u dont deserve 2.0 update or u do deserve

+1000

No you're not the only one for sure.

I don't really expect updates, but they are nice when/if they happen...

I agree completely.

If we were to extend the purchasing in the hope of anticipated performance "logic" (I use that term very losely), one could argue that these people who complain that the product hasn't been upgraded would be just as likely to rush out and buy an iPad believing that Apple will upgrade it into Xeon powered Mac Pro for them. 

Such sillines causes more damage to the credibility of the consumer rather than the manufacturer.

Cheers,

Crusty

Before I bought, I mainly listened to sound clips and learned a bit about what amps were being modeled.  I thought it seemed like a nice improvement on the prior generation and took the plunge.  I instantly fell in love with the quality difference in the modeling going from the X3 to HD.  On previous Pods I never found the cab/mic modeling to be anywhere near a quality-level that would allow me to direct record with it for anything other than a demo.  Direct is now my main use for the HD.  There are lots of other awesome features I never expected, like the Cab and Amp DEP's, the flexibility in routing, and the variable impedance settings.

HOWEVER...

I was NOT expecting many things that I would consider a downgrade from previous units.  The DSP limitations stand out.  I could run two full effect chains and amp models simultaneously on the X3.  Now I can't run two amps, two reverbs, and an EQ.  It takes multiple EQ effects to get close to the flexibility of the ONLY eq effect in the XT/X3.  The mod effects in the HD are NOT great, pretty much across the board (with the exception of the phasers).  The XT/X3 had better mod effects.  There is no power switch.  There is no clip meter.  There is no USB re-amping capability.  There is no designed dual-output functionality.

And...

I would expect Line 6 to fix small things.  The pitch glide can't be set to go up/down perfect intervals with the expression pedal.  The EQ's are measured in %, rather than frequency in HZ, Q in inverse octaves, and level in db.  HD Edit has no EQ visualization like Gearbox did.  A lot of the documentation glosses over exactly how features work or how the unit should be used given a particular use case.  The signal routing is confusing.  Patches should be compatible between products or at least translateable automatically preserving as much of a patch as possible.  HD Edit can be difficult to work with - the drop down menus are ordered poorly and it takes a lot of mouse work to do simple stuff.  And they have lag to populate.  Changing an amp model changes all the settings, including the cab/mic selection to a default rather than preserving what you had.  Things could be a lot more user friendly.

The point is, people like myself who bought this unit early on, or just assumed it would have features like power switches should express some disappointment in how this unit was designed.  Many of the issues can be fixed or alleviated to a certain degree.  For instance, we could save lots of DSP by separating the cab and amp blocks, so that one amp could be run through parallel cab/mic simulations without having to place two amp models in the chain.  Making some new mod effects can't be that difficult.

The major updates have been great so far - I can only hope to see such strong development efforts on the more bothersome aspects of the line.  The frustration I'm having isn't about why we don't have 80 amp models to choose from, but why we can't get small improvements like I mentioned above.  Most of them aren't even addressed.

Line 6 only offers one way to give product feedback - through its "black hole" product feedback form.  It feels like yelling in a field.  Polls would be better.  Addressing common complaints on the forums would be nice.  As vocal as the harsh/fizzy/clipping thread was, we did advance the debate and eventually get features that helped users alleviate the issue.

There is no practical reason why Line 6 cannot create an IR loader utility to substitute for their cab/mic modeling.  Again, many people have expressed that this would be a huge win for the unit, even if the IR sample size was relatively small, like 512.

As far as amp models go, yes, everyone knew what they were buying, but for metal, I don't think the Bogner Uberschall or ENGL Fireball could be considered classic high gain amps in comparison to the Soldano SLO or the Peavey 5150.  And given the history of Line 6 to expand their product lines' number of amp models over the course of the products' lifecycle, I don't think it was too ambitious of many buyers to expect a few more amp models in their favored type of amp to pop up.  Again, I'm not complaining on this front, but I think a limited expectation of more amp models is defensible.

YOUR MOVE, APOLOGISTS    

Hd500 does everything it was advertised to do and more

Sales lierature doesnt even mention the extra amps in the firmware upgrade

I made the mistake one time of buying a peavey VyPyr

It didnt do half of what it was advertised as doing

And if you complained

Peavey staff would kick you off the forum

I wont be a diehard fanboy of any gear

But Line 6 has earned my respect

People like their reference points and Musicians are notoriously conservative.  This is why the majority of people are toting round 60-year old guitar designs (including me).

The great musicians and producers do not focus on orthodoxies - they focus on what works for them.  If a sprayed air duster sounds better than a High hat for a given song they will use that.   If dragging the amp over to a studio stairwell gives the desired ambience then they will do that.  Equally, if plugging into a device full of silicon and software gets the desired result ....

There is frustration around the HD300 issue and I see both sides so I am gonna duck that () but what I will say is that, before the HD series: Pod's simply didn't work for me.  I am not intimidated by  tech but they didn't do right by my ears.  With the HD series I am in a happier place.  I will use the HD where it works and my steaming mass of heavy marshall tubes where that does.  I respect what the Pod can do and accept what it cannot. I expect things to improve incrementally and also expect to use both new and old tech to get me where I am going.  I want bugs fixed more than I want features introduced and right now there is no bug that is directly blocking me.  I think I am good right now.

fireballchaser wrote:

 

I've had my HD500 for about a year now.  I knew from past experiences that Line 6 will occasionally add features to products they've already put out when I bought mine.  Reading the comments on here, did anyone else actually buy one for what it could actually do when you bought it and not because of what you think it should be able to do later?  I knew the limitations of what it could and could not do before I plunked down that large piece of cash to buy mine.  I read all the manuals before I bought it.  I watched multiple Youtube videos so I would know what the various amps sounded like.  I went to a local place and tested it out before I bought it.  Sure, the new stuff is nice and I do appreciate it but when I paid my money to buy my HD500 I happily paid it for what it could already do and not what I thought it should sound like after they added extra stuff.

 

When I bought my car, I bought it because it was small but had lots of interior room and got good gas mileage.  Sure, it is slooooow but I'm not running back to Toyota demanding they do something to speed it up once I bought it.  My Fender amp has a great clean sound but not so great distortion but I knew that when I got it so I'm not upset about it.

 

Just because something can be upgraded doesn't mean that it will be.  Doesn't anybody just buy stuff for what it is and what it does today?

You assumed that you had found every answer one might ask, and can find every little detail about the HD or HD Pro before ordering it. That is where you are incorrect Fireball.

For example...

1. Did anyone know before they shipped the HD-Pro, that the Variax editor would NOT work thru it (and was that way until they fixed it later- which they did), so you had to use the cumbersome interface? No we didnt...

2. Did anyone know that the "dedicated" dry pre-output jack will NOT send audio out of it if you are using Line 6's Variax guitar with Line 6's Pod HD Pro,  while using the Variax Cable (which this may never be fixed)? No we didnt..

No where were these questions listed or discussed before I listed them that I can find, and it is reasonable to assume that these two items should have worked out of the box from the start.