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New Dream Rig Owner


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I replaced my Spider IV 75 (died a slow death)  with a POD HD500X and DT25 amp. Along with my JTV89, my dream rig is complete. I must say that there is a pretty big learning curve involved with the setup.

My first order of business is to find a nice clean sound for the 12 string accoustic. 

If anyone has tips or tricks, please pass them along. I have been reading everything I can here and it's all starting to get convoluted. :unsure:

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Welcome.

 

For me the key is to think of the dream rig, especially when starting out, exactly the same way you would think of the independent components, with the added abillity to quickly and easily switch any or all of the components.

 

So for your example, think of what you would do to get a good 12-string sound normally., A 12 string guitar (courtesy of the JTV), a compressor, perhaps some reverb and/or delay, an amp on low gain and low enough volume so you're not distorting the power section (unlike what you might do for an electric guitar). So, amp set to voicing 1 (american clean), triode mode. And of course, EQ-ing the amp for the sound you want. Possibly EQ in the HD500 if the amp can't give you what you want.

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welcome to the Dream Rig club... yeah there is a lot to learn but there has been a ton of great info posted on these boards.  Search and read and ask questions as you go.  Read the Advanced guide for the POD and the DT and also the L6 Link Connectivity Guide.

 

Getting a good acoustic tone from the DT is not that hard but you have to "trick" the amp...  I posted this a while back and it is just what you are looking for.

http://line6.com/sup...v-with-dt-amps/

 

If you want some starting points to build your own patches I have a few up on CustomTone that you can try out.  Not so much that they sound amazing but rather that you see how I put them together, how the expression pedal can be linked to various effect parameters, etc.  It takes a lot of time just playing and learning.  Don't be afraid to mix and match things that don't necessarily go together or to change the default settings.  Also the DEP parameters can help as well.

http://line6.com/customtone/profile/radatats

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To explore I'd recommend you split PATH A and B right away at the input.

Set input 1 to Variax, input 2 to same (this experimentation tone will only use input 2 to drive the DT, input 1 is used to tune only).

Mute mixer path A, move path B to center, 0dB.

Select 1st power amp setting by selecting a preamp for Path A (it will only select the power amp config in DT because path A is muted in mixer)

At this point path B is empty, i.e., the tone setup so far passes your guitar signal w/o any processings to the DT power amp and the DT power amp configuration is selected by the amp configuration in path A.

This allows you now to

  1. Select any DT power amp configuration independent from whether you use an amp or not in path B
  2. Play around with model setting (compression, EQ, ...) in path B without impacting the selected power amp configuration in path A.

If you end up with something you like and it uses an amp or preamp model in path B this tone setup is usually overkill and you can combine path A and B amp settings. That step should not be hard.

The idea of starting like this is that your power amp control in path A is independent from the models you pick in path B and thus it makes the trial and error phase a bit more controllable.

You will quickly detect that the poweramp configuration you choose can change levels up to 19dB. That's a 4x volume difference besides different tone. To correct for that in your experiments use the mixer at the very end of your effects chain and adjust gain down. I posted a PDF a little earlier that gives guidance on volume differences for the different DT power amp configurations so you can get in the right ball park w/o too much trial and error.

Let us know how it goes,

Martin

 

DT25 Power Amp Parameters.pdf

 

PS: Making accoustics sound good with a DT is a pretty tough problem and there are a few recipes floating around, but all are a compromise from my point of view because the DT just does not have the speakers and amp to replicate full range tone of acoustics.

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Thanks everyone! I have to get a grasp on all this amp A and B, pre and post effects, etc. All my experience has been with my Spider IV 75 and I probably didn't even use that to it's potential. Luckily it's the beginning of winter and I have no other winter hobbies! Told the wife I would be locking myself in the basement on the weekends. :) I'm not worried that the acoustic sound isn't great, as long as it sounds decent. I'm sure once I get to spend some time with HD Edit hooked up it wall all start to make some sort of sense!

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pwik

I was skeptical at first and the learning curve was steep but radatats and a few others really helped me out quite a lot and now I'm sold…
Just perfecting the details here and there for me which still need to get around but so far I'm getting usable nice tones from this rig...

The difference from you is that I have the L2T speaker instead of the amp, HD500x and JTV69

 

cheers,
Charles

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Believe me, I'm sold, just need to make some time to sit and learn all the system can do. 

I realize with the DT I'm not going to get a super clean acoustic sound  because of the tube amp, but i never got that with my Spider either. :)

 

Thanks again to all!

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  • 1 month later...

I will try not to be too long winded.. But I have been playing guitar since the 70's..I have played a TON of amps.  Never happy... Then this company called Line 6 came out with their first amp.. I  went crazy and bought it immediately .. But as most players do GAS is a crazy drug, mistress, etc.. So over the years I have gone back and forth with Line 6. buying their amps, pedals but always going back to tube amps.. So after telling my bassist  I'm never gonna find the right rig.. I gave the 500x  a try .. ..I played it thru a 4 x12 Splawn with a Mosvalve power amp....  hmmm ..NICE but no cigar.. So the local GC had an used DT-25 ..tried it out with with the 500x and WOW.. all these years of frustration ending within 30 minutes of playing thru this rig.. I have yet to decide if I will get the JTV-59..but I am in a original/cover band and we do all types of music and sometimes a good acoustic sound for a song makes a big difference. That being said.. I am very HAPPY with my set-up..  I am still tweaking my sound..but I think this will be my rig for a good while..Unless Line 6 comes out with  something better!

 

Rockin' in Tennessee

BK

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