Line6 Pod Pro

Has anyone been able to get a decent sound of the overrated Pod Pro. I just think it's funny how they say that the models sound just like the originals. To me, everything sounds shrilly, metallic (if that makes sense) and basically just like solid state amps. Where is the warmth of a tube amp that Line6 promised in this product? Maybe I got one of the bad ones, I've heard the quality of them is not very consistant. Any remarks??

Well I have the over rated Pod pro and think it is wonderful, there is nothing that I can't do with it.

1) what are you playing through it
(i.e. a crappy guitar will still sound crappy, and crappy cables will still sink your tone)

2) did you read the manual ?

3) what are you running it through (don't say your mothers stereo) ?

I've played it straight through a P.A. and through my Marshall JCM 900 (both inline and through the effects loop). My main guitar is a Music Man EVH, but also play a Fernandes strat copy, Ibanez RG570, and a ESP EC-300. I'm not using crap gear (except maybe the Fernandes).

I have read the manual, and have tried every way of hooking it up...It all just sounds thin with a lot of high's. I can turn the treble down on everything, but it's still so bright and trebley it can break glass.

Any suggestions?

Sorry I was a bit blunt before, Monday and all that !

I use mine for recording, into a D1200 and I love it. S/PDIF out into the Korgs optical ins via an M-audio CO2. I particularly like the Soldano emulation (not having a spare 4k for a Soldano SLO100 stack!!!) patch 5b on the original pod pro (cant afford an XT yet as I have just shelled out for a Marshall TSL100 head and a 1960A cab.... which I don't intend to use the pod with).

As far as using it live is concerned, lets start with using it with an amp:

1) Turn down the "output knob" and turn the "channel volume" to 100% full on.

2) set you pod to live mode (turning off the cab emulations) using the switch round the back

3) set the pod to receive guitar (Hi Z), not line level signal using the switch on the front panel

4) plug the left "analogue out" on the back of the podpro into the effect loop "return" of your Marshall (nice amp !) or the CD input if it is a little amp and turn the effect loop to max.

This will sound better than using the guitar input as you will bypass the amps preamp circuitry which will color the pods sound. (If neither of these options is available then you can plug the pod into the front of an amp). Set your amp onto its clean channel.

5) With a clean patch (i.e. press "manual" button and select "Tube preamp" and back right off on the drive) make sure you are not overloading your amps input, then turn up the output until the signal is just breaking up. Then back off a bit.

6) Engage the patch you want on the pod and turn up your amp. Remember to readjust the EQ on the amp (or pod if you must) to compensate for the increase in volume.

This should be easier to manage and give you a nicer sound than going straight into a PA which is quite a difficult thing to control.

Once you have a sound you are happy with, you can always stick an SM57 in front of your amp and it then becomes the sound man's problem.

Another thing to try: plug in a humbuckered Axe and break out the Soldano patch on your pod (in studio mode) and turn down the output knob. Then plug in some headphones and gently turn up the output. How does that sound ? It should be great, if not you have a problem. If it sounds great you now have a sound to aim for coming out of the amp / PA. Having got a match between the Soldano sound coming out of the pod and comming out of the amp, swap to your fave pod patch and blast away.

If, after that it still sounds crap get onto Line 6s tech support / the place you got it from and give 'em hell !

Thanks for your advice Dr_Simon....Are you saying in your #4 response to plug my guitar into the PodPro, then from the analog output on the Pod into the Return of the effects loop, and that's it?

I've been running a line from the send of the effects loop into the input on the Pod, then from the analog output on the Pod into the effects return and plugging my guitar into my Marshall. Now I can see where this may be a problem, the Pod's not getting a guitar signal, but a signal that is too strong...
I have been able to get a better (not great) sound running it through our P.A. Maybe this is why.

You may have cleared this up for me, I'll give that a try tonight to see if it makes a difference. If this works, I'll owe you big......I've been fighting this thing for a year now and it never occured to me to try to hook it up the way you said. Must have missed that in the manual, I swear I did read it, a few times.....

Ahhh, you really don't want to be sticking it into your loop like that.

Guitar into pod, pod into FX loop return, amp to cab.

be careful not to overload the loops input as the pod has quite a lot of output (as you will know if you have ever tried to use it with headphones)

Oh yes and g'luck, it should sound totally cool !

Well, I hooked it up the way you suggested and the sound is much better, but still not what I think it should be although I didn't really have time to do any tweaking. I'll have more time tonight to get in depth with the settings, hopefully it will work out. Thanks again for your help, I was considering selling my PodPro, but I may reconsider now.

Make sure that you have the cabbinet models bypassed. Having a cabinet model on when playing through a guitar cabinet can turn a great tone to mush.

You might also want to check that the FX loop on your Marshall is set to except line level (as opposed to HighZ guitar output level) signal. This will make stuff sound better and prevent you from overloading the input.

Some Marshall's will have a little button by the FX loop in and out which lets you select in/out level (out is line level and in is High Z)

My Marshall doesn't have that button.

Well, it's sounding a lot better now. Guess I was overloading the input before. Thanks again for your help Dr_Simon. I'm going to name my first child after you......

Anytime dude, glad I could help !

Originally Posted by: PRSplayaMake sure that you have the cabbinet models bypassed. Having a cabinet model on when playing through a guitar cabinet can turn a great tone to mush.

Okay, I know how to set the Pod to what cabinet I'm playing through (hold save while powering up). I'm playing through a 4x12 with a closed back. How do I bypass this like you suggested. I can't find that in the manual, probably overlooked it like I did on the correct way to hook the thing up.

Unfortunately you can't bypass the cabinet tunings(the ones you change holding save on start-up). What I was talking about was turning the knob on the right that specifies which cabinet model you want to use the the selected amp with to bypass. I think this knob also selects the effects. You have to hold down on the tap button while turning this knob to change cabinet models. Bypass should be at the very bottom. Sorry if I've confused you, it's been a while since I've had a POD in front of me.

On a PodPro there are two modes which you select using a switch on the back . The switch selects either: "live" or "studio".

If you are running your pod through an amp you need to make sure that you are in "Live" mode (this will turn off all of the cab emulations). From this point you don't need to worry about which one to select.

I did mention this in a previous post but maybe didn't say why it was important. The Cab emulations mimics the frequency attenuation provided by different speaker / wood combinations and as you already have a real cab, adding an emulation will only confuse things / muddy up the tone.

Aaahh yes here it is:

2) set you pod to live mode (turning off the cab emulations) using the switch round the back

doh! forgot about that :rolleyes: . But still, you can't bypass the cabinet tuning, only the cabinet modeling.

I think they are the same thing dude, however Im at work and don't have the pod pilots book with me so I'll check later on !

no no, the cabinet tunning tells the POD what you are playing through, and you have to hold down on the save button while turning the POD on to select which tunning. The cabinet models are what you can change with one of the knobs on the front of the POD

I've got the switch on the back in the live position. Yeah, I got confused on what you were talking about PRSplaya, thought you were talking about the cabinet tuning. I do have the cabinet models bypassed with the knob your talking about. Thanks for clearing that up.

The Pod sounds a lot better now that I had some guidance on the correct way to hook it up. Thanks again for the help guys....

Well that is me told !! Cool, I never knew that !!

I may be wrong here, but I think the switch on the back (live/studio) has to do with mic simulation. Live bypasses the mic sim while studio adds in the mic placement sim. Don't think it has to do with the cab simulation. I'll check the manual tonight to see. I've already shown my ignorance with the PodPro, this may back it up a little more, ha....