So, I've been happy with my purchase but I've been chasing down Gremlins.  It all started with modification with my Fender American Strat.  I changed out the pick-ups to Vintage Noiseless.  It is a bold sound and has lots of bite.  I tried it on other amps and I felt I could get the same response out of the DT50.  I would play it and try making my presets on my HD500.  I could hear something in the background.  Something wasn't right.  Well I got one more modification after I got my pick ups, I had it pleked to get a closer action on the guitar with less rattle.  The Plek machine is great and with the right technician can make guitar playing faster and easier.  After I got my guitar back and playing for a while.  I didn't think the intonation was good.  I would try my hands on adjusting myself.  Well when I was trying to tune it I could hear something in the background.  It was distorted or felt like a digital decay.  The thing I was feeling in my DT50 and HD500 was a disintegration or sound!

I started with my guitar and got a second opinion from another guitar shop.  The guy said the guitar was loved when the pick ups were placed and that the center one was a little hotter then the other.  So, they switched it with the bridge PU.  I took it home and starting with modifying my guitar to fender specks and fixing the intonation.  Well I could hear it again in the back ground.  I took my amp to get it checked by a tech that is famous for fixing old amps for line 6.  Well nothing is wrong with the amp.  So, I got back to the guitar.  I started thinking about sound engineering and that if the sound is too hot in the digital word that is just sounds distorted and a digital disintegration sound.  Hmm interesting idea...  So, I started adjusting the pick up and lowered them.  My PU were too strong to be processed correctly by the digital part of the HD500.  I got my intonation down, my guitar action is great and the pick ups were adjusted for clarity.

Now I listen to my gear and THAT WAS IT!!

After 3-4 weeks of analyzing everything, from AMP to guitar, the gear sounds and response exactly the way I want it.  I can't wait to be playing with patches now and creating some great sounds out of my gear.

My Thoughts.

     **It's just now with digital you really have to take into account the amount of signal you put into it.  It's a fine line.  If it was all analog then no problem but digital is another beast.  If your pick up are as hot as mine then adjust them accordingly using the tuning side of your processor or amp you will get the sounds you are looking for.. I hope that this was informative in your line6 sound endeavors.

Good luck everyone

Markus

The Tone freak.