ColonelForbin

This video actually does a good job explaining how to use it in "effects loop" mode - you plug guitar into it first, then it also has a second channel that you run in your effects loop, post gain / pedals, etc.

Yeah, I have been having the same thought. Trying to integrate analog pedals into my HD500+DT25 rig, and I end up using a noise gate after the first sequence of pedals, and then I have more in the FX loop, so it seems like total overkill to add another noise gate! My buddy that I jam with uses the first Decimator in his Fender tweed rig- it goes last in his FX loop, and I must say does a great job taming the noise. If you set it too strong it gobbles up all the sound, but if it's right at the edge where that white noise creeps in it's quite effective. I know since then, ISP has made the Decimator II, and the Decimator II G-string, which is a dual channel noise gate, and can also be linked to a second unit. I was looking at the dual channel version, it has direct input tracking from the guitar, which claims to help with switching from clean to high gain without changing the threshold setting. Here are some links; I have a feeling once I free up space on the top of my pedalboard by moving the power supply underneath, this may be the next piece of the puzzle.. Not an inexpensive piece of gear! But it's that kind of thing, you connect a bunch of different pieces of gear, various power sources, multiple this and that, and your bound to hear some noise.. ISP Decimator II ISP Decimator II G-String "The new design allows connection of the processing channel of the Decimatorâ„¢ to be inserted into your effects loop or after your high gain pedals or preamp"

Found this cool video, Glenn DeLaune using some analog pedals in front of an HD bean POD into the front input of a Marshall amp. way cool!

Had an awesome all-acoustic rehearsal / trio at my place after work last night; fired up my replacement M20d, and it did just fine this time. We used two Audix drum mics to record the two guitars (condensor mics, overheads), and ran a Beta 57A on the cajon sound hole, and plopped a condensor mic on the floor in front of the cajon, just for some extra "woomph". After the guys went home I stayed up *way too late* planning out and starting to velcro up my new Pedaltrain pedalboard. More parts of the puzzle will be arriving next week, it's a long slow process! Reading up on how the heck I can mount the Voodoo Lab power supply under the pedaltrain board; found some sharp looking photos of other peoples gear where it looks quite tidy and clean! I thought I was going to have to eat space on the top for the power supply, but it looks like I can use the brackets the pedalboard came with and get my power drill out Some photos here and here; of the underside mounted power supply on some other folks pedaltrain pedalboards. Realized when I was building some of the HD500 patches I had dreamed up to interface with external / analog pedals, that my HD500 hits that DSP limit when I try to run the dual-signal path chain. DOH! I think I just need to simplify the use of FX; though can't really get around using dual amp models; using the 'pre' version for use with my DT25, so it ends up summed to mono anyway. Right now, I have been trying to create a dual signal path out of my JTV, where I run the 1/4" cable into the pedalboard and run that through the "pre" set of stomp boxes - then send that into the guitar in on the HD500. And, connect the VDI to the variax input, run that on a second channel / amp model, and process both signals in parallel until the very end of the signal path; where I would merge the two into a delay and reverb. I built the patches offline, which doesn't give you the DSP warning! So, back to edit and figure out what needs to be there, and what doesn't. I did realize certain amp models burn more DSP than others, and when I get crazy and put a particle verb near the end of the chain it usually puts it over the top, if I have all the other FS settings with an effect each (using the 8 FS setting)

And for what it's worth that Mission Engineering 'line 6' expression pedal feels like a solid piece of gear, will get to test it out tonight. It's heavy! And it's made in the USA. :)

Yeah, I am pretty pysched to start working with the idea of "morphing" tonal banks of multiple items. Though I can see where using the expression pedals to morph between two amp models could lead to some minor volume drops if the change isn't done quickly. I was just wondering about that, in terms of using DT amps, since the DT will only use the amp A typology and power settings, I was thinking it would be interesting to set up the dual amp pathway with a common similar typology and power settings, then vary the preamp tonal settings. more drive, treble, etc. I had the same thought about non linear fades!

Yeah, the VoiceLive gear is pretty cool like that. I am looking at adding the new VoiceLive3 to my rig - for me, among other things, a big selling point is that you can run a dual-mono two XLR output - one with the dry voice, and one with the FX on the vocal. That's one thing that is a nightmare with those cheaper vocal processors - 1/4" outputs are NOT good to run vocals through! Especially if the stage has a snake to get to the FOH mix. I don't have a major issue with the pitch correction stuff; but personally, I want the soundguy to retain control of a dry version of the vocal - just in case, and also because it's a good way to still hear where your actual pitch is in relation to what the pitch correction is doing. Will let ya'all know when I get that added to the rig! The MP-75 mic they make also looks like a cool idea, allows you control over certain parameters of some of the TC Helicon gear, like the VoiceLive gear.

Yeah, I have a tendency to overthink it while I am in the 'planning' stages; it's a terrible pun, but it helps to be grounded with actually plugging in the gear! ;) I just stumbled across yet another fantastic piece of gear, the Sonuus Wahoo; oh man, this thing is steep in $$! $350... But it looks amazing. It's a pure analog wah / envelope filter pedal with digital control. http://www.sonuus.com/products_wahoo.html http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/Wahoo/ Check out the video in the Sweetwater link - this device has a setting that pitch tracks your input signal, and only applies the wah sound when you *bend* notes. IT also has some killer sounding autowah and envelope effects. It's looking pretty darn tasty right now.. I tend to get these ideas on my drive to and from work; I recently moved to the burbs, my wife and I finally bought a house (two years of searching!) and I still work in downtown Chicago, so the drive is crazy. But I will be listening to tunes on Spotify and start daydreaming about plugging things in a certain way, or what-if patch ideas for the HD500, and whatnot. "What happens if" tends to be a common theme that launches me into new ideas.. I've been struggling with focusing on a certain path for thinking about the gear, it's like there are too many options, yet none are without limitations. Just last night I started thinking about yet another way to set up the HD500 patch + external pedals. It started while I was thinking about incorporating an A/B switcher, so I can have both my strat and JTV plugged in via 1/4" and toggle between them. That got me to thinking, well what if I plug the 1/4" from the JTV into a sequence of these pedals, but still run the VDI to the HD500 - and that got me thinking, well I could split those signals up in a dual amp path, and run various HD500 FX blocks on the VDI signal, then re-merge them at the post amp chain into a mono signal - and then run them into the FX loop to go to more external pedals, and conclude going through HD500 delays and reverbs, and then L6Link to the DT25. I was stuck with the idea of pedal placement; not wanting to put a wah at the post of an series of drive pedals, or not wanting to run the phaser in the DT25 FX loop, assuming it will probably end up post of any delays I put into the HD500 post section - still not sure about that, will have to get some delay repeats going, and put the phaser in the DT25 FX Loop, and see if it phases the clean repeats, or not. Anyway, I was thinking what would it be like to have two parallel signal paths - use the FS / HD500 effects on the VDI and have those be a unique signal path from the outboard effects. That's what led me to check out that Wahoo gadget; would end up with that at the front of the 1/4" chain, with a 'clean' bypass of the VDI going into whatever effects I feel like programming on the second channel. If I even wanted to run stereo through my L2t's, it would be as easy as keeping the two signals divided up and switching from combo/poweramp to studio/direct, L6Linking the two L2t's, and just feeding the DT fx return with a mono 1/4" from the HD500. I might end up trying that rig out tonight! Will let you all know what kind of mess I make of things. Cheers, and Happy Friday!

I was wondering about that concept - I had been messing with placing my chorus pedal into the DT25 effects loop, and I wasn't really sure *where* in the signal chain that actually placed it. I would guess that would likely place it in one of two places: either right after the amp model; or at the end of the HD500 path, which would be less ideal - the chorus I would think from all the responses I've seen wants to be before the reverb and delay.. Kind of hard to tell where it actually ends up, I am thinking it's possible that idea (fx loop of DT25 while using L6Link) maybe isn't going to do what I was thinking it would do. I was actually looking at going so far as to place the chorus, phaser and a clean boost into the DT25 effects loop - but I might be rethinking that concept.

+1 to that! The HD500+JTV offers so much that it's hard to even sum up. The manner in which you can then amplify the sound expands greatly - the AMPLiFi offers literally *zero* output options outside the use of the speaker itself. If you plug in the 1/8" headphone out jack on the AMPLiFi, it cuts off the speaker. It's really not an equal comparison, the HD500 gear has so much more in terms of 1/4" outputs, XLR outputs, USB to PC recording function, L6Link, an FX loop... The AMPLiFi is a funky gadget, and while it's fun and looks exciting, it lacks some overall useable control that I value greatly. Wwhereas with the JTV+HD500x, you can do some really, really cool deep explorations in sound, you'll have a whole palette of HD amp models, a host of M-series FX, and a looper, and a tuner, and a volume pedal, and a wah. The VDI connection both powers the JTV, and allows you some next-gen type interfacing - you can program the HD to control parameters on the JTV, like the tuning, the pickup selection, the guitar model - you can even split the variax models and the variax mags into two signals on the HD500 and route them through two different amp models, on two signal paths, out to two different speakers. You can also use the tone and volume knobs on the JTV to control effects parameters on the HD500 - like the number of delay repeats, or the amp model gain, or the reverb mix - any of the FX parameters can be defined as controllable both by those two knobs on the JTV, but also the onboard expression pedal of the HD500 - which can be toggled with the toe switch between EXP-1 and EXP-2. Traditional setup makes those wah and volume pedal. But as radatats mentioned in other posts, you can set those to control *several* different things. You can use those pedals to fade between entire effects and amp bank settings on your A and B channel. You can do ALOT with the JTV+HD500, that you simply cannot do with AMPLIfi. The Gearbox connectivity was *just* released for the JTV / HD series, so now you can plug your JTV into your HD500, and use it to power the guitar while editing it with Workbench HD. And, you get a decent ASIO soundcard solution with the HD500 USB output if you want to record yourself. None of that is offered on AMPLiFi. In terms of speakers, you have several options. The two main Line6 offerings - that will interface with the HD500 using L6Link are the DT25 and 50 series amps, and the StageSource speakers. I like them both, each has it's own merits. I've been actually considering merging them into my guitar rig - I already use a DT25 combo, was thinking about sending the XLR DI out to my L2t, sit it on the floor in "tilt back" mode, and place it at the base of the amp stand my DT sits on. Just one of many, many configurations that can be achieved. I also use a pair of M-Audio powered studio monitors for when I don't want to drag out the whole rig, or if I am adding HD500 direct to some existing recordings. Headphones are always a good option when it's late at night, or my wife is trying to get to sleep early. The HD500 also gives you multiple "output" modes, which can be used to adjust the components of the output. The two main versions are "with microphone and room modeling" and "without". The main distinction for me, is the difference between listening to your amp being mic'd, in another room, and you hear that signal in the control room - or the main mix of the house sound system, vs. being next to your amp, with no mic and room modeling - just amp and cabinet. The DT offers a cabinet emulation XLR output, which essentially creates the "mic and room" mix for sending out to the front of house mix, or to the recording console, or to a FRFR speaker system. Options are GOOD! I won't try to downplay the Bluetooth function of the AMPLIfI nor will I discount the iPad function of the gear; it's a great idea, but it's not that which limits the gear so much, it's that you cannot reach over to the amp, and adjust any particular setting easily. It's that they went with their older amp modeling tech to offer the "cloud" based tone control. It's that they sacrificed alot to offer some cool new techy stuff. I prefer analog outputs galore and adjust on the fly control, over Bluetooth and iPad control. If you already had a stellar killer rig, and needed a simple, all-in-on rig, the AMPLiFi is probably perfect. But for you, with your JTV - you should definitely take a much closer look at the extra bells and whistles the Dream Rig components offer. With some practice on the HD500, you will quickly realise how easy it is to build an entire patch from scratch, swapping amp models, assigning FS control to certain FX or parameters - and when you use the HD edit to build and edit patches, it's so easy and fun it's ridiculous. But that's the power to me - if I am at rehearsal and need to come up with a patch or edit on the fly, I can do it quickly and easily with just the HD500 as the interface. No internet required, no iPad... And yeah, get ready to spend some $$! But you've already got the JTV, so that's a big chunk of the expense. With $500 for the HD500 and some makeshift speaker ensembles, you can do a lot to advance your tone quest. When you are ready to make it a big louder, or find yourself jamming with others, drummers perhaps - then you can look at the DT if you want the tube amp tone - and the Bogner switching is pretty solid. Or if you prefer the full range flat response, then take a look at the L2 and L3 speakers, and compare them to what else is out there in the world of that kind of gear - a keyboard amp for example is a great way to amplify the HD500, can usually be run in stereo, and most often will have appropriate DI / XLR outputs. So in fact, you are comparing spending $500 on the HD500x vs around $500 on AMPLIfI - and that battle definitely goes to the HD for the win. They really did a bang up awesome job with that piece of gear, and the AMPLiFi just can't hang in that realm.

Interesting idea; I can see the merits in using two comps, for different purposes! I suppose I could run one of the HD500 comps up front, hit the wah, then send the FX loop out to the envelope, distortion pedals, then the Keeley comp, then back to the HD500 - and then I'd be putting the phaser, chorus and clean booster in the FX Loop of the DT25. Might have to fuss around with that idea, see what sounds best!

You know, I have no clue! I read some interesting things that talked about where Eddie Van Halen used his phaser in relation to the drives. I suppose if it's "pre" amp model and the amp model is overdriven, then it's that sound, vs being in the "post" slot, in the amps effects loop. I guess it comes down to whether it's being used like a chorus / modulation, or something different. I actually just got the phaser from Sweetwater, it arrived today with the little pedalboard / pedaltrain box and a Voodoo Lab power supply (8 x 9v isolated power). What I am really psyched about is that it has two modes - "tap tempo" to get that sound - and it also has a "ramp" function, where you preset the slow and fast settings, and it allows you to "ramp" between them and lets you set the rate of the ramping. Basically, like a leslie speaker slowing down or speeding up! Here's the blurb from the little mini manual Keeley sent with the phaser: -has mid range emphasis, similar to the Maestro PS-1A vintage phaser -uses transconductance amplifiers (OTA) like the original Mu-tron phaser. (instead of JFET) Keeley Phaser Placement: Before or After Distortion: -Before distortion (aka 'pre gain'): The Keeley phaser provides both a tonal phase shifting effect as well as qualities similar to those provided in univibe / chorus units. Because of this, adding the Phaser before a distortion unit produces a more "vintage" style effect, with milder sweeps coupled with phase harmonic overtones and timbres that get compressed by the distortion unit. If going for a milder quality phase with an emphasis on overtones and harmonics, use your phaser in this position -After distortion (aka 'post gain'): For the most dramatic and contemporary phasing effect, use the Keeley Phaser after your distortion unit. Most guitar amp effects loops are post-gain by design (the phaser can be used in an effects loop) and are therefore equal to placement of the Keeley Phaser after distortion. In this position, the phaser delivers it's full phase sweep and regenerative qualities without the compression quality of a distortion pedal. http://www.legendarytones.com/keeleyphaser.html

Something seems not right there - you shouldn't need to power a cabinet to be able to hear sound from the XLR outputs. What radatats said is correct - be very careful about what you plug in where! The XLR 'studio' outputs, as near as I can tell are "line level" sends that could be connected to a mixer, etc. The "live" 1/4" jacks are *definitely* sending power, they are intended to be plugged into a non-powered cabinet / stack, etc. - but definitely NOT a combo amp that already has a power amp of it's own. You should be able to get something out of the 1/4" FX LOOP send, at least to sort out if the unit is generating any sound at all. Does it look anything like these photos, on the back of the head? http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/2IG84czSaUM/maxresdefault.jpg http://www.bazaar-world.com/uploads/amp/39/230170533664-2.jpg From the manual that radatats linked to: "TAKE A LOAD OFF Operating the Flextone II HD without a load (that means without speakers attached) is OK! You do not need to have speakers connected to the amplifier in order to use the balanced Direct Outputs (you wouldn’t want to run a tube amplifier without a load)." "Studio Mode – Slide the Live/Studio Switch to the Studio position, and the XLR Outputs will be +4 line level outputs with A.I.R. speaker-mic-room simulation, ready to plug right into your recorder to lay down your guitar parts. No hasseling with microphones (or neighbors annoyed by the ruckus) required! The speakers are disabled in this mode. Live Mode – In Live Mode, the XLR Outputs are mic level, ready to plug in to the mic snakes you’ll probably find at your gigs. The direct out signal is speciallytailored for live sound and the speakers, of course, stay active to rock the house."

Yeah, it was funny - I was one click away from ordering the L6 brand carry bag, and held off on it. $60, seems ok, but not a great price for what it is. I happened to search craigslist and found a guy selling his used Tarcase for the HD500 - he switched up the HD rack unit. Easy decision - $60 for a "just ok" soft case new, or $100 for a used, but nicely constructed, custom built, plywood, carpeted hard case with lift off lid that functions as the floorboard - and it has space to the right of it for an external expression pedal (just ordered the Line 6 specific Mission Engineering expression pedal) and it has space behind the HD500 for cabling, power, etc.. Also found this photo online; lots of case! Look at that thing, friggin' monster... https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Akidhq8CQAEIw21.jpg But I like it, looks sturdy, and good bad or otherwise, the guy who used to build them is nowhere to be found! I hate having to roll up the power supply, unplug all the cables, an I don't like putting breakable gear in soft cases.

Yup, me too! I literally just ordered it from Sweetwater this morning~

Underestimated indeed! I think especially setting up the tone and/or volume knobs on the JTV is a frontier that I will most likely explore ASAP - I haven't tried to do that yet, and I really should. If I recall correctly, with those custom guitars that Jerry Garcia used a bit later on, he had some fx loops built into the guitar, something like being able to control the parameters from knobs on the guitar... Surprisingly similar concept to how the JTV works! Doug Irwin made some masterpiece instruments for Jerry; he really was way ahead of his time. The irony, that Jim Irsay, owner and CEO of the Indianapolis Colts ends up buying one of them at auction for something like $957,500! He bought "Tiger", the guitar last played live by Jerry, on July 9th, 1995 at Soldier Field in Chicago..

Yeah, I think it's about surfing the line between "planning" or at least anticipating what you will want to do, vs "controlled chaos". By that, two extremes would be anticipating or planning: patch #3 is for the second verse of a specific song, that I step on at exactly 2:05 into the song. controlled chaos: I am gonna step on the overdrive and envelope filter while adjusting the tap delay and ramp of the phaser, as the urge strikes. Both have merits, and both can be accommodated to a certain extent with the HD500, both in programming, in FS selection, and in use of external pedals. For example, you could have a group of effects be they external or effects blocks, that you want on or off all at once - same thing to a certain extent can be achieved by use of gear like Voodoo Labs ground control, with pedal switching, etc. I like the sort of think about it logically, give myself the freedom to control the effects on the fly - though I like the idea of anticipating what I might like to do at any given point - like programming the HD500 to control multiple effects with a single FS or with an expression pedal. I like to think about it to a certain extent, and then "in the moment" be able to do some cool things on the fly. So it's a constant back and forth, in terms of how much I want to think it out in advance, vs how much I just spend time getting individual effects in the correct sequence, and the correct volumes - so in most any combination of on/off, they all "sound good". I realize, that turning on *everything* at once is likely to be a friggin' mess.

Interesting, will have to try that! I was always going with the notion that the wah and envelope stuff wanted to be as close to the guitar signal as possible - and in terms of where I was placing the noise gate, it was primarily for filtering any 'external pedal' noise post-fx loop, before it hit the rest of the HD processing and amp model. What is the school of thought, for example - with wah - for why it would prefer to be before or after a comp, or in particular, as being "first" in the signal chain? (in this case, as close as it can be, IE: JTV > vdi > HD500 > wah > effects send..) I was thinking I like the idea of wah going through the compressor - originally had been moving the comp way back in the signal chain, into the post position, but didn't have very good luck doing this with the onboard comps in the HD500. I've done that in the 'real world' in a tube amps fx loop to allow the drive and master / channel volume to be increased much more than would normally be 'safe' volume (think Fender Hot Rod at like 5 or 6, instead of 1 or 2) and just brought the master speaker volume down that way. In the POD HD world, that idea seems to not work so well. My buddy that I jam with is borrowing my Keeley 4-knob, we tried using it in his Fender tweed fx loop, but in terms of how it interacted with his other pedals, wasn't playing 'nice'. I think he ended up bumping it way up front, possibly even in that same first position, either right before or after the wah. I guess comp before wah means less dynamics to the wah; comp after wah means less dynamic sweep in the wah range. I also was always thinking of placing the comp after the drive pedals, but more and more have been leaning towards moving my other Keeley 4-knob comp up to closer to the front end. Interesting, thanks for the ideas!

Yeah, now there ya go! That's some cool thinking. I have definitely thought about starting to program the JTV control knobs to do things, I like that idea alot. So, you can do something where you assign multiple effects controllers to EXP-2, more than just the volume pedal, and change that from patch to patch - I suppose that also applies for the wah; so if you don't want a wah pedal, you could control the vowel of the obi-wah, or the 'q' of the q-tron effect, or some other parameter. Digging it actually - very cool ideas.. For that matter, I could buy a volume pedal if I really want to, and just program EXP-1 and EXP-2 to run other parameters. I like the idea of attenuating the sweep and mix range of the wah, I will have to mess with that some more.

Yeah, that's interesting in terms of that you can only use 2 EXP assignments - though it makes sense. I guess my take on it, I don't really like using the toe switch on the built-in EXP pedal, it works fine, but it also feels awkward and is never smooth since the sweep requires pushing the pedal all the way to the toe, which always pushes the highest frequency sweep just before toggling off. Is it possible to define the outboard EXP as wah and keep the onboard as volume pedal only? I would like to be able to use one of the two as a wah, toggle it on/off with an FS switch, and be able to also still use the volume pedal while the wah is activated. Though I guess making the outboard pedal the volume pedal would prevent any accidental volume drops when I accidentally kick the EXP pedal when I go to the tap tempo or click a footswitch on the far right side of the board. I guess that's another trial and error type setup choice! I am firmly leaning toward the 8 FS control setup anyway, and even if I assign all the onboard FX to footswitches, I am still left with one un-assigned, so that could be the wah on/off. I guess I will add that to the list of gear work I have scheduled for this weekend! Acoustic jam on Friday after work, maybe test drive the replacement M20d mixer, our drummer is going to bring his cajon over. I've got this awesome old Japanese Fender acoustic guitar that is from the late '70's. I paid $20 for it at a flea market and spent around $150 at Third Coast getting the bridge repaired and the thing set up. It has a "zero fret" between the nut and the first fret, but no pickups or anything. Then, work on Saturday will be painful, but I am done at 4. Saturday night and all day Sunday will be building my pedalboard for my Keeley gear, rigging up the HD500, the DT, the L2t's, the M20d, and the JTV, and figuring out what works, what doesn't and which of my last twenty crazy rig ideas will actually create good tones. I see what you mean about volume pre or post amp - like a clean boost before the amp drives the tubes harder, in the effects loop just increases the over all volume, for a solo boost type effect. I am actually going to do both of those things with drive pedals. I have two drive pedals that are going to be in the HD500 effects loop in the pre-amp model position, and a chorus pedal and clean boost pedal in the DT25 effects loop (which I have confirmed does work when using L6Link) Will likely put the volume control as an amp parameter - but is there an actual difference between controlling the amp volume with EXP-2 vs using an actual volume pedal in the same type of "post amp" slot? HD500 edit is a bit confusing, it won't let me assign the EXP-2 in a patch to control amp volume and have it actually "Stick". Will need to test that with the gear plugged in. Would be nice to save an effects block if it can be controlled that way - as an amp volume parameter, not an effects block, but I dunno, sometimes things are quirky!

I am going to snag a used Tarcase hard case for my HD500 (whatever happened to Tarcase??) from a guy on Craiglist next week, and I want to finally add the extra expression pedal to my HD500 rig. It has a slot built into the case to place an extra EXP pedal to the right of the HD, so I figured sure! Sounds like a plan.. I am going with the Line6 specific Mission Engineering pedal - I used the L6 EX1 on my X3Live and while it did work fine, it just didn't feel all that great, in terms of the sweep, the feel, and how much weight I felt I could lean into it with. For the $50, it's great, does what it should -- I am just looking to put something a littler nicer together, and just found the MissionEngineering L6 pedal. "The Mission EP1-L6 is a high quality, all metal, vintage style expression pedal that is the perfect complement to your Line 6 amps and effects. Great for wah, whammy and many other effects, the EP1-L6 is designed to work out of the box with any of the Line 6 expression pedal compatible products such as the Pod HD, and the stomp box modelers." For the price ($130 at Sweetwater) it sure better be nicer than the L6 plastic version! lol :) Anyway, what should I program it to do>? And if I go with the standard volume and wah configuration, how do you all go about programming the HD500 to switch the wah on and off? I have utterly ignored this nice extra feature for the entire time I've had my HD500. I know an extra expression pedal can literally control any parameter - delay repeats, reverb mix, drive gain, whatever. For starters, what's the best way to set the onboard pedal and the extra pedal up to do volume and wah? Do you leave the onboard pedal as the volume and make one of the FS switches toggle the wah on and off? I suppose that does leave the option of setting the second expression pedal into a "cocked wah" position, and toggling it in and out as an effect, while still having control over the volume pedal. And, in terms of the volume pedal programming - do you set the EXP2 to control the amp volume parameter, or do you add an effects block volume pedal? And last question, where do you place the volume pedal in the signal chain - pre amp, or post? I would guess it should go before the delay and reverbs. Cheers!

I've been looking into getting an expression pedal for my HD500. I used to have the L6 brand 'ex1' and it was plastic, though it worked fine, the sweep felt awkward, and placing any weight on it felt like it might be bad for it. I just found out about this Mission Engineering; they made a couple of expression pedals for specific gear; a two port version for use with the Eleven Rack into a MIDI controller that takes two plugs, and they also have a "Line6" specific pedal; it actually has the Line6 logo on it~ Even comes in two finishes - metal, or all black; here's links to Sweetwater, it's $130 Metal Black "Sweetwater Exclusive! Expression Pedal for Line 6 Products The Mission EP1-L6 Expression Pedal lets you control all your Line 6 products that have expression inputs. If you like to whammy and wah with your Pod HD or other Line 6 gear, you'll love the EP1-L6. Made in the USA, the EP1-L6 features all-aluminum and stainless steel construction and strictly top-drawer components for rock-solid reliability and years of silky-smooth operation. The EP1-L6 even has a non-slip rubber pedal surface to keep it in place during your more energetic performances. If you've got Line 6 gear, pick up a Mission EP1-L6 Expression Pedal!"

Just checking back, how did it go? Since I last posted here, I've added a few (Keeley) analog pedals to my rig, and just starting to think through how to route it all. I recall you had been looking at using the pedals before the HD500; but skipping using the VDI from the JTV to the HD500. Any luck using the HD500 effect loop send? I was messing with something like this JTV > vdi > HD500 > wah > effects loop send > Keeley pedals (envelope filter, phaser, compressor, overdrives) > effects loop return > HD500 patch (pre fx, amp model, post fx) > L6Link > DT25 > effect loop send > more Keeley pedals (chorus, clean boost) > effects loop return. Just curious how you ended up making it work! I was also considering an even more 'experimental' route, something like this: JTV > 1/4" > pedals > DT25 + JTV > vdi > HD500 > effects loop send > DT25 effects loop return Was thinking that would make for some interesting layers of sound, basically injecting a second entire signal path into the DT25. Might be a total mess though! My other idea was similar, except instead of sending the HD500 into the DT25, just run the HD500 into a FRFR speaker setup (L2t's for example) Cheers!

I had that thought today when I was driving to work, and actually just wrote a long, rambling 'morning coffee' response to a post radatats wrote. I had this idea about running the JTV dual outputs,1/4" into the stomp boxes > DT25, and then using the VDI > HD500, and program FX loop send to create some crazy layered sound into the DT25 fx return, merging it with the front input analog boxes. Not entirely sure what that would accomplish! I also thought about integrating an L2t in there, esp for when I want to mute the front input going to the DT25. Too many ideas dreamed up during car drives - I need to spend some time with *actual* gear, at *actual* levels - this weekend, God willing!!!!! Until then, lots of brainstorming. I was trying to sort out how to get the pedals between the guitar and the HD500, and it could work to use the 1/4", instead of the FX loop, maybe get an A/B switcher, so I can have my strat on deck without having to jump through too many hoops. Could still run the VDI to the HD500 to power the JTV, doesn't need to part of the signal path to power the guitar.. Which was also part of my other tangent idea, split the variax and the mags - though that hasn't come to fruition yet. Still figuring out how the heck to do it! Dual amp path, split the inputs, route the FX loop send, etc. Got to try ideas with things plugged in, see what makes noise and ground loops - sometimes being complicated gets me in trouble! As for pedal sequence, keep the ideas coming. I have read alot of ideas on things like comp before or after drive, phaser before or after distortion, even where the wah / pitch shifting is happiest. Lots of ideas in place, need to do some logical test driving. But thinking it through is quite helpful! Looking forward to assembling a pedal board, getting some of the industrial velcro we sell here at work.. Ordered an isolated power supply (VoodooLabs), and a PedalTrain pedal board, and looks like I am going to snag a used Tarcase hard case from craigslist next week, for the HD500. There is something about deciding the sequence of a pedal that is a little more tangible when you connect cables and power, and have to decide what happens before and after it - that process is an experiment, but there is also a logic to it, that if followed, can be quite a useful guide. That's how I got to the reverb before delay realization - someone wrote "don't want to delay repeat my reverb tails". Someone else said "delays into room, not room delay repeats". It makes sense in that kind of thought process. The subtle distinction of whether a chorus is a post effect, or should be treated as a tremelo - where to put phaser vs envelope, some of it just makes sense. Certain effects *need* to have a guitar or as near to clean guitar signal as possible, both in terms of actual audio, but also impedance and buffering. Other things are more subjective, like "how" you want to make an effect work. You can use a clean boost to make a signal louder, if it's "post", or make the drive more saturated, if it's "pre". You can use a comp to even out dynamics if it's before a distortion, or control overall volume while preserving dynamic intensity if it's after a drive pedal. What I did find, sometimes just came down to how the gear likes to hear things - where I place the outboard compressor vs. the modeled comps in the HD500 made a big difference. With a regular tube amp, a comp in the FX loop can do some awesome things. Not so much in the HD500 signal path, it was a lot pickier about where it should be placed. I know that some amount of white noise was introduced with the external pedals, and I wanted to minimize the amount of noise gate that I had to use, so to some extent things like that overruled certain momentary "ahh-hah!" moments. Sure you can drive the heck out of a dist pedal, run it into a comp, and control the volume and sustain - however, if that comp gets switched "OFF", you have a problem, houston! BAmm, level spikes galore. Which is why I ended up putting that comp way closer to the front of the signal chain, after the wah and envelope - though not certain where phaser belongs, before or after, will likely come down to how it *sounds* to me, more than what I think about it. Certain ideas are almost common sense - reverb and delay before drive pedals or amp inputs don't sound right to me - there is nothing *wrong* with doing that, I just prefer the delay to repeat what comes before it, rather than be affected by what comes after it. In particular hitting a delay and big reverb with a drive pedal after causes some intense spikes in level and that's just how it sounds to me. That's what I thought was so funny, that for years I've had the dang reverb in front of the delay, and never bothered to see what other people thought it should be - or even take the time to realize the simple fact, that if it's a regular amp with an effects loop, the reverb is *last* not matter what you do! Lol. Fun stuff, feels like going back to school or something, in a good way. Little things add up to big things too, especially white noise, buzz, hum and the impact a compressor has on that noise. My buddy uses one of those daisy chain power supplies, the Spot or something. Never occured to me that it could be causing him all this extra noise - he has a Decimator noise gate, it goes last in the chain, in the FX Loop - and it works great, though it does tend to chop his decay as noise creeps in. Switch it off though, and his signal chain is a buzzing angry bees nest of noise. He has a couple pedals in there that are not 'true bypass', which could also be causing him problems. Little things like true bypass and isolated power supply go a *long* way to making your tone pure. In many ways, the HD500 takes most of that hassle out of the equation, but also causes us to no longer think in that 'real world' mode of thought about such technical details. Which is good, but also something worth keeping in the back of your mind. An aside to that; the newer Decimator pedal actually does some cool stuff - check it out: "ISP's Decimator II guitar pedal ups the ante over the original Decimator design to give you even better noise reduction. An 1/8 phone cord lets two pedals directly track your axe, delivering amazing tracking performance. You can use one block of Decimator between your guitar and amp and a second in your effects loop." One thing is for sure; being a guitarist obsessed with tone is something that none of us will *ever* get bored with! There a virtually infinite tone control options available; check out these 20 boutique pedals, I've never heard of most of this stuff, and the prices are steep - in many cases, way more than Keeley (which is already pretty spendy stuff)T This article is cool too, gives some background info on five boutique pedal makers:

Very interesting; according to common wisdom I've been putting the delay and 'verb in the wrong order; for a *long* time! lol :) Yeah, just been reading up many various articles and opinions discussing pedal / effect sequence; I figured it's a good way to approach thinking about the HD500, especially in terms of integrating external pedals into the HD500 fx loop. Anyhow, somethings you read, and certain experiences and/or 'what makes sense click and make you go 'yeah!", others make you go - 'no way..', and others 'what??". I just read several articles discussing why reverb should go last, preceded only by delay. For some strange reason, I've been putting reverb and then delay. Only recently have I started programming patches on the HD500 quite differently with my digging in to figuring out how to use external / analog pedals while still using the VDI connection from my JTV to the HD500, on to the DT25, etc. It got me searching, reading, and thinking about the ideas involved in "why" certain effects - whether they are digital models, or actual pedals - go in a certain sequence. It became an interesting notion; to focus in on such a limiting (in a good way) to the process, which quite frankly, when thinking about the HD500, can be quite mind boggling due to the abundance of options. I also like Keeley pedals, though have never had a ton of luck making them play nice with the Line6 gear. Still can't say I have, of course, I could just plug in a bunch of pedals to the front and fx loop of the dt25, and skip the HD500 all together - but what's the fun in that! SO, here's what I've got -thoughts, comments, revisions, opinions - all most welcome!~ (first draft, offline - need to actually plug it all in this weekend and see what *sounds* good) JTV59 > vdi > HD500 > [wah] > [fx loop] > [keeley pedals]: :[1.envelope filter, 2.phaser, 3.compressor, 4.overdrive, 5.overdrive]> effects return to HD500: :[noise gate] > [amp model] > [delay 1] > [delay 2] > [reverb 1] > [reverb 2] > l6link to DT25 > [fx loop] > [keeley pedals]: :6.chorus, 7.clean boost > effects return to DT25, 1. envelope = keeley neutrino 2. phaser = keeley phaser 3. comp = keeley 4-knob comp 4. overdrive = keeley white sand drive 5. overdrive = keeley bootlegger 6. chorus = keeley seafoam chorus 7. clean boost = keeley time machine