Using your POD to play along with a portable CD player.

[Raven]

I don’t know if any of you out there have experienced the same kind of frustration as I have when using a POD to play along with backing tracks. Specifically, since the POD does not have any kind of CD input jack, you either have to wear only one earphone so that you can hear the backing track playing out of your computer or stereo OR crank the volume loud enough so that you can hear the music through the earphones while playing. I’m sure that Line 6 is reserving the CD input for their next generation of POD. HOWEVER, in the mean time….

It is said that necessity is the mother of invention – so anyway here’s my solution to this problem. Please accept my apologies, if this sounds so obvious and you have already figured this out.

You’ll need to purchase a few inexpensive items:

1 – 1/8” stereo “Y” adaptor – that has two female inputs and a single output
1 – 1/8” stereo female to female adaptor
2 – 1/8” stereo male to male cables

Hooking it up:

1. Connect the female to female adaptor to the male end of the “Y” adaptor

2. Connect one end of each of the 1/8” male to male cable to the female end of the “Y” adaptor

3. Connect the other ends of the male to male cables to each device [i.e. one cable to the POD headphone out (this assumes that you’re using an 1/8” to ¼” headphone adaptor on the receiving end of the POD) the other cable to the headphone out of your portable CD player].

4. Connect your head phone to the other end of the female to female adaptor

That’s it! You’re ready to rock out and hear full stereo backing tracks on your headphones while you’re playing through your POD. I’ve included a photo here for reference. Let me know how it works out for you! Enjoy.
[img]images/smilies/icon_thumb.gif[/img]
Raven

[mab8485]

the v-amp 2 has an auxillary input for those kind of purposes

[POD GOD]

If you're any good with a soldering iron, I have a mod on how to install a CD input on the POD.

[CanyonCarver]

Go for it, POD GOD! The iron is plugged in. [img]images/smilies/icon_thumb.gif[/img]

[Arakeen]

Is this one of the older Pod's or the newer Pod XT?
I have my Pod XT connected to my PC via USB and I use the Guitar Port software to load backing tracks either from CD or from MP3's I download from great sites like this.
The guitar Port software sends the signal via USB into the POD and is then output along with your guitar to your amp/speakers etc. You can also use the Guitar Port software to set loop points on whatever input you are listening to if you need to practice the same bits over and over again (like I do)!

Hope I got the right idea of what you were trying to achieve.
I still admire your ingenuity though.

[POD GOD]

***Warning! If you mess this up, you could seriously screw your POD! Use this at your own risk!***

Ok, I didn't create this mod so I take no responsibility in what happens to your POD. If you're not comfortable with doing this sort of thing, DON'T DO IT! I'd hate to see somebody mess up their POD cause of this! Good luck!
I got this from a guy named Rich who sent me the following...
I didn't document the CD jam jack mod but it is a pretty simple mod if you are confident enough to solder to the POD pcb and drill a hole in the case for the jack. There are two opamps that drive the headphone output and you just add two resistors to the board to sum in the external CD input. The easiest way for me to document this is to take my POD apart and snap a digital pic or two.

Here are the pics...




First one shows the pod on its back and the wiring added near the "output level" pot. As you can see I drilled a small hole in the bottom case where it wouldn't interfere with anything. The jack is a standard 1/8 stereo from Radio Shack. You have to add two resistors to the circuit - I used 20K but you could go larger if your input signals are higher levels. 20K is about right for CD line level inputs but you MUST be able to adjust the signal level externally since the CD input bypasses the output level pot. One 20k resistor goes between pin 2 of U13 and the tip (right channel) contact of the jack - thats the orange wire in the picture. The other resistor goes between pin 2 of U18 and the ring (left channel) of the jack, its the yellow wire in the photo. The ground contact of the jack is wired (green wire in photo) to the outermost leg of the output level pot (circuit ground). I secured the resistors to the top of the pot with hot glue, and I hot glued the jack in place too.
Circuit description - U13 and U18 are quad opamps. As I remember two opamps are used to drive each headphone output channel. The 20K resistors sum the external CD input with the POD's internal signals at the opamp inputs. Since the 20K resistors are fixed the gain of the CD input is fixed (larger resistors = less gain) and you need some means of adjusting the CD input level to get the internal/external levels matched. The output level control works normally to set the POD volume level.
It works great ! I plug the line out of my computer into it and play MP3's while I jam away with the POD. It sounds like you are right in the mix. The POD is a great box but it's missing some features, this being one.
Hope it works for you. If you are not familiar with electronics work I wouldn't attempt it because I'd hate to have you blow your POD up trying this. Soldering to the opamps requires a fine tipped soldering iron and a steady hand. I'm an electronics engineer so I have quite a bit of experience hacking devices like this ; )
Regards, Rich Heslip

[POD GOD]

BTW, this is for the older (1.0 & 2.0) PODs. I have no idea whether it'll work for the XT.

[Raven]

[ QUOTE ]
Arakeen said:
Is this one of the older Pod's or the newer Pod XT?
I have my Pod XT connected to my PC via USB and I use the Guitar Port software to load backing tracks either from CD or from MP3's I download from great sites like this.
The guitar Port software sends the signal via USB into the POD and is then output along with your guitar to your amp/speakers etc. You can also use the Guitar Port software to set loop points on whatever input you are listening to if you need to practice the same bits over and over again (like I do)!

Hope I got the right idea of what you were trying to achieve.
I still admire your ingenuity though.

[/ QUOTE ]

Awesome - that's exactly what I was after - what can I say? I'm a dumb $hit - trying to do things the hard way [img]images/smilies/wutblau.gif[/img]

I wasn't aware that the Guitar Port software would do this. Thanks for the great info - I'll try this out tonight.

[CanyonCarver]

Impessive mod.
I am officially intimidated.

[Mondy]

As usual, I was scared and confused...

[img]images/smilies/headscratch.gif[/img]

[Rythameen]

What I use is an old Alesis headphone amp (from thier micro series, 1/3 rack size). It has 2 stereo imputs, just plug in the pod and the cd player and go for it. You can usually find them pretty cheap.

[stingx]

I wish I could help you but I only use the USB cable for upgrading and ganking tones. I connect to a firewire preamp from the left line out on the XT. Never once tried to record with the USB port.