Brief Pod HD 500 Review

[zerohawk]

My local Sam Ash got an HD 500 in today so I went to check it out. I brought my Mesa 20/20 and played it through a Line 6 Bogner Cab with Vintage 30's (the used Mesa 4x12 they had didn't work). My initial thoughts are that there is def an improvment in the feel of the sims. It responded pretty well to playing and sounded "ok" with the volume knob rolled back. The effects were pretty cool on some of the factory patches, but 85% of the patches were useless. The unit sounds a little bit better than the X3, but it is not on a whole new field as they might have you think. You can def tell it is a Line 6, it has that thing where it sounds like the sound is bouncing around in the cab before it comes out, and there were no harmoic overtones. Before anyone says it was the cab, I did a/b it against my 530 and the 530 sounded great (HD500 had better cleans though). The Vox amps and the Divided by 13 sounded the best by far. The Plexi was ok at best. The ENGL is a complete failure. It does not even come close to catching the essence of what those amps can do and is extremely dark sounding. Overall, I will say it responds better than previous units, but sound wise there is not a very big improvment. None of the guys working thought it sounded that great either. They did (every single guy) however compliment how great the ENGL sounded. I will wait until the X3 rackmounts drop in price on the used market and snatch one up.

 

[crwnedblasphemy]

Line6 is a lot like congress....trying to tell us we need a new stimulus package, or that we need to buy a product from them. Both are ridiculous.

 

[Variable]

I was really thinking about getting one but after hearing more and more clipz, I'm not as interested as I was. I'll just continue to stick with the software sims for a while until something revolutionary comes along.

Have you listened to Chris Beaver and Horst's clips on TGP?

 

[zerohawk]

I was really thinking about getting one but after hearing more and more clipz, I'm not as interested as I was. I'll just continue to stick with the software sims for a while until something revolutionary comes along.

Have you listened to Chris Beaver and Horst's clips on TGP?

The playing was good, but the tone was nothing to cry home about.

 

[robertkoa]

Thanks - that sounds like a very down to earth un-hyped review.

I've been wondering about these - I only use PODs for the efx and the speaker sims- , in conjunction with real tube guitar preamps to GET the tube harmonics and tones.


I figured if POD HD had 10X the power that the Cab Emulations should be way better , but apparently they are not.

Why aren't the cab sims as good as software impulses on these?

The idea is to use the cab sims and EFX like a direct box ...........the only modeling I've heard that's knocked me out was Axe Fx but with a good guitar tube pre and good Cab Impulses of course it will sound as good or better though not as versatile as AXe Fx.

 

[cliffc8488]

It doesn't have 10x the power. It uses the same DSP as the X3.

 

[thiswaythatway]

The HD500 will be a decent buy on the used market when prices drop under $300, it's not worth $500 for what you get IMHO.

 

[Ancient Alien]

The HD500 will be a decent buy on the used market when prices drop under $300, it's not worth $500 for what you get IMHO.

You just give up too easily
I paid $420 out the door at GC, and I think that after 3 weeks of tinkering, it is well worth the money.
The effects are excellent.
I am still getting use to dialing in direct recording sounds since I never did that.
To me, the unit is well worth the price and has a lot of potential.
Plus the fact that it has everything in a single floorboard setup, it does kick some major ass.

 

[thiswaythatway]

The HD500 will be a decent buy on the used market when prices drop under $300, it's not worth $500 for what you get IMHO.

You just give up too easily
I paid $420 out the door at GC, and I think that after 3 weeks of tinkering, it is well worth the money.
The effects are excellent.
I am still getting use to dialing in direct recording sounds since I never did that.
To me, the unit is well worth the price and has a lot of potential.
Plus the fact that it has everything in a single floorboard setup, it does kick some major ass.

Axe-Fx hater you! If they make the Axe-Fx in a floor box like the POD's then that'd be cool. If i had to buy one I'd just spend the extra money for the Axe since it has a lot more to offer.

 

[Chater-La]

For those who are interested, we also published our own extensive review of the POD 500:
https://en.audiofanzine.com/guitar-amp-s ... r-you.html