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Looking Into Dream Rig....


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So for the past few weeks I've been drooling over the capabilities of the dream rig, it's my ultimate goal.  I've have to purchase the items one at a time.  First I'm going to get the JTV, then HD500x.

 

Couple questions that you guys can hopefully help me out with:  Right now I have a 2x12 spider valve combo.  Does the HD500 interact with that in any way like the DT series or will I just have to stick with the 4 cable method?  In regards to the duo amp mode with the pedal, can you only do this feature with 2 amps?  I'm guessing that even with one amp I would be able to blend the sounds of 2 amps together, the pan left or right would only be practical in a recording situation or 2 amp rig correct?

 

And one last thing about the variax/hd500x combo: If you create patches with guitar model/tunings on the pedal, does it override the 5-way switch on the guitar? 

 

I tried to read through some of the downloadable manuals but I figured you guys with first hand experience would be able to help better.  Thanks for any help!

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The five way switch is always available in a 'normal' fashion for the magnetic pickups on the JTV when you use them. When you use the models you can 'lock out' the switch, volume and tone knobs...or just the knobs.... from changing the models' sounds so that you can control the magnetic pickups without changing the models sounds and control them separately either mixed with the models from the same outputs or from separate outputs having magnetics going to the guitar amp and the modeled sound going to another amp or PA so the acoustic sounds are better amplified cleanly.

 

When the five way switch is allowed to controll the Variax models it is actually calling up different models within the Bank of models that are called up by the modeling switch. For example, dial up the Lester bank on the Model switch and on the five way switch position 1, 3 and 5 are set to give you a two pick up Les Paul guitar with the appropriate bridge, combination of both or neck pick ups selected depending on the position chosen. The in between positions, 2 and 4 when using the Lester bank, are actually a bridge P90 and a neck P90 on a different Les Paul body. Of course you can assign any guitar model with any pickup to any of the switch positions so when you use the switch to control the Variax guitars/instruments it may be relatively predictable or it may be five different bridge pickups on five different guitars....

 

Another cool twist is you can assign the tone and/or volume knobs to control parameters in the effects (multiple if you choose) instead of tone and volume....so... You could, for example, make pitch glide of a whammy effect on the tone and put delay mix and repeats to increase and at the same time have reverb level decrease all with a single twist of the volume!

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Before you completely settle on the DT take an objective look at the L2t or L2m.  If you intend on using your JTV / HD500 's accoustic tones you will be disappointed with the DT.  Read around on this site and watch a couple of the vid's about the L2t via Link 6.  Even if you choose the DT you won't regret the time you spend researching the L2t.

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Yea, I have the DT25, and although I think it does the guitar amp better than anything else out there I wouldn't send acoustics to it. If you like using FRFR amplification for guitar amp models then there is no good reason to use the DT amps...but if you are like me and need that real amp sound you will need both, a FRFR for acoustic, etc. and a real amp for real amp sounds.

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Thanks guys.  I've checked the L series PA systems as well.  To me it would be a nice addition.  Everything I've seen about them is the same for elelctric sounds as what people say about the DT series with acoustic sounds.  Almost seems like you would need 2 systems, 1 for electric and 1 for acoustic, to capture both of the sounds more accurately. 

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I finally completed my Dream Rig a few weeks ago with the addition of a JTV 59P.

 

I started with the HD500 a few years back with my Spider IV 120. While it was great for recording, the combination of the two was not ideal. I replaced the Spider with a DT25. Huge improvement and I enjoyed the tones I could get out of the rig for over a year. When I added the JTV, the tonal possibilities expanded immensely.

 

I haven't tried the L2, but I have run the JTV out into the PA for acoustic sounds and that has worked very well. The nice thing is that you can set up your patches so that the output to the DT25 is muted on an acoustic patch and vice versa.

 

You can store your Variax guitar settings including tuning, etc. with a HD500 patch.

 

I'm extremely satisfied with the rig!

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If you intend on using your JTV / HD500 's accoustic tones you will be disappointed with the DT.  .

 

In regard to those who have the JTV-HD-DT trio, and are struggling with the acoustic tones, give this idea a try - patch design / concept by radatats

 

I can confirm that Customtone is All messed Up. If you click a tone name, it takes you to an ad for the new Line6 amp "Amplifi"...

And you cannot search by the name that the tone is actually called, you can however sort it by 'author', and page by page down from 'Z' until

you get to R..

 

I put his source tone in the zip, and I also made 5 edited versions, where I assigned the JTV models to Acoustic 1-5, and also assigned the footswitches FS1-4 to the FX he had in place.

In the edit patches, the FS=

 

FS1 = toggle between the two EQ's

FS2 = analog chorus

FS3 = cave verb

FS4 = plate verb

 

-----------

 

- Set input to Variax, same. (you may need to change from global to preset which may mean checking all your other patches)

- make a dual channel setup with Fliptop pre amp in channel A with no cab, change topology to III.

  (topology III changes the physical settings in the power section and just gets that nice sort of resonance you would expect from an acoustic)

- no amp in channel B.

- in the mixer Mute channel A, channel B to 0 or higher if needed, and center both channels.

- place Tile reverb as last effect in chain.

- place a graphic EQ in the pre section with the two lower sections set to -2db, top 2 knobs to +1db. (adjust to taste, this worked for my cab)

 

We are not running through the flip top at all.  We are only using it to "lock" the DT from switching to the amp in channel B and to control the physical topology.  By placing no amp in channel B and muting channel A in the POD we effectively send the clean "unamped" acoustic guitar signal straight to the DT power section through channel B!  We also have to change the input to Variax-Same to ensure that our signal is passed to channel B...

 

This setup provides the clean, unprocessed guitar signal from our Variax straight to the DT power section without ANY amp sims...

 

PS this is more easily done in HD Edit...  I would post a link to the patch but custom tone is AFU.  If you want to search for it I uploaded it as Rads Acoustic DT...

------------------------------

RadsAcoustic DT.zip

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In regards to the duo amp mode with the pedal, can you only do this feature with 2 amps?  I'm guessing that even with one amp I would be able to blend the sounds of 2 amps together, the pan left or right would only be practical in a recording situation or 2 amp rig correct?

:

You only would want 2 DTs if you need stereo amplification or produce sound from a mix of different power Amp types. You can use 2 different preamps in path A and B on the HD, mix them, and then run the result through a selected power amp. Kind of what some players do when they connect 2 channels of an amp with a short cable between the secondary channel inputs. Except on the HD you can combine a BassMan with a SLO Clean ;-)

 

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