Changes

Line 6 isn't filled with evil jokesters who are trying to confuse you. How you physically connect your rig 95% of the time describes which output mode you should use. If you're going direct to the PA or your computer, use Studio/Direct mode. If you are running into the effects loop return of an amp or into a standalone power amp, use stack/combo power amp. If you are running into the front of an amp, use stack/combo front. Choose stack if you have a half or full stack, combo if you don't. [[#I Tried This and It Doesn't Sound Good|Unconventional settings]] are described below.

=== Where Confusion Sets In ===

So what is actually going on? The Pod has basically four distinct components that are enabled/disabled depending on your output mode selection, which I cover below:

=== Global EQ ===

Note two things here. First, the EQ options here are helpful, yet insufficient to completely neutralize the EQ shift. Second, a pre-amp will do more than simply shift the EQ, compressing the tone (not equally at all frequencies) and maybe even distorting it. Bottom line - bypassing a real amp's pre-amp completely is the only method to guarantee it is not coloring your tone.

=== Live-Voiced Cabs ===

The cab selections in non-Studio/Direct modes use "live-voiced" cabs which are a mild EQ effect designed to make whatever real cabinet you are using sound more like the cab model selected in the cab. Note: although you can change the selected microphone and there is a gap in audio as you change selections, it has no effect on the tone. These are disabled by selecting "no cab".

These have also been called cab simulation without mic simulation. "Cab simulation" is the wrong name. By itself, it does not come close to the frequency response changes made by real guitar speakers - it is designed to supplement, not replace, a real guitar cabinet (or speaker simulator/IR). Without such, "cab simulation" will sound nothing like a real guitar cabinet, mic'ed or not. It will be very harsh.

I don't like using "live-voiced cabs" even with a real amp and guitar speaker. It seems to drop out some of the high end, leaving the Pod sounding a bit muffled. If I want to do this at all, I'd prefer to do it in an EQ effect where I have more control. Still, you might as well give it a shot to see if you prefer the tone. And don't just try the few cabs you want to sound like. The 1x12 and 2x12 models might give you a thicker tone than the 4x12's - they're not going to magically make your half stack sound like an open back 1x12.

=== Cab/Mic Simulation ===

This is the only true speaker simulation. Use this mode for all [[#Running Direct (PA/board/computer or DAW/monitors/headphones)|"direct" setups]] to usually get the most natural/standard guitar sound. Everything else may sound incredibly harsh, unless you use an external speaker simulator/IR, because it is not applying true guitar speaker simulation.

=== Bass Boost ===

Some people like the combo modes even through a half/full stack, because they have more bass. This kind of defeats the reason there are different combo/stack modes. I'd rather use them like designed, so I can switch rigs without having my bass response thrown too far out of whack and having to dial in my patches again. If I need more bass on a half stack rig, I dial it in on the amp controls or an EQ effect. Or I check that I'm using the "full" amp models. See [[Line_6_Pod_HD_Amp/Distortion_Tone#.22Full.22_vs._.22Pre.22|the full vs. pre section on the Amp/Distortion Tone page]].

=== Output Mode Feature Chart ===

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''* Only engaged when a cab is selected.''

== Internal Signal Routing ==

Input 1 is routed into the left side of the first line in the signal. Input 2 is routed into the right side. This is important to know if you plan on using multiple instruments simultaneously.

When the signal hits a stereo effect, each half of the signal is processed separately and output to the same side of the stereo field that it entered. When a signal hits a mono effect (including amp models), the stereo signal is mixed down into a mono signal, processed by the effect, then split back into a stereo signal with equal left and right signals. See [[Line 6 Pod HD Effects#Mono-Summing vs. Stereo|the effects page]] to see which effect is stereo or mono.

Path B Right ___|_level_panR___/ |

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== Running Direct (PA/board/computer or DAW/monitors/headphones) ==

Use this method if you want to run the Pod straight into a PA system, mixing board or mixing board for live purposes or a computer/DAW, home stereo, or headphones for recording or practicing. The Pod will completely simulate a guitar rig - amp (including pre-amp and power amp) and speakers (including cabinet). If you want, you can disable some of these features and use other gear to get that tone - like a speaker simulator device or a convolution reverb device/software that is using an impulse response (IR) designed to mimic a guitar cabinet.

You can additionally use effects from the Pod or use external effects, placing them before the Pod or in its effects loop (or even after if you use 1/4" or XLR output).

* 1/4" unbalanced cable is subject to interference, often produced by florescent lighting. Use XLR where possible for better tone, especially where long runs of wire are necessary.

=== Simple method (no real amp) ===

You can run all your external effects before the Pod or in its effects loop, depending on which effects you are using (see [[#Effects Order/Position|the effects order section]]). You can also run them from the unbalanced (or XLR if available on the effect) output(s). See [[#The Effects (FX) Loop|the effects loop section]] for advantages/disadvantages to using the loop.

=== Using a real amp as a pre-amp ===

Any effects you want run before the pre-amp will have to be placed before the Pod or between the Pod's Effect Loop Send and the amp's Guitar In. Any effects after the pre-amp will have to be placed between the amp's Effect Loop Send and the Pod's Effects Loop Return.

== Running to an amp ("live") ==

* The more pieces of gear you have in your signal chain, the more you have to be aware of [[#Gain Staging|gain staging]]. I find it's best to start with everything putting out a low output, and start turning up the outputs on each piece of gear until you are clipping the next one then back off a bit. Your tone will likely start out noisier this way, but I find it's easier to systematically dial in each piece of gear like this than to just turn everything on, find some fuzz or clipping or nastiness in the tone, then start guessing as to where it's coming from.

=== Amp without effects loop ===

* [Pod effects loop out > external effects > Pod effects loop return]

* Pod unbalanced out > [external effects >] Amp guitar in

=== Pod as Effects Only after pre-amp ===

* Amp effects loop out > Pod guitar in OR Pod effects loop return

* Pod unbalanced out > Amp effects loop return (power amp in)

=== Simple setup for amp with effects loop ===

This is how I run the Pod to my Spider Valve combo.

=== 4 Cable Method ===

* Amp effects loop out > Pod effects loop return

* Pod unbalanced out > [external effects >] Amp effects loop return (power amp in)

== I Tried This and It Doesn't Sound Good ==

The above settings should work well for most gear. But perhaps your gear is different, or perhaps you simply have different tastes about what is harsh or sounds good. As long as you're not running the output of a real power amp into the Pod or other effect (high watt power amp output should only be run into speakers or a dummy load) or sending a line level (mostly anything not coming from an actual instrument) signal into the Pod's instrument level Guitar In input, you probably won't break anything by experimenting.

My friend used to run his Boss multi-FX processor into his Fender amp, and he got the best tone by using the speaker simulation in the Boss unit, even though he was running into real guitar speakers. When he told me his settings, I thought, "That's not right" and tried to tweak his gear how I thought it should be set up. I could never get a better tone than what he already dialed in using the "wrong" settings. Whatever gets you the best tone and doesn't break your gear is how you should run it, no matter how many people say that your settings are "wrong".

If that still doesn't sound good to you, try switching to "Studio/Direct" and messing with different cabs and mics. There may be a particular combination that sounds great with your gear. See the [[Line 6 Pod HD Cab/Mic Tone|cab and mic page]] for general pointers about what to expect for frequency response.

== Dual Output ==

''The simplest is to use the FX Loop effect block.'' Place the FX Loop at the end of either one of the channel paths, right before the mixer. At the mixer, mute the channel with the FX Loop to guarantee no signal is passing through. For the other channel, set the pan to full center - this allows both sides of the stereo spectrum for that channel to pass through to the analog outputs on the unit.

The upside for this method is that you get two stereo outputs (FX loop send is a stereo output). Also, if you don't want to use multiple/special cables to extract the stereo output, you can just use a single 1/4" unbalanced cable for each signal to get mono output. The downside is that you need to place the FX Loop before the mixer, so you have to apply any post-amp effects twice - once in each channel, which can run into DSP limit errors.

Another thing to keep in mind is that some stereo effects affect one side of the signal differently than the other. For example, the analog chorus and many of the delays. Thus, your PA tone would differ from your amp tone.

== Wet/Dry/Wet Output ==

If you cannot use the FX Loop as such, you won't be able to get stereo output; but you can get a mono wet and mono dry output by placing all your wet effects in Channel A and not in Channel B, then panning each Channel hard left/right in the mixer. Then your Channel A (left) output is wet, and the Channel B (right) output is dry. Just remember that if you are using the 1/4" analog outputs and aren't using both of them, you need to put a dummy cable in one of them to prevent the unit from summing them to mono (which would give you a 50% wet mix).

== Multiple Instruments/Independent Paths ==

The Pod provides two independent signal paths. This path independence can also be used to handle multiple instruments, for example setting Input 1 to guitar and Input 2 to mic. Input 1 will go to Channel A, the top side of the path, and Input 2 to Channel B, the bottom. Just make sure you don't have any mono FX before the path/channel split. See the [[#Internal Signal Routing|input/output routing section]] to understand how the Pod routes audio, mixing down stereo signals when they hit a mono effect. Follow the instructions from the [[#Dual Outputs|dual outputs section]] to route the audio to different outputs.

== Input Settings ==

First of all note that just because the input settings exists in the system menu, it is not necessarily a global setting. There's a specific setting on this menu page to change whether it applies globally or per patch.

=== Multiple Sources = Noise ===

The default setting is input 1: guitar + aux + variax, input 2: same. This is not ideal - if any of the non-guitar inputs are generating any noise, it is being thrown into your signal. So change input 1 to guitar only, unless you need to use those additional inputs.

=== Input 2 ===

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.

For the F-Ball amp model, I find it can get kind of gritty and nasty for the distortion if your guitar signal is a bit bright. When I want a smooth tone from this model, normally I like to use a Mid-Focus EQ to roll-off enough high-end to smooth the tone out. However, if I don't have enough DSP or effects blocks to do so, I will turn down the impedance to attenuate some highs. I like it around 230K for this.

''Remember, if you set the input settings to apply per patch, just because you changed the setting on one patch doesn't mean you are using the same settings for the patch you're currently tweaking. If the patch is noisy or you can't get the tone clean enough, be sure to double-check these settings.''

== The Effects (FX) Loop ==

I've also read the loop causes your signal to lose a significant chunk of volume. I believe these claims, but I have not tried to determine how bad this actually is. Be aware that you may need to compensate for the loop. The best way is to boost via a Studio EQ before it, which additionally improves SNR. If you can't do that, you can increase the Return level on the loop itself.

== The Mixer Block ==

Be sure to understand how the pan controls work. Every line in the Pod's signal chain is a stereo signal. If you have a stereo effect in a channel after the path split but before the mixer, so that a different left/right signal is hitting the mixer, the pan controls basically adjust the volume of each left/right signal. If you pan full left on that channel, only the left side is going to pass through the mixer, into the left half of the mixer output. The left and right signals from that channel are not both being pushed into the left output of the mixer. The right half is essentially muted. The mixer is only mixing the left signals of channels A and B into the left half of the mixer's output. Same for the right half of the signals. So 50% left for a channel means that the right half of the signal has its volume cut in half while the left half passes through at full volume.

== Effects Order/Position ==

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See [[Effects Ordering/Position]].

== Gain Staging ==

=== Principles ===

See [[Tone#Gain_Staging|Tone - Gain Staging]].

=== Practice ===