The Watering Hole

Hi guys,

long time no talk, so just a little sign of life from me. A friend of mine bought a POD HD500 and was seriously underwhelmed, because when he checked it out he was just using the horrible presets.
He's a good player but has no clue when it comes to making his own patches.
So before he'd give it back, he asked me to test  it for him. Here's a little Blues clip I recorded last night while tweaking, check it out: http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=9767163

Cheers, Hans

Nice playing, but still sounds like a POD....don't think I will be rushing out to buy one.

I'm with Jon re the nice playing  :)

...but I can't tell much about the HD's feel, touch, response, & general playing dynamics from a recording so I'd prefer to reserve judgement until I play one myself.  

Az (from the Old WH) who works for Line 6 or with Line 6 is raving about it, He is a freind of mine on Facebook. I can say this so far although modelers are very useful, and I still have 2 of them, they sound so artificial in live work to me after using my tube stomps, I simply do not like them very much.

Sounds pretty good to me--what I listened to beyond the playing was the way the amp changed with your dynamics, and that was disturbingly real to me.  I am not excited to buy anything new... way too much stuff already... but I could see myself really having to struggle between throwing up a mic and using this tone, and I don't usually say that for clean tones on a modeler.

Hans, could you upload that patch?
I'd love to try it...
Really great stuff!

EDIT: just saw the link over at TGP. haha, cool, thx!

Sounds good to my ears, Hans !
Playing is super !  ;)

Ciao !
Marco

Can't say much about the tone, wouldn't be right, never been a big clean tone player or paid much attention to those types of tones (in blues settings)...but FWIW, the playing, YES, did like that a lot! Actually, this is a case of well played material making the tone a non-issue, lol, some really great/unexpected note choices. Was that a humbucker loaded axe? Wonder what that piece of gear and patch would sound like with a more straty/single pup would sound like.

Wow, me likey regardless of what was used!   8-)

Sounded to me like an EMZ equipped Strat actually and I did like the tone and expressiveness.  Very Gilmour-ish in a good way.  :)

Nice playing Hans!  I only listened on the laptop speakers at work, but it sounds good.  I'll take another listen from home.  

Thanks a lot guys! :)
Seems like that tone waited for me in the HD500, took me just a few minutes to make the patch.
That amp model (Dr. Z) is actually very nice for tones like this and other more crunchy ones, pleasant surprise! Other amp models like the JCM800 are more of as mixed bag....
I'm not very glad about the cab/mic section so far.
I played the clip on a Strat with Kinman classic MK II pickups, neck pickup of course.

Hans

Two more clips, Fender Deluxe amp model:
http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=9760027

and JCM 800:
http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=9770347

The first is ok-ish to me, the second nothing to write home about....

Check 'em out!

The Deluxe sounded nice.  It's hard not to compare it to Hendrix's sound, and it's obviously not exact.  But if you hadn't been playing Little Wing I probably would have loved it more.

The JCM tone--at first, it was not good.  You had to open up the playing, to make it come alive.  It's not good for the subtle stuff you started your solo with.  To which I say, having owned a JCM, yup.  It sounds killer in the second half of your solo.  Still, I agree with you, that doesn't blow me away.  But I also wouldn't think it was a bad thing if Line6 finally released a decent "clean" modeler... the focus on high gain with the XT was pretty ludicrous.

Well I listened to all the clips and truthfully it is better than any modeler I have ever heard for recorded stuff. The playing was stellar. The thing sounds real like Az told me it would.

Andy told me I'd be very impressed with the new Pod.  So far, many of the clips I've heard have been very good!  

I'd be interested to hear you play some all out hard classic rock with the JCM800 model - because that's what its really for.  Similarly with a Plexi model - for me the Plexi tone is one of the hardest for any modeler to capture convincingly & one of the best indicators of modeling quality.

Rich  ;)

voxman — Oct 20, 2010I'd be interested to hear you play some all out hard classic rock with the JCM800 model - because that's what its really for.  Similarly with a Plexi model - for me the Plexi tone is one of the hardest for any modeler to capture convincingly & one of the best indicators of modeling quality.

Rich  ;)

+1 on that.  Even the Axe-FX that I had briefly really sucked in my opinion on the plexi.  

Rich and Jon, I agree with you. I stumbeled on a problem, though: When you dial in an amp in the HD, you can load up the whole amp or just the preamp without the poweramp. Now I found, that unfortunately the preamps in some cases (mainly on the higher gain stuff) were much better than the complete amp with the powerstage. By better I mean much tighter and having more character. The worst amp in this regard seemed to be the Bogner Uberschall, for as soon as you use the whole amp, everything turns to mush with some crazy spikes in there, yuck... I made a few patches with the Park P-75 and the JTM 45, but can't get 'em to sound much better than what was already there in the POD XT series.
The feel of the HD has improved though, more direct and on the better amp models without the compressed attack, when you hit the string.
So, if I get anything worthwhile I'll shurely post it here for you guys. I think Schneidas will chime in, too.
He's also struggling with this little beast.

Hans


 

So here's a snippet I recorded while tweaking the Park P-75, playing not for posterity ;)

Hans, again, on the laptop that sounds pretty good.  Can't wait to hear it from home.  

And thanks for throwing in the little Dregs riff at the end!  

Thanks Howie, glad you like it. The Dregs riff: I wanted to play 'Bloodsucking Leeches' back in the 80's with my band, we played it for a while in the rehearsal room, but never on stage, it's not exactly easy for anyone in the band :)
About the Park amp: I remember I only heard this amp on two Gentle Giant concerts in the early 70's.
Their guitar player (I think his name was Gary Green) had a great stage sound with this amp and a LesPaul. There even is a little note on their 1st or 2nd album: 'Park - amps that dont' give up'. :)

That one sounds awesome.

charger — Oct 22, 2010That one sounds awesome.

+1!  :)  - Sounds like a valve amp to me!

Thanks guys, here's a humble attempt to go into Plexi territory. Please ignore my very sloppy playing, it's just a thingy I recorded while tweaking! ;)

Hans

That sounds pretty darned good to me - methinks I'm gonna have to check out this new Line 6 HD gear myself.   ;)

Thanks Rich! Listening this morning I thought the clip sounded too muddy, so I tweaked the patch a bit more to get rid of some of that low midrange mud, listen to the new version.

Sounds really good! Possibly a tad too much high end now (I like a slightly fatter tone) - but it's all down to personal taste even with a real Plexi - but that essential Plexi 'buzz-saw' type crunch is most definitely there! :)

Hans, I think your clips are as good as it gets regarding tones in the HD.
I'm having a much harder time dialing in sounds.
The worst prob for me is that I like high gainish leads but the HD is really flubby and farty in the higher gain dept.

My current living arangement doesn't help, as I have just started to settle in after a big move and I still haven't set uo
my computer & home recording room. So I tweak sort of "on the fly" in the living room and don't have much time or the
ease of use of a computer editor.

So I guess it will take me another 2 or 3 weeks before I can sit down and focus all my attention on tweaking the HD.
But right now, the sounds I get are about 90% from where I want them to be.
The flubby thing still kills me however. The absolutely best amp sim for me is the P75 with a RAT in front plus some serious post EQ to get a good higher gain (not metal though) lead.
The Mesa, JCM800, Bogner & ENGL kinda suck for me. Especially if you like tasty and sustaining leads on the neck pickup.

Never thought that it would be sooooo hard to dial in a sound in the HD.
I mean, it took me a while to get the sounds I wanted out of the XT but the HD takes even longer.
You gotta finetune like a mofo and you're still not 100% there...

Anyway, I am collecting your patches (and others) via my crappy laptop and will test them as soon as my recording PC is setup.
Until then I gotta tweak the HD directly in my living room (which sucks)!

Hey Schneidas, you might want to check out this pedal:

http://www.ayanmusic.com/sands/S&S%20Manual.pdf

I got it for use with my Mesa Boogie Rectifier II and it worked very well.  It was originally developed to help with flubby, farty conditions and can tame out of control highs as well.  If you read the manual you'll see that it's meant to be an "always on" pedal at the end of your pedal chain (so you just ignore it).  :)

Hey Schneidas, in the flubby department, you might want to use a Tube Screamer stomp of the HD500 as a clean booster in the signal chain (Volume dimed, drive zeroed).  With real Dual Recs, it is almost a prerequisite to tighten things up.  Keep messing with the eq a little.

Maybe the HD isn't ideal for you?  All I've seen and heard so far indicates this is a better clean modeler.  High gain wasn't lacking in the older generation PODs (XT, X3) but cleans kinda sucked...

Craig, thanks for the tip.
I don't believe it will solve my problem though as it's a weird frequency shifting thing. The bass strings on the neck pickup sound like a flute (but one gone bad). The bass totally farts up.
I tried pre- and post-EQ's to fix this (which I imagine this device to be aswell - basically an EQ) but no go.

Chris, yeah the screamer helps with the Recto.
And the Recto's cool for the DT rhythm stuff etc.
But for leads it is too metal for me, haha.
I'm trying to get a high-gainish Marshall style lead. The RAT plus the Park model has me close to what I want but it's not perfect yet.
I need to get busy with some serious post EQ processing...

Charger, the HD is cool for cleans and midgain stuff or for hard metal.
But for fat high-gain it is not ideal, there is no amp model that does it on its own but there are workarounds.
So far I'm still struggling with it but I'm not ready to give up on it.
The thing is the FX are so much better than those on the XT/X3 and I feel the cabs sound more real.
Last night I went back to my old go-to lead-patch on the X3 after having played only the HD500 for 3 weeks and suddenly that very patch on the X3 sounded plasticy and a bit artificial to me. I never felt like this before the HD.
So I got to make this new thing work for me as I feel it sounds more like a real amp.

What they have to do is now figure out a way to make some of their "Line6 originals" as HD models. Not the easiest thing since they aren't based on reality. But all their best high gain stuff to me is stuff they invented...

Arrrggh, got earburn from tweaking this box today, nothing really worked, so here's a little funky clip I just played to relax, enjoy!

http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=9812450

Cheers, Hans

charger — Oct 28, 2010What they have to do is now figure out a way to make some of their "Line6 originals" as HD models. Not the easiest thing since they aren't based on reality. But all their best high gain stuff to me is stuff they invented...

I agree.  I remember asking at the time why they don't simply make a module that allows you to dial in different, usable tones as opposed to trying to recreate "real" tones.  As far as I'm concerned if the tone is really good, I don't care how it was created (though some definitely do!).  And we've all heard really bad tones created from "vintage" gear...

Franzel — Oct 28, 2010Arrrggh, got earburn from tweaking this box today, nothing really worked, so here's a little funky clip I just played to relax, enjoy!

http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=9812450

Cheers, Hans

Sounds like you should relax more often!  Lots of very tasteful phrases going on in there.  :)

Thanks Craig, glad you liked 8-)

Ok guys, couple more HD500 clips:

Vox AC30 clean:
http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=9818922

Vox AC30 crunchy:
http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=9818923

Piezo (no amp, just the FX):
http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=9819218

Twin Reverb:
http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=9822943

Check 'em out!

Hans

The Twin Reverb clip is very nice...

Great stuff, Hans!  Thanks for sharing.

Lovely playing on the Twin Hans - but that's not a straight twin tone (I used to have one!) - far too many effects inc compression.  I'd like to hear more of the pure amp tones 'straight'.  Was hoping to try an HD out last weekend, but didn't have time - maybe next weekend. ;)

Thanks! Rich, I know Twins very well, too, played a Paul Rivera modded Twin a couple of years and later had a Twin II Top on a 4x12 cab before I switched to Mesa/Boogie Mk III. You know, I couldn't care less about a true Twin , AC30 or whatever sound, because they actually don't exist in the real world. Tone is like the colour on a painter's palette, I don't care which company produced it.
All I'm asking for is that it feels good while playing and that it fits the backing track. :)

Me likey both the Twin and the flamenco sample.  :)

Got to try the HD500 today and yesterday.  I like it.  The dynamics feel a LOT better.  I dialed in a Boogie patch and it sounded very respectable.  It did sound better through an amp with the cab sims turned off.  I had it plugged into a 10" Marshall MG and it sounded like the meanest little practice amp I've heard.  Cleans sounded very respectable.  The clarity of some of the effects were really strong.  Not a bad little unit.  Not too bad at all.  

I'm thinking I need to dial one up.  Lance told me he LOVES his.  

Lance posted a high gain patch on TGP this morning, I made some minor adjustments, this is what it sounds like, played with a Strat: http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=9946716

Hans

yep, I gotta get me one of those!   Nice stuff Hans!  

Wow!  Anybody wanna buy an X3 Bean for an affordable price to fund one of these for me?   :)

Franzel — Dec 02, 2010Lance posted a high gain patch on TGP this morning, I made some minor adjustments, this is what it sounds like, played with a Strat: http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=9946716

Hans

Nice stuff there. It does live up to the hype don't it?

Thanks, yep I guess it lives up to the hype, way more dynamic, no compressed plastic-sounding mids, lots more fun to play that box!
Here's a little bluesy mess for you:

http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=9960751