Line 6 Pod HD500

Line 6 hd 500 pod so many sounds on there to use...

The Line 6 Pod HD500 arrived on time as per usual from Andertons. I decided to purchase the equiptment after seeing your video review,wich I think was very imformative. Well done Andertons team

Regards Malc

I received it very quickly and in very good condition.

I am very pleased.

Thanks

Another SUPERB product from Line 6!

Allows me to connect up to FOUR guitars (providing that one of them is a variax) and each preset can be set to use up to two different amp settings.

On it's own, this is a superb unit, when coupled with a DT amplifier (25 or 50), it becomes even better!

The L6 link works incredibly well and you can control up to four amps, midi equipment, a variax guitar all by selecting a different preset!

Line 6 are on to a real winner with these pedals.

Sounds nice but the quality seems a bit on the weak side. I wouldn't trust the switches or the expression pedal in live situations where they HAVE to work.

BUT the sounds make up for the lack of quality to me and I think it is a nice unit knowing its limitations.

And there is always the possibility of the HD bean and an external board, or a backup unit, for live use or serious recording in a professional (and expensive) studio where you need your equipment to work for sure.

I bought this along with a JTV-89 and a DT25 Amp. Out of the box there is not a single usable preset to be found but there are plenty on CustomTone to get you started if that is what you are after. My advice is to save a bunch of presets with all the basic amps and preamps using their default settings so you can hear what the amp model actually sounds like. (They sound good to my ears played through the DT25) For the most part I have found all the tones I need by simply adding a couple of pedals like a compressor or Wah to a basic amp model. On its own the HD500 is a great piece of kit (I originally had it hooked up to an old Marshall valvestate power amp and Marshall 2x12 cabinet) but when it is teamed up with the Variax and the DT amp it superb. Highly recommended.

I bought this after watching the Andertons YouTube review. It is a very impressive piece of equipment and the wealth of sounds available is amazing.

I was looking to upgrade my POD XT Live and wanted to try out a few options. After much time trying various gear I opted for the POD HD500, the guys in store where extremely helpful, patient & knowledgeable, great service!

For the price the HD500 is excellent, all sounds good to me and it has the right dynamics and feel lacking in earlier Line 6 products. Presets are rubbish tho and it does take a while to learn how to use the unit but its pretty easy and the included edit software works well (it’s has a few bugs tho) Sounds excellent in the studio and does work well direct thru a full range PA although I’m still tweaking more than I really wanted to for gigs. Power supply on the HD is as bit of a joke but that can be upgraded with a more robust unit which I plan to do soon, shame Line 6 didn’t do this. All in all tho a very good piece of kit – recommended.

as a guitarist Line 6 Pod HD500 is the best i have ever used.

I used to think that using a multi effect pedal will effect the true sound of a tube amplifier. But this pedal has proved me wrong but you must be able to tweak to get the sound you want. I will say this pedal is the most versatile and compatible with anything you have Coz you have so many choices.

I have to admit that it takes a few time to learn this processor, but as I started using it, it's so easy to use and create my own patches in few minutes. I still use it to play around and it gets even better and better everyday.

Looks very good, easy user interface. And the most amazing this the line6 has done is it virtually replaces all those effect units in a single place and that is so real that it sounds as if I'm playing through a large pedal board. I think that's the reason why they say "HD". So it is good deal to have single effect processor than to a large pedal board and messing around with electrical engineering thing which is more expensive as well.

No shortcomings at all. I'm not a pro guitar player, but I can feel where I can go with this processor.

Quite a steep learning curve with this to start with, but after that the controls are pretty intuitive. As seems to be the case with all Line 6 gear I've used, it is very sensitive to set-up and environment - very easy to get naff sounds, which is why I guess so many people don't like them. However, there are many, many great sounds in there if you can get all the settings just right. I was pleased to see the input pad, which much better suited my Les Paul. Also need to ensure the output settings are geared to your set-up - in my case I am using mainly as a gig floorboard, plugging the output into the power-amp-in of a JCM 900, and using the pre-amp models on the HD500, and getting it to sound fantastic.

Gripe#1: I would have welcomed some kind of output meter - it is not easy to tweak things without getting massive changes in level, and although the 'volume' control lets you adjust this, it was very difficult to get output levels just as wanted over multiple patches. In the end I temporarily patched in a G-Major on the output and used the metering on that, mainly to stop giving the power-amp a red-hot signal.

Gripe#2 no true bypass. In fact no bypass at all! (though can set-up an 'empty patch' - it still goes through the input/output stages I think)

Gripe#3 no amp channel switching

Buy this over the other modules in the range for more flexibility, and for better midi flexibility and control. The amp modelling is state-of-the-art, and unlikely to get much better methinks. The effects are very comprehensive too.

TBH, in spite of gripes, I am astonishing pleased with this, and can't see wanting to replace this for many years.

Extra note: I use this for Electric Guitar (through a JCM900), Electric Violin and Acoustic Guitar (Though an AER amp). The unit allows me to use 2 amps seamlessly on stage, as each patch can be routed to either of 2 outputs.

I had been gigging with a Line 6 POD X3 for the past 2 years so I felt I kinda knew what to expect from the HD500 in terms of functionality with better sounds.

Well so far I have been blown away. Line 6 have approached the modelling of the amps in a different way, they sound and feel so much better. The X3 always had a digital feel. The HD seems to have lost much of that.

Amp wise there seems to be something for everyone here from Fendar to Messa and everything else in between. I don't like some of the amps but then I'm not expected to. Use your ears and you will pick 6 that you can use and then start adding the M-Class FX.

You can go wild with dream combinations mixing different amps and effects together in different chains, until you reach the point where you run out of memory. But hey at that point your probably creating something unuseable in a gig situation anyway.

Modelling gear is not plug and play, its still taken me some time to get 'my sounds' but all the effort was definatley worth it. I don't own amps any more choosing to use a flat response monitor. This is the key, putting this pedal through an amp just does not work well. But going into the PA or monitor then the sound is uncluttered by another preamp.

Overall then if you can get over the fact that you don't need an amp and a stack of pedals and are prepared to spend the time getting 'your sound' then I would say go for it.

I've been playing electric guitar for 3 years and only play in the house. I've tried numerous amps and digital modelers but recently got a L6 POD HD500. This kit is very good and made even better by recent software upgades adding adjustment to sag and bias. The limited amp models are all 1st class and between them offer more than enough choice for any guitarist. The effects are very good indeed and the footswitch options are spot on (my favourite is being able to turn echo on and reverb off with one switch).

Amp tones are 100% with good dynamics and none of that digital HiFi brightness. For the first time I've been able to get decent overdriven tones from my Fender Deluxe Strat (normally these are too bright), The Park 75 (my old school made had one back in the day) is particullary satifying. The recent sag control allows you to get that classic power amp stage saturation adding further realisum to the POD. Previous offers simply offered more pre-amp gain (fizz).

I run my POD through a Maci mixer and Studio monitors and this gives me the best response especially at low volumes.

Do yourself a favour and get a POD HD500!

Chris

Very clever. Unbelievably configurable if you want to, but can use out of the box if you don't. This is the 3rd POD I've had and it takes a great product and makes it (significantly) better.

You can't import sounds from previous PODs (or HD300 & HD400s), if that's a concern.

It has a new GUI for backing up /fiddling with sounds via computer, which is well laid out.

Just hope no-one spills beer on it.

In late 2010 I made the decision to start making more of an effort with writing and recording my own music. A lot of the bands/artists I listen to have all started or are still guys in their bedrooms with a computer and a guitar, so I looked into what gear they were using and I kept seeing the Line 6 Pod X3 pop up everywhere. I'd always been wary of Line 6 products after hearing bad things about certain amplifiers, but after realising the X3 had produced the tones I was listening to every day, I was shocked. After doing more research I discovered the Pod HD series - which features much higher quality modelling than the X3 - via the Andertons/Chappers demo videos on YouTube and I knew I had to have one. The other contender for my home recording needs would have been the Fractal Audio Axe FX, but with my income I opted for the Pod HD. Not only was the price perfect for me, both units produce comparable tones, the Pod at a fraction of the price.

The Pod HD is very easy to use, and after a few days of messing around to get used to it, it's very easy to find good sounds. Everything is where you expect it to be, and there's not so much of a learning curve that I've experienced with other multi-effects units. Great product.

This makes the X3 live look like a toy. There's no plastic casing here, so it's much more gig-worthy. It's quality over quantity fewer "amps", but they sound much more real and need far less "post eq" , if any to get good tones. The effects just sound classier than on any previous Pod. It's very different using one of these to a Pod XT or X3, but it's worth persisting as it's just better.

Just exceeded my expectations! Great simulations of the best amps out there and very intuitive usage. The effects of the HD500 cover pretty much everything that exists in terms of type of effects. I´m really happy with my purchase!

Amazing piece of gear, bit of a learning curve in the first instance but once you have got past that the sounds you can get from the HD500 are a major leap forward in amp modelling.

This unit was a replacement/upgrade for my PodXT Live and the total re-design of the Line 6 floorboards has vastly improved the products. The ability to assign eight different effects for each patch (subject to the processor having the capability to handle the DSP for the chosen effects) is more than useful. With the PodXT Live you could have only one choice of Modulation/Distortion/Delay for each patch, which could be somewhat prohibitive.

The addition of an FX Loop is also a bonus as I am fortunate to have a Line 6 Echo Pro which I route through this. With the option of configuring the FS switches as MIDI controllers I can easily switch patches on the echo unit, something which is not easy on a rack unit while playing.

I can't comment on the accuracy of the amp emulations as I have never used any of them except for a Vox AC30, and this is pretty close to my amp. However, I do have a Variax 700 and this sounds much better through this unit than the PodXT Live.

Although this unit is technically streets ahead of the PodXT Live I find it much easier to configure from the control knobs, although I prefer to use the free Line 6 Edit software, which is superb.

All in all I think that this is one purchase that I won't regret making

Had a Line6 POD XT Live for years but this new POD HD500 totally blows it away, superb sounds easy to program great positive foot switches, tuner is much better than the XT Live.

If you have or like Line6 gear then this is a must have, specially for live work.

Saw that Andertons had them in for £409 and had to have one  paid by card and 2 days later it arrived, awesome service if you ask me.

Good updates from the company left me reassured at all times, so much so that im now going to get a Yamaha mixer from them shortly.

thanks

steve