smrybacki

There is an output setting in the system setup somewhere. Is the "Master" knob turned up? By the way, learning guitar for 5 years sans effects isn't a bad thing. I played acoustic exclusively for over 20 years before I started electric guitar after I retired from Active Duty...

Ok, that was worth a 1up for you sir lol...

Yes sir, line NOT amp.

Yeah, the whole HD500x thing jacked me up a bit as you say. I felt like "wait a minute, you promised ME all that with the 500 and now it is substandard compared to the new promised machine?" I had a discussion here when that happened and I found mixed feelings from others. My bigger gripe than the increased DSP was the footswitches actually. I don't always need or want to throw everything and the kitchen sink into my tone path, so I rarely run out of DSP unless I am screwing with something experimental. But footswitches are simple beasts and put quality ones into your (at the time) flagship floor processor seems like a no brainer. Yet, somehow they put better ones (so they say) into the one I don't have. Sour grapes? Maybe, but not without basis. I had a PODxT I bought for half price that gave me little trouble, but then I didn't use it much to be honest. When I got the HD500 (and later the JTV59) I was really looking for a decent recording rig and experimental setup to play whatever/whenever because of the plethora of choices in amps, effects and now guitar sounds. But, with this sort of flexibility come a complexity that can't be dodged really. At the price point they are selling these for and considering the engineering aspect (time and money spent with no return initially), they had to cut corners somewhere. ALL businesses think this way until they experience losses in sales, but I digress. The point is that I suspect they got enough returns initially that sent the production engineers scrambling for switches and extra powerful microprocessors. Ironically, I also have a Vox Tonelab (table top) with the added VC-4 MIDI Foot Controller that still runs like a tank. It even has a S/PDIF output (albeit an optical one) but in the ten years I've had it, I've had not a single hiccup or other issue and it is starting to look better lately (glad I didn't sell it) for recording and so on. It is of course more limited than the HD500 (16 amps of decent quality, maybe 20 effects of good quality), but it functions properly at least. One last point, before any potential fanboys with hurt feelings show up here to flame on me as a hater, I LIKE Line6's ideas and creativity. I just think their execution in the production phase is suspect right now.

Studio direct out L/R into 1/4" cables to two PE60s. As far as preferred way, this I cannot say for anyone but me.

Sadly, I had this exact issu last night and this thread isn't encouraging. I can tell you why they always tell you to reinstall firmware...it's a time killer and YOU deal with it. The reality is that if it was fine one day and not the next, a COMPONENT of the guitar is the problem be it the firmware memory or something mechanical. I light tap on the lower bout of mine last night solved it for a while, which lends itself to a mechanical (switch, pickup, both?) issue. BTW, since Line6 was just acquired by Yamaha, I can almost gaurantee that people are jumping through flaming hoops at Line6 right now trying to figure out the asses from a hole in the ground under new management -- meaning they may not get to your ticket for a while. Not trying to be a downer, but perhaps a personal call to Calabasas is in order if you keep getting that Great Wall treatment...

Sorry that didn't help you. Have you opened a support ticket? Might be your next step... Before that, you may want to try and reinstall the latest firmware with the Monkey.

Today, I have read several threads of people having what I perceive as genuine quality issues with their Line6 gear, including: - Howling headphone outputs - Footswitch issues - Firmware failures In my own world: - my POD HD500 indeed has an F3 footswtich that acts dodgy as hell and won't do what I assigned it to do much of the time. - I can assign FS2 to a volume pedal function, but it won't "take" and refuses to use anything but FS1 until I save the new preset and come back to it to change it after I go to any other preset. Then, it seems to work most of the time, but nbot always. - Last night, my brand new (October 2012) JTV59 developed a problem where the magnetic pickup selector switch (no modelling invloved) in the up (Neck) poitision went wonky and screached with static. While fiddling about with it, i noticed that moving the guitar to a resting on my lap position (resulting in a slight bump) caused it to fix itself for s short time. More movement produced intermittent cut outs. Troubleshot it to a loose connection inside the guitar somewhere (most likely) and even with my strong electronics background, I would sooner traverse razor wire than to open this thing up and try to sort that sure to be rat's nest all out. I guess what I am getting at is this; Since Yamaha just acquired Line6, as a person who works in business I know this acquisition likely took months to work through, so I wonder did quality slip while everyone at Line6 dotted their i's and crossed their t's in prep for the big day of announcement? I have to say that overall I am not too thrilled with the quality of what I have anyway, from a hardware and firmware standpoint. It's all well and good to spend $1500 buying two pieceds of gear that are supposed to effectly replace dozens of guitars, amps and effects UNTIL it ceases to work properly. At that point things change for me. Thoughts from the community on this?

Is it possibly this (from the manual) switch on the lower far left corner of your POD? ================================= Mode Footswitch/LEDs - Use this switch to toggle through the 3 available footswitch modes. Preset Mode (Green LED): A B C D Press a footswitch to load its preset (A, B, C or D). Looper Mode (Red LED): PRE/ POST REC/ OVERDUB PLAY/ STOP PLAY ONCE Equips your POD HD400 with 24 seconds of looping capability. The PRE/POST footswitch allows you to set your loop recording and playback either before amp and effects modeling or after (LED off=PRE, LED on=POST). Recording in PRE mode (LED off) let’s you record your guitar, then audition various effects with your loop playing back, while recording in POST mode (LED on) captures your amp and effects in the loop and then layer different sounds by changing presets. Note: changing the state of the PRE/POST footswitch while the loop is playing back can dramatically change the volume, so be careful!) Stomp REC/Overdub to start recording a loop then stomp Play / Stop to end loop and immediately start playback. You can overdub additional parts by again, stomping the Rec/Overdub switch. Stomp Play /Stop to stop or start playback. You can exit Looper Mode even when a loop is still playing to switch presets or turn amps and effects on/off and return back to add additional loops. How cool is that? Pedal On/Off Mode (Amber LED): AMP FX1 FX2 FX3 Gain total control of your preset tone in Pedal On/Off mode. There are 4 components to your signal path - Amp, fx1, fx2 and fx3. Use the appropriately labeled switch to turn any of these on (LED lit) or off. Just like a real pedalboard full of stompboxes!

I fear you may have fried your PCs sound hardware my unfortunate friend....

I assume everyone has seen this:

I wish I could do that very thing. I'd forgotten about those...what'd they call them, the Wedgewood or some such?

If there was consensus on any guitar gear, there wouldn't be forums! :wacko:

I look at it like this... If I am playing for myself only then I have to accept I am picky as hell and I'll chase tone the rest of my days. If on the other hand I am playing in a band it really doesn't matter half as much as I think it should because the audience is happy with half way decent (and many times very buzzed) and believable tone so close is good enough. Adjust as necessary and enjoy the ride because what we do is unique and extremely cool.

Hey...I have a pair of Tech21 Power Engines that I play a POD HD500 into using a JTV59. Mine are both the original models with the Tech21 Special Design 12" FRFS speakers whereas today's model comes with Celestion Seventy80s. Here are some things to know up front for you, from my 5+ year journey with them: - First and foremost, make sure that your POD's (or any other digital box) output is set to studio direct. yes, it makes a real difference. - The EQ on the back of them is not to be ignored. To me, the fact there IS a 3 band EQ on the back makes the whole "no preamp" idea a bit suspect, but I digress. It does in fact come in handy to even out different environments. I have mine set straight up most of the time, but in some rooms, the treble gets eaten up and that kind of thing, so it helps a lot. - There will be days when your ears are tired, or your brain or whatever else and they won't sound good to you that day. DON'T PANIC. Come back the very next day and they will sound great. Same thing always happens to me even in my analog tube rig. I've even had what I thought was GREAT tone all saved and ready, only to come back the very next day and turn it on and say "Holy crap! What was I thinking" it sounded so bad. - Above all else, adjust your expectations in this sense; These are 12" speaker cabs in an open back arrangement. They will never actually be closed back 4x12s, silver bell 2x12s or whatever else. Your tone will in most ways SOUND the same in terms of the tone itself, but it won't feel the same at times because it just can't move the same amount of air. - Did I mention EQ is your friend? Not only on the back of the PE60, but the EQ units in the POD make a huge difference. - Always verify that what you hear coming out of the box matches your expectations of what you hear via the cans. The same idea of moving air is applied even more stringently to your cans as they are little buggers. Loud does not always equal tone. Listen for the nuances and once you have them, the volume just makes them louder. There is a guide that helps a lot with respect to the POD HD here: http://foobazaar.com/podhd/toneGuide/ Know it and love it if you want the most out of your gear. - Lastly, and most importantly have fun. :D

Sounds stupid, maybe, but is there a contrast adjustment?

I use my volume knob on my JTV59 to do that sometimes...

And we'll all Z in the excitment of it....

The recent announcement of Yamaha's acquisition of Line6 makes this a much more interesting question...

I use mine for a lot of things: - To morph Reverb level between barely there and "Help, I'm drowning" levels - Chorus level or rate adjustments - Univibe rate ALA the original - Delay feedback to get spaceship whack outs and recover Off the top of my head...

Well sir, due respect but opinions vary. In my opinion, Leo Fender had it just right in the 1950s and 1960s, and everybody else has been scrambling to catch up ever since ;) But that isn't to say that my "digital rig" doesn't sound excellent. If that were true, I'd sell it. I am not at present a gigging musician and if I were, the digital rig is what I'd likely use now because it sounds pretty darn good and the convenience is, well, excellent. But I play my Fender gear for ME alone really, even when I jam with buddies. That sound is one I have been in love with ever since the 1960s when I first heard it in the Surf music of that time. I have a Deluxe Reverb RI, the aforementioned Princeton Reverb RI and a 1973 Vibro Champ that I play Strats and Teles into with some nice analog pedals (OD, delay, Univibe) and that sound is the absolute bomb in my head. In other words, satisfied is one thing, but life altering is altogether another. I see no need to give up my lifelong favorites just because I also play a digital rig. Make sense?

Affirmative, Master. You make an excellent point in regards to recording wisdom...

I'll give that a whirl sir...sometimes, the bottom is just wicked boomy, and others not. Gotta sort through it all yet as to which models in which unit do that.

Ok, so I have had my JTV59 Variax for 2 months now. It is connected to a POD HD500 and then out into a pair of Tech21 Power Engine 60s. I also have the EX1 expression pedal. Here are some things I've learned: EQ is your friend to tame low frequencies from the guitar into the POD The extra expression pedal is WAY more handy than I would have expected initially MEAMBOBOs guide is extremely helpful in explaining what needs explaining I should NEVER play the Variax/POD/PE60 setup immediately after I've played my 50th Anniversary Strat into my Princeton Reverb. You know why... The Dr. Z amp model is a resource hungry biotch, but it sounds fabulous. I've never heard a Park amps before, but I do like the models in the POD a bunch. The metal models often sound like an angry wasp in a jar to me...no offence to the Devil Horns crowd. Andy Paredes of Line6 can design the crap out of some classic artists tone in a POD HD500/x, and I am grateful for that Sean Halley can play really good, and his videos are helpful -- could use more of them (Ditto Andy's) Some of the effects in the POD are really, really good. Others are gimmicky or just plain wierd. Very cool. When you nail a tone, it is a joyous moment and you can spend the next several hours playing the same song you designed it for :D So yeah, not perfect by any stretch, but it is FUN -- and that my friends is the thing to know.

Awesome idea right there...thanks for the tip!