ricstudioc

As noted above, your ears are the final judge - but bear in mind if you use the full amp/cab models, you're running a sim of an amplifier and speaker INTO an actual amplifier/speaker. Personally I've found it to muddy up the waters, sonically. Personally I'd start with the pre's - set the amp as clean as you can with eq's flat. Start dialing in your tones, going to the amp eq only if needed (i.e. you find yourself cranking the highs ridiculously on every patch). There's no real right or wrong...... whatever works.

Yah, welcome aboard! I got mine in the spring of last year - and I DO play out very regularly - and it's amazing how quickly it's become tied for first place for "go to" status among my axes. (It's edged out slightly by my absolute sweetie, a Steinberger GM Pro) Bur it certainly is a game changer - in my case it replaced the need to carry around a Roland VG8 system, and all the related cabling/hardware/mixing that entailed. High quality versatile guitar modeling built in to the instrument - brilliant! I wasn't/aren't quite as taken with the stock axe as you - have had an actual Fender Strat neck put on (and THAT'S what moved it into front runner status), and am currently exploring replacement mags (hum/sing/sing) as I find the stock pups to be a bit over bright for my tastes. But the overall build quality, and obvious thought that went into its design, are exceptional. (And of course, when I want a warmer sound - there's the models...) IMO you're correct about "acoustic-thru-gtr amp" - never sounds quite right for me. Only recently I settled on a patch on my 500x that uses the fx loop to send the unprocessed acoustic models straight to the board - day and nite difference!! And you hit upon the real mindset (to me) about this type of instrument - at no point do I expect it to sound exactly like my 68 Tele, or Paul. But it gets sooo close that you have to really dig in to hear the difference. And in a live situation, to be able to switch around like that at the touch of a button from the same axe, is worth the little detail gripes. Beats the hell out of "two buckers and a toggle switch"..... A cautionary note - don't know where you live or in what environments you'd be playing in, but the batteries that run this thing are sensitive to high temperature. There's a thread of mine around here from last summer, you should be able to search it - but I'm down in the desert, and learned the hard way that approaching 100 degrees the battery will shut down - a "safety" feature? So keep that VDI cable handy and get familiar with it. I prefer the 1/4" out thru a wireless, but now keep the VDI ready at all times. FYI. Have Fun!

When no external pedal is plugged in, the onboard can be toggled between exp1 and exp2 by pushing down on the toe switch of the pedal. Give that a whirl....

Guard. Looks really nice, and makes you take a second look to be sure it's not an LP.

And kudos to you for taking the moment to post up a positive comment. Spent years in various customer-oriented businesses, and as anyone in those fields would attest everyone will complain at the drop of a hat - but someone taking a moment to say something positive is a rare thing. If I still had a store, I'd offer you a discount....

And here also - even tho I've had no dog in the "1.9-vs-2.1" brawl, I loaded them in, and.... yah, gotta say there's a tad more "quack" in there. Observation - between the five switch positions it sounds like a somewhat different guitar. Not bad - and certainly your time and effort are to be commended! - just sayin'... I'll be leaving them in.....

I've had my 25 for about 6 months now - Cons - had to replace the factory tubes about 4 months in, am watching the JJ replacements carefully. BUT - a matched set of JJ's run around $30 bucks, I'm good with that every 6 months or so (if needed). AND getting the 500 and DT dialed in is gonna be more work than you think - lotsa power, but lotsa fiddly complexity also. Pros - the only one that matters, when this rig is dialed in and on cruise - it's stunning. Just.....stunning. Amazing tone and responsiveness. You WILL be rewarded for your patience. And on outdoor stages - festival stuff - more than enough go-juice, I'm rarely above 12 on the master.

VERY nice, and competent, diagnostics - I doff my hat to a master. One of the "hats" I wear is in the commercial swimming pool biz - considered something of an expert at a national level. And on any given day I may be challenged in diagnosing this-or-that issue - equipment, hydraulics, chemistry, control systems - and I've been forced to admit over the years that calm, linear, logical thinking seems to be a dying art. So in a way (admittedly geeky and kinda weird) I enjoyed your post - gives me hope for the breed... Nicely done!

Sounds like you need to check your settings on the laptop - panning on whatever control software you have for the interface (or DAW). Not an issue w/the POD....

Sorry, no - again, these modeling techs work by directly modifying the incoming AUDIO, which MIDI does not provide. To get a modeled gtr OUT you'll have to put the sound of a gtr IN. So you're still stuck actually playing the thing....

You might consider one of these - http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/HumX I've had one of their passive stereo "direct box" style eliminators in my rig for ages - made an impossible situation totally trouble free. Worth looking into...

Let's try to clear this up regarding Roland tech - The signal (which after all is 6-channel audio) coming from the GK hits a GR55, let's say, and - - can be processed from the audio for modeling purposes, and/or... - can be converted via a proprietary Roland system into data to trigger their internal synth, and/or... - can be converted into MIDI data to send off-board to external gear. The last two are a parallel process, taking place at the same time. Perceptable latency increases as you move down the list. As noted above, the pickup is just a pickup - all of the above functions take place within the unit itself (or not - the original VG's didn't do the last two items at all.).

I feel the need to jump in here and correct this - the Roland modeling gear does NOT convert to MIDI, much like the piezos on a Variax it takes the actual vibrating-string audio and processes that in (latency effected) real time. The original VG's (which sit in my rack) didn't even provide "note based" MIDI out - the port was there strictly for sysex dumps and such. Just wanted to keep things straight.... I guess that is the key distinction: The Boss / Roland gear converts your guitar notes into MIDI data, and using a standard 13 pin connection, triggers MIDI audio from one of their devices - such as the GP-10, or the older VG-99, or the GR-55. How it *tracks* is a combination of the installation of the pickup on the guitar coupled with the DSP of the outboard device.

That's apparently the current behavior when using Link, bumped my nose into this when I first got my Dream Rig. I can understand why you can't run "dual amp" setups - i.e. two amps running in parallel - after all the DT is only ONE amp. But I was (am) a bit dismayed at the inability to switch amps within a POD program. I suppose there's some technical reason behind it, find it hard to believe they'd miss such an obvious function unless there was. So I just have "one amp per program" - a minor annoyance that I've learned to work with...

Personally I found that using the cabs confused the issue, added TOO many options to the table. (This is with the DT25 combo) Once I decided to stick with the preamp models and let the actual speaker do it's thing, I was able to find the sounds I wanted much quicker and more reliably. As noted above, they''re always there as an option - roll your own....

Well, about 8000 people would beg to differ... :D I'm too busy these days to even get to mixing in any detail, lots of irons in the fire - and also have no online presence to speak of so I'd have to figure out where to post clips. But hold that thought, I'll see what I can do after the turn of the month when things settle down a bit....

FWIW - Finally got the live recordings from the 4th of July show dumped into my DAW, upon reviewing it 2 things came to light: First - the DI from the amp sounds really really good, couldn't be happier with what went to tape (and presumably to the FOH as well). Our sound guy has told me that he's real happy with what he's getting, this was my first chance to hear it from his point of view. Years of micing just came to an end, and no stage bleed in that channel. But: Second - there's a lot more low end going on than I'm perceiving on stage, most notably in some of the hi-gain sounds. Doesn't bother me, just have to go in and tweak the programs a bit - now I know, so I can adjust for it. Btw these are preamp only, I'm just letting the DT cab do it's thing. So I'll go for "Yes" - there's a surprising amount of low end lurking in this little 1x12 combo. I'd rather have it and not need it, then the other way around. All in all the DT continues to amaze and delight, best buy I've made in years..... Ric

Well in the battery's defense - I've been doing this for 40 years, everything from bars to stadiums, and a summer day in Phoenix IS a different kind of hot. I've been hit by multiple 3000w follow spots Fresnel'd down to a pinpoint - not even close. So it IS a unique set of conditions. ...but damn skinny, skippy - that VDI stays close at hand from now on. Have to give up the dance moves, I guess. Ric

Yah, that's my assumption - I'm self centered, but not so much as to think they put that there just to f#*k with me. Like I said, I'll get around to some googling and see what I can learn. No hurry now, I can work with/around the issue. But as I mentioned above - I've got a camcorder that runs on (practically) the same battery, used it to record the show. It ran fine thru the entire day....

Ok, I will.... :D And I'm editing the title of the thread to indicate my findings, hopefully make it easier for someone to find in the future. My optimism on the "positional" approach appears to have been premature, There is absolutely an... issue... with the battery itself. I hesitate to use the word "problem" as it appears to be inherent in it's design, and not any sort of failure. To the point - I got up Sunday, checked the JTV - doing fine. I then put it out on the back porch and waited until the temperature hit 100. Went out and checked - OK. Gave it another 30 minutes and checked - fail. I then installed the backup which had been in the house - all good, brought the first battery back into the house. Waited about an hour and checked - fail. Installed the "house" battery - Ok. I repeated this all through the day - invariably after about an hour (maybe less, I wasn't trying to graph the time here) the "porch" battery would fail, the "house" battery would fire right up. Maybe 7 - 8 cycles of this, repeated every time. You don't have to hit me with a stone.... I read in another post that the third contact on these batteries (flat contact on the bottom) might have something to do with a thermal safety, probably meant for the charging cycle. Well, I'm willing to confirm some sort of thermal breaker exists, but it doesn't only effect the charging. I'd note here that at no time were the batteries hot, or warm to the touch other than the ambient temp - so it's not like they were getting ready to blow. I wasn't wearing a face shield, handling the batteries with waldos. So - I feel confident in my results, these batteries are designed somewhat TOO safe as regards temperature. Most folks probably won't ever encounter this issue (how's Variax sales in Saudi Arabia? Dubai?). But us desert rats need to be aware of this situation... On these kinda days down here I can either use the VDI - OR (the thought occurred) keep the batteries in the on-stage cooler we always have, swap'em out before a set. Think I'll do some googling on temperature vs performance on lith-ions, could be interesting. I'm not expecting L6 to re-do their specs on this - but if they could find a battery where the temp threshold is 10-15 degrees higher I wouldn't complain... At least I know what's happening - I can deal with it. Ric

Hey all - So - 4th of July bash in Phoenix, 10k or so people out there and we're the main stage. Running the JTV thru a Relay into the rest of the Dream Rig. I'm on a battery that is fully charged, with a spare also full sitting in the case. First set goes fine - little 12 string here, bit o'acoustic there, all good. 2nd set first "special" tune comes up, I push the modeling button - magnetics. Hit it again - magnetics. Now I'm looking down at the knob/button, hit it again - no light. Nothing. Flip the guitar over and push the battery test button - zero LEDs. Huh? Slip the battery out, grab the spare and slide it in - 4 bars. Button up, hit the modeling button - nothing. HUH? Flip the guitar and hit the test button - zero LEDs. OK - I KNOW both batteries came in fully charged. Tell the band "no magic tricks" for the moment, adjust accordingly and off we go (the above probably took less then a minute) - play out that set without any trick guitar stuff. During the break I slide out battery B, install A - 4 bars. Hit the model button, nothing - and again NOW zero bars. Install B - same thing. Note here that I did NOT find the time to dig out the VDI cable and try powering from the POD - hey, high profile gig, no time for experiments right then. Finished out the gig on my Steinberger and JTV mags. This morning - so far! - the JTV seems to be behaving normally, it's sitting to one side with a 1/4" cable plugged in and modeling on, and for the past hour or so seems to be fine. And showing 4 bars, as expected. It'll be a day till I can get the full rig back up, I've got a truck full of gear to unload and set up. The only thing that comes to mind is temperature, it was maybe 105 and humid (for us) yesterday. But I've used the JTV in pretty-close-to-that-temps recently, it IS, after all, Phoenix. Yesterday was not even close to as hot as it can get. In my time here, I've seen 122 - they shut down the airport at those temps... So - fully charged batteries go in and are acknowledged, moments later the batteries show as dead although they're fine. Wish I had the time to hook up via VDI - I may dig out the guitar rig first and set it up outside on the patio to try and recreate the problem, will be hotter today. BTW - "ambient" hot, the JTV was not sitting in direct sunlight. Anyone else ever note this problem with the batteries, or any temperature related issues? Seen people using JTV's in hot environments? Very interested in any insights here, if this thing is going to be temp sensitive (and c'mon - my laptop and tablet were both working fine) at the temps we see in the Phoenix area then I've made a serious error here. Chip in with any thoughts - as I've typed this I've determined to get the rig set up outside today or tomorrow and try to recreate - I'll let y'all know... And as always - thanks! Ric Edit, later this day - Ok, definitely a temp problem best as I can tell. Put the JTV out on the back porch and let it sit for a bit, began exhibiting the same behavior. No direct sunlight, ambient around 100 degrees. Had to run up to the office for a while, when I got back I dug out the HD500x and VDI cable, got it hooked up out back. (Now 104 ambient) - the modeling works under VDI power, tho oddly the "blue ring" around the modeling knob doesn't illuminate, just the little indicator dot. So right now it's looking like a problem between the battery and the thermometer, with a question mark on the blue ring item. Guess I'll copy this over into a service ticket and see what L6 has to say - not sure how I'd feel about not being able to go wireless with this axe, I'll ponder that for awhile... btw - I've got a camcorder that runs on this same battery, it runs fine this time of year. Just another data point. Edit 2 - Based on a comment from a friend, I tried an experiment, kinda odd: I suspended the guitar, strings up, across 2 chairs, body and neck. Getting underneath, I installed a fresh battery (we're still outdoors here). Waited a moment, the LED ladder lit full. Without moving the guitar I got up and hit the modeling knob. Voila - everything lit up, modeling engaged!! I then put the guitar into playing position - and it went dead. I've duplicated this several times - I'm now thinking there's a cold solder joint or some such somewhere in there, I've yet to gt into the guts of this thing so I'm not familiar with it's internal layout. But it now appears to be a physical (and warrantable!) problem - NOT something related to battery/temp. I consider this a good thing - implication is that somethings loose in there, and can be fixed. We progress....

Planning to but haven't yet (on a 69) - it's definitely possible, do a bit of digging around here and you'll find some posts and as I recall some photos of the circuit boards and such. I'm a medium techy kinda guy and what I found reassured me that I could do it without any problems.

Yah, this is what I'd like to achieve - run the mags thru typical fx/amps, and the modeling (mostly for acoustics) straight to the PA. Jandrio's link, tho informative, doesn't take into account the Link-to-DT part of the equation, it would be (somewhat) obvious if I were just running everything straight to PA. I had hoped to drag the mixer in front of the entire chain, split the path into 2 discrete lines right from the git-go, but it doesn't seem to be possible. I'll poke about based on your comments, see what i can make happen. (Course this might not be needed if Workbench included a basic EQ on acoustic models - make'em sound better thru clean amps, take out some of that lower-mid bulge. I put such a suggestion on the IdeaScale (is that what it's called?) some weeks back - feel free to nudge it.....) Thanks!

Been digging thru the manuals and hdedit, time to ask the users - Using a full dream rig w/VDI from the variax, is there a way to send the JTV mags thru one path (fx/amp/fx) to the DT - and send the modeling direct to an output (xlr)? Been beating my head against the monitor and can't seem to figure this out - is it even possible?? Thanks.......

OR - order one (or two) of the cloth cables made by one of our locals (Dallas-something-or-other, I'm not at my home pc...), then just run a strip of male velcro down the sides of the HD. Cable sticks well to it, lets you route it down either side. And no sticky residual....