Righto so I was lucky enough to be able to try out the brand spanking new Line 6 L3T powered monitor tonight at band practise. They just arrived in the country late last week.

Now to give you a bit of background on my thoughts/initial impressions..

- I've been using my HD500 D.I at shows lately, and using whatever foldback is at the venue

- I havent tried any other popular powered monitors associated with digital rigs yet i.e. Mackie, QSC K series, Alto etc.

- I've been using the HD500 + poweramp for quite a while now.

- I'm simply after a loud FRFR solution, I didn't touch any of the additional controls on the 2nd side panel.

I'm fairly confident with the ins and outs of the HD500, so I was extremely interested in comparing this to a standard poweramp/cab setup, and the quality of the sound I've been hearing from general foldback.

Size wise, it's really good. It's in the same price range as the Mackie HD1221 in NZ, I havent seen the 1221 in person but most of the videos show it to be like a standard Wedge size. This seems a bit concerning for me as I still want to have a 'backline' pushing air behind me, as well as using the in house foldback up front (and just in case a p.a isnt grunty enough and I need to have some on stage sound cranking as well.

The size of this unit is great. We put it next to an oversized mesa cab with castor wheels and they are pretty much exactly the same. Obviously the L3T isnt half the width!

I kept it in P.A/reference/FRFR mode tonight as it was only the HD500 going through, with full emulation/rig happening from the HD500.

It was loud. VERY loud. I have my HD500 master volume at 50% as I have an additional output going to our drummer, for his in ear system. That gives him the level he needs for his sample pad/metronome/in ear system. I had the L3T volume at half way and it was incredibly loud, it sat in the mix perfectly and wasnt clipping at all.

EVERYTHING sounds better louder, that's a fact. I REALLY got to appreciate my patches and tweak them a bit more tonight due to having it blasting in my face at a 'gig' volume, it was muh better than tweaking on my studio monitors at home. I'm extremely confident at being able to have this replace a 4x12 behind me on stage and filling out my stage sound, no problem at all. I'd then have an XLR running out from the HD500 to the soundguy for his 'mic'

Now there are two kickstand options. The handle acts as a 30 degree kickstand, this is what this picture is. Thereis also additional foot kicks you can snap out and have it at 60 degrees. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of that setup but I have to be honest, the 60 degree version was my favourite. The 'virtual tilt back' feature was extremely interesting. It aims the sound to 'head height'.

One thing that I really liked was that it sounded great all over the practise room. It wasnt directional, it seemed to fill out the room really, really well. Even when on its side and acting like a wedge. The 60 degree tilt back was great. I've got a full month of touring NZ in August, as well as main stage of Parachute 2013 (30,000-40,000 capacity arena)  next year I'll probably opt for this approach and have the L3T to the side of me, or on front of the stage (you can probably tell I'm already sold on this haha)

Bit late and rambling a tad, but yeah this was great. If you know how to tweak the HD500 and get the most of it, you'll have a great experience with the L3T. I'd highly recommend this over a 4x12, or 2x12 and poweramp setup, especially if you are comfortable and confident enough with the HD500 doing everything for you. 1300w gives you plenty of headroom. I was able to hear a lot more with my bigger chords and progressions during certain bits.

btw we had an axe fx ultra + poweramp and mesa cab in the room, running a SLO patch with a gibson SG, with my L3T/HD500 setup, with the gunslinger retro  running the Engl patch, gain on about 10%, with a tube screamer out front and about 80% on both deep cab editing options (I forget the name of them) With the master volume on the amp at about 85%, and the sag at 10%, you get a really crisp, dry, tight metal tone. I'm not a fan of engls in real life but I really, really liked this tone. It's not as 'loud' as the mesa amp option on the HD500 but I think it sings out way better.

Sorry I'm not much of a tech nerd with sound systems, but, this sounds mean, loud and awesome. I'm getting one.

btw please check my band out! I've been using Line 6 products in one way, shape or form for the last decade (pod, pod xt, HD147, Vetta and now HD500)

www.facebook.com/indreadresponse

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atrOlc0fJvA (full album with HD500 and Axe FX)

http://soundcloud.com/xcaptainx all recordings with HD500

HD500 D.I tone (full band) audio direct from soundboard

http://soundcloud.com/xcaptainx/in-dread-response-through-1

http://soundcloud.com/xcaptainx/in-dread-response-apophis-live

http://soundcloud.com/xcaptainx/in-dread-response-cannons-at

I'm a B.C Rich endorsee so all clips have been recorded with either a B.C Rich Warlock NJ Deluxe with emg 81, or Gunslinger Retro with EMG 81x.

Really looking forward to using this L3T and HD500 live from now on!