litesnsirens wrote:

 

 

2) As I stated above, if you have your HD500 set up with Input 1 on Variax and Input 2 on "same" or "variax" or even a multiple that inlcudes variax (what is it, GUITAR + VARIAX + AUX or something like that?) set it to something else like just "mic" or "aux".  This for me totally changed the ability to get a great acoustic sound from the variax. 

 

With a lot of the electric models I actually prefer Input 2 set to "Same" but the acoustic models just work a lot better if you make sure the variax is only coming in on Input 1 and Input 2 is effectively muted.

VERY interesting... I have the older Variaxes not JTV, I also prefer input 2 set to same for the Variax electrics and just carried this over to the acoustics as well.

I have never been 100% satisfied with my Variax acoustic tones - I hadn't thought of comparing the acoustics with input 2 muted. I will definitely give this a try, thanks for the tip!

Yes, it does!  Good times.

Ultimate guitar for lots of applications.  I'm considering getting a second.  My American Strat and my Paul Reed Smith are collecting dust since I got this guitar.  Kinda sad...

For the record, I still think Line 6 should make the old acoustic models available via Workbench.  It is generally faux pas to engineer features (that people like) OUT of your product.  There is absolutely no reason to remove them.  So, put them back!  That being said... honestly, the new models are so much more realistic, it is ridiculous.  With eyes closed, they can fool you.  And yes, it does sound more like a mic'd guitar in a room now.  Be sure to try different settings with the tone knob, as it adjusts the virtual "position" of the mike, up close vs. far away.  You can actually dial in some "punch" to the notes now, whereas the old ones just got boomy (and was something that had to be EQ'd out of the mix... thus those old EQ patches not compatible with the new sounds!).  Throw in some reverb/delay and... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYcl1jKYu6E

Finally had enough time over the weekend to sitdown and play with the new models extensively.  I'm afraid I have to say that I am firmly in the old school (sample) group.  I like the older acoustic sounds better!!  As commented elsewhere, this puts me in a difficult position as I had just purchased a new HD500 to take advantage of it's newest Variax control upgrade, so I either live with the new acoustic models or go back to 1.71 and give up the ability to control patches, tunings, etc on the Variax live.  As others have stated, it sure would be nice to have the option to choose the older modelled acoustic sounds without giving up integration between the 500 & Variax.

Just my $0.02

Cheers,

Ty

Pugdealer, the video was fine, good job showing the differences.  For me it made it even more clear how much better the new models are. The new models all sounded like acoustic guitars the old models all sounded like there was a blanket stuffed in the soundhole.  Really the old models sound really dull.  And you have the ideal setup JTV to HD500 to Bose L1 compact, that is a killer guitar combination.  I have a couple of L1 model II's but I use them for vocals as well as a bunch of other stuff.  For guitar only the compact is an amazing companion for the HD500/JTV set up.  My other guitar player has a compact and he loves it, I want to get one myself for guitar only situations, lighter and quick setup, can't beat it.

Back to the issue at hand.  Anytime there are drastic changes like this in a system, especially one that is reported to be such an improvement, I just assume that I'll plug it in and it will sound better.  The truth is while I did love the new models from the get go, I have really been spending a lot of time tweaking the sound (through my L1's).  The new models sounded crap through my old patches.  So I tried adjusting the old patches , no good.  Then I started with the patches from the acoustic section of the HD500, I got some good ideas from there but the sounds were still way too drastic.

Yesterday I spent a whole day (originally I was going to work on electric sounds and re-organize my setlists) on tweaking acoustic patches.  Even since my last post I totally abandoned that patch with all the EQ's, I think that what I was trying to tame with EQ on the back end was caused by the EQs in front of them.  The truth is they sound better with no EQ at all, so I started from scratch.  There was a patch already in the HD500 that had noise gate and tube comp, and I was sort close to what I was after, so I put those both in the chain.  Noise gate with default settings, the tube comp I just turn the threshold up to 100% so it doesn't really do much (if any) compressing it's just more like a volume control for the patch.  Mixer panned dead centre on both sides and as I pointed out earlier "variax" on input one and input 2 on "mic" or "aux". Yes, I have the default with the tone knob all the way down, since the tone knob on these models isn't really a tone knob but a mic position knob if that's the sound you prefer that's the sound you prefer.  It's the sound I prefer, not as bright and more of the overall sound of the guitar as opposed to close in at the soundhole.  If I'm playing in the 1/2 step down tuning I may roll up the tone knob about 25%.  I did add one EQ but it's assigned to a foot switch and I don't use it much. It really does almost nothing I think it's the studio EQ and I think I just lowered the 75hz about 3 db so it's really subtle.  I can double check that when I'm back at my HD500.  I also added a plate reverb and assigned it to a footswitch and the analog delay w/mod and assigned it to another footswitch.  I can use any combination of the effects and even no effects and it sounds great.

In the end it probably comes down to personal taste, if you are listening to the youtube video that you made and like the old models better than the new then you should probably stick to the old models, you're the one that has to play them so you should be happy.

Having listened to all the videos that members have kindly posted comparing the old and the new, my first impression is that the new models with tone on 10 sound very similar to the old models with the tone on 0. Superficially it seems all they have done is moved the mic placement further away to start with (ie: closest mic placement on new models is same as furthest mic placement on old models) and then allowed it to be moved even further away when moving tone down to 0.  I am sure they must have done way more than this but listening to YouTube clips via my PC speakers it does just seem to be a difference in mic placement - so it's not surprising to me that so many people have metioned roominess or airy sound and removal of boominess.

When I have attempted to record my acoustic at home, boominess was a big issue and I had to experiment with mic placement to reduce that.  My experience with the old models is that they also have plenty of boom in them just like my recording attempts with my acoustic and that when those sounds are amplified in a band situation the boom becomes overpowering and needs to EQ'd out.  I also tended to go for a midway setting with the tone control as the tone on 10 can make them sound too artificial in a band mix.  I also changed my input settings (as Litesnsirens stated) to ensure I only had Variax on Input 1 so I wasn't doubling the input signal and found that also helps make the acoustic models sound more realistic.

I will wait a while longer before upgrading to 1.81 - I might be tempted once they have fixed the known bugs - we'll see.