How I Rack-mounted my Line 6 Pod Guitar Effects Processor

I bought one of the original Line 6 POD units when they first came out back in 1998. It sounded phenomenal back then and still sounds great today - the only problem was its shape - To put it plainly, it looks silly. More important, unless you've got ample desk space or use it alot on the road, there's no convenient place (at least in my cramped home studio area) to put it and keep it there. I like the convenience of rack-mounted units, but to get a new Pod XT Pro, it'd have to fork out about $700.00 - like many other people on this site - I decided to bust out the soldering iron and rackmount it myself.

Step 1 Let's see what's inside...

Before doing anything harsh, I wanted to see what I was dealing with, so, time to open it up... once I stripped it down to the bare PCB and took a quick measurement, I was happy to see that the raw unit would indeed fit inside a 1U slot (i.e. under 1.75 inches) - with the largest component being the big capacitor.

Looking more at what needs to be done a bunch of components would have to be desoldered and wired up to the board to allow these to be accessible from the rack frame - these pieces being the four audio jacks (input, headphone output, and left / right outputs), the 2 rotary encoders (for amp model and effect selection), the 8 potentiometers (for various input), the power supply input, and the 2 MIDI jacks.

Since this will be inside the rack, I'd have to also create a break-out circuit for the display LEDs and for the buttons / switches... on to planning.

Comments

[Tinkerteem]

amazing..

[ratgod]

I'm not into the music stuff so I'm uncertain exactly what the device does, but I applaud this instructable, very professional looking end result.

[iamtoats]

 Maybe I'll try this with a decimator... I don't have a Pod. But the decimator would look better in my rack than on top of my amp. Luckily there's only one knob, one switch, and two jacks. haha. 

[mattccc]

nice job

[capt. caveman]

this a cool idea except personally I call my pod "the bean" and I think it would kind of weird but just rambling on about

[Elric]

I have an old POD2 and an XT lying around and have considered something like this before... I'm wondering what your cost outlay was for all the parts, etc.

[fireandshadows]

i have a line 6 spider 3 amp. i like it. a lot. really, a lot. like so much, i would rip someones head off if they came near it. not really. but i do like it.

[grungehead]

anyone know where I can get that deep rack enclosure here in the usa? if i'm not mistaken, mouser is UK based and ordering somthing over there requires copius shipping charges... nice instructable btw. i'm thinking of shoving a boss noise supressor + a chromatic tuner (with led diplay) into a rack myself. thanks for the inspiration man.

[djhoy]

No, mouser is US. I purchased it here - part # 546-RMCV19018BK1

http://www.mouser.com/search/refine.aspx?Ntt=546-RMCV19018BK1

[tanntraad]

The 90's gave us a lot but not no much design-wise. Great hack!

[bleachworthy]

first time I saw the title I read "How iraq mounted my line 6 Pod guitar effects processor" I was like, what? iraq is trying to mount effects processors? does it feel that good? good job btw

[crapflinger]

that's alot of freakin wires! i'd never be able to keep all that stuff straight hehe...i'd probably end up having to mount all the knobs then plug something in and see what each one does to be able to label them nice instructable...even though i don't know what most of it does (not an electrician or guitar guy)...it all made sense

[djhoy]

Yeah - way too many wires. If I had to do it again, I would actually take the time and wire the individual wires to modular plugs so it would be easier to hook / unhook them if I had to service the front or back panel... it works though.

[John Smith]

This is cool...you should change the name though...I had no idea what a "line 6 POD" was, and had no clue that it was related to guitars.

[djhoy]

Thanks! And good idea... I added the words "guitar effects processor" to the end...

[John Smith]

'lot better.