JTSC777

I agree after spending more time with headphones on I think the Global EQ is making quite a difference.As an example the Hiwatt model sounded poor bedore the update.Post update and a few tweaks and it sounds great.Not good or okay but great! Played for almost 2 hours today!

POD HD500 gives you a very nicely implemented effect loop for external effects.Patch in a rack full of stuff and do what you want.The DSP limit does not bother me because I don't record my HD .I would probably get an Axe-Fx if I seriously recorded using modeling.I am so happy with all the things the HD500 does well for performing I don't dwell upon its shortcomings much.

My HD500 sounds better but thus far only through headphones. I will test it through an Atomic Reactor Wedge and a couple other rigs today and report back.

Having owned many amps and pedals old and new I have to say that in my experience adding pedals to a tube amp does the exact same thing I dont care what pedal it is true bypass/buffered etc....it changes the tone .If you don't like it dont use any pedals and play straight into the amp.You can get away with that if you can find a really good older Fender Deluxe/JCM800 etc... amp.The most open sounding pedal I have is a BK Butler Tube Driver.It never leaves my house because Mr. Butler wants $375 dollars to build me another one. Everything is a compromise. I attended a friends bands rehearsal recently and the lead player had the latest Axe-Fx with great amp models and he had a bunch of virtual Fractal pedals running in front of the amp models and it sounded like total crap lol! Like a nest of squished wasps.My point is he does not know how to use it yet but he is a good player and a smart guy.He will figure it out and you will too!

Purchased Vintage pack a few hours ago after updating everything.HD500 sounds better all the way around and I have checked out and wrote patches for the Orange and AC Fawn amp. Digging them both. Before the update I was starting to play with the Divded by 13 amp as I like Rusty Andersons work with Paul McCartney a lot. Nice amp I never explored. So much here.Going to start using some different amps more.So much of what I do requires the basic Fender clean/Marshall dirt tones but I will try and use some others offered here.

None of my computers use any of that anti-virus stuff.All it does is conflict with your computers built in anti virus programs.Norton Maccaffee etc.... useless and bogs down your computer.Terrible for music applications.

Very happy to report I have updated drivers/firmware and L6 edit on my HD500. I have not added any model packs yet. The Global EQ is beautiful! Testing a few minutes ago through headphones is it possible that the whole damn thing sounds better? And by that I mean the full cabinet modelled patches I wrote myself that I have been somewhat avoiding and using a small power amp cab instead. I know companies don't tell you everything that is in a firmware revision. This overall improvement has been noted on some other forums I visit. Excited to crank it up through a couple FRFR setups I have tomorrow. That will be the real test!

I could have used the Global EQ last night at a gig at a 200 plus seat club.The owners are flipping out about volume and a dance permit and the police are all over the place so we had to play very quietly which of course killed much of my tone having to play at such low volume.Global EQ could have kept things a bit brighter as I turned my master volume down below the anemic level.Of course after turning down the bass player and drummer told me to turn up because they were drowning me out lol! I held my ground and refused to turn up smiled had a good time and got my money!!!! Bring on the Global EQ!!

I cant update and purchase model packs until Monday.I gigged my HD500 last night and have three church services and two more cover band gigs before I can start the process.And yes it is a great time to be playing guitar. Love these good/bad old days stories lol! I am indeed very very grateful for all we have right now!

Lately I have been using a tiny EHX 44Magnum power amp and a 1x12 cab and running my HD500 straight into it with cab modeling turned off.Sounds and feels very good.I have an active Atomic Reactor wedge with tubes in it I just pulled out of storage that I will try with the HD500 on Monday.Thinking about selling it but I have upgraded the speaker and remember it sounding pretty good.

"Guitar players ain't happy and when they're happy they ain't"-Ozzy Osbourne

If you want to hear some hum go see Eric Johnson in a small venue.His rig hums like holy hell lol! Single coil pickups and he yanks the ground pins off of everything too! Of course he plays so loud that when he starts playing the signal to noise ratio changes drastically!At that point all you can hear is his guitar and no hum.

I had two or three of those little champs years ago and yes they hummed like hell lol! Thats why I sold them long ago.For some lo-fi gritty noisy recording that amp might be cool but nothing I would use anymore.

Strangely the Boss booth at NAMM was pretty low key.They had a GP10 you could look at but no way to play it.Roland is really going after the electronic dance music people now. Thats cool.We have lots of other options!

I had a Rocktron die at a large outdoor show a few years ago and wont use those power amps anymore.Lately I have been getting killer results with one or two EHX 44 Magnum power amps and a 1x12 cab and my HD500. Plenty loud and I think they will drive a 4x12. You can find them used once in a while.I have a bunch of amps and I have been using these little guys a lot for my gigs lately.The last gig was at a large casino/ big stage at pretty high volume. Sounds to me like that Rocktron is loaded with dust/dirt and may need cleaning/servicing or has bad solder joints somewhere. Good Luck!

Every digital guitar processor I have ever used does some strange things from time to time. Almost like the entire data from the patch doesn't quite load when called up. My Digitech stuff did it.My Roland GR55 would randomly increase the wetness of reverbs on certain patches lol! and a few other odd things. My HD500 is pretty solid though.I have noticed it doing the soft level thing in a patch but when changed it goes back to normal and doesn't do it again for a long time.Power fluctuations dips spikes etc...can all contribute to this.

I am thrilled with the choices offered by Line 6.Having used Roland / Boss units for 20 years the willingness of L6 to give us anything to buy plus a great free firmware update is too cool.Roland philosophy is this"It's perfect when it comes of the assembly line.You don't need anything else". LOL! I have given Roland Corp. thousands of dollars and they have never done anything but tell me they thought a problem I was having with an old GR-1 unit was all "In my head".Bundles are great and as soon as I master backing up my patches to my laptop I will do the update and buy the vintage bundle.I will definitely use every model in it!

It is now time for me to master saving my patches to my laptop.Something I have not done thus far.Then I will dive into the update fun!

I still have a 2.0 kidney bean and the Dumble and the original Pete Anderson Deluxe are in there.I must try it with a power amp and cab! I have never used it much. My son has recorded extensively with it.

Springs are different and must be balanced as well.The springs used on a high end Floyd Rose are different from what is used on a strat tremolo . I guess they are gauged in a way. I think the OPs guitar has a mismatch of tremolo springs somehow . I know I have accidentally used a different spring when reassembling a Floyd and it was screwed up until I put the original one back.They also wear out after years of heavy use and should be replaced with all new ones as a set.More stuff for guitar players to be worried about lol! Very glad you got your JTV working well.I do not have one but am considering one and whether it would be useful to me.

The Dumble in my first generation Flextone amp was the bomb! I kept that amp for years because of that one killer model. I would gladly pay $49.99 just for that one.

I play a lot of funk/wah type tones and am very thankful for L6 giving me decent wah sounds built in to my HD500.I have thought about carrying and powering and patch cabling an external wah at my gigs but have never done it. Trying to carry/set up less gear not more and still get the job done.It must be working because I am awful damn busy!

I dont see your pic but I velcro a Boss compressor pedal to the top of my M13 and plug into it first then into the M13. Works very well and frees up another effect slot in the M13.

Buy a used Sansamp pedal and use the cab simulator in it to run to the mixer.Guitar-M5-Sansamp to mixer should work well.Lots of other ways to do it but that is one way to keep it inexpensive and small.

Oh I plan on upgrading firmware and buying model packs just going to wait a bit.The Orange is very very tempting!