Doesn't Sound Good|I tried this and it doesn't sound good]]. You may have an unconventional setup, and you might want to try Studio/Direct output mode and cab+mic simulation, even through you're running through an amp and speakers.

I also developed a "dual cab" method to try get the best features of two cabs that excel at opposite sections of the frequency range. See [[Line 6 Pod HD Cab/Mic Tone#Dual Cabs 2|Dual Cabs]].

== Software Knobs move on their own ==

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Wowsers! Did that knob just move itself?! Yes, this can happen. It is particularly troublesome when it happens with a volume knob. You can fix this by moving the knob back and forth many, many times, all the way from their min to max position and back. This seems to get the dust or whatever else that causes the knob to malfunction out of there.

== I'm Getting DSP Limit Reached Errors ==

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To clear up a few misconceptions, the error isn't about how much DSP you are actually using but how much you could potentially be using, if you turned on every effect/amp in your chain and were using them in a manner that required the most processing power. Effects toggled off will count towards your DSP limit. A Pitch Glide effect currently set to no pitch change is calculated as taking up as much as one doing a 2 octave shift.

So each effect/amp is assigned a fixed DSP cost in the firmware. When you add anything into the signal chain, the Pod sums the DSP cost of everything in the chain, and if this will exceed the maximum DSP it believes it requires to maintain real-time processing it throws the error and removes the effect/amp from the chain.