All presets (including the factory presets) are pre-assigned to footswitches because of the way the device operates. The device holds 512 presets, organized into 8 'setlists' each containing 64 presets. Within each setlist, the 64 presets are orgainzed into 16 banks (numbered 1 to 16) of 4 presets (labeled A through D). Within each bank, you select one of the 4 presets by hitting one of the A, B, C, or D footswitches. So, for instance, preset 7C refers to the preset that is stored in the 3rd (C) position of the 7th bank in the current setlist. To change banks within the setlist you use the Up/Down footswitches to select a different bank, and then one of the A to D footswitches to select a preset within that new bank. For instance. to move from preset 7C to 5B you would hit the Bank Down switch twice, then the B switch.

To change Setlists, you use the Setlist button.

So each preset is assigned to a particular combination of the Setlist and Bank settings, followed by footswitch A to D.

To start, I would suggest auditioning the factory presets to find one that you think is close to what you want for clean, distortion, etc. presets. Then COPY that preset from the factory setlist into one of the User setlists, and begin to tweak it to your taste. You can COPY presets either directly on the HD500 device, or by the click/drag method in HD500 Edit (easier).

You would organize your presets into Banks for convenient access using the footswitches A through D.

Also, you can use Customtone - a libray of user-provided presets that can be downloaded from the website (see Customtone link at the top of this page). Once downloaded to your computer, you use HD500 Edit to audition and tweak them, and to SEND them to the HD500 device.

Hope this helps.

I just received my new HD500 last Thursday (3/28), upgraded from an XTLive, WOW what a difference right out of the box. The tone is so much more warm running through the exact same amp I was running the XTLive through. I love it so far. Biggest physical change I've had to get used to is the fact that the pedal isn't always the main volume control, but that is easily fixed just by adding it to the signal path.

I like the fact that most of the patches starting at 13A thru 16D are single path amps, a good place to start customizing your own patches.