Thank you so much for your reply and for taking the time to tell me about your rig and the experiences. Such information is very helpful and valuable in making the right choice and getting the required knowledge about JTV instruments. I like the idea of your guitar rig and I am also the type of player who gets all the overdrive and distortion from pedals and not the amp. It gives more details and allows to be specific once you know what type of sound you are looking for. I always lean for the cleaner tones and strongly believe that it is the clean sound that gets the tone complete. Coming from the classical guitar background and progressive rock circles, I decided to have minimal amount of gear and the effects that hide the sound behind the wall of distortion. Being unpredictable in sound is what led me to James Tyler Variax guitars, the ability to change instruments on-the-fly without actually changing guitar. Some people and friends try to talk me out of getting JTV guitar, saying that it will only work and sound well with the HD500 and that the battery will always be an issue. In my own opinion, it will sound in a different way! But since I am mostly recording at home and write my own material, I can live with waiting for the battery to charge.

Yes, you understood me right about the dual tone option and thank you for confirming that it is only possible with HD500 and not possible with guitar itself. I have used this feature in the POD Farm software plugin and really liked the idea.

Thank you very much again for your time and attention! Take care and stay safe!

Denis

Dear Mark,

Thank you so much for your thoughts and the reply! Thank you for being "bold" with me, but I really appreciate your being direct in your thoughts and opinions and the world would be much better if more people could be as sincere and truthful. After all, we all come here for help and at times we need to hear direct opinions that make us think and help us make our decisions.

Now let me explain why I spoke of the idea of blending the magnetic pickups with the modeling tones. You see, I have been using Pod Farm software for some time and there it lets you have two separate tone channels where you can put virtually anything, giving you lots of tonal variations and helps greatly during recording to get the right mix idea. For example, mixing heavier tones with acoustic guitar is one of the ideas. I might not understand this technology correctly, but it has been very helpful with the Pod Farm plugin. The pickups on JTV instruments seem to be very good and even if for the emergency only, their addition gives more life to guitar.

Now regarding matching guitar models to the amps, I agree with you completely and I did not mean it in a wrong way. Not trying to copy anyone's sound, but we can't deny that VOX AC30 will let Rickenbacker shine just the same way as metal players will smile wide when you offer them a chance to play through Mesa. Since I never had a chance to play the modeled guitars, I wondered what are the classic variations of amps that proved to be rich and useful and which would show the capabilities of, let say, Gretsch hollow body and Fender Telecaster. Being a singer/songwriter, I never had a wish to copy anyone's tone, but I think that listening, learning and taking something good from someone is never a bad thing. Most of us, if not all, picked up our instruments after we have heard someone playing this or that. I grew up with R.E.M. and I can't help, but use their melodic formula in my own creations. But I understand what you meant, - find your own voice, be yourself! I also understand what you meant when some guitarists go at crazy lengths and amounts of money to get the exact tone, not understanding that it is in the hands, in the heart and in the mind of particular performer. Modeling technology gives us a chance to use any virtual amp, so my question was mostly to hear what was good in someone's opinion and what proved to be confusing and not fitting at all.

Speaking of your experience with HD500, I understand the feeling and why it did not work out for you as well as the individual pedals. It was almost like that with me, too. I do too much tone experimentation and never keep to the strict rules, so I mostly use the tone and volume knobs on guitar when I want to change something, - make it brighter or darker. I believe that JTV lets you do that for the most models, except the acoustics which are equipped with the microphone positioning. The point is that it is universal and far from being limited to one type of gear only! Right? Hopefully, I shall get JTV89 one day and it will be a great recording guitar. 

Thank you so much again for your kind words and help! It means a lot to me. Take a good care!

Denis