robbieb61

I'm lost...are you saying that you can go into HD edit and tell the HD500 to mute the audio from the L6 link so that L6 still controls topography and channels, but all the audio comes only from the unbalanced outputs of the HD500?

Backstage passes, whores, champagne and drugs for everyone! lol

I was mentioned in a thread! Does that make me famous now? Does anyone want my autograph? lol

The DT Edit software is awesome. I never realized all the things you could do with just the DT amp because Line 6 never really made that clear. But once you find out all the sweet stuff inside of it you realize that you never really needed anything but the DT and a midi pedal to get some great guitar sounds. Tremendous amplifier. :)

Yes sir. It's version 2.0 which according to Monkey is the latest. I'm just sayin'...maybe I have uncovered what has caused people to say this for the last couple of years. But people have still insisted that there was a disparity in tone. Because the HD500 models are the same as the one in the DT50. And the HD500 sounds great going through the PA by itself. But with the L6 link in the DT it just wasn't the same (which kind of negated the whole reason for the DT amp...to sound even better). But going into the effects return of the DT amp brings it back to life! I'm gonna be using it through the P.A. tomorrow night with this setup and see how it sounds with the addition of the tubes through the P.A. :) And I won't really miss the L6 changing the topography on every amp. The thing always made a popping noise when changing topographies (especially going from a crunch to a lead sound). So even with the L6 link I was programming it to only use one topography to stop that horrible "pop". Anyway, I'm happy now! And I'm looking forward to running this beast the same way when my brand new Helix arrives in a couple of months. :)

No need to be sorry. I think I know what the issue is and why it's been brought up over and over by people who own the DT and the HD500 for as long as I have. When I compare the HD500 running the Treadplate into the DT50 using the L6 link it sounds really good. BUT...when I plug straight into the amp using the Treadplate model inside the DT50 it sounds MUCH better. I did some messing around yesterday. And what I found was...if I go from the HD500 into the effects return of the DT 50 and I don't use the L6 link...BOOM, the tone is the same as plugging straight into the DT50. And since the HD500 does indeed sound really good plugged straight into the P.A. AND sounds great when going into the poweramp section of the DT50... that leads me to the only conclusion: the tone is losing something in the L6 link to the DT amp. I have tons of mic cables here. So I tried different ones of varying length and brand. None of it made any difference. Not a 15 foot Mogami mic cable or a 20 foot Pro Co or a 10 foot Monster Performer cable nor any of the dozen or so other generic microphone xlr cables I have lying around. No "switches" were needed to be tweaked. I already had my sound. It was just as simple as going out of the output of the HD500 and into the Effects Return of the DT 50 and setting the output on the HD500 to "Combo Power Amp" and the tone was back. :)

I haven't made any of those mistakes with the HD500. I've spent a lot of time with it and done my homework reading the forum over the years. I'm thinking that maybe it's something else. The input of the HD500, the signal in the L6 link, etc., not really sure. Maybe it's plugging into the amp input instead of the HD500 input? But whatever it is...it's there. HUGE difference in tone. Just discovered the same thing with the Tweed model. I'm going to spend a few more hours today working on this setup. And then I'm gonna use it at my gig this week. :)

I downloaded DTEdit and fixed that problem. :) But when I did that...I started fooling around with just the DT amp without the HD500 My God it sounds 1,000 times better without the HD500. And I really like my HD500! That freakin' treadplate inside the DT blows away the one in the HD500. I'm gonna set it up tonight with a midi cable and run a couple of cables out of the amps effects loops to the HD500 and try just using the HD500 for effects and the midi cable to switch channels and voicing's on the DT. This might just change everything for me...

So after having my HD500 and DT50 amp for a few years...I finally set up a "dual amp" system. I actually did it for a gig I was playing with just the HD500 (no DT50) running through the P.A. and my monitor. And I loved it because I have it set up for the same amp model...but with one of the amps set up for my crunch tone and the other one set up "hotter" for lead with delay. I then set up the FS6 button to switch between the two. Now I had a crunch and lead sound with tails on the delay all in one patch. :) BUT...after that gig was done I wanted to use this setup with my DT50, and when I hook up my L6 link to the DT50...one of the amps doesn't have any sound. :( My first thought was the panning. So I set both sides to zero. Still nothing. What am I doing wrong? Why doesn't the amp that is on "amp b" work through the DT50? Do you have to have 2 DT50's to do this? I assumed it would simply use the "Amp B" on the DT50. Help!

I can agree with that part of your statement 100% As for the HD500...it's an incredible modeler, especially for the price. But I'm gonna go with the helix and still use my dt50 with it too. I usually stick to one topography when I play live (because of the loud "pop" when it changes topography). So I'll just set it to the one I like the best and tweak slightly on the Helix to hear what I want. :) The main thing that the DT amp does is bring the digital modeling alive with tubes. The DT will still do that with the helix (or any other modeler).

I pre-ordered after watching (and hearing) the video of it being used from Sweetwater. It sounded fantastic. And the way it was able to be used was incredible. I've been considering the Kemper...but when I saw this, I decided to jump on it.

I'm not sure yet what I'm gonna think. The reason being...I usually end up changing the topography to one I like "better" with the amp models, and then saving it in the preset. But since the DT makes a weird "pop" noise when you change topography...I generally set up the same topography for every amp model that I'm using in a live situation. Just sounds more fluid and natural anyway when you are a guitarist onstage in a live band to have the same sort of amp instead of a bunch of different topographies. So, for me...I'm thinking that I will set up the topography on the DT to suit my main crunch and lead sound. Then I'll simply adjust the sound of my "fender clean with hair" to match that topography until it's pleasing to my ears. That's really all most of us would use for a live band anyway. A good crunch sound, a good lead sound, and a nice Fender-y "clean" with some hair on it. Then add effects. Now in the studio...yeah I use everything then. lol And I'll just change the topography accordingly then.

According to Matt at Sweetwater, they are expecting them in either the end of July or early August. :)

Looking forward to this! :)

I never heard the Aggro before so I have nothing to compare it to. But now that I have it on my HD500...it has become my amp. I had been using the Mesa Treadplate for years. Then the new packs came out and I instantly jumped on the Marshall Rectified Plexi Sweet! But then I started messing around with the new Bogner amp model and moved to that for a couple of days. But THEN I tried the Aggro. Never thought I'd use one of the Line 6 "creations". But man...that thing sounds AWESOME to me. Has all the "brown" sound that I was looking for. Love the mids I'm getting with it. So warm and yet articulate. I find it sounds best with the Treadplate 4x12. That seemed to put a "brightness" on it for me that was perfect. :)

Those are PERFECT! I'm gonna order right now for my original 500

I've been without my DT50 for 2 months now...waiting for the transformers from Line 6 (supposed to be sometime in June). So I've been playing with my band through my HD500 using a JBL Eon powered wedge monitor. It got the job done I suppose. Anyway, today I plugged my HD500 into the Aux input of an old Roland AC60 acoustic amp I had laying around. Sounds GREAT! lol I couldn't believe it! Running it line out in the output of hd500 (just like I'm running into a mixer board). I can't wait to get my DT50 back...but damn this little Roland AC60 sounds pretty sweet with my HD500!

Yes, but...it's basically the old "pentode/triode" trick. And that changes the way the amp sounds. Some prefer the tubes running off of 3 pins (it's different...more "spongy") But after owning many tube amps that had that in the past I kind of already knew that I wanted 5 pins firing on the tubes for my personal taste. And when I tested it with the DT50, I came to the same conclusion. That's why I kinda wish that the DT25 had been available when I got my "50" Though with the different power tubes of the amps, I'm sure the tone is different for each.

I have the DT50 amp and it does indeed sound good with the HD500. Right now though...it's in the shop (and has been for 2 months) waiting on power transformers from Line 6 The last update was that the transformers MIGHT be at Line 6 by June 15th. And then I'll still have to wait for them to be shipped to the repair shop and then wait for them to get the amp running again. But it does sound REALLY good. And the amp by itself also sounds great. One caveat...if you have patches with amps having different "topology" you'll get a loud popping sound when you switch between those patches. It really sucks when you're playing live gigs. Fortunately for me...I like to find a killer tone and stick with that amp. More drive and volume for the lead sound with some delay and less volume and drive for the crunch sound with no delay. I also like the new Fender amp sound in the vintage pack for a more clean sound. So what I do is program it to have the same "topology" as my main heavier amp does. It changes the tone slightly but then I simply fiddle around with eq and cabinets until I get it the way I want it to sound. That eliminates the loud "pop" when changing between amps. And the HD500 comes alive to me when it's running through the DT50. The tubes add that little something that seems to be "missing" in the HD500 alone. You don't really notice it until you play it through the DT50 and get the real tube goodness mixed in. But then you really hear it and you'll love it. I went with the DT50 112 combo. I think now I'd probably go with the DT25 112 combo (they didn't have the DT25 when I got mine). The DT50 is freakin' LOUD. lol

I have the Variax. The JTV89F is the one I have. Got it with high hopes. I also have a Brian Moore IGuitar with a Roland pin output and an old Roland V modeling amp. With that Roland I can do tunings, different guitars, beautiful acoustics, and lots of other things like banjos, sitars, etc. But I'd always wanted to try the Variax because then I would be able to use it with any amp. UNFORTUNATELY...It's pretty much useless for the tunings. There's some kind of well-documented "bleed" somewhere in it. So you get a tiny bit of the original string tuning along with the alt tuning. And it sounds like holy hell when it does that. I was really looking to use it for some cool open tunings in my live gigs. But it can't do it without sounding discordant to the point it's unusable. It does seem to do "okay" for drop "D" tuning. But that's about it. Very disappointed in that. Especially since the premise of it is so good. I had set up my patches on my HD500 with the alt tunings programmed in and they would kick in whenever I used that particular patch. I even recorded the thing in "Open G" tuning straight to my recording studio (no hd500 or amp...just straight from the guitar into the mixer). I played single open notes (the high notes are the worst). You can clearly hear the dissonance on playback. I sent the recording to Line 6 support and asked them about it. They replied that they couldn't hear what I was talking about and I'm just hearing the strings "acoustically" when I'm playing. LOL! It was plain as day on the recording. But they seem to be in denial over that one issue. I'd also like to point out that if I use the Roland GK system...there is absolutely NO dissonance. It works perfectly. So that was a big disappointment for me. Another "bad" thing for me was...the guitar and pickup models. They sound alright. That is until you turn it off and use the "normal" magnetic pickups in the JTV89F. And that blows them all away. That's the good thing about the JTV89F guitar. It sounds GREAT as a "normal" guitar using the mag pickups. And once you get it set up the way you like for your playing style...it plays like a dream. I got mine on sale late last year when all the online music stores were blowing out for half price. So I got a really good guitar for under $800. I'm happy about that. But I DIDN'T get the guitar that is advertised. Trust me...once you play the magnetic pickups you won't want to use the weak guitar models and pickup models in the electronics. None of them have the output gain to even come CLOSE to the magnetic pickups. Not even the "Lester" pickups or the special "high gain" 89F modeled pickups either. I even tried turning the pickup models volumes up to 6 db (all the way..default is 0 db). They still didn't have the tone and character of the magnetic pickups. So my advice is: If you want a great playing guitar that sounds really good with it's real pickups...the JTV model is a good guitar. And for "Drop D" tuning it works pretty good...BUT you'll have to use the weak modeled guitar/pickups in the electronics to get that tuning. Also...it does sound pretty good when you use the electronics to model an acoustic. Especially now with the acoustic amp model in the HD500. No, it doesn't sound like a "real" acoustic in the way the Roland can emulate...but it's close enough to be useful in live performance. :)

Have you tried "Doug's Tubes"? I used to retube my Bogner Ecstasy through him. https://www.dougstubes.com/

Ah, okay. I just assumed the JTV guitars are discontinued because of the new Yamaha branded guitars. I figured that was the reason for the massive price drop. I was thinking the same thing on the DT amps ever since they came out with the Stage Source and now the "Amplifi". Looks like you guys figured out the reason the DT's are so cheap on Musicians Friend. :) I'm still not sure why I was able to get my JTV89F so cheap though. But I'm glad I did! So I guess I'm changing my advice to be: Hurry and get a DT amp from Musicians Friend while they still have some. I'm still in shock over getting the DT25 head for $499. I don't think I've ever bought an amp that cheap before in my life! :) EDIT: I kept saying $499 in my post. I just looked at my order again...It's actually $449 !!!! Wow!

Like I said..."For those of you working on your dream rig" :) You're not. But hopefully with this limited time to grab a DT amp at these ridiculously low prices, maybe some other people will be happy to be able to get one finally.

My DT50 112 is down with blown transformers. Line 6 is covering the cost. BUT...the transformers are on backorder for a couple of months. So I was resigned to just using the HD500 direct. Sounds great! But not quite as good as it does with my DT50. :( Just out of curiosity...I went looking around for DT amps. And it appears that Yamaha is doing to the DT what it did to the James Tyler guitars...discontinuing them. Probably in favor of a Yamaha branded amp. Just like they did with the Tyler Variax guitars and moved over to the Yamaha variax guitars now. Which meant that I was able to buy my JTV89F for less than half the price it was just a couple of years ago! Well...here's the good news: The same thing is happening with the DT amps. I just ordered a brand new DT25 head for $499 on Musicians Friend!!!! That is a GREAT price! And I would urge any of you who have wanted to get one but couldn't, to jump now. I did! And now when my DT50 is back in service in a couple of months. I'll have 2 of these baby's to fool around with. -Robbie

Have my DT50 in the shop...and yeah it's covered (blown transformers and a blown cap). But Line 6 said the transformers are on backorder until at LEAST mid June. :( So I was just looking at Musicians Friend out of curiosity. Looks like Yamaha is phasing out the DT amps just like they did the James Tyler guitars. And just like the James Tyler guitars are on sale for over half the price they originally were...so are brand new DT amps! So I just picked up a DT25 head from Musician's Friend for $449.99 !!! That is a FANTASTIC price! -Robbie