Any POD HD 500 users out there?

[Ruprect]

Hey guys,
So I've had the Line 6 POD HD500 for a little over a year now, and as of late I've finally started to dial in some stuff I can live with. I'm mostly into metal of various kinds so my focus is usually on high to medium gain sounds. For the longest time I would try and make patches using low end audio technica headphones( due to the fact my gf would constantly bitch about the noise when using monitors ). The results were typically sub par ( DUH!!! ).
Then I finally told my gf that loud dominating guitars were something she was just gonna have to live with, and starting using some proper monitors to create my patches. The results were much better, and they should be since creating patches on something that isn't relatively flat makes no sense lol. However, the real magic started happening when I acquired some Redwirez cabs. HOLY SHIT!!!! Soooo much better than the stock POD cabs. Night and day. Amp models that were previously unusable to me are now sounding kick ass. My current favorite is the angel f-ball model, with an engl pro v30 cab, and a royer mic at the cap edge and back 1 inch. I also have a noise gate, and a tube screamer model as well. So now that I've babbled for a while, what have you guys had a good time with on the POD? And if any of you use amp emulation and haven't tried the Redwirez stuff, pick a cab you know you like, spend $10 and buy it. You will not regret it. Cheers!

[Dahla]

I have and use the POD HD beanie. I think it's awesome, and while there probably are "better" devices out there (read: Kemper and Axe Fx), for straight up amp tones the POD is more than adequate IMO.

I've tried some external IR's (yes, Redwirez) with the POD but i didn't exactly got blown away, for me the sound didn't grow some serious balls in an instant. I thought it sounded a little bright, it certainly has a better high frequency content than the stock cabs, but I wouldn't want that high end in the mix anyway. I usually put on a low pass filter on guitars around 8-9k anyhow... The stock cabs got a whole lot better when the cab controls were added in version 2.0...

What I do though is running a dual amp setup and mixing two cabs in the POD. MeAmBobbo's guide is excellent, and if you haven't read it I strongly suggest you do. There are some great tips in there.

Tone Guide

[Ruprect]

Good stuff man! I've been reading through that guide and it's pretty kick ass! Thanks

[brandondrury]

From what I've heard, the HD500 is the best deal going in guitar tone these days. I have an AxeFX and I'm not really sure if there is an objective difference.

I tossed some Redwirez impulses on my AxeFX yesterday. VERY interesting. I had the same problem I've generally had when moving from cheap guitar gear to high end gear. Some of the cheap amps out there (Crate comes to mind) are lacking a bit in tone but have some kind of "artificial finished" sound that is actually quite pleasing. When switching to an expensive amp sometimes you lose that "finished" sound and have to go in and find it. (Very common with Marshall amps.)

After playing around with impulses for a while and layering a few complimentary cabs, I was HIGHLY impressed. The tone was WAY more ballsy.

Brandon

[Dahla]

From what I've heard, the HD500 is the best deal going in guitar tone these days. I have an AxeFX and I'm not really sure if there is an objective difference.

I tossed some Redwirez impulses on my AxeFX yesterday. VERY interesting. I had the same problem I've generally had when moving from cheap guitar gear to high end gear. Some of the cheap amps out there (Crate comes to mind) are lacking a bit in tone but have some kind of "artificial finished" sound that is actually quite pleasing. When switching to an expensive amp sometimes you lose that "finished" sound and have to go in and find it. (Very common with Marshall amps.)

After playing around with impulses for a while and layering a few complimentary cabs, I was HIGHLY impressed. The tone was WAY more ballsy.

Brandon

Cool, you had a different experience than me. People always sing the praises of impulses and I don't seem to get that experience myself... What redwirez impulses did you use? There is a half a million (give or take 2-3... ) impulses and there is no way I can try them all. I might have tried the "wrong" ones, and I'm willing to try again.

Never be happy right? Haha