The Pod Hd500x was only used as effect gear. I used the cabs and amps from BIAS. Maybe they (line6 and positive grid) sound the same, but the "feel" when playing is very different. I briefly tweaked the gear, so don't blame the pod or the bias (or amplitube) for bad quality. I will make something else when I got the urge and time :-)
Hi! I plan to order the bias head at the end of the month, and I wonder if you've tried using your HD500 as a midi controller for the rack. I asked a guy on youtube who said he had some issues and that it was because of the POD. I've seen people using it successfully together with a Kemper, so I can't see why it shouldn't work with the bias... I have a 500X that I plan to use for control and effects. I've also spent countless hours of tweaking POD presets, but I just can't get the "bite" that I look for in high gain metal tones :P
I doubt they are doing anything nefarious either, however, they are, like many developers these days, fooled into believing that somehow they are making a positive impact on sales by fighting piracy (an industry of nefarious people who will never be customers anyway and just cost developers money wasted fighting piracy rather than giving customers extra savings or putting that money towards improving the development...) but I digress.
Whereas other modellers tend to stick closely to emulating real amps, BIAS Amp is more concerned with opening up sounds as a stepping-off point for further tweaking. Choose an amp, and you can then modify everything from the preamp and power amp tubes to the biasing and EQ shelf frequencies, before playing around with cabs and mics. Plus, by loading custom IRs and using the Amp Match feature, this tonal palette can be extended even further.
The functions of a biased plasma grid of a negative hydrogen (H(-)) ion source for both pure volume and Cs seeded operations are reexamined. Proper control of the plasma grid bias in pure volume sources yields: enhancement of the extracted negative ion current, reduction of the co-extracted electron current, flattening of the spatial distribution of plasma potential across the filter magnetic field, change in recycling from hydrogen atomic/molecular ions to atomic/molecular neutrals, and enhanced concentration of H(-) ions near the plasma grid. These functions are maintained in the sources seeded with Cs with additional direct emission of negative ions under positive ion and neutral hydrogen bombardment onto the plasma electrode.
High positive grid biasing ( >10 Te ) in a large-scale helicon plasma at the University of New Mexico has led to the excitation of large fluctuations (>50%) in ion saturation current and floating potential at a low frequency (100-300 Hz). These fluctuations have been identified as an instability and have been studied under a variety of conditions, including variations in the bias voltage, magnetic field strength, and the length of the plasma column. A series of measurements with Langmuir probes has been used to analyze the characteristics of the fluctuations. The instability has been found to travel predominately along the axis with a speed of 1-3cs, where cs is the ion sound speed. The frequency of the mode is found to be dependent on the bias voltage. Increasing the grid bias leads to an increase in the frequency until a second critical voltage causes the fluctuations to disappear. The magnetic field and plasma length are found to affect the amplitude of the mode and the voltage range over which it exists. This mode has been identified as the potential relaxation instability.
aa06259810