BucF16

Not sure what you're doing wrong. I can only say that I've tried the exact stuff that you've tried. Like the PODHD through my DT50. Through the L2's it's OK. Through L3's it's better. The Helix through L2/L3 sounds and feels awesome. All I do is make sure that the speakers are set to PA/Reference. Make sure your speakers are set in the 50% detent. Start with Helix volume at zero and then bring it up.

Have you opened a service ticket with Line6? They've been very helpful with me. I've had the same problem with inputs that you've described. Sent to the factory for servicing and it came back working fine. I think it's a grounding issue that has been described elsewhere on this board. Basically the input level decreases significantly on it's own and then when you manually try to bring it back up, it jumps up quite a bit. I haven't seen the issue with the Main Volume knob that you described. I've used my M20D a whole bunch so I've had a lot of chances to get data points. The input gain issue is the only thing that I've personally run into but it was pretty bad for a while. Again, Line6 service has been very helpful.

All the guitars in this particular demo were JTV69 through a POD HD500x into a Stagescape where it was recorded off the inputs. https://soundcloud.com/sad-depraved-but-social/ksaz-demo-edit1 PODHD is great but I think there's a pretty steep learning curve in how to use it. I think a lot of dudes really don't know how to get the most out of it. It certainly CAN work for you. I'm very happy with mine now that I have some real experience with it. Knowing the deep edit stuff in the POD is critical, especially the deep edit cabinet parameters (RESONANCE can be a patch killer) and also knowing how the EQ blocks work. For some reason the POD's EQ blocks are not user friendly...they're very effective and necessary but not intuitive. The POD WILL record out via USB BTW. Also, I don't think the Helix will clone a tone. POD is approx 1/3rd the price of a Helix. I've never played the Helix but I've gigged with the POD HD through either a DT50 or direct to PA for about 4 years now. I gig about 3-4 times a month average. I have a Helix on order, not because I'm unhappy with my POD, but just because I'm the kind of dude who's always been on the Line6 leading edge.

There is no reason to need an amp louder than a DT50. If you need an amp louder than that you have a problem. I done soundguy stuff for a band that used a DT25 and it's plenty loud for stage volume and sounds great through the PA. If you're not going to run your amp through the PA, the 25 may be a little light depending on the room you're trying to fill and how loud the rest of your band is. If your amps are mic'ed, who cares. It's plenty loud enough to monitor and FOH is the sound guy's problem.

It was a common comment about the old generation Variax's, when the guts of a Vx were put into another guitar, that they sounded very different. You don't see people doing Vx conversions now because the James Tyler guitars are such higher quality than say a Vx300 or 500...or even 700. In my experience, with my old Vx 700, the tone changed pretty significantly with just changing string gauge (the acoustics I thought sounded better with heavier gauges). So no, it doesn't surprise me at all that a different guitar would make them sound different.

OK, in-ears is a can o worms you don't want to open yet. In-ears that sound good are more expensive than speakers. Cheap in-ears sound like crap. The Altos and Alesis speakers have 2 combo inputs per on the back and one xlr output. You could buy a pair of them for pretty cheap and then run your keys AND your POD to the speakers and use them as your stereo backline, then run an XLR from each of your speakers to the PA board, using only 2 channels for both keys and POD. Your guitar patches will sound just like they do at home (good and bad!). I do this same thing with L2's sometimes

I'm an L3S user and I currently have 2 L3S's and 2 L3's. I have plenty of subwoofer and if I was to add anything I'd add more mains/monitors. In some rooms it's too much sub (did I just say that out loud?).

I use a DT50 in one band and my L2's in another. It just depends. It's certainly not a transparent replacement. I use totally different patches when going FRFR or direct to the board. If I had my druthers, an L3 sounds a bit better than an L2, but that's more power than you'd ever need. I've tried QSCK12's and for heavier guitar stuff, they're pretty darn good too. I play my piezo equipped guitars through my DT50 as an acoustic. It's not perfect but in a bar situation, it gets the job done. I resisted doing it for a long time but finally tweaked up a decent patch. Steve Morse uses the clean channel of his Engl amps for his acoustic guitars. So I figured I'd give it a try.

A little late to this discussion but I've used 2xL3M's and 2xL3S's to do some pretty big gigs with several different bands. I have a classic rock cover band 5 piece that uses it for almost every gig. I play in a 6 piece Kansas tribute band that uses it for some of our gigs and I've used it for other gigs that I was soundman for. Surprising amount of power. It was "just" enough power to do the concert in this video. You have to filter through the video to find the crowd shots but it was a pretty big outdoor gig. Did this gig just last week in an outdoors entertainment district. Notice that there's only one amp on stage for the bass player. Everything else is direct to the M20D so all you're hearing is L3 speakers. Soundguy said he was running at less than 50% power. L3's and L3S's as mains. L2's as monitors with a QSC k12 for the drum monitor (nothing against the L2 but it's just doesn't have the nuts to be a good drum monitor).

I've done some medium outdoor shows on half that setup. I think you need a pretty big gig to demand more than that.

I seem to remember that the recommendation for the twin is to dime the gain and then the channel volume is really your distortion. Never owned a twin but supposedly this is how some people use that amp.

What Si said was the first thing I thought of. Almost any time I hear something like that I suspect a loose cable connection in the Line6 Link.

Your saying run 1 m20D via Line6 link to the speakers and run a 2nd M20D to just the first speaker in the chain "the old way" I don't think that works but I haven't tried it. However, I think you could run the 2nd M20D to all the speakers the old-fasioned way simultaneously.

Line 6 link without a mixer that uses line 6 link is of limited value. Line6 link on helix is of limited use to DT amp owners and is only good for running your Helix direct to a speaker...which you would then run out the back of with a 1/4 inch to the board. Doesn't this sound redundant? At the same time, a QSC K10 is an amazing speaker for $50 less than an L2M. I like my L2's but I have some QSC's too and I can't knock them. The question is, is the utiltiy of Line6 link with a mixer worth $100 for a pair of speakers? Well, it might be if the company took some concrete steps to show that this wasn't just a flash, one-off attempt at a mixer. Honestly, it ain't to hard to create a buzz...and the silence is deafening.

That idea has been in ideascale for a while. I already voted it up, you should to.

For you guys who find 16 inputs insufficient, I say, you will always have less inputs than your band wants you to have. Physical law of nature. And someday when your PA has expanded past all possible limitations of inputs, your band will complain that it takes too long to sound check / set up / tear down the PA. 16 is a good number for me, gives me a reason to say, "No! we're not miking the f-ing cowbell!" Personally, I find the 4 aux's more restrictive than the 16 inputs. If it was possible I would dearly love to see the option for main outs to become aux's when using Line6 link, even if they were totally dry.

I don't have upgradeitis and am happy with my M20d as it is. HOWEVER, here's how L6's deafening silence in the mixer world can hurt them. I'm considering buying some more speakers to augment my current setup. The MAIN advantage of the Line6 speaker line was Line6 Link. If Line6 link is a dead end, why would I buy L2's vs K10's? So right now, even though I have the $$$, I'm holding off and considering a different company for my speakers just because I think Line6 link is going to be worthless to me in the future. I think the company should do something material and concrete to show that they still have the intention of slugging it out in this market.

I wish I had a dollar for each time we've had this thread. Not to be a downer, but the inevitable conclusion of this thread is that the OP will eventually find that the POD HD into the DT amp is identical to the guitar direct into the DT. He just has to find the right settings that he currently has mismatched. Although there is a lesson here: It's evidently easier to get the tone you want from the DT because there's less switches!

Not metal hi gain but more like classic rock or prog gain levels. Really all over the place. I've had no problems saving my speaker modes...except that I frequently save them wrong because I can't see the back of the speaker! They really need to include that in HD edit. I'm pretty sure your speaker mode eq curves ARE NOT passed through, so there's a little bit of self defeating logic here if you are playing through a FOH PA in a bigger room. (---need to double check that though--) So those speaker modes are only effective when playing smaller rooms with no PA. How do you get your sound to the PA from the L2?

Oh the irony. I tried endlessly to make the pre-models sound good through the DT and have switched back to the full models. Not to mention the huge volume differences between the pre's. I had issues with the L2's at first but I think I've really got it figured out. Cab resonance for hi gain stuff really needs to be dialed back if not set at zero. Also a slight cut somewhere in the 3k's can help depending on the patch. I've also used a K12 as an FRFR and that sounds a little bit more natural to me BUT since I use L3's as my PA mains I'm just fooling myself, since the direct signal goes back to an L3 for FOH. So, I tweak with my POD hooked up to the PA and listen to the mains.

I have both and have gigged with both and I think most people in this thread have it right. If you, for example, play in an Aerosmith or AC/DC tribute band, then a DT50 is your amp. If you play a little bit of everything, need realistic acoustic sounds, play several different sizes of venues, maybe use stereo effects or amps, then go the FRFR route. One thing I've noticed that's made me move more towards FRFR stuff. When using a real amp on bigger stages where I need more of my guitar through the monitors and the PA, my guitar through the monitor sounds just like the POD going direct anyway. Your amp really only sounds better when you are standing right in front of your amp.

My line6 amps in the past were: AxSys, Vetta I and II, Spider ValveII and DT50. For pure tone, you can't beat the DT, and with PODHD500X it is probably the most feature rich. For just pure guitar tone, it's by far the best. My second favorite was the Vetta. Feature list was pretty amazing. It would do stereo that the DT won't without two amps. The online edit program was the best LIne6 has made so far. It could sound amazing but you really needed to learn how to tweak, as you could also make it sound like crap pretty easy. The loudest Line6 amp I've ever owned! So, my first choice would be the DT50/HD500x combination. I'm nostalgic about my vetta...but then again I'm nostalgic about an old Chevy Vega that I used to have. If Stereo is a must for you then you might lean towards the Vetta just in terms of convenience. But I'd still rather have a PODHD500 FRFR stereo rather than the Vetta. The Axsys was great for it's time, but was 1st generation stuff. I wouldn't waste my time trying to find one now. I never really fell in love with the Spider Valve. I gigged with it a couple of times and got rid of it. I thought it actually worked best as a power amp for my PODXTL. I really didn't like the pre-amp in it, especially for mid gain stuff. For clean or hi-gain it was fine. I got rid of it as soon as the DT50 came along and haven't looked back. I may be wrong but I think HD147, DuoVerb and Flextone, are all the same generation of modelling that was in the Vetta. HD147 just had a different natural EQ curve that you could easily comp with the Vetta II. The Duo and Flex were just Vetta's with less options.

Hate to bump my own thread, but I'm guessing that since no one has responded, that phase shifters are suddenly uncool? I wish I had a dollar for every killer guitar solo that had a phase in front of the amp or every cool clean rythym or funk part that had a good phase shifter. So I'm suprised that the scrip phaser, which is one of my least fave HD phasers is the only one on the list. Please tell me that the effects list is incomplete

Yeah, I was just thinking that my HD sounds better than that. Not to say the Helix sounds bad because it sounded great, but that HD sound isn't what I'm getting.

I have tested my pedals in my home studio with my HD and they sound great. However, there's no way I'm taking all that shizz to a gig. It's noramally a fight for floor space as it is. Maybe if I had a certain effect that I really wanted I might use it in the chain, but honestly...simplicity, dependability, adds to my performance.