POD HD and Eleven Rack

sbecker67

sbecker67

New member
Spent the entire day yesterday auditioning both these units through various means of amplification. All I can say is WOOOOOOOOOOOOW!

Amp modeling has taken a huge step forward. Both these units sounded excellent. Full, rich, dynamic, expressive, responsive and even a touch harmonic. Through a QSC K-12, cranked, I honestly could not tell that there wasn't a real amp behind me. If you haven't had the opportunity to audition either of these units, especially through a quality FR/FR loudspeaker, then put it on your list.

I ended up taking the POD HD500 and the QSC K12 home. The real test is going to be how it performs live. My main issue with modelers so far hasn't been the tones, it's that they don't "cut" live. The tone from modelers has always been good enough for noodling at home or for low volume/headphone use and for that purpose alone I will keep this POD.

If it can sound good live then it's a whole new ball game!
 
Re: POD HD and Eleven Rack

I've not liked most of the Line 6 stuff,but the Eleven Rack is intriquing and gets great reviews! The Fractal is another one worth checking out.
 
Re: POD HD and Eleven Rack

Check out this guys review and settings on the HD500.

 
Re: POD HD and Eleven Rack

I hear the same hype every generation and they've all had a place and purpose that I found useful; just that purpsose was NEVER as a live or even main home rig. They never sounded remotely good enough or cut it in a live setting. This generation, so far, has me thinking it may actually be possible.

The 11R was marginally better in the basic tones. The 11R effects were better, but limited although at the end of the day it has all you really need anyway. It's weird that the POD is supposed to have the same effects as the M13, which I already own, but they didn't sound as good. I went with the POD, for now, because I don't want to be bothered with MIDI, I'd need a rack case and a foot controller and the POD had the dual amp feature and a history of updates and support from Line 6 that Digidesign/Avid hasn't yet demonstrated.

The AxeFx is spectacular apparantly, it's also overkill for what I want and need.


Next time your'e in a store, try it out but don't use the crappy headphones or whatever else they have on display. Get a good FR/FR from Live Sound and then judge.
 
Re: POD HD and Eleven Rack

Man is that guy nervous or what?

I'd done that in portuguese and add subtitles if I was him. He was very uncomfortable.

Amazing palette of sounds.
 
Re: POD HD and Eleven Rack

congrats - I'd like to get another line 6 product. what I had found about cutting live was not really paying attention to the amp names and what I "should" like, just going with what cut. I liked the rectifier at low volumes, but the soldano cut better live and in practice so that was the ticket, and sounded great cranked.
 
Re: POD HD and Eleven Rack

I'd love to grab a HD300 so I could use it at acoustic gigs with my electric. Maybe once my kitchen gets paid off.
 
Re: POD HD and Eleven Rack

Is there any difference in sound between the HD300 and HD500? I know there's more options on the 500, but are the core tones the same?

I can't justify $900 for the 11 Rack, and if the HD300 basically covers what the 500 will do, it's the best value.
 
Re: POD HD and Eleven Rack

Gearjoneser said:
Is there any difference in sound between the HD300 and HD500? I know there's more options on the 500, but are the core tones the same?

I can't justify $900 for the 11 Rack, and if the HD300 basically covers what the 500 will do, it's the best value.
Click to expand...

That's what I'm wondering as well. All I really need is a couple basic sounds for my needs. I'd be happy with a good clean, mid gain, and higher gain setting for what I would need it for. The effects and everything would be nice, but I doubt I'd use most of them unless I was just messing around at home.
 
Re: POD HD and Eleven Rack

The 300 and 500 have the same sounds, the 500 allows two amp models at once and also has a mic input but no modeled mic pres or phantom power.
 
Re: POD HD and Eleven Rack

Gearjoneser said:
Is there any difference in sound between the HD300 and HD500? I know there's more options on the 500, but are the core tones the same?

I can't justify $900 for the 11 Rack, and if the HD300 basically covers what the 500 will do, it's the best value.
Click to expand...

The amp models are the same between them all. Difference is in number of FX, I/O, Preset banks and misc features. What I like most about the 500 is dual amps running stereo, one panned right the other left. You also have better routing control of FX and a loop.

Eleven Racks are on Ebay for $700; $500 used.
 
Re: POD HD and Eleven Rack

I dig my HD500, works great direct as well as into the front of an amp just as an fx box. I can do traditional classic tones as well as some pretty weird stuff.
 
Re: POD HD and Eleven Rack

What is the ideal way to amplify one of these?

Some folks swear by a powered speaker, others prefer a poweramp + passive speaker, others prefer a power amp + real guitar cab and turn the cab sims off.

I'm very interested.
 
Re: POD HD and Eleven Rack

Depends...if I am plugging into one of my amps, I have a bank of presets with effects only, and no amp/cab/mic modeling, so it is effectively a multifx. If I am playing live with in-ear monitors, I go direct to the PA with all of the modeling. If I record, I go direct also using the modeling.
 
Re: POD HD and Eleven Rack

I may eventually test drive the HD. I've been satisfied with the X3L for the last couple of years, especially once I figured out how to program it better.

I find that the biggest complaint folks have with PODs is that they don't sound exactly like (insert amp name). I don't really care about that. I only care that I get sounds that I like.

The strange thing is that I was never a big Marshall fan-boi, but in the last couple of years, the Marshall patches are getting the most play on the POD. :dunno:
 
Re: POD HD and Eleven Rack

The tones I've gotten out of demos from Guitar Rig, Amplitube and others really make me smile a lot.

I guess I'd be more than OK with a hardware version of one of those programs.
 
Re: POD HD and Eleven Rack

Diego said:
What is the ideal way to amplify one of these?

Some folks swear by a powered speaker, others prefer a poweramp + passive speaker, others prefer a power amp + real guitar cab and turn the cab sims off.

I'm very interested.
Click to expand...


Ideal is subjective. All these methods are viable. Using the FR/FR monitors will allow you take full advantage of the units features but I can also see the benefit of using a tube power amp, traditional guitar cabs and using the preamp models of the POD only too. Granted, using a power amp you won't get the added benefit of the modeled power section and cab sims but you will have more of that "amp in the room" feel and tube response. With everything, there is a trade-off.

For my needs, it's FR/FR all the way. My main purpose for going digital is volume so a power amp/cab set-up defeats the point.
 
Re: POD HD and Eleven Rack

LesStrat said:
...I find that the biggest complaint folks have with PODs is that they don't sound exactly like (insert amp name). I don't really care about that.
Click to expand...


They have gotten much better. The Vox and Plexi sims in the ElevenRack were incredible actually.

When I auditioned these I wasn't evaluating it on whether it replicated the given model exactly, only whether it was an amp tone that I would want to use and there weren't any that I found completely unuseable. Some better than others, but all fairly decent.
 
Re: POD HD and Eleven Rack

UPDATE:

Played the POD pretty heavy last night and found some of the flaws. On some of the clean models the bass gets thumpy with a soft attack and farty with a heavy attack. Turning off the bass on the amp sim does help a little but it's still evident with a heavy attack. I thought it was a due to the 12" speaker being more naturally bassy, but apparantly it's a known condition and is supposed to be addressed in the coming update.
I didn't find this problem to be too bad with high gain models, it didn't fart but did thump and I kind of liked the added bass to those tones.

The fizz that was is so common with the high gain models on previous versions is still there, though better. I found that dialing back on the gain did a lot to relieve the issue and I'm okay with that, so far. I'll only use those high gain models as a toy to fool around with anyway. Anything past the JCM800 model is not my style.

It liked my Pauls better than my Strats, especially overdriven or distorted. Then again, I have that same problem going through a real amp anyway, the Strats always sound nasally and thin.
 
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