You you splurged a little and scored the top of the line POD HD500 and...dang this sucker is a little tricky! While there are some great sounds in the unit, it can take some experimentation to get the best tones. As such, this is the first of a 3 part series covering some POD HD500 programming tips. I should note that new gear is certainly an aphrodisiac and like like many of you the first thing I dig was plug up and dive in head first. A bit of advice, download the Advanced Guide and really dig into it. Many things are a bit more complex than they appear. Without further delay, here are a few to programming tips to point you in the right direction:

1. Reduce the hiss. - The POD can be a bit hissy when the gain is cranked up with anything other than the quietest guitar. At first I questioned whether I would be able to even use single coils with it. However, there is a weird quirk to the POD HD500’s input architecture: 2 inputs are always active. In the default setting, this is essentially doubling the input the unit is receiving which means its also doubling the noise. I’ve found setting the primary input to “Guitar” and the secondary to any of the Variax settings is the quietest option. Since you’re lowering the input signal you will likely have to readjust the gain/volume of your preset but the end result will be much quieter.

2. Can I have a little subtlety with my ambiance? - Line 6 has included a decent collection of reverb models but IMHO the mix parameter doesn’t offer a ton of flexibility. I mean, even with the dial down at the 20% mark the mix is still very wet sounding especially when monitoring via headphones. So for subtlety, I don’t ever even use the reverb and instead look to the early reflection parameters in the mic modeling section of the amp block. Raising the early reflections into the 20% to 30% mark results in a much more realistic amp in a room sound.

3. The best overdrives on the HD500 are...the compressors! - Have you been struggling to find a more neutral sounding overdrive? Or perhaps a less neutral overdrive with more of a treble boost? The boost comp is almost always my first stop when looking for a pedal overdrive tone. With parameters for bass, treble, compression, distortion, and level its really one of the most versatile effects in the unit. Want to tighten up the lows and add a bit of presence to the JTM45 model? Try the Blue Comp treble model. Get experimental and try stacking 2 compressors, one a bit more subtle and the other really goosing the level. Another great use for compression to the limit dynamics. Wait, don’t we want a more dynamic signal? When most guitarists talk about dynamic response, they’re usually meaning the illusion of a dynamic response via the use of compression. Inserting the Tube Compressor model set fairly subtlety after an amp model helps limit the volume fluctuation between the loudest and quietest signals. What this means is less volume difference when you turn down your guitar’s volume knob cleaning up your signal. Try it and you’ll immediately start to see the magic of compression.

4. What, no auto-wah? - I’ve seen posted several times on different forums that the unit is missing an auto-wah effect or they modeled a broken one. While there isn’t an auto-wah type effect which cycles at a given speed, there is absolutely a working auto-wah envelop filter effect, the version in the POD HD is modeled after the legendary Mu-Tron III made famous by players such as Stevie Wonder and Bootsy Collins. In order to program it you really need to know a little about how this model works. First off, for classic envelope filter tone select the Tron Up model. Next up, toggle to the fourth parameter named “Type” and choose BP which stand for “Bandpass” (just like the original pedal there are options for HP, BP, and LP which stand for Highpass, Bandpass, and Lowpass respectively). Now play a little and you’ll hear some of that familiar funk. Dial the other parameters to taste.

5. The tremolos sound...not quite right - I struggled slightly with this one. Neither the bias or opto trem really do it for me tonally. One just has a weird wave shape resulting in a tone not as smooth as I’d like while the other just seems too square waved...and the mix control for both seems to move from in your face to invisible with little in the way of subtlety. Is there no usable tremolo? Enter the panner. Panner effects are essentially stereo tremolos and the HD500’s is nice and robust including selection of wave shape. There’s only one problem...when you sum the stereo signal of a panner to mono the result is an unaffected signal! Fortunately, there are 2 workarounds. The first option is to place the panner effect in either of the parallel loop locations. This results in only the left or right side of the effect and a correct sounding mono tremolo. The second (and more complex) option is to place the panner prior to the parallel chain, set both channel’s pans to center, and set the right channel volume to 0. Voila! A tremolo with a wide range of of tonal possibilities from extremely smooth and subtle throb to full on helicopter chop.

Next time, I'll take a look at 5 genre specific tones and how to create them on the POD HD500. Good luck and have fun! Check out Part 2 here.