spaceatl wrote:

 

The output modes on the HD500 will not split like that on dual tones as my understanding is the output mode affects both sides...Nick had a cool work around using the FX Loop, but I think that stopped working with 1.20...

 

The HD300/400 are specifically designed to do this...When they are set to Dual Output Mode, the Left side is for the Amp and the Right is for the House PA...It works very nicely too...

Yes - the workaround seemed to work on the HD500.

Essentially what I did was to include an FX loop effect at the end of the HD500 signal chain and just turn the mix level to zero.  Then if I set the HD500 output mode to say Combo Pwr Amp, the idea was to get a good stage sound into say a Spider Valve combo power amp input and because the FX Loop was before the final output EQ 'shaping' for the combo, the theory was that the FX Send was actually going to output the equivalent of Studio/Direct.  I promise this appeared to work perfectly under f/w 1.1 but my tests couldn't have been comprehensive enough

With cab modelling enabled in the patches as per default settings, listening to the sound from the normal outputs whilst changing Output Modes the sound changes noticeably as you'd expect, but unfortunately so does the sound that comes out of the FX Loop Send.

With cab modelling turned off in the patches, the sound coming out of the normal outputs still changes as you'd expect when you change the output mode, BUT the sound coming out of the FX Loop Send does not change.

I have Space to thank for the next part of the workaround.  My on-stage sound is sorted as I can use the power amp and speaker of my valve combo - and I can let the real speaker work for me.  My sound into the PA is not yet sorted as I need speaker modelling enabled.   Space suggested a decent workaround for this might exist in the form of a DI box - not just any DI box, but in the form of a Behringer Ultra DI GI-100 which in addition to being able to function just like any other DI box, has an option of speaker modelling included.   OK, you only get one speaker model.   These units are not expensive, but I found it hard to track any down with UK suppliers who had any in stock.  I struck lucky with Thomman and bought two a couple of weeks ago at about £22 GBP each.  The speaker emulation does work more than acceptably well and will give a good sound through the PA, but the speaker emulation is not going to be 100% the same as the cab emulation in the HD500 - but it would do the job pretty well regardless of that and it's not mega bucks.  I needed a couple more DI boxes anyway.

The reality for me as I have a DT50 anyway, is that I would use the HD500 direct to the DT50 via L6 Link and then I'd simply use the DI output on the DT50, but if I didn't have the DT50 or if I needed to use a different amp, in the absence of the HD500 being able to currently supply two separately 'voiced output modes simultaneously, the GI-100 does provide a realistic and very usable option.  Your mileage may vary of course.

Nick