My HD500x came in the mail yesterday. My DT25 came 3 days ago. I was playing my DT for a couple days using my LP and the JTV 69 mag pickups through it. I was fairly impressed with the number of sounds that you could get from the amp with its variety of internals, but I didn't think it was particularly better than the fender twin I've been playing with. I had a chance to play several different HD500s through the twin, and it was VERY cool how many sounds you could get, and they sounded genuinely different from each other....
However....
When you add the HD500 to the DT amps... it's not just different, it's truly mindblowing. To confirm it, I plugged the HD500x into the Fender. The nuances of each classic amp weren't the same... they all had kind of a twin undertone to them and weren't as convincing. Granted, not a bad amp to have as an undertone, but I think the difference is certainly enough to justify having the DT. Add to that the fact that you can tweak EVERYTHING about the amp in a preset and instantly switch them, and it's like you've got a fleet of amps on a patch bay attached to your pedalboard.
Still brand spanky new on the Dream Rig, but it's the coolest upgrade I could have asked for to my setup. I'll still be playing the Les Paul for occasions when I need a good LP tone [VARIAX unfortunately doesn't have the same hour long sustain or response as a cranked LP, and I have a JTV69S so no built in HBs]. but the JTV 69 will handle such a wide range of other tones, that it is truly worth it. I love having crunchy humbucker, to bluesy single, to twangy rickenbacker, to Tele, to Martin all in my CUSTOM 1 bank [except the bluesy singles from the mag pickups.]
Now comes the process of making all my personal presets. But I suppose it's WAY better than tweaking everything every time you gig.
Buy the amp. You won't be disappointed.
~Ken