ColonelForbin

Sweetwater never responded to my questions about the pickguard color; and it seems they are also still confused about the lead time! Lol, here's for wishful thinking: We Can Get It Fast! We can get more of this item from our friends at Line 6 in a few days. http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/VariaxStdBurst

For redoing the flash did you reset it all the way back to factory? Because at that point, Workbench HD won't work - you would need to still be using the outboard connection device; they added support for using HD500 and Workbench HD in the later firmware - if memory serves.. Did you get a small plastic box with an ethernet plug jack in one side, and a USB connection out the other>? Might look something like this: http://line6.com/media/ips/uploads//monthly_12_2013/post-1791374-0-03215900-1386556717.jpg I think mine is the older kind with the transparent plastic, might look like this (scroll down in thread) http://line6.com/support/topic/7313-replacement-rj45-cable-for-usb-hub/ Firmware 2.0 added the HD models; but it wasn't until the next firmware (2.10) that they added the ability for the JTV to connect through the HD500 to a computer: http://line6.com/support/page/kb/_/guitars/james-tyler-variax-guitars/variax-workbench-hd-release-notes-r542 "Workbench HD does not support computer connections via POD HD devices. You must use the Workbench VDI to USB interface only." In the 2.10 update they added the HD500 connection option: Variax & Workbench Release Notes v2.10 This FREE update of Variax firmware and Workbench software addresses a selection of performance issues and is recommended for all owners of James Tyler Variax guitars. Variax HD v2.10 adds: •Workbench HD functionality when connected to POD HD500, POD HD PRO, POD HD500X, POD HD Pro X •Smoother model switching Note: Variax v2.10 firmware is compatible with v2.00 models. We recommend backing up your presets with Workbench before updating Variax firmware. Workbench HD v2.10 adds: •Workbench HD functionality when connected to POD HD500, POD HD PRO, POD HD500X, POD HD Pro X •Much faster initial sync between Workbench HD and Variax •Bridge and Middle pickups are now combined correctly

Which is what is funny about my experience; without intending to, I actually took my DT amps to an "authorized Line6 service center", and due to my uninformed request, they biased it with JJ's and sent me home! lol..I happened to look up "authorized L6 service centers" in the area, and realized the place my amps were actually being worked on is on the Line6 list.. (I dropped them off in Northfield, but the shop is in downtown Chicago near River North) I think the bigger issue, is all of this amp tube tech info should be a sticky post in the DT forum so future DT owners retubing their gear can save time and cost doing it right the first time. As for the soft / hard / medium, that question remains unanswered. The shop I am working with says they stock the medium, so that's what I am going with. Some online stores don't even give that option when ordering. Musicians Friend does for some reason. I think though, that is why the amp shop are also being really cool to have me bring them back to do the swap back to EH tubes for minimal cost to me... I am going to give them one last spin with the amps with the JJ's tubes in 'em on Thursday night after work, then I'll drove downtown and drop them off on Friday on my day off. Thursday is my Friday this week - today is me working day 6 of a total of 9 in a row... We're open seven days a week, and everyone only works five day weeks, but sometimes, like these two weeks, my days off are at opposite ends of a two week stretch.. Hence me spending random time daydreaming in the Line6 forums! :)

I used a solid state Fender 1x12 combo for 3 or 4 years with the HD500, into the FX return. Ended up not liking trying to use floor monitors or PA related solutions. Went with the DT25 and an L2t around the same time. Each sounds great; DT limits the acoustic tones a bit. Main benefit for using an L2 with your rig, is it allows an extra "configurable" output option. Using the HD500 in studio direct, you would be able to still feed the "main mix" with a stereo, mic level, XLR pair direct out of the HD500 - while using the Line6Link to send a mono summed signal to the L2 speaker. You could do the same with a 1/4" cable - but the L2 has "speaker modes" which can be saved to the HD500 on a per patch basis; switch from an acoustic patch to an electric patch, and the L2 can change up the "monitored sound", in theory, preserving your main mix send to the PA un altered. For me, I still like the tube amp vibe. DT25 is a cool amp, and has the mic level XLR out as well; different sides of a similar coin. If you are leaning FRFR, you can create a library of patches, and they will, for the most part, remain somewhat consistent, as you go from something like a Roland keyboard amp, or to a powered monitor or speaker, or a Stagesource speaker. In studio/direct, so much of the tonal shaping is occuring in the HD500, as opposed to the speaker, that your patches will remain consistent. Going to the DT amps, you basically reconfigure everything, with the idea that the amp and HD500 "share" the tone creation duties. The HD500 does the signal processing, effects, routing, and preamps of each amp model. The DT amp does the actual power amp portion of the signal, and also contains the final cabinet emulated, transformer (tube) output audio. Not a "headphones" solution. And you need two of them if you want to do wet / dry or stereo.. Nice thing about the single FRFR speaker, is you keep your stage sound mono - better for performance, but leave the stereo option on the table for the soundguy. Depending on how you program your patches, with a combination of the HD500 mixer settings, dual amp models, and using post amp model stereo effects, you can get some cool spatial sounds. Then, you can still pan back to center in another patch, to tighten up the sound - though, that isn't something you would experience on stage, and if you didn't tell your soundguy that's what you were going to do, he might flip out or be confused, or excited who knows. For a cheap, decent FRFR option, get a broken in used Roland stereo keyboard amp. Those typically have several inputs, and also usually some kind of output, often XLR out with a ground lift- but if you needed to, send the keyboard amp 1/4" signals, and send the XLR to the main mix. http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/KC880 $999.00 (new) https://reverb.com/item/20561-roland-kc-880-keyboard-amp-used $699 (used) http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/KC550 $649.00 (new) https://reverb.com/item/517708-roland-kc-550-w-flight-case $500 with a flight case (used) Sweetwater had briefly dropped the L3 prices last year, I should have got some then - they are back up to the regular price now.

get a "matched pair" of Electro Harmonix EL84 power tubes. Per a messaging conversation with a Line6 amp tech support recommendation, stick to the Electro Harmonix brand. Something to do with Bogner design tolerances. The stock DT25 12AX7 tube is Chinese, but the stock DT50 12AX7 tubes are EH Russian. There are some lengthy threads, people have had mixed results with tube brands and blowing fuses. I am in the process of getting mine retubed with all EH brand tubes. I recently tried JJ's tubes, but then I learned about the EH brand being required, so my amp shop is going to swap them back out for me.

Yeah, they are in essence the same basic cable construction. The AES/EBU cables use digital cabling between the XLR connect points, which is optimized to transmit data AND audio. The AES/EBU are different, in that they offer 110ohm impedance. Works fine for digital and analog applications. You can use an AES/EBU cable as a microphone or analog cable - no problem. The reverse will work, just not as well. Especially if you go longer distances or more complex routing past a single point of connection between the two devices. Meaning, I would guess one DT amp linked to one HD500 with an XLR cable probably won't give you issues. If you did that with the M20d mixer and tried to send monitor and main audio and data to three L2m speakers, two L3t and two L3s speakers, you will likely have problems where the speakers will drop out, and if the XLR cable is earlier in the chain, you could lose connection to everything downstream from that incorrect cable choice, https://www.gearslutz.com/board/so-much-gear-so-little-time/157424-cable-question-xlr-vs-aes-ebu.html

The best use of the HD500(x) for bass tones would be using dual paths - make one path "no amp model", and use it for a clean bass feed; maybe some EQ. The other path, maybe use an amp model, but mess with no cab, pre version only. This channel can be for more of the mid / upper EQ and can contain weirder / funkier effects. Try putting a pitch shifter on the clean side and an auto wah or phaser type effect on the other path. You can dial in some stellar synth tones too, using the synth effect on only one channel. You might even get best effect from using NO amp models on either. If you want to send the soundguy two signals, one wet one dry, keep the mixer settings panned, then use only one 1/4" (which will sum to mono) to feed your stage amp. Or use a Stagesource speaker, and with the Line6Link, send the full left and right to that speaker. Or if you only want to send the soundguy a single XLR, just pan the two paths center, and balance the levels with the mixer controls. The ideal bass tone will always have some amount of low pass, unaltered, pure, low end. Even in good studio recordings, a DI on the bass and a mic on the bass cabinet. Play with balancing the "air" sounds of a virtual bass cab with the "pure" tones of the bass signal direct. The dual path option is definitely quite a powerful tool for dialing in some cool bass tones. I will have to plunk around with those patches that were assembled, nice work!

It took me a while tackling different configurations with just the HD500, with other amps, PA speakers, keyboard amps, etc. Some times I was happy with tones, other times it was a struggle. I "made it work" from 2010-2014; Adding the DT25 last January simplified a *LOT* for me. It essentially gives you "guitar amp" style live monitoring, while adding in the direct mic level XLR send. Adding the second DT this January was just an exercise in patience! I had wanted another one soon as I got the first, and realized what it could do - but it took me 8 months to pay the thing off, and I bought a JTV59 around the same time, which I also did as 8 payments.. NAMM 2015 Winter came around, and I didn't see anything that was going to immediately eclipse the rig I was building, so I figured might as well expand the pallette a little bit. It's a bit of a price jump, to go from the $500 HD500 unit, which can already do dual amp models, stereo XLR out, etc. But I realized that was only part of the equation- and for me, with my old ears, and some basic hearing loss, it helped to have something in the traditional amp in room vibe - I don't use in ears, we have decent floor monitors, but that also was a struggle for me, since my signal was blended with everything else that had to get monitored, and it came down to other people having more sensitive ears than me - for me to play well, gotta hear myself. The best thing, is get yourself playing music, rather than playing with settings, knobs, dials, and crouched in front of a pedalboard, or adjusting settings on a mixer, or asking someone to turn you up in the monitor mix. Especially live.. Very un-nerving. I am still tempted to add a pair of the 1x12 extension cabs, to go with the dual DT "mini stacks", but not in any hurry to do that. I like them up on the amp stands, makes the top panel controls quite accessible. I like the lower watt per combo, because you can drive the tubes and get authentic tube power saturation / breakup at reasonable volumes.

Yeah, no luck for me on Ticketmaster or Mail Order.... And the scalpers are already re-selling tickets they just bought for over $2,000 each. On the plus side that's $$$ I can spend on more gear instead of concert tickets. The face value prices are even insane, and they even sold out the behind-stage and side-of-stage seats, with NO VIEW..... Crazy.

Yeah; couple of reasons: I don't think they are ready to Eclipse the "flagship" HD500x line yet; in terms of the HD offerings. Also, they just announced the "Firehawk"; which sits on the 'Bluetooth / App' platform of the AMPLIFi; yet merges the older X3 and PODFarm amp models / FX with some of the newer HD amp models and FX. And, they are now going back to 'selling' the upgrade packs of new HD models for the HD500x and HD500 devices, so they don't want to "Give it away, give it away, give it away - yet"... :) I love my HD500x and my HD500. I use a pair of DT25's and a pair of L2t speakers. This rig is stellar, but it's way more than people need for a casual home jamming / tone / fun experience, with some USB recording functionality thrown in. For the price, it's still a nice Bluetooth speaker - I paid $100 for a *way* smaller / tiny little Sony bluetooth speaker, and my guess is the AMPLIFI is way, way, way louder and nicer sounding.. Just comes down to what you want to do with it all!

+1 to AES/EBU! It looks like a regular XLR cable; but it's carrying two-way digital information. When you turn a knob on the DT, it adjusts the parameter on the HD500, and same from HD500 to the amp - while also carrying the audio signal from the HD500 to the DT amp. I also use the M20d and Stagesource speaker system, so ended up buying two each of 10', 20' and 30' from BestTronics. Really nice stuff, assembled in Illinois, they use Belden cabling, high quality connectors, nice cable wraps. http://btpa.com/AES-EBU1-XX.html Also got my VDI Variax cable from them as well: http://btpa.com/Line-6-Variax/ And bought some nice standard XLR cables from them as well, for XLR out from my DT25's to the mixer: http://btpa.com/MIC1-XX.html Line6 also has their own brand of Link cable: http://www.sweetwate...il/L6LinkMedium http://www.sweetwate...tail/L6LinkLong

Yeah, the mechanical block is likely the best option.. You could turn the "playback" volume of the looper all the way down, so if you accidentally trigger it, no sound will occur; but you will still be needing to get yourself back out of looper mode! Throws me off all the time... Would be nice to make it optional looper assigned; but seems hardcoded in some way.

Yeah, with the DT using the L6Link connection, you basically get the benefits of four cable method with way fewer cables; two to be precise. (one VDI cable or 1/4" guitar cable + one AES/EBU cable) When you use L6Link, and choose the "pre" amp models in the HD500 programming, you are basically setting it up to run from guitar to effects to the preamp of the amp model, then to post effects, then to the power amp of the DT25. I liked mine so much I bought a second one to run dual amp models, wet/dry rigs, and stereo. I use the JTV59, so I also split the variax mag pickups into one amp model chain, and the variax models into the other amp model chain, and pan them left/right, so each DT25 gets it's own signal. Very cool way of layering similar tones to get a more 'full' sound. The mags and models are just a little different, so if you send them into two copies of the same amp model with similar settings, it does a cool sound merging of the two. Using a single amp model and two DT25's also gives you the option (using L6Link) to send one DT the "dry" amp model feed (pre amp model FX + amp model) and send the other DT the "wet" tone, of the pre+amp+post effects. I guess the Line6Link is the main selling point for me; I really dig the way these pieces work together. One note: If you do get the DT amp, and down the road need to re-tube and bias it - STICK to the Line6 recommended Electro-Harmonix tubes. I am in the midst of taking my amps back to the shop to get the JJ's tubes removed that I just had them installed, and then read about / found out shortly after that the Bogner design of these DT amps requires use of the Electro Harmonix tubes; and that they "don't like other tubes"... It's not the kind of thing you think about, until you realize that most normal tube amps can handle a variety of tube options from various brands. The DT amps - stick with the EHX tubes... One more thing; the XLR out from the back of the DT25 sounds awesome!! I use it for sending my signal to the mixer live, at rehearsal, for recording. It's been quite a nice feature. There are some lengthy threads discussing various folks experience with changing tubes, and such. At first I thought the EH tube spec was specific to the DT50's; but for the power tubes, it also applies to the DT25. The DT25 uses two EL84 power tubes, and a single 12AX7 tube. That is typically a preamp tube, but does not function as such in the DT25. This is where the DT25 and DT50 are slightly different - the DT50's come stock with two EH EL34 tubes, and two EH 12AX7 tubes. The DT25 comes with the EH EL84 tubes, but has a Chinese 12AX7. Apparently it's the power tubes that are more crucial - Line6/Bogner have a bias spec for the amp tech guys to follow when changing tubes and rebiasing; and that spec only works for the EH tubes. I mean, my amps still work, they sound ok - I just figured I would change them back now before I cause some other problem needlessly by using non-specified JJ tubes or some other tube brand. So yeah, learn from my over-eager desire to "customize" the tone of my DT25's... You can make these sound like practically any amp, so what you want is a tube which can handle the various power amp configurations that the Bogner stuff does, when it's changing amp power typologies. Definitely a way cool amp, and an excellent pairing with the HD500x. If I wasn't using the other Line6 gear already; I'd probably be looking at one of the new US made Supro re-issues! Might still take a closer look at those one day,when I have some spare $$$. I also really like lower watt Mesa Boogie tube amps; been using one in studio, and it's killer. Dead quiet, no hum, no buzz, no noise. Records great! Has nowhere near the number of options that this Line6 gear does; but all comes down to what you want it to do for you. Cheers!

Do you already use an extra expression pedal? You can do alot of the volume swells by programming an EXP pedal to do either a volume pedal effect, or to control some other volume related parameter. Mission Engineering makes a nice pedal; but I assign it for the wah, and then use the onboard pedal on the HD500x to control volumes when needed. It works "ok" for use assigned to a volume pedal effect or to amp channel volume, but not the same "feel" as a volume pedal. I can see why you might want to add a dedicated volume pedal if you use it alot! http://missionengineering.com/?product=ep1-l6 http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/EP1L6Bk

So, here's the latest on my end of things - got in touch with the TubeStore, they are going to let me take the JJ's out of the amps and return them; no restock fee if I buy the EHX tubes from them. My amp tech also stocks the EHX tubes - and they stock the "medium". His response is: "Yes we usually stock the medium and bias according to flavor" For what it's worth; here is the most recent response from Partev: "Those descriptions are rather pedestrian, but pretty much says what it is. It has to do with what's called "the transfer function" and how linear it is, and operating within that linear region of the transfer curve. As for what we use, I've forgotten. All tubes and amps have a set of "characteristic curves" showing regions of operations for a given set of volt vs current draw and output loads."

More stuff I need to read up on! http://www.tedweber.com/atten.htm "Some Weber Attenuators use power resistors to effect a purely resistive load on the amp. These attenuators are much like the other attenuators on the market, and provide a less natural sounding tone when heavily attenuated. Our resistive models are the Low Power Load Dump, Mega Dump, and Headphone Tap. Other Weber Attenuators utilize an actual speaker motor to apply a reactive load on the amp. The attenuators are unlike any other on the market, and provide a much more interactive, natural sound when in use. They affect the tone less than the resistor-based models. The speaker motor units are the MASS, MiniMass, MicroMass, Stereo MASS, MASS 150, MASS Lite, and Power Tap."

Looks like we're not alone in this confusion regarding the soft/medium/hard questions!'brea On this thread some folks are saying - in line with what Musicians Friend says - that it has to do with headroom, and when the tubes will break up. One other commenter thinks it had to do with how much they vaccuum the air out of the tubes! So much speculation and misinformation... I sent Partev another message, see if he has anything to add.. Hard tube = most clean headroom Soft tube = least clean headroom Medium is in the middle? http://www.mylespaul.com/forums/squawk-box/77073-el84-tubes-hard-medium-soft.html "The level of vacuum in the valve will mainly determine its life expectancy. If it's gassy, it'll be short. The level of distortion is to do with the current draw. It is not to do with the vacuum. It is to do with how much current the anode can take before it is 'saturated'. That is measured in milli Amps (mA), which is charge per second. It is an indirect measure of the number of electrons that need to hit the anode (or 'plate' in American speak) before the anode can carry no more current. Maximum current. It has nothing to do with vacuum. Regarding vacuums, a good vacuum is called a hard vacuum. A poor vacuum is a soft vacuum. These are semi-technical terms that have been in use for a century. The confusion has crept in because of the valve vendors terms 'hard' and 'soft', which refer to distortion ratings. Bear in mind that distortion was NOT a design objective in audiophile equipment, and wasn't a design objective in guitar amps until the late 60s. The Fenders and early Marshalls were meant to be clean. So the use of the words 'hard' and 'soft' to describe the breakup characteristics of valves is a relatively recent thing. Since the 70s at the most. But these terms refer to the distortion characteristics of the valve. This is dertermined by current draw, as described above. Just because they use the same words - 'hard' and 'soft' - doesn't mean they are talking about the same phenomenon."

Yeah, now I see those options - on the Musicians Friend website, they are sold with those three options... More confusion!! http://www.musiciansfriend.com/accessories/electro-harmonix-el84-matched-power-tubes Hard quartet / Medium quartet / Soft quartet Hard pair / Medium pair / Soft pair "Soft, medium, and hard style descriptions refer to break up modes of the tube for an overdriven guitar signal. Soft-rated tubes break up easier and have the least headroom, yielding a heavier, harder distortion. In comparison, hard-rated tubes break up easier and have the least headroom, yielding a heavier, harder distortion, while medium-rated tubes fall in between."

Yeah, I think you got it right; they "biased to spec", meaning they probably biased to the settings which are intended to match the EH tubes. Yes; I did go to a shop; no way I was trying to do that myself... Third Coast guitar & amp repair in (Northfield and Chicago) I emailed them today - they are being really awesome about it; and I copied that note from the Line6 tech, and he said no problem, they will do the swap back to EH tubes, and go easy on me for the price since I was just in there.. Feeling pretty much *foolish*... The one newer DT I should have left completely alone; the other had the tubes in it for a year, so I figured it would a good time to change them, and just jumped the gun doing both at the same time. Lesson Learned!! Good catch on the pricing... I sent a message to the TubeStore to see if they will take returns.. Even with a restock fee, that would help. Will look around more carefully for better priced options; the lessons continue to roll in...

Nice, yeah I should have researched more before I put the JJ's in.. I already emailed the shop with a copy of that note from Partev, see if they will do me a break on putting EH in place of the JJ's I just had them do... Everything is a learning experience; I suppose it could be worse, I spent the $$ on the JJ's tubes and the $150 for the rebias and swap. Another $100 in EH tubes + ??? in bench time to switch them back out... live and learn!

I thought I had copied this response from Partev Sarkissian (Line6 tech), might be in a different thread - but, for what it's worth: Sent 13 February 2015 - 10:33 AM Because of the way Bogner designs the tube portions of these amps, and that this is a hybrid and not the usual bill-of-fare tube amp, you should re-tube using the specified EH from Electro-Harmonix tubes. You can't use the EH bias spec on other tubes. The spec is dialed in for the EH's. All too often these come across our bench for no other reason than having non-specified tube inside (JJ's, Mesa, Groove Tube), using the specified bias. That does not work. They (JJ's, Mesa, Groove Tube) would have to be bias slightly different, because the characteristic curves from one to the other are not exact. That little of difference, makes all the difference. I've seen too many blown amps just because of that. It's a hybrid and a hot rod, don't mess with it. Stick with the specified EH's. Partev Sarkissian Repair Technician, Repair Dept Line 6, Inc. 26664 Agoura Rd Calabasas, CA 91302 phone: 818-575-3600 web: www.line6.com

Interestingly, the Tung Sol (owned by EHX - same factory in Russia?) and the EHX EL84 tubes both give the same note on the TubeStore page: http://www.thetubestore.com/Tubes/EL84-6BQ5-Tube-Types/Tung-Sol-EL84-6BQ5 "Note: These tubes have a slightly larger diameter than other EL84 tubes so they can not be installed into some '90's era Marshall DSL201 or DSL401 amplifiers, some '90's era reissue Vox AC15 amps, and Bad Cat amps." http://www.thetubestore.com/Tubes/EL84-6BQ5-Tube-Types/Electro-Harmonix-EL84 "Note: These tubes have a slightly larger diameter than other EL84 tubes so they can not be installed into some '90's era Marshall DSL201 or DSL401 amplifiers, some '90's era reissue Vox AC15 amps, and Bad Cat amps."

I think this extra set of variations is only available for the DT50, not the DT25? IE, the 'medium / soft / hard' EHX EL34 tubes.. I am guessing for the DT50 EL34's, you just need these: http://www.thetubestore.com/Tubes/EL34-6CA7-Tube-Types/Electro-Harmonix-EL34 I just started looking at prices for getting "backup" sets of EH 12ax7 and EL84 tubes for my pair of DT25's.. The Tube Store website still has the best prices; not sure how the total factors with shipping. They spell it out pretty straight forward, you choose if you want balanced/matched triodes for the 12AX7, and if you want the EL84's 'matched'. Two 12ax7's and Four El84's are subtotal of $91.70 + FedEx ground/ economy (3-5 days) is $9.95 or FedEx two day is $15.95.. My little experiment in doing the tubes on these amps is proving costly!! Anyway, have a pretty regular bunch of rehearsals coming up, at least 2-3 times a week, so will know pretty quick if I can live with the JJ's or if I will need to have them changed back out for the EH's.. Still wondering what to use for the 12AX7; I suppose I will use EH just to be consistent.. Not sure that matters as much, since it didn't have EH as the stock tube.

This is a bit of a tangent to your original post, but here goes - and I know you have two DT's so this is totally something that you can try (or maybe already have). Setup the HD500 with dual inputs; split into two amp models. Use variax mags for one, variax models for the other. Make both amp models the same to start with, with basically equivalent settings. The mags tend to be a touch louder than the models, you can adjust that to balance with either the amp level or the mixer level. I had a lot of fun tweaking on the Hiwatt to start with. I set it up to use the FS1-8 mode, where all FS switches are active, instead of the front row being patch change A-D. I use FS 5-6 for the first amp channel FX - comp and drive, and FS7-8 for the second amp channel FX - same comp and drive, but preserving the split inputs, by dragging all effects to the two individual amp model channels. Then I added two wahs, as first in each amp model chain. Set the wahs to both use the outboard EXP pedal, but assigned FS2-3 to control the two wah's on/off. I like the parallell wah sounds, really cool. Added the stereo FX loop to on/off with FS1, placed after the amp channel mixer; panned both amp channels hard left / right. Routed in stereo through outboard Zoom effect pedal for chorus, delay, stereo noise gate - basically, to offload additional stereo post amp model effects. Last put a ping pong delay. I set the mix rate from 0-around 50, to control with the onboard EXP pedal, FS 4. So, getting back to your original topic, this basically preserved the split from mags to models to each DT amp, and makes balancing the levels relatively easy. The slight chorus / stereo effect comes from the mags and models being ever so slightly different, and the amp model setting being slightly different. Obviously the stereo feel would be more exaggerated if you used two very different amp models. I have also found this is a decent way to have acoustic guitar models in tandem with the mags / electric tones. Depending on how you end up wanting to use this kind of routing, a person might choose to only use wah on one of the two channels, and that would leave an extra two effects, which could be reverbs in each amp channel, or more stereo effects, or other pre-amp model effects. In general, while I liked the both-on dual wahs, I could probably do with just one, since I ended up preferring it in "parallel" sound mode anyway. That would also free up other FS assignments, since you could make the wah go on/off with the toe switch instead of an FS assignment. You can also still get a volume pedal in there, I would guess, by assigning the volume of the FX loop send to one of the EXP pedals; maybe the onboard pedal>? That would probably wreak havoc if you left that assigned to control volume and also used it to control delay mix; but the delay can be dialed in well enough on a per-patch basis anyway, and if one really needs to control it, maybe use the Variax tone or volume knob as an additional controller. Lots of options... Too many. To a certain extent, that's what is appealing about this routing, because it removes certain options, and simplifies choices. It also sounds freaking awesome...

I should find out if the EH tubes are specifically selected for the Line6 products, or will any matched pair of the correct EH tubes work - do they set aside certain EH tubes just for Line6, and if so, is there some way to either get those from Line6, or specify that when ordering the "correct" EH tubes?