JHSTone Posted September 16, 2015 Share Posted September 16, 2015 Hey guys! I have owned the POD HD500(upgraded to the 500x a year ago) since it was released in 2010. It's been great for what I have been doing over the past few years and still is an awesome piece of gear to have available. I had come from a tube amp before hand I finally started missing that amp in the room feeling so bought my DT50 212 back in May from Musicians Friend when they went on sale for $899. I have been browsing this forum ever since, all the while getting to know the amp. When I first got the amp I wanted to take some time and try to get things set up and sounding the best I could going by some of the things I had read from this forum, especially the many different ideas/complaints/mysteries of tone from using the POD through L6 link and using the DT50 stand alone. If I haven't lost you from boredom of this post yet, stay with me!! I have some questions from my experience so far! 1. I did notice that there was a noticeable difference in quality between HD500 + L6 link vs DT50 by itself. After reading through years of discussion I found what I think works best for me.. So far. It could change tomorrow. I just knew right off the bat that it truly seemed to be an issue of input/output settings within the HD500, because we can clearly see what particular amps/mics/cabs are being used through the DT edit software. The method that I have been using is... Muting all the signal paths except A, setting input 2 to Aux(both of these were found within previous discussions). This seems to get the closest match to plugging straight into DT50. 2. I had seen several posts about the transformer issue, and could only wonder if I would be joining the club. Well... Just a few months after I got the amp. I had it warming up left the room for a a minute or two and the amp was dead... Ended up taking the amp to an authorized service tech in Dallas. I just got it back last Thursday, took just under a month, which wasn't too bad. But yes it was the power transformer. I wasn't too upset just because I was kind of expecting it from reading the posts on here, and I like the amp so much I was just ready to get it back. I just hope it doesn't happen again! 3. From the beginning of having the amp there was a little malfunction that would happen sporadically when turning the amp on. When I would try to power the amp on(with standby still on) instead, of running through its few second cycle and recalling the topology, class and pentode/triode settings it would just go straight to class A/B and switch to channel B. The topology or pentode/triode light wouldn't come on. When switched to "On" the amp would not function. There would just be kind of a white noise static sound, and none of the controls would work. This happened sporadically and would be resolved by just waiting for a little bit and trying again. Sometimes it would take several minutes to start functioning. Has anyone had this experience, or have any idea what it would be because it happened again even after getting it back with the new power transformer. 4. I have tried something new with the mixer settings. I turned the volume way down to the signal path that I am using, which allows me to crank master and channel volume on the DT50 without being too loud, using the POD master to control level... I haven't been able to play with it very much but I think I'm liking what I hear from it!!! Has anyone used this method? Do you think it could cause any problems running it like this? What led me to try this was because all of the years that I used the HD500 the DR.Z amp model was my all time favorite, and I was supper excited to hear it through the DT, but I couldn't get anywhere near the sound I was getting through the fully modeled version in the HD500. This has helped get closer with the PHD Motorway, but still doesn't have what I was used to with the fully modeled one. Anyone feel the same with that amp?? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mtreehugger Posted September 16, 2015 Share Posted September 16, 2015 Hey guys! I have owned the POD HD500(upgraded to the 500x a year ago) since it was released in 2010. It's been great for what I have been doing over the past few years and still is an awesome piece of gear to have available. I had come from a tube amp before hand I finally started missing that amp in the room feeling so bought my DT50 212 back in May from Musicians Friend when they went on sale for $899. I have been browsing this forum ever since, all the while getting to know the amp. When I first got the amp I wanted to take some time and try to get things set up and sounding the best I could going by some of the things I had read from this forum, especially the many different ideas/complaints/mysteries of tone from using the POD through L6 link and using the DT50 stand alone. If I haven't lost you from boredom of this post yet, stay with me!! I have some questions from my experience so far! 1. 2. 3. 4. Hey JHSTone, Like you, I spent years with the HD and then got at DT--got my DT50-112 in Feb, Congrats on your 212!!! --that second cone adds so much IMO, plus it lowers the noise floor a bit too (if that matters). 1) I run just one signal path as well. Some folks do both, but I always figured I should be able to get good tone without that. Also, the HD default to a doubled single path did not appeal to me when I first got the HD. 2) Turns out my DT50 was in the s/n range affected by the transformer issue. Because I bought it used with 3 months in the warranty, I couldn't afford to wait for it to melt down so I brought it in. My service tech said that this (TSR 059) is about a run of bad fuses that fail to protect the transformer, and all he did was replace the fuse. If you still have your original fuses, make sure you change out whichever one is deemed to be the culprit! 3) Seems you have an intermittent problem. The DT will power on, and then relays will click as it recalls the settings you had when you shut down. If you turn on the HD via L6 link, when the DT sees that it will again click relays to match the HD. I always turn my HD on first, let it get going, then turn my amp on in standby because I wasn't comfortable with all the clicking that happens when they both go on at the same time. However, I never got any noise through the speaker, so I don't think this explains your issue. --unless you are talking about the noise floor. Tell me, is this hiss present when the amp is operational, not in standby, and with volume all the way down--is that the same hiss you describe in #3? If so, then maybe all your symptoms are due to the HD and DT booting at the same time and your DT is getting freaked out by that. 4) I seldom (like only once) mess with the mixer levels. Using the HD500 in studio/direct, most players found that turning the master volume up all the way gave the most natural tones. With the DT, most players who've experimented keep the HD master lower so the amp can be louder. Mine is kept at exactly 12:00. ROCK ON! What you describe sounds like a variation of this. I'm not the expert on amp theory, but my suspicion here is that if you're cranking the DT volumes all the way up you might be cooking your tubes, which is expensive at best and may cause a meltdown. However, it may be that cooking the tubes has to do ONLY with biasing and actual signal amplitude. If that's true, then it's how loud it is at the speakers that matters. So I don't know, but if I were you, I'd tread cautiously until a definitive answer is found. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHSTone Posted September 18, 2015 Author Share Posted September 18, 2015 Thanks for the response! Regarding #3... It probably is the noise floor that I hear, and that is present when the amp is functional, but I was just wondering if anyone had the issue of the amp turning on but not being responsive to any of the switches, and having no guitar signal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gstew Posted September 20, 2015 Share Posted September 20, 2015 Hello, perhaps it is listed somewhere here on the forum already, but can you tell me what the serial number range is affected by the transformer and/or fuse issue? Been looking at used DT50s. Thank you much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CipherHost Posted September 20, 2015 Share Posted September 20, 2015 Hello, perhaps it is listed somewhere here on the forum already, but can you tell me what the serial number range is affected by the transformer and/or fuse issue? Been looking at used DT50s. Thank you much. They have not / will not publish the serial numbers. If you provide them with a serial number, they will let you know if it is one of the DT50s that were in the range. I bought a DT50HD and the first thing I did was call them to find out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gstew Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 K, thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHSTone Posted September 22, 2015 Author Share Posted September 22, 2015 When I first called line6 I asked the guy if he could check to see if mine was within that range, and he said it wasn't. But it was the power transformer they replaced, so who knows? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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