HD500 sounds like crap in the mix

[vangkm007]

I'm hoping someone can help me out here. I recently bought a HD500 and can't seem to get a decent tone for band practice.

I've tried numerous settings (mine and others), they tend to sound full and though not perfect to me, good enough for use. This is all while I'm playing solo by myself though. As soon as I use those same settings in a band setting my signal starts to sound thin and very much unlike the tones on their own. I've tried a lot of different fixes, tried to EQ, etc...but still nothing works well.

I'd like a tone that can go from slight OD to crunch to hot rodded 800 with a twist of my volume knob. I was able to achieve this kind of tone while playing by myself but not in a band situation.

I'm playing straight into the board (as is everyone else) and we use IEMs for practice.

Any tips?

 

[glassjaw7]

Been gigging the HD500 for a couple years now, and I can say that going direct to board will sound like shit every time. It sounds GREAT however, if it's feeding a power amp and going into a cab.

I was using my Mark IV briefly, but my HD500 has actually become my go-to gig rig, mostly because it's easy, has great fx built in and covers a LOT of ground. Go with a tube power amp and cab with the HD and you'll be much happier.

 

[SFW]

Lincoln Brewster gets some stellar tones from a POD X3 Live straight to the board. You can download his setting from his website. Below is a live video of him. His music may not be your taste, but he gets some killer tones in the vain of what you were wanting.

 

[ACShreds]

I use a POD HD500 and I get some great tones out of it that are sound good in the mix to me. Just did a big gig consisting of 16 different singers and used my pod for the show and all our rehearsals. I run it into an EHX Magnum 44 poweramp pedal and into a Mesa 1x12 cab that I had installed with a Mesa V30. I turned off the cab sims since I run it though a real cab and that to me is what makes the difference. The cab sims arent that great but the models are so If you have the chance to turn off the cab sims and run it through a decent cab with decent speakers it'll really help out your tone.

 

[vangkm007]

Thanks guys but the only reason I'm even using the HD500 is so we can have quiet practices which is a must for where I live. As such any solution must involve going straight into the board. There are no practice rental places and I live in an apt.

 

[Chris6870]

Lincoln Brewster gets some stellar tones from a POD X3 Live straight to the board. You can download his setting from his website. Below is a live video of him. His music may not be your taste, but he gets some killer tones in the vain of what you were wanting.

I see a Marshall behind him. Unless it's a prop. The thing about going direct for me is it sounds different depending on the speakers. May sound good through my studio monitors where I set up all my patches but sounds like crap through random house PA speakers. I gave up on getting a good direct sound with the HD. It sounds good thru a power amp/cab as stated above. Try bringing up the mids in your patches.

 

[jerrydyer]

Lincoln Brewster gets some stellar tones from a POD X3 Live straight to the board. You can download his setting from his website. Below is a live video of him. His music may not be your taste, but he gets some killer tones in the vain of what you were wanting.

yeah !!!!!!!

 

[SFW]

I see a Marshall behind him. Unless it's a prop. The thing about going direct for me is it sounds different depending on the speakers. May sound good through my studio monitors where I set up all my patches but sounds like crap through random house PA speakers. I gave up on getting a good direct sound with the HD. It sounds good thru a power amp/cab as stated above. Try bringing up the mids in your patches.

He usually uses a Marshall or a Vox combo for stage volume. What you hear is direct to board.

 

[DeezDemos]

Definitely download Lincoln's patches and dissect them as a reference for your own use. This helped me in dialing in my direct patches back with my X3 to my current Axe II. The first thing I learned is to turn down the gain quite a bit from what I was used to at lower volumes. Using less gain with a clean boost for sustain & dynamics was the key for me. He also uses a particular PEQ setting that bumps the mids and corrects for Fletcher Munson. I get some fantastic direct sounds from my Line 6 stuff using his methods!

 

[vangkm007]

I see a Marshall behind him. Unless it's a prop. The thing about going direct for me is it sounds different depending on the speakers. May sound good through my studio monitors where I set up all my patches but sounds like crap through random house PA speakers. I gave up on getting a good direct sound with the HD. It sounds good thru a power amp/cab as stated above. Try bringing up the mids in your patches.

He usually uses a Marshall or a Vox combo for stage volume. What you hear is direct to board.

Thanks for the info, I'll look into it.

 

[ACShreds]

Yeah If you're solely going to use it direct into a board and PA then Im sure It'll all be up to the type of PA and mixer you use. A shitty PA and mixer will make anything sound like crap no matter how much you tweak.

 

[university81]

I'm hoping someone can help me out here. I recently bought a HD500 and can't seem to get a decent tone for band practice.

I've tried numerous settings (mine and others), they tend to sound full and though not perfect to me, good enough for use. This is all while I'm playing solo by myself though. As soon as I use those same settings in a band setting my signal starts to sound thin and very much unlike the tones on their own. I've tried a lot of different fixes, tried to EQ, etc...but still nothing works well.

I'd like a tone that can go from slight OD to crunch to hot rodded 800 with a twist of my volume knob. I was able to achieve this kind of tone while playing by myself but not in a band situation.

I'm playing straight into the board (as is everyone else) and we use IEMs for practice.

Any tips?

i had best results doing what you described with the DR Z model, and i think one of the distortion effects, in front of the amp for gainier stuff,

rolling back the volume to clean stuff up, doesn't seem to work effectively at louder volumes, you're better off using separate patches for those sorts of things,

my podhd500 is at practice but from what i remember my dr z patch is something like:

blue comp -- > tube drive (either have two, one set for higher gain and one lower, or have one going into another, sounds more natural to me)
--> dr z --> i like the hiway 412 , or the tweed, but find a cab that works for you, and play around with the mics , --> reverb (small amount to add a bit of roominess) , other effects to taste

the dr z was clean with a touch of breakup depending on how i was playing


i run into a mic tube pre --> DI --> eq --> qsc power amp -->2 x bass 2x12s

output mode set to studio(ie . straight to desk), the mic tube pre warms up the signal somewhat but doesn't alter the EQ really

otherwise EQ wise mids will help you out, the best thing to do is to setup a patch at volume, just before or after a practice session

 

[vangkm007]

I forgot to add the mixer I'm running it into is a Presonus SL 16.2.

 

[DeezDemos]

Another trick I learned for the HD500 is to put an analog chorus in the chain but with the mix set to zero. It adds a bit of warmth, body & boost which helps with volume pot dynamics. I also use the tube compressor this way in my Soldano patches & it works well also.

 

[DeezDemos]

I don't know if this will be of any help, as all of our tastes are different, but here are a few screenshots of my main live direct patches. I mainly use the DRZ patch and just turn off the tube driver for clean tones. Hope this can help.

DR Z

Soldano

 

[vangkm007]

Thanks Deez, I'll take a look at those and report back after I've had a chance to use them in practice. I've been making adjustments while at practice but the mix never sounds "right" to me.

 

[D-Rock]

If it has the cab sims on, turn them off.

 

[vangkm007]

If it has the cab sims on, turn them off.

Any way to get better bass response with cab sims off? With them off most of the models sound sterile and very digital.

 

[Shask]

If it has the cab sims on, turn them off.

Any way to get better bass response with cab sims off? With them off most of the models sound sterile and very digital.

I generally run a studio EQ or parametric EQ after the amp and crank the lows about 12db...

 

[vangkm007]

If it has the cab sims on, turn them off.

Any way to get better bass response with cab sims off? With them off most of the models sound sterile and very digital.

I generally run a studio EQ or parametric EQ after the amp and crank the lows about 12db...

I'll try that out.

I downloaded a ton of profiles from the Line 6 site and the ones you guys recommended as well as set up some that were provided here (thanks BTW). Still none of them are giving me the tone I want but I'm sure there will be tons of tweaking I need to do. Strangely the Lincoln Brewster tone was one of my least favorites, perhaps it's how I'm hooking up the POD to the mixer? I'm using one of the stereo line out jacks for mono operation.