POD HD 500

[threadkiller]

Bought one, and used it at practice last night! I must say, for $499 this is a great piece of gear. Maybe not an Axe Fx but not Axe Fx money either. The vocalists loved it because of the room volume reduction in a small rehearsal space by going direct to board. My back loved not having to carry any cabs or rack full of heavy power amps, etc. Very flexible tones and great effects. For cover band use, it is a great tool. My amp sounds better, but is nowhere near as flexible and I'd have to have a Mars Volta pedal board to cover all the tones I using in this thing. The amp models are convincing enought to fool the average teenage girl in the audience. Yes, the real thing sounds and feels better, but not that much. It's pretty easy to program, if you read the instruction manual. Going throught the PA monitors the tone is a little thin, because the EQ's are focused on vocals and feedback elimination, not on getting the best guitar tone. Through the mains, it sounds fine. I'm going to get a FRFR self powered monitor for personal stage monitoring, eventually. If you need a bunch of flexibility in something easily portable and relatively cheap, I'd highly recommend it.

 

[glpg80]

someone on here did a blind test recording without letting anyone know it was actually an HD 500, and on a recording it is actually really convincing, i like them as they are - axe fx standard or ultra do not compare - id rather own an HD500 if that was the route i had to choose to go for playing direct in small venues.

but digital or not, the rack poweramps, the 4x12's, the big tubes, they arent going anywhere anytime soon, im not that old yet and i havent pissed off any sound guys bad enough to warrant it

 

[polaris20]

someone on here did a blind test recording without letting anyone know it was actually an HD 500, and on a recording it is actually really convincing, i like them as they are - axe fx standard or ultra do not compare - id rather own an HD500 if that was the route i had to choose to go for playing direct in small venues.

but digital or not, the rack poweramps, the 4x12's, the big tubes, they arent going anywhere anytime soon, im not that old yet and i havent pissed off any sound guys bad enough to warrant it

I've heard enough clips here and elsewhere, and have played the 500 and Ultra (not the II though, yet) to know they're both great devices, but that the difference for me isn't worth the price difference, and the need for me personally to have to sell amps/equipment to get the Axe.

I'd certainly not fault anyone for having the Axe; it's a great device. I'd love to see Fractal try and break into a different market segment by selling a $1300 pedalboard, with scaled down features. But I'm sure that as long as they're selling the II like crazy, they'll not need to worry about that for awhile anyway.

 

[chumbucket]

I have heard quite convincing tones with the digital modelers, but with me it all comes down to one thing. TOO MUCH TWEAKING. I waste too much time trying to dial in a tone with way more parameters than I need. I can't leave well enough alone. It's a waste of time.
Give me an amp with 6 knobs and let me get back to rockin'.

 

[fluff191]

I thought about getting the new rackmount version (POD HD Pro) cause I really dig the tone the HD stuff has (esspecially for recording) but man the amount of available models just does not do it for me. There are like 4 Hi Gain models arent there? And no SLO?!

 

[university81]

a great unit, had one for a month or two(with firmware 1.31), sold it after an axe fx came in

i would run it into the return of a blackstar ht-5 into a 2x12 cab so my experience is based on that,

i will say that the line6 is probably easier to dial in, has a huge array of effects that you have to spend longer to program on the axe (auto volume...analog delay etc..) the pedalboard is great and easy to setup,the thing that let me down was really anything with gain, at least in my case after quite some time tweaking some gain sounds and higher gains i a/b'd it with the blackstar ht-5 , and the blackstar completely smocked it. i kept hearing this digital artifacting that i tried to dial out but in doing so messed with the tone too much (eqs and the like) , so i ended up using the hd500 in a 4cm for effects and a clean amp sim into the gain channel of the ht-5, which worked really nicely,

fast forward to the axe, the effects sound much better (as in say jumping from a line6 to eventide quality =) , however it is harder to dial in/setup, it takes more time but is also more rewarding imo, pretty much all the amp sims are great, i'm now just using the ht-5 as a make shift power amp while i wait for something rack based to come in, when i a/b the ht-5 with say the slo/marsha/das metal tones from the axe, i found the response and definition better from the axe models in this configuration, and the wrecker sim as well for crunch tones, or even some of the fender sims with a FET boost or slight od/pedal for breakup tones, very nice

i would agree for say someone who just plays clean tones, given the price you'd probably be better off with the pod hd , have friends who use boost/od pedals in front of the pod as well with good results, i did try the direct to daw with the pod cab sims which weren't too bad but you're a bit limited in that department, you could probably get even better results with say some plug in cabinet impulse VSTs

in any case overall at least in my experience the axe fx rules but with a hefty price tag to boot

(i'll just add i'm still using pedalboard --> tube amps for the bands i'm in, and for live, we'll see if the axe fx+power amp eventually makes it's way out of the house =0

ymmv ;0

 

[glpg80]

yeah if i recall correctly this user also used the HD500 in the 4 cable setup of a 5150 III or similar amplifier. i cant see how the axe fx could be any better, on record that sounded great - the delay tones were really deep and had no artifacts whatsoever. i was really shocked it was an HD500 generating the clean tones and the 5150 III for the leads in a 4CM setup. it really did rule.

one problem i have with the axe fx is that it sounds like every other modeler under a mic, direct i dont hear it as much, and i hear it even less in the axeII, but comparing the price differences i just cant ever justify spending that kind of coin on a fractal product given the fractal business practices/politics and also the price difference. at least with the HD500 its a replacable product, axe fx anything, not so much.

most people will argue it is simply a tool to enhance your library of tones and abilities - but at that price point and with that many features, the last thing i want to do is spend countless hours setting up menu options for effects - its why i sold my g major with all of the dB leveling requirements, i absolutely hated that, and thats all the axe-fx is - endless array's of tweaking parameters. at least the HD500 will get you close, in a floor stomp or rack setup, and is 4 times cheaper than the newest axeII.

 

[university81]

yeah if i recall correctly this user also used the HD500 in the 4 cable setup of a 5150 III or similar amplifier. i cant see how the axe fx could be any better, on record that sounded great - the delay tones were really deep and had no artifacts whatsoever. i was really shocked it was an HD500 generating the clean tones and the 5150 III for the leads in a 4CM setup. it really did rule.

one problem i have with the axe fx is that it sounds like every other modeler under a mic, direct i dont hear it as much, and i hear it even less in the axeII, but comparing the price differences i just cant ever justify spending that kind of coin on a fractal product given the fractal business practices/politics and also the price difference. at least with the HD500 its a replacable product, axe fx anything, not so much.

most people will argue it is simply a tool to enhance your library of tones and abilities - but at that price point and with that many features, the last thing i want to do is spend countless hours setting up menu options for effects - its why i sold my g major with all of the dB leveling requirements, i absolutely hated that, and thats all the axe-fx is - endless array's of tweaking parameters. at least the HD500 will get you close, in a floor stomp or rack setup, and is 4 times cheaper than the newest axeII.

yeah the amount of tweaking possible is insane with the axe, less so on the pod which does make it easier to dial in at the expense of extra tonal options, another danger is also tweaking some presets so much to match a given situation - ie. specific guitar -- style of power amp into a cabinet in a given room

i guess that's why a lot of the hardcore users go FRFR to take out at least some of the variables to get more consistent tone, something i can't really imagine doing just yet, i mean showing up to a band rehearsal with a powered PA and a rack unit, still doesn't sit with me, amp and a 4x12 all the way =0

the line6 effects are great, i have an m9 on my main pedalboard and it's absolutely killer use it for pretty much everything just have separate delay/verb pedals for certain settings (a timefactor and a tc hall of fame), i could probably get away with just the m9 and 2-3 other pedals for most of the stuff i do tbh

i think the eventide jump comparison is the best thing i can think of, as in the line6 stuff is good and very useable, but once you try something higher end in terms of delays/verbs you see and feel the difference, i don't think in a mix much of that would be really audible however, and certainly not live, either way the only people who will come up after a show and look closely at your rig are probably other guitarists just as obsessed about tone as you are =) and there's nothing better than surprising them with relatively cheap gear =)

 

[glpg80]

once you try something higher end in terms of delays/verbs you see and feel the difference, i don't think in a mix much of that would be really audible however, and certainly not live, either way the only people who will come up after a show and look closely at your rig are probably other guitarists just as obsessed about tone as you are =) and there's nothing better than surprising them with relatively cheap gear =)

quote of the fucking year. i agree whole heartedly (and sadly) because in the end the mixing board, the band as a whole, the studio techniques, and overall player characteristics will stick out more than variation delay A and variation delay B going after the same exact idea/effect, just different units to achieve it.

and yeah i dont get the whole FRFR ordeal, i get those running direct for monitors and also mixing a real cabinet, but replacing tubed amplifiers all together? like you said with the axe, there is a feel thing going on there that can influence your playing that not a single modeling unit can or will be able to touch.

....of course come to think about it its probably a good thing, the day people start programming random problems like microphonic effects or bad tubes into a digital modeler will be the end to us all

 

[university81]

....of course come to think about it its probably a good thing, the day people start programming random problems like microphonic effects or bad tubes into a digital modeler will be the end to us all

it's totally gonna happen and be called "enhanced tube realism"

i do wonder when tube modelling will start appearing not just the bias etc...as in tube brand modelling(NOS..JJ..EHX etc etc..) Digidesign would probably sell it as an expansion pack or something for the 11rack =)

 

[Anonymous]

great unit...sounds good at home and I have used it direct for a few gigs ( monitored through tech 21 pe60's)

really flexible with the fx routing options too...

 

[threadkiller]

You are correct about the high gain tones. It has a JCM800, Uberschall, Engl Fireball, and Mesa model. Sound decent but not great. I rarely use high gain with my cover band though. Mostly Tommy Tutone, Tom Petty, etc. I have a little 80's project I'm messing with. It will get a real amp, but for cover band use I'm really impressed. I don't record so it is definetely good enough for live use.