Line 6 POD Farm / POD X3 Live Rhythm Tone DOWNLOAD

Hey guys!

So if you've checked out the video entry I did for the Kevin Talley Guitar Contest, I was quite happy with the rhythm tone I crafted for that specific song / shindig. So I thought I'd share the settings that I used on POD Farm and upload the tone for you to download off of the official Line 6 Custom Tone website.

DOWNLOAD THE TONE HERE

THE SIGNAL CHAIN

The overall signal chain of the patch is a basic Noise Gate - Drive Pedal - Amp - Compressor - Chorus.

THE NOISE GATE

The settings on the Noise Gate are a bit loose, that's mostly because I like to keep the tone sounding like it's "breathing" rather than being choked out and sliced.

THE DRIVE PEDAL

For the Drive Pedal, I used the Boost + EQ model, which I find that I always resort to for all rhythm tones, and even to drive clean channels too sometimes. It just allows further frequency control with the Bass, Treble, Mids, and Mid Frequency knobs in addition to have a crunchy / liquified character about it. I've also pushed the Gain over the mid point to give things a bit more umph (I like to experiment a lot between increasing / decreasing gain levels between the drive pedals and the amp's gain and compare results).

THE AMP

Next in line is the Cali Diamond Plate amp, which is a Mesa Boogie Triple Rectifier model. This is hands down one of my favorite models on POD Farm. I've pushed the Mids, Treble, and Presence while rolling off the Bass to below the center. The settings may seem a bit extreme, but I like to craft tones with my ears rather than my eyes.

THE COMPRESSOR

Next I've placed a Compressor unit in the signal chain, this works the attack and spank so the picking really comes out.

THE CHORUS PEDAL

And finally, my favorite part of the signal chain: the Analog Chorus pedal. I really really really dig placing chorus pedals at the end of the signal chain of rhythm patch and roll out the mix so it's almost not noticeable that there's a chorus pedal in there, but the sound just gets richer, precise, and liquified. Something about the sound of a very subtle chorus effect in the chain really gives me the chills!

And there we have it! You can download the tone by click on the below link.

DOWNLOAD THE TONE HERE

Cheers!
Hadi

Line 6 POD HD500 Warm Clean Tone

Hey guys!

So I spent the night toying with my Line 6 POD HD500 in pursuit of a warm clean tone (something along the lines of what Opeth were beautifully tormenting our senses with on their album Damnation).

I plugged the POD right into my MacBook Pro via USB, opened up the POD HD500 Edit software (which is a ridiculously simple and comfortable way to craft your tones, it's just fascinating). I tried a few amps looking for the texture I was looking for and the Hiwatt amp model immediately felt like home.

I got a nice clean and round tone with just about everything at flat settings on the Hiwatt amp model, with the default cab/mic settings as well. From there on I basically started toying around with different compressors before the amp to give the roundedness a warm attack and definition. That worked out well! I ended up adding another compressor after the amp in the signal chain to in-turn give stronger definition to the "processed" tone coming out of the amp.

To emphasize depth and give the tone a certain liquidity, I added a chorus pedal (this was placed as the compressor following the amp in the signal chain). When I add those chorus pedals to tones that don't require that extra wobbly tone, I just set the mix down to a very minimum level where the listener may not necessarily hear that the chorus effect is in there BUT it's adding to the tone's richness and liquifying it.

Last but not least, the cherry on the cake: the Ping Pong Delay pedal. I dropped the Mix to about 30% and gave the Feedback a notch up. AND VOILA!

Give it a listen and make sure you DOWNLOAD THE TONE if you own a POD HD500.

Best!
Hadi

My Entry to the Kevin Talley Guitar Contest

Hello everyone!

So I decided to partake in the Kevin Talley Guitar Contest for September 2012, my entry take video can be found below.

Basically the contest includes a drum track recorded by Kevin Talley and the challenge is to write riffs over it. The drumming is pretty nuts and there's a few odd signatures in there! It was the very fun yes.

The guitars were all recorded with Line 6 POD FARM, I'll be sharing the rhythm patches used later on.

Check it out and Enjoy!

Cheers,
Hadi

Guitar Pick Up Match EQ Testing

Hey guys!

So I've been doing some testing with Match EQing comparing my guitar pickups to other popular ones. If you're not familiar with the concept of Match EQ, in a nutshell, it's the use of designated plugins to analyze the EQ of your signal (whether it is a fully blown guitar tone through an amp or a DI signal of just your guitar's pickups), and then analyze a "targeted" signal's EQ, and then basically create an EQ curve that makes your tone match the targeted one. It's pretty simple and straightforward, however, to achieve stellar results it requires some trial and errors.

Here's my demo recording where I compare the match EQs of EMG707, Seymour Duncan Vintage Rails, Seymour Duncan SSL5, and of course the sound of the original pickups in my Schecter C-7 (Note that I used the same rhythm and clean tones for all pickup match EQs):

Here's how I went about doing this:

1. Find DI recorded signals of pickups online. (Luckily, I've found some EMG707 DIs, and some Seymour Duncan ones as well!)
2. Open up your DAW (I use Logic)
3. Open a new track
4. In the effects, load up "Match EQ" under Logic's EQ effects
5. Import the recorded DI of the pickup you wanna steal
6. On the same track, record yourself playing the same riff (or at least something close!)
7. On the Match EQ window, click on "Template" and play the DI you downloaded (Let it play for a bit so it can capture as much frequencies as possible)
8. Now, on the Match EQ window, click on "Current" and play the just wankery you recorded
9. And finally, click on "Match" on the Match EQ window
10. Voila!

Here are some screen shots of the process:

STEP 1: ANALYZE THE TARGETED PICKUP'S EQ

STEP 2: RECORD THE SAME RIFF AND ANALYZE THE BUILT IN PICK UP'S SIGNAL

STEP 3: CLICK MATCH SO THE PLUGIN CAN CREATE AN EQ CURVE TO GET YOUR PICKUP TO SOUND THE SAME (OR CLOSE)

Keep in mind that you may have to do some post tweaking to get better results, and also note that the current amp settings may not sound as great with your new pickup EQ, so spend a bit of time getting a great tone down and enjoy!

NOTE: The matched EQ may NOT exactly match the pickup that you're aiming at, HOWEVER, it WILL give you a whole new sound to work with!

Hadi

Download my Line 6 Rhythm Tones

Hey guys!

As you all know I have been using Line 6 gear extensively for a long time now, so I figured why not share my main recording Rhythm tones with you all!

I went ahead and uploaded the two main Rhythm guitar tones to the Line 6 Custom Tone site, CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE TONES.

The below tune was recorded using those tones, check it out:

Be sure to drop me a line on what you think of those tones and do share your tracks recording using the tones in the comments section or on Facebook.

Have fun!
Hadi