brue58ski

Use two spoons and a towel. Put the end of each spoon opposite each other under the edge of the knob with a towel underneath to protect the instrument. Then just lever (pry) each side up with the spoons. Hope this makes sense.

I really liked how the first section built up. Adding one more instrument (or instrument section) per "motif" and tastefully done. Have you taken any composition courses or are you just naturally this talented? (I would be so jealous if that were the case). My one criticism (and this is totally about my personal taste) is it was a bit long. Overall, very impressive.

I'm pretty sure that's not true. They're not even done with this one (referring mostly to the lack of Workbench through the HD500. What's going on?) and I'm sure any new guitars would be using the same technology. Like they did with the Variax 300 & 6oo)

I hope I'm able to convey this well. First of all let me say the playing was great and impressive. The song itself has some issues I think. Mainly it sounds like an 8 minute 39 second blaze fest over essentially the same chord changes over and over again using the same scale. Now I like to blaze around on the fret board just as much as anyone if not too much. I used to practice by turning on the radio and improvising to whatever came up. Fun to play but boring to listen to. I've played recordings like this for other "normal" people (if ya know what I mean) and they're pretty much bored with them after about 2 minutes if not less. Again I like and appreciate the skill it takes to do what you did but as far as a pleasurable listening experience for anyone other than a guitar player or your self, then it is lacking. There is no discernable melody to it to anchor the listener. And, as I implied before, there is no discernable difference with the chord change throughout the whole song. Just a bunch of lick playin', riff blazing, technique showcasing notes. I'm not trying to be mean here and again, I am just as guilty of this. I hope you take this in the spirit it is given.

Does the Line 6 monkey see your Variax when you use the USB interface that came with it? If not, when that happened to me with the older Variax's, it was because I had bent the contacts in the VDI socket when I accidentally tried to plug a 1/4" cable in there. You will then need to replace that which you can. Call support and they can tell you the part number and where to go to get it. I don't have that info with me right now.

I don't know if you remember but the 700 was supposed to have Workbench support but they dropped it without a word. It just never happened. This has always been a thorn in my side. I should just let it go but whatever. I don't think a new Variax bass will be coming. Like I said they never gave the old one workbench support and essentially dumped it since there was no interest. They ended it by giving away a Bass Pod XT (I'm assuming no one was buying these either) with the Variax bass. To me it was obvious they were just clearing inventory. I think bass players are a bit more fickle than guitar players and the bass didn't sell. Given that experience I doubt they'll go into that area again. I know some people are interested in a Variax bass. I was and got one. But the interest was severly lacking back then and I doubt that has changed.

Aha,I see what you're saying. Since the "1st fret" on the banjo's 5th string starts at the 7th fret of the rest of the strings, in order to be physically accurate as opposed to only the tuning being accurate you need the capo. You are absolutely correct and I stand corrected. I'll change my final answer to reflect that.

Actually you wouldn't which is what's so great about this. The parallel tuning section tunes up the sympathetic string a whole octave. You then set the mix to 100% which means you only hear the octave sympathetic string. Then in the strings section you go up 10 frets to G. The 10 frets combined with the octave (12 frets) makes the total you've tuned the string up to 22 frets. Which is what is needed. I have done this and it works!!! No capo!!!! Wahoooo!

Not in a position to do that but basically, there are four strings, went to and turned on the parallel tuning, all the strings are unison (no octaves) so the parallel tuning for all four upper strings is 0, then I went back to strings section and virtually tuned the first 4 strings up to a mandolin tuning. D string up to a G, G string up to a D, B string up to an A and the E string to the E up an octave. I set each parallel strings detune to at least 7 +/- to get the "chorusing" effect and I used the parlor body. Turned the low A & E strings volume down to 0. I did it very quickly so it still needs some work. I just set it up, changed the body twice and then had to quit. I still want to try a bunch of different bodies including the electrics. I even thought the banjo body might work. I'll just try them all and see what happens. I'm hoping to be able to concentrate on this tonight. One thing about it is the tuning is so extreme, I had to turn the audio up fairly loud in order to drown out the actual strings. I am an HD 500 owner as well and I think I'm going to need that to tweak it to acceptability.

Have to disagree with that comparison.

Funny you mention that. Right after I created my banjo last night I made a mandolin.

Dude I found a better answer!!!! There is a solution to tuning the Banjo to the 5 string tuning. It requires using Workbench's parallel mode which gives the strings on any model another virtual string a la the 12 string. This gives you a 5th string tuned up an octave which you ca then tune up an additional 10 frets giving you that high G. Hooray!! Here it is There is a way to do this using Variax workbench: Start with a banjo body, and tune the low a string up to a G (+10), and the high E down to a D (-2), set the volume of the low E to 0%. Turn on the parallel pitch (12 string), add the +12 to your low A string (which you tuned to an upper G) and set the cents to 0 and the mix to 100%. On all the other strings leave the +12 off and set the mix to 0%. Tada! 5 string banjo... If you want a copy of the preset I made leave an email address here and I'll email it to you! Credit where credit is due This idea is NOT mine and was submitted by Joshua Duguid in the Line6 ideas area. Thank You Joshua!!!!! It isn't perfect but now you don't need to capo anything. I think Line 6 could model the 5th string to sound better at that high tuning. But definitely good enough for my purposes. Keep in mind that this is only pitch accurate. Since the "nut" on the banjo's 5th string actually starts at the 5th fret of the rest of the strings, in order to be physically accurate as opposed to only the tuning being accurate you need a partial capo (only capo's the 5th & 6th strings). What this means is, if you fret all five strings at the 8th fret, for example; on a real 5 string banjo the 5th G string pitch only goes up 3 frets since it's "nut" starts at fret 5, but if you don't use a partial capo at the 5th fret so the 5th string high G's "nut" is the same as the other string's, the 5th G string pitch is, of course, going to be up 8 frets not 3 like on a normal 5 string banjo. So if you ever plan on fingering that 5th string G the way it is on a real 5 string banjo, you need to use a partial capo on the 5th string at the 5th fret and leave the 1st four strings open. This will give you the 5 string banjo's physical accuracy. If you're just going to let the 5th string G ring and never finger it, then you're good with the suggested tuning. And, don't forget, if you're using the partial capo at the 5th fret then you only need to virtually tune the 5th string up 5 frets not 10. Hope this makes sense. I think this is a better answer than the current best answer. Anyway to change that?

There is a solution to tuning the Banjo to the 5 string tuning. It requires using Workbench's parallel mode which gives the strings on any model another virtual string a la the 12 string. This gives you a 5th string tuned up an octave which you ca then tune up an additional 10 frets giving you that high G. Hooray!! Here it is There is a way to do this using Variax workbench: Start with a banjo body, and tune the low a string up to a G (+10), and the high E down to a D (-2), set the volume of the low E to 0%. Turn on the parallel pitch (12 string), add the +12 to your low A string (which you tuned to an upper G) and set the cents to 0 and the mix to 100%. On all the other strings leave the +12 off and set the mix to 0%. Tada! 5 string banjo... If you want a copy of the preset I made leave an email address here and I'll email it to you! Credit where credit is due This idea is NOT mine and was submitted by Joshua Duguid in the Line6 ideas area. Thank You Joshua!!!!! It isn't perfect but now you don't need to capo anything. I think Line 6 could model the 5th string to sound better at that high tuning. But definitely good enough for my purposes.

It is my understanding that both levels are line level. +4dB is the professional standard for line level and -10dB is the consumer standard for line level. This is with 0dB being 1 Volt. This also references a balanced or unbalanced cable. If the same signal is sent down a balanced cable and and an unbalanced cable, the level at the balanced cable's end will be hotter than the unbalanced cable's end (if they're wired properly). This gets back to the professional vs consumer level. Professional equipment generally uses balanced cables and Consumer equipment generally uses unbalanced cables for the same signal. This explanation, by the way, is a MAJOR over simplification. There is no real standard for instrument level. A piezo pickup puts out more power than a guitar pickup and an active pickup even more. It's basically somewhere between mic level and line level and varies between instruments. The other part that adds to all the confusion is dB is actually a relative reference. It can mean anything depending on what 0dB is determined to be. It's why I referenced the 0dB being 1 volt. One thing for sure. Whatever the line level is, it is stronger than instrument level, so to say line level is -10dB and instrument level is +4dB is just wrong.

Are you sure? When I upgraded I coudn't find my Variax computer interface for awhile and had read all the position 2, 4 complaints before it ever saw workbench. The quack was not there and still wasn't there after connection to the workbench. There was a workaround somewhere and that worked but as I recall there was no quack there at the initial installation. I haven't altered any of my guitar models so maybe I'll try reinstalling the firmware and see what happens. I hope your right.

If I have a dry guitar signal in my DAW, does the HD pro allow me to reamp that signal without actually plugging a sound cards outputs into the inputs of the HD? Can I do all this through the spdif. It sounds like I can but I want to be sure.

Absolutely. The HD500 is just one more tool in us guitarist's arsenal. You can use it or not, as much or as little as you want. I use it alot. Others will use it a little. Others not at all. It isn't like playing a real amp next to you and a real amp isn't as sonically flexible and as easy to tote around. Especially if you like a wide palette of sounds. Neither is better than the other really, they are just different tools for a bunch of different jobs. You can use either one for whatever job you have depending on your particular needs and desires. Each has their positives and negatives. They are not the same. One thing I know from experience, whether it's a well mic'ed amp coming out of the PA or a well programmed HD (or even a, dare I say it, XT) which, as we know, both attempt to simulate a well mic'ed amp, almost all of the listening audience can't tell the difference and doesn't really care. And generally the ones that do are anal guitar players. No offense, I include myself in this category a bit.

Try a chorus in only one of the paths. Part of a chorus' effect is a slight delay. Make the mix 100%. Adjust the other chorus parameters to taste (start by listening to only the chorus' path). Use the A/B volume and pan for your mix. Start with a full left & right pan (I know, I know, it's not technically a pan). You'll probably want to change it but start there for now. At the very least you have a cool stereo chorus. At least I think so. I find I like most of the choruses better in this configuration. Try this with all the other effects as well. Effect in one path with mix at 100%. Start to adjust the effects parameters by listening to the effect path only. Use A/B volume and pan for mix. After adjusting the A/B volume and pan, then try backing off on the effect's own mix parameter. This is an FX technique I haven't seen posted and have been meaning to do so for awhile. Please don't ask me about what the difference is between using a mono and or stereo effect. Just try it. It's way easier to hear than to explain..

An alien you are not. I am very satisfied with my HD. Sure there are improvements I'd like to see but I'm very pleased with it. The patches take more work, thought and tweaking to get great than the X3 but I think that's because the sound is more raw and authentic and there are just so many more options it's easy to get lost in the routing forest. As far as authenticity, there is a youtube video comparing a bunch of tube amps cranked to 10. I compared the one Fender amp (I think they are all Fenders but there is only one the HD Models) in it the HD models using the same settings as him and the same guitar as he does. Les Paul (JTV Variax), amp cranked to ten and he even uses an off axis SM57, etc., amp only, no effects. This is going Studio direct into my computer. So I am able to play along with the youtube through my computer for a great comparison. I am amazed at how close they are. So don't worry about the "it ain't an amp" tube criers. This proved to me at least one amp sim is fantastic. Here's the youtube link if you want to check it out for yourself... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0NQf0CyiQI

I thought the reason they released the X models was because the chip they were using was discontinued and the chip they replaced it with had a bit more memory so instead of letting it go to waste, decided to use it and create a new model (with other improvements like the footswitches). Not because it was a major upgrade decision. I do believe they will be doing more with the HD but I just don't consider the X release proof of it. It was more a matter of taking advantage of something they had no choice in. I know they still need to (and are working on) Workbench/HD compatibility (which I am desperately waiting for). At the very least there will be at least one more upgrade for that. Hopefully it will include other improvements (the EQ is a big one to me, easily fixed). So unless they completely give up and move on, which they have done, there is still more to come!!

Where I think many people go wrong is they are expecting it to feel and sound like an amp in a room. That is not what the HD500 does. As you said it does finished tones. That's why you have a mic selection. The HD is like having a completely isolated amp miced up in another room and listening to it through some studio monitors. In regard to not seeing "the point of having emulated several amps, and many stomboxes, just to have an infinite variation of tones" you don't have to. But having a variety of tones is exactly the point. What's so hard to understand about that? You're happy with one tone fine, but a lot of other people like to have a variety of sounds (Even SRV used around 5 amps in the studio at a certain point.) and I can't afford to, nor have the room for a bunch of amps. I also like to emulate the guitar sound from different songs. And since I'm mostly recording anyway, the HD is perfect for what I want to do. I mostly go direct otherwise and the sound guys love me because they have a finished sound coming to them (at mic level) so a lot of they're work is done for them. Having a real tube amp blazing away with you is great. But it's mostly for the player. I've found the people listening pretty much can't tell the difference and more to the point don't care. They just want to hear good music. And whether it's through a boutique amp with custom made stomp boxes or an HD direct through the PA, if the music is good, they're happy with either.

Not that I know of.

I thought it was 24 frets either way; 12 up or 12 down, not 24 frets up. Remeber if you setup a tuning on your JTV guitar you use the 12th fret as the nut so again, you can tune down 12 frets or up 12 frets but not a full 24 frets. If I'm wrong that would be great.

Yes. It needs to be tuned up higher than you can with workbench. (22 frets up on the A). Workbench only goes up 12 frets

Another thumbsup. For some reason, not all USB midi interfaces work with Line 6 stuff. Midisport Uno is known to work.