SiCantwell

I got the HD500 to replace the pedal board in that photo. I love those effects, but I got tired of lugging around the heavy board in a big suitcase, spreading it out under my mic stand on tight stages, and then trying to track down why no sound was coming out -- which of the nearly 20 pedals wasn't plugged in all the way. Love the FX in the Pod and the amp sims are a bonus, but playing an American Standard Strat or a Les Paul Studio into one of my two Fender tube amps was a superb tone to begin with.

Still new at this. I tried using a db meter in my phone, but it wasn't as helpful as just using my ears. Since cleans will cut through in a band situations better than distortions, it's a matter of doing what someone said in another post: Do the best you can in your living room, tweak during practices or gigs, and make mental notes of what you need to do when you get back home later. The more I do it the easier it gets.

Robert Keeley, an effects wizard, offers his suggestion on the order of effects here: http://jimbeck.com/pedalclinic/Order_of_pedals-Keeley.pdf Take it for what it's worth. One way to remember is to use this sentence: "Which chain of effect pedals makes life easy?" I'm not sure why he thinks a phaser is a wah effect but a flanger is a modulation effect.

I'm still new at this myself. I play my HD500 into a 15W Fender Blues Junior or a 100W Twin Amp. I turn the EQs to 5 (neutral) but keep a touch of reverb. My volume knobs are at 4 or 5, loud but clean. After going back and forth, I prefer the Studio Out to the combo front setting. It's just a matter of person preference, but I think I can better shape my sounds that way.

... But thanks for all the suggestions!

I've played with changing the resolution, but the netbook's options are pretty limited. I get a little more of the program visible when I move the task bar to the right side. It works fine on my PC, so I think I'll just have to get used to editing presets on the fly when I'm playing out.

Played out with the new HD500 Saturday. Some of the best advice I got on my post asking for newbie tips was to keep it simple, get a handful of models I'm comfortable with and develop about four decent tones. I had three decent tones; the rest all sounded a lot better in my living room than on stage with another loud guitar. But the gig was successful and I figure that's a good start. I enjoy tinkering with the HD500 and I'm excited about the possibilities, even if I'm not there yet tonally.

I though I could use an old netwook I have to take to practices and maybe gigs to edit patches on the fly. But the bottom rows of the program are lost in the too-small screen. I moved the taskbar over to the side after I took this screenshot, but I still lose the bottom 2 or 3 rows of FX. I can't resize the Edit window, and there's nothing in display settings that seems to help. Any ideas how I could edit the effects not visible in this screen? I've attached a screenshot.

Go to the Controllers tab and see which footswitch each effect is linked to. Multi means more than one effect is linked to a certain FS, so delink or reassign any effects you don't want linked to that FS.

Meambobbo, I've been spending days going over your excellent guide. There's a lot to take in, but I have really liked the sections on ordering effects and organizing setlists. There sure is a lot of studying that goes with being an HD500 owner! Been reading the manuals and the Tone Guide, and one day I spent a couple of hours learning about the Fletcher Munson curve. It's a lot more involved than hooking up a board full of Boss and E-H stompboxes!

Oops, never mind. Using the FX loop for a boost, but I had the patch cord in the wrong plug. Problem solved.

It's more accurate to say the patch loads, but no sound comes out. One doesn't have an amp -- I was trying to make it as clean as possible. I'll restore the amp sound and see if that gets me any output.

Last night I played out with my new HD500 for the first time. I noticed something I'd encountered once at home. A couple of the patches didn't load when I stepped on the footswitch. That happened at home, but the Pod was hooked up to my computer and the patch would load when I double-clicked on the Pod Editor version, just not when I stepped on the footswitch. I hope it's not a defective unit. One that wouldn't load was on footswitch A, another was a couple of banks or tiers up on foot switch C. I tried several times and the problem persisted. I don't think it's a bad button, just some setting. Have you ever encountered this? Any ideas what I should check?

Thanks!

I am using amp models on nearly all my patches. How does Combo Front specifically change the signal?

I'm playing into a Fender Blues Junior. I've been going back and forth, but I think I like Studio Direct better for the output than Combo Front. Seems to be not only louder but more rounded and dynamic. Have any other amp players tinkered with that?

This weekend I might try putting my Alesis iPad I/O dock in the effects loop. I'm also interested in seeing if I can use the guitar as a MIDI controller for some of my synth apps using the HD500's MIDI out channel into the Alesis. I'll let you know if it works.

I've tried using a patch cable across the FX loop to get a clean boost and it works great. But if I want to preserve stereo tones, would I have to find a short (like an inch or so) cable to connect a TRS-1/4 inch plug to dual 1/4-inch guitar plugs? Anyone know where to find such a thing? Couldn't find it at Sweetwater.

That works. Thanks, TheRealZap!

I'm having trouble dialing in a Tron Up or Down tone that emulates the auto wah tones that Jerry Garcia used on Grateful Dead songs like "Shakedown Street" or "Estimated Prophet." That's an important tone for me because I play in a Dead cover band. Any suggestions, patches to check out or FX settings to try?

I spent the day learning about the unit and working up a few patches to start with. These suggestions helped me a great deal, thanks. You guys rock!

I get a pronounced hum when I'm connected to my desktop via USB and my tube amp via 1/4-inch. But Fender amps hum a lot, so it really doesn't bother me. I never hear it when I'm playing.

Awesome, thanks!

I disappointed that the tuner doesn't mute as it tunes. I like to tune between songs, but I hate to subject an audience to me playing E over and over. Is there a setting to change that? Or is there some way to mute the HD500 besides bending over and turning Master all the way down?

These are great suggestions, thanks!