Changes

== Pre-EQ'ing ==

== Gain Staging/Layering Distortions ==

== High-Gain Amps ==

=== Park 75 ===

This amp delivers a classic Marshall tone. By itself, it won't get you to high-gain territory; you'll need to boost the signal (such as with an overdrive pedal, distortion effect, or simple boosted EQ) heavily to get a saturated distortion from it. I don't recommend doing that - if you want more gain but a similar tone, try the JCM-800 model instead. I like this amp for medium gain tones (AC/DC), or if I want a Marshall tone but am using a distortion pedal/effect for my main source of distortion (Satriani). Compared to the JCM-800, it has a little less distortion available but it seems to be more reactive to picking dynamics. It gives you that clean-yet-distorted crunch feel.

I like to lower the amp's Bias (and Bias X which basically "locks in" my low Bias setting). This seems to make the amp sound more like a Marshall to me - a little more nasal sounding and you can get power amp distortion without it getting too gritty or splatty. I drop it between 0 and 20%. It also allows you to dial in a bit more distortion when you want to.

If I want it to stay clean, I turn down Drive first and if I need to go cleaner also Master Volume, but I generally try to keep the Master Volume higher than 50% and turn down Drive more. The power section gets you the Marshall tone. Also, the Bias setting is more responsive the higher you set Master Volume. But keep Drive above around 5-10%. Something weird happens to the tone if you go lower.

=== Plexi Bright ===

This amp also delivers a classic Marshall tone. This model is VERY accurate. Comparing it to recordings that used this amp, it sounds almost identical. By itself, it won't get you to high-gain territory; you'll need to boost the signal (such as with an overdrive pedal, distortion effect, or simple boosted EQ) to get a saturated distortion from it, but that's not where it excels anyway. It's best for a clean-yet-distorted tone, in the vein of Randy Rhodes or early Eddie Van Halen. Compared to the JCM-800, it has less distortion available but it seems to be more reactive to picking dynamics and has a much more defined midrange.

The distortion is coming from the power section, so Bias and your EQ settings heavily affect the tone. I like to crank up presence, which gives it that real crunchy feel. Boosting treble too high makes it a little nasty. And boosting mids makes it a little too smooth for my tastes. I generally set mids and highs around the same spot, and boost presence as much or more than that. And turning up Drive all the way makes it too compressed. For the EVH tone, I like to crank the Bias.

=== JCM-800 ===

This amp model sounds very similar to the Park 75, but more compressed and with much more drive. Without tweaking, it doesn't sound overly Marshally; but we can get it there. Tweaked properly, it can deliver great 80's metal tones. I hesitate to call it high gain. Although it can be dialed in to produce modern metal tones, I prefer to use other amp models to do so; however, I do use it for my Megadeth patches. My favorite patches with this are for a modern Satriani tone.

If that leaves you with an unsavory frequency response to the tone, use EQ effects after the amp to boost the bass or presence, etc.

For distortion, sometimes I'll go the opposite route and turn the Master Volume down to about 35% and crank up the Drive knob. This creates a smoother distortion, but I find it has less character. I recommend using a distortion effect or EQ in front the amp, and tweaking it heavily to find your tone when dialing in the amp this way.

=== Uberschall ===

The Uberschall gets us into true high-gain territory. We don't need to crank power amps or use boost pedals to get a saturated distortion tone. It has a very creamy sound, which can sound great for a lead tone or some modern hard rock. But it's also a bit muddy and a little fuzzy. Without a lot of tweaking the Uberschall won't give you a tight, djenty metal tone. However, with tweaking, it sounds pretty awesome.

I tend to leave the DEP's alone or near 50%, with the exception of Bias X. I used to adjust Hum to about 70% which seemed to change the tone a little, but then I noticed there's this faint digital sounding tone in additional to the main guitar tone - it's most audible when doing slow bends on the higher strings. So I now leave it closer to 50%; however, you have more wiggle room as long as you keep Master around or lower than 50%. Bias X I like to turn up, which gives notes more of a blooming type sound and makes the amp more expressive. However, too much makes the tone sound a bit fake. I usually settle around 65-70%. If anything I'll reduce Sag a bit, but this will make the tone less djenty and more percussive. Bias can change the mid-range response heavily and make the tone a little more gritty at higher settings. The Master DEP alone doesn't seem to have a very strong effect on the tone, other than compressing the tone at higher settings. But in combination with the other DEP's, it acts to amplify or diminish their effect. So I treat it like a compressor, which comes in handy for tones where you don't want a heavily-saturated distortion, but you want good sustain. However, I balance the other DEP's against it, keeping them more conservative if I boost this. For a super smooth tone, I find 40-45% is good. Anything lower starts to lose tone. Anything higher introduces a bit of roughness.

=== Dual Rectifier ===

Line 6 dialed in the classic Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier tone beautifully. You can get a variety of great tones from it, from hard rock to metal. It will djent without a boost, and it doesn't have any awkward kinks that you have to dial out. I don't necessarily try to replicate an artist's rig when I'm trying to dial in their tone - I often find a different amp model dialed in a clever way gets me closer to the tone. This is not the case here. If I want to replicate an artist that uses a Boogie Rectifier, I use this amp model without hesitation. If you like its tone, you lucked out with Line6's implementation. I use this amp for modern Dream Theater and Meshuggah tones, as well as some of my own personal tones.

The most control over the distortion tone comes from the Master Volume parameter. Higher settings get a dirtier distortion - a lot more bite. I tend to set it lower - around 30%. This keeps the tone nice and spongy but still with a good bit of bite. I'm still experimenting with the rest of the DEP's, but if anything I'll just set Sag lower. I like the Bias controls usually at 50% for now. To get the super-cold sounding Meshuggah tone, I change it up a little - I like Master Volume pretty high (~80%). Hum seems to change the splatty-ness of the distortion. I believe I turn it down a little sometimes to make the tone more spongy.

=== Fireball ===

A great representation of the ENGL sound - very midsy yet modern and djenty. It's a bit looser than the Dual Rectifier and a bit dirtier - it has a wonderful gritty tone, think Jeff Loomis. Has loads of distortion and is pretty simple to dial in. It's a great choice for any kind of modern metal when you don't want the Dual Rectifier sound. I use this amp mainly for Periphery and Scar Symmetry tones, but you can actually get a good 80's metal sound out of it due to its midrange response.

I generally like to turn up the Master Volume to the 70-100% range for my Vai tone. This really makes the amp thump, but it also makes it a little looser. If you want a tighter tone, turn it down. This amp seems the most forgiving with its DEP's. For lower Master Volume settings, reducing Bias tends to make the amp sound more real in my mind, although this does suck out some mids which you'll have to add back in. For higher Master Volume settings, Bias tends to make the amp sound a little looser and more midsy and warm at lower settings, but tighter and crisper and colder at higher settings. For the life of me, I can't seem to notice any change in the tone with the Hum control.

=== Elektrik ===

I'm meh on this model. It doesn't do anything the Uber doesn't do that I find the Uber does better, even if it takes more tweaking with the Uber to get there. I never use this amp. It sounds too much like a modeled amp, not a real amp to me. You can hear it in the mids. It sounds like some annoying kid going "uhh uhh uhhh".

The Presence setting is a little non-traditional. I find a value around 45% keeps the amp djenty. Higher values make the amp more crunchy like a Marshall. Otherwise, it behaves similarly to the Uber, especially the mids knob.

=== Dual Rectifier "Pre" ===

Normally I don't deal with the pre-amp only models because I feel like they're the same as their full counterparts, only missing bite and a full frequency response (they sound thin). Yet the Dual Rectifier's pre-amp sounds different from the full model - I consider it an entirely different amp model. It has a very smooth, spongy distortion, compared to the full model having more bite and grit. I like to use it for my Metallica black album tone.

Otherwise the same rules apply as the full model, regarding boosts and EQ's. There are no DEP's to deal with.

=== SLO Overdrive ===

This is easily one of the best models on the unit. It sings quality, especially in its rich midrange response. It has plenty of punch and warmth, so it never sounds thin like the Treadplate and Fball models. While the high-end is there and can be quite ronchy, it is never overbearing or harsh. But the real spectacle is the signal-to-noise ratio. This model has very little noise compared to the other models, making direct comparisons to them sound like a generational leap - like SD to HD.

I have not had much success tweaking the DEP's. I find they sound best around 50%. Boosting Master can have some effect on the midrange - sometimes I move this up to around 60-65%. But beyond that the power amp distortion is too broken up for my tastes. As usual, Sag works as expected and can be set to taste. Hum gets swirly and ugly if turned up yet reduces the richness of the distortion if turned down. Bias almost acts like a mids control.

=== Doom ===

The Doom basically sounds like a heavily customized Marshall; and as you might guess from the name, it is dialed in towards doom, sludge, and black metal tones. It's kind of vintage and droning, but at the same time it stays focused and doesn't get a little weird like a Marshall would if pushed that hard. Personally, I don't really mess around with these tones, so I can't speak a lot on how to dial it in.

One thing that has been mentioned about this amp model is that it takes Distortion pedals very well. You can set the amp to provide a mild breakup, then drive it hard with a heavily distorted pedal. Or you can use a pedal with a slight breakup and drive the amp hard. Either way you get a usable tone without much tweaking. And this works across a wide variety of the distortion effects available on the Pod. So this will be my focus for the amp. I'm hoping it might deliver a better tone for some of the patches where I use a heavy pedal distortion into a slightly broken up Marshall, like my Satriani and Opeth tones.

=== Epic ===

This amp requires heavy tweaking to get it in the "usable" range for me. But once there, it provides a tone no other model delivers. I would describe it as dry, thrashy, tight, and not-too-saturated. I think it should sound good for thrashy death metal tones like Opeth, Extol, or The Faceless.

As for DEP's, again Master at 100% - it's the source of the distortion. I suppose you could turn this down if you wanted to use a pedal for your distortion, but this amp has so many pitfalls, I'd be scared to try to dial that in. Sag can be set to taste, but I find the amp is still tight and percussive at 50% and sounds more natural than if you set it any lower. Hum I actually turn down a little. With Master cranked, the amp can easily get into "broken power amp" tones, swirling and such. Turning down Hum a little helps prevent this, along with smart EQ settings and amounts of gain. Bias I turn down a little - this makes the tone have a bit more bite, but going too low makes it sound thin and scooped. Bias X I turn down all the way. I don't like what turning this up at all does to the tone - seems to make it sound flat and overly compressed.

== Distortion Effects ==

=== Tube Drive ===

This is probably my most commonly-used distortion Effect. It works well as a filter. It tends to make the tone a bit warmer and smoother. It also works well as a primary distortion, getting the kind of tone I'd expect from a Boss DS-1 or a general-purpose distortion pedal that uses a tube for distortion tone.

I use this frequently with the Marshall amps. It helps give them a bit more lower midsy warmth without losing bite. I find it can add a touch of compression, so you can preserve the distorted-yet-clean Marshall crunch while still having a thick lead tone and nice sustain. I use it in front of the Fireball to get a less djenty sound, while still still keeping the crisp high-gain tone from the amp.

I avoid turning the Treble knob too high here. Bass I often turn up fairly high, and I'll set mids even higher sometimes. But Treble can make the tone a bit harsh when cranked up.

=== Screamer ===

The Tube Screamer is one of the most infamous pedals of all time. Used by Stevie Ray Vaughn to God Forbid, it's a classic choice for enhancing an amp's distortion. I don't find myself ever using it as a standalone distortion, as it comes off a bit thin and harsh. But using mild Drive levels and pre-EQ'ing amps has a unique effect that is difficult to describe.

This pedal tends to reduce bass and focus in on mids and presence, pushing your amp into djent-mode, without necessary making it gritty. It can make the tone pretty cold as well, which works nicely for metal.

When dialing in this pedal for metal, the pitfall is to set Tone very high. This definitely gets the cold, presence-focused, brutal tone the pedal is known for, but it can be a bit too much and make the tone too "scratchy". If you get to that point, try backing off the Tone.

=== Classic Distortion ===

The Classic Distortion seems at first to be inferior to the two distortions mentioned above, and maybe it is; but it's worth considering when you need a bit of something different that you can't find with the two above. Its standalone distortion tone is similar to the Tube Drive. But its filtering can be similar to the Screamer.

One thing I like about this effect is that it gets pretty much 100% clean at 0% Drive. This can make it more ideal than the Screamer, which cannot get as clean, for certain scenarios where you want the Screamer filter tone, but you don't want the scratchy high-end, like a soft lead tone.

=== Overdrive ===

=== Facial Fuzz ===

=== Line 6 Distortion ===

This is the best distortion effect for standalone, high-gain distortion. I use it to simulate 90's Randall amp tones - it has that solid-state kind of tone where it seems unnaturally responsive and crunchy with no flub. I do like to pre-EQ it to add a little more midsy crunch and djent to it.

The difficult thing is finding a good amp to pair this with. I've had good results with some of the Marshalls, but you have to give them a little pre-amp Drive or the tone is weird - it almost gets a little fuzzy like the amp is struggling to work properly. Other good options are the Fender Blackfaces or the Divided by 13. The main thing to watch out for is excessive bass and treble. It's almost best to start with mids at 100% and everything else at 0% and work towards a natural-sounding tone. You're likely only going to be able to get so far, then use EQ effects to really shape things into a natural tone.

=== Line 6 Drive ===

This may actually be the best distortion effect in the Pod. Its Mids parameter varies the type of distortion you get, so as you go from 0%-100% you go far from farty to almost fake-sounding tight djentiness. I don't go too far off 50%, but there's so much ability to dial this in, I don't need to. Once you find your Mids spot, then use Bass and Treble to dial it completely in.

I mostly use it as a filter (0% Drive), but it seems like I get the best tone when I attenuate my signal before this effect with a Volume effect, to make sure it's not distorting or even compressing at all. It does work well as a standalone (high Drive) distortion, and I also occasionally use it to add a slight bit of distortion and run it into amp distortion to get a nastier tone with a little buzz.

=== Others ===

I find the others sound fake or just crazy. They'd be good for a kind of out-of-control intro tone, but I don't really mess with that very much.

The Buzzsaw and Color Drive seem to just add some dirt into the tone - definitely not my thing.

== Power Amp D.E.P.'s ==

The best approach to these is to treat them like you would on a real amp. You'd likely spend most of your time finding the sweet spot for the master volume. Next you'd likely tweak the bias. Sag, hum, and bias excursion would be more complicated modifications to the amp that probably won't help the tone, other than the slight variation in such parameters you'd get from using different tubes.

=== Master ===

For the high-gain models, the default 50% sounds about where I like it. I may tweak a little this way or that way to make the tone a little edgier or smoother, but I generally don't go far. The Treadplate becomes rather harsh at higher settings, while the Fireball and Uber tend to compress and get a little more life in the midrange, at the expense of high-end richness and smoothness. I like to turn up the power section to around 65% on the J-800 usually, which offers a more aggressive distortion than its preamp.

=== Sag ===

In general I leave this alone until I've made almost all my other tweaks. I'll use it to add more/less attack to the tone. I usually stay within 40-60%. Lower settings can make the tone a bit edgier bit thinner. If I want to thicken the tone up, I usually add Decay in the Cab DEP's to do so. But sometimes, I like to turn up both Sag and Decay to get it extra thick.

Some distortion effects introduce their own kind of sag to the tone, so you actually want to reduce the Sag DEP to compensate. Too much sag or thickness to a tone can make it sound artificial - like a solid state pedal that claims to give you teh brootz tonez. But not enough Sag and your palm mutes will sound more like an overdriven clean-channel crunch tone than a thick djent tone.

=== Hum ===

The big exception is the Uber model. I find a touch more Hum (55-60%) changes the distortion to thicken it up a little and make the overall tone a bit darker, which I really like. I also find setting it around 75% gives me a more evil tone, which I use to approximate a 5150. I have not had such luck manipulating this control on other amp models.

If you do choose to boost this, pay attention to your Master DEP setting. You will have to balance the two or you'll end up with a tone that hums and swirls and sounds like an out-of-tune radio. You can tell you've got too far when this control noticeably increases the amount of humming when you're not playing (provided you don't have a noise gate that is muting it).

=== Bias ===

For some of the more vintage amp models that exhibit crossover distortion, turning this up can reduce or eliminate the crossover distortion; however, it will have a significant impact on tone. I prefer to reduce the Master DEP and boost Bias X.

=== Bias X ===

I most often leave this alone, or turn it up to get the vowel-y bloom effect I just mentioned. Just be careful. While at first it can generate some compression and a slight change in the distortion character, which as this transitions over time gets the "bloom" effect, going too far can make the entire tone change, in a way I feel is bad. Certain frequencies are not reproduced well, and the tone seems more noisy and dull. I find I like 65-70% and that's with a power section not being pushed very hard. The most I'll ever do is 80%, and that's when I've got the Master DEP set low, like 20%. Beyond that is the tone graveyard.

== Dual Amps ==

In any case, I don't use dual amp tones, because I feel there is no significant tonal improvement, they take longer to dial in, and they limit the amount of effects you can run.

== "Full" vs. "Pre" ==

You'll notice there are two versions of every amp on the Pod HD, one with the amp name, and one with the amp name plus "pre". The "pre" amps only model the pre-amp section of that amp. They were designed to be used in combination with the Line6 DT-50 line of amps, which have switchable power sections/modes. Of course, most of us don't have DT-50's.

People on the forums have argued a lot about which versions you "should" use for any particular setup. For instance, I've often seen posts saying that if you are running the Pod to a real amp, you should use the "pre" version, because otherwise you're getting the power amp emulation plus power amp distortion from your real amp. Likewise, if you run "direct", you "should" use the "full" model, otherwise you're not getting any power amp in the sound. They argue that you want one power amp coloration, not zero or two.

This is logical, yet I disagree nonetheless. The power amp emulation has a rather profound effect on the way the Pod's amp models sound, even if you turn down the "Master Volume" DEP or set the bias colder. Your real amp is unlikely to replicate how that amp model's power section sounds on the Pod. You might not be cranking your amp to the point where it's getting power amp distortion, even at gig levels - many power sections are designed to have lots of headroom and remain transparent. And even if your amp's power section does get pushed into overdrive, it may still sound good with the "full" model on the Pod. Just because you're running two power amp colorations doesn't mean it will necessarily sound worse.

Keep in mind that if you have a power amp that easily distorts, it is more likely to sound better with the "pre"s than the "full"s. I encourage you to experiment to determine what suits you best. On the other hand, some tones rely on power amp distortion. If your power amp isn't providing the same breakup, you will have to use the "full" model or won't be able to achieve the desired tone, even if you crank your real amp.

== The Elusive Pure Clean Tone ==

The PodHD doesn't offer any pure clean amp models (yet? as of 7/18 there is a Soldano SLO Clean model available for the 300/400 that may fit this bill), like a Roland Jazz Chorus. This doesn't mean getting a pure clean tone is impossible though.

The cleanest amp model is the Blackface Dbl, based on a blackface Fender Twin Reverb. Line 6 modeled it in "warts-and-all" fashion, meaning it can get a little nasty sounding when running modern high-output humbucker pickups into it, rather than the 60's era single-coil pickups it was designed for. Still, there are a number of ways to tame it. Here's a list, ordered by what I prefer to preserve tone, which applies to getting a cleaner tone in general on all the amps.

* My input impedance is on auto. My input settings are input 1: guitar, input 2: same. Pad switch is turned off.

* Test guitar is EBMM JPM. Tested bridge pickup for dialing out crossover distortion by strumming as hard as I can. Tested tone using single notes and chords all over the neck for bridge, neck, and coil-tapped bridge+neck pickups.

== Noise Gates ==

For general advice, see [[Noise Gate]]. Notes below apply strictly to the Pod HD's gate offerings.

=== Noise Gate vs. Hard Gate ===

The Noise Gate uses less DSP than the Hard Gate; however, so sometimes it's the Noise Gate or nothing, and I use it with lower settings then.

=== Open/Close Thresholds ===

While you can fake the above technique with a single threshold gate by turning up the Decay parameter, it's more favorable to set Decay lower and use two tresholds. It sounds better, and you'll get the expected gate behavior when you're playing quick staccato notes or sustaining notes.

=== Hold ===

Where I find Hold is useful if you are using a longer Decay time. If you are playing a staccato part, the fade-out of the noise between notes is very noticeable, compared to if the noise were to remain at a constant level. Setting a hold time is basically taking a little time to make sure the gate should really be closing.

=== Decay ===

For a spacious lead tone, where any decay is going to be buried by reverb or delay, I like to turn Decay a bit off 0 such as 100-200ms - so there's not an obvious sound when the gate kicks on. For super tight rhythms, I like it at 0; but this means I have to be careful about my muting and exactly where I set the Threshold(s).

=== Placement in the Chain ===

See [[Effects Ordering/Position]].

=== Dialing it in ===

If I can get away with setting Decay to 0 ms, I'll do that, but if the gate kicking on creates an unnatural tone, I'm going to either need to use two gates, or introduce a little Decay. I set it just barely off 0, at like 20 ms. The slight decay prevents an unnatural cut-off sound, but it's not long enough so that you hear noise fade out after staccato notes. If it's not tight enough, we'll have to use two gates.

=== Dual Gates ===

Once I've got them both tuned, I try the patch out with them both on. Sometimes it'll end up gating a little too much. I tend to back off the first gate a bit, while keeping the final gate firm.

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