bobwilken

thanks Silverhead , so I guess the best idea would be leave them all at 12 o'clock : that way I would have a 50% adjustment range either way if the situation becomes necessary. by the way , which comes later in the signal chain - the master volume knob or the gas pedal ?

Were the XTs and X3 presets this bad , or is it just the HD series and HDX that are so inconsistent between patches ?

I am not just a newb to the pod HD500X , I don't really have much experience at all with operating any type of floor rig . I see that ttweaking the settings in HD500X EDIT software , or even just switching patches or tweaking of patches on the Pod led screen does not ( of course) change the position of the global rotary dials across the top row of unit nor does it affect the position of the expression pedal . So what I would like to know is how do the dials and expression pedal work in relation to the computer settings. I mean should I have that top row of dials set at 12 o'clock while I'm adjusting settings inside of HD500X EDIT .... Or have them all zeroed out. ... I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around the relationship between the internal computer parameters and the external physical adjustments. Sorry about my obvious ignorance of these matters .... but I usually just run straight clean guitar into Logic Pro , and then flavor my mixes with plug-ins. I don't really know anything about using a live rig. Playing out loud through live physicall gear is a whole different ball game. So far , my sound would be best described by the smell emanating from a cow barn :wacko:

it's always those little things that can make such a big difference - HA !!

oh yeah , much better !!

Seeing as how we're all kind of getting into it here ..... Is there any way to make the window display what patch and channel you are on in big numbers ..... you know .. like most gear has .... with just a great big old 1B or 14D etc.... I can't even see that little writing on the unless i pout it right in front of me on the desk ... How do you guys play like that at a ive gig when it's way down there on the floor... How the heck do you guys even know what channel and patch you're using .... You'd have to have 20/10 vision to read that screen standing up !! :P

Hey Matt, I must say that your response was way beyond my hopes of what to expect for answers... i Can't tell you how much I appreciated that ..... Somebody should really make that wonderful piece you wrote into a permanent sticky. Absolutely enjoyed it .... and I can't even begin to thank you enough.... cheers !! :D :lol: :rolleyes: B)

Thanks for the head up Scotty ... Disappointing news .... But at least I know what the deal is , and that I don't need to send it back.... Well not yet anyway ... HA !!

POD HD500x just arrived brand-new from AMS to my house today. Of course the first thing I did was plug it in and hook it up to the computer and Line 6 Monkey to register it and get the firmware updated . I have never had one of these kind of fancy monsters before .... So I took about a half an hour to glance through the QuickStart guide. ... I'm not very geek-smart , and being just a hobbyist I've never played live anywhere... so it seemed a little bit overwhelming to me at first ... So anyways , just to get my ya-yas out .... I started running through some of the presents.... I have only gone through the first three banks , and the volume varies between presets from very , very loud to almost silent .... for a few of 'em I actually had to turn the amp up just to hear them. Is this from the firmware update ? Or is it normal for new units to come all weirded out .... needing to be geeked and tweaked from the onset. Being brand-new , you'd think it would have shipped initially in a relatively useful state that wouldn't require going all studio engineer on it. Should I reinstall the firmware or something , I certainly have no desire to have to reset the volume of every individual preset. and this comes on the heels of my brand new JTV-89F arriving all weirded out with the same volume problems ... So I guess I'm going to have to go all workbench on that too .. i don't mean to sound angry , but I am pretty disappointed in Line6 , so far my "Dream Rig" starter kit is is acting more like a nightmare .. LOL !! Any ideas ?

and once again thanx to all for the helpful input.

yes johnnyayyy i have to agree.... and besides .. i do like the body and the Graphtech Floyd hardware .. and to be honest those stock pickups are actually pretty good. yup .. just a neck swap is what the doctor calls for. i check ebay every day now for necks that might suit my purpose. i really would like a 24 fret 24.75 scale Floyd ready ... non-shredder neck . .. slim , thin and fast .. but not a wide 1x4 plank . i have only seen a few that quqlify .... and they seem to be attached to the whole guiter ... and out-priced for my budget. but patience will win the day eventually .. i have seen just about everything show upon eBay at some point in time. there is a decent $100 neck with my name on it out there somewhere ... i just know it.

can't see where a transplant could possibly be cheaper than a neck swap. the luthier would have to router out new chambers and access ports and a access cavity for that dual input jack.... not to mention adding a floyd rose in there too. there is no way a luthier is gonna do that for cheap ... and there isn't a real luthier anywhere within a 3 hour round trip drive from me anyway. the local guy can't even thin down the neck .... parts changing , refretting or set-ups is just about all he can do ... i personally consider him useless , as we can all do that stuff ourselves . lots of people can change parts on their car...... that does not make them a mechanic... and my local luthier is nothing more than a glorified parts changing set-up guy (in IMHO} and i bet a real lluthier who could do it .... ain't gonna do it for a mere $200 because of my location and financial situation .... a neck swap is pretty much my only option.

@johnnyayyy .... yup , you guessed it right ... i just wanted a Variax with a Floyd rose .... i am not shredder , and have never owned any of those stylye guitars . that's why i was completely surprized when i first grabbed that 1x4 that they call a neck. i see what you mean about AAAJ ... tapered at the heel to match the specific body profile. i am learning a lot in this thread ... you and many others are being very helpful.

could you tell me what AANJ stands for they are thin enough ... but my problem with the ibby and jackson necks ( and pretty much all shredder necks ) is the width and the flattened "U" shape of the barrel .... as opposed to a "C" or flattenned "D" what is the barrel profile of that neck you are refering to

was this on a variax ?

thank you very much for that confirmation ... this would be an expensive mistake if i was misinterpreting the info i was reading. nice to have verification that i am at least thinking in the right direction. cheers

the reason i'm avoiding a luthier is basically because i see this as my opportunity to get a hockey stick with a maple board.. to transform that JTV-89F into what i want would even require swapping out the rosewood board with a maple one... on top of everything else ... and hockey stick neck would be next to impossible.... and if it was - he would charge me 3 grandchilden and 2 goats in addition to afore-mentioned numerous sacks of silver.

from my calculations and understanding , it seems guitar intonation is generally based on a sliding scale that anchors the 12th fret at the midpoint between the nut and the bridge .... and then some finer individual adjustments per string - dependant upon their relative string gauge and postion. therefore on a 25-1/2" scale , the 12th fret is 12-3/4" from both the nut and the bridge .... right at the midpoint likewise on a 24-3/4" scale the 12th fret is 12-3/8" from both the nut and the bridge. so a Fender Jag 24" scale is of course 12" .. and a PRS 25" scale would be 12-1/2" .... etc, ... the exact algorythms can be found here : http://www.buildyourguitar.com/resources/tips/fretdist.htm and here is an online interactive fret calculator : http://liutaiomottola.com/formulae/fret.htm#mozTocId169477 therefore , i believe that as long as you can get the 12th fret halfway between the nut and the bridge .. it will work.. you can theoretically put any neck on any body regardless of the scale - as long as you adhere that basic 12th fret midpoint premise. now that the theoretical part of the problem has been evaluated , what remains is the real world application of it .... not all guitars have standard neck pocket to bridge spacing , nor is there a standard neck length where it butts into the neck cavity. so that is where the real trickery is ... finding a replacement neck that butts into your neck pocket - that will leave your 12th fret at the midpoint ... or close enough to where you have enough tolerence for intonation adjustment . some necks have the 22nd fret as an overhang .... some do not ... even some 24 fretters are actually 21's with a 3 fret overhang. some styles butt straight in @ 21st or 22nd 23rd or 24th fret. now on a hardtail ... you could just move the bridge a little bit one way or the other if necessary.... but alas , you ain't gonna move that Floyd Rose bridge .... so you really gotta find a neck that will bolt up pretty close to what you have. and it's hard to tell just from photos just exactly where and how some necks that might qualify , will actually work .... reearch ... thank you internet ... Google is my friend . anyway , if i'm right i will return triumphant with a photo ... if not ... i will still chime back in with my failure so that others may avoid my mistakes.' @player99... i realize that you , and many others here , probably know most or all of the above diatribe already ... but i thought i would pass it on so that others who ( like myself ) may not have been aware of some of this trickery. even though the scale theory and algorythms are proven facts ... it still remains to be determined if i am applying the theory correctly.

i have dusted off my math skills and dicovered that all this neck trickery is smoke and mirrors .. my calculations have determined that on a JTV89F 24 fret 25 1/2 scale guitar , i can actually swap out a 24 fret 24 3/4 short scale on there. .. it will just turn the guitar into a 24 fret 24 3/4 scale guitar. some Peavey Tracers with Floyds are 24 fret 24 3/4 scale necks. i love my PeaveyT60 neck , and i have read that Tracers are very similar. hope i'm right ... i could have a nice 80's Peavey maple fretboard hockey stick on my 89F .. and short scale too !! my short fingers would be so grateful ... a short scale 80's Variax superstrat ... geez i hope my calculations are right. if they are , i will just bide my time until Craigslist or eBay give up the ghost.. i will report back on my progress ... just in case somebody out there is interested in the outcome.

that would probably satisfy the thickness issue ... but unfortunately , not the width.... which would involve grinding and dressing the sides of the neck and frets.... plus a a new narrower nut... a luthier would want way too many sacks of silver for me to afford .

HA !! .... i hate it about $200 worth .... until i find an affordable solution it'll just have to sit over there in the corner as a conversation piece... and i don't think it's gonna like the conversation ...

yup ... it will have to be 24 fret 25.5 scale board with a locknut notch .. and i prefer a maple board. i have pretty much discovered that there isn't anything out there that fits the bill .... i will probably just wind up getting a 24 fret Kramer Srtiker hockey stick neck , and adapt it to fit.... it seems to be the closest to the thinness and narrowness that i need that has that style headstock with a Floyd locknut 24 fret maple board.. if you hear of anything please give me a shout. thanx

yes , but mine is a JTV 89F .. totally different than your strat syle JTV 69S .... you have the standard variax 22 fret neck/pocket that Line 6 has used since day one in the gen 1 models... 300 , 500 , 600, 700... all are replaceable /interchangeable with Fender necks ... unfortunately , the JTV 89F is a 24 fret neck with an offset triangular bolt pattern ..... similar to some ibanez .... but not exact mathes. but the real problem isn't the bolt pattern.... i could just plug and redrill those ..... but a 22 fret neck would be too short for a guitar buit for a 24 fret neck. the intonation would be off by the combined lenth of the last frets .. all the notes past the 12th fret would be out of pitch. thanx for chiming in though... cheers

yeah .. might come down to that in the end ... but until i can afford that solution ... i will keep researching and hope i get lucky .. or perhaps someone chimes in with a neck suggestion that i haven't run into .... there are even some websites that are loaded with $200 hondos and other off brand knock offs that could possibly work .. thanx for droppin' by rock on

i can not stand this neck ... i'm not a shredder , so it's just a personal preference ... but this neck is too thick and way too wide for my tastes. ... peavey t-60 or wizard necks are what i was expecting... this truly is the proverbial "boat oar" of line 6 lore.... but not because of the headstock ... but because of the neck itself... you could land aircraft on this thing. i had to buy one without trying one first because there just wasn't one within a hundred miles of me.... so i just went with the hype and pulled the trigger..... but the caveat is that i really like the rest of the beast ... very excelent bomb bar and built in pyro effects. so i just wonder what i can replace it with .. my self ... for a couple hundred and avoid the cost of having it done at the local shop , or a high dollar solution like Warmoth and such. i have been doing a little spec checking ... and i can't believe how much a few milimeters can make such a difference. i never realized there was such a difference between shred guitars necks. anybody tried this yet ? modding variaxes is , after all , a long standing tradition .. LOL !! guess it's my turn to give it a whack.